Tuesday Morning Garden Guest

I guess the garden has enough insects.  Hope he sticks around for a spell!

First Real Harvest + Garden Update

The garden has been doing great so far (knock on wood).  In the last several months, I've been harvesting this and that throughout the season ( kale and collards, 1 or 2 cucumbers) but none of my crops have ever ripened all at the same time until this morning!! Today was the first time that I was able to harvest more than 1 or 2 things from the garden....

Kefir: Make it, Drink it!

Months ago, like MONTHS ago, we bought kefir grains...

We've always been yogurt eaters but one day, I couldn't find a brand of yogurt that I wanted to eat.  Now I've made yogurt from scratch but for the boy, the texture just wasn't what he wanted.  Because of the lack of yogurt choices, I went and bought kefir instead. Boy, has it changed our lives!!!

Seeds!!!

I'm a psycho seed hoarder.  I admit it.  My kitchen table is now a seed saving station. Not only am I saving seeds from the plants growing in my garden, I am buying them, too. I LOVE buying seeds!  The growing season isn't anywhere close to ending and I'm already planning for fall and next spring. Psycho.... but I love the whole gardening process.  I really do.  If I could re-live my life and knew what I knew now, I would be a farmer or go into some aspect of horticulture.

I recently bought these from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds....

Viva Pinata Gardening + Update

Years ago, I was totally addicted to Viva Pinata.  I've never been interested in video games and still don't care for them but this particular game was different.  There was no shooting or killing of other people or zombies, you planted a garden and attracted pinata animals and insects.  Then you proceeded to nurture your plants and animals and from the produce you grew or the baby animals you raised you could sell them to make money.  It was fun because when you had the right amount of plants or the right types of plants, you could attract animals, which in turn attracted other animals, etc. etc. I played for a while until the new version came out and pretty much lost interest because I wanted to do it for REAL!  I honestly feel that working with nature is better then working against it and like in Viva Pinata, I really wanted to grow a garden that attracted beneficial insects and animals with the plants I grew.   I know in a previous post, I was thinking of fencing off my garden and I do see the necessity in it (even in Viva Pinata, you can buy fencing materials).  I did have to finally fence off my sunflower and cosmos beds since the baby bunnies were 1) using it as a race track and just running back and forth in it and 2) they LOVED eating my cosmos to the point where there were bald spots in the beds.  I finally had enough and it was time to discipline the bunnies.

Felt Pots vs Plastic Pots

May 2012

So I bought these felt growing pots because 1) They had rave reviews about plants growing bigger and better and leaping over tall buildings. 2) They were fairly cheap 3) I thought they would be great since they fold up so they don't take up a whole lot of space.  Well......