Feath and Kee: gardening

Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts

Saturday, June 6, 2015

2015 Spring Planting

Rosemary and Chives outside the Shop Spring 2015

When we started planting this year's garden, it felt a little bit like a fool's errand, but Bryan and I have to grow things. It might be a few plants in pots, or I might get a little carried away and we end up with way too many plants and flowers to try and keep alive.

Last Year's Raised Bed

Thankfully we have continued to add to thecompost pile, so there was plenty of compost to add to last year's raised bed.

Putting in the Soaker Hose

Even after Bryan rigged a pump system for us to use to get water from the rain barrels to the garden, just the simple act of watering our little plot was really time consuming. This year we went with a soaker hose.

"Volunteer" Tomato Plants with the Onions

Last year, we waited until after everything had started growing to add mulch and covering. That turned out to be a nightmare, so as soon as we had the soaker hose in place, we put down the plastic.

Pumpkin and Eggplant Seedlings

Bryan added a few more things here and there...

Maybe this will be the year we will have our own pumpkins!

Everything is starting to grow!

We have had so much rain, we've only had to water a few times. The soaker hose was definetely worth the trouble! We just have to drop our pump into a rain barrel, and turn every thing on.

Kee with the Seedlings

I think Keela had a lot of fun playing with the seedlings. We had to talk her into letting us plant them!

Bryan's Cactus

A couple of year's ago, Bryan dug up a cactus plant. This year it finally bloomed. It needs a bigger pot, but I think I will let Bryan take care of that!

I'll try to post an update later on when everything takes off.

-- Jess

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Goodbye to Summer...

tomato plants!

By the calender, it is officially Fall. Weather wise, it still feels more like you would wish Summer to be. The temperature has finally dropped enough to where you can really enjoy being outside. We did attempt a garden this year. Maybe a bit insane, considering that we are in the middle of a severe drought and do not have a well. I did learn from this that if you have even a minimal water collection set up in place, it is possible to take care of your outside watering needs (especially if you are not in a drought stricken area) without having to rely on outside water.

Baby Basil and Dill plants

We have 55 gallon barrels set out in places where the most water drains off of the roof. On days that we were lucky enough to be at home when it did rain, every container that we could find was filled up. Needless to say, my appreciation for water has greatly increased.

I will not jump up on my environmental soap box and tap dance, but any precautions that can be taken to keep our fresh water supply uncontaminated and clean is of utmost importance.

Roma Tomatos

So, although it was not a life changing success, and none of our pumpkins survived, I think we did enjoy this year's garden. It was a 4' x 8' raised bed. We built it from old bricks, and filled it with compost and saw dust. The pest control employed, was a cinnamon/chili powder / water mixture that we sprayed on the leaves, and then picking the worst bugs off. I also planted peppermint, and marigolds.

Early Days! The area close to the shop had Zinnas, Marigolds, and Pumpkins

The girls have decided that they both want to be Micheal Jackson for Halloween. How to pull this off correctly? Is it even possible? We are going to attempt the Billie Jean look with the sequined jacket and fedora. I have drafted the patterns for the jackets, and done the muslin for both that turned out well, especially since it was my first time to do sleeves and I was really intimidated.

Pumpkin and Squash plants

Of course it is possible that Kee will decide that she wants to be Elsa at the last minute. I do not have a pattern on paper yet, but it is in the works.

-- Jessica

Friday, June 21, 2013

6.21.13

Fabulous Friday! Here are my finds for the week......

This first treasury contains garden themed finds from around Etsy. All of the things I would love to have if gardening were feasable here right now. My Dad made a neat rainwater collection system that drains into a cistern, so they have a great garden. I have not given up though. I have been able to keep a pot of chives from last year alive, and a cactus. :) lol...