July 13, 2008

Well, it's late, yet again, so I'll try to keep this short.  We've got a movie to watch and get back to the store before they charge us, hehe.

Today I got Toasty's SWC torn apart, cleaned and put back together.  This time I used zip ties rather than duct tape. 

 

Afterwards I filled it with Mel's Mix and planted three Minnesota Midget cantaloupe seeds that Judy so graciously sent me.  Thanks to Toasty and Judy I can experiment with late season planting.  I personally think I won't have the season left to let a 60-75 day plant mature.  But who knows, September could be good to us this year.  I still need to build the trellis for them, but I'm not concerned, they'll take a while before I can trellis them.  Of course I'm counting. Today was day one of 75...



Then, I caved on my compost... The original bin was barely 100 degrees after all the work I put into it yesterday to layer and water and blend and fluff.  Nada.  I just had too much saw dust.  I got that from Joe and the book I'm reading... Growing Veggies West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon.  According to Solomon, my compost is now nothing better than mulch for under trees and in flower beds.  So that's what I used it for.  We weeded the rose garden and mulched in the front.  I must say it looks much better now.





Doesn't it look better?  Every year we tear out tons of irises and every year they grow back together. This year I'm giving some of my son's favorite flowers, yellow irises to Toasty.  I have too many so she can enjoy the wonderful golden yellow bearded gentlemen.   I'm not worried, next year I bet they will grow together again now that I mulched with some of the best compost money couldn't buy.  Speaking of compost, "Where has all the compost gone?"



I know it's tough to tell from the picture, but that's the lowest plank of the pallet. I used up 90% of my first compost bin mulching all over my yard.  But just think how much money I saved on beauty bark!?!

Then, my mother told me we had a mutant cauliflower plant.  Unfortunately I let it go too long.  Who knew when it would stop getting bigger?  Instead it startd growing out and maybe going to seed.  So we harvested our first cauiflower.



Aren't they cute?  Logan decided he'd carry it inside the house so he got his wheel barrow and his brother decided he needed to help.

Oh, and Carrie was right, the corn did grow more... It's nearly 4 feet tall (including the 16 inch beds, hehe). So given the growth marching leftward in the bed, I fertilized another row of corn with my mixture of blood meal and veggie fertilizer.  Not only did I water it in, but I watered tonight after it got dark.



Enjoy your garden!