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Finally, after months of one of the harshest winters I can remember, spring is full blown in the south eastern United States. Tulips are blooming, trees are green, and allergies are flaring- at least where we are! We went back home last weekend and enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner with my family and got to see many long, lost friends. We also got to see my not-so-little brother go to his senior prom. And now we're back and ready to garden! The weather here has been awesome lately (I'm blogging from the front porch), so it's a great time to get outside and do some spring chores.
The seedlings have been doing okay. The peppers and herbs are looking great, but the tomatoes are lacking the strength I hoped they would have by now. We may still try and plant them, but we may also have to buy some plants to supplement my home grown seedlings. Gardening is certainly one big experiment most of the time, so sometimes you just have to accept defeat and move on to the next plant.
The plants that Beth and I put in the garden 2 weeks ago are looking great! The broccoli plants are thriving, and most of the seeds we planted have sprouted and are on their way. Our compost is looking good and doing it's thing too. Funny thing about home-made compost (and store bought for that matter), no matter how much you turn it, some things just don't decompose. For example, last year I didn't turn it much over the winter, and come summer I had full blown tomato plants growing in my compost pile from some tomatoes from the year before. This year, even with Beth turning it more frequently, we managed to get two pumpkin plants growing in our garden beds from undecomposed seeds. I think we'll let them go for now and see what happens. We may be adding another vegetable to our collection this summer!
Beth also cleaned out the flower bed that I had planted for the last 2 years (thanks Beth!). We planted some onion starters on the ends of the bed, and once it's past the freeze date for area, we will be planting flowers in the middle. The flower bed is actually one of my favorite parts of the garden. Mr. Growbot and I had planted it on a whim the first year we did a garden and it provided so much beauty to the backyard, not to mention that the birds and the bees loved it and we had freshly cut flowers most of the summer. It was certainly a rewarding surprise.
It may be a couple of weeks until I post again because of some upcoming weekend plans, but the frost-free date for our area is coming up quickly, so the next post should be a big one. Looking forward to it!
-Mrs. Growbot
The gardening gods finally smiled upon us yesterday! The weather was perfect and everyone was available for a day of fun and gardening. In the photos above are our friends, Chad, Beth, and their dog Josie. Chad and Beth live in the house that we used to live in, and that's how we know them. To make a long story short, I was going to move my garden boxes to my new place, but Beth was basically going to do the same garden that I had done so I decided to leave my garden and share it instead of moving it. It worked out for everyone and was a lot easier than moving a ton of dirt (literally).
I do a method of gardening known as "Square Foot Gardening" (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/) which is a very efficient way of gardening. Essentially, you get the most product out of the smallest amount of space with very little work. Each square foot gets a certain amount of seeds or seedlings based on what area the plant will need to grow into. I do raised beds which basically eliminates the need to weed, but also needs more water than the conventional method of gardening directly in the ground.
Yesterday we started the spring garden. Spring gardens have cooler weather crops like lettuces, cabbages, and peas- think green veggies. The beds had been covered for a few weeks and were nice and warm. Beth has been doing a great job adding to and turning the compost, so we even had some new dirt to add to the newly awoken beds. We first added the grid to our square-foot garden to mark where each square was by tying string back and forth. We then planted seeds or seedlings in each square and labeled thoroughly (you don't want to confuse your Romaine with your Arugula!). We ended up planting Romaine lettuce, Arugula, Sugar Snap Peas, Broccoli, Spinach, Onions, and a Mesculun Mix. After we finished planting, we mulched each bed with straw and the men helped us cover the beds with PVC hoops and plastic sheeting for cold weather protection. All in all, a very productive gardening day. I can't wait to see what comes up!
-Mrs. Growbot
I know, sounds exciting right? Sometimes you just gotta get around to things that aren't necessarily the height of excitement in life- thus the transplanting and seasoning. I'm a terrible seed grower and I had neglected my seedlings for far too long. While my seedling chamber is awesome, it's sometimes easy to forget it's there since it's in the utility room. Because of this "out of sight, out of mind" situation, I let my seedlings get a little "leggy" (no reference to any ZZ Top songs here!). Leggy means that basically I didn't have my seedlings close enough to the light source, so they kept growing up instead of out. This eventually makes it to where the seedling is all stem and few leaves which is ultimately not what we want out of our plants. Easy solution- transplantation! The tomato plants were really the problem and the good thing about tomato plants is that it is encouraged that you cover the stem up to the first set of leaves when planting (or transplanting). New roots will grow out of the part of the stem that has been covered by soil, thus making the seedling less leggy and more fruitful. I also FINALLY got around to planting some herb seeds. I will pay more attention seedlings, I promise!
And now to seasoning. I received an awesome cast iron pan for Christmas that has also been unfortunately neglected in my kitchen. It came pre-seasoned and we used it new out of the box a few times and then it got a little rusty and stuck in cabinet never to be seen again. But since it's spring and I finally feel like taking care of some nagging- er I mean important projects- I seasoned my first cast iron skillet. For those of you that don't know, cast iron must periodically be "seasoned" to keep it's non-stick property and to keep it from rusting. It was very simple. I just spread some bacon grease all over the pan (top and bottom, inside and out) and then stuck in a 300 degree oven for an hour. Voila! Seasoned Skillet. A black, non-stick beauty of a pan. I can't wait to use it and eventually season it again ;).
Since it is finally Spring (the first day was yesterday), things should really start picking up on the growbots blog. Outdoor spring planting should start very soon. Until next time...-Mrs. Growbot
Since winter 2010 seems to be never ending, I've recently picked up knitting to have something to do in my spare time. My boss's wife and her mother are knitting experts and were kind enough to have some knitting teaching parties for their friends. I've only learned basic knitting so far (casting on, basic knit, and casting off- for you knitters out there) but I've already accomplished quite a bit. I've made about a quarter of a very large scarf and one and a half dishcloths. The scarf is quite the task since I've made it so wide, so I figure I'll probably be able to actually wear it by next winter. The dishcloths, on the other hand, are nice and quick, not to mention useful. When Mr. Growbot and I got married, we received several knitted dishcloths as a wedding gift, and I use them all the time. They do a great job at scrubbing, yet they are soft and gentle on delicate items like glass. Hopefully I'll be churning them out quick enough to replace our old ones as they age.
In other news, the seedlings are starting to look like real plants and everything is doing pretty well. I will (hopefully) be planting some herb seeds and a few more broccoli seeds this weekend for the upcoming growing season. Last weekend the weather was great, so Mr. Growbot and I were able to get out and take care of the raised beds in our garden. The soil looks great and was full of fat, happy worms, which is always a good sign. I can't wait until growing season actually starts! Until next time...
-Mrs. Growbot
