Gardening, anyone?

ya I almost jump of happiness I bet people saw my face light up ha ha ha I took it and run to pay for it and out I went I was so happy also cuz it had draining lol

Is a pain in the neck to drill holes when pots have no drains.

Temperature drop again so I pull some plants indoor for the night lol I feel this spring sucks.I have been moving my plant in and out a lot lol

My golden tree is looking so good lol

I wish I had a garden to plant it in the ground

I decided to do a little "growth test" with my tomato plants. I planted one in a straw bale and another of the same kind into the ground. They were both the same size. Both were planted on the same day. When I watered this morning I couldn't believe my eyes.

Early Girl tomato planted in one of my straw bales.

Early Girl tomato planted in the ground on the same day as above tomato plant.

The brick in the pictures are the same exact brick that I put next to the tomato plants to show size difference.

Pretty cool!

Good morning everyone! The sun is shining and the birds are singing... and I'm so tired from the weekend I don't know what to do with myself!

Gardennerd, you are right on about the heat helping to grow things faster. I can start my garden 3 or 4 weeks earlier than usual by using the straw bales. If a freeze comes along all I have to do is pull my plastic sheeting or frost blankets over the bales along to wire I have put up from one end of the bale to the other end. I could plant my seeds without worrying about the heat as they need warm ground to grow. The fertilizer I conditioned the bales with for 12 days helps to heat up the bales faster than they would heat up on their own. So now I have a compost pile I can actually grow my plants in. The heat inside the bales can get up to 160 degrees, so I had to make sure the temp dropped down to 100 degrees before I could transplant my tomato and pepper plants. I used a regular meat thermometer and stuck it in the bales to check the temp. I think we'll be having garden fresh salad greens by next week the way things are growing. I have a few bales that haven't sprouted yet but I used last years seeds and they may not have made it thu the winter as viable seeds. I'll just replant those bales today with fresh seeds.

My wonderful DH took me on a shopping spree at my favorite store Menards (equivalent to Lowe's) yesterday! I think he had more fun than I did, which is hard to do. I got a lot of goodies to help me keep my garden in tip-top shape. I tried to keep the costs down but he wasn't having it. If I put an item in my cart and there was a better model on the shelf he'd put what I got back and get the other one. He spoils me rotten! He said it doesn't make much sense to get things to make my life easier if it's only going to improve it just a little. I picked out a garden seat so I could sit as I trimmed the grass on the sides of my bales. It wasn't good enough so he got me this one instead....

Meet Sporty Jr! Now I can sit AND not have to get up to move on to the next bale. It cracks me up!! We had a blast putting it together last night.

I think I have the sportiest seat in town!

Wow, quite the difference in those 2 plants! Ohh and Sporty Jr looks fabulous! I don't make my rows wide enough to use something like that otherwise I'd be heading to the store after seeing yours.

My hubby bought me some shelving for the new shed. I thought he would just make me something out of wood but he wanted me to have store bought. I guess that worked out for both of us. :-) He said he would have at least one put together by the time I get home from work tonight. (he gets home an hour before I do).But instead of filling the new shed I noticed I need to go out and hoe the garden. Drats. I was hoping to plant my squash and zucchini seed yesterday before it got too late in the season. However, the grocery shopping and the shelf shopping exhausted me. I hope this tiredness will go away eventually. I am not used to not being able to be active all day.

Didn't get to the planting yet. Hubby and I got too busy with some errands including returning the spark plug for the mower because it was not the right one. So now we are going to wait until the weekend to get the rest of the plants and planting them

Enerva, I suggest putting a perforated pipe in the center so you can water the whole pot from the inside. I've had problems with water put in the top not making it to the bottom. Plastic plumbing pipe works fine.

I went out to hoe the weeds in the garden after work. As I was leaving to return the hoe to my husband's shed I stumbled as if upon a hose. Imagine my shock as I freed my foot and looked down to see this:

I don't know about the rest of you but I have always been terrified of snakes. I checked to make sure I wasn't bit (because I don't know what kind of snake this is...errr...was) DH knows my fear and this snake is no more. I apologize if he was a good guy but he was hissing and trying to strike after our meeting. I am sure I hurt it when I stepped on it. But I bet my blood pressure went sky high.

Maybe I don't need a garden........

~Heidi

ok thanks a lot I will look at the pipe thing this weekend.

Enerva, your brother and I would have gotten along great as I loved to play with snakes as a kid too. We went for a walk out in the pasture one day and somehow I ended up with a garter snake in my boot and when I took my boot off the snake ended up on my sister. I can still hear her screaming!!! Like I'd put a snake in my boot on purpose, it could have gotten squished and bit me! 😂

Heidibird, Living where you do, I would never take a chance on a snake. When we lived in Houston they were fond of telling us there are only 5 poisonious snakes in the US. All are native to Houston. I think the 5th variety was differentiating between eastern & western rattlers. I don't mind them and DD had a pet one for a while, but she couldn't get it to eat, so we gave it back to the pet store.

coachvicky, I hope you have a wonderful outdoor summer.  If you want to you can sit on my porch.

Hi CoachVicky. Thank you for sharing your blog. I loved that you had your visitors pick their own produce.

Wren, thanks. I think we have them all here as well. Lots of people hike in this area but the Wichita Mts are a very rocky grouping and those sssssssssnakes love to sunbathe everywhere up there. Needless to say, I don't hike!

Ananda, lovely setting.

KB, your bulb groupings are gorgeous. The spring flowers always make me smile. And I like your helpers. Do they not get into your garden and want to eat the plants?

Dear sweet husband, no matter how hard I ask or beg, please DO not dig me a pond!

~Heidi

heidibird - In past I was in the thinking a good snake is a dead snake. Hubby gradually taught me to identify them. Not sure if it is true but it helps in that they say a grey rat snake or other good snakes will keep a bad snake, such as a rattler away. We have a rat snake and a black racer that we share property with

Welcome Coach Vicki!

The snakes around here are rattlers and awake from hibernation, but none here in the hood. They are across the street in the national monument though. Last summer, a friend and her daughter were visiting and wanted to go up there and warned them about snakes. "Be sure to wear closed toed shoes (vs. sport sandals)", I told them. Sure enough, they ran in to one on their hike and couldn't believe it. Seriously people, I am not kidding about their being snakes up there!

I don't have a problem with snakes, an important part of the ecosystem. Like to see them before they see me though?