It was a cold and rainy day here in Memphis, and as such was a great day to go to Home Depot. No crowds, no hassles, lots of seeds.. and they have Bradley pinks!!
I finally saw one of my products on the cloud at Home Depot- my Discovery fan was displayed and I was pretty tickled. That's a first for me.
I bought some bell and pimento peppers, a cherry tomato pack (jellybean), Jubilee tomatoes for the garden, and some herbs for home. I started the seeds today, so hopefully soon I'll have baby plants.
PS- It's 8 PM, so I just turned out my lights for http://www8.earthhourus.org/!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Earwigs
-Image from Snopes
-Info from Wikipedia and links
While in the garden last weekend, I saw at least two rather evil looking insects in various beds. I thought the bugs were probably earwigs, and we all agreed that they looked particularly vicious and must be very destructive. As shown in the image here, they probably can crawl in your ears and eat your brain, or so we assumed.
Though we don't have to worry about brain-eating, they do, according to Harvard's Insect Fact Sheet and Wikipedia, pose a threat to seedling peas and beets, lettuce, and strawberries. So we may need to figure out some way to deter them from feasting on the fruits of our labor.
Some interesting earwiggy facts:
-they also eat other insects, which can be good for gardens
-females have straight pincers while males have more curved pincers
-they really like damp stuff
-some rare earwigs are blind and feed on giant rats in Africa (? this actually from Harvard's bug page..)
-their pincers, though formidable in appearance, cannot break human skin and so pose no stingy-bitey threat to humans
-Info from Wikipedia and links
While in the garden last weekend, I saw at least two rather evil looking insects in various beds. I thought the bugs were probably earwigs, and we all agreed that they looked particularly vicious and must be very destructive. As shown in the image here, they probably can crawl in your ears and eat your brain, or so we assumed.
Though we don't have to worry about brain-eating, they do, according to Harvard's Insect Fact Sheet and Wikipedia, pose a threat to seedling peas and beets, lettuce, and strawberries. So we may need to figure out some way to deter them from feasting on the fruits of our labor.
Some interesting earwiggy facts:
-they also eat other insects, which can be good for gardens
-females have straight pincers while males have more curved pincers
-they really like damp stuff
-some rare earwigs are blind and feed on giant rats in Africa (? this actually from Harvard's bug page..)
-their pincers, though formidable in appearance, cannot break human skin and so pose no stingy-bitey threat to humans
Input Sequence
The spring weather has me running hot. I just can't seem to wait to get good stuff in the ground.
Although it is totally possible for the weather to turn deadly cold again before winter quits for good, we have hopes that the stuff we've planted so far will withstand all but the most extreme killing frosts.
This weekend Allison and Daniel and I set off to a local grower's operation (Bayless? Bayliss?) in hopes of securing some veggie plants. It was still a bit too early for the veggies to leave their incubators, so we enjoyed the calm greenhouses full of early flowers and some herbs. We got a bang-up bunch of strawberry plants for cheap, so now the only issue is where to plant them. I got some thyme, parsley, and oregano for home use, and we also got a couple of Lantana plants and some fruity mints (pineapple and orange) for the garden.
After we got back, we used our newly acquired soil to punch up and loosen the clay-dirt in mine and Michael's old patch, and then planted a bunch of strawberries, peas, and a section or two of broccoli there. Surprisingly, the broccoli I planted there last winter still has beautiful frosty-blue green leaves and is producing florets, but no large heads. We left them in, but I think they should probably come out soon as at least one plant is trying to bolt. Broccoli plants are quite decorative.
We decided to forego the brussels sprouts this time, as they are not good bedfellows with peas, and they have a very long growth cycle. We totally should have planted them in the fall.
We also skipped the onions for now, but have plans to maybe try them with early tomatoes. Don't know if that will work.
By this time, Allison had been up over 24 straight hours, and it was getting cold, so we called it a day. A very good day.
--
Hopefully I will get a new camera soon, so that I can post more garden pics. I really miss having one handy.
--
-mildly melancholy j
Although it is totally possible for the weather to turn deadly cold again before winter quits for good, we have hopes that the stuff we've planted so far will withstand all but the most extreme killing frosts.
This weekend Allison and Daniel and I set off to a local grower's operation (Bayless? Bayliss?) in hopes of securing some veggie plants. It was still a bit too early for the veggies to leave their incubators, so we enjoyed the calm greenhouses full of early flowers and some herbs. We got a bang-up bunch of strawberry plants for cheap, so now the only issue is where to plant them. I got some thyme, parsley, and oregano for home use, and we also got a couple of Lantana plants and some fruity mints (pineapple and orange) for the garden.
After we got back, we used our newly acquired soil to punch up and loosen the clay-dirt in mine and Michael's old patch, and then planted a bunch of strawberries, peas, and a section or two of broccoli there. Surprisingly, the broccoli I planted there last winter still has beautiful frosty-blue green leaves and is producing florets, but no large heads. We left them in, but I think they should probably come out soon as at least one plant is trying to bolt. Broccoli plants are quite decorative.
We decided to forego the brussels sprouts this time, as they are not good bedfellows with peas, and they have a very long growth cycle. We totally should have planted them in the fall.
We also skipped the onions for now, but have plans to maybe try them with early tomatoes. Don't know if that will work.
By this time, Allison had been up over 24 straight hours, and it was getting cold, so we called it a day. A very good day.
--
Hopefully I will get a new camera soon, so that I can post more garden pics. I really miss having one handy.
--
-mildly melancholy j
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Bitch ass dogs.
Before any intriguing night of emotional conversation, I cut a piece of plywood and was set to mount it on the gate so the dogs don't jump over it (a mighty fine piece of crap, I tell you) and enjoy freshed turn urban dirt. Dogs love dirt. That's probably why I love them so.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Spring Pics!
 |
| Spring planting |
Today Allison and I turned the soil in two beds, and planted peas, lettuce, spinach, beets, and radishes. Tomorrow she plan to add some broccoli and Brussels sprouts to the second bed.
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