Welcome to my first attempts at homesteading!

There will be ups and downs of gardening, baking, cooking, parenting, and trying out homesteading. It should be interesting, a true learning experience!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Are you jealous of my trellis?

I know, corny title, but I was so excited when my hubby built this that I thought as soon as my mom saw this she was going to be jealous so it just popped out! Here it is, not so much in all its glory just yet (please ignore the very dead Christmas tree and gardening paraphernalia in the picture)... ...imagine two very large tomato plants climbing on it on the left and right and a marigold in the middle and a basil on either side in the back of the box. It's going to be wonderful. It's not even attached to the box people! It is a free standing form...able to withstand winds up to 35 MPH, or so I hope since that's what we get around here :) Next up is my tepee...it also was just built and will need some kind of support like tent stakes or re bar or something to keep it from blowing away. Now, imagine this with Pole beans, snap and shell peas and beautiful hyacinth bean vines growing on it...even if you don't know what these things look like, use your imagination :) Okay, now I will blow your minds away...remember the box in front of the trellis, how empty it looks? Well look at it now: Did I blow your minds away or what? The frame you see made of PVC and plastic is to keep the plants from dying in case there is a frost at night. Unfortunately we are not in the clear yet, not until Mother's Day to be able to plant most things outside without the worry of a frost. In the two outer squares are Walla Walla onions, in the two back squares are Dinosaur Kale, and in the front two are Cosmo Savoy Lettuce (romaine type). I am very excited to see these things grow and be able to harvest fresh produce right in time for dinner! All of these will grow to fill/overfill the squares designated for them! Here is the 4'x4' box right beside that one which I just planted yesterday: There isn't much in either box yet since not everything can go out yet. Later in this post I will show you what else I am starting indoors from seed. The only thing that was not started from seed indoors was the Walla wallas, but I also have walla walla seed starts which you will see the progress of in a few scrolls down. I HAVE TO TAKE A MOMENT AND GIVE MY MOM THE CREDIT FOR STARTING ALL THESE SEEDLINGS HERSELF! SHE IS THE ONE WHO GAVE THEM ALL TO ME. I am going to take over the process since she lives 4 hours away and my husband built me a wonderful seed shelf! See look: (In the tray) there are tomatoes on the right, bell peppers and jalapenos on the left, basil in the front on the left and that empty looking 4" pot is the walla wallas. After a week of waiting (which is not long people) these came up...and in one day they went from this... ...to this: and now ONLY 4 DAYS later they look like this: Isn't that amazing! They were planted on March 11th (as you can see by the tag) and in less than 2 weeks they are 6 inches tall! They will be ready to go out next week I think...exciting huh? This is a perfect plant to grow from seed with kids because it has almost instant satisfaction. Oh yeah, remember that shelf in the last post I showed you my husband built me? It now looks like this: Never mind the piles of books on top of it or the pile of stuff underneath :) This stuff is my gardening reference stuff that should be in the garage, it's much more handy here...but hey, look at that amazing light system! Isn't it wonderful? Thanks mom!! (Sorry about all the terrible lighting...it really is sunny outside and my house is bathed in warm lighting but the point and shoot camera that I'm using uses it's own lighting choices so I get what I get, ya know?) What else has changed...EVERYTHING! I'll have to stop here for now though or I fear I'll lose you if I haven't already! More tomorrow...so tune in!

4 comments:

  1. I bow down to your garden Goddess greatness! I am just SO intimidated by gardening!!! Love your light shelf, it's so awesome having a handy hubby :) And, Sister, stake the CRAP out of that tepee!!! We had a large, METAL gazebo try and crawl over the neighbor's fence one windy day! I am still kicking myself I didn't get a picture. It was unbelievable.

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  2. Oh, my goodness! Look at all the progress going on here on a daily basis. Now you can tell people what I always say, "If I can do it, so can you." I mean, we're not the Garden Goddesses everyone thinks we are, are we? No. We're just ordinary women who do extraordinary things! And they are only extraordinary to those who haven't attempted to do it themselves. Ask Melody who said a year ago, "I could never garden like you. I kill everything!" And look at her awesome, prolific, gorgeous garden now! In fact, she so surprised herself with last season's success, that she is in process of building more raised beds right now.

    It's easier than it looks, right miha?

    ***Comment above deleted due to a type-o... I know how you hate type-o's :o)

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  3. Oh, and by the way... I AM jealous of your trellis!

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  4. Don't be jealous! You're getting one for Mother's Day!!! YAY Dominic the Handy Man!

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