Weekend update!

Cow Horn Okra seedlings

Sweet Valentine Romaine Lettuce seedlings

It's been a week since I planted, and most of my seeds have germinated. The tomatoes and peppers are taking longer (peppers are supposed to take a long time, but not sure about the tomatoes). Finally had one basil poke thru! I have some Texas Hill Red okra that is giving me a fit, so I am experimenting with other ways to get it to germinated like the Cow Horn okra from my father-in-law.

I finished clearing the rest of the garden plot for this year (making it bigger than last year). Going to try to plant all the seeds that are to be direct sowed this week. Made a small 2' x 4' potting table out of some scrap wood.

One piece of advice: don't put hay in your dogs pen and then put said used hay in the compost. Apparently hay makes a good home for fleas. We got all that cleaned out of the dogs area, and not thinking, I said "Hey, this would be good for the compost!" So... now we have fleas in the compost area (insert sarcastic "YEA!").  I put some flea killer in that area, but then realized that that might kill the good critters in the compost, so I don't plan to retreat it. Anyone have any ideas on how to organically get rid of fleas!??

On a final note, my son built a birdhouse as a Cub Scout project last year, and we finally got it on a post around Thanksgiving. I am happy to report that we have a momma and papa blue bird who have taken residence in his house. It is really neat as she has the nest all finished. We just hope that her and the protective papa can ward off any would-be predators. Below are some pics of the momma!

I want to build a few more houses around the property, as well as a house for Mason or Solitary bees, if there are any in this area, near the garden. When I planted watermelon last fall, I could believe the amount of bees that came around. Don't know where they came from, and I hope they come back this year!

Anyway, hope all is going well in your garden!

A good book...

Wanted to share a great gift my wife surprised me with this past Christmas. Know my aspirations to be a farmer, she found this book in the Lakeside Collection catalog we get. At 480 pages, this book is chock full information for the would-be "farmer", or individual who wants to live as much off the land as they want. It contains info about gardening (flowers, fruits, and vegetables), animals, crafts, building a root cellar, and so much more.

You can also get this on Amazon, and perhaps thru your local bookstore. At only $10 - $12, the amount of info contained within is worth far more than the price.

The seeds are planted... partly.

Sunday evening I was able to get outside and plant some of my seeds in my starter trays. Per some articles I read, I pre-soaked my okra and pepper seeds in warm water for a few hours Saturday, leaving the hot pepper seed in the water over night. I placed the other pepper and okra seeds in wet paper towels.

When I opened the towels with the okra seed to plant them, both varieties had already sprouted!

I am pumped about this season, and am praying for a great harvest!

Ready to plant...

Been a while since I posted. Just  quick update to say that the spring garden will be planted this weekend. We ordered a bunch of seed from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, including tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, musk melons (similar to cantaloupe), okra, squash herbs, and more. If all goes well, I hope to at least update every week, perhaps with some videos. I hope all my followers (all 3 of you! :D ), are in the spirit as well, and wish you the best of luck this planting season.