Making a Blog

Okay ~ I have spent so much time trying to get this page to look right, that I haven't been able to write anything.  I predict that the looks will change over and over as this thing evolves, but let's get to the point of things for now.

As I showed you before, I took some pictures of the beginning, and then I skipped a lot in the middle.  Don't worry.  I am going to break new ground soon and you will be able to see all the steps you've missed.

There are some other things that you missed as well.  I planted garlic and shallots for the first time last fall, and it was an experience to watch them grow all winter, and then harvest this spring.  We ended up with enough garlic to last us all year, and we will have enough left over to plant this fall for next year's supply.  Plus, we learned a few things that will make us better at this endeavor.

Another thing that you missed - I started 49 types of seeds this year.  We were only mildly successful.  Only about 12 different types of transplants made it into the garden.  Of the types that were planted, only small quantities of each type survived.  Again, we learned some valuable lessons, and hopefully we will be more successful next year.

There are two beds that were initially tilled twice.  I then added cottonseed compost, greensand, organic fertilizer, dried molasses, earthworm castings, phosphorus, gypsum, dried leaves, composted horse manure with pine shavings, and then re-tilled.

I had planted garlic and shallots in the bed pictured above, and after they were harvested, I planted Honey Rock Melon, Charantais Melon, Spaghetti Squash, Golden Scallopini Squash and Moon & Stars Watermelon.  All except the Moon & Stars had survived my pathetic attempts at starting seeds and were planted as transplants the beginning of June.

They looked like this about one month later....

Squash, melon and cucumber plants all look alike when they are growing.  The Moon & Stars were very interesting even in the beginning.  Take a close look at the leaves...