Tomatoes and Sweet Pepper's
Cuc's and Zuc's are starting to take over!
Soon these guys will be in their new home in straw bales as well with the direct sow seeds of green beans, carrots, and lettuce. We are taking on gardening this year hoping for some great outpouring of veggie's in return (ok I guess we are growing fruit because of the tomatoes if you're one of those people always arguing for their proper placement)!
We picked up 8 of these from a local nursery.
Two in the back trunk
Two more in the back seat. Took 2 trips but luckily the nursery is only a few minutes drive.
We set them up along our fence line where they will get lots of sun.
Their final resting place
We started the conditioning process to decompose the straw bales. The formula we are working with is a 10 day process. We need the bales to decompose by heating up using fertilizers and lots of water.
Once the bales decompose enough our seedlings and seeds can then go into their new homes and hopefully will flourish. We have never done this before so with over a year of research and wimping out last year, we feel confident in giving it a try this go around.
Here is our formula (the traditional way) that we are following for those interested:
Day 1) 1/2 cup of 34-0-0 per bale and then water the bales
Day 2) water
Day 3) 1/2 cup of 34-0-0 per bale and more water
Day 4) water
Day 5) 1/2 cup of 34-0-0 per bale and water
Day 6) water
Day 7,8,9) 1/4 cup 34-0-0 and water
Day 10) 1 cup 10-10-10 per bale and water
We are lucky to have a connection to be able to get the 34-0-0 fertilizer however online there are several substitutes you could use but it may just take a few extra days to decompose the bales. We can thank the terrorists for having 34-0-0 removed from stores and from being available to the public. Scary the government could just ban something from the public entirely and boom it's gone off the shelves.
This is what the side of our backyard now looks like, lined with straw bales! Our dogs are having to learn to not stand on them at the current moment....they think they are part lion on Pride Rock! Hopefully once we plant things in them they will not be seen as perches or couches any more but more importantly our produce won't be snacks for them!
Our side of the house facing the school when we moved in was an old bed that had just been left untended to. We considered putting our straw bales there to grow however we didn't want all the little kids and people who come around to have free reign of our garden (including the deer!). We leveled out the old dirt and wanted to plant grass. We decided we didn't want just grass but could put something over there that would serve a purpose too. We ended up buying a raspberry, blueberry, and black berry bushes and planting them alongside the house. We have also since thrown down grass seed. We left room between them all so they have room to spread. Hopefully we didn't just set up a buffet line for the deer which I have the feeling we may have just done!
Blueberry bush
Blackberry Bush
Raspberry Bush
Had to throw this picture in of our gorgeous Azalea bush! We have three that are in front of the house, but this one has really bloomed like crazy.
Our roses on the right side of our front entrance have come alive and some already have buds ready to open up! (The sign in the garden is a Welcome sign with our last name on it but I blurred it for privacy in case you were wondering why it's all weird looking)
We also decided to tackle the playground and power wash it.
I promise I do partake in helping, I'm just always the one with the camera!
The dogs learned a new trick in the process!
Surveying the situation
Going for it. Sorry blurry but the only one I have!
Made it! Meeko can jump up and use the center bars to then jump again up and in. Brian saw Tucker do it the other day too! Tucker kept trying to climb up the slide to no avail, too slippery for him but it was funny how determined he was to try to run up it! He tried for at least 5 minutes straight before deciding to just sit at the bottom and wait for Meeko and Brian to come down. He didn't even try climbing up the ladder this time.
Pressure washed and ready for staining!
We also bought a large potter and put strawberry plants in them. Please ignore my fairy garden in the background that looks super bland even though our perennial's have come up! Not sure what I will be doing this year with the fairy garden given that we have two 4-legged animals that have full run of our backyard now most the time without supervision and are known for their crafty thieving....my fairies may be put at risk of decapitation if one of them are stolen! Contemplating trying it out but then again we may just re-home them to a different location this year where paws can't reach them.
They came with some strawberries already! Unfortunately Mr. Meeko, unbeknownst to us, has an affinity for them....ripe or not! We have now begun keeping an eye on the pups to keep them out of the container which just so happens to be the perfect height for them to reach their heads in and grab one and run!
We also celebrated my nephew Maverick's 1st birthday! I was the total loser aunt who forgot her camera! Didn't occur to me until we were already there chowing down on food. Phone picture for the win...or not really, but it's the best I could do. Unbelievable he is already a whole year old! Phew where are the months and now year going?!?!
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