ONE WEEK ON FERTILIZER 03/18/2010
 I took pictures of my "Table plants" yesterday. These are my beefsteak's.  These are my Pepper plants...they take longer to sprout.  These are the Polish Linguisa tomatoes. Paste tomatoes. I am thinking...great salsa too. More meat, less seeds and juice.  These are the Super sweet 100's...for salads. I also like yellow pear tomatoes for salad. Maybe I will get a few volunteers from my East wing. I did not plant any...yet.  I put my hand in there for some sort of scale. My hands are wide, but have short fingers. You can see that the plant is pretty big.  This is what they looked like a week ago. That might even be the same plant. I forget cause I turn the tray a couple times a week to keep the plants growing straight. They want to grow toward the Sun. I guess that the worm poo is working! I need more worms! I need compost! I need more boxes ready to plant! Whatever is a Gal to do? Worms and dirt! Every Gals dream...LOL. ************************* FIVE DAYS 03/14/2010
 Here are my beefsteak tomatoes. Today.  They looked like this on Tuesday when I put the worm castings on top. Not bad for 5 days. TALKING POO...AGAIN! 03/09/2010
 What you see here is a five gallon bucket, 2/3 rds full of worm castings (poo). If you look in the right hand lower corner, you will see the much lighter in color...new bedding for my worms. I have been preparing the coconut coir for the worms by adding coffee grounds and egg shells. Coconut coir is the outside of coconuts that is ground up. Worms like to eat it. I extracted my worms one by one and relocated them to the new bed. I will be using the "poo" to mix with my starter pot mix to apply to the top of my cups of tomatoes. It is two weeks since I planted the seeds and they now need fertilizer. Plus, I read that using worm fertilizer on seedlings, helps the plants to be more disease resistant. Last year I had such a bad time with store bought plants I ended up with next to nothing. THAT is why I chose to start my own plants this year.  This is the new bedding. You can see a few worms, but they are camera shy. The dark spots are from the other bucket. I am hoping to have enough worms this year to be able to fertilize everything with them alone. Last year I made compost tea and it worked OK but not the way worm tea does. I want to save it for my tomatoes and if there is some left over then I will use it on the other veggies. Or I will get more worms. That would be ideal! I was told that using the worm tea on tomatoes, a Lady got 400 pounds per plant. I am not sure I believe that, but I could maybe 100 pounds per plant...maybe. I have 22 beefsteaks, 12 Polish Romas, and 7 cherry tomatoes, that adds up to a LOT of tomatoes! Come on worms!!! ********************* Easter Green 03/07/2010
 As you can see, I have lined these two beds with cardboard I have been saving. The idea behind this is...worms like to eat cardboard so let's feed the worms. Also the boards on my boxes don't' meet well so it should help keep the dirt in the boxes.  Then I put the chips on top. This will help with drainage and nutrients. Now some dirt and some compost and the beds will be ready to plant. I am so excited! It is also recycling...I just love being green! Speaking of green...  Look what is up in my East wing....Tulips!  AND...grape hyacinths! Easter is coming! EAST WING 03/04/2010
 This is the "East" wing of my gardens. Today I dug up the middle bed in this picture. It is now ready to plant. There are actually 4 beds in here. The two beds to the west are full of dirt. If you look at the post in the middle, you can see the orange tape blowing in the MIGHTY wind we are having today. This morning, before it got windy, I dug up the one bed, and staked and leveled the bed next to that one. I have one more bed in there to level and then I can fill them both with compost and yard scraps. Four beds here and five in my West wing. I have until the end of this month, which is when I want to be planting. I have six more beds to build and fence in...somehow. But I have enough to get started. I just went out to take pictures so I could post this and this is what I found...  Looks like SOME dog was messing around in here. Want to guess who THAT was?  So I raked it back again.  This is my gate...  This what it looks like closed. In this position, it is efficient at keeping the dogs out. Now I just need to remember to do this when I come out. I LOVE SPRING! 03/03/2010
 Today I would like to talk about my starter cups. The tomatoes are up!!! I have 20 beefsteak tomatoes up and 9 Polish Linguisa tomatoes up. I planted 24 and twelve, respectfully. I am now waiting on the peppers.  I can't help but think about (lust over) the thought of those beefsteak tomatoes on (or in) my BLT's, or tomato sauce, salads. They give me hope for the future. This tiny little sprout is what I have been waiting for. I have about 500 quart canning jars I am hoping to put a big dent in by canning up the little beauties that come from these sprouts. I read that if you blow a fan on these while they are small, it will help make the stalk strong. Get them ready for the big winds we get around here. If they are good enough...I hope to sell some, too. Maybe up on the highway would be a good place.  This is what my kitchen table looks like now. There are only 2 kinds of tomatoes and the rest are peppers. I want to grow my own peppers for my hot pepper relish. There are green, red yellow, orange, and purple sweet peppers and jalepenos, pablano, serrano, banana, and a couple more I can't remember right now. (Darn that some-timers disease!) I would gladly give up my table for a garden full of the best veggies around. I have a bunch of cups to fill up with dirt for other veggies. Then there are the ones I will plant directly in the ground. I can hardly wait. I LOVE SPRING! | ArchivesAugust 2010 CategoriesAll |
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