Beating the Summer Scorching

It it finally fall and not 100+ degrees What does that mean for this on again off again gardener? 

Well, I'm not sure yet, but it may go a bit like this....

1. Figure out what went wrong.

      • Too much spring rain not enough sun.

      • Too much summer heat not enough rain.

       • Too much red dirt (clay/sand) not enough soil.

       • Too many mosquitos not enough courage... 

2. Plan for the Fall.

      • Begin yard clean up

      • Continue prepping various hard scaping projects. (Patio, pathways, rainwater retention, leaf removal...etc)

      • Layout and order flower bulbs for fall planting to fill spring flower beds...excited for spring already! Hoping the plants we invested in this year wil take root and flourish!

Prepping The Plot - originally posted 4/11

     God must have a wry sense of humor as it has been bright, sunny and warm during the work week, but a bit chilly, grey and overcast today- Saturday.

    The funny thing is, I am one of the few strange individuals who don't mind a bit, I am actually more awake, motivated and dare I say 'peppy' when it's a bit gloomy out. 

     This morning for example we woke up early, and ran to the garden store and chose plants for our first garden at our new house...previous garden attempts have been restricted to buckets and pots...this time it's real, yay!

      After placing our garden spoils in safe spot pre-planting we proceed to begin prepping the garden plot in the raised planting bed...well I was anyway, Rose and Bella decided to blow dandelion seeds into the yard where Bella began sneezing...poor dog.

 

Spring has Sprung!

      It is officially April and with that comes the unpredibility of Oklahoma's Tornado Season and the beginnings of spring...

      I've come to expect late frosts when the day prior has hit temps of 75-80 degrees, fast forming storms with high winds (hanging baskets beware!) and a sunny downpour at any moment...let the outdoor projects begin!

Project 1: Neighbor Screening. 

     Don't let the name fool you I don't actually screen the neighbors, but I'm not saying I wouldn't...I'm a naturally quiet and reserved person who likes my neighbors to be the same- I don't need or want to be apart of your loud house parties, raucous conversation, hear your squeaky swing and most importantly as any good neighbor knows- keep your eyes to yourself! Just because your house is on a slight hill doesn't mean you should stare into my back yard, it's rude and more than a little creepy. 

      So the more practice solution, plant some lovely and more importantly tall and fast growing shrubs and extend the flower bed along the fence.

These little guys don't look like much yet but these brilliant Gibraltar Azaleas are expected to grow to an average height of 8 feet and have clusters of brilliantly orange flowers. I'm so excited!

2014- New House, New Yard...New Garden...in 2015

Ok, it's been a long time and I've more than neglected the physical act of gardening....my foray into container gardening in Oklahoma was and is a Herculean task, with the incessant wind and incredibly intense sun... it is no longer gardening it becomes the art of tomato survival and pepper parching. So, I'm writing it off, for the time being.

However, I have been thinking, planning and laying out my new and life-sized garden.
I think that this plan has never really stopped developing in and improving in my head, it has just changed directions when we discovered our charming little midtown bungalow and it's low maintenance front yard and the designers dream of a back yard.

This lovely dream of mine began this past May/June 2014 when my husband and I discovered our new home and moved in a little over a month later...

We've not done much more than cut the grass and dig up a tree in the front yard (non-indigenous species that was growing way too close to my front window & foundation.

 In the back yard, we've move a few edging stones, built a dog run (for the Great Dane, didn't want any "surprises" in the rest of the yard), took out a bush or two and planted two apple trees!

It doesn't seem like a whole lot, but if you add up all the clean-up and physical labor of these few things, I feel like it is a great accomplishment for the short time we've been here and there is much more to come!

Things to come...(I hope!!!)

* A path from garden gate to front yard
* A Patio outside my front window
*An extension to the oddly placed deck in our backyard
* Paver stone path/patio from our back door to our back deck
*Small Vegetable/Salsa garden
*Pergola & Outdoor drapes - for Deck
*Blueberries & Strawberries

See you in the Spring!

Torrential Rain

4/15/11

Torrential rain, strong winds, hail, and the ever-present threat of tornado’s... this is the springtime welcome of ‘Green Country’.

If my plants and I make it through spring, we just might survive ‘til harvest.

After rushing home last night to ensure I wouldn’t get swept up in the spring storm, I briefly glanced at the containers on our back deck an didn’t think of them again, until my husband asked if we needed to bring them in; I took another look out the French doors, saw the heavy rain and hailstones and decided that they’d better toughen up…’cause I wasn’t about to go out and save them in that kind of weather…I don’t suppose I’d make a good full-time farmer.

4/18/11

I’ve taken a decidedly low-maintenance approach to my container garden.

1^st. I’ve skipped watering (the abundance of spring rain has done enough)

2^nd. The potting soil came with a fertilizer element so I nixed that step.

3^rd. I periodically glance out the French door out back to ensure the wind hasn’t uprooted them- maybe I’ll re-pot them when they grow just a bit bigger…

5/1/11

Well, after two weeks of on again off again rain I thought for a moment that I had made it through the woods; however, today just might have done them in.

My basil and cucumber vines look as though they’ve been flooded into oblivion and no amount of sunlight will dry out the water that is drowning my vegetables…and there isn’t anything I can do.

Daddy could make tomato’s, one of the most fickle plants in existence, grow in a gravel pit and flourish without doing much of anything…I allow my plants to drown, maybe my focus isn’t as sharp as I thought. We’ll see if the coming week brings sun enough to make up for the rain…otherwise, I’ll be replanting quite soon.

Weeks 4, 5, 6…

4/13/11

            The past few weeks have been a test in gardening patience and ‘know-how’ of which I’m not entirely sure of, or that I do, know that is…hmmm, I’m not sure I could say that any clearer even if I wanted to.

The weather has been flip-flopping between early summer heat to the cold and gloom of late winter, it’s suppose to be spring for goodness sakes!

It was so nice a few weeks ago, and I like other newbie gardeners were lulled into the false assurance that spring was here. Just because we’ve passed that day on the calendar that says ‘first day of spring’ doesn’t, in any, or all actuality mean that seasonal phenomena called ‘Spring’ is here, not in Oklahoma.  Anyway, I decided to transplant my tiny little seedlings into a large container; an under bed storage container to be exact, along with a few random terracotta pots, in various sizes that I’d purchased in previous years, these were perfect for my Dahlia’s, garlic and onion, while the storage bit was a good starting bed for my seedlings and the plants that were overrunning my kitchen window.

Once I’d spilled miracle potting soil on the floor in my laundry room and got all the plants looking good in their new pots, I took them out onto our sunny little deck to soak up the sun and grow. This was fine for the first few days, sunny, warm, and perfect. Then one night I got cold, and realized that although the days were nice the nights were beginning to get cold, gloomy and wet.

When I could remember this, I lugged the plants inside for the night, those nights I forgot, a few casualties were lost to the ever present Oklahoma wind threatening day and night to uproot my virtually unprotected seedlings…however, most of my plants have survived thus far, and so, I continue…and hope for the best.        

Week 2-ish: and then the Cold Snap

Week 2ish

It was in the kitchen that I received a disbelieving look from my Chicago transplant of a husband when I brought home a newly purchased a seed starter, some seeds of cucumber, tomato, basil, and cilantro along with a few dahlia roots, ‘for color’…this little experiment wasn’t something he expects to go well, and given the look I don’t believe he expects that my roughly $25.00 investment is worth the money or the work, time will tell I suppose…

I must say though by Week 3, after watching the dried up little disks of peat moss ‘grow’ and after I planted the seeds a couple of weeks ago, my husbands faith in my gardening abilities has grown, especially after listening to me squeal like a child when I saw little leaves sprouting in the seed tray taking up valuable counter space in out kitchen.

After that, I let them grow a bit more and then commandeered two coffee mugs and an egg carton and filled up my kitchen window with sprouting plants…this was a good and bad thing, good because the plants had more room to grow, light air etc…but bad, because I still hadn’t gained any counter space and my coffee-loving husband had lost “two good mugs”.