We had a lot of stuff to get done in the garden so we made a day of it. Although it was a long hot day, we still had fun and plenty to giggle about… Continue reading
Long Vlog of a Long Day in the Garden
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Category Archives: The Garden
An Invasion of Dog Vomit Slime Mold
One day I went out to the garden and noticed nasty looking blobs of slime that appeared to be taking over the garden. I’ve never seen anything like it before and I’ll admit I was a little freaked out over it. I did a little research and found out that it’s a mold/fungus called dog vomit slime mold. Just the name alone sounds pretty disgusting and like something you should be pretty alarmed about. Luckily it’s harmless, to people and pets and actually beneficial to plants because it breaks down organic matter which adds nutrients to the soil. Continue reading
Doing a Little Companion Planting
I’ve wanted to grow some herbs and try drying them this year. I bought some and planned on making a little herb garden but never got around to getting it done. Then I went on a short vacation before I got them planted, and for some reason they started dying. So instead of planting them in their own little garden, I decided to do some companion planting and put them in with vegetables that they grow well with.
If the Garden Fails, At Least We’ll Have Plenty of Weeds To Eat!
I do believe that the weeds have officially taken over the area of the garden that we didn’t mulch. They’re so thick you can’t even see the ground, nor can you see any of the beans we planted. I’d have to say that the beans are pretty much doomed, wouldn’t you?
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Seed Giveaway
Oh, I’m so excited! The seeds I ordered a week ago arrived in the mail the other day. The green house finally got in the 6 packs of tomatoes and green peppers that I’ve been waiting for, so I picked them up. I’ve got the majority of the other seeds I’m wanting to plant rounded up, so now all that’s left to do is plant. Once that’s done, I’ll officially have my garden in. Sounds simple, right? Well…not exactly, because there’s still plenty of back aching planting to be done. But at least it’s all gathered up so there’s no more excuses to not get it planted.
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Yes, It’s Been a While
Wow, it seems like for ever since I posted anything here. And you know, I’ve missed it. I didn’t intend to quit posting here, it just happened. As I’ve mentioned before, I started a YouTube channel. The reason I decided to start it is because I’ve found it hard to keep up with all that’s going on around here through blog posts. There just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done. With videos, it makes it just a little bit easier because I can capture the content while we’re out working, then edit it and have it ready to post. Where posts seem to take more time because we go out and work, take pictures, edit the pictures, then I have to come in and write, then edit. If I focus on writing, I tend to fall behind on the work that needs to be done around here and if I focus on the work, I fall behind writing. Since I’m not much of a multitasker, I decided to focus on making videos for a while to see if it’d be something I’d like. It’s been great because I’m learning all sorts of new things and have met a lot of fun like-minded people.
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Days May Be Getting Shorter, But Still Lots to Do!
I know it’s been a while since I last posted, but things have just been busy… there’s just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Normally at this time of the year, things start to wind down around here. The garden slows down, the goat dries up and milking comes to an end for the year, and we start planning when to butcher our turkeys and meat chickens. But this year has been so different and I’m beginning to wonder if we will get everything done by the time winter hits. I really hope so because I really don’t want to be out butchering birds when the snow is flying.
So far the only thing close to being on schedule is our milking season has come to an end. We milked the last time for this year last week and are using up our last quart…
No Apples This Year
This year has been one fungusey year, I tell ya. Yeah I know, fungusey isn’t a real word, but with all the fungus I’ve dealt with this summer it’s officially became a word around our house because there’s no other way to describe it other than… fungusey. Seems like one thing after another came down with some sort of fungus all summer long. From flowers and shrubs, to tomatoes and even the apple tree, it was all affected by fungus this year.
Unfortunately our apple tree got cedar apple rust, which is a fungus that requires both cedar and apple trees to reproduce. It starts out in the spring with the cedar and once the spores form, they travel by air to the apple tree where they infect the leaves and blooms. The apple tree will develop yellow spots on the leaves and late summer the spores will mature and travel by air back to the cedar tree to complete the life cycle. You can read more about the life cycle of cedar-apple rust here.
Fall Garden Update
Shortly after my last garden update, we went out and cleared the weeds out of one end of the garden. It was quite a chore, let me tell ya! Those weeds were so thick and tall it made it really hard to knock down and on top of that, it was super-hot and humid. Not the best combination at all. I had break out the DR Trimmer because the weed eater kept loosing it’s string, then it also kept loosing it’s string and between that and me killing it and not being able to restart it, I was keeping my husband busy helping me when he had other things to get done.
Once all the weeds were knocked down, it was a huge chore to till because all the weeds kept bogging down the tiller. But we managed to get it all done and I got the beans in. Now they’re up, blooming and looking good. I also put in a row of peas but not all of them came up and the beans kinda took over. I keep forgetting to check so I don’t know if there are any growing out there or not.
Treating Blossom Drop in Tomatoes
Back in the spring, while doing chores one morning, Miley noticed we had a small tomato plant growing by the barn. We left it there, and soon forgot about it as the busyness of the summer took over. Soon it grew large it was taller than the fence panels. Continue reading
Humble Little Homestead 