I have to say, design like this takes me

I have to say, design like this takes me WAY back. http://www.dqha.net/

Ladybugs to the rescue!

Our girls came today!! 2nd day air from gardeners.com. — was a shame half were dead. They are guAranteed-so more are to be on their way. It was really cool cutting ((very gingerly I might add) into the netting and watching everybody take off,crawling up my arms..flying into the air.. and my face. :/. Those whiteflies,spidermites and other baby creepie crawly garden pests won’t stand a chance.

It was cool seeing them still hanging out a day later.. As we noticed 4 jalapeño blooms… and 5 strawberries!!

tomato pruning 101

oh la la lookie what we learned

With tomatoes, we want to maximize the efficiency of photosynthesis and minimize the risk of disease. This is best accomplished by ensuring that each leaf has plenty of room and is supported up off the ground. When a tomato plant lies on the ground, or when its growth is extremely dense, many of its leaves are forced into permanent shade, greatly reducing the amount of sugar they produce.

If a leaf uses more sugar than it makes, eventually it will yellow and drop off.A pruned and staked plant will produce larger fruit two to three weeks earlier than a prostrate one.

A properly pruned and supported single-stem tomato plant presents all of its leaves to the sun. Most of the sugar produced is directed to the developing fruit, since the only competition is a single growing tip. The result is large fruits that are steadily produced until frost. If more stems are allowed to develop, some of the precious sugar production is diverted from fruit to multiple growing tips.

Fruit production, although slowed, never stops. The result is a nearly continuous supply of fruits throughout the season. In general, more stems means more but smaller fruits, which are produced increasingly later in the season. (This is much less applicable to determinate plants, due to their shortened growing season and better-defined fruiting period.

As a tomato grows, side shoots, or suckers, form in the crotches, or axils, between the leaves and the main stem. If left alone, these suckers will grow just like the main stem, producing flowers and fruit.

Suckers appear sequentially, from the bottom of the plant up. The farther up on the plant a sucker develops, the weaker it is, because the sugar concentration gets lower as you move up the plant. On the other hand, side stems arising from below the first flower cluster, although stronger, compromise the strength of the main stem.

For a multi-stemmed plant, your aim is to have all stems roughly the same size, although the main stem should always be stronger, because it has to feed the entire plant for the next five or six months.

RULE 1
Get plants off the ground.

RULE 2
Give plants room.

RULE 3
Never prune or tie plants when the leaves are wet.

Yea so i stole this directly from an awesome site that I used to chop up our tomato plants..

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/pruning-tomatoes.aspx

check it out

**you can see a leeeetle baby sucker  in the axil of this stem- we’ll pinch it off with our fingers when it gets big enough to grab.

eenie meenie miney….

Problem:  yellowing at the bottom of pea plants. what gives?

here’s what i’ve found:

1. Peas need a large amount of nitrogen for growth. Buy bean & pea inoculate anywhere you buy the pea seeds. The inoculate helps bacteria in the soil create nitrogen the peas use for growth.  During the growing season keep the peas moist but make sure you don’t over water them. The peas main nutrients are phosphorus and small amounts of nitrogen.

If your soil is naturally nutritious don’t add anything else, but if not add in some fertilizer with the water every two or three weeks. Once way to tell whether your plant is getting enough nutrients is to judge from its color. If the color is pale green you will need to give the peas some more nitrogen. Especially this variety of pea will require a higher amount of nitrogen then other kinds. Try to keep the weeks at bay by hoeing, and picking the weeds by hand if necessary.

2. Peas, incl. snowpeas, are ‘cool weather’ veg. Try planting some more at the end of summer for a fall crop.

3. Maybe the older, lower leaves are being sacrified by the plant or outcompeted for water because of the water demands of the rest of the plant. If the plants are otherwise in good health, maybe this explains it. They may need more water than when they were smaller. Direct watering on snap pea blossoms will stop the pea blossoms from fruiting to pea pods. Water pea plants at the base especially when they start to bloom.

In my searches, I haven’t found one simple reason (of course!)  but i’m pretty sure i’ve saved you from having to search thru like 20 websites with this post, considering that’s what i’ve been doing for the last 45m.  Snap peas can be planted in the fall as well as early spring, so i think i might give them a try this fall.

If you’ve had this problem, and know a solution, help us out!

and i dont even LIKE tomatoes… ???

Box #1 pretty much complete. Half of the corn is going to box #2 when it’s full of soil, as well as the basil and oregano.  Peppermint, lavender and i’m sure something else we’ll grab on impulse will go in as well.   We put cages over the tomato plants last night …word to the wise, dont wait till they’re that big to transfer & cage them. It’s cumbersome to get them out of the pot, and then you risk breaking the stems when you bring the cage down around the base of the plant.  After everyone was planted, they got a good drenching of h2o, and then to bed.

p.s. if you look really close you can see aloe to the left of the oregano. forgot to label that one :p

Getting our Grow On

We decided to plant our vegetation in the ground as opposed to taking the containers in and out everyday. With the little space we have to do this, we’ve decided the best idea is to build garden boxes on the concrete. It’s the one place in the whole yard that gets the best sun. I have to admit that I am pretty dern proud of how well we did with it. It looks killer. And with this we built a compost pit to make our own dirt! We’ll be updating you on the progress of the garden.

New addition

Meet Kaimana. Staffordshire Bull Terrier. She comes home in June!! We are stoked!  

 

www.bullypaws.org  based out of Richmond, Virginia. There are plenty more that need a home, if you’re willing and responsible, consider bringing an unfortunate soul into your life.

www.badrap.org  debunking the ridiculous myths and sh*t talking on the breed.

And off we go to blow mad money at petsmart. p.s. looking into raw diet–gotta stay holistic for puppy too!  more of that to come of course   ciao!

Just witnessed a scene from Deliverance

Just witnessed a scene from Deliverance in the tub…only with ants and minus a banjo :/

you are what you eat…

We’ve changed our diet for the good. (((delete post about those chemical frenchie fries below :/  )))  Time to support local farming. Ciao to GMO, rBST and all those other fun acronyms and chemicals. Whole Foods is our bestie. Although some things are ridonkulously expensive there, if you shop smart (365 is their brand) and pay attention to coupons/fliers, there are some good deals to be had.   For the most part, it’s vegetarian for us, although we will partake in local meats- if and only if:

1. they’re from a local farm

2. not from a factory farm and processed extensively (see #1)

3. Not corn-fed ((still looking into what ‘vegetarian-fed’ actually means ..)

4. I can actually cook them to where they will taste abso-freakin-lutely delicious and not get destroyed by my novice cooking skills.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

We saw this movie a month ago on Netflix. Was a real eye opener. Watching it a second time makes us really feel good that we’ve made the right decision. Nevermind that our bodies feel so much better and constant exposure to sick littles hasnt affected us at all.   Check it out and spread the word.

Since we’re getting settled in the new abode, time to get cookin’.

Holy fatness batman!

Moving day! I got a coffee and a public storage box for v-day, what more could a girl ask for. After 10, maybe 11?? hours of packing and trips to the storage unit, we decided some fries and milkshakes would really hit the spot. Look at how freakin huge!! Keep on keepin’ america fat, burger king!