Watching My Garden Grow

fumble · Jun 14, 2011

Hello everyone. I just joined the forum and loving it so far. Last year I did my first garden. It was what was called a "three sisters garden." Corn, beans, and squash. Holy cow! It got out of hand. I ended up with 10' corn green bean tee-pees! But it was cool. nice smoke room! This year I am sticking with containers. I have Sun Gold cherry toms, purple cherokee, german queen, green zebra, and black krim. I am anticipating an awesome heirloom salad this summer! I also have a honeydew, yellow "wonder" pepper, green beans(bush variety!)and cucumbers. And a pretty awesome flower garden I will try and post pics as my bounty blooms.

mcpurple · Jun 14, 2011

looking forward to the pics.
im glad others know about the 3 sisters planting

fumble · Jun 15, 2011

Thanks, Mcpurple. I got the idea from one of my favorite books, "The Red Heart." It really was neat looking. I had 4 separate "tipis." I didn't have a camera last year, but do this year, so as soon as I can figure out the technicality of it all, I will post some pics.

fumble · Aug 3, 2011

These pics were taken shortly after June 1st.

fumble · Aug 3, 2011

and now what they look like today....In the oval area I have zinnias, nasturtiums, sweet peas, hollyhocks and Mexican sunflowers. I waaaay underanticipated how big they would get. It is the orange flower. The pink zinnia is the only one that came up, so I removed the ones from the front of the house since they were part shaded and not up to snuff. They seem to be doing okay. They will be bright pink and chartreuse. The sweet peas are being blocked by the MS but are starting to climb the bamboo trellis I made. In the picture with my mother's art are the hollyhocks I planted for her, which keep hanging on despite the rust, and cannalillies that came from I have no idea. I transplanted one that came up in my yard last year and got all this!

My vegies not only got a late start due to weather and me, but they were hella munched on by I think possums. My princess caught a mama and she had seven babies with her. Anyway, I will be harvesting my first cucumber probably tomorrow. Yea! The honeydews were super munched and are starting to come back, same with the toms. As for the pepper, well, we'll see.

dannyboy602 · Aug 8, 2011

Second row. First pic. Is that Agapanthus? Blue flowers? They're so nice. I can't grow them here but enjoy seeing them in other gardens. Nice pix. Looks cozy. Does your boxer like to toke too?

fumble · Aug 8, 2011

Hey Dannyboy! Yeah, agapanthus. They were here when I moved in and I really don't do much to em. Like the way they grow sideways? Huge tree in corner blocks all my morning sun so they do the reach trying to get it! Gonna have that tree taken down part of the way in the fall. Thanks for the compliment. As for the Princess, no, not a toker! She has a heart prob (I do too, but my cardiologist says the benefits out weigh the risks). She does love her merlot, though!

mellokitty · Aug 8, 2011

very nice! i love the plot with your mother's art!!
i'd love to have more "interest items" in my garden....

fumble · Aug 8, 2011

Thank you. She was really accomplished and sold a lot of her stuff locally. She even had an old VW completely painted with coastal scenes of where she lived.

mellokitty · Aug 8, 2011

that's so cool.... (i can't draw worth a crap. my stick people are hardly recognisable)

do you paint/draw as well?

fumble · Aug 8, 2011

I would like to, but haven't. I did draw some pics once. Long story, nothing but time on my hands lol

fumble · Aug 8, 2011

I finally got a cucumber! and a few sungolds. So sweet. The cuc was a bit bitter though. Does that mean it needs to grow more?
A couple pics of some birdhouses my daughter and I painted like 10 years ago - I just got them outta the box. Sorry for the blur, I had a couple Somersaults!
A couple pics of the black widow living under my GR
And a couple pics of a bug that I don't know what it is. I need to know if he is good or bad. He's on my CC. Been there a couple days and I haven't noticed any damage. just wanna know if he a good guy or not before I decide what to do.
And last but not least, my farmer's market sauce! mmmmmm

Carne Seca · Aug 8, 2011

Three sisters garden. That's an old Native American method. Works best for all three plants. They support and sustain each other.

fumble · Aug 9, 2011

The book I heard about it in was called "The Red Heart." I wish I had pictures of last year's garden. It was so cool. I would sit in the green bean tipi and smoke one. The beans are supposed to add nitrogen to the soil, the squash block the weed production, and the corn gives a pole for the bean. Except mine went nuts and I had to "tipi" them to keep them from toppling over.

Carne Seca · Aug 9, 2011

fumble said:
The book I heard about it in was called "The Red Heart." I wish I had pictures of last year's garden. It was so cool. I would sit in the green bean tipi and smoke one. The beans are supposed to add nitrogen to the soil, the squash block the weed production, and the corn gives a pole for the bean. Except mine went nuts and I had to "tipi" them to keep them from toppling over.

I see gardens like that all over the southwest on Native reservations.

mcpurple · Aug 9, 2011

fumble said:
I finally got a cucumber! and a few sungolds. So sweet. The cuc was a bit bitter though. Does that mean it needs to grow more?
A couple pics of some birdhouses my daughter and I painted like 10 years ago - I just got them outta the box. Sorry for the blur, I had a couple Somersaults!
A couple pics of the black widow living under my GR
And a couple pics of a bug that I don't know what it is. I need to know if he is good or bad. He's on my CC. Been there a couple days and I haven't noticed any damage. just wanna know if he a good guy or not before I decide what to do.
And last but not least, my farmer's market sauce! mmmmmm

congrats ont he harvest, i think the cuc may have been over ripe by the looks of it, and the bug is blurry but i am pretty sure it is a stink bug judging by the shape, and i would kill it. the sauce looks tasty, do you sell it to the farmers market?

fumble said:
The book I heard about it in was called "The Red Heart." I wish I had pictures of last year's garden. It was so cool. I would sit in the green bean tipi and smoke one. The beans are supposed to add nitrogen to the soil, the squash block the weed production, and the corn gives a pole for the bean. Except mine went nuts and I had to "tipi" them to keep them from toppling over.

when i did the three sisters i left out the squash and my beans grew faster then the corn could and evently they got to top heavy and all toppled over, it was after harvest though. the three sisters planting is really just permaculture, you can do this type of planting with a number of things, like if you grow sqaush in mid summer when its hot you can plant lettuce under and near them to help keep them cooler on hot days so they dont get as bitter or bolt so fast

fumble · Aug 9, 2011

cool info McPurp. Thanks! None of my cucs are dark. all the foliage is dark green but not the fruit. I think there are more to pick today, yea!
Yeah, I was thinking stink bug too. I will have to find and remove - don't want to crush and cause a stink! hehhehe
I bought all the ingredients at the farmer's market and made the sauce. My son is very much into permaculture. He is working on a farm in western PA.

fumble · Aug 12, 2011

Just when I was ready to stop wasting the water on it, my "mega" pumpkin finally let a flower open and get pollinated. Don't know if it will reach the 25 to 35 lbs it is heralded at, but we will see... :-P

oh yeah, and a couple pics of the transplanted zinnias. They seem to be taking nicely.
I also picked up a Meyer lemon and a washington naval orange. I cannot wait for the blooms on them. Citrus blooms smell sooooo good!

fumble · Aug 17, 2011

I am so glad I kept watering my pumpkin. I now have 5 pumpkins. One might not make it though. I sprinkled DE on it cause I had a bunch of tiny black bugs on a couple leaves. They made it all shiny. When I squished them in my fingers, they left a red stain. Weird. The DE seems to have done the job though.
The Mexican sunflowers are just popping open with more color every day. All the zinnias are blooming. No chartreuse blooms yet. :sad:

I woke up to the most beautiful canna lily bloom yesterday. I took a couple pics of what they look like after the bloom. Does anyone know what those are? Seed pods, I'm thinking? How to harvest them? All comments welcome. :wink:

mellokitty · Aug 17, 2011

canna lilies are so beautiful.... those sure do look like they're going to swell into seed pods. i know almost nothing about canna lilies -- i bought a late bulb on special and it's still a wee shoot. in my experience, stuff like that wants to get good and ripe before seed harvest.

yay on your pumpkins! out of 3 surviving squash plants, i'm nursing ONE buttercup squash, so i'm jealous.

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