Tummy aches and weeding

I decided to take a stab at a daily blog. I always here about keeping a diary of your garden is good, so I thought why not share all the ups and downs of a beginner gardener. So today I will start!

We were lucky enough to finally get some rain. Not much but a day and a half of rain after a month on drought is better then nothing. It has been super dry this summer so far, with maybe 4 days of rain in the last 2 months. So with a little rain my plants have been pretty happy and I watered a bit last night. So with a bit of a cloudy day, I decided to get some maintenance done.

I recently found out I have some health issues, including very high candida levels and because of that I have been pretty ill. I went to a clean eating diet a few weeks back and I had a little cheat meal (NY steak with veggies and salad,) and I have been riddled with tummy issues since that meal three days ago. I thought with that cloud cover today, maybe some soil will help.

I went out in the morning after I got the kids on the bus. There have been a few areas I have neglected, so I decided to work on the first two rows. I weeded out my greens and planted a succession row. My greens are coming up beautifully but not everything came up and I have a lot of wholes. Then with my new diet and the fact I am eating a lot more greens, I decided to plant some new ones. I planted more of my mix of Artic King, Grand Rapids and Red Salad Bowl. Then I added in a row of Giant Red Mustard greens, arugula and come Champion Collards.
Then I pruned my cucumber plants and they are coming along very well, along with my two little artichoke plants, my Orange Pear tomato plant and then I planted these soy bean plants. Well I believe they are some sort of soy bean, my son planted them at school and brought them home. They were not marked and he told me but we both forgot.

Then I tackled my second row. First the carrots, then I planted a row of each of my carrots. Then moved to my kale, my parsnips (which did not come up at all,) my leeks and fennel, which barley came up. I didn't do much on this row though.
I did; however, mulch my first path with the grass clippings from my brother in law. I have been having a horrible time with weeds coming up the sides on my raised beds and I am just going to mulch and mulch to keep those weeds down.

Then I puttered around doing smaller things here and there and then came in for a bit then went back out to lock the chickens up and did some slug hunting. I am feeling a lot better now, so I am off to bed and hoping my tummy is better tomorrow.

Getting things done

Yesterday was a good day in the garden. We recently had a few days of rain, so I just let things soak. Caught up on laundry but also took advantage of the cooler weather to weed and organize my green house a bit.

When I am in the garden I like to listen to podcasts. I have been addicted to America's Home Grown Veggie's with Daryl Pulis. I just find it nice to have something to listen to but also learn a thing or two while keeping up to date. One thing I hear over and over again, is how important it is to log what is happening in the garden. What you have done, weather and how things are reacting. So I thought I will update here as I go along. Kind of like daily blogs but maybe a little more random. I do not think I will get at this everyday but as often as I can. You can also follow my Instagram for more updated spur of the moment info.


It has been hot and we got word that we have a heat wave coming. We got rain maybe for two days out of the last month. Which sucks, mostly if you live with a well. I have been taking advantage of the sun also. I try to get out to the garden as much as I can.
I went out to the garden in the morning to weed my 3 Sisters bed. It took a little longer then expected and I was very sad to see I lost a few of my plants. I planted 12 corn (with room for an extra row,) 26 pole bean plants and 24 spaghetti squash plants. I have 12 corn, 10 bean and 3 spaghetti squash left. I believe its a bit early for the squash but I just love it and was hoping for a good crop for me. So I am going to do a succession planting of corn and squash but I want to get the seeds started in the green house first. It is my first time growing corn, so I am very excited for it. I hope to grow as much as I can so I can preserve some.


Then I moved to my raspberry patch in the afternoon. My mother in law read something about raspberry plants not liking wood for mulch, which I have been using as my main mulch at the moment. So I weeded and I laid a layer of feed bags as a mulch for my path. I had a bit of dirt left from a load I got, so I used up the last of that and cover the whole patch. I want to cut weeding down as much as I can. So I hope the heavy layer of feed bags will really cut those weeds down.
My raspberries are looking amazing to. I just planted them last month, they are already starting to show signs of fruit. They have had bees all over them, which is so fun to watch plus they are already producing sprouts. I still have room for another row of raspberries to, so I am happy to see these taking off so much.

Then I called it a day. It was getting to hot and I have been trying to work around the afternoon high heat. Next step is more mulching and weeding!

May Garden Update

What a month it has been. May is always a it of a crazy month for gardeners. A majority of gardeners will plant during May long weekend. Although some just cannot wait that long.
I like to believe I am a little a little above an average hobby gardener and I strive to grow y own groceries. To do so green house gardening is a must. So I like to try and get an early start with a lot of things in my green house and I planted most of my pants in early May. I was and am still trying to get my rows done but I am almost 100% done planting everything but my asparagus, which takes years any how so I am in no rush for them.

So here is most of the timeline of what I have done during the month of May.

At the beginning of the month my wonderful husband tilled my garden with a rototiller we "inherited," this tiller has been passed around my husbands family for a few years and I believe it was his grandfathers and it is back here after . My husbands aunt is selling there home and no longer need it so we snatched it up.

Then I got to digging and weeding my rows. One day I want to start slowing making raised beds but that will be in the future, so digging it is. As I got each row done, I would plant that row. It took me a bit to get the first 75% done. Then I took a little break and finally finished the last full row and I am so excited. Maybe that's why it has taken so long for me to update. It is really starting to get hot during the day, so I am happy I got the big work mostly done.

So I am down to maintenance. I am so excited for June, so stay posted!