Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Plant Markers

I've been trying to figure out how to clearly mark all of the plants in the garden, so that the counselors and campers can see them above the edge of the raised beds, but so we weren't spending a fortune.  This is what I came up with...

markers

You can sort of tell if you take your magnifying glass and check out the bottom corners of this photo, that I glued the popsicle sticks to small dowels, so that they will stand up and out of the plants a bit more.  And best of all, they were cheap-o! 

I’ll get some more pictures of the garden for you this week, once I’ve put these out so you can see how big things are getting.

How’s your garden comin’?

Friday, May 21, 2010

Happy Friday, y'all!

It was the last day of school today! We are all pretty excited about it here at our house. The boys, for obvious reasons, and the camp guy and I because we are now officially relieved of our PTA/classroom volunteering responsibilities! Whee! Why does it take summer to give us the excuse we need to slow down and be less harried? For the camp guy summer is especially a busy time, but it's busy in a different way than the rest of the year.

I hope that you get a chance to slow down at least a little this summer. Write back and let me know what you do to take things just a bit easier this season. Or if you don't get to take the summer off, how do you make the most of your weekend relaxation?

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Blog Hopping Again!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Caterpillars and chiggers and slugs, oh my!

The last few weeks, the camp garden has become overrun with pests! And by overrun, I mean, I couldn't even walk down there without having chiggers all OVER me, the cabbage is covered with little green caterpillars, and there were more slugs down there than... well, there were a LOT of slugs. You're just gonna have to trust me on this.

So I bought some diatomaceous earth, ordered some beneficial nematodes, and did some extra companion planting to discourage the bugs. Two bags of food grade diatomaceous earth later, the chiggers were under control (I can't tell you how happy I am about this!). Today, the summer staff came up to the garden to get oriented, and I put them to work doing a few small projects, including picking slugs and tossing them into soapy water. AND, while they were working, the UPS man delivered the nematodes - hooray!

So this evening, I watered them in and whispered sweet nothings to them, in the hopes that they will put their voracious little appetites to work REALLY SOON!

I know, I know, they just moved and I'm not giving them ample time to get settled in, but they'll get paid in a large bonus of bug food, so don't feel too sorry for them... I'm counting on them, and their millions of microscopic children, to be my main line of pest defense!

I'm hoping that between them, the D.E., and herbs planted strategically around the garden (ie. dill next to the patty pan squash to keep squash borers away) that we will be covered totally organically in the pest department.

In other news, the dandelion wine is progressing nicely. Remember when I told you that it was AWFUL smelling? It's been sitting in the fridge "settling", and once a week I take it out, filter it again, and put it back, and it actually smells like... ta da, WINE! It's still pretty murky looking, but getting a bit better. I'll keep you posted.

Have a lovely week!

Jean

Monday, May 17, 2010

Blog hop!

Have a blog, website, or etsy shop you want to promote? Join the blog hop! Thanks to Trendy Treehouse who started this blog hop, and to Santa's Gift Shop where I found it...

Sunday, May 16, 2010

to the jerk in the big truck...

I WAS actually trying to rescue the turtle from the middle of the road today, and not just point him out for you, so that you could swerve into the middle of the road to hit him on purpose. You'll be happy to know, I suppose, that you accomplished your plan. Not many things can survive that sort of damage. That's all I can say. There's a lot more I'd like to say, but, unlike you, I have some restraint.

'kaythanksbye


*edited to say that I have no problem with trucks, just with jerks*
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