The Ups and Downs of Gardening

We discovered aphids this week, but have no fear - we also found an excellent remedy! 1 cup of oil (vegetable, corn, soybean, etc) + 1 tablespoon Ivory dish soap. Mix 2 teaspoons with 1 cup of water and SPRAY those BUGS! So far so good! We sprayed for the first time after work yesterday, and before the end of the night found that nearly all the bugs were gone! Great Success!

In Bed #1 The broccoli and cauliflower were a disaster. The flowers that appeared on the broccoli were a signal that the plants had grown past their peak. Ooops. Turns out there's nothing else to do once the broccoli flowers. Ooops. The cauliflower became overwhelmed by mold and just started to collapse, so, the two were sacrificed to the garden weed pile - we tossed 'em over the fence. In their place Becky planted 4 rows of CORN. Let's hope it grows! The romaine lettuce has grown to great heights so we decided to pull 2 bunches this morning. We plan to give it a day or two in the fridge before tasting, so we'll let you know how it goes.

In Bed #2, the zucchini and yellow squash have sprouted and the carrots still seem to be growing ok, so we're planning to dig one up and have a look at what's actually going on in there. The cucumber is growing like gangbusters! As a gardening virgin, Becky was unsure if the plants were growing well because she kept finding the beautiful flowers littering the ground. After a quick web search last night, we discovered it's the male flowers that drop from the plant, and the female flowers that remain, with a baby cucumber right there behind the bud. Look!In Bed #3 we have finally seen some PEAS!Not many, but it's a start! The tomatoes are doing well, despite the aphids. We hope to have gotten all the bugs under control and the plants they are all fruiting, so in time we should see some yummy 'maters. The peppers are budding and should start flowering any day now. The butternut squash has sprouted and the eggplant is looking good so overall things are going well. Phew!

Things have changed!

Lately the weather in Athens has been picky - one day frost in the morning, the next upper 80s during the day. It's been warming up pretty well until last night when we received a frost warning. So....
That's right, folks, we have 'maters in the ground! They went in last weekend (20 April) and have been just beginning to flower. We didn't actually got the frost last night, but at least our most fragile plants were safe.

Progress has been made elsewhere in the garden as well. We constructed a pea trellis and relocated the potted plants to increase their sun exposure. Becky planted Red, Yellow and Green Bell Peppers as well as Eggplant and Cucumber plants and this past Sunday, Becky planted Zuchini, Yellow Squash and Butternut Squash (all seeds) so the garden is really starting to fill out.
Tripp worked last night to install a watering system for the garden. We initially thought we would set up an elaborate system of sprinklers, drippers and soakers, but decided a hose was really necessary for applying plant food so we settled on this:
It is securly mounted to the wall and fitted with a 75-foot heavy duty hose which should make watering even the farthest corners of the garden easy. The nozzle is a shower spray that will insure even the most delicate of plants get the gentlest care. See?
In closing, we thought it would be important to share the incredible growth pattern that is Broccoli. Neither of us has ever seen an actual Broccolli plant growing, and at least Becky was quite surprised at the display.
Yup, the Broccoli grows right out of the top of the plant, flowering along the way. It's just so cool!

Our First Seedlings!

Peas! Thanks to some warmer weather during the day and only very gentle frosts at night, we have sprouted our very first seedlings!

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Spinach

Sugar Snap Peas

We are allowed to water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, so we're trying to figure out a system for getting that done in the morning before work during the week, and trying to get motivated to get up early enough to water on Sunday mornings! With any luck, we will soon have a convenient watering system (supposedly in the planning stages) so that will make an exciting addition to the garden!
This weekend we will complete the herbs, and put in more seed for carrots and lettuce. It's lucky we have some seedlings now to make finding the end of the existing row that much easier!

Pergola Update:

The work never stops around here!

Tripp has been hard at work on the pergola non-stop and today we have the first beams of what will very soon be an awesome shade-maker. The 2x10s are heavy and awkward, but Tripp is determined to get this project done so is making the best of the beautiful weather and forging ahead. We hope to see the other two 2x10 beams installed today and maybe even the first rafters.

As for the garden, not much is happening as we await our second round of seed planting and the passing of the last frost. Becky hopes to plant 10-day plants next weekend and Tomatoes and other warm-soil plants the following week. With any luck we'll get enough sun and rain to have something yummy to eat by June 1st. Luckily, the Athens Farmers' Market opens next weekend so we'll have some local produce in no time at all.

In case you need a little green in your diet, here's a look at one of our Romaine Lettuce plants as of March 20:

The Only One I found Worth Sharing

Standing roughly a mile from downtown Atlanta, photographer Shane Durrance caught this image Friday night as the tornado struck (It's the bushy looking cloud mass just to the right of the tower with the illuminated top). He had been shooting lightning strikes from his sixth-floor balcony at the 1016 Lofts when he captured the image. Durrance, who grow up in Phenix City, Ala., has lived in Atlanta since 2000. He specializes in advertising, fashion, celebrity and wedding photography.

Progress!

Becky's mom came for a visit this weekend and lots of progress was made on the garden (and the pergola). Sue and Becky made a quick trip to the nursery on Saturday morning to pick up plants and seeds and stopped in at Barnes & Noble for a few good books. They picked up three promising books for a beginner gardener: Guide to Georgia Vegetable Gardening by Walter Reeves & Felder Rushing, Kitchen Garden: What to Grow and How to Grow It by Lucy Peel and The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food by Tanya L. Denckla. Meanwhile, atornado was in Atlanta causing $200 million in damage and Tripp was at home worrying! The storm was the first of its type in Atlanta's history but fortunately did not cause many deaths. Traveling at ~50 mph, it didn't take long to reach Athens but did not threaten our home - or pets. We were all safely tucked inside and after less than an hour the sun was shining again. All in all we received about 5/8in of rain.

Sunday was gorgeous and we were all able to work in the yard. Sue and Becky got started early in the garden and planted Romaine, Spinach, Broccoli and Cauliflower in Bed #1; Buttercruch Lettuce, Peas, and Carrots in Bed #2; and Sugar Snap Peas in Bed #3. Then we planted Catnip, Lavender, Rosemary, Sage and Basil in pots. After a little snooze, they went to Home Depot for PVC pipe to build two strawberry pot irrigation systems and once they are installed, Becky will finish planting the herbs. There are more seeds to be sown in the coming weeks, but the Farmer's Almanac estimates the last freeze in this area should not arrive until late March, so some fragile veggies will just have to wait.

Watering restrictions in Athens have been eased somewhat and we can begin watering 3 days/week for 25 minutes between 8 and 10 am. We are also planning to start collecting morning shower water and have even considered installing a rain barrel under the gutter on the patio.

Work on the new pergola continues in full-swing! Tripp has been working non-stop on the project and his attention to detail really shows. Our concern with the previous pergola was its lack of style - the columns were not in keeping with the columns on the rest of the home. Tripp has been working hard with his (new) tools, installing trim and decorative touches to the new columns to exactly mimic the columns on the screen porch. We estimated he walked at least three miles Sunday between the saw and the pergola, measuring and trimming the last bit of wood. Tripp even had an interesting conversation with the builder of our screen porch, currently working on a project at our neighbor's home, and was offered a job! At least we know we have something to fall back on, right?

Rainy Days

As we said in our earlier post, it rained in Athens from before sunrise Friday morning until about 11:00 am or so. After the soaking the soil looks a little sad, not nearly as fluffy as it was last night, but hopefully we can get that fixed this weekend. We plan to add a little more soil to each bed to try to use up the 7 cu. yards we had delivered, but it's getting tough. Perhaps we'll have to place an ad on Craigs List to get rid of the rest - "Free dirt, you haul!"

Becky's mom is planning a visit to Athens to check out the new house and has been warned that there will most likely be a certain amount of gardening involved in the weekend. She claims to be "very excited" about the prospect so we hope to have some

After discovering the Digital Macro setting on the camera we were able to get some neat closeups of the new made-in-Vermont rain gauge. Only .6 inches of the 2.0 inches forcasted, but hey, who's counting. It's early spring here in Georgia, and we likely have a loooong year of heat and drought ahead of us so we need as much as we can get in the few months it actually does rain. We're really counting on being able to water vegatables all year regardless of watering restrictions, so everyone keep your fingers crossed!