Distracted by Beer!

I will update everyone on my garden changes soon, but first I wanted to share a few bits of something I love. Beer!

I've been having issues with slugs eating my carrots and lettuces in my right raised bed, so I decided to do the easy remedy of placing small bowls of beer out. I've been very successful since I started a week ago. The first few nights I had between 10 & 15 slugs between 2 bowls, now I'm averaging about 5 a night. Then, the other day I came across an article over at Plants That Produce discussing the "pesticide" in beer which kills slugs and snails. Here's a quick excerpt:

"Now some gardeners put beer out in trays or cans to attract and kill slugs at night. But you know, the production of beer involves those very processes and sometimes the same chemical salts that are used in the manufacture of pesticides and fertilizers."

"Iron phosphate is a naturally occurring mineral that is beneficial to plants and animals but deadly to snails and slugs. You can buy iron phosphate pellets under the brand name Sluggo at local nurseries or in bags marked pet safe snail pellets at big box stores. No one should worry about using iron phosphate to control snails and slugs. It is in most human vitamins, pet (mammal) vitamins, and plant fertilizers."

So, needless to say, I went out and bought some Sluggo... Now I won't have to go out every evening and pour one for my slimey homies, and now I won't have to rush outside to empty the bowls of dead beer-swollen slugs before the LO gets to them.

Now my second interesting beer find...

BEER SOAP! HA! This just cracks me up. I may need to get a few bars for stocking stuffers this  Christmas...

Looking through a few of their selections, they offer soap made from some pretty yummy draughts like, Sammy Smith Nut Brown and Guinness.

So, if I use this soap, will I leave the shower smelling like I just left a bar?

Ok, now I will work on more pertinent topics.

Finally Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Wow! It's hard to believe I haven't blogged in a month! Time has gone by too quickly...

The day we returned home from our two week vacation in VA, the LO ended up with croup (I'm still extremely happy he didn't start his barky cough on the plane!), and as soon as he started recovering, I came down with a nasty cold turned sinus and eye infections with laryngitis, and now Boy Wonder is sick. I sure hope this is all we see of the sickies this season!

The next few days my posts will be focusing on updates around the yard. Today I'll do a mostly pictorial post of the growth and changes that have occurred to the plants I blogged about on 10/8. DH was kind enough to take pictures on 10/21 while I was gone.

SFG, right side

(back to front) Lantana, Green Arrow Peas, broccoli, radishes

 10/11

10/21

10/31

Today
(the line in front of the peas will be carrots)

SFG, left side
(back) Lantana, Garlic, Texas Grano onion (front) French Red & Dutch Yellow Shallots, Lettuce mix, and Musclun mix
10/21

10/31

Today

Cantaloupe

10/11

10/21

10/31

Today

Right raised bed
Sweet potatoes, musclun/lettuce mixes, carrots
10/21

10/31

Today

Dwarf Meyer Lemons
 9/23

10/5

11/7

During my next post, I will talk about the changes I've made to my garden plans, and a few issues I've been having around the yard.

Almost Done With Fall Plantings! (long post)

Well, all, I did it! It's finally cooled off consistently enough, so I went ahead and got the rest of my cool weather plants in the ground yesterday! Now, my downfall could come if we have a last heat wave, or if something happens in the next two weeks while I'm gone. Yes folks, I planted everything a few days before we are due to leave on our long awaited two week trip home! I'll either return to dirt or I'll be welcomed back by a lot of green babies in my garden! Let's pray for the latter, k?

I'm taking a relaxed approach this season to the "square foot" method, because my "feet" are more like 10 inches. As you can see below, I measured the plant spaces as I laid everything out before planting. My plans have changed a bit from my original chart, and I'll post an updated one when I return from our trip to VA.

Here's what went in the left side of the SFG. Top: CA Early White Garlic; Texas Grano 502 Onion seedlings. Bottom: French Red Shallots; Dutch Yellow Shallots; Musclun mix, and Lettuce mix seed mats.

The instructions that came with the garlic said to plant them 2" deep. Since I'm absolutely horrible with estimating measurements, I marked a dowel and used this to confirm I pushed the garlic deep enough.

Covering the seed mats... Like last time, I removed the needed amount of soil instead of adding it on top of my mats since my beds were recently filled. Like the dump truck? HA! I just grabbed whatever was closest. The air may be cool out, but the Cali sun likes to cook ya', so I was working fast!

 I didn't thin a lot of the TX. Grano's as they were growing indoors, and it was getting late, so I'll thin themm after they prove to be happy in their new location. I've been acclimating them this week, but I'll shade them in the afternoon until we leave.

The Green Arrow peas I planted on 9/30 began sprouting yesterday (not pictured, but also sprouting are the lettuce/mesclun also planted on 9/30. One carrot has sprouted, the rest are taking their time).

Below the peas, I planted 4 "squares" of Waltham 29 Broccoli, and below the broccoli I planted my radish seed mat strips. I may plant another set of radishes above the broccoli when I get back.

Lastly, I was about to give up on my cantaloupe earlier this week, and rip them out because I didn't see any melons growing, but at the last moment, this caught my eye! It was totally camoflauged by leaves, the lucky duck! I've placed a piece of foil beneath it to keep it off the soil, and to help reflect light onto it since my neighbor's ginormous trees are casting longer shadows on my raised beds.

Alrighty! I'm off to pack our bags!!!!!

Pearfect!

I wasn't sure when the best time to pick the comice pears off the tree would be, but after seeing a few drop this week, I thought today would be as good a day as any.

I took the time to weigh the fruit, and today's harvest totaled 27.7 pounds! Oye ve!

The smallest pear weighed in at 2.9 ounces, the largest (in the middle of the pic below) came in at 12.7 ounces.

There were also some downright uglies in the mix...

Now the predicament is what on earth to do with the bounty! After reading that comice pears are best eaten raw, I've decided to go against that advice, and try baking with them anyway. hmph. We just aren't big pear eaters, but I really want to use these guys up. I'll blog about my pear usage adventures (or misadventures) in a few weeks after it's all over. ;-)

Off topic, I thought I'd share my flowers with you. DH and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday, and the sunflowers he gave me are still blooming strong. Aren't they perdy?

Making My Seed Mats

Last week Granny posted detailed instructions on how she makes her seed mats for carrots. After she mentioned this method last year, I decided I'd try them this fall, and am grateful for her reposting her instructions!

So, I made my mats containing carrot, lettuce/mesclun, and radish seeds. I used Kirkland (Costco) brand napkins, and followed Granny's lead with putting everything together. Granny didn't specify how she dotted her napkins, but I just stacked them up and held the permanent marker on them for a few seconds so the ink would go through all layers. This saved a lot of time by not having to dot each individually.

Lettuce mat...

Carrot mats...

Radish mat strips... The radish seeds are larger and easier to handle than carrot and lettuce seeds, but I chose to do these strips to save time later. These guys will be grown at the tops and bottoms of my broccoli squares.

With the weather finally cooling off, I decided to get my lettuce and carrots started yesterday. It turned out to be very helpful to have these mats because it was windy and chilly! Because of the wind, and having topped off the raised bed's contents last week, I decided to wet the soil to keep it  from being blown all over the place (my eyes are usually the casualties), then scraped a 1/2 inch layer off the top before placing the seed mats down. I then covered the mat with the moist soil, and I was done!

In addition to the lettuce and carrot mats, I planted my green arrow peas.

Here's hoping the weather stays cool!

Let There be Light!

Two weeks ago, I ordered a 2 foot Hydrofarm T5 Grow Light, and I finally received it yesterday. It's the same one that amazon sells, but I only got the light and hood, and no frame. The frame that comes with the light uses S-hooks, which are a total pain to use, and we were able to save a little money by building the frame using 3/4" PVC pipes. It didn't take very long to assemble either.

Here are a few pictures of the process.

Cut sections of PVC, and the light hood...


DH drilling a hole in the PVC t for the wire used for height adjustment. See? Beer and tools do mix!


Making sure everything was measured/cut correctly...


Testing out the assembled system...


A few coats of Hunter Green spray paint...


The ingenious way DH came up with for adjusting the light height. Simply hold the wire while loosening the PVC screw, and adjust to where needed. No stinkin' chains, or S-hooks to fumble with!


Ta-daaa!


I started new broccoli and red cabbage plants on 9/16, so the light made it in time to help these babies grow right this time.

Decisions, Decisions...

For a few days, I've been testing the soil temperature in my beds to see if I can start sowing seeds. I've discovered that my two raised beds along the patio are about 20 degrees cooler than the SFG along the house. I was originally going to start my fall crops in my SFG but I've decided to end there, hoping that by the time I'm ready to plant there, it'll be cool enough so the soil won't reach 100 degrees! Today I added soil amendment and grass clippings to the right raised bed where my watermelon and sweet potatoes were residing (I ripped the watermelon out a week or two ago). I've been going back and forth on whether to keep or chuck my sweet potatoes since they haven't been growing, and finally ripped them out today. Here's what had grown: The long skinny one in the middle is about the length of a new pencil. But, I just couldn't trash them! So, I put them back. HAHAHA! Who knows what they'll do now that they've been disturbed, but I just didn't have the heart to let them go! Also, when I put them back, I put them on the left side (vs the front, where they were) so I can start my carrots and lettuce on the right. In addition to my sweet potatoes, I've also decided to keep my cantaloupe for a while longer because they've started growing again, and are finally producing both male and females. I was able to hand pollinate 3 this week (one, however, was chomped on by a slug, and won't make it). I tried googling how long it will take the fruit to complete growth from pollination to maturity, but couldn't find anything. Anyone out there know this? On a side note, I'm starting cardio kickboxing classes next week. It's not an aerobics class, mind you, but full blown kickboxing! I'm totally crazy for doing this, as I've never done any kind of martial arts, let alone been that active in about 15 years, but I've always wanted to do something like this, and finally got the nerve to sign myself up! Here's the LO testing out my gloves... Cheers!

Nice 'n Clean, and Awaiting Seed

This past weekend brought in some cooler weather for us, and *gasp* RAIN! Yeah! I'm sure some of you might be like, "Yay... Rain..." but it was SO wonderful! It's been months since it rained here, and a year since I've even heard thunder. I found myself not minding being awakened at 5am on Saturday morning to the oncoming rumbles of God going bowling. Yes, at 30 something, that's still what I think about when I hear thunder. Rain just seems to make everything feel clean and fresh. Nice and new. It's helped relieve some of my anxious feelings about beginning the next season of growing, and has me feeling more gung-ho about getting seeds in the ground. This weekend's rain helped soften up the dense clay that's surrounding my raised beds along our deck/patio thing (ugh. I never know what to call it), and I was able to easily break it up, and add soil amendment and grass clippings. After last week's heroics in the front yard, the pointy shovel saved the day again! I'll be planting Hyacinthus, Crocus, and Chionodoxa in the spots between the raised beds. The Hyacinthus will grow along the base of the patio thingy, and I'll intermix the Crocus and Chionodoxa. There's a lot of purple there, but I think it'll lend a nice contrast to the green that'll be growing in the beds, and the red wood behind them. I didn't take a pic of where they'll be growing, but you can see an older pic here. I found those bags at Costco two weeks ago. I didn't realize what a bargain I'd got until I stopped by Lowe's (for a handy shovel), and saw the same varieties for almost double the price! Speaking of bulbs, my order from Peaceful Valley arrived this weekend. I ordered way too many, but I got to this task a bit late, and some of the other sites offering smaller quantities were sold out. I will either cook with what's not sown or I'll be experimenting with how garlic and shallots grow in different areas around the yard--probably the latter because that sounds a heck of a lot more fun than the absoluteness of cooking with them. Here's what I got: California Early White Garlic, French Red and Dutch Yellow Shallots. Happy Dance! Cha! Happy Dance! Cha! Oh! Warm welcomes to Just Jenn, over at Gamine's Garden. I'm glad you're here, and thanks for reading!

I am NOT Counting my Lemons Before They've Grown

...But I do see two that haven't shriveled, turned yellow, or otherwise fallen off. HAHA! Thomas over at A Growing Tradition left a comment on my 7/18/09 post with tips for growing Meyer Lemons which reminded me that, with the exception of watering, I haven't been paying attention to my lemon tree. So, I stepped outside, and looky what I spotted! They're actually taking on lemon-esque shapes! Now, these are still wee little babies so I'm not going to go running around my yard screaming, "I have two lemons" or anything, but what a pleasant surprise for this gardener's otherwise stalled summer growing season. Cheers!

Woohoo! I Received a Meme Award!

Thank you so much, Rachel, over at GrafixMuse's Garden Spot for giving me this great honor! I don't think I've received any awards, rewards, or prizes in years and years! Rachel and I started blogging about our garden's around the same time, and I've enjoyed seeing how her garden has developed. She provides great information on her blog, and takes beautiful pictures. I also really enjoy her section dedicated to visitor's she's had in her garden. So, here are the Meme award guidelines: 1. Link back to the person who gave you the award
 2. Reveal 7 things about yourself
 3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and link to them
 4. Let each blogger know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
 5. Let the tagger know when your post is up. Here are a few things about me: 1. I still enjoy watching cartoons. I especially enjoy watching Japanese anime (NO English voice-overs, please. So much gets lost in translation). This has been a good thing since watching cartoons comes with the role of "parent." I don't mind sitting with my 7yo to watch some 'toons. It certainly comes in handy when he finds a new cartoon to watch, and I need to watch it to see if it's appropriate. 2. One of my dreams is to take a few weeks or even months out of daily life, and tour Japan. This is actually one of DH and my life goals. We have been saving $40 a month for a few years now, so when the time is right, we'll be ready to fund the trip. 3. Like Rachel, I too hate shopping. Not just clothes shopping, but shopping in general. It can be such a time consuming task, and with kids, my time and their patience can be short. I tend to do most of my shopping online. This has been especially helpful with clothes since I'm petite, and stores tend to forget about stocking good, fashionable clothes for petite women. 4. I hated school (sshh, don't tell Ribbit! She's a teacher ;-) ). I hated the social forces of having to conform, and I hated the pressures of having to learn "useless" information. Looking back, I wish I'd performed better in school, but would NEVER go back and do it over again. Besides, I am perfectly happy that I can now fill my head with whatever sort of information and nonsense I please. I think that feeling the way I did about school has given me a unique view of it all, and I want to ensure that my boys don't feel like that about school. I also want to make sure that they know there are other things outside of a school environment that are just as important. 5. I enjoy just about all aspects of my domesticated life. I love being at home with my boys, cooking dinner for my husband, sewing, and even cleaning. Yes, cleaning! I don't like taking the time out of my day to clean, but once I'm sticking it to the dirt and grime, I enjoy the task. I look at cleaning like I do gardening. It can be difficult work at times, but it's a nice stress reliever, and the outcome is often satisfying. 6. I love beer. The darker, the more pungent, the better. I want to learn how to make beer. Although I've heard of it, I haven't ever tasted--nor do I have the desire to try tomato juice in my beer (sorry Granny!). 7. My name is "Amy." Growing up, I never liked my name, and still slightly dislike it. It can be grating, and sounds sorta nasally "Aaaameeee." There's no option for a nickname with Amy either. I tried coming up with nicknames and being called something different, but nothing ever fit or stuck until "Momma." My boys call me "Mom," but that's ok. I feel more comfortable with the name "Momma S" than "Amy." I'm not used to divulging personal information about myself online, and thinking about things to write about was sort of tough. Besides, GrafixMuse hit on some of my ideas first, and I didn't want to be a copycat! Now onto the task passing this award on... Most of the blogs I enjoy have already received the award, but here they are, in no particular order (ok, the 1st two are--just 'cause I know them personally): Our Grande Family This is my older sister, Michelle's blog. Being 3k away from my family is one of the hardest things I've had to endure, and her blog helps ease the pain. little t jane Tracy has some of the awesomest artistic tastes and talents I've seen, and I miss her bubbly personality TONS. Stacy's Cottage Garden Stacy hasn't been around recently, but I'm sending an award her way because her garden looks great, and I've enjoyed her blog so far. I'm hoping she has the chance to get back into her garden, and her blog. Our Engineered Garden Ok, I think everyone who gardens, blogs, or has visited GardenWeb's SFG forum knows who EG is. He rocks! He's one smart dude, and he cracks me up. The Corner Yard Ah, Ribbit. I love reading her blog. She's so witty, and her words just flow so well. Shawn Ann's Garden Shawn Ann is in her second year of gardening--first for SFGing. There's a lot going on around her garden, and I like watching it all unfold on her blog. Even though she's due with #3 soon, she's seems to be doing a great job of keeping up with it all. Annie's Kitchen Garden Sometimes, when I read Granny's blog, I imagine she's my granny. She is such a ham, and her personality really shines through her words. Reading her blog, and enjoying her pictures is like she's inviting you into her home for a cup of tea and some cookies--no wait--pumpkin pie... yeah... Thanks for reading, for sharing your gardening and life experiences, and for passing the award along.

Let Me Introduce You to Our Front Yard

Whenever we come and go, we do so through the garage, so I don't really see the front yard very often. This past week, however, I've had to park down the street while our cul-de-sac was being resurfaced, and this gave me the opportunity to see what others see when they approach our house. When I stopped to get a good look at our yard, I was a little ashamed! How could I be spending so much time working in the back, planning ("planning" since nothing is actually "growing") to grow beautiful things that only we will see, and be doing absolutely nothing about the part of our home that everyone sees? Yes, the lawn is green, but the section between the lawn and our house is just sad looking. Something had to be done with this mess. Good thing the back yard and garden are on vacation right now... With the exception of that speck of sun that quickly travels from the middle to left of the plot, this 12'x7' section is all shade. These rocks are between the above section and the walkway leading to our front door. The little green that was growing, and the brown covering the rocks were "baby tears." Baby tears looks like mini clover all clumped together. I visited the GardenWeb's Perennial forum for guidance on what would grow well in full shade, wouldn't be too invasive, and wouldn't take a lot of maintenance. I received many great suggestions, and took a list of my favorites to the nursery with me to see what the gardener would suggest for my specifications and our climate. One small trunk and front seat full of earthy smelling soil amendment (I need a few bags for the back yard--oh, and a minivan too, please), and one flat of vinca minor later, I was ready to start work! Okay, the soil amendment has many different types of poo in it, so "earthy smelling" is a bit of an understatement, and it left my car smelling stinky for two days, but I digress. The vinca minor will have very pretty periwinkle flowers in the spring, and nice green foliage the rest of the year. It also does well with low water usage, and full shade. Let me just tell you that breaking up 84 square feet of dry soil with concrete like qualities by hand is back breaking! It didn't help that on Friday I did the first THIRD of the plot using a flat edged bleeping spade! Oye! After the two arduous hours I spent breaking up dirt which resulted in me barely being able to hold my toddler because my arms and shoulders wouldn't stop twitching, I had to think of a different plan. After a strong cup o' jo on Saturday morning (and a few more aspirin), I headed to the store for a nice, pointy shovel. Oh, baby. What a difference a little point on the end of a shovel makes! I was able to finish breaking up the rest of the dirt, go back and redo Friday's third of a section, AND start adding the amendment in less time than it took me to do everything else I'd done up to that point! Look at the difference between the amendment and soil. Day and night, if you ask me... It's a good thing I bought a flat of plants... All 48 of the little buggers were all twisted around each other, growing into their neighbor's cell packs, and a pain to separate. While practicing the difficult virtue of patience, I was imagining the looks I would've received from the gardener if I had asked for less than a flat. Ah, the things we think about to keep ourselves going... Once I had the cell packs separated from each other, I then had to trim and break each section of roots. Needless to say, gloves were not acceptable for this task. I needed to be able to get in there without my sense of touch being hindered by blue fake leather gloves that are too big for my hands. *Note to self: Clip nails before working gloveless in dirt.* Well, here are the results of it all! I forgot to ask how far apart I should plant the vica minor, so I went with about a foot between each plant and 16-24 inches between rows to get 4 rows. Hopefully they won't take too long to fill in the dead space... I hope you enjoyed your visit to our front yard! Have a wonderful Labor Day!