organic gardening

Sunflowers

Sunflowers are very striking flowers and fields of them are so impressive to behold.  I have seen only two such fields that I can remember.  I used to grow a row of Sunflowers in my garden along the edge where our small cornfield was.  I really wish I would have taken pictures of that garden and many other things.  Photography was not a priority back then and was expensive to develop.

My post is dedicated to Sunflowers but I am thinking about my cornfields right now.  One year was dedicated to what I believe was the “Silver Queen” late corn, very sweet and tender, and another year we planted hulless popcorn.  Never together because of possible cross-pollination issues.  I have since found “hulless” at markets, but not often and none has ever been as tender as the popcorn we grew so many years ago.  We hung the ears out to dry and then stored them in large mason jars still on the ears, kernels removed right before popping.  Not sure of how to do this at first, we somehow dried them to perfection because they popped beautifully.

Warm Weather and the Garden

Weeding was always my favorite garden chore.  My second is pruning.  What’s yours?  I always had tons to weed since I didn’t use herbicides of any kind.  Only Organic gardening for me.  Other than a few times where I did make up a Fels-Naptha soap and garlic wash or just hand-picked the insects off to dispose of them.

I said I enjoyed it, not that I was good at it. Carrots to the left, green beans to the right.

Some love their riding lawnmowers and I get that.  I used to use my mother-in-laws years ago.  She had a lot to mow so I would do it for her cause it was kind of like riding a go-cart.  Depending on how many acres or your physical condition, makes sense.  My mower of choice many years later was a manual lawnmower.  It worked out fine for me.

At this time of year, end of June, I would have planted everything by the end of May, I would have had some harvesting of perennial herbs, lettuce, peas, radishes.  I would have had strawberries if I planted them as well as Black and Red Raspberries.

I would be busy weeding, mowing, watering and daily walk through looking for signs of harvest or trouble.  I always had lots to do if I wanted to.  Sometimes I would mulch a lot to keep the weeds down, other times, I just pull weeds by hand or use the tool I had for the large single root like dandelions.  There was always something very fulfilling about “rooting” through my garden and improving the appearance like that.  Great exercise too.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: May Day on Earth, 2017

And what a May Day it’s turning out to be.  God only knows anymore what will occur on any given day in our twisted world of selfish Godlessness.  The evil ones take a day and hijack it as another excuse to act childish and violent in the streets calling it a protest, when all they mean to do is act out in violence and hatred to anyone who is not on their side.  I will never be on the side of evil.  Evil has turned me from at one time being “liberal” to despising those with that title.  The evil ones hijacked that term as well as hold it as a shield to trick some into thinking they are selfless and caring when they seem to only care about the rights of someone that takes everyone’s else’s rights away.  They do not stand for justice, fairness or decency so they don’t stand for me.

Protesters pretend to care about various things but their actions prove very different.  They are angry, immature and don’t care who they effect adversely by all the polluting and littering they leave not to mention the actual destruction and harm they cause to others or our earth.  The devil comes to steal and destroy, not Godly people and I definitely judge a man by his actions.  How you treat others, so shall your Father in Heaven treat you.  The same goes for our earth.  The way it’s treated, it will react in kind.

In front of my first Garden.
Vegetables partial shade
New squash
wildlife is precious
green apples
Some pests we need
Chives
Chives
Bees go, we go
Sage
Corn
Apples
Red raspberries
tiny butterflies
Po’ Girl Gardens

I once won a litter bug contest sponsored by a local program in Detroit by naming the litter bugs when I was about 8 years old.  I can’t remember the names but did win a board game of some sort.  My father who was part Native American gave me a knife when I was young and told me how to use it and how not to use it to respect all the living things on this planet.  My parents were not perfect, but had good values.  They explained about how everything we see growing is alive, the importance of organic gardening and not using herbicides and pesticides as so many do because it’s easier.  By now everyone should know better.  In all my years of gardening as an adult I have never had it harder because I didn’t use chemicals.  I did have to kill some pests by hand as well as do more weeding until more mulch was placed in some areas and I’ve mixed up a batch of spray to place on some plants to deter pests with garlic water and Fels soap.

Weekly Photo Challenge: It IS Easy Being Green!

If you’re a garden!

“But green‘s the color of spring!”


Soon it will be pea-pickin’ time! I used to plant my peas end of March, beginning April, along with other cool weather crops such as lettuce, spinach and radishes. I didn’t especially like radishes but I tolerated them because I grew them myself organically and could enjoy the fruits of my labor within 30 days! Lettuce and spinach took a little longer if I could keep the rabbits away. Loved living out in the country more when I gardened. There were no small varmints to ruin your crops because the big varmints got them and the bigger ones never came around my house though they were sometimes spotted out in the fields.


Even though my garden in the city was not successful at all as far as a source of food, it was a nice sanctuary to relax in after a hard day’s work.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Narrow

Matthew 7:13    Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

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Matthew 7:14     Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Starting Your Intricate Herb Garden

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With too many herbs to mention by name, where you live determines what and when to plant.  When I was first gardening, I learned the hard way not to assume we were warming up early just because we had an early warm up.  Living in southern Michigan, I plant my cool weather or hardy plants mid-April and the warm weather stuff by Memorial weekend, or end of May sometime.  Check for your area on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map and prevent frost damage to tender seedlings. As long as your soil is enriched and aerated, all you need to worry about are the three W’s, Watering, Weeding and Watching for pests and your garden should be a success. My most successful gardens were dug by hand in clay soil.  I worked in some peat and manure and that was it, besides watering and organically killing any pest, usually by hand.  Because it was near the country, all the bigger varmints killed the little ones so no varmint damage like I have experienced trying to garden in the city.

In front of my first Garden.
In front of my first Garden.

You need to decide by choice or convenience if you prefer to purchase young plants or start them by seed.  Some seeds you can just toss in the garden soil and some you will want to start indoors and harden off before planting outdoors.  You might try experimenting depending on the type and size of the herb.  Know the size and the needs of all plants so you can better design where you wish to place them in your garden.  Find out which ones are annuals or perennials so you aren’t surprised when come back the next year with a vengeance!  I’ve had spearmint go wild on me, much to my neighbor’s chagrin, and had to weed it back to keep it on my side of the fence.  I would have loved the free spearmint if it were the other way around, but some city folks want their perfect little lawns. You can find a treasure trove of plant and garden information on the various Cooperative Extension Service sites offered by local colleges online now.  Below is a sample page from the book “Vegetable Gardening Know-How” in the herb section to give you some idea.  The author took it from the Cooperative Extension Service of Kansas State University.  The book was published in 1975, FYI. img890 Get to know your herbs.  Currently I only grow those I intend to use for cooking.  I used to grow lavender to give to others that loved it.  I had an allergy with this plant so I finally stopped, as beautiful as it is.  You can decide to grow a little around your yard, planting some in between your other garden plants or actually design a beautiful garden  that you designate for herbs only.  Be sure to lay out your design on paper first, keeping in mind the size and needs of each plant so you don’t end up crowding or shading some.  Don’t plant herbs requiring rich soil right next to those needing dryer soil or shade loving plants next to those needing full sun.  Be aware of these things and you should be OK, providing you don’t over water your garden.  Some starting out actually kill their plants with kindness by over feeding and too much watering because they are afraid the least sign of dry soil means certain death for the plant.  Most need to dry a little between rainfall or watering.  You’ll get the hang of it once you start.  Try to use containers to trap rain if you can.  Some have gone back to actual rain barrels which are great!  WARNING!  Check to be sure you are not breaking the law locally if you do this.  Yes, I am being serious!  In some states, like Colorado, it is illegal to gather rain for gardens even though it saves water in the long run.  It has to do with some petty “you own your home but don’t have water rights.”  First place, I would take that all the way to the Supreme Court if I had to for the simple reason is rain is not water.  It’s rain and can be proven so if facts are presented.  If any area of our government in America becomes that petty and controlling, it needs to be stopped and to do this, you must not obey it and fight it.  That’s the only way we have managed any freedoms in this world at all.

I hope you enjoy the intricacies of these various herbs.

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Happy gardening!

Organic Gardening and Global Warming

There is definitely something causing problems with the earth and most of this is from man’s industrialization and pollution of air, land and water.  We only have one earth and even though yesterday was officially Earth Day, every day should be earth day!

It’s very important that we all be part of the solution instead of the problem and try to consciously refrain from the use of products that harm the environment even if you may have to work a little harder to achieve similar results, like weeding, for instance.  You can click on my Green Gardens page for more organic gardening tips.

We had a speaker at my elementary school back in the 1960’s that spoke of all the pollution that was being done at that time and I can only imagine that we are headed towards a point of no return to ever saving this planet one day very soon.

When our bees are gone, so are we.

BeeHanginThere
Even more important than problems with our environment are the problems with the hearts and souls of mankind. There was a reason that religious teachings were so important to any civilized society and we are now finding out why. Even a poorly trained dog is hard to handle but a man who is not told the truth may lose his own soul. I made this video years ago when all the talk of global warming started because I thought there was really more important problems that man faced at this time.

Save the Bees!

Spring will be here before you know it and I really wanted to speak up on behalf of the birds and the bees.  I have a page called green gardens where I gave rather vague information in regards to having an organic garden in a small city yard.  I will be moving out of my home this year, due to an expected foreclosure due to being “Po'” for real.  I still plan on posting more information on gardening organically this year whether or not I am still doing much of it.

If you have a balcony, patio or an actual yard, the very least you should do is get some flowers planted.  You can start early with seeds or just grab a few hardened plants later in spring to plant.  Do what you can to provide food for our nearly depleted honey bees and please don’t use herbicides or pesticides in your area.  They are not usually needed.  Our society thrives on commerce and through the years a number of large corporations have used advertisement in the hopes to convince people how much better their gardens and lives will be with their dangerous products.  Products that may give greener, more perfect lawns but at what price?  The loss of most of our much-needed honey bees as well as the dangerous Runoff poisoning other wildlife, polluting of our waters and needlessly destroying other vegetation.

Any day now all your hardware stores will begin to stock rows of herbicides and pesticides that most of us really have no need of.  Many of us are only too eager to waste money on products that are ruining our environment and the world as a whole with little gained in return.  If these products were marketed fairly, not one person would purchase them.  Yes most have warnings, but how many read that far down?  I remember lawns before these products were invented and they were full of clover, wild violets, dandelions and other ground cover we call weeds.  They were beautiful and full of bees as God and nature intended.  Someone decided by brainwashing the public to want lawns that only the lords and ladies had in England so as gullible and easily swayed as most of us are, we bought it, literally.

Now we need to break those bad habits and get some exercise weeding instead of spraying.  I have lived here 10 years, only used weed and feed once a couple of years after my freshly seeded lawn came in, but made up my mind, never again!  I have a metal telescoping weeder that is fantastic because I don’t have to bend down and it grabs and pulls the weeds out easily.  I do allow clover and wild violets, but anything else goes because living in a city requires that you keep your property up to code.  I will do just what I have to do to conform, but I do refuse to go against my own principles anymore.  I never use chemical fertilizer, but fork in humus, manure and compost as needed.  As I previously mentioned on my GREEN GARDENS page, be sure your plants and seeds purchased are non-GMO.  There is a difference between this and hybrids.  Hybrids are fine.

BeeHanginThere

Summer Garden 2014

I’ve had this Hydrangea shrub for many years.  I admit to having transplanted it several times due to the shade that keeps appearing every couple of years.  Some caused by my trees and shrubs sprouting up in the vicinity and once due to a neighbor planting several very large privacy shrubs near his fence line.  Making up for lost time, it not only decided to bloom all the colors of the rainbow on one shrub.  Nice feat when you consider that the Hydrangea’s color is determined by the PH balance of its soil.

HydrangeaMulti

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Check out the 3 butterflies I caught in mid-air to the left of the flower!
Check out the 3 butterflies I caught in mid-air to the left of the flower!

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White butterfly on my oregano

 

Adventures in Edging My Lawn!

Cool down means catching up on all the garden chores I have neglected.

2013JulyGardenMuffin 005I live on a residential street that just happens to be the major thoroughfare off three main streets and leads to 2 large strip malls due to the design of this subdivision .  Lucky me!  I moved here from a completely different area and had I known this, I would have never have taken the house.  With the three-way stop being directly in front of my home, the carbon monoxide never quits and the neighborhood is very near some large factories.  I also did not know that there was a website www.moving.com/real-estate/compare-cities/index.asp.  Gives you air quality information and this city is not much better than Los Angeles California.

We have just had large areas of the street replaced in which the cement had to be cut by saw for the expansion joints.  It was never washed over so the cement dust flies every time the vehicles drive by.  I was hoping my dust mask will protect my lungs since I used to suffer from chronic bronchitis and asthma years ago until I began avoiding the triggers and protecting my lungs from dust and smoke. 

The lawn service decided to come and spray next door so I came inside til they were done.  Don’t like the fact of overspray on a windy day, but as someone who is completely against chemicals, I find the idea of what they do offensive.  I believe that tolerance has it’s place but if more people don’t wake up fast, we will pass the point of no return.  Too little, too late cannot save the planet that will be taking us with it when it goes.  If you have children or grandchildren or care about what happens to life as we used to know it please see what you can do to be part of the solution.

More to come.  Also not able to add but two tags because of WordPress problems.