Fruits @ MindSay

Today I am planting our garden with my dad. I don’t mind gardening, in fact I enjoy it to a certain extent, but I have a tendency to kill plants. Most of my horticultural endeavors have not turned out well. I like the work though: the planting, the weeding, the picking, and the cleaning. It keeps me busy for most of the summer if I am attentive.

 

We are also going to be planting two cherry trees, two apple trees, and an Asian pear tree soon, too. We planted two peach trees and a cherry tree last year, but the deer destroyed our cherry tree. We also have three full grown apple trees, but one is almost entirely dead and another is starting to die so we need to replace them. One apple tree will be the same as what we already grow (Haralson), which was planted by my grandfather. The other is going to be a dwarf 4-in-1 tree. The only apples I eat fresh are the ones from my backyard so planting these trees is of particular importance to me.

 

I also need to weed the strawberry patch and transplant a cottonwood today. When I was younger I avoided helping in the garden as much as possible. I hated the bugs and the heat. Now, I think my father is growing tired of my ambitious plans for the yard. I want to start a raspberry patch and plant a hazelnut tree, but those may have to wait another year.

 

I think part of my love for gardening is I like being at home and being self sufficient to a certain extent. We grind our own flour, bake our own bread, and basically live off our garden during the late summer. I like knowing that my hands helped produce what I eat. Eating is more of a celebration for me when I have watched the plants grow and picked it with my own hands. I have the same feeling towards cooking my own food.

 

Later tonight I am going fishing. Hopefully I finally catch something (fishing is another thing I don’t have a great record with). If nothing else it will be nice to sit by the water and practice my casting.

It's all about anime here.

Just in case the bees don't make it maybe we should all stock up on Honey while there is still plenty of it around.

 

Today was shopping day for me. I got some potting soil because I am going to have to move some of the petunias I planted in pots this year. Every single seed seems to have come up and the pots are way too crowded. So I am going to move some out in the yard around the fence or maybe in some bare spots around trees. And I will put more soil in the pots..and still have plenty in there to make my porch look nice.

 

I also got a new cheap wristwatch. I got a cheap one because it's what I wear when I am doing gardening or housework and it gets wet and banged around so I don't want a really good one for that.

 

Other than that it was just your normal groceries. I stocked up on flour and sugar. And I bought too many sweets :( Why must they put the pastry section right next to the fruits???? It's just mean!!

I have been experimenting with a small garden in the backyard.  This is the third iteration.  Here in Phoenix, we get a lot of sun.  Plants love sun.  However, what we don't get it water.  Plants hate no water.  There are lots of rocks just under the surface of the ground.  Plants hate rocks.

Iteration one was to buy some seeds and plant them in pots with soil from Home Depot. 6 pots and some flower seeds.  A few of them grew to flowers, but mostly unsuccessful.  Just could not keep up watering them with my work schedule.

Iteration two was to dig a 2 x 3 foot area in the ground, and add soil mixed with the dug dirt.  More flower seeds and some onions.  Got about 3 "foot and a half" flowers and no onions.  Same problem - could not keep up with the watering.

This time (currently), I made a 10 x 8 foot bed in the very back of the yard, close to our cinderblock fence.  I put it there for a couple of reasons:
- it's close to the irrigation I put in
- it's kinda shaded by a tree
- after 4 pm, it's shaded by the fence

I purchased these plants:  Cherry and Romano tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries, onions, and squash.
I bought these seeds:  more onions, watermelon, cucumber, sunflowers, carrots, beets, wildflowers, and okra..

I put the plants along one side of the garden, and put seeds everywhere else.  I also put in two sprayers connected to the irrigation - so that it would get water everyday.

Over the last two months, things are doing great!  The sunflowers are as tall as I am, and have these huge 7 inch wide flowers.  The cucumbers are growing fine - although not a lot of them.  The tomatoes are also growing well - just not very big.  The strawberries also grew well, but just like everything else, not very big.  They were still very delicious.

The squash is taking over the garden!!!  It's has two arms about 12 feet long now.  Couple of veggies on the vine, but not ready to pick.  What didn't do so well was the watermelon - in two months, just over 2 inches tall.

Also, the okra, string beans, and onions are not doing well.  I'll post some picture next time.

Hello everybody!
I just LOVe anime,
who want's to blog about it?
i like:
Sailor Moon,
Slayers,
Inuyasha,
Ranma 1/2
Cardcaptor Sakura,
Fruits Basket.
but i know the most about Sailor Moon,
and just a little about Fruits Basket and Ranma 1/2 but i do like it