More Magoo

Well, the heat is very disturbing - but my veggie garden is holding its own...I am ready to dig up some red potatoes to enjoy over Independence Day weekend with the family. I planted them late, i think the rule of thumb is to have them in by St Paddy's Day (March 15th), but i waited til Uncle Sam's Day (April 15th) to plant my veggie garden. I had to do my homework (taxes) before I could go out and play (plant my garden) and it worked out well, cause i missed some cold snaps that others experienced. I went ahead and added some dino dirt around the veggies today to give them a little boost, I dont fertilize except in the Spring, but about now they need some help to get thru this heat. Tomorrow in the cool of the day (about 6am) I will make some repairs to my soaker hose, a hole popped right in the middle of the potatoes and I need to fix one of the ends that has a bit of a leak...I wonder if there isnt a soaker hose nymph that comes in the middle of the night and plays with the hoses...amazing how these leaks appear. I havebunches of tomatoes, a couple of peppers, but the squash, cucumbers and egg plant just have blooms, no fruit set yet -

Welcome to Magoo

I am an Air Force brat but grew up mainly in middle Georgia, which has hot temperatures, soil is Georgia red clay, and not enough rain...a lot like here - i started gardening when my dad handed me a packet of seeds and pointed to a corner in our yard and said "that spot is yours, take these and see what you can do" - I was about 7...and I have not stopped since-
I have an acre and i am slowly but surely removing the turf and putting in loads of gardens with tons of natives. I have 2 small raised beds, about 8ftX8ft, that are my vegetable gardens. I don't do a lot of veggie gardening cause i don't cook, don't really like a lot of vegetables (i am a junk food junkie from birth) and most of the time it is just me...but i love growing veggies and like to share my veggie stash. Half of one of the beds is 3 ft high and this is my favorite-the pot roast veggie bed - in this bed I grow red potatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and carrots. The other veggie bed has lettuces, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, beans, gourds and this year I am trying eggplant - only cause the color purple is one of my favorites...I have another 8ftX8ft raised bed that i grew corn in (to go with my pot roast), I would plant sunflowers in with the corn and it is one of the prettiest veggie beds around, but water is a premium in this area and we don't have a well, so i gave up the corn and made it a wildflower patch.

My neighbors all suggest I put in a well, but i am holding out to put in a rain harvesting system,
which I hope will be within the next year. I just cant decide where i want to put a huge container that will hold enough water to handle an acre of gardens. A cistern sounds good, but i have tons of trees and don't want to disturb their roots, if i put it above ground i need a spot that wont disturb the neighbors!

I am an avid composter, very proud of my 16ftX8ft compost bin, (we had some extra trellis laying around and it made the perfect composter). EVERYTHING from my garden goes in my compost bin. I do have a shredder and when it is working I use it...but usually all the yard clippings go in as is. It is a lazy man composter and took a good 2 years to get some soil from it, but well worth it. I also have a little 2ftX2ft compost bin that i layer leaves and grass clippings in and can turn that one over pretty fast.

We have a pond with Koi fish, tons of bullfrogs and it makes the best fertilizer around---pond scum, i call it. The only other fertilizer that i use is alfalfa and molasses twice a year on the lawn and the gardens. I use corn gluten meal as a pre-emergent.

We filled in our ditch about 6 years ago and put in Zoysia Palisades instead of St Augustine and Bermuda, which the lawn was originally set up with. It is a really lush grass, nice and soft, and a glorious gold color in the winter. It is a very thick grass and keeps out the weeds, while the parts of the lawn with St Augustine or Bermuda struggle to keep up and has proven to be as drought & heat tolerant as the Bermuda.

I hope to learn a lot about growing vegetables being a team player in the Veg Heads, I am especially interested in a fall vegetable garden and once I get the rain harvesting in I will once again enjoy Silver Queen corn with my pot roast.

Stay tune and one day I will tell you all why I named my gardens 'Magoo'...

M&G's Backyard Garden

Spring, 2009, has been a very weird season. Two late frosts, lots of wind, and very wet. Nonetheless, things are growing. Have harvested two plantings of radishes, spinach, mustard greens, and are currently eating string beans, onions, elephant garlic, strawberries, potatoes, and lettuce. Corn is growing and okra is planted. Tomatoes and peppers are starting to flourish.

This week, we will plant melons – watermelons and cantaloupes. We have six rain barrels set up and catching water off the roof. Trying to figure out a pump system to get water uphill to our garden from the house.

Our new asparagus bed is doing great! We built it using cinder blocks and dyno soil. The feathery fronds sway gracefully in the wind and are several feet tall. Really beautiful. Our new J&P roses are flowering and bringing us lovely fragrances and beautiful blooms.

On a side note, we are xeriscaping our lawn little by little. Yuccas and blue rug juniper for the hill. No more mowing or watering that area. Plans are in the works for an island in the front yard cut out of the St. Augustine, mulched, with native plants. Also, a rock garden on the south side of the house so we won’t have to mow that either. We have almost a half an acre and there is a lot of potential.

Will update as more veggies come in. Would love to hear what is going on with you!

Photo is of our “Circle of Fire” from last year – jalapenos, habaneros, scotch bonnet, cayenne. Wonderful!