Gardening Happy

I didn’t have much time to clear the land since the weather is getting warmer, the plants need to go in the ground. I was working from the front of the garden to the back, patiently making rows of planting bed one by one. The ground was hard and filled with rocks, it was very difficult tilling the dirt or more like tilling the rocks. I removed barrels and barrels of rocks and brought in new garden soils, instead of planting the first week it seems like I was working in the rock garden.

The second week I had 4 planting beds ready and planted tomatoes, peppers, and marigolds as a companion to the plants.

I repaired the old trellis left from the previous owners, not sure if I wanted to keep the lattice fence look. It’s not in the best of shape and starts to fall apart and will not give a good support to the plant vines. The previous owners planted the Muscadine grapes, and it wasn’t climbing on the trellis but crawling on the ground when I found it. I transplanted a few plants and moved them back to below the trellis.

I learned how to gardening from my mom and she soaked her seeds before planting them. It took me almost 2 weeks before I was able to plant and my snow peas looked like bean sprouts.

I planted them in two rows, and will put a trellis in the middle so they will be able to climb. The last row is the okra plants, they are extremely drought and heat resistant and produce plentiful crops and beautiful flowers till the Fall.

I also planted two rows of cucumbers, a trellis will go up in the middle of the rows as well since they like to climb.

The below plant is a gift from a fellow gardener.

I worked on the third-row planting beds this past weekend and was surprised to see that the dirt looked real good. It was dark with few rocks and lots of worms. I could have kicked myself, the old garden must have started here and not where I started. I should have surveyed the land better. This planting bed will be perfect for the herb garden.

After soaking the lemongrass in a bucket for almost 2 weeks, I was surprised that it didn’t take roots. I have enough to plant three rows.

The two plants below are also gifts, hope they’ll be happy in my garden.

I still have room toward the back of the garden to plant the watermelon. This is my first year planting it, I’m excited and can’t wait to see them grow.

I missed my gardenias from my old house and planted a few in my new garden. I hope these bloom soon, I absolutely love the aroma. Having a garden in the middle of the woods makes me nervous, the fence will go up next week and hopefully I won’t have any visitors before then.

Grandma’s Garden September11, 2011

The first sign of Autumn.

Squirrel looking for nuts to stash away for the cold winter months.

It’s late into the season and surprisingly Grandma’s garden still looks luscious green.

Her Lao herb Pak Kayang.

Sawtooth Coriander

Tamarind tree

Her eggplants look different from mine, the flower is purple instead of white.

Chili peppers

She planted a small rice paddy also.

She harvested the young rice pods to make Kao Mao for us to try. These are a little bit more mature than what she would normally pick to make Kao Mao.

Add a little water and heat on stove.

Stir until the water is completely dry.

This is fully cooked.

She used a blender to remove the shells.

Removing the shells the old fashion way.

What’s left is the tasty Kao Mao, young sticky rice for desert.

I will add exif data when I have more time.

My Garden in May

What they say is true, “April showers bring May flowers.”

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/8, 1/15sec, ISO 200, focal length 17mm, evaluative metering

As you can see, a view from my deck the garden is not that big. I have a string bean trellis in the back and next to it is the herb garden.  I have two green A-Frames for my cucumber plants sitting side by side, and a grape trellis on the right hand side next to the fence. It was cloudy and not enough lighting, I had to shoot many photos with ISO 800.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 800, focal length 20mm, evaluative metering

I only planted one banana tree this year.  This one is from last year and I kept it inside the garage during the winter months.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 800, focal length 40mm, closeup cropped, evaluative metering

My homemade organic insecticides works to a certain extent.  I have to check on the young plants very often and spray the mixed almost daily but my Thai eggplants still get attacked by the tiny little black bugs.  I haven’t seen them in the last few days, and it might be that it has been raining and they had to take cover or probably drowned by now.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/50sec, ISO 400, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

Only 2 of Lee’s string beans came up, so I planted a few more last week and they finally came up.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 400, focal length 29mm, evaluative metering

The yellow mustard flowers brighten the garden.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 800, focal length 37mm, evaluative metering

The tomato plants that I purchased from the local nursery look very healthy.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 800, focal length 29mm, evaluative metering

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/40sec, ISO 400, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

I also purchased the pickling cucumber plants that day.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 400, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

It’s nice to be able to pick my own strawberry, even though they are not as big as store bought but they are homegrown and organic.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/13sec, ISO 800, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

The grapes that I planted last year look more promising this year.  They will be climbing the trellis in no time.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/4, 1/160sec, ISO 800, focal length 29mm, evaluative metering

I planted these cabbages in early spring.  They are doing a lot better than I thought and I have to spot check them daily for any green worm.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 400, focal length 39mm, evaluative metering

A friend sent me a seed pack of Brussels Sprout and they finally came up.  I’ll wait a week or so before I start to thinning them out, the seeds are so tiny and I dropped too many in the row.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 400, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

These are my dad’s Thai chili pepper plants and I have some that came up from last year’s seeds. They are a hardy plant and stay healthy even during the dry season.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/80sec, ISO 800, focal length 35mm, evaluative metering

I planted the Thai and Sweet Basil near the cucumbers this year.  Bo dug several deep holes for me and I filled them backup with top soil.  At first I thought about planting them in pots but I think this will work better, plus I didn’t have to spend money on the pots.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 400, focal length 36mm, evaluative metering

I have over grown mints and parsley in my herb garden.  They grow a lot faster than I could harvest.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/125sec, ISO 800, focal length 40mm, cropped, evaluative metering

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO 800, focal length 36mm, evaluative metering

I didn’t have much luck growing the Sawtooth Coriander in the past and these are from Bo’s mom, so far they look healthy.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 800, focal length 30mm, evaluative metering

The Rosemary is an evergreen and stays pretty all year round.  The one that I have survived 2 winters already, I seldom cook with them but thinking about planting more since they are so pretty and a hardy plant also.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 800, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

I thought I would plant the lemongrass in pots and decided in the last minute to plant them in a small raised bed that I planted the basil last year.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/80sec, ISO 800, focal length 22mm, evaluative metering

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 800, focal length 40mm, evaluative metering

The flower above I got from PaNoy’s garden, and also the Pennyworth plants below.

Canon T2i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens, Manual, f/5.6, 1/160sec, ISO 800, focal length 37mm, evaluative metering