Thanks for the Info!

I wanted to thank my Aunt Konnie and my friend Marti for some great advice this weekend.  As I noted earlier in my blog, I planted a couple trumpet vines and hung a lattice on the side of the house for the vines to grow up.  I thought it would look nice, with a little maintenance. 

When I was at my parent's house for Easter, I spoke with my Aunt Konnie about my garden and landscaping.  She told me I shouldn't put vines on the house because I have aluminum siding.  The vines will get underneath the siding and pull it off the house!  Wow!

Then, my friend Marti wrote on this blog about the invasive trumpet vine.  The quote was "Oh no.. Trumpet vine is the scourge of the earth!"  If that isn't an ominous quote, I don't know what is. She was telling me horror stories about her trumpet vine, although nice looking horror stories. 

So with all that said, I transplanted the trumpet vines from the side of the house to the back alley.  Our back alley is pretty ugly and has a tall chain link fence.  So I planted the vines on the fence.  Now we still get to see the vines and it pretties up the alley a bit. 

I am so glad I started this blog.  It's these helpful tips and advice that are making my gardening experience that much more successful.  Thank you, again.

Rain, Rain and More Rain

It's another rainy Indiana spring.  It's raining daily.  It rained so much this past week, my mint plant that I planted on the south side of the house was washed away!  It was gone.  I did find it five feet down in the landscaping.  We still have had some cold nights.  I had some onions and some spinach die already.  I replanted the spinach last weekend, and replanted some onions this past Saturday (April 23rd). 

I bought another mint plant, peppermint to be exact.  It is getting hardened up with the other transplants we have going.  The baby romaine transplants we have under the lights are looking good.  I looked at the garden today, in the rain, and I see some radicchio popping up.  The spinach is looking good and onions are doing great.  The vivian lettuce is getting bigger.  No sign of the marigolds, yet. 

I was doing some reading today about transplanting garlic.  I bought some garlic transplants at the plant auction earlier this month and I'm trying to decide when to plant this.  I'm reading that it is basically a weed.  It will come back every year, in theory.  So I am not planting it in the square foot garden.  The SFG is still an experiment, so I don't know if it will return next year in it's current form.  So I think I'm going to plant it beside the two strawberry plants I have beside the SFG.  I think I can split the plant up a bit and spread it out.  I'm going to do it this week some time.  If anything I've said is wrong or a bad idea, please let me know.  Thank You

Busy Day in the Yard

It was a beautiful day in Indianapolis!  38th St Gardener was in full effect.  We worked on the whole property this weekend.  The garden, the yard and the landscape got attention.  It was another busy weekend, but I loved it.  Here's what we did:

Saturday, I went to my first PLANT AUCTION!  It was interesting and exciting.  I got two tomato plants (Stupis and Polish Linguia), garlic plants, mint, cantaloupe, and two Variegated Solomon's Seal flowers for Miss 38th St.  Nice looking plant.  LOOK:

We also joined the Indiana Organic Gardeners Association this Saturday at the auction.  Check out the site, if you are a local Hoosier.

Sunday, after we slept one off at the JW Marriott, we got to work in the yard.  We planted the Solomon's Seal, after a dug up a stump and a small tree, in the backyard.  It is in part shade.

I cleaned up the Day Lilly patches in the front and back. 

I pulled up two more stumps in the front landscape.

I weeded the landscape in the back, and pulled dandelions in the front yard.

I planted the mint at the side of the house, then planted the radicchio and marigold seeds in the garden.

It was a great day.  I've got dirty jeans, a sore back and dirt in my hair and I can't wait to do it again. 

Gardening Info I'm Just Eating Up, Figuratively.

I've all over the internet searching for more gardening information.  I feel like a sponge for vegetable garden knowledge.  So, this is an excellent memo about tomatoes varieties.  If you are interested in growing tomatoes, check this page out:

Tomato Varieties

Here are some tomato growing tips from the same website:

Tomato Growing Tips

I found some other good garden sites I'm still exploring, but I'll share those later.

Summer can not get here fast enough.

A Little Garden Humor I Ripped Off

Yeah, so I found this off someone else's gardening blog.  I'm totally ripping this off, but it's funny.  So why not.  You have to check it out.  Plus, who doesn't like Christopher Walken?

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/googly-eyes-gardener/1119102/

The Warm Weather Cometh

Yes!  The first 80 degree day.  It was awesome.  The whole property is coming to life.  My red and white onions are sprouting.  Two of the four trumpet vines we planted are showing signs of life.  The strawberries are back and getting bigger.  Plus, my seedlings are doing very well.  Look!  I started the hardening process with these little guys.  I have to check how long this should take. 

Next week, we'll plant the next round of seeds in the garden.  These are the seeds that will be planted 2 - 3 weeks before the last frost. 

The squirrel defense we put up is doing the job, thus far.  No squirrel attacks on the garden. 

Happy Gardening!

It's official

The garden has begun.  Miss 38th St and I planted the first round.  We planted red and white onions, spinach and Vivian lettuce.  We also planted four trumpet vines on the lattice on the house and the garage. 

Unfortunately, we had to make a chicken wire cage to protect our garden.  There are squirrels that are trashing the garden before we even started.  So we fixed the box and made the chicken wire cage.  I hope it works. 

I also made three 2ft square flower boxes for Miss 38th St on the south side of the house.  She hasn't decided what to put there yet, but it's ready when she's ready. 

The transplants are doing very well.  I'll have some pics later of everything.