More gardening... study, plan, work and spend money.

Thursday March 15, 2007 - 09:07pm

Yeah, things are going okay.

I've been doing a lot of gardening and research for gardening. I'm trying to go with as much companion planting and organic gardening stuff as I can, but... I'm really lazy and don't want to do a lot of maintenance work on my garden. I decided to put down landscaping fabric for weed control. I'm too lazy to weed on a regular basis and I know it.

Been pretty busy, just got my PennyRoyal seeds in the mail today from Sand Mountain Herbs.com. I'm planning on planting those around the house to cut down on pest insects in and around my home. I want to try to start them indoors in order to cut down on loss of seed due to birds, animals, insects, fungus, disease, etc... Once they're established, most things give them a wide berth due to the plant's toxic nature.

I bought a grow light, timer and some seed starting greenhouses with peat moss tablets at Wal-Mart yesterday. Azalia and I are going to put up a shelf above our bed for seed starting and general indoor growing. 16 hours of light, starting at 6:00am, will be the daily timer setting. I also snagged some fish emulsion and a spray bottle. For those of you who've never used it, I'd personally recommend it as one of the best low-impact fertilizers you can buy. It's much less likely to burn your plants than anything else I've come across.

I spent about $83 at Burpee on my gardening herbs and vegetables. I still need to either make a trellis or break down and buy some tomato cages. I'm growing the fastest growing varieties they had available for both cherry tomatoes and Beefsteak. With Tennessee's lengthy growingHabenarosI might squeeze out a couple of harvests! I also snagged Cucumbers, Jalapenos, Habenaros and Luffa gourds. I don't know how well the Luffa gourds will turn out, but it's supposed to be able to grow down here so I'm going to try it.

I'll need to pick up some more peat moss and top soil for this year's garden. I have Chives all over the area I want to plant the garden. Ground Ivy snuck into our lawn as well and seems to be doing quite well. I love both of these plants and would rather see them transplanted than destroyed. I actually made a tea from some Chamomile, Ground Ivy and lots of honey for my family who are all down with a cold and sore throats. The kids loved it and I enjoyed a small sampling myself.

I still need to have the area for the garden tilled up. Azalia's father said he'll come out Saturday and bring his new cultivator and maybe his Mantis Tiller for some of the smaller areas. I'm still planning on putting my pumpkin patch out front with white pumpkin seed from those that appeared suddenly in our lawn last year. Additionally, I think I'll till up the side yard for a flower garden. That way, I'll have less lawn to mow.

Yes, I am lazy.