Sunday, May 10, 2009

A little bit of everything

This weekend was fun and busy. Busy and fun.

I got to spend some time with one of my favorite people.


She gave me a wonderful gift. No silly, the feet were already mine. I know, arent they pretty? Now they are even prettier with pretty blue polish on the toes.


I came home from that and proceeded to slip into these.


Then began to move all this.


I did have help, tho. J was recruited to push the wheelbarrow. He made it a little ways before he realized just how heavy it was.



We called in moral support. She wasnt much help.


Not to worry tho. Real help was on the way. Cheering and motivational words were aplenty.


This is what all the dirt was for. We filled 6 out of 10 of these raised beds.


Isnt is just beautiful? Lovely, black dirt just waiting for plants.


And plants it got. 48 tomato plants, 13 red pepper plants, 15 sweet onions, and many more seeds sown directly in the dirt.


Sigh. It was a great weekend. I love planting in the garden. I love digging in the dirt. Now, I just cant wait to see it all grow up!!

17 comments:

Danni said...

Wow - good work! How did K. manage to escape the labor camp? lol
48 tomato plants...that's gonna be one helluva lot of 'maters! :-)
I was advised by a long-time resident of my city on Friday that we STILL have not passed our last frost date..sigh. Looks like my 'maters will continue to live in luxury in my living room for a while longer.

Farmer Jen said...

I agree with Danni, that's a whole lot of tomatoes! Is this all your family garden or are you planting a community garden? You have about 5 times the space that I do for my gardens!

Our last frost date was May 1st, but we have had a cold Spring this year with late rains. My tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are still too small to put out. The "hardening off" process has begun though. They have been sitting outside on the porch during the day and come in at night to stay warm. Soon they will stay outside on the porch and then off into the garden they will go.

Nice feet, by the way.

Sue M. said...

Love your tootsies! LOL

Wow, I would love to have that many raised beds. I'm going to have to be content with just 3 this year, along with some containers. Last year it was total containers, so I'm progressing a little.

linda m said...

Sounds like someone had a very productive weekend -painted toes and planting. I'm impressed!

Anonymous said...

whoa! Does that mean I don't have to plant and I can just come have some of yours :-) Kelly

Mim said...

Woo Hoo! I'll bet J's biceps are sore today!!! 48 Maters? Really? That's double from last year right? Shooo, you are going to be spending A LOT of time putting up maters, but boy it's going to be worth it come next Feb? You really think they will last that long? LOL

sugarcreekstuff said...

I don't care what you say, YOUR YARD IS HUGE! Was that zone 5?

The toes looked great and I loved the boots too.

Anonymous said...

Girl!! Those beds look gorgeous!! I'm so excited for you!! 48 tomatoes....now that sounds perfectly reasonable to me...we 10s and 7s like to be SURE we're going to have enough...right? :) (I might even get a few more...just in case.) Btw, my toenails are pink, but that blue is just awesome! :)

Carla said...

You lucky, lucky dog!!!!! Beautiful beds and even more gorgeous dirt.

If I bring ice cream, can I come play in the dirt with you??

Melody said...

Me too! Dirt is wonderfully amazing. I'm excited to start planting too!

goatgirl said...

What gorgeous raised beds. I'm jealous.
And about Darby, please!

frugalmom said...

danni: K had a friend over. Dont worry tho, she made up for the lack of work later! If were lucky it will be a better tomato season than last year and I can get all kinds of tomato sauce canned up.

Farmer Jen: This is all MINE. But if you ask nice I will share with you! I too, set my little seedlings on the porch before they went in the ground. They seem to be doing very well in their new beds.

Sue M.: This is the first time that I have ever had any luck with containers. And to think that you have been doing it that way this whole time. I am very happy with the beds. Hopefully everything will produce in abundance.

linda m: Very productive!

Kelly: I think that youll plant no matter how I answer.

Mim: Not twice as much. Last year we had 35 plants. Which is a very nice amount as well. This season I had some free heirlooms added to the list so that made for a few more plants.

sugarcreekstuff: Ha! It SO is not that huge. I swear. And thats a new zone. Totally uncharted territory.

farm mom: That is so true. It calms me to know that Im prepared. :) Pink? Not this lady.

CeeCee: Totally. Ill be waiting. Ill even clear a spot in the freezer.

Melody: Dirt is my friend.

goatgirl: Ummm, I dont think so. Heyyy, wait a minute. You do have llamas....

Sue M. said...

I'm curious as to how deep your raised beds are. Mine are 8" and I don't know if that's going to be deep enough for the tomatoes and peppers.

This is only my second year gardening. I live in Northwest Arizona, high desert, and the ground is beyond rock hard. I had no choice but to use containers last year.

Oddly enough, my container tomatoes are bigger and have more blooms now than the ones in the raised beds. Of course, they were put out a couple months ago before the raised beds ones, so that may have something to do with it.

If you need any seeds, let me know. LOL, I think I ordered enough for a half acre. I never even knew there was such a thing as Heirloom Tomatoes until about 6 months ago! What a wonderful world gardening has opened up for me. Purple carrots, Toga eggplant, Moon and Stars Watermelon...oh my.... I can't wait for harvest time.

You kind bloggers are going to have to teach me how to can!

basicliving@backtobasicliving.com said...

I LOVE your raised beds - and that dirt is just awesome. We don't have dirt. We have rocks. I'd kill for dirt like that.

LOVE the toes. I have to paint mine red or purple because that's the chickens favorite colors. I painted them a peach color once last summer and the chickens were appalled. I won't make that mistake again.

frugalmom said...

Sue M.: Our beds are also 8 in deep. I think that should be fine for root development. Altho, I have never gardened in Arizona...did you work your soil under your beds before you added the mixture you used to fill them with?

I have heard of that Moons and Stars watermelon....I hear it is really great. Youll have to let me know how you like it and if you had any troubles with it.

OOOOO...canning. I love to do this. I will help you all I can!

Penny: Yeah, we had to have that compost delivered....actually right now, my driveway is once again filled with it. Thankfully this is the last load. My wheelbarrow is on its last leg...

And when I get chickens, I will remember to find out what their favorite color is. So, I can paint my toes that way. That makes perfect sense to me.

Egghead said...

48 tomatoes??? Wowza! We planted 9 one year and had so many that a bunch went to waste. I couldn't can them fast enough. You are going to be one busy lady. I love your beds. Aren't they the best thing?

Sue M. said...

Ok, I'm feeling a little bit better now about the 8 inch beds. Some of the tomatoes have already flowered. :-)

I dug up about 2" of the soil (as much as I could), and added steer manure, and a mixture of soils before planting. We'll see how my great experiment works out.

I also agree that your dirt looks beyond fantastic! What I would give for compost/dirt like that.

Oooooh, I'm so glad that you don't mind the canning help, hopefully in a few months. I'll definitely be looking for guidance!