So now I’m getting desperate…

…and putting the tomatoes closer together…  2 in each of the pails in the first photo and one in each corner of the raised bed with the ….ta da ….  laundry rack on it..  how creative is that!  I just ran out of tomato stakes!

  

        

Take one bucket…

Drill holes in the bottom, add some rocks, put screen over top of rocks, add straw and soil, plant tomato, add more straw, put tomato cage in bucket, do 5 more times.  I just didn’t expect all those seeds to germinate…

    

I think there is room for carrots!

I want a burn pit… no..

I want a big fire pit…  no…  I simply want to burn bigger branches than my little fire pit will hold so I’m just trying to figure it out.  Then I read you need fire bricks or a metal fire liner..  more to it than I thought…  hhmmm… 

It pays to read the label…

I need dirt… choices..  go and dig it up at neighbors or buy it..  today it was “buy it” when I was at Big Lots…  huge bag  $8.  Get it home, fill some of the beds and then notice it says garden soil…  hhmmm  not potting soil but garden soil.  who knew??  …not to be used in containers…  hhmm….  to the internet…  too compacted…  hhmmm…  I have straw…  so I take the van, collect soil, straw, Brita and Jake and proceed to mix the straw and soil to use for containers!!   We’ll see….

ok… can you see it?

….the fence…  and do you notice that the concrete blocks are arranged differently than they were?  WELL…  regularly there is a critter behind that bed and the other next to it.  Since Jake and Brita are 2 dogs who love critters and occasionally often hunt them down and “prey” upon them, they really visit this particular part of the yard.   What you see is the way it looks after I put back some of the blocks… need I say more.  So..  I will need to secure the fence over time but for now… it’s simply propped up to deter the little rascals!  Good news is that the tomato plant was not affected!

A PEACH!!!

I have a peach!!!

  

Oh no! The cherry tree!

What’s this????

 

Playing with blocks has begun!

After I fenced part of the front yard in for Olivia I got used to having an enclosed area in the front of the house.  So…  wasn’t sure what to do.. fence…  wall…  ??   ReStore to the rescue!  When I brought home a load of blocks for $.25 each it hit me!!  And so… the wall!  Also it will be a barrier and if I can keep it enclosed all around, I’ll feel comfortable having Jake and Brita there with me.  Right now, there are bunnies hanging out and one bunny and they would be chasing it to Winchester!

  

Pears are looking good!

Blueberries!

Look carefully and you’ll see!!
  

I can’t help myself…

The milkweed plants are amazing!  The fragrance of the flowers fills my living room!  The first picture was taken at eye level and the second was with my camera being held up high.

The first person…

…who asks me what it is will get an invitation to help me move it!!  I can see it painted with plants, birdhouses, bells or whatever hanging from the hooks that are already there!!  ReStore $10.  It’s so heavy I can’t move it myself.

Beautiful!

Why do folks call these weeds??

Milkweed–up to 6 feet now…

More dirt…

…actually it’s only part of what I got but check out the sunset on the way back!!

        

Self-watering!!!

This is SO cool!  I’m going to work on it!

Black-eyed Susans!

Either they got too heavy or a dog trampled them but to the rescue is something I thought I would never use…  and, realistically..  may never again..  but it is keeping them together!!

I’m confident…

there will be tomatoes, peppers and lettuce and hopeful there will be squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, eggplants and watermelons!

                         

Lettuce

hhmm  …  So when do you harvest lettuce I wonder?  Looks fine to me… Maybe I’ll have a salad!

  

  

Totally is my plan!

After rabbit damage this past winter this is my plan~  I just saw this on Facebook…  thank you Chris Rice, whoever you are!

Your newly planted tree is a food source for rabbits. Rabbits can severely damage trees by girdling the trunks or major branches or by completely severing the growing points of terminal leaders on small trees.

To protect your newly planted trees from rabbits make a cylinder out of rabbit wire and attach it to a stake with wire. Place landscape fabric around your tree and then pound the stake into the ground to support the rabbit wire. push the rabbit wire 2 inches into the soil to give it more support and to prevent rabbits from going underneath. Put some wood chip mulch on the landscape cloth around the tree. Leave protection in place for several years.

You have to provide protection for newly planted trees because we are not just feeding rabbits!

Oh no!

A trip to the back 40 revealed that “something” (possum maybe) decided to eat/play with(?) one of the squash plants.  SO at 9:30 (yes it’s almost dark) I put a temporary fence up …  not that it would keep a critter out if it really wanted to get in but maybe a deterrent…  at least it would slow it down.  The first picture shows how far from the pot ground and the stake was…  and Jake is clearly following the scent.

   

Progress!

Ran out of dirt but did get the ones planted that I wanted to get planted.  Can’t have tomatoes in each one so I read because they will be too squished together!