lgsunshine

 When I moved back home in 2000, I found that I enjoyed composting. People used to ask me: what are you going to do with your compost. And I never really had a plan. I’m not a gardener. But I started a gardening experiment this year. And I started with tomatoes. In April I planted seeds in the house and watched them grow.

I’m a constantly surprised gardener. I never think that I’m going to need to thin, because I never believe anything is going to live long enough for me to thin.
In February, I attended Growing Power’s two day weekend workshop. As part of that, there was a request to share what we learn. And when we share what we learn, to share that with Growing Power.

If I was more diligent, I would have kept a gardening journal to track my experiment. But like I said – I’m taken aback when something grows. So I never imagined that I would have so many plants to consider. And so this post is a bit of catching up.

Here are some of my plants this summer:
Tomatoes – They are doing well. I’m a little worried and hope the summer heats up.
Jalapeños – Growing well.
Hot Banana Pepper – Doing well.
Cucumber – one is doing okay. I lost one. Not sure how it happened. It seemed to overgrow and then die. But a small creature could have eaten it also.
Cilantro – I will probably grow in a one container next year. Small.
Beets – healthy leaves. Hopefully some healthy beets in there.
Strawberries – really not that good. Small green strawberries that go brown before they turn red. I need to learn more about growing strawberries in Wisconsin. I’ve been told they will do better next year. I want to keep them in a container. Can I keep them in a container for the winter?
Blueberries – they are doing wonderful. I eat small handfuls of them right off the bush. This is one that I’m thinking of planting in the backyard.
Mint – growing great. I cut some to put in my ginger ale and it comes back strong.

 My seedling bus 
 Blueberries! 

 Tomato plot and greenhouse 

I’ve been thrilled with my cheap greenhouse that I picked up for $40. As you can see I keep a lot of my plants in containers that I wheel around my backyard. The greenhouse really is warm. If there’s cold in the forecast, I wheel everything into the greenhouse.
Basically my experiment got a whole lot bigger than I could imagine and I already have new ideas for next year.  

 Bunny!  

This little guy was born late April.  We saw his mom give birth.  His nest was underground and near the garage.  If you looked very closely at the nest hidden in the sweet woodruff, you could almost see the nest breath in and out.  Once he was old enough to leave the nest, I didn't see him again until mid-June, when I snapped this photo of him.  He sat there for an hour as I puttered in the garden.  

This website takes data and makes it visual.  
This particular  visual presents the efficacy of different medical claims for vitamins, herbs, and other nutritional supplements.  
They plan to update as research comes available.  

Definitely worth visiting - bubbles link to research. 

Chips and homemade salsa...it's not good for me, but I could eat this stuff nonstop.

Goal for 2010 - 36 books
Finished 2010 - completing 35 books.
I have another 3 books that I tried - probably got more than two-thirds through and just couldn't force myself to finish them.

Goal for 2011 - 16 books.
But - I'm going for big fat books that I'm going to read slowly. I'm going to read and re-read whole paragraphs. Maybe even full chapters!

 

 Curious if others are on Hunch and what they think of it. 

hunch.com/people/lgsunshine/

 

test -- the intersection by my house 

We got more flooding.  

The water hit 3 feet in the first twenty minutes of rain.  

After an hour of rain, the water almost reached first floor.  
At least four - five feet of water.