Friday, May 8, 2009

How does my garden grow?

With the sun shining (at least a little) here in the Portland area today, I'm inspired to get out & plant those poor little plants that have been sitting in a box in my garage for 2 weeks. OK, I have put them out for some sun when we've been lucky enough to have it. I'm so glad that I haven't put the little guys into my new raised bed Dave built me yet! Last weekend we had a HUGE freak hail storm, complete with 50 mile an hour winds, the hardest rain we've ever seen here...came at us horizontally, right into the back of the house. We even had a puddle INSIDE on the floor next to our French Door. Now I realize we need to work harder at the weatherizing! At least the little plants were hiding in the garage for the deluge!

But now it's time to get them into the ground! I usually plant a couple tomatoes, green beans & some basil. But with the economy the way it is and thinking maybe I can grow some more veggies to save on my grocery bill. And I LOVE how the veggies I grow in my own yard taste! This year I've got a few more tomato plants to plant and some seeds for carrots, radishes, lettuce and others I can't think of right now. I'll let you know how things go!

If you like fresh green beans, here's what I've been doing for about 3 years now. It's the perfect idea for those of you without in the ground garden space or maybe you have just a patio. I plant my green bean seeds (pole beans & not bush beans) in a large planter full of organic soil. Then I put a tomato cage in the planter. When the plants start to grow and can reach the first level of the tomato cage, I wrap them around the wires. Then the plants grow to cover the cage and the beans hang down all around it. It's an easy way to grow green beans. My daughter loves to go out & see if the beans are ready. She loves to pick them & eat them right on the spot!

If you're looking for gardening inspiration, check out Lola's Victory Garden! She's got a great give away going on right now!

21 comments:

Lola said...

Excellent post. Good luck to you!

Anonymous said...

I wish we had a veggied garden. We did at our old house but there is just no place for it here.

TGIF and Happy VGNO Julie!

Anonymous said...

I love to garden on the first week an then with the constant deweeding, I give up. So I haven't done a garden in years. But I so admire men and women who totally love gardening and have such beautiful gardens. Happy Mother's Day to you and Happy VGNO

Mary K Brennan said...

I wish we had room for a veggie garden. I've always wanted to try that. I think I'll stick with flowers for now.
Have a great VGNO. Enjoy Mother's Day.

Opus #6 said...

I love gardens! I can't wait to see pictures of things growing. Happy VGNO.

Anonymous said...

My husband has a small veggie garden...always hoping something will grow :-)

Good luck to you.
Happy VGNO

Golfersmom said...

I love to watch gardens grow. I grew up on a farm so I was always growing something. I want Brookster to have that same experiences that I have. I like the idea of growing the beans. I will have to try it.

~*Jessica*~ said...

good luck with your garden. My mom and I were suppose to work on my garden and flower beds for Mothers day (do it every year) but it has rained to much, and had to move it to next weekend.

Veronica Lee said...

Happy Mother's Day!

Unknown said...

Good luck on the garden!!
I just stopped by from MBC under 100 followers club.

Have a great mother's day!!

Vanessa
www.militarywifemayhem.com

Frugal New England Kitchen said...

Happy Mother's Day!

Visiting & following from MBC 100 Group! Please stop by & visit me!

Cindi @ Mama Mentor
Mama Mentor

Christine - Tutorial Addict :) said...

WOW, that's a GREAT tip for the green beans! We have just a patio here so I didn't think much about planting anything but this sounds doable! And my kids LOVE green beans so it's a win win! Thanks for the tip :)

Eve said...

good luck! I cant seem to keep even the weeds alive around here!

Lola said...

CONGRATULATIONS!

Julie Chats has won Fourth Place in Lola's Victory Garden Contest!

Please stop by and check out your booty.

http://lolasvictorygarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/lolas-victory-garden-contest-winners.html

Lola said...

Julie,

Please forward your 125 x 125 ad via attachment to admin@girlsaremadeofsugarandspice
andeverythingnice.com

For the ad space you won in Lola's Victory Garden Contest from Girls Are Made of Sugar & Spice Blog.

Ann Harrison said...

Hey Julie,

Congratulations on winning a free ad!

I was very lucky and had a dear blog friend create a button for me. (I think she was tired of me NOT having one. She was very generous.)

Here's what you can do. Go to Photobucket.com. You can either download your own image or choose one in their files. Play around and see how you feel about creating one yourself.

Let me know how it goes!

~Ann
annharrison@comcast.net

Kelly @ Wisdom Begun said...

The raised bed sounds awesome. Care to share some photos of it? I am thinking of having hubby build me one.

shelley said...

hey there julie,
what a great idea for the beans in a pot! i do this with cherry tomatoes. i love to tinker in the garden, hate pulling weeds but love the garden! lol i'm following you from mbc under 100 club. stop by anytime!
hugs,
shelley
http://theplaygroundprincess.blogspot.com/
http://iamstillstandingafterallthistime.blogspot.com/

Nedekcir said...

Congratulation! You won the fourth place @ Lolas' garden contest. Send me an email with your 125x125 badge to be display for a month. Email address at the bottom of my blog Girls Are Made of Sugar and SpiceHave a good day.

Anonymous said...

The best way to support your tomato plants is with The Tomato Stake.

Easier to use than metal cages or upside down planters, stronger than bamboo and won't rot like wood stakes. The built-in twist-tie supports make tying your tomato plants easy!

Nessa said...

We are working on our garden right now. Thanks for sharing this post!

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