We are back.

The weather was crazy when we left last Friday! It rained so hard we couldn't hardly see the front of the hood on the truck. And we went through several storms like that. It mostly rained in some form every day we were gone. Louisiana had a tornado watch until that Saturday, but we didn't see any damage from that, so we were blessed.

Brought our youngest son back with us as there aren't many jobs in NC, and certainly none where we used to live.
Didn't take a lot of pictures there, but have taken a few here.

This is some garlic that I did not pull up before I realized that garlic needs to grow a full year before harvest. At least, that is what I read somewhere.

We've redone the grape supports this year, for the space that hubby gave them. We'll see if we did good or need to rethink entirely.

Redid the potato tower, too. Now it's basically two raised beds like this, with peas.

And yes, we still have the redneck planters, too. Trying celery again, though it gets much too hot here, so I'm not sure why. That is a garlic that we kept too long.
The other planter, the lilies are growing, and I planted some marigolds.
The bin in lower right that I did not take a picture of, for reasons that escape me right now; I planted a couple of tomato seeds in, some purple beans and some carrot seeds. We'll see how it goes.

Hope you are all doing well. I know the weather is still crazy!
Have a great Friday!

Bits and Pieces Sunday

Hope you're all having a quiet Memorial Day weekend.

I thought I'd show you some of my Nasturtiums. I planted them with the beans, thinking the flowers would draw bees to fertilize the beans. Little did I know the beans would flower circles around the Nasturtiums; and weeks before the flowers bloomed.






These are the colors I ended up with.

Also, a few random tomato and bell pepper plants.









That second picture is supposed to be cherry tomatoes, but they're a bit oblong for that.
I'd tell you their names, but they have WAY overgrown where I put the name tags. I do know we planted some Big Boy and some Better Boy, but other than that, I just don't remember.
I had to stake some of the bell peppers due to wind and the peppers, too. Some of them are survivors of that late frost we had.

The sunflowers are between 4 and maybe 12 feet high? I don't know. I just know they are waaaay over my head.
And full of leaf-legged bugs! Took these with my phone so they aren't very good, sorry.





I was going to dry the sunflowers for seeds, but now that I see them full of the leaf-legged bugs, I am undecided. While trying to find out what bug it was, I learned that I had unknowingly possibly protected the tomatoes from being attacked by them. The bugs, of course, like everything that we planted in this garden, but right now seem to like the broccoli and sunflowers more.
So, the broccoli I was going to pull up, and the sunflowers, are staying put for now.
Then maybe we'll get a few nice tomatoes before the bugs do.
If you remember, last year in North Carolina, our tomatoes got blossom end rot. Whether from low calcium, or those same bugs, I don't know.
I'm reluctant to use insecticide, because 1) it's poison; 2) we also have ladybugs out there (though I think the yellow ones are squash bugs?); 3) there might be other helpers I'm not aware of.

The plastic bags I used for 'mulch' around the tomatoes and pepper plants? Double edged sword. They did keep the weeds down, but fire ants love to build under them. Ugh!

Oh, I should update on the one celery plant that is still alive. We got a lot of stalks. But only about 4-6 inches tall? And it's flowering now, haha. So maybe I'll try again in the fall. I think Celery is a cool weather plant.




That's it for today. I think I'm mostly updated and talked out, so I'll see you around. Have a blessed Sunday! ♥

February is almost over

Figured I should give an update.
Here is how the celery is doing:



The celery in the red-neck planter and a bucket, are doing the best.
Oddly, the celery I planted in the garden is not. One just died off (though I blame the cat for thinking I made her a new toilet); and the other just isn't doing well.

We've had a lot of rain.



It's looked like this three or four different times in the last month.

That garden has Brussels sprouts, bush beans, sunflowers, and four fruit trees in it. We planted two Stark double delicious dwarf apple trees (because we don't climb so well any more). A cinnamon spice apple tree, semi-dwarf, also from Stark. And an Asian pear, also dwarf variety.
We bought six Natchez thorn-less blackberry plants, too. If any of these survive my black thumb, we'll have some good snacking.

I'm also trying my hand at growing some broccoli.


That's the celery that survived being planted in the bed.
The broccoli is Packman.

This other broccoli isn't doing so well.


I don't remember which variety it is, and the little name tag disappeared. I lost one to either the cat, or possibly an armadillo. I thought that little one was going to survive, but it may not. No surprise with my lack of gardening genes. ;-)
You may have noticed some tires in this garden. We planted some seedless grapes here. A couple called Manukka, and a Concord.
Oh, there are a few garlic plants and onions here, too.

The potatoes seem to like their tire planter.


Tomorrow I'm going to learn how to install a toilet. And we may be getting in the house quicker than we expected. Hubby tore the rotator cuff of his right shoulder. He has limited movement. They took an MRI today. Now we wait for the doctor to give us his opinion.
We bought a... double recliner, or sofa today. It has two seats that recline and an arm rest - cup holder section in the middle.
From all the research hubby did, most people that had torn a rotator cuff said the only way they could sleep was in a recliner.
Well, where hubby goes, I go. There's no heat in the house, though we do have a small propane heater we can use, but we always have the trailer as a fall back.
They deliver the couch tomorrow.
After we get the toilet installed, we turn on the water.

Cross your fingers or say a little prayer or what have you, please, that the lines are good and hubby can sleep in the recliner. We haven't really had a good night's sleep since he hurt his shoulder 3 days ago.

Have a wonderful, blessed weekend! ♥