do you see my 6 waternelons??

It has been "very" hot here in Upstate NY, and humid, humid, humid.  Finally easing off a bit.  Not much rain lately, our creek and pond are beginning to lower.  Last year we lost our pond completely, a sorry sight, and the creek was left with 2 pools from which we watered our geese and ducks..Thank goodness.  We also lost our well..went dry... not fun, but we survived.  Hopefully it will hold this year.

The Grandkids have returned to Tennessee and I will miss them.  Now back to my work, straightening up and tending the food garden.  I've had Lucsious peas, juicy onions, gobs of lettuce, spinach, ....now saw our first tomato, head of broccolli, beans are coming.  I dont know why I plant Cauliflour it never makes.
Some things in gardening vegetables take a special hand, more tending, which I havent developed yet..may never.  I am really tending my watermelon.  Have you paid $7 for one yet?  Yikes!!  We have gotten our wood for the winter.  First winter going to heat all with wood.

This is my little 'Gamper" a Wild cat.  I hope to fix it up.
If you have strawberries, maybe for the first time like me.  You can cut them back and fertilizer them for next year.

We planted 2 cherry trees, had to watch  and water, as this is not an ideal time, but they were on sale.  Watered them today with root stimulator to encourage root growth.

I am going to try and grow vegetables in my greenhouse: lettuce, spinach, greens...I believe now is the time to plant them.

Greenhouse, Zebrina and My Clematis Vine.

Zebrina and my Clematis.  I had hoped my clematis would climb and bloom.  It first had a big show of blooms on the bottom. There are different types of Clematis: some grow andbloom on stems from the prior year, and others ( this one grows new stems and blooms. My Zebrina is just starting to bloom, these re seeded from last years blooms.

Here is my greenhouse.  It is very sturdy and the plastic is guaranteed for quite a few years.  It is cemented into the ground.  Better be since we get strong winter winds in New york North country.  I will see how it last the winter.  I put this together with very little help, once at the beginning and then to move it to its permanent spot.  It is only a 6'x 8'  There is nothing like the smell of fresh earth and growing plants on a cold spring day to make you feel good.

Hey!! Summer gardening.

Here in Upstate New York:

Finally a normal summer, Rain.  I know some are flooding, thankfully we are not, but it is so good to have rain.  And what a difference it makes for the garden.  Things are growing like weeds...Weeds too.  I have always struggled with weeds, not good at getting rid of them.  Truthfully, I am a lazy gardener.  Any suggestions?

We have added creatures to our life:

Bob, the Goose, Jack the Dog, and Root Beer our Momma Kitty, who has added a few kittens.  

Now to Gardening.  I have a greenhouse, got it here in the spring. greenhouse  I love it will show a picture next. It has given me a place besides my living room to start many plants.  I'm not sure about using it in the winter, very cold here.

I cant say enough about Zebrina Hollyhock, plants pop up everywhere in my flowers and I love it.

Not too late to plant beans, squash, cucumbers, in the north, late tomatoes in the south.

Good gardening.

Spring gardening  Peas: Do not add fertilizer to peas they get their nitrogen from the air.  Put them in well drained soil.
Radishes:  Add fertilizer with seed organic preferred, as they develop very quickly.
Spinach: I side dress with dried blood great nitrogen.

Last year we began raising ducks for fun and eggs.  We were given 3 Pomeranian Geese. The female,  could be "Mother Goose" for sure.  We had to fight her for her eggs. The are good tasting and great for baking, both duck and goose. I also was able to sell some blown out goose eggs to help cover the cost of food.  we now have 6 baby geese is it goslings??  and 9 baby ducks.  We incubated them, our first time by building a homemade incubator.  It was a wonderful experience.  Well mother  goose has just taken over, it is fun to watch.  We are using the straw from their house in our garden and hoping it will naturally improve it.  Will let you know.

More later and will add pictures.

Vermi-Composting and more gardening ideas and solutions from our plant encyclopedia on marthastewart.com

Vermi-Composting and more gardening ideas and solutions from our plant encyclopedia on marthastewart.com

Composting makes Soil and its Easy

I want to encourage composting. There are only 2 of us and we make alot of good soil with our little composting. It is free and with just a few additives it really enriches your flower or vegetable garden. I won't go in to much detail about the how to's as there is much info on line on how to compost. I have 2 bins: one we made out of wood and chicken wire and a platic circular type bin I found at Goodwill ( I am a real fanatic about shoping at Thrift storesI believe if you need it you will eventually find it, whether at a yard sale or thrift store) 2 bins will help you move the compost around better. This summer I was actually putting compost soil in my garden in as little as 2 weeks, it made that fast. Once you get into it, you will enjoy the thought of doing this rather than just throwing it in a land fill. Martha Stewart at marthastewart .com had direction for a small bin you could keep under your sink that turned your vegetable scraps into compost all year long ....I just blogged the site that has info on this for your info check out my other blogs..I am new at this. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/vermi-composting-?autonomy_kw=compost%20bin&rsc=header_3 ahh the link to Martha's info. Hope this helps someone, I would love input on experiences of your own, although I have been growing plants for years and gardening too, well I am a Half Way gardener, I just sort of "wing " it alot as I tend to get very busy and forget to fertilize, hate to weed ( I am always trying to figure out how not to weed, I hate it). The past few years I have been trying to keep a gardening diary to see what works. I am learning that gardening is a life long "thing" to learn, try and error, learn and do what works if the weather permits. Mother nature affects what we do alot. More soon, Melaine

Water for your garden Drip irrigation

The past 3 years have been very dry here in Tennessee and "very" HOT. For the last 2 years I couldnt grow a green bean if my life depended on it. The plants just dried up ..never grew. Well, this spring thank fully it rained soon after planting..I do think timing of planting seed is important too as the past 2 years I procrastinated and planted my beans late and it was already quite hot. I believe planting your beans as soon as danger of frost is over and hopefully the heat hasnt hit yet will insure better germenation. I planted earlier this year and we had some mild weather with rain. But mid june the heat came and no rain. We installed a Micro watering system this year. It consists of 2 in. tubing with 1/2 inch tubing coming off of it and watering directly to your plants. We used sprinker heads and they worked great, but when the plants get bigger you have to move them around the larger stems and leaves or they will block the water reaching to your other plants, also sprinklers water the weeds too. If you use drip tubing directly to ea plant or sprinkler heads close to the ground of your row you will eliminate these problems. We got our system at Home Depot it was a kit with everything we needed for $25. I think you can work up your own system and make it as economical as possible or as extravagant as you want...we added a timer so it would water at 5 a.m. in the morning. Well we have vegetables now we have flowers blooming it took water. My point is water to your garden is essential if you want to have an abundance of vegetables or flowers. I have heard of gardens that just "grow" with very little care but that is an exception. This was the choice we made, there are other ways to get water to your garden ..rain barrels, pumps from a stream or pond.... I have recieved our water bill and although it is not much higher I see the difference and I am calculating is it worth it for me. Good luck.