Moonbeans

As I was quietly trying to sleep last night I kept noticing how bright it was outside.  After deciding that it just wasn't time for me to shut down I got up, grabbed a camera and headed ou t to my garden.  The moon was unbelievable bright and the reflection off the neighbors pond in the distant made the ground look like a circular, wiggly LCD screen in the middle of the field.  I hadn't spent much time at night in the new garden, and it was an interesting change.  The ground crawled with peculiar insects, and the leaves glistened with dampness in the humid air.  I could see everything.  It was truly like standing there just before dawn only it was shortly before midnight.

Night Trellis

After spending 30 minutes or so I decided to turn in, but this might be the beginning of a regular routine.  This morning I noticed that several beans are breaking the surface of the ground after a week, so I'm excited to see the newest members of the garden.

Emergence... looks like fun.

If you are looking to see Mumford and Sons cover The National's song "England"...click THIS.

If not please reconsider now that you are aware of it's existence.

I giving props to Wes "Wubbie" Lankford for posting it last night... well done sir.

Blooms, Blight and Brethren

Things have really turned a corner for the better in the Tomato department.  All of the "Early Girl" plants and the "Yellow Pears" have blooms on, and the "Black Krim's" have budded but no actual blooms were open this morning.  The "Beefsteak" tomatoes make up the rest of the crop, and they are somewhat behind the rest of these but have doubled in size in a week.  I suspect they will be blooming in two weeks.

All I wanna do is bloom-a-bloom, bloom bloom, in a zoom-zoom...

While the tomatoes are going crazy the corn has decided to be very cantankerous.  You know how corn is... all starchy and independent... stupid corn.  Anyway... only 3 out of 15 plants decided to come up in one of my rows so I decided to start over.  I worked up the soil real good and replanted two of the 5 rows of corn.  I left the plants that have already come up, but still need to fill in some bare spots on the other 3 rows.  It's important to get these close to the same schedule so they will pollinate each other correctly... sounds dirty huh?  I mean you don't want old plants pollinating young plants or vice versa do you... I didn't think so.  Well that kind of behavior will not be stood for in this garden.  You keep your pollen to yourself or at least with some other plant of the appropriate age.  Stop reading, here's a picture:

Hey Ladies....?

One of my favorite things about watering in the morning is listening to this particular mocking bird.  He always comes to hang out by the garden and sing while I'm out there, so it's like seeing a friend now.  I've been unable to get a shot of him because he is so fast, but today I was able to take a terrible picture of him after he followed me back to the porch.

Watermelon and wonder bird.

I'll be taking considerations for names, so if you have a good one feel free to leave a comment on what we should call this guy.  Oh and lastly, my watermelon has had a rough time, and it finally started to come around this weekend.  Good job watermelon... I find that the leaves of a watermelon plant look eerily familiar to the markings on the melons themselves... coincidence... I think not.

If you want to listen to something cool check out the Avett Brothers... wow... just wow.

Early Riser

I've never been one to get up immediately when the alarm goes off.  To tell you the truth... if Amy wouldn't physically wake me up I probably wouldn't hear the alarm 8 out of 10 times. However, it's been a little easier to rise lately because of my new early morning watering ritual.  since the heat index has been in the mid-90's for a week, and the plants are new to the ground I've been giving them a pretty good drink most mornings.  They seem to appreciate it.  It's been nice to get outside first thing and experience a little peace before going to the mill, and I can honestly say I'm in a better mood when I arrive than I used to be. Not sure why...

Good morning garden... you thirsty?

Here's some photographic evidence of the cukes in the ground.  I'm using a trellis method on some and some cages on the others.  I've never tried either way, but it seems like it will make training the vines and harvesting much easier.

Arch de Cucumb

Lastly it looks like we are finally going to get some rain this weekend.  Not the kind that washes away plans, but instead makes plants happy.  The southern sky looked busier this morning than it has in a while.  Oh... and bonus find in the old milk barn.  I found some pieces of metal perfect for pole beans, so I am planting those this afternoon.

Hello rain clouds.. hello pole bean accoutrements.

If you are struggling to get to quitin' time I recommend THIS!!!

Have a great weekend.

Helping Hands

I've come to realize that it's a lot of work putting in a garden, but I've enjoyed the time spent in the dirt.  But one thing I didn't think about when I set out to do this was just how much time it takes.  It's not that I mind spending the time doing this, instead it's the time that I'm away from the house and leave Amy to look after a very energetic 3 year old and an almost crawling 9 month old.  Without her understanding and patience with me and this project it wouldn't be half of what it has become.  Thanks babe.

I did get some very needed assistance installing the cucumber trellis last night, and below is a short video showing the Johnson family in action.  Maggie was sitting just outside the shot, and you can hear a squeal of approval from her toward the end of the video.  Macklen was very found of the trellis because he thought it looked like a tunnel... just wait until those cucumbers start growing around that thing Mack... you're gonna love it.  I can imagine days in the future where the whole family can participate in this and it makes me smile.

I left the camera at work last night so no new shots today, but 3 more tomato plants are in as well as 11 cucumber plants and 5 watermelon hills.  I had room for some pole beans so I'll plant them tomorrow.  Then a little more mulching with straw and we start weeding, watering and waiting.

Restless Cukes, Rows of Corn, Sunflowers and a Stud Terrapin

Please excuse the absence.  I've been very flattered by folks asking me what's been going on with the blog and why I hadn't posted anything in 4 days.  It's nice to know some people are looking at this, and the reason for the delay was a short bout with the temperature/sweaty/achy/sore throat virusbacteriainfection.  I have no idea what I had, but it took me out of the garden game for a while.  Enough of this...

Cucumbers.  I have several cucumbers in 4 inch pots that still need to go in the ground. This is WAY overdue, but tonight I think I'm going to finally get them in the earth.  I even have a few with some buds on them, so I hope the transplanting doesn't totally freak them out.

Please give us a home!

The corn is starting to pop out of the ground.  I made a rookie mistake by planting individual seeds in particular spots instead of sowing an entire row and then removing some of them for space purposes after the plants come up.  It's silly, but I always feel bad when I remove the plants that are starting to just come alive for reasons like spacing.  It's like I didn't give them a fair shake or their chance to grow tall and stand in the sun for a summer.  Maybe I won't change what I do... maybe I'll continue to the next topic.

Sweet corn is here to party

Real quick.  If your growing tomatoes you should start some basil.  Tomatoes and basil are something that I could eat everyday, and fresh basil at the store is expensive.  Plus basil is super easy to grow and you can grow it in a planter on the porch or in the garden.

I'm going to put you with some tomatoes and fresh mozzarella... you sexy herb.

I also started some sunflowers in starter pots for fun.  After some reading and some personal experience I would suggest against this because of the nature of these plants. However, I think these are going to work out ok.  I don't know why I'm growing these... I think it's just because they look pretty.

Soon to be 6 foot tall... weird.

Lastly, I saw this super cool guy on the dirt road I live on while driving to work.

STUD TERRAPIN

My Aunt Terry has always used the term "stud terrapin" and I think that I have finally found the stud terrapin of the box turtle world.  This guy's shell was a little over a foot long and nine inches across.  It wasn't a snapper,  just a box turtle... a true stud terrapin.  I marveled at the symmetry of his markings and his super awesome face.  I wonder how old he is?  I should've asked him.

Tomorrow will hopefully bring news of cukes in the ground.  Until then enjoy this song by a Portland Oregon band called The Builders and the Butchers.

What we need is a plan.

Here is my initial concept for he garden.  Although it's not going to turn out exactly like I had planned it's going to be really close.  Luckily, it looks like I'll have a little more room than I thought.  I plan on using the extra space for some climbing variety of green beans.

If you have a Missouri garden I suggest you register it with the State of Missouri Dept. of Agriculture and become part of the 10,000 garden challenge.  This is a great initiative to get Missourians to produce their own local produce.  A quality showing in this could be a great shot in the arm for local farmers markets as well as an easy way for us to tell our state government that this is a subject that matters to us.  Click here to be directed to the AgriMissouri website and become part of this great program.

Cucumbers go in the ground tomorrow.

You say tomato, I say something different.

It was a monumental night.  The tomatoes are in the ground... I repeat... the tomatoes are in the ground.  I've always wanted to have a big garden (that's what she said) but the reason is because I love tomatoes.  Home grown tomatoes are the best example of how the quality of taste and flavor can sometimes be lost when things are grown on a massive scale, picked too green and shipped across the country to hopefully be eaten at an extremely sub-par condition.  My family has grown tomatoes since I can remember, and this year I hope to supply our family, and a few lucky others, with the joy of eating fresh home grown tomatoes.

My garden is starting to look somewhat like a vegetable prison with everything inside a fence and in cages, but I am super thankful and excited about these tomato cages.  My good buddy Kory Mitchell came through with these for me.  They are big and super awesome.  I plan on using four of them with cucumbers as well.  I was also gifted several circular tomato cages from my good friends Rick and Betsy Todd and my Mom and Dad.  The generosity of friends and family through this process has been amazing.  I hope to repay you in hordes of fresh produce, and Kory... I'm saving the best watermelon in the bunch for you.

Cage Fight - 18 Tomato Plants - 4 varieties

Forward momentum will be lost a little due to spousal excursion, (seems like you could see a doctor for that) but I hope to have the remaining plants/seeds in by the end of next week. Then the waiting and the weeding begins.  Lastly here's the first bloom from the tomatoes that I've seen.  It came from one of the yellow pear tomato plants.

First Tomato Bloom