Weekend Recap

[nekosensei]

Friday, doomsey and I got Mexican food for dinner and then we went to voidness' place where we watched Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark and Time Bandits. I hadn't seen the first one in ages and I had never seen the second one. I enjoyed both.

On Saturday, doomsey and I celebrated Passover with his folks.

Today, I did work outside. I removed the tarp from the old vegetable garden, cleared the area underneath it of weeds, and loosened up the soil there. Tomorrow, I want to put some fertilizer down and, in early May, I hope to plant a vegetable garden. So far, I have summer squash, watermelon, cucumber, sweet corn, and winter squash. I also want to put tomato plants and eggplant out there. I also ordered two hanging baskets with strawberry plants in them. Tomorrow, in addition to buying fertilizer, I want to buy some chicken wire to keep the squirrels and rabbits out. I was also thinking about buying a little plastic owl with a motion detector in it to scare critters away. Does anybody else have any other ideas as to protecting the plants from critters? I heard that predator urine also scares them away, but from what I heard, it has to be male or something, and, well, doomsey doesn't want to participate in that. I also heard that scoopings from the cat box may work too...

This is the first time I'm planting a vegetable garden. This is going to be a learning experience for me. I have a feeling that, if I fail spectacularly, doomsey will continue telling me I have a brown thumb and he will make fun of me in general.

This evening, doomsey and I went out to get all you can eat sushi and then we took a three mile walk. Then, we watched an episode of Doctor Who.

By the way... nekosensei <-- very tired...

Comments

Re: vegetables

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

Do you have any advice for me as to what to plant? The garden is 16 X 6 feet. I have decided to nix getting eggplant seeds. I'm still considering getting tomato plants though. I could use them to make Caprese salad, which I can eat. I also picked up a package of carrots thinking that it's small.

I'm really hoping to not fail so doomsey doesn't seed grass over it in the fall. I'll be ticked at him if he does that.

Re: vegetables

[forestdruid.livejournal.com]

watermelon is both difficult to grow this far north and an atrocious space hog. We are talking 20-30 square feet per plant here.... if the plant is nice to you.

Most things in the squash family are bad, although they have bush cucumbers which are specifically designed for container growing. Tomatoes, eggplant and peppers all grow vertically and come in easy to grow varieties. There is usually a trade-off between flavor and ease of growing. For tomatoes, try Sweet 100 (nice cherry tomato that can be grown in containers). The best tasting tomatoes are the "heirloom black" varieties from Russia, but they are harder to grow and can get to be 8 feet tall (indeterminant growth types need staking)

Try growing herbs. These are expensive at the store and it is nice to have a good source on hand for cooking. Thyme (try lemon type), chives and sage are completely indestructible and require practically no watering (and will come back the next year). Basil is a bit harder, but by far the most useful herb you can grow (get the normal stuff or larger leafed varieties).