Purple Leaf Smoke Tree hangs on

I bought it at a bargin for $4.00. I had my doubts that it would survive.

But with a little TLC this small tree is growing.

Sharing some plant love!

Three Sister Garden...growing.

                                                                    Before

I'm an amateur gardener at best. That's OK!  All the areas that we garden are hand worked. Shovel and hoe are my tools of choice for many projects. See the shovel just standing in wait! Happy Gardening!    
                                                          
                                                                     After

                                                      Close up of two sister hills.
                                                 

  Corn, beans and squash planted to support each other and grow in harmony.

morning garden - random photos

                                

                              reclaimed container, hummingbird feeder,

                                          blooming marigolds

                                           tender carrots and crisp tender lettuce

freshly potted plants

Growing lettuce or a salad

                                        

                                lettuce in our EarthBox has grown really well using Ferry Morse seeds

                            so well that I thinned it to make room for other veggies that are growing.

                                                                     romaine

                                                           black seeded simpson

salad bowl

 After washing. We have enjoyed salads and lettuce on sandwiches. Tiny tender leaves...yummy!

 

Loving Spring!

                                     yellow roses from our backyard

Garden in a bale!

This is a great idea! I like contained gardens and have been reading about straw bale gardens. Then after reading many of the articles I was discouraged because of needed applications of ammonium nitrate and 10-10-10. With this article on Straw Bale Gardening I found that gardeners do have success without chemicals when using bales.

Three Sisters Garden

My first attempt at Three Sister plantings. Already I've made the mistake of planting all of the seed at the same time. Later I learned I should have planted the corn first, let it grow a few inches and then add the beans and squash. Living and learning!

 I have sweet corn, yellow crook neck squash and Kentucky Wonder beans seed planted in these mounds. We have very poor soil so I have added a bag of veggie and garden soil to each mound or hill. I hope to see some good results. Maybe the goddess of all good gardens smile down on my ignorant efforts!

                                Just another view of the Sister hills.

Another Man's Trash!

...is our new treasure. My dear one brought home a distressed wooden CD rack. It makes a perfect spring planter. He even bought and planted some new plants. Ivy, moss and wild strawberries fill this lovely little container garden.

How my EarthBox grows!

The seedlings continue to grow well in the EarthBox. Here we have planted three types of lettuce, four cucumbers and a few short rows of carrots. This is the result so far from seed planting. In the past we have grown spaghetti squash, okra and sunflowers in the box with success.
So I've basically planted a salad in a box. In the garden I have a few spring onions and radishes. It's fun to watch it all grow.

Purple Leaf Smoke tree

This is a Purple Leaf Smoke tree I purchased for around $4 at a local Fred's store. It came in a cardboard box with the roots in a plastic bag. The picture of the tree on the box was beautiful but I'm sure actual results may vary! The contents of the box was a stick with four tiny green leaves and about 1 cup of dirt. I thought, no way this will ever survive the drive home much less grow.
Well, we did make it home, me and the tree. The young sprig sat in the box another couple of days and then I was able to get it planted in this container on our back deck. Sort of like a tree nursery!

                        I think this little guy will need some extra TLC.

Changing of the Pots!

Two of my old terracotta pots.
I purchased new bases and filled them with good garden soil. Later I added a ring of river rocks around the base of each flower pot.

It's Blooming Azalea Time!

             The first of our bright and colorful Azaleas to bloom.

                                       A beauty in pink!

Places and Things!

                                       photo by Joy Peterson

                    Kershaw County Farmer's Market - Camden, SC
                                             April 10, 2010

Last Saturday I visited our local Farmer's Market on opening day. The selections were great and I'm looking forward to a trip to the market each week. We bought cantaloupe, onions, squash, cucumbers and a loaf of wheat sourdough crusty bread. The cantaloupe was sweet and tasty. The onions were sharp and crisp as they should be and I've yet to cook or serve the other goodies. We will be cooking the squash and a few onions together soon. Everyone in the house loved the crusty bread!

This photo is from a two minute video of the market I took from across the road. I wanted to capture a first impression of the market but was so excited to see what they had to offer that I forgot to. This was taken just as we were leaving. I took stills from the video and created this one as a black and white with a light soft focus.

Gutter Garden?? This maybe a new trash to treasure idea.

Read about Gutter Gardens.

What a great idea! I've been researching and wanting to plan some small garden areas. I'm interested in five sister planting and container gardening. A few days ago I added a radish garden to my back yard. Gutters would be really cool for radish plants.

Below is a photo of our Earth Box last year. I will post a new photo of the lettuce, carrots and cucumbers that I have planted soon.

From JJ's Big Green Blog

The garden and the Earth Box

I like to dig in dirt! I've tried for many years to have small gardens. The typical veggie plants or raised bed gardens is my standard. I still try to have a little garden out back but now I've increased the amount of container gardening on the deck.

It's our second season with the Earth Box garden. To date I've planted lettuce, carrots and cucumbers together in the EB. I'm beginning to see fine sprouts of lettuce! My EB was a thrift store find. I didn't know what it was when I first saw it, a heap of terracotta plastic and metal pipes in a cardboard box. After I checked it out closer I knew it was not your average flower container since there was a water reservoir and watering pipe. So for 4.99 I couldn't leave it in the store. I'm so glad I bought it and wish that it hadn't been late summer when I did. This is the easiest and cleanest container gardening I've ever done!

Last year we grew cucumbers and spaghetti squash (my kids favorite) and picked many cucumbers and six or seven squash. This is the first spring planting. I'm excited to see what the EB gives me! For more on the EB this article is a good read. Vegetable Patch Vs. Earth Box Garden Guides

Another purple tree

photo courtesy of photobucket.com

I  bought a new tree today. It's a Purple-leaf Smoke Tree.  This will be a nice balance to the purple-leaf plum trees we have in the landscape. With any luck it will grow and do well for us. According to the instructions it requires little to no maintenance and will grow in poor soil.  Of course the one I bought is about 14 inches tall but maybe we'll get a beauty out of it like the one in this picture.

How to Prune a Grape Vine | eHow.com

How to Prune a Grape Vine eHow.com

This was a very informative article from eHow.com. Very good to get easy to follow directions when you need advice and I need all the advice I can get. I want to prune the grape vine this year. Our vine came from a cutting off of my Daddy's vine so I'd really like not to damage it in the process. We enjoyed the largest harvest yet last year and hope to have our vine for years to come.

Scuppernongs!

Scuppernongs ripe for picking in my garden today! The grape vine is a transplant from my parents' home. Pass along plants, trees and flowers seem to grow best for me!

Plated on a butter pat dish for these pics.

Scuppernongs, are sometimes called "old fashion or old time grapes" or muscadines.

Tiny tower of scuppernong grapes continues to grow!

The end. Can't wait to taste these golden beauties. It is so nice to be able to have these growing as a great treat to eat and a good reminder of home.

Chattahoochee Chair

New tools are a great thing! This is one of many projects I hope to make. I wanted a chair that was easy to make, as I am a beginner woodworker. Also, I wanted it to be easy to move and comfortable either on the lawn or deck. Here is what I found when I went on a search for the pattern I would need. Thanks to Southern Pine.

Moon and Stars watermelon

This is the first of five Moon and Stars watermelons growing out back. I've never had much luck growing melons. This has to be the best attempt. Yes, this melon is small, approximately 8lbs. They should grow to be about 20 lbs. I cut this one because it had all signs, except size of being ripe. The fruit was a light red, probably slightly over grown. The taste, sweet and delicious.