So It's May 2010

It is almost time. The tomato plants are growing well under their grow lights. Currently, we have approximately 256 tomatoes growing. We will need to split numerous more as there are three to four per plastic holder. We plan on planting on Mother's Day, May 9th this year. Last year we planted in April and although everything went well, the wind kept us worried for about a week. We had to purchase straw to place around the plants so they would not get wind-whipped.

Wind-Whipped: (definition)- When the wind blows your tomato so much that it lays over and dies. It gives up. The leaves lose their strength and the plant dies. NOT GOOD.

We did a topsy turvy last year and well, the tomato was wind whipped and died. So, protect your tomatoes as best you can and in one week, the fun really begins!!!!!!

Preparing Your Garden- April 19, 2010

Well, we had over 8 yards of pulverized topsoil delivered from American TopSoil in KC this weekend. We placed a few wheel barrels of dirt on the herb garden. The rest of the dirt was moved by a Dingo, rented from Bledsoe's here in Lee's Summit. If we had just moved it ourselves, it would have taken two days. But with the Dingo, it took 3 hrs. So we placed most of the topsoil in our garden. Our main garden is 70 ft x 6 ft. The amount of topsoil might have been a yard too much, but we did not want to run out. American Topsoil delivered it in a timely manner and we were able to get it all done on Friday. Then we went mushroom hunting. Went looking for Morels at James A Reed Wildlife area and well, found nothing so far. We hear people are starting to find them, but we did not. So next Sunday we will go out again.

As for our seeds, currently was have over 200 tomato plants growing under our grow lights in the basement. We did our last move from the small containers to the bigger ones. We are patiently waiting now. The peppers are doing well. We only need to purchase two more sections of cattle panels and well, we will be ready to plant!

We did put some strawberries in this year. Never planted them before. We will have to see how they do. Rheau (our puppy) decided to attach the onions. She does not eat them, she just picks them from the soil and plays with them.

And, another GREAT DEBATE has started in the Vickers/Rilinger household again.

Can you grow potatoes above ground under straw? Well, we are trying it this year. We will see. So, get your gardens ready friends. We already have tilled once and are eagerly waiting for Mother's Day to start planting some tomatoes! Happy Gardening.

July 11, 2009 Garden Report

A total of 35 tomatoes have been harvested.

67 Cucumbers- ready for pickling.

55 potatoes

9 Okra

45 onions

8 peppers

67 yellow beans

The heirlooms are doing really well this year. Absolutely beautiful. We anticipate the last week of July to be the BIG harvest.

Mother's Day- The Time to Really Plant a Garden

Well, as many of you know, we already planted most of our garden. We are up to 41 tomato plants. 15 heirlooms and 26 regular. We planted 5 whopper plants because those are our favorite tomatoes for BLT's. Why 41? Well, we could plant more and probably will but that is how many we have planted so far because we grew most of them from seed and were not sure how many would take. So far the Church heirloom is doing very well, as is the Grandfather Ashlock. The Blue Mountain and Aussie are absolutely terrible. They did not grow well in the seed starter and after transplant into the garden did not do well at all. Could be the climate, could be the seeds or maybe it's just a crummy plant. Not sure. We also planted cucumbers, green beans and red/white potatoes. Everything seems to be doing well.
The herb garden has already yielded spinach and onions. We are pleased with it's progress and hopefully will see some of the herbs we planted- cilantro, oregano, thyme and chives start really growing. The pepper plants are growing nicely, but some bugs are starting to eat them. Have to get rid of those pesky bugs soon.
Finally, we are still giving away tomatoes. We have given away of 30 of them so far and will continue to do so. Get those plants in the ground soon so you have ripe tomatoes in June!

Potato Plants, A Puppy, Spinach, Onions and Flowers

April 23, 2009

Preparing the Garden and Herb Garden

Monday March 16, 2009
Well, it is that time of year. We purchased 1 yard of compost/top soil from Randy's Lakeview Nursery on Friday and went back for another yard on Monday and we were told that they were unable to sell it because it was too wet. So we traveled out to American Topsoil and picked up a yard and a 1/2 (their bucket was a little more full than Randy's) for $10 more. Jill went to tilling on Monday afternoon, and sadly, cut the cable line ;0(

Sometimes it good to have no cable and no access to the internet.

Anyway, we planted potatoes and onions.

The new herb garden we added is coming along nicely. We still need to put up edging to keep the soil from washing away, but we will do that on Friday. Here are a few pics that might show the scope of our amazing garden.

560 sq ft main garden --------105 sq ft herb garden