5-9-12

7:25am

Yesterday after getting my hair cut I asked the

lady if I could bag up my cut hair on the floor.

She swept it all up for me and I put it in a

bag and brought it home.  Why you ask?

Plant it in the hole when planting your

tomato plants.  Hair contains keratin

which is a natural fertilizer for tomatoes

and peppers.  Keratin is a protein and contains

sulfur and nitrogen which

helps tomatoes establish strong root systems.

Some people also use human or dog hair

around their gardens to keep away critters

such as deer, rabbits and squirrels. 

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10:30 - 12:00pm

I got my tomato bed strung.
It ended up being 18 feet long by 2 feet wide.

I wasn't sure at first what trellising method I 
was going to use.  I thought about the Florida weave
but didn't have enough stakes for that.
I ended up doing the string trellis instead
and pounded twp boards into the middle
of the tomato bed then added 3.5 boards
across the top.  I will run string from
the top boards down around each tomato
plant then twist the tomato plants around
the string as they grow.  I've done this
in the past with luck.

Next I planted all my tomatoes.
I put a tablespoon epsom salt in the bottoms
of the holes along with a couple tablespoons
off a mixture of
coffee grounds, banana peels, egg shells and
tums tablets with calcium.

Front to back are Early Girls
then Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes.

Then the back half of the bed
is all Beef Master Tomatoes.

Later on I'll throw some tea bags on top.
put human hair around the base of each plant
and then throw down some pine needle mulch.




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2:45 - 3:20pm


Got the tomato bed mulched with pine needles.
I also raked out the last two square garden beds.
My drill battery died so I'm having Tony bring
his home from work so I can start stringing
those two beds up.  I add screws every foot
then run string around them as a guide
for the garden bed.  Then I need to run
lines for the tomato bed from the top boards.
Almost done!  Whew!
This is a lot of work for one itty bitty person.
I have done it all myself.
After getting the last two beds planted 
and mulched then I will work on 
getting the weeping hose run to all the beds
and try to figure that out. 




I checked the squirrel chair corn feeder
while outside and something's been
nibbling at the corn.
I can't wait to get a photo of a 
squirrel eating from it.

Well I'm off here to browse through
a couple of books I got from the library today
before it's time to make supper.
-Growing Food in Small Gardens.
-How to Grow Herbs.
-Squirrel Wars, 
Backyard Wildlife Battles & How to Win Them.
-Growing Great Tomatoes.
-Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard & Eggs
for Growing a Better Garden.




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Some notes from Newspaper, Pennies book-
Gardening With Groceries

Spice seeds.  You know those spices that sit
on your counter ready to flavor your favorite foods?
Try planting spices seeds like
anise, celery, cumin, coriander, dill,
fennel, sesame etc.


Get a bag of mixed dried beans at the store
and try planting them.


Farmer's markets and roadside veggie & fruit stands-
Buy your produce there for their seeds
as they may have not been treated like
some grocery store produce.




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7:15pm


I got the tomato beds mulched.

 Then I planted more onions among three square beds
and the celery among two beds.
Hubby forgot his drill so I just winged
it getting everything planted in the right spots.


Onions planted in the pepper, oregano & basil bed.

Onions and celery planted in the cilantro and dill bed.

And onion and celery planted in the
bush bean, cucumber,  carrots and radish bed.

Nothing much to look at
at the moment til seeds get planted
and everything gets established.




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9:00pm




I made homemade ice cream sandwiches tonight
for a snack.  I made up a devil's food cake mix
according to directions except I only
used 1 cup water instead of 1 1/3 cups.
Then I ladled it onto a waffle maker.
Once done I  let them cool on a wire rack
then cut each one in half
and added softened ice cream
to make sandwiches.

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