Gardening

I've turned some attention to our yard recently. When we first moved in we had 6 huge trees in our yard which completely blocked the house from the street. We chopped those down, but Sweetie counted we still have 25 trees in our yard. I love them and they provide lots of shade, helping keep the house cool most of the day.

Since we're on a budget, I didn't want to go out and spend a ton on plants. Every once in a while something pretty pops up - what some may consider weeds, I dig up and replant elsewhere. Now we have a pretty purple flowering plant in one of the clay pots left here by the prior owner, and a climbing purple plant on the front porch.

I also bought some tomato plants at the nursery down the street. What a great trip that was - Mr. Happy and I walked there and to our surprise they had a petting zoo with sheep, ponies, cows, ducks - he liked the goat the best. The plants are just starting to produce tomatoes and I'm so excited! Depending on the volume I plan on trying to can them later in the summer.

We also got some seeds and a seed starter kit at "Home D" as Jacob's Pappy calls it. We've got more tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, as well as two types of flowers (hopefully) growing in there. I planted them about a week ago and expect sprouts soon. I want to get a composter so I can use the byproduct in the garden.

We've skipped using pesticide and weed control in our yard this year. There is quite a bit of crab grass, dandelion, and clover, but when the lawn is cut it all looks green to me and doesn't really bother me. I did have some small white bugs attack a little rose bush that I got from my mom and had potted outside. I moved it away from the menacing bugs and hope it comes back. Here is a tip I found on www.earthlab.com (you can calculate your carbon footprint there) for a natural pesticide that I'll try:
Blend 1 garlic clove, 1 small hot pepper and a quart of water in a blender, then pour the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray it on your inside and outside plants, and this recipe will help keep the pests away in a natural way.

They also say to use cedar mulch (from a local supplier) as a guard against both weeds and pests in the yard and garden.

One other tip - I bring in my watering can and fill it with the rinse water from the laundry. Then on days when it doesn't rain, I use that to water my plants. Its a great way to conserve water.