The Third Year's A Charm! A Beginner Gardener's Journal Entry

in Natural Medicine3 years ago

How has so much happened in a mere five days! Since my first and most previous garden update, I have planted lettuce, radishes, and green beans in my cold frame. Sweet peas are, hopefully, germinating at the base of trellises. I have hardened off my seedlings and seen them survive two nights in a row in the cold frame. And today I put three of my star seedlings, my Chicago Pickling Cucumbers, into larger pots.

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My first two years of food-growing failures seem to be paying off this year. So far so good! I had everything I needed to plant and repot seeds leftover from 2020, and didn't buy anything in that regard but seeds this year. All the seedlings that germinated are still growing strong and look healthy.

It's too early to know if my improvised enclosure will keep out all the critters that might find my veggie patch to be a little slice of gustatory heaven, but it is still erect, and needs only minor fixes so far. My expenses on my structures and attempts to combat critter invasions are another story, and will be the subject of another garden journal post.

I like my rinky-dink cold frame much more than I liked my rinky-dink greenhouse last year. The cold frame is much more versatile, and I haven't fried anything to death in it yet, although I came close today. This morning, I found it at 60 degrees at 9 am, and cracked the lids at that time. When I went back out at 11am, it was 110 degrees in there, even though it was still only 60 degrees outside. Now that I know how quickly the cold frame can heat up in direct sun, I'll be more careful.

But there is no denying, I AM PSYCHED. I spend lots and lots of time outdoors, loving up nature's wonders.

There isn't anything better than that.

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Here's a quick photographic update of the state of, and conditions in, my 8 ft by 12 ft veggie patch, as of Tuesday, April 13, 2021

My cold frame planted with lettuce, radish, green beans, and a swiss chard plant that I kept alive all winter.

Sweet peas dreaming of the good life to come


Seedlings taking some sun during the hardening off phase

For a night that was supposed to go down to 40 degrees, I put two gallons of hot water in the cold frame


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Happy and graceful re-potted Chicago Picklers

Everything back in the cold frame for the night


page break by @thekittygirl
all photos are mine


Posted on NaturalMedicine.io

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How did it go from 60 to 110 in a few hours....
You remind me of the pea seeds i've yet to plant, the compost Free at the landfill to claim (if I bring shovel and buckets), the weeds to pull, the dogs to walk, the pyrethrin "tick sticks" to make from cotton soaked in tick-i-cide and stuffed into toilet paper rolls (loosely) and desposited at ground level for the mice to claim. FREE stuffing for your next, with a bonus: you mice will enjoy living tick-free if you line your nests with this stuff.

I put one out, to see if they'd fall for it.

Ticks, the bane of my outdoor life, and chiggers, skeeters, poison ivy, stinging nettles, cockleburs, thistles... all these things gravitate to me like I'm a black hole or something.

Who loves Carol Kean?
All god's creatures
that's who

LOL!! You never cease to amaze me Stacey!
Who loves me
most of all?
Bad^ss bugs and biting vines!

So far, no mouse has claimed the fluffy-stuff laced with Pyrethrin. It's still in the cardboard tube, at ground level, next to the wood pile where the mice live. COME AND GET IT ladies, line your nests with it, kill the ticks!
.....Unless the possums want their 5,000 ticks per year per possum.
.....Can I really believe this Pyrethrin is safe for mammals but lethal only to ticks?

That's why I never did it. I still have the huge box of toilet paper rolls I saved for months. How can any toxin be good? But a lyme specialist friend of mine says they work.

That said, I think I am covered with tick bites. I go out with my pants tucked into my boots, the boots sprayed with toxins, but this one day I wore a loose fitting T shirt, and I must have stepped into a nest of nymphs. I have a good dozen or more bites. erg.

Do ticks bite without detaching?
I have spider bites, or something-bites, after my Pyrethrin-soaked meadow/timber walks (my clothing, boots sprayed with the smelly chemical). I don't use Deet. I detest that vanilla-scented gnat spray.

Tick nymphs - they bite but don't attach?

So much I still don't know, and so much I will never know...

idk, but they are exactly like bites I had a few years ago, with a characteristic (for me) itch, and one of those got the bullseye. None of these did. They have faded in under a week, so I don't think any of them had Lyme. Untreated infected tick bite rashes last for months on my body.

 3 years ago  

Love to see your lovely garden and the progress it is making. There is nothing better than growing your own! xxxx

For sure. I got enough out of my ill-fated plot last year to learn that much. And it is powerful motivation to carry on.

I learned a lot through my mistakes.

Your garden is looking good!! It is awesome to grow your own. Somehow, it always tastes better!

Thanks! It looks beautiful to me.

You can't beat the freshness of getting veggies right out of your own little plot. My peas were a complete disaster last year, I didn't get a single pod. This year, I'm hoping to start boiling the water before I head out to the garden to harvest them.

The learning curve is real in gardening. I bet this year will be great! I have some things in already, but, I hope this weird spring is no indication of my summer crops. Nothing bloomed in a timely manner this year!

Hey you! I hope you are having a stellar day!

That's a nice looking setup you have there! I hope your garden is a success this year! By the way, I updated the barn divider, you can use whichever one you like best! (and you don't have to keep giving me credit, just enjoy!)

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Oh I love that one! Thanks! I use it a LOT.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
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