http://6blessings.blogspot.com/2009/06/garden-of-weedn.html

Blessings on you all,
Robin

I will have to rethink what to plant into those planters now.

Banana pepper and leaf lettuce did the same so waiting to see if the 2nd set up plants (that I started from seed) will take or if I need to replant AGAIN!

My church is going to Central Mexico to build greenhouses. We are working with a Dr. who is a Mexican national; Dr. Marrero’s goal is to improve the nutrition of the entire village. Our goal is to build five greenhouses in a week.

Our team wanted to build a prototype of the greenhouse on the church property and so we did! Then came the great idea to plant in the greenhouse, we had hoped we could get a garden growing in early spring. Unfortunately, God didn’t work the details out until just recently when we made a connection with an intern Master Gardener. We modified the greenhouse by removing the sides, made raised beds and planted our vegetables this last Tuesday. We planted carrots, peas, cucumbers, radish, tomatoes, green beans and banana peppers.

The intern master Gardener is teaching the families at our home school co-op how to plant, tend and harvest vegetables. The harvest will go to the food pantry at the intern Master Gardener’s church. This whole garden is a by-product of our mission trip out of the country to help improve the nutrition of the Mexican people.

I don’t know the answers to the fertilizer and pest-control . . . . . . . YET! It’s great to share the learning and the labor with other home schoolers and bless our community at the same time.

As for what I grow: asparagus, carrots, lettuce, green beans, butter beans, okra, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, eggplant, summer and winter squash, potatoes and various herbs.

I have a blog but haven’t done anything with it, guess now it the time.

I’m growing tomatoes, strawberries, lavender, and assorted flowers. I’m doing it by myself, however my first baby is due very soon, and I’ll probably have my husband do the watering for a week or two after the baby is born, you know?

From what I’ve looked up, it says I should fertilize after the seeds have sprouted and I have several leaves. When that happens.. honestly, I’ll ask my gardening friend what kind she’d use, and go with that!

There’s really very few bugs out here, and I’d rather avoid putting anything on the plants unless really necessary, so I’ll wait for any problem to start to show before deciding what to do about possible pests.

I plan on possibly canning the edibles if I get enough growing, and I plan on using the lavender to make the bath stuff I make smell better! Other than that, I hope that the people who pass by find my garden pretty eventually!

I wish I could do more, but all I have is my apartment’s little porch to work with! But at least I’m doing what I can, right??

We live at an altitude of 7700 ft (in CO), so we’re viewing every aspect of this garden as an experiment. If the hot sun, elk, deer, bears, short growing season, and dry air don’t cause too much trouble, we’ll have a great harvest! I don’t have a blog going, but look forward to checking in every now and then.

Right now, we have our seeds started indoors. We can anticipate frosts ’til mid-June, so we have a while ’til we can plant outside.

I would love to hear any advice from other high altitude gardeners!

I got my first strawberry today! My lettuce, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, stevia, elephant garlic, rosemary, loofah and zucchini are up and growing. Haven’t seen any chives, dill, oregano or basil yet. Put them in abt a week ago, I think.

Blessings,
Robin Mureiko

You post about your garden at your blog then let us know about it by using Mr.Linky. ) I’d LOVE for you to check in one=ce a week, but once a month is good too!

Kathy

Responsible? I and my 8yr old daughter. Me mostly

Fertilizing? horse manure at first. It’s the ‘purest’ manure in that horses digest weed seeds-cows do not. Chicken manure can be way too high in nitrogen and ‘burn’ your plants. Rabbit manure is great also. Later, I may use some 4month pellets.

Pest Control? I like companion gardening–no chemicals that I need to worry about hurting anything. I did add slug bait around the strawberries.

What after harvesting? Well, my budget was pretty small this year, so I may only have enough for the table. If there are ‘extras,’ they’ll be canned or frozen or given to family, friends and neighbors.

Beyond our home? Well, as above there probably won’t be enough, but my coworkers also have gardens and we all share foodstuffs yearlong.

Sorry, it took me so long to post. When I did the mister linky thing, all it kept was where I’d lived in the past?!

Moisture? I live in Tennessee where we’ve had severe drought for a few years now, so today I bought a soaker hose for some of my plants. For my broccoli and tomatoes, I’ve buried milk jugs. Here’s how they’ll work. With a box cutter, cut off the top of the jugs so they’ll have a large opening. Then poke holes in the bottom of the jug with a knife…~8. Bury them up to the top of the jug in between your tomatoes and other plants needing more space. The holes in the bottom allow water to drain below the surface which deters evaporation, encourages root growth, and provides the water right where its needed. Thanks for that one, Mom and Dad.

Weeds? We always laid down newspaper sections between the rows when I was a kid. My parents used grass clippings, they tell me. I’m trying it again with this garden. Instead of using grass clippings though, I bought inexpensive garden staples. Another benefit of the paper barriers is water retention.

Kathy

This is going to be fun ladies!!!!

Anyway, I am blogging pretty detailed about my garden this year on my blog, so everyone can feel free to come learn from my mistakes!! =)