My Poor Garden

I am hoping to plant my garden soon.

I am feeling better physically! I have been taking the adrenal support supplements for almost one month, and the thyroid supplements for almost three weeks.

I am feeling like I have more energy, and want to get my garden going again. I am so hungry for fresh picked Swiss Chard. We have been eating more vegetables and they are so expensive, not to mention they are not organic and probably covered with pesticides. It would be so wonderful to grow nearly everything we need for a salad, and spinach, and kale, Swiss chard. Mmmm. I have also done pretty good at growing cauliflower and broccoli.

But my garden is in very desperate need of attention. I haven't gardened since 2006. I also bought $40 worth of seeds from my favorite seed supplier and never planted even one seed! Horrible!

As a result of not gardening for two years, desert weeds and shrubbery has taken over.




What's this? Let's have a closer look:


Bullhead stickers!!!

I first blogged about bullhead stickers here. And then I bragged here, and said we don't have them on our property because I watch carefully for them. Well, apparently I wasn't watching too carefully, because the day after I bragged about how we don't have them, we found a BUNCH of them. Dozens, if not hundreds, and they had already produced and dropped HUNDREDS of thorns. Luckily I devised a method for harvesting a good deal of them. Just use a pair of flip-flops. Dh and Kev and I got out there and worked for a couple of hours to get them picked up. I wore my slip on tennies, and would put one foot into a flip-flop, then walk over the area. Dozens of stickers would attach to the bottom of the flip-flop, then I'd take it off and put on another one, while Kev scraped the stickers into a garbage can. Dh was using the flip-flops on his hands, doing the same thing. It is amazing how many stickers one plant can produce. And horrifying!

Last Saturday, when I took a look at what it is going to take to get the garden whipped into shape, I found that two MATURE bullhead sticker plants had taken over one of the beds.

I don't need to fix the whole garden at the same time. I really just need one bed to start with. I have plenty of fertilizer and mulch, thanks to the goats!! And I need help from my guys to get the fencing repaired. The dogs have broken through in a few places. The entire garden is fenced top and sides, to keep the birds out. But sometimes a tiny bird will find it can squeeze in between the 1" chicken wire and then it will be fluttering around inside trying to find its way out. The dogs go nuts, running around and around, attacking the fencing, trying to get to it. I have had to rescue several little birds. They get worn out and hot, and out of breath. One time one was so worn out it was just hanging by its feet and I was able to catch it to release it.

I am really hoping Dh and Kev can find some time in the next week to help me get the garden started. I am also hoping and praying that I'll find my watering timer!! I looked around a little for it today, and I've seen it SOMEWHERE recently, but only God knows where!

I also had planned to put up a list of what can be planted for each month and haven't done that since May. Yikes!

Here is a picture of my seeds.

They are two years old. I hope, hope, hope that most of the seeds are still viable. You can see the list of seeds at this post.

Wish me luck. At the VERY least I'm planting Swiss Chard, kale and lettuce. And radishes.

Until next time.