Garden 2016!!!

Yeah, its way too early to really garden, but we did start some yard clean up and I planted a few things inside and potatoes outside.  This winter was rough on the yard...correction...Morrison is rough on the yard...

 Before our clean up started, a lot of those pink rocks were on the patio, and in the garden, and everywhere.  Even with no greenery yet this is a major improvement!

 A few fake flowers keeping the owl colony company--this view looks pretty good!

 A nice view that doesn't quite show the chaos that is the side yard--or the nicely budding peach tree--see better view below!

 Yes, out little red wagon still gets use.  In other news, Morrison likes to look through those open squares and keep an eye on the front yard.

 Ah, a better view of the side yard chaos...this is on our agenda for this summer..doing something to minimize the chaos...

 Budding peach tree--the only fruit tree that survived.  The apple and cherry will have to be replaced later this spring/summer--but was are still expected to get snow, so we're going to wait.  We think the peach tree survived because the out vent for the fireplace is right there...keeping it warm in cold weather!

 Potatoes in a bucket.....that is all I have to say about that.

 A little clean up in the secret garden--Morrison even got in there and dug some holes (grrr).  She also was carrying around my little blue hippo, so now it will live in the (hopefully more protected) garden.

 I told someone the other day about our pallet "bar"--here it is, with fresh spring flowers (fake).

 A few tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs, planted inside

 And some lettuce. Unfortunately, Alice and Morrison like lettuce.  At least they're happy.

And the gnome village has returned.  Mr. IM says "they have no cover!" (Interpretation...the neighbors might see we have gnomes...)

 St Francis (a birthday gift from my mother-in-law) and his racoon finally got to go outside.  Now Morrison can bark at him outside instead of inside.

And of course, the Purdue stepping stone that no one is allowed to step on and some green onions (there is garlic, too! So some greenery!)



Stay tuned...snow is predicted, but spring is coming soon!

Good bye 2015 garden....

Between the month of rain, the Japanese Beetle invasion, an apparent bunny infestation, and the 90+ temps in September...the garden was pretty disappointing this year.  My organic pest control worked when I did it well--insecticidal soap and cayenne pepper are just a couple of my methods--but I wasn't very good at keeping up.  I'm a lousy homesteader, what can I say.  We had a few tomatoes, some beans and peas (not enough for a meal), a few cucumbers (not enough to pickle, just enough for eating) and some peppers--oh and two okra.  We may still have a few more tomatoes and peppers, but it looks like everything else is done (as evidenced by the dying vines and plants).  Here's the final "big" harvest.

Notice that the oddly shaped carrots are as big as the butternut squash.  Sigh.  There are a few more carrots out there, too, I'm leaving them for now. There are a few onions and two sad little tomatoes there...  Mr. IM posted a slightly different view of the carrot on Facebook with a slightly obscene label.  Men.  The good news for the carrots and onions was that they became part of the yummy veggie gravy that went with our pot roast on Sunday.  (Now that's a recipe I should share--it is one of the Mister's specialties!)

Now here is the success story of the summer, ironically.  You may remember the previous "potatoes in a bucket" projects.  (See here, here,  and here).  Partially due to the rain, I didn't start the potatoes when I should have.  Sometime in June, I cleaned the refrigerator---like take out all the drawers and shelves and scrub every surface cleaned--and found...wait for it...two little potatoes growing legs.  So I chopped them up, threw them in a plate of water overnight and threw them in some dirt.  I did add more dirt a couple times., but nothing else. Over the weekend I realized all the potato stems were dead, so I dumped them out, expecting, well, nothing, like the past two years...but...surprise--from my two pieces of potato I harvested 4-6 reasonably sized potatoes and a bunch of little ones.  Hmm.  This is an idea for next summer perhaps.

Potatoes in a Bucket...the conclusion

So after our really lame harvest of the potatoes in a bucket , I had high hopes for the potatoes in a trash can.  Looks, promising, right?

 So after dumping out the dirt, onto a tarp, in small batches, picking through it, and then putting the dirt in the garden...

(Oooh, it looks so pretty)

Here is our harvest of potatoes from the trashcan:

Huh.  Well.  That was weird. Maybe we'll try one more time next year.  Or not.  They were tasty little potatoes though--I made them into homemade potato salad--yum!