Learning from the Past

 I have potatoes in all 6 buckets and have been "hilling" them. I bought some beautiful zucchini and yellow squash plants that I'll plant tomorrow.  I had to get some more soil from Home Depot (yay for 5 for $10 sales!).  Critters have been exploring my plantings, annoying!  Hopefully I'll get some pinto beans growing and the squash and zucchini will make up for the seeds the animals keep disturbing. progress on the EGA back-patch

  I have 13 potatoes coming up Next I will plant coleus, broccoli, spinach and pinto bean seeds tomorrow. check out our catnip - it's happy! I had to take yesterday off - I strained my temperamental muscles that were affected by a recent infection. I focused on a couple of online courses (nutrition and exploring UK foods). I went out today to get some more soil (sale at Home Depot), that and doing dishes it about the extent of my efforts today.     

  well, putting Irish Spring soap shavings in with the marigolds didn't stop the armadillos or possums from rooting around in the planter. One urban myth shot down.   The marigolds look like they'll make it through, however.   plants ready to be transplanted    

 I have six potato plants coming up out of the soil - yay!   The marigold, 2 rosemary plants, and catnip are doing well I bought 3 tomato plants, 4 marigold plants, one English thyme and 1 basil along with soil, nutrients, a whiskey half barrel and screening for the garden.  I also bought a pineapple to eat and the top to grow.  Time to start dehydrating apples and potatoes.  Everything else is getting so expensive. Seeds: Onion (2 types), yellow squash, carrots, squash and pinto beans There were packets of Aster flower seeds as giveaways at the library - yay! Everything will wait until tomorrow.  I hurt myself wrestling with the potting soil, whiskey barrel and more. 

 I weeded one of the garden beds yesterday and fixed the gutter down-spout at the end of the house (the one that damages the foundation when it's offline).  I had to use a shovel to dig up one of the weeds.  I'll admit I haven't done anything with the gardens for the last two years.  This year feels different because I think we need to get serious about gardening to help ease the rising food costs. I plan on trying to grow potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, maybe pineapple and some herbs in containers.  This will be a lot easier than trying to till the soil here with the clay, granite and my back.   Today is a rest day, my back is hurting a bit and we had rain all night and some this morning so the ground is soaked and I need to wait to get some plants until the next cooler spell goes away at the end of the week.     It's Pesach - Passover.  This is Dusty (miss you, big guy!).  This was his favorite bed every year for 4 years.  I'm not doing

 We now have 6 buckets of potatoes planted: russet, Yukon gold and Kenebec.  I also planted garlic.  Next I'll plant some onions.  I want to pick up a couple of berry/grape plants, cauliflower, broccoli and tomato plants/seeds.  We may not get a lot of produce this season but might close to fall. Not easy work with my back being what it is. More progress on the embroidery piece.    I've been viewing videos and websites on growing things and preserving stuff.

 Moved some things down into the garage freezer - this eases up the strain on the upstairs chest and refrigerator freezers and means I can stock up a bit more on meat when we can afford it and on the liver we feed Grady. I've been reading up on growing onions and garlic.  I have some onion seeds to plant and plan on growing some from kitchen scraps along with garlic.  I'll expand into other things to grow for food too.   progress on my embroidery piece and what I was doing for 30 minutes - I was unable to work on the piece.... I wonder why (Luna)

  I planted potatoes in three 5-gallon buckets (with holes drilled for drainage and placed on a board on bricks for additional drainage). I placed chicken wire over the top to discourage the possums from digging. Jackie had to help get the large bags of dirt up onto the porch. I frickin hate this. I need to build up my endurance and strength again. I picked up the metal wheelbarrow I ordered as well. Jackie made a mock-up of a corset. With some adjustments she'll make a real one next. A productive day. LG protested when I wanted to take the wagon down to the driveway and Princess pointed out the fact that Jackie didn't turn the box upside down to keep the cats out.....

  We picked up a second small Hotpoint chest freezer. With the prices going bananas we can definitely use it - we feed Grady (our oldest) chicken breast and liver, that takes up a lot of room very quickly in a freezer. Add in frozen veggies and pizzas..... All the Home Depots near us were out of the 5 to 6.5 sq cubic feet freezers but we found one at Lowe's that was actually $20 cheaper. We have a new stockpot on the way along with some 5 gallon buckets to grow potatoes, onions and whatever in. We also plan on cooking large batches of food and freezing along with starting canning. Gas is nearly $4 a gallon here. We're real happy with the government right now <sarcasm alert>