Wrap Up

Peace!

I got my 1st new seed catalog in the mail yesterday and I was EXCITED!!!! All the plans I'm making and winter hasn't officially arrived. But it occurred to me that I never wrapped up my 2016 garden and share the lessons I learned...

Lesson #1:
Plant only the food that you are interested in eating. Among other things... I planted eggplant, watermelon, cantaloupe and cucumbers. I don't like any of those things. I forced myself to eat it because I grew it. I might plant cucumber next summer, but I won't make that the star.

Lesson #2:
You really do have to start early. I put seeds in the ground around April. That was a mistake. I should have put plants in the ground in April. Which means I'm going to need to start seedlings in February. It gets really hot here in the summer and a lot of plants won't set fruit if it doesn't cool down enough in the evening. A lot of my tomato plants burnt out before they set fruit. When the last frost date passes, I need to hit the ground running. Getting those plants dead in the ground.

Lesson #3:
Full sun doesn't always mean full sun. I have a truly sunny spot in my front yard, and I put a full sun plant there.... The sun burned the hell out of that plant. Even with daily watering. So be mindful.... If the plant tells you it needs "full sun" in zones 4-8, if your in zone 8.... not so much.

Lesson #4:
This is a me thing... I'm kind of lazy... I set the garden really far from the house. I had to walk more than 100 feet to get to the garden. There was no spigot out there so I had to run several hoses out to the spot to water. I found that oppressive and began resenting the garden. I'm moving everything closer to the house for next year. An issue is.... there is a lot of space over in the 2016 garden spot that I won't be using. So what do I do with it?

Lesson #5:
My herb garden didn't do shit this year. I have had better success with growing herbs in a sunny window INSIDE the house. That soooooooooo pissed me off. It can be that they were in pots because my inside herbs were in pots. I watered (not over watered) I did everything right. BUT.... they floundered and really didn't grow much more than they came when I bought them. I'm leaving them outside to see what happens come next year. Maybe they will perk up. Maybe cold will be good for them.

Lesson #6:
This is very important.... Bale gardening does work! BUT... the fruit you get will be smaller. Before you try one, ask yourself if that's something you can live with. My suggestion is to do a combo of the 2. Like don't put the cardboard down so plants can grow into the dirt.


I had planned to do a winter garden, but lost interest. I have yet to clear the space. I know, lazy....


So my garden 2017 plans will include a lot of greens, beans, tomatoes and peppers. Maybe this is the year I try to grow potatoes! We eat a ton of those. And put them closer to the house.

So between now and then, my plan is to acquire the items I need to get my garden going.


Peace

Harvest

Seems chinchy for all that effort. But it's just getting started. I expect more in August and September. Also... Time to start thinking about fall...

1st Harvest

These 3 Thai beans are the 1st of my garden that's ready to eat. I have some bell peppers, but they are still green....

Summer

Peace.

I keep saying I'm a take some gardening pics. I forget my phone every day.

Things are looking good though, even though I had to cheat... I bought some plants... peppers, eggplant, watermelon, cantaloupe, collard greens and 1 green cucumber plant. My cucumbers are doing great, but I only planted yellow cucumbers. I thought I should have at least 1 green plant. And my own seed planted cucumbers are way bigger than the plant I bought.

Faye Lewis is right. I only need to water once a day and morning is best. It's just that morning requires my lazy ass to get up and go out there. Sigh..... It's been raining hard here. So I don't have to go every day. But it's summer. And just because the weather calls for rain doesn't mean it's going to rain in your backyard.

So that's it.. for now. I'm promising a pic post soon!!!!


Peace

Some things are growing....

Peace.

I know this garden is gonna be an ongoing process. Some of the seeds I planted are up and looking healthy. Some aren't. I planted the seeds about 2 weeks ago.

5/6 bean plants are growing and 4/6 cucumbers are growing. I'm not mad. The weather has been all over the place. Hot/cool... It dropped down to the 50's last week. I might add a store bought cuke plant. All I planted were lemon cucumbers. I don't really like cucumbers (the 7 does), but I think I'd like lemon ones. The God is funny about food so I should really plant something he'd recognize. I brought home a chayote and he won't touch it. And a home grown cucumber tastes COMPLETELY different than store bought ones.

The fleshy tomatoes have budded. I put in a store bought tomato plant for contrast. Since this is my 1st bale garden, idk if I've overloaded the bale. We shall see....

None of the cherry tomatoes are doing anything. 

The peppers look like they might be trying to come up. The fish peppers are starting to peek through. The chocolate bell peppers are doing nothing!!! Nothing at all! But since the fish peppers are slow,  I'm a wait And see if they come up for a few more weeks. If not, I have other seeds to plant like squash and eggplant.

I have a shady bale for collards kale and cabbage. In NJ, where I'm from, people grew cabbage, collards and kale in their backyards all summer long. It was one of the only things they could grow in the yard from seed. The growing season is short and Jersey doesn't get hot like that. But NJ is the garden state? Maybe just South Jersey

I planted more cherry tomatoes, lettuce and basil. According to the books, tomatoes should be started indoors and transplanted. That's not the way my aunt or grandmother grew them. They used seeds and still ate tomatoes. Using bales and miracle grow that is supposed to hold water should give them the advantage, right? Plus, Those bales are really moist inside.

I still have 2 bales that I have no idea what to plant in them. Plus.... I haven't planted my corn or carrots. Those have to go in the ground. I have a spot for them but just haven't gotten around to tilling the ground. It's pure laziness. I'm over there every day. Just not with a shovel. Now the plot is overgrown. Maybe I can get the God to aid me.

It's supposed to be hot in the next few days here in GA. I've decided to water twice a day: morning and evening. Unless it rains.

Peace

Planting

Peace!

I'm a bit late getting my post on. That's because I've been late getting my garden on. I guess gardening is not for the lazy... My aunt and grandmother both kept gardens. My aunt's garden was METICULOUS. All rows were nice and neat... Everything was perfect. My grandmother's garden was different all together. She would plant very haphazardly and there was a point where she would stop maintaining. She said that gardens are like children, you get them to a point then they are on their own. My aunt's garden didn't produce any more because it was tidy. My grandmother's didn't produce any less because it was messy. I'm somewhere in the middle.

I really should have planted a week ago... But life happened. I spent a week with my mother in SC. That was a delay... When I came back, I just didn't want to do it. But I have spent a lot of energy on this garden already and I wasn't ready to let it all go to shit. I planted 5/14/2016.

I got most of my seed from rareseeds.com. Most of what I planted are heirloom. I say most because I've had issues with them in the past. This is their last chance. If these seeds don't do well, I'm not ordering from them again. Especially since this bale business is supposed to be the shit. And those seeds are expensive! I guess they have to pay for that magazine they call a catalog...

I had originally planned for 15 bales, I bumped it down to 10. I think 10 is a lot. I don't have enough to fill all ten. Right now I planted 6. I'm headed off tot the store purchase some additional seeds.

Peace

Installation

Peace!

Since I'm not working.... I've had time to work on my garden. Right before I was let go I ordered $30 worth of vegetable seeds. Would I have still went on with the garden had I known I wasn't going to have a job? Probably not. But since I ordered them, I am going to keep on keeping on....

I plan to get a few more seeds....

I decided to go with a bale garden. This house is new to me and I don't know what's going on with the land so I figured that the bales (a)can deal with this Georgia clay, (b)would be easier and (c)better for me overall. If you've never heard of wheat bale gardening, google it. People are growing amazing gardens in wheat bales.

Basically the science behind bale gardening is the bales will turn into compost with 10-14 days of treatment. Treatment includes a nitrogen fertilizer and water. Once properly treated, you can put plants right in the bales or start seeds. Starting from seed is actually cool because the bale will retain a certain amount of heat, and plants planted in compost grow out of control. Also plants won't be competing with weeds for nourishment. You do need to add some soil to the top once you get planting. The bales should last through 2 seasons of planting (summer and fall) and then you can either plant new bales over it, till the compost into the ground or both. The down side is the amount of constant watering you have to do. Bales don't hold water well.

I had the hardest time finding wheat bales. Pinestraw? Everywhere! I lucked up and found some decent sized bales at Lowes. They were about 4'x2' and cost $6.77/bale. I was planning to do 15 bales but I downsized to 10. So the bales cost ~$70 and the seeds cost $30. The garden, so far, cost $100. I had a gift card given to me by a friend as a wedding present. Yeah, the God and I got legally married... So my overall investment is $50. I moved the bales in my Jeep. In the future... I will rent a $19.99 uhaul. It cost me $20 to get all that wheat straw out of my car and I think, I'm not sure, that I broke the vacuum cleaner. I'm documenting the costs because folks always wanna complain about how expensive healthy activities are.


The bales are supposed to set up on corrugated cardboard. That keeps the grass underneath from infecting the bales. But not in a bad way. Cardboard will decompose and become part of the compost mix. Also cardboard will encourage earthworms. Worms are great for a garden. But I didn't have any corrugated cardboard,nor was i going out to look for any. Since I have been in the moving cipher, I used a few of the boxes that we used to move. Hey cardboard is cardboard. Right?


I set them up and watered them in. The smell of damp wheat was strangely soothing... The 1st 3 days are water only. Next 3 days are 1/2 cup fertilizer per bale. Day 7-10 the fertilizer is reduced to 1/4 cup per bale. If the bale is cool enough, you can plant on day 10. Otherwise, keep watering without fertilizer and plant on day 14. I'd like to start the 1st week of May.

That's my boo thing garden, y'all!


PEACE!

Deserts

Peace!

I'm Black. And I have lived in Black neighborhoods most of my life... BY CHOICE! But in my new digs, some realities have become abundantly clear. Black neighborhoods are food deserts. Not all... but most.

Food deserts are defined as areas where fresh foods aren't available. Seriously... Really???? What Black people don't want fresh foods? We are cool with fast and processed foods? I don't think so.

I remember an argument with my mother and my uncle. My aunt and uncle came to visit us in NJ, and my uncle straight clowned my mother about her choice to remain in Jersey. The most memorable part of the argument was that our food was nasty. What??? How could our food be nasty? It came from the grocery store. But the grocery store was the same kind of store that every one had. I mean across the bridge where the white people lived, they had better stores, but that was over there. We could go over there if we wanted too. My parents had cars, and sometimes we did go to those stores, but it involved a bit of a road trip.

I went to a HBCU. I lived off campus. And again, the only option was 1 grocery store and a few gas stations. And speaking of gas stations... I had a coworker who lives in the belly of the hood, with no car of her own. I have witnessed this former coworker buy ALL her groceries from either the gas station or Family Dollar. This is the option that is offered to people who choose to live in Black neighborhoods.

I've lived in neighborhoods that started off mixed. I mean if I live there then its mixed right? These neighborhoods had grocery stores (not food marts) banks (not check cashing places), restaurants (not many fast food restaurants), etc. But as the neighborhood became darker... These amenities disappeared. Not all at once, but eventually. And it was blamed on rising crime rates. I call Bullshit! These neighborhoods didn't become more crime ridden. It just got darker. I looked at the statistics that are available for all folks to see and those were lies. Those companies just didn't want to be in dark neighborhoods.

On the flip side. I've lived in neighborhoods that started out very Black, and then white people came on in... They bring in the new businesses... white businesses.... and then the prices of rent and taxes go up forcing the dark people out. there is an area in Atlanta called "Browntown" that's not so brown anymore. They even built these people a new park!!!!

And this isn't a war Black folks can win. Are very presence decreases property values. It's not that we are nasty or violent. But just us being there means that the neighborhood is going downhill. And if we keep coming, they will keep fleeing. The Obamas could move in a lily white neighborhood and the values would drop.

The basics that Black folks get in there own neighborhoods, is always sub par. The schools suck, the roads suck, the cops are meaner, and the food sucks! Food is a primal necessity we all need. How are we supposed to prosper without proper nourishment? When I 1st moved to the city (rather than suburbs) the only person in my office who lived in the city was my white boss. I made a comment about the loss of electricity when the weather got bad and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. He said he can't remember the last time he lost electricity in his white neighborhood. We would lose electricity every week in my Black neighborhood. Not just me, the street lights would start blinking.

So what do we do? The canned answer is we need to do for ourselves. But we have shown and proven that that isn't going to happen. We've drank too much of the Kool-Aid. What we really need to do is have a mental paradigm shift. Yes we need to have our own... But we need to do it right and not half assed. We need to offer our own the very best, with the best customer service. Not that shitty service we get from hood type shops. I went to florist in the hood looking for carnations and you should have seen the anorexic looking specimen she pulled out of the refrigerator. The look of shock on my face had her lie to me and tell me that's all she had. She didn't expect for me to go to the back and look myself. When I saw she was offering me bullshit at full price, I bounced. Also we need to not ask for hook ups like just because someone shares our skin color, they owe us a solid. You don't do that when you go to a white store.

But here's the thing... White folks don't like when we get our shit together. Most race wars were started because poor white folks were mad that Black folks had more than they did. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Until we take the devil off our planet... we will have no justice or peace.

I gotta go now. I have a long drive to get some good groceries....


Peace

Forced New Beginings

Peace!

I lost my job on Wednesday, April 6, 2006. I worked there for 13 years almost to the date! THIRTEEN mother-jumping years!!!! Yes I'm salty. My boss said it's because we aren't making any money and payroll is too hard to meet. He decided to keep his non-working friend who has been there a few years. She does nothing but make personal calls all day. She leaves early every day (at 63 she does crossfit) and comes late most days. This came as a total shock to me, but i don't think it was shocking to the other employees. I was off the week before I was let go. And when i came back on Monday, folks weren't meeting my eyes, nor were they speaking to me. I had seniority over his friend, and there is a person who works per diem, part time. But I am the one... the only one... who got the ax. And I haven't had a raise in 9 years because he said that we were in a salary freeze.... whatever I'm over it. Sort of.....

Anywho... I have time to focus on some gardening! The God and I closed on a house on March 28th. Yes my boss knew all about this while he was planning my exit. This new house is on a half of an acre lot. And.... it already has a dedicated area for gardening and a chicken coop! So while I'm looking for another job, I'll have plenty to keep me busy. On "Axe Wednesday", I ordered a bunch of seeds (in addition to a bunch of other things I wouldn't have purchased had I known I was going to be let go. I actually emptied my amazon wish list...) The seeds came yesterday. Seeds are heirlooms and do not have an unlimited shelf life. So... I'm a need to plant these seeds this season if I want to use them.

I've decided to go with bale gardening. I'm unfamiliar with the property and it is almost too late in the season to get started with the ground. I don't have any seedlings started. It was always my plan to do a bale garden. This being Georgia means we have that red clay which is not habitable for most plants. Especially new plants. A few years of bale gardening, turning the composted bales into the ground every year, will give me, over time, good ground soil.

No pics right now. I'm watching some delivery men try to bring in a refrigerator we purchased when we thought we were a 2-income couple. Oh well!


Peace

Your Shit

I find it interesting that people don't take responsibility for the choices they make. As grown people we all get to make choices that will tremendously affect our lives. That's what makes us grown. And when I see grown people, my assumption is they made choices that put them in their current situations or they allowed people to make choices for them... again a decision they made. So I hardly ever feel sorry for grown people who find themselves in a dubious predicament because it was their hands that put them there.

That being said, it is my CHOICE to not let collateral people and the choices they made, affect me in such a way my Cipher gets shaken. No. that is my boundary. The only people that get to get in... and this list is super short... are my mother and my God. The list was longer but folks died off. I've lost a lot of people so I'm sure whose actions will have the visceral effect on me. I share my life with my God, so anything that affects him will affect me. He gets sick and can't work, that interferes with the bills being paid in my home. There's love there, but for this Build I'm being pragmatic. If something happened to my mother, my household bills would not be affected since she does not make a financial contribution to my home, but I'm very invested emotionally in my mother's well being. Being her only living child makes the responsibility even harder. But these are my legal relatives.

I have dear friends, that should something happen to them, I'd be emotionally devastated. But that is where the response ends. I'd be there for the moment to their families and then I'd be back to my grind.

This being said... means.... I'm not getting invested in shit that isn't my business. I'm not. And you can't make me. That is a grown person decision.

Does this make me a bad friend? Could be... Could be not. Whose to say? But this is the friendship that you are getting from me. Take it or leave it.

Notice I didn't say Peace....

Retrograde

It is said that insanity is to doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. But what is it called when you do the same thing over and over again and you get different results each time? What is the opposite of insanity? Sanity? I don't think so.

Every 5 years or so I question my entire life. My health changes... usually for the worse. I get dissatisfied with my wardrobe and have a crisis of lifestyle. Every five years. Nothing seems to work. It's here.... right on schedule.