It's almost time for fall planting...

I learned from the container gardening workshop at the Springs Preserve that the best time to start planting for the fall is right around August 15th. That day is quickly creeping up on us and I have big plans this fall!

So to start getting ready I pulled up my tomatoes and peppers - they were dying a slow death anyway. I also pulled up the corn because the soft soil recommended in Square Foot Gardening just isn't right for corn. The stalks just fell over sideways. Then I constructed a few more trellises - goodness knows the honeydew melon needs it. IT has taken over the back section of the planting box... now I know to plant smaller veggies in front of it. Planting the eggplant right next to the melon was not the best choice.

Anyway, here are updated pics of the new trellises. I love how easy it is to make these... and cheap! They may not be the prettiest things int he world, but they work well. They are made with just regular white PVC pipe and nylon netting. IF you buy the 10 foot long pieces of PVC pipe from the hardware store you can then cut them in half. You need three 5 foot pieces and 2 PVC elbow pieces for each trellis if you are making a "single". If you want to make the double you need five 5 foot pieces, 2 elbow pieces, and 1 PVC "T" piece. So you can make 1 double and 1 single out of 4 of the 10foot long pipes, which works out to about $8-10 plus another $4 for the nylon netting.

Jim had the great idea to angle the add on I had to make for the melon outward. It was really a necessity because of the hard ground next to the wall and it will also allow me to put a few potted herbs back there and offer them a bit of shading by means of the trellis!

At the container gardening class I also learned of a neat resource -the Cooperative Extension of the University of Nevada. They have a ton of really helpful information and flyers related to gardening and other nature issues on their website. One of which is this Becoming a Desert Gardener Flyer which is packed with great informating including a chart of what to plant when! Next weekend I am going to build another box on the side of the house for smaller, non vining type of plants (lettuce, carrots, etc).

29.3 mpg

Just a really quick update in regards to the new car, the Honda Fit. Our 3rd tank fill up and I am now up to 29.3 mpg. The last one I forgot to blog but it was about 28mpg.... so it has been going up by about 1mpg a tank as I drive it more and break it in. I am pretty thrilled to be getting 29.3 mpg even with the A/C on about 99% of the time. I didn't even do a lot of coasting on this tank. I can't wait til Fall and to see what kind of mpg I can get without the A/C - gosh that sounded dorky!

I have a bunch more to post about the new puppy and some gardening updates, but it will have to wait til tomorrow. I should be sleeping!

Melons, Eggplant, Peppers, oh my!

I figured it was time for a garden update! Some things are doing well, others not so much. First we have the squash, it seems to be doing OK. No babies yet, but looks healthy enough. The watermelon is doing ehhh... parts of it seem ok, others seem a bit dry. I need to get it climbing up a trellis and just haven't had time yet.



Here you can see the wonder that is my honeydew melon. It is climbine and trailing all over the place. The tomatos in the back corner have become a support system for the melon. There are lots of little bulbs on it, but 3 that are most promising.


The green peppers are so-so, it is just too hot and they are being drowned out by the melon and eggplant. I know better next time! I do have a nice sized yellow one that I need to pick. Also a nice sized eggplant that is ready to harvest I believe.



Finally we have some green beans that are doing great! I thought they would climb up, but they are really just bushy and I need to find a better place to plant them next time. You learn so much by just planting things and seeing what happens. It turns out the corn is just not doing well, the plants are doing fine but the soil is too loose to hold the stalks up. Carrots and lettuce are growing tho.

Imeem - make your web browsing musical!

I was messing around with a few design issues on the blog and decided that I needed an embeded music player. (over there ---->) There didn't seem to be a lot of options, but instead I found Imeem. Pretty nifty if you ask me.... you can create playlists that you can keep open while browsing around or doing anything on the computer really and its FREE, can't beat that.

That last sentence reminds me I am going to have to start laying off the use of the "..." soon. I am hoping to register for a few classes this fall to get back to work on a degree of some kind and I am sure English will have to be one of them.