Celebrating Earth Day

We have certainly celebrated Earth Day here this week on our little garden plot. Right now I'm "watching" the Live Earth channel on dish network and am enjoying its mellow mix of oldies with a view of earth from their sat dish - kiddos think it's ultra cool.

We started off the week by planting okra, squash, herb and marigold transplants around the garden. I moved a lot of onions around - I guess I accidentally planted some near the peas and just read in my Carrots Love Tomatos book that they inhibit their growth. I am noticing a difference already in less than a week. Wonder if it's soil based? Anyway....

My neice Ally and her baby brother Aidan joined me for two hours on Earth Day, this past Wednesday. Luckily Aidan slept the entire time, so Ally and I were able to water in all the new transplants as well as plant a "boncho lotto seeds" (Ally-speak for a bunch of seeds). We added beans and sunflowers around the pea teepee. They don't typically grow well together, but we're hoping for the best. Our big endeavor was adding hills of watermelon and pumpkin.

Now we just need to add more hills for butternut squash and cucumber. We'll probably add or transplant some radishes and let them go to seed to deter pests. I've actually had a lot of luck so far avoiding pests by using marigolds, radishes, and onions scattered around the garden this season. The lettuce all looks beautiful and I usually see a lot of holes by this time in the season.

Ally spent most of her time filling and refilling her big pink watering can. She kept filling it too full for her to carry, so she watered the lawn as much as the plants. My dog laid down in the kiddie pool and splashed out most of the water, so that signalled time to stop. (I'm trying not to use more water than will fill my barrels, the kiddie pool, and watering cans, but it's a bit tough when the kids enjoy the water more than the dirt.)

Before we went inside, I had to let Ally snack a bit from the beds, so I taught her how to harvest the romaine lettuce. However, after she'd enjoyed a few freshly washed leaves she proclaimed "that's nothing without a bit-o ranch". Then she discovered radishes "hiding their pink heads underground" and had to try one. The look on her face after she took a big bite... priceless!

Thursday we returned again, but Aidan was wide awake and not so happy about the wind and Ally's splashing. She convinced me to "open pool season" and was running around at warp speed in her old pink Dora suit. We were only able to transplant a few tomatoes before I had to stop and feed the baby. There was no stopping her enthusiasm though, and she took turns splashing in the pool and watering the garden. Very fun morning!

After naps, we picked up my son Dylan and my nephew Preston from kindergarten and headed back into the garden for more tomato transplanting. After all, Preston grew them from seed and could not wait to put them in the garden. We covered all the tomato transplants with bottomless milk jugs to hothouse them since it's early in the season. Then we added living mulch to the okra bed. Well, it's not living yet, but we seeded more lettuce/spinach/carrot seed in the same method as before. I think it will get enough afternoon shade that it's okay to seed this late. Time will tell.

Preston came for a sleepover Friday - I think it took them two minutes to discover the clean kiddie pool, put on swimsuits and begin the cannonballing...

They ran around grazing on lettuce and radishes for a bit, but then decided to christen the new ice cream parlor area near the teepee. They both ate giant bowls of strawberry frozen yogurt and decided the parlor had officially opened for business :) We set up a mini basketball hoop, made a bunch of stools (upside down pails with towel cushions), and a little dunking booth after they busted holes in the kiddie pool. No surprise! I've never seen a kiddie pool survive an entire season.

Today I should go out and transplant the artichokes, but I want to research site and soil Ph first to insure success. I'm enthusiastically awaiting my Burpee shipment in the next few weeks - a new variety of strong tomatos, eggplants and peppers, hurrah!