First Frost

November has arrived and with it some cold weather. Ok, so cold for our southern state. We had our frost not too long ago and given that we are amateur gardeners we figured the veggies were the same as any other plants and needed to be covered when the temperature out side was going to be below 32. So every night for a week we were out covering the entire garden with bedsheets. It was quite a sight!


After about a week of late evening coverings and early morning un-coverings, Craig was becoming frustrated and unwilling to help. We decided to call Ray. We are certainly glad we did. Turns out they do not to be covered in a harsh frost, much less a very mild one like the ones we had been having because they are "fall/winter" plants. I'll admit that I felt beyond silly having to ask the questions, but I'm glad we did. It sure saves time in the mornings.

Heeeeeee's Back!!!!! 
At least I am sure that is what the vegetable are thinking...if vegetable could think that is. This past Friday morning Craig let the dogs out while it was still dark and cold. Just before we left the house for the days, Craig went to let the dogs back in. Just as soon as he opened the back door and stepped out into the yard, I heard Craig start to yell. Of course I ran out to see what the heck was going on.

There was Duece, back in the garden, laying in a hole he had dug. Craig is in tears at this point as he points to the dug up plants that were once nestled into the ground where the dog now laid. I admittedly yelled at the dog, the language was not completely bad, but it was not exactly nice. I immediately apologized to my four-year-old and told him that it was not something that anyone should say. It worked however, and scared the dog enough that he came bolting out of the slightly open garden gate.

The Offender!

Since it was still pretty dark outside I could not evaluate the amount of damage that had been done and time was running out. I had to leave and I did not have enough to get in the garden and try to replant whatever had been dug up. On the drive into work, I started to think about why Duece would want to dig into the garden dirt and lay in it. Wouldn't the ground be almost as cold as the air outside? The answer to that question came when I looked up similar dog-related problems on the internet during my lunch break. Turns out the compost that we have been using in the garden produces gasses from the materials that are still being broken down. These gasses produce a significant amount of heat, and thus the reason why the dog was comfortable in his newly dug hole. Sheesh! Who would have thought that the very thing that helps the garden grow strong would be a calling card for destruction.

The Aftermath...

The remaining turnip after replanting

When we got home the evening after the garden raid by Duece, we were able to survey the damage. What was left of the turnips had been uprooted, there was a large area of the basil roots that had been uncovered, and the worst of all one of the three remaining heads of lettuce was lying in the center of the garden.

We were only able to locate one turnip...It was well on its way into becoming the vegetable. It was a small white ball with just a hint of reddish color. Most of the leaves had been torn off, but there were 2 small ones left, and while they were mostly yellowed, there was some green left in them. I showed Craig the small turnip. "It is still a baby, momma, we need to let it cook a while longer" was his response. He dug a new hole in the now loose dirt and placed the little turnip into the ground. He believes strongly that it will recover...Hopefully that innocent, blind faith will be enough.

How about the basil you may be asking yourself. We I think we are going to have decent luck with that. Mainly because they have been so hearty and the fact that they were not uprooted, so much as uncovered. It took Craig less that a minute to cover the roots of the one basil plant and fill in that part of the hole. "He's gonna be fine mom." How he knows it's a boy, I am not sure...

So that brings us to the poor lettuce plant. It had been doing so well. It had begun to coil into itself and had started to look like a true head of lettuce. Now, it looks as if it had been placed in a torture device and stretched back out to its limits. I guess in a way it has been through torture. We replanted the root ball, but the plant remained limp on the ground. Even Craig said: "Momma, I think it's sick." I couldn't agree more. I think there is a good chance that we will only be harvesting 2 heads of lettuce this fall and that is only baring anymore rampages by vegetable killing bulldogs.

The sad, sad state of the rutabagas:

I wish that I could tell you that the rutabagas were doing well. I wish that I could blame their decline on the dog, but I am not sure why they have taken such a turn for the worse. At first I thought that we had maybe planted the starter plants too late in the season, but Ray informed me that we should have still be able to plant them now and have them survive, so again, I am not sure why they have all but died out. Out of the 6 rutabaga plants that were put into the ground, only 2 remain. There must be something about the number "2"...

The Remaining Vegetables:
Everything else that has not been affected either by dog or nature, is doing well and growing strong.

• The Herbs: As a matter of fact, the mint is growing like a weed (perhaps becasue it is one), the oregano is hearty, and the parsley is strong. The Sage and Thyme which were planted in the in window box have been moved into the house for the winter. We had moved them inside when we thought the frost would kill all veggies, however even after we discovered the truth, they were doing so well we left them inside. 

• Broccoli: They have rebounded like your wouldn't believe from them caterpillar attack last month. Although there are not florets yet, we are confident that there will be soon
• Cauliflower: The plants look strong, but again no florets. They have been in the ground a lot less time than any of the other plants (other than the rutabagas). Just as with the broccoli, we are expecting a good harvest.

Expected Harvest:

We are still on tract for most of the vegetable to be harvested in December. Craig is getting more excited at time passes. He knows that the closer we got to Christmas, the closer he gets to pulling the vegetable out of the ground. 

Removing Leave From Stems

Having Fun Dehydrating Herbs

Crumbling Herbs to Store

What has been nice about having the herbs in addition to the vegetable has been that Craig has been able to harvest through out the fall. We have gathered and dehydrated some from every herb plant in the garden. Because we are gathering so much, the food dehydrator has been a wonderful tool. It is nice because Craig is able to wash and place the hers on the drying rack with little help. Not to mention that it makes the house smell like a little Italian bistro. 

So Farmer Craig's Garden has had some issues with the past month, but it looks like things are going to be just fine. Craig is excited, I am excited, and we are both having a great deal of fun! We are looking forward to next month we hopefully we will have some veggies to harvest!!

Interesting Month

October has been an interesting month for Farmer Craig and his garden. He has had to deal with many things - some we should have seen coming.

*$^&@)! Dogs
If the title of this section doesn't give you some idea as to what happened, I don't know what will. The day after Craig planted his new berry bushes we went out to water them. Imagine Craig's reaction to see that not just one, but both of his blueberry plants had been uprooted. One of the plants was stripped of all its leaves and lay broken in the center of the yard. The other was just slightly injured and lay next to its now empty hole in the ground.

Immediately we replanted both bushes, however I was less than optimistic that one or both would survive the ordeal. My fear turned into a reality over the next few days. Thankfully, the only plant that was lost was the one that had been dragged around the yard. The other which had sustained only minor injuries has since recovered and is showing new growth.

We replaced the dead plant during the weekend with the same type of blueberry bush. In order to prevent this devastation from happening again, we put up a fence around the bushes. Hopefully this will act as protection until the bushes has established themselves and the dogs are not able to do damage.

Spicy Porch
While we were picking up a new blueberry plant we happened across some new herbs that we did not have in our garden. Craig pointed out that we have very little space, if any, in our garden, so we chose to place them in a planter and set it on the railing of the back porch where they were sure to get a lot of sun.

We planted one tri-color sage plant and one English Thyme plant. We didn't have much room for more than that in this particular window planter. Thus far the two herbs are growing nicely. Especially the thyme. It has already expanded. The tri-color Sage smells good and has grown in height, but not branched out.

Invasion of the Insect Kind
Around the first of the month Craig noticed some small holes in the leaves of some of his plants. After a brief inspection, we assumed that a small bug had gotten in and had lunch one day. The holes were not that big or numerous, so we didn't think anything more about it.

This past Friday we went out to water the garden and low and behold the Broccoli leaves looked as if they were not plants, but swiss cheese. This time we bent down and looked more closely. Lining the stems and underside of the leaves of the broccoli plants (not just one, but 4 of the 5 remaining plants) were small, 1/2 inch, green caterpillars. There had to be at least six per plant, they were everywhere!

We trimmed off the now stripped leaves and left the ones that we not completely demolished. Along with the eaten limbs and leaves we removed the little green plant munchers. We allowed Craig to look closely at them and we took the chance to explain how they eat the leaves to make them strong enough to change into butterflies. His response was "I know mom. I read the book about the hungry, hungry caterpillar." If there was any doubt that kids retain what is read to them, that squashed it. Once the caterpillars were removed we had to take it a step further to prevent their (and other future invaders) from returning.

So, as you can imagine that step was to resort to pesticide. We had hoped to avoid this, but if we didn't want to lose all the broccoli, and potentially all of Farmer Craig's crops, we had to. This is the one part of the gardening that we did not allow Craig to participate in. Even with gloves, my husband and I felt that the risk was too high of him inhaling the poison, getting it in his eyes, or even on his skin. Today we went out and checked the plants. As of right now thy are insect free with no new damage to any of the plants.

Garden Maintenance. 
With the major disasters of the month now behind us it was time to get back into the routine of the garden's care. As with any growing thing, Craig has learned that his garden needs to be cared for. Today he spent the majority of the morning going through his garden on a "weed hunt". We have had the discussion that if the weeds grown in his garden, they will make it almost impossible for the vegetables to grow up healthy.

He also took time to "feed the veggies". It has been at least 2 weeks since all the vegetable has been put into the ground. Some have been in much longer. According to the websites and local extension offices, it is important to fertilize the vegetable between 2-4 weeks after planting. This was done today. Using Miracle Grow Shake & Feed.

Once the fertilize was on the ground, using a hand rake, Craig worked the little granules into the soil. He made sure to wear his gardening gloves, since he knew the food was for the plants only and "not for little boys". He did a great job and worked the soil of the entire garden by himself.

Since the granules needed to be put into the soil when it was dry, we did not water the garden today. We will be sure to do it in the morning before we get moving for the day.

Fall Has Finally Arrived!

Over the last few weeks we have watched our weather very slowly change from unbelievably hot, to tolerable, to finally beautiful. Ahhhh, Fall, thank God you are finally here! There has been some changes in the Farmer Craig's Garden during this time and Craig wants everyone to be as excited as he is. 

Tropical Storm Nichole

Although it was no where near the storm that it was predicted to be when it hit our fair state, Nicole still dropped a fair amount of rain on our little garden. Craig in his ever sweet and concerned way, worried excessively that his vegetables would float away. I assured him they would not, and while I am sure that he knows his mom would not lie to him, he still checked quite often to make sure. One thing that was nice about getting all the rain, was that we didn't have to water the garden. So for about a week, we just checked on the garden from the dry comfort of the back porch. 

PBS grows ideas and gardening interests

Craig and I have fallen into the habit of watching a local gardening show on PBS, and the other night they were talking about locally grown types of lettuce. I wasn't sure how much Craig actually retained while watching until after the segment he looked over at me and said: "Momma, he said we could cut the leaves and eat them now." Our lettuce is head lettuce, meaning that the produce we will eventually harvest is growing into a round "head" under ground, however the segment on the PBS show explained that if the above ground leaves were getting too big and blocking other plants, they could be cut back and eaten so as not to waste them. Well, we were in no danger of having the lettuce leaves overrun the garden, but from that moment, he was set on "cutting the leaves". Well, this is Farmer Craig's garden, so we cut. 

Wielding his green safety scissors Craig headed into the garden. The first lettuce plant he cut very carefully, and cut very few leaves. The second plant he moved a little too quickly and took the entire top of the plant, and only a small bare stalk remains now. We may lose that plant, maybe not, who knows. The third and fourth plants were handled a little better. They all lost more than they needed to, but he was so proud that we just let him work.

Craig also took this opportunity to harvest some mint and basil. These plants are growing extremely well, and had we not cut them back some, they very well may have begun to over run the front of the garden. 

With the lettuce cut, and the mint and basil harvested, Craig stood behind the piles of green bounty and smiled. We brought the greens in, washed them, and divided them in half. Craig was very excited to share his "vegetables" with family, so off to Grandma & Grandpa's house we went. 

The remaining half at the house has been put to good use. The basil is being dried in our dehydrator, the mint has been used in morning hot tea, and the lettuce has been in several "mini-salads". 

NEWEST UPGRADES

Beds Finished

The back bed of the garden closest to the house has been completed. The once deep hole in the corner has been filled with a generic topsoil and then the entire bed filled with garden soil. Also the area closest to the front of the garden was cleared and filled with the good soil. Craig and I both agreed that it was best to remove the dividers and make the garden one large, square plot. 

Basil Gone Wild

As I stated above, the basil plants have taken off into what can only be called miniature trees. Even after harvesting several "branches" from the plants, they were tall enough to be blocking light from the struggling turnips planted behind them. The few remaining turnip plants have had a rough go of things ever since our loving bulldog nosed his way into the garden and dug them up for a place to lay, so we figured relocating the basil would be the only right thing to do. So, the basil has entered the spice & herb relocation program. They are now living in the back bed of the garden closest to the house and live under the names Sal and Gary - Oh wait, we promised not to reveal that information...

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme...

Well, actually just the parsley. Since the basil relocated to...you-know-where, Craig needed to fill the vacant areas they left behind. This was an issue easily resolved as Craig picked out parsley to fill the slots. 

NVOTB (New Veggies On The Block)

Since there was open space in the back bed, next to "Sal" & "Gary" and a full row available in the front of the garden, Craig chose two new vegetable to fill the areas. In the back, Cauliflower now grow. This is something that I know Craig likes as we eat it quite a bit with our broccoli. Again, just as with everything else, it will take about 2-3 months for the cauliflower to be produced. They should be ready about the same time (maybe a little bit after) the broccoli is ready to be harvested. This will make a great combination, both in color and taste for dinners this winter. 

The very front row of the garden is now home to rutabagas. 

This was another one of Craig's insistent choices. Just as with the turnips, he swore up and down while we were at Lowe's that he "loves" rutabagas. Again, he has never (to my knowledge) had a rutabaga in his life. 

The growth time to produce a rutabaga is about the same as all other things we currently have in the garden. We are looking at about 3 months before we will have definitive proof if Farmer Craig truly loves rutabagas.

We have found that the hardest part of this garden has not been the sometimes back breaking work that we have put into it, but rather, it is the waiting. It is hard for a 4-year-old to understand that he has to wait anywhere between 60 to 90 days to get to eat the vegetables he is growing. I honestly think he believes that the grocery store is growing them in house. He asked me "why don't our vegetables grow as fast as the ones at the store?" If anything, this garden is teaching him patience. Heck, its teaching me patience. 

Raspberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries, Oh My!

While we were at Lowe's Craig spotted plants with pictures of some of his favorite berries on the tags. Of course he instantly wanted to have them growing in "our garden". I explained to him that the berry plants are actually bushes, and that there would not be room in our little area. His response: "But Mom, we have a whole big yard!" Well, how do you argue with that? 

L-R: Raspberry / Blueberry (1&2) / Blackberry

We purchased one blackberry plant, one raspberry, and two blueberry. Why 2 blueberry? Well this is where reading the labels really helps. Blueberries require 2 different kinds of blueberry plants in order to produce fruit. I read this purely by accident. I was honestly looking to see the amount of sun and water that would be required. Sure glad I did, otherwise we would have been super disappointed when we never got any blueberries! We planted the 4 plants outside of the garden but along the side of its fence. Hopefully the dogs won't go nuts on them and dig them up. I guess if we had to, we have enough extra fencing we could make another small fence around the plants. 

Now the garden is full. Barring the unforeseen, we have no more room to add any new veggies, spices, or herbs. That should be OK. Most things can not be put into the ground much later than right now and be expected to survive or produce. Going forward there are still things that Craig and I would like to do. For one, we would like to replace the wire fencing with a wooden one with a true gate. Secondly, we would like to gravel or rock the garden walkway. The dirt path becomes mud more times than not, and it would just be easier on everyone (and our carpets) if we could limit the amount of mud that is traipsed through. 

What we hope for now is a mild fall and winter. Last year was so cold that many farmers lost a lot of what they planted, we definitely do not want Farmer Craig to experience that. If it does look like it is going to frost early or stay cold for a really long time, I guess we will be investing in some tarps. As for now, we are set.

Full Garden + Berry Plants

The Garden Gets Hosed

This weekend was a productive one and Craig was busy in the garden. Our plans for gardening were just some maintenance that ended up in additions. No, we did not plant any new veggies (although we looked and the late fall plants are not available yet), but we did change the way the garden was watered.

We knew that next spring when we plant tomatoes and other similar veggies that we would need to ensure that the watering was only on the roots and not the leaves, (again, thanks to Ray for the tid-bits of info) so yesterday, after having a fun family breakfast, we set off for Lowes. We bought 50' of soaker hose and 4 cubic feet of additional garden soil.

Surveying the garden when we got home, I realized that if we were going to lay the soaker hose, we needed to at least clear the back bed closest to the house. Otherwise, come spring, we would have to take out the hose to clear it when we wanted to plant. It just made sense to go ahead and do it now - in 98 degree weather with no cloud cover...  My husband actually asked me why it is that I always choose to do manual (yard) labor when it is smoldering outside.  I didn't have an answer then, and I still don't now. 

So I cleared the bed. Since it was the back bed up against the house, and fearing that I might hurt the beds that were already planted, I used a hand trowel and a hand cultivator instead of the shovel to pull the remaining grass and weeds. Thankfully the strong grass and weed killer that my husband had sprayed before the garden was even started, worked great and the brown strands that remained were fairly easy to dig up and remove. 

Of the 4 beds, this most recent was the easiest. I'm not sure if this is because I used hand tools over the shovel, if it was the complete death of the grass, or the very real fact that I am getting pretty good at this digging thing that made the difference. For whatever reason it went quickly and after a short break, Craig brought out the hose and we started to lay it out. 

To look at the rolled hose you would think "That is not going to anywhere near long enough" and I said that to my husband who offered to run back to Lowes to get more. It was a good thing that I didn't take him up on that offer. When you get 50' of hose all unrolled and laid out you realize... that is a $^&! load of hose. Once Craig and I got ourselves untangled from the clutches of the hose, we placed it in the beds and around as much of the plants that we could without smashing them. 

It took us a while to get it laid where we thought it would do the most good and soak the roots of all the plants. Craig was a great micro manager. He would instruct me where to place the hose, walk over and say: "Hummm, I don't know Momma". I had to laugh, because frankly, I didn't know if it was right either. 

There is one problem with that back bed being empty and with the hose laid in it. There is nothing, as we found out with our first test run, to soak up the water in that back corner of the garden. It doesn't help that my loving bulldog, in an attempt to stay cool in the southern heat, had dug out a hole in the very back right corner and with all the grass and weeds gone, it becomes a small swimming pool. Great for frogs but worries me about mosquitoes. What I did find however, is that the pool was not there long and it was absorbed within 15-20 min by the bare ground. 

With the hose in place we set out to fill up the beds to the levels they are supposed to be and to cover the hose with the garden soil. This is absolutely Craig's favorite part of gardening. He loves playing in the dirt. Perhaps when he gets to pull up the grown vegetables he will find another favorite part, but for now, if it has to do with the soil, digging in it, dumping and spreading it out, anything, he is all in it. I'm lucky if he lets me help. 

Adding Soil To Cover The Hose

Filling The Beds

Spreading The Soil

With the hose in place, covered, and the beds full, Craig and I stood back to admire our now irrigated, in our own very minor way, garden. 

It was time for the second test run of our new watering system, that and I wanted to make sure that enough water would make it to the plants through the extra soil. While I was worried about the plants not getting enough water, Craig was concerned about too much. He has only known hoses to produce relatively strong streams of water and he thought that was what would be coming from the hose we had just placed. 

"Momma", he said very seriously, " won't the hose shoot the vegetables into the air? They're just babies and won't know to hold on to the ground."

A lot of times his innocence and kind-hearted nature makes me stop and smile. This was definitely one of those times. I explained to him that the hose was a different type than the one we had been using, and that this hose would be very gentle to our "baby" veggies. 

Where we are now

The lettuce, mint, oregano, and basil are doing well. Actually, the lettuce looks really good. All but one of the plants have really taken off and look strong and healthy with beautiful, large green leaves. The one basil plant that we were worried about has rebounded nicely, and the mint and oregano have new growth and look like that may be expanded a little bit. The lettuce should be ready in about 4-6 more weeks or so. The leaves (according to a local extension office) are too young. They would likely be bitter. 

The basil and mint however can be used now. The mint smells wonderful and as soon as the evenings are cool enough to warrant hot tea, we will use it! The Greek oregano is not ready yet as it will actually produce buds on the plant. I have no idea how much time is left before we should see that. 

The broccoli and turnips look good as well. They are a week behind the others, but they look to be establishing themselves well. I think we are still out a good 1-3 months (broad range I know, but all the info I have is so conflicting) from anything that Craig can get in there and harvest. He is so excited about broccoli, and he still swears that I loves turnips... Guess we will see if that is really true in a few months. 

On a sad note...

Well, it's sad for me. Most know that I love frogs (and toads), so you can image my guilt now that I am sure I have caused neurological damage and/or blindness to an innocent toad.

I was using some roundup around the outside of the railroad ties to ensure that nothing would creep into the garden beds. I had lifted one of the ties and was lightly spraying under it. The toad was buried into the ground under the tie, and my approach must have made him look up. I didn't see him until he began flailing his front little legs and frantically wiping his eyes and face.

 I went to get some water to wash his little body, but when I got back from the back porch with my water glass he had moved into the center of the newly cleared bed, looking normal. I poured a little water on him (mainly I wanted to make sure he wasn't dead) and he hopped toward the side of the house. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. At this point I convinced myself that he was going to be just fine, and that maybe it was not a direct hit with the chemical. I watched as he approached the house and jumped squarely into it.  He bounced off the house and he changed his direction to move towards the porch. He took one small hop forward. Then one to the right, and then another to the right. Then one forward, followed by one to the left. If I didn't know better I would have thought this little toad had been out on an all night bender. 

If you ever wondered if amphibians can stumble, we now have the answer - yes. So assuming that the toad has survived the last 48 hours, my guess is he is either blind, suffering neurological problems, or both. So sad and I feel awful. 

A New Row Has Been Hoed

It was another warm, but beautiful morning and afternoon today and Farmer Craig decided that he wanted to add another row of veggies to the garden. So off to Walmart we went to see if they had something different than Lowes. They did! Craig has wanted to plant broccoli since he first started talking about the garden, but Lowes didn't have any starter broccoli plants. Walmart, however, did have some so we bought a set of 6, (along with some turnip plants - Craig's choice. I'm not sure he knows what he chose as I know he has never had one - Mainly because his father and I don't like them at all) and we headed back home to dig, fill, and plant more of the garden.

New Center Row
Back 6 plants - Turnips / Front 6 plants - Broccoli

Craig decided that he wanted to clear out the center of the garden instead of either side. This is where I came in. I get to do all the manual labor. Just as with the first two rows, I used a shovel to clear off the grass, removing as much of the root system as possible.

Since this new bed was in the middle of the older two, I thought that one long railroad tie would serve as a better bed end that having 3 separate pieces. This is a great idea, but the ties are 8' long each and I only needed 7' (aprox). So I had the fun of cutting through one of the wooden ties with a handsaw. Why you ask, did I use a handsaw and not a power tool? The answer to that is a simple one. I like my fingers and hands. My husband is wonderful with the power tools and cutting devices, I however see massive problems if I were to attempt it, so I used the handsaw and almost an hour later I cut through the very thick railroad tie. Hey, It's good exercise for my arms...At least that is what I told myself.

After the tie had been cut to the length that I needed I placed it at the end of the now three beds, and again using Miracle Grow top soil for vegetables and flowers, we filled the new row. Craig is now becoming a master planter and was in charge of digging the holes, removing the plants from the containers, placing them in the holes, and covering them with the soil. He did it all himself and the pride shone across his dirt smeared face.

Proud Lil' Gardener

Next came the watering of the newest row. Craig loves to water and now has the flow of water under control. He no longer beats the plants down with a super strong stream of water.

We finished up watering and picking up the trash around the garden and headed into the house to clean up. No sooner had we come inside than the thunder began. Loud and close we knew that rain was on the way and chances are it was not going to be a nice soft one. We were right, it poured! All I kept thinking was that I hoped we had planted the new veggies deep enough to not float out of the ground. Craig (and I) have worked so hard today, I knew it would upset him.

Thankfully, Craig did a great job getting the holes deep enough and packed them in well enough that they looked just as good after the downpour as they did before it!!

Perky Lettuce, Droopy Basil

Well it has been almost a week that Farmer Craig and I have been farming Craig's veggies. At first we were afraid that the lettuce was not going to pull through, but over the last week, it has really rebounded!! The time it takes to produce a head of lettuce is supposed to be about 3 months, so we have 2 months and 3 weeks left before we will know if we have had any success. As for now, the lettuce plants look good and that is encouraging.

The majority of the spices look pretty good too, with the exception of one plant of basil. It began to look droopy and wilted about 2 days ago. We were running late and we did not water the garden that morning. I figured that since we had given it a good soak the night before, that the plants would be OK until that evening. That was true for all but one basil plant. That evening when we got home, it looked like it had been beaten down by the sun. The second basil looked ok, just a little dry. There was little to no change in the mint or oregano plants. We watered the garden and hoped for the best. Over the last 2 days it has rebounded slightly, and I am thinking that it may be OK, but we will just have to wait and see.

To Water or Not to Water, That is the Question...
Since Craig and I are so very new at this, we have no idea when the proper times are to water our garden and how much water it really needs. Obviously as we found with the basil, we have to water the plants first thing in the morning to sustain them, but the question becomes: should we be watering them when we get home in the evenings as well? For the last 2 days (since the almost loss of the poor basil plant) we have been watering both in the early mornings and early evenings. So far it looks like it is keeping them healthy.

Maybe the full sun that they sit in for the majority of the day dries out the ground enough that they need both. My only worry is that it is too much water and that they may become sick from being too saturated.

We have tried to find information online about when the right times to water the garden are and how much to use, but the information is so conflicting. I think it may be time to call and ask Ray (our close friend and farming expert) what he thinks.

First Day After Planting

Craig's labor day today started out with just that - labor. We woke up this morning and the first thing that Craig wanted to do was go out and look at his garden. I think he wanted to make sure that it was still there. We both slept like rocks after spending all day yesterday creating his garden, and so maybe he thought it had all been a dream. My sore muscles this morning are proof that it was definitely not a dream.

Craig's initial attempt at watering this morning were a little too strong!

After breakfast I let Craig know that he needed to water his garden. "Why?" he asked. I told him that just like he needs water to keep his body healthy, the vegetables needed water to be healthy and grow. He thought about that for a minute and then looked at his left over french toast from breakfast. "Momma, I think the vegetables are hungry too. I think they would like to have my french toast." He was a serious as a heart attack, and I couldn't help but smile. I explained to him that the plants had food in the dirt we planted them in and in a few weeks we would give them some special water with food in it.

So he went out to water the garden. It took a few tried for him to realize that he didn't have to shoot a strong stream of water at each plant, but he got it, and again had as much fun watering himself as he did the plants!

Craig got the hang of watering and gave all veggies a good long drink!

How did the veggies look this morning?
The veggies looked good this morning. After we initially planted the iceberg lettuce they looked pretty droopy. I was a little worried that maybe they wouldn't make it. Craig had tried to be as careful as he could be, but he is 4 after all. However, the lettuce had perked up this morning and looked healthy - from what I know of growing lettuce that is, which admittedly is not much. After Craig's watering, however, they looked a little beat up. Hopefully they will recover.