Seeds, Seeds and More Seeds

So yesterday I was able to get to Walmart again (If you know me you know this is a miracle!) I procurred some more seeds and a red honeyscuckle plant (it was on clearance for $2.50). The seeds I got were lettuce.

I had originally planted some Pumpkin, Radish and Pea seeds in an egg carton but they haven't sprouted, I think my dirt is dead. It was old dirt so I think that is the problem as the Radishes I planted with new dirt have sprouted already.

Here is the egg crate:

I went by the Dollar Tree and picked up some more of each of those packets so I can replant. I want the pumpkins especially. So today this will get dumped out and I'll start over with those seeds. The dirt just doesn't look good to me.

So today is shaping up to be a busy day. I do have to do some work this morning and I'm watching someone's kid for a bit but here is my Garden TO-DO list:

1. Paint pallet. I'm actually thinking of planting the lettuce seeds inside the pallet.
2. Plant the red honeysuckle plant. It needs dirt and love STAT.
3. Plant ALL the seeds with the new dirt.
4. Find a place for a compost.

I have some plants I need to get in the ground but I can't break the dirt up. I'm trying to find someone with a tiller I can borrow so I can get my grapes in the ground.

If not I may have to go OVER my budget soon and buy this:

They are $21 on Walmart.com and in store. so I have a feeling THIS is what I'm going to be spending money on.

On a happy note my potted plants are doing very well. The bell peppers and the tomatoes are getting taller. I have to make an effort today to get majority of everything done. I've had a lot going on and with my new job starting on June 1st, I'm worried about..EVERYTHING.

I will try to post a follow up later.

Day 5 - Walmart Trip

It is very early on day 6. lol. I have a busy day ahead of me starting with orientation for a new job. :)

So I went to Walmart today and was able to pick up a few things. I spent $8.10 on a few items and I got a Zucchini plant! I'm very excited about the zucchini squash plant it just strengthens my garden. I also got a $0.20 pack of Carrot seeds.

I got some little pots and a big red planter. :) Today I'm going to try build trellises for all the vines.

One thing I bought that I like a lot is Jiffy-Pots. They are planter pots but you actually bury the pot when you plant in the ground. You get 12 pots for $1.58 so that's like paying  .13 per little biodegradable pot.

I have some seeds that have sprouted! Along with a bunch of wild flowers I threw in an almost empty bed. I'm posting a bunch of photos so bear with me!

Items purchased at Walmart.

Newest addition to my garden! It was only $1.77 for four little plants.

And here are some of my budding plants:

Radishes are growing! :)

Wild Flowers

Here are my caged tomato plants, I'll cage the bell peppers when they get taller.

Day 5

I was outside wrestling with my Golden Retriever when I noticed that the neighbors (who don't have a garden) have a few tomato cages out there.

I asked last night if they were going to use them and if not could I borrow them for the summer. I was told I could have them. So that is great! One or two more things I don't have to buy!

Tomato cagesssss....

lol

Here is my dog:

She is detrimental to plants. She's a digger. lol. Her name is Big Doggie.

Day 3/4 (Picture Heavy) I had a Garden Blessing

I had a great blessing yesterday! Friends who knew I was gardening brought me some gardening stuff. It was very sweet of them and I appreciate it so very much. They brought me some mature plants and some soil. Here is a list of what they brought me.

1. Sweet Mint plant
2. Blackberry plant
3. Seedless Grapes (Green) plant
4. Muscadine plant
5. Grapes (purple) plant
6. Cantaloupe plant
8. Onions plants
9. (2) tomato cages
10. (2) bags of soil
11. They gave me a bucket of the plant food they use.
12. (1) pallet
13. Gardening Gloves

I knew they were going to bring me a pallet and a blackberry plant but the other stuff was a surprise and I was so very grateful. They doubled my plants and I almost cried. Heather and her husband, Casey (I know we have the same name! lol) even brought a little fence they put up in my back yard for my dogs. They brought this little lawn mower that doesn't use gas and mowed my lawn. I had a great lawnmower that was practically brand new but someone stole it out of my garage about aw eek ago.

Here are some photos of yesterday:

Heather holding my garden head. lol

   

Heather's Daughter pushing the non-powered mower.

Casey putting up the dog fence he and Heather brought.

Today, I started planting. It got cloudy and a bit windy so I had to cut it short but I hope I can go back out and find a place for all the vines. I did get the potatoes planted from kitchen potatoes I had that had eyed. I also planted the mint. I was actually going to plant this in the ground but a friend of mine told me that it is very aggressive so I used a bucket turned planter for this.

And I put the bell peppers in a giant pink tote I had purchased from Target a few years ago. I poked holes in the bottom of it. 

Bell Peppers:

My friend told me I don't need to brace them until they start to bear fruit.

Potatoes:

So I wanted to use this method:

I didn't have a "potato bag" but I used a recyclable bag I received in the mail. :) 

I have more potatoes to plant but they didn't look as good as these. I think I'm going to put these in the back yard inside of a bale of hay. So I'm going to try two methods with these. 

So hopefully I get some potatoes out of this. :)

Sweet Mint:

This was a popcorn bucket I found in a closet. I found several of them. I think I bought them several years ago for party, I tried to poke holes in it but all it did was crack the bottom all the way across. I had a couple of weed lines that I bought so I cut a piece off and lined the bottom. It will drain but the soil or plant shouldn't fall out.

Here are the vines and other plants that Heather and Casey brought me:

I know you can't really see the muscadine plant behind the grape vine, but it's there.

And the onions:

Whew. It's been a very active few days. I'm hoping I can get the vines in the ground today but I'm not sure how or where to plant them. I'll have to do some research.

I also went ahead and planted two of my little impatiens in little plants to put beside the door. Here is one of them:

Freecycle has Paid Off!

I got two emails today from a post on Freecycle!

1st email states that they have compost and I can have as much of it as a want! I called the lady who emailed me and was informed that is Horse Manure compost and that there is a mountain of it behind the barn on her horse farm. She said to go around to the back of the pile cause that is the composted stuff. I have no idea how much I will need. O.o I know I have a 5 gallon bucket...I guess I'll just have to get a few more buckets at Lowe's (More coming out of my $30 budget!)

The second email was from a gentleman who said he had gardening posts and tomato cages I could have! :) I'm excited over this as I only had little sticks I was going to use (as sticks are free!)

A friend of mine is bringing me a blackberry plant and a muscodine plant. I'm very happy for that. I really wanted berries this year. :)

Year one is shaping up and I still have $15 of my $30 budget left!

Day 1/2 Project

So I have a habit of picking stuff up off the side of the road. I ran up on two plastic chairs at the end of last summer and shoved them into my garage well I pulled them out yesterday and wiped them down. I had some red spray paint and the stained white chairs are now a bright pretty red!

They looked very similar this this except very stained. Black splotches and the link were all over the seat and the back.

I used Rust-Oleum Gloss with x2 the coverage. It's pretty much fire engine red. Very bright.

So after about an hour of spray both the chairs and waiting for them to dry and then going at it again, I have two lovely little chairs for my table! :)  I did get some red on my driveway but I'm not too worried about it. lol

I have a few more little projects for my yard, one of them is a little bird house I found in the garage, it's pretty dilapidated. lol. But I'm going to fix it. :)

Day 1

Ok, so I decided I wanted a vegetable garden. The problem? My yard is mostly shady. So I put my thinking cap on and decided to make a "mobile garden" using a pallet, casters and large pots.

My budget: About $30

I already had two yellow pots. I did find a giant pink bucket in my garage I will be drilling holes in to plant the bell peppers on and a friend of mine is giving me two pallets. I bought Pumpkin seeds, Pea seeds and radish seeds at the Dollar Tree for 4 /$1. My tomato plants came in a pack of 4 for $1.66 as did my Bell Peppers. I had a bit of gardening soil left over from an attempt at planting a little tree a few years ago, I also had a few garden supplies. I did purchase a few flowers for my front yard. Three sets of impatiens clearanced at .91 for a bundle of 6 from Walmart and my most expensive flower was a pot that contained three different flowers. That was $2.99 on clearance.

So far here is what I have spent out of my $30 garden budget:

(3) Impatiens .91 each container (Total: $2.73)
(1) Garden medley of plants (Total: $2.99)
(1) 4 pack of Tomatoes ($1.66)
(1) 4 pack of Bell Peppers ($1.66)
(2) Weed covers (Total $2)

Seeds from the Dollar Tree (4 x .25 = $1.00 + Flower seeds priced at $1 x 3 = $3)

Total spent: $15.04

I have to buy some soil if I can't find any off of Craigslist or Freecycle. I am definitely trying to utilize them for any pots or plants people may not want. I know I'm going to have to buy casters this weekend to make the mobile part of my plan...mobile. lol My aunt is going to save me all her coffee grounds as I don't drink them, but I read somewhere today that Starbucks will give you coffee grounds if you ask for them. So I may try that.

I may also have a yardsale to try to "Add" to my budget. I pretty much have 0 cash. lol. I wanted to start gardening to be self sustaining. I spent a majority of my food budget on veggies so if I can cut that cost out, I will be set. :)

Day 1 was actually last night around 8pm.

I went to water the trays I had bought (4 little tomato plants and 4 little bell pepper plants) when I noticed my little tomato plants were wilting. I didn't want to plant them until Sunday because I was going to have some help (My aunt, it's a long story but I'm not a physically strong person.)

I decided to go ahead and pot the tomato plants so they wouldn't die out on me and then I had an empty tray so I went ahead and planted radish seeds in that tray.

I also had six empty tray slots in another tray I had been growing Morning Glory seeds in so I used those for my peas.

So as it looks now I have 6 pea seeds and 4 radish seeds planted in little trays. I'm hoping I get something out of them. I will admit that I got the seeds at the Dollar Tree for 4/$1.

Here are a few photos:

The yellow pots now hold two tomato plants each. I'll be staking them sometime today. I don't have any tomato cages and I tried to find a nice DIY but they all looked really crazy.

I'm hoping I can get ahold of a blackberry bush to plant at the back of my property.

I found a lot of ideas and posted them to a pinterest board, if you are interested in that board you can click here.

So, that's it except for a little outdoor refurbishment that I will post about later on. :) I certainly hope I do a good job. My tomato plants are now in the sun warming up.