“Gan-Green Thumb” Garden Tip: Save Your Leaves!

I haven’t actually tried this tip yet (I recently read it in a book), but it sounds like a great idea and if it works, it will help me to overcome one of my big gardening dilemmas.

First, the dilemma:  Since my dogs seem to lay barren anything that is growing in the ground in our yard, I have wanted to get more involved in container gardening.  The “experts” have given multiple reasons why container gardening is a great thing, and I suppose it is.  My main objection has always been that in order to have a container of any decent size, it takes so much soil!  Why not just use soil from our garden to fill them?  Because our clay soil is just terrible and is one of the other problems that we are working like crazy to resolve.  Therefore, container gardening just seemed like such an expensive proposition that I limited myself to just a few containers each year.

Now for the remedy:  Leaves!  If this works the way the book proposes, I will be so happy.  The idea is to save your fall leaves in bags and use them to fill the bottom part of your pots (about one-third to one-half full, depending on the soil depth requirements of your plant).  By only having to add potting soil and compost to the top portion of the pot, you can save some money.  (I am also excited to have another way to use the tons of leaves our trees drop each year; I never like to have organic material end up in a landfill!)    For containers that will hold my “permanent” plants, I will probably continue to fill them to the top with my soil/compost mix.  But for seasonal things (like tomatoes, etc.), I will use the leaf trick.  After the season is over, I will remove the soil from the top of the pots and then add the “weathered” leaves to the compost heap or maybe even directly into the garden soil depending on its state.  I’ll let you know how it works!

I can’t tell you how excited I am!  You see, last summer, I found the most wonderful container for the times that I want something a little larger.  It is just the right size, it’s strong and durable, and comes in a variety of colors.  Even better, I was able to pick one up on sale last summer at Wal-Mart for only $5!  Just drill a few holes in the bottom and add a little piece of old window screen and you have the perfect planter.  I am pleased to present to you my new favorite gardening container….the party tub (also marketed as a child’s toy bin)!

I just loved this orange one.  I’ve also seen them in red, purple, neon green, bright yellow, and for those who are of a milder taste, even black.  The leaf trick now makes it possible for me to have these babies sprinkled all over my yard, filled with vegetables of all kinds.  Yippy!

Summer Garden 2010 Final Report: The Good, The Bad, and The Really, Really Ugly

This was the third year of summer gardening for “Gan-Green Thumb” and I, and The Thumb was in fine form. There was plenty of devastation throughout the garden, a testament to the power of idiocy and a hidden mean streak targeting all things green. Here is our final report:

We cannot grow tomatoes. They start out great, and the plants even get some pretty good size on them. But they have two enemies that we just cannot seem to overcome, no matter how much we spray and treat. The first enemy is something called “blossom drop”. I’m pretty sure that our summer daytime temperatures of 975 degrees were to blame for this. I may try to start earlier in the season next year and just do some greenhouse/covered gardening. The second problem I encountered was what I think might have been “blight”, although I’m not totally sure. After being unsuccessful with various treatments, I pulled the plants up in order to prevent them from contaminating the rest of the garden, just in case it really was blight. If we are going to have tomatoes, I guess I will have to barter for them with something that I CAN grow.

Our corn burned up. Especially the corn that the Old Coot had put in containers – it is hard to garden in containers when it’s 975 degrees. You just can’t keep things from drying out in two hours. I can’t explain what happened to the corn in the back of the garden. I’ll be bartering for that, too.

The little cherry bushes that we planted were massacred by the Golden Marauder. They are coming back up from the bottom, but I don’t know how they will EVER contend with her. She’s tenacious and unyielding, and seems to have some major grudge against them.

The Golden Marauder:


The green beans were a mixed bag. They started off great, planted in a little planter which was placed just outside the protection of the garden fence. They grew and grew, using the fence as a trellis, and making little green beans like crazy. Then the leaves started turning yellow. I checked for pests and disease – nothing. “Gan-Green Thumb” swore innocence in the matter. There was no explanation. Then my mother came in from sitting on the back porch.

“I know what’s wrong with your green beans,” she said. “I just saw Toffee lift his leg and pee all over them.”

Eeeewwww! I decided to leave the green beans for the birds and the squirrels. Even they didn’t want them. Next year we will plant green beans INSIDE the fence.

Here is Toffee, The Leg Lifter:


The cucumbers that I planted died (I think the Old Coot had sprayed some forbidden chemical in the spot in which I planted them earlier). The cucumbers that he planted lived and grew, but we are still waiting for cucumbers (I have picked ONE so far). I’m hoping that cooler weather will help pull them through.

Our strawberries did just what they were supposed to do, and they put on some pretty good growth. I look forward to watching and picking them next year.

Once again the blueberries did GREAT! The birds in the neighborhood had a beak-smacking good time with them. Next year there WILL be netting placed over the blueberry bushes.

The blackberries were quite productive also, not that we got to enjoy them. Next year there WILL be netting placed over the blackberry bushes.

The grapevines recovered from the attack by the Golden Marauder which occurred early in the season, and they put on some really good growth. I look forward to seeing some grapes next year (I think I will need more netting!)

The bell pepper plants have me confused; they grew tall and wide early in the season. A couple of them are taller than I am. But no peppers, all summer long. I decided to keep them alive anyway, and now that it is no long 975 degrees, there are peppers popping! I look forward to actually picking some soon.

And now, for the greatest success of all: My black-eyed peas. They did great! No bugs, no disease, just peas, peas, peas. The only problem was that I only planted only one small row, so there was never enough at any one given time to do a lot of good. Next year, I will just forget about those stinking tomatoes and give all of that space to black-eyed peas.

So there you have it. Another summer garden has lived and died, and I learned a little more this year. I have not yet decided if I want to mess with a fall garden (although logic says that would be the thing to do when living in the heat of Hades). However, I have a lot going on this fall. Of course, there is always time to read and attend some classes and garden club meetings. “Gan-Green Thumb” and I will keep you posted!

INJURY REPORT! The First Casualties of the Gardening Season!

When “Gan-Green Thumb” and I planted our garden this year, we knew that there would be problems, but we didn’t know that they would come so soon! As you know, at last report, things were going well, but sadly, there are injuries, and possible casualties, in our garden. Come view the sad evidence with us:




The first thing that struck me was the condition of the grapevines. What on earth could have happened here:


“This looks like the work of Molly Hatchet, aka: ‘The Golden Marauder’!”


“I’d be willing to bet on it!”


“It looks like the Golden Marauder struck the raspberry bush, too! Absolutely diabolical!”


“I don’t think the Golden Marauder did this. It might be time to do a little spraying!”


Is anything going right in the garden? The lone blackberry bush, safely out of reach, seems to be doing okay:



They Old Coot’s experiments seem to be doing alright, too:



The strawberries and tomatoes are growing:



The corn and black-eyed peas have popped up, but I think that they were planted to far apart to qualify for “companion planting” (I never get anything right on the first try!). The marigolds are good and stinky, and hopefully will keep the Mexican bean beetle at bay:


The blueberries actually look like blueberries now:


Yet, the Golden Marauder continues to do her dastardly deeds. Here she is with some of her newest handiwork:


I have a feeling that if we actually were to have to live off of what we could grow, we might just starve to death!

Ready…Set…Garden!

It’s that time of year again…”Gan-Green Thumb” and I are ready to start gardening. Gardening in Texas can be tricky; you have to plant your vegetables late enough that they are not in danger of frost (and here you never really know when the last frost will be), but you also have to plant them early enough that you can harvest them before the fire of Texas summer burns up the whole yard. This will be our third year to garden. Our first year was pretty much a wash-out (“Gan-Green Thumb” started way too late), and although last year was better, we still have a long way to go. But we are excited and ready to get going on this year’s garden and put to use all of those books that we have read.

There is a new threat to this year’s garden, however, and it is even more destructive than the “Gan-Green Thumb”: Molly-Anna Marie. She’s our new golden retriever puppy.

Yes, she’s cute, and oh-so-soft, but when it comes to plant life, she can tear out a newly planted violet in record time. She also loves to dig in the square foot gardens and stomp all over EVERYTHING! We will see how much suffering is caused in the days to come!

I have eagerly awaited the return of my four beloved blue berry bushes. I bought them year-before-last, and they were just tiny twigs (I had read on the internet that it was best to have two different varieties). Knowing that they liked soil that was more acidic, I planted them in pots with a mixture that was about 1/3 potting soil and 2/3 peat moss (give or take a little). I also give them a little shot of azalea food now and then. They have done so well! In fact, they have done so very well that they really are outgrowing their pots. Where we are going to plant them is still under much discussion, but they definitely need a new home soon:

I had ordered something called the Hansen bush cherry last year, which I have since read is not that great. However, here it is, and two of the three plants that I ordered actually survived the winter. It is another little critter that will need to come out of the pot before next year (I think I may need to buy some acreage!).

Miss Molly-Anna has done quite a number on my young grape vines, chewing some of the branches off at the base, but there is a little bit left, and they are looking pretty good:

One thing about which I am really excited is that this is the first year we have had a dedicated garden spot (besides the square foot gardens). I learned in a gardening class that tomatoes and peppers really do better if they have some room. I'm thinking that corn will probably like some room, too! The Old Coot Who Married Me borrowed a tiller from a friend and tilled up a little area in the back:

He has even been working on a simple little fence (to protect from golden-haired marauders). It will also be used as a trellis for the cucumbers and zucchini that I planted next to it:

The gate has been built, and is ready to be mounted:

The square foot gardens are still intact, and my raspberries are looking like they might need a little more “foot-space”. We are hoping to find an old, antique style bath tub or a stock tank to plant them in, because we have learned that they will take over the whole yard if they are not contained at all!

Since we absolutely LOVE strawberries, I decided to dedicate one of the square foot gardens to them, with enough room to run (I hope!):

The Old Coot Who Married Me has some experiments of his own going, including something that he calls “vertical gardening”:

My bell peppers are okay so far:

And I even have some little tomatoes starting:

This may look like some terrible dirt, and I admit that we have a few more years of amending this soil to get it in shape, but this is actually a row of corn with a row of black-eyed peas planted directly in front of it:

I am trying something called “companion planting” which is a concept put out by the book, “Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening” by Louise Riotte. The idea behind this book is that certain plants do well when planted with other plants. Supposedly, the black-eyed peas will provide the corn with needed nitrogen, while the corn stalks will provide support for the peas to climb. I will later plant some marigolds among all of this, which are supposed to repel the Mexican bean beetle. Those little critters did a real number on our peas last year, and I was angry! If the marigolds don’t work, I will see if I can get some DDT or a flame thrower! (You don’t mess with a Southerner’s black-eyed peas!)

Here are more “Old Coot” experiments (our soil here is awful!):

And here are my compost bins:

I wish I could have the compost set-up that is recommended by the “Dirt Doctor”, but it is an open system and we have had too much trouble with mice around the green house, and they don’t need to be fed any more than they already are! The large green barrel is a compost bin that I ordered a couple of years ago. It does everything that it claims to do, and it was easy to assemble. However, for those who are budget-minded, a trash can with some holes drilled in it (as seen on the left of the picture) is almost as good. I have enjoyed having compost bins – between my recycling efforts and my composting efforts, the amount of trash that we set at the curb each week has been reduced significantly. However, my compost does not seem to “cook” as fast as I would like, and I obviously have more to learn before I am a “master composter”! I had to buy compost this year, which did not make me happy, but compost is not only a natural way to fertilize your soil, it can actually help to change the texture of that awful, clumpy soil that we have (over time). There is a website that I found that is dedicated to composting, and I will be spending some time there!

Once again we have cute little peaches making an appearance!

Will the birds and squirrels get them all, like they did last year? Will the mocking birds eat all of the blue berries once again? Will “Gan-Green Thumb” lose the battle with the Mexican bean beetle this summer? Will Molly-Anna Marie just take the whole garden out, saving us the struggle? Check back in a few weeks for answers to these burning questions!

The "Gan"-"Green Thumb" Reading List

I can't believe that it actually snowed the first week of December here in Texas, but that's all the proof that I need to show that it's time to spend some time indoors, possibly catching up on some reading. So, do you want to know just what "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and I like to read? We thought you'd never ask!

We absolutely love magazines -- I think I became such a big fan when my kids were little; I couldn't make it through a whole book very often, but I might at least read a whole magazine article before someone needed something. One of my favorite magazines is Organic Gardening. This is a great magazine if gardening is your main interest, and of course, the focus is on using organic methods. Some articles that you may have missed out on are: "Grow the Best Tasting Tomatoes", "Fit More Herbs in Your Garden", "A Drought Proof Garden", and "The Best Strawberries for Your Climate".

If you can't tell, my interests go beyond gardening alone -- my dream is to someday move to the country and live on between one and five acres. In addition to gardening, I would like to have some chickens running around, and maybe someday work up to having dairy goats, too. Hobby Farm Magazine appeals to this desire nicely (I originally found this magazine at Tractor Supply Company). Past issues list articles such as, "Milk Dairy Goats by Hand", "Plant Your Fall & Winter Garden Now", and "Greenhouses, Hydroponics and Cold Frames for Fall Gardening".

There is a companion magazine to Hobby Farm, and that is Hobby Farm Home (which I also found at Tractor Supply Company). Some articles that you might find here are, "Secrets to Using Unique Flours", "5 Chicken Pot Pie Recipes", "Preserve Your Barn's Character", "Easy Homemade Bread and Butter Making", and "Low-Maintenance Moss Garden".

The last time I bought magazines at TSC, I found the premiere issue of a magazine called Urban Farm. It's from the same people who bring you Hobby Farm, but the focus of this magazine is helping those of us who live on small plots in the city to find ways to live our hobby farm dream on a smaller scale. Some of the ideas that are shared here are "Turn Your Lawn into a Garden", "Container Gardening", and "Drying and Freezing Homegrown Veggies".

Mother Earth News is a magazine that I have enjoyed, for the most part. I will tell you that most of these magazines have at least a little tinge of "global warming/sustainable living" in their content (All right, already! We know!), but Mother Earth lost me a little bit when it had a couple of articles about our need to reduce our population rates. When it comes to the over-population zealots, I've always wondered which one of their kids they wished had never been born! But if you can just take it for what it's worth, this magazine has some really great "how-to" articles. Recent titles were: "5 Inexpensive DIY Greenhouses", "How to Heat with Wood", "How Much Would Solar Panels Cost You", and "Recipes for Healthy No-Knead Bread".

For those of you who are like me and not only want to live in the country, but also aspire to attaining a pretty high level of self-reliance (think individual water well and solar panels or wind generator), Back Home Magazine is great! (Also originally found at TSC!) I can't wait until the day I can have "A Compost-Heated Greenhouse", try something like "Generate Your Own Wind Power" and "Preserve the Harvest With Solar Dehydration", and enjoy "The Benefits of a Small House" and "The Struggles of Wilderness Living"!

For organic gardening in Texas, I find Howard Garrett, also known as "The Dirt Doctor", to be quite helpful. He not only has a website, but he has written several books and has a line of organic gardening products to help you try to keep your plants alive!

Now that the kids are older, I do get to read a book or two every now and then. Here are some books that I plan on wading through this winter:

All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew is still a favorite; I refer to it often. The focus of this method is using a 4-foot by 4-foot square (or other variation) to get 16 square feet of growing room instead of stretching your garden out into a 16-foot row. This is geared toward helping those with limited space have a garden in spite of their limitation. He also has what is the "perfect mix" of growing medium which will help your plants grow. I will say that the plants that I had in my square foot garden survived much better than my other plants (at least so far -- I'm not giving up!).

I recently bought Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, Edited by Fern Marshall Bradley. It's a big old thing, and I'm sure there's bound to be something in there to help someone with a toxic thumb!

Another book that I look forward to really getting into is Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte. This teaches a concept known as companion planting which purports that certain plants being planted with other plants can be beneficial. For example, apparently cucumbers are offensive to raccoons, so this book suggests planting them with corn. In turn, the corn seemingly protects the cucumber against the virus that causes wilt. I'm going to try some of this stuff next year!

Month-By-Month Gardening in Texas by Dan Gill and Dale Groom is a book that you can actually read month-by-month! This is just what someone like me needs!

Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza and Compost Gardening by Barbara Pleasant and Deborah L. Martin will help you get the most out of all of that compost that you've been cooking up! Actually, Barbara and Deborah have the most wonderful website that I discovered while writing this post! I guess there's even more reading for us now!

I found The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader while I was knocking around TSC this summer. It's a great guide for helping you preserve that big harvest that some of you actually have. It has a guide that lists the best method of storage, as well as when to harvest each fruit/vegetable and what to look for. Great!

This last book is not a gardening book, but if you are into food storage, it is great, too! This concept has been around for awhile, but this new addition caught my attention and made me want to kick myself for not trying this earlier. Make-A-Mix by Karine Eliason and friends is not only good for the person who wants to use all of that flour, sugar, and dry milk that they are storing; it is also a good book for the working woman who wants to make "home-made" meals for her family, but may not have the time. The concept is simple: in the front of the book are a few basic "mix" recipes that you make up ahead of time and store in a large, air-tight container. For example, the "Hot Roll Mix" calls for flour, sugar, salt, and dry milk (this makes a large batch of dry ingredient). Using this one mix, plus whatever ingredients the individual recipes in the back of the book call for, you can make Swedish Cinnamon Twists, French Bread, Crescent Rolls, Big Soft Pretzels, Hamburger Buns, Pizza Crust, and several other things. There is also "Muffin Mix", "Quick Mix", "All Purpose Cake Mix", and make-ahead dry mixes.

Well, I guess that's enough for now -- that should keep "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and everyone busy for awhile. Happy reading!

Start Your Garden "On a Roll"!

When is an empty bakery box not really a bakery box? When is an empty toilet paper roll more than just a toilet paper roll? Answer: When you put them together and they become a mini-greenhouse! This is actually two separate ideas that I got from two separate magazine articles, but I decided to combine them. You just need to make sure that your empty container has a little height (growing room) to get the best results. Then you simply cut the toilet paper roll in half. Stand the rolls straight up in the container, fill with potting soil, plant your seeds and keep watered, and you can get a jump on your garden. When the final frost has passed and it is time to transplant your young plants, since the cardboard roll is bio-degradable and is also open on the bottom, you simply place the plant, along with its roll-container, directly into the soil (at least that's what the article claims). It's less expensive than buying the bio-degradable peat moss pots. I can't wait to try this!

Things I've Learned About Gardening:

1. It can actually be too hot for things to grow. Depending on what you want in your garden, if you live in Texas, find a way to plant early.
2. Organic gardening is hard! At my house, insects and fungi thought many of those organic tonics were snacks. Next year: DDT or a flame thrower! (Just kidding!)
3. Squirrels and birds can eat even more fruit than people do.
4. Don't plant vine-type plants in a "square-foot" garden without a trellis. They take over everything!
5. It takes four blueberry bushes to get one pint of blueberries.
6. If you have a bald spot in your yard, plant a vegetable there. The grass will grow like crazy as soon as you do!
7. If you use popsicle sticks as plant markers, squirrels and dogs will steal them out of your garden and use them for chew sticks.
8. If you figure out the price per pound for home-grown food (for those with a toxic thumb), it's probably about $30 a pound. But the experience you gain toward being self-sufficient: priceless!

Let Me Introduce Us!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my thumb. At the beginning of my venture into gardening (summer of 2008), I was praying that I would have what is commonly called a "green thumb" (even though it is short and stubby, and distinctly unmanicured). After two summers of gardening, I have come to the sad realization that my thumb is not "green", but alas, it is actually "gangrene". It is tainted, diseased, and toxic to all plant life. Whether it's planting too late in the season, or attracting every pest and fungus in the state, I don't seem to be on top of the gardening thing. But, I want to keep trying! I feel it's important.

I first realized that gardening, and self-reliance in general, are important after Hurricane Katrina. Seeing what the people there went through after the hurricane made me realize that sometimes the most reliable help is yourself. I truly think that the difference between being a victim and being okay can often be the knowledge and skills that you acquire before an emergency strikes.

The second motivation came when I was called to be the "Emergency Preparedness Specialist" at my church. It is my job to teach our church members about food storage and general emergency preparedness. I'm pretty sure that the local church leaders picked me after a discussion that went like this:

"Is there some knit-wit that we know who has never made bread, done gardening, does not know how to sew, and knows nothing about emergency preparedness?" our Bishop asked.

"I think I know someone," came the reply.

"Good," came the answer. "Let's call her to this position."

So I have had to learn as I have gone along. I am the first to tell you that I AM NOT AN EXPERT IN ANYTHING! The only thing that I have going for me is that I have found some really good sources of information, which I would like to share with as many people as possible. Oh, and there's the fact that I actually am enjoying learning about all of these things. There are things that I didn't know that I didn't know. I even enjoy my feeble attempts at gardening. When you are not very good at it, it makes every tomato and pepper that you harvest even more of a treasure.

The main thing is that I believe that the time to learn is NOW. I figure that I can learn what works and what doesn't during this early time, and hopefully by the time I really need to know what I'm doing, I will have it all worked out. I can honestly say that this year's garden was much better than last year's, and the things I learned this year will help me be more successful next year.

If learning about self-reliance and being prepared appeals to you, and if you are not faint of heart, then I invite you to follow the adventures of my thumb and me as we wreak havoc with nature and try to survive. Check in with us often (we plan to post items frequently). We need all the cheer leaders that we can get!