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Did you just get springy with me!?!

Category: My first Gardening experiences | Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 12:16 pm

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Boy oh boy we've got quite the assortment of things going on this week. To start i'd like to thank my kitty Malibu for being a good girl hunter and catching all the flies that keep letting themselves in our home.


My guard kitty Malibu the Russian Bleu.... 5/15 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )


Now our small fenced in back yard (lol can't honestly say yard with a straight face) has become the center of a controversy. My hubby and I can't agree on what to do with it. I want to get rid of the sick plants and clear the area and put down a lil sod and pavers against the fence to put my potted plants on. Well Charlie (hubby) wants to save the trees somehow and put plants in the ground. But we don't even have soil so to speak, its this odd sand clay soil type mix. Well I have enough battles so the nice wife that I am has given the back yard (hehe) to my hubby. Its his to do whatever he wants and I will assist in the plant growing department. I told him "ok babe just give me seeds and I will get them started for ya" I think that's fair enough. I mean I've already taken over the front.



The tiny beach backyard... ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )


So Charlie has been stiring up all the dirt back there and wow he found a whole lot of plants already back there against the fence. So he came and got me and asked for me to see if I knew what thet were. I already pulled some of the past tenants plants and potted them with my own and I knew what those ones were. Well I at first didn't know but thought they looked familiar and then I seen one Charlie accidently up turned and knew instantly that they are sweet potatoes. So I told hubby they will vine nicely if that's the look he wants. So now I guess his garden will be Mr.Galeassi's garden. Hahahaha. :D. Well now he started to decide what he wanted to keep back there. I have 2 large potted plants and I have 2 potted pineapple and the last tenants left 2 pineapple in the ground, there is also the two diseased papya trees and my 2 hanging cherry tomato plants which aren't doing so hot. Charlie is keeping all except the pineapple. He assigned me the job of homing them. I have problems with nieghborhood children climbing around my patio and playing around my plants :( So I found them spikey guys the perfect home.



5/15 Moved the pineapple plants up front.... ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )

So that's where they ended up. They work as a guard to keep the little kids away from that area. But I cut the tips cause I don't really want to hurt the little annoying people. Now there parents are a whole nother matter. Hehe :) Also they are going to work against the yard guys (who weed wack the sand!!) And get my whole patio plants table etc covered with sand! Id like to know what exactly they are wacking at besides my temper?! :l And the cutie in the backround is Chelsea. She is my director to make sure I do things properly. :)




5/15 My lil helper ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )



Chelsea likes to help out in the morning. And we get a kick out of our guard lizard. For mothers day the family got me mammoth sunflowers and the lizard loves to hang around them.


Lizards like "What you looking at fool?" hahaha 5/15 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






5/15 First morning glory bloom (on the back go figure) ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )


And we also found our first morning glory bloom while checking that guy out. I was so worried the neighborhood kids were going to pick it. This was yesterday, today its already shrivled up, just learned morning glory blooms last a day. But what a sight.......



first Morning Glory Bloom :) ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )


Well that's about that.... Thanks for reading and here's some latest pics :)



5/15 TinkerBelle needs some garden gnomes :D ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Left side getting fuller, added Sunflowers, upgraded pots :) 5/15 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Kitchen window where my seeds germinate and my sun dancers are.... ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )





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Sprung on Spring

Category: My first Gardening experiences | Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 6:59 pm

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Spring has really sprung on me. This year I'm still big on growing veggies but I've gotten into flowers a lot more. Just a little fact K-mart has great plants but they don't really have proper tags with just general names. I have been trying stuff and seeing what works well. I am still at war with marigolds but this last batch I have I grew from seeds from the store bought ones that I killed, and they are actually doing well. Now last year my cosmos (from seed) didn't grow to big at all, I think they need to be repotted cause they have gotten very tall this year but still no flowers. Id love to finally see them flower. I have gotten various flowers and the only one so far that I didn't like was the zinnia, not sure what kind it was exactly (thx kmart) because I've seen others called zinnias and they look totally different. Last night I purchased two Dianthus for 86 cents a piece. I did a little research and found out they were Sweet Williams kind. They are related to the carnations, well learned something new today... :) They don't look as fluffy as carnations. I'm going to put them in this pink container I have and I want to find a tall thin plant to put in the middle. Unfortunately I had to move almost all my plants back up to my front patio. So its getting a bit crowded. The back yard which is super small and almost all sand has two papya trees that are infected diseased whatever ya want to call it and they got to some of my plants. So needless to say all are up front now except those that gotten infected. I have some regulaur patio plants that I've had for years and they aren't looking so great. So I left them back there too... This weeks agenda is get that back plants straightend out and if they can't be then time to get them out of there. I intend on making my back yard my lil slice of heaven! :) So here's my most recent pictures.


African Daisy 5/10 (no open blooms) ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Wheat 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






2 Okra n Marigold pots 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Cosmos, Basil, Mint and catnip 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Tinkerbelle ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Squash 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






4 surviving pumpkin plants 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






5 Romaine plants 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Marigolds i grew from seed 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Beautiful Marigold 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Petunia 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Celosia 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Mini rose opening :) 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






2nd batch of okra and green beans 5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Dianthus sweet williams 5/10 (new edition) ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Dianthus sweet williams 5/10 (new edition) ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






My new editions (dianthus sweet williams) and the container im putting them in ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






dying diseased cherry tomatos :( 5/8 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Chili pepper plants and a gardenia i hope to root 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






wax and green bean plants 5/8 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Morning glories, squash, garlic, pumpkins 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






5/10 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Starting to look like home 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Right side 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )






Left side 5/9 ( photo / image / picture from Mrs. Galeassi's Garden )





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The Battle is not lost!

Category: My first Gardening experiences | Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 7:09 pm

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So this year I live very close to the beach and I don't have a huge yard or even really much grass. I have a whole lot of sandy dirt, so that being said I've decided to go with a container garden. I purchased a some nursery pots in 6 packs from the dollar store of all places and don't laugh but I also bought plastic easter baskets and put holes in them, they make cute pots. I was actually very lucky due to the fact that the last tenants here were also plant lovers and they left hooks and hangers on the fence and it had a nice feel to it, I'm sure they had this place looking lovely. But the best feeling was when I was working on my plants and noticed growing through the dirt morning glories. My first reaction was a holy crap I know that plant and then I was so proud of myself! I actually felt like a real gardener cause I started to look closely at the scattered weeds in the sand I realized hey that's not a weed either, then I found mint! Well hot dog that made my day, so I took these up and potted them too. I would of left them in the sandy dirt but I intend on putting pavers down to put my pots along the fence and id like to sod the rest of the area.
At this point I've planted a lot of green beans, wax beans, and pumpkin seeds and have been thinning them now its just a point of which ones I can keep alive from all the fungus, blight and bugs. I think I may try seven dust this year. It seems to come highly recommended. I have limited my squash and chili pepper plants. I didn't want to grow to much squash cause honestly I don't have much hope for it, but the two I grew seem to be doing well but they are still small. I started with 17 pumpkin seeds I believe and I'm down to 7 plants and they all are showing signs of blight. I had an upwards of 34 bean (wax and green) plants I got them mixed up but there are approximately 18 now and they are all starting to flower and just a few seem to have a little yellowing. I keep getting attacked by leaf minors and just remove the leaf its on. I have 3 chili peppers plants and they are doing great, two of them are my daughters and we grew them in egg shells and they are doing better then the one I grew in a pot! We just transfered one today cause he got a lil to big, we just cracked the shell and popped it in the pot shell and all. Oh my daughter named him Bob jr of course cause her older sister named hers Bob! Hahaha Kids! :) I've got mint ,oregano and basil. I've been trying cat nip but its very slow. I also have 5 garlic plants that were growing in my fridge, just popped them in a container! Hey why not I'm ready to grow anything! Except Mariglods! I still kill them daily! Hahaha I also have 2 cherry tomato plants that are fruiting like crazy, they are store bought.
I finally have a good selection of flowers cause I had my heart set on those marigolds and yeah no good, so now I have a celosia, a petunia and a african daisy from the store. From seed I've grown cosmos and marigolds and morning glories. But I don't think I will plant cosmos again, this year they haven't flowered either just like last year. And my dead marigolds from the store gave me seeds daily and I just kept planting them so I have them getting ready to flower and prepare for me to kill them! Hahaha My husband bought me a mini rose bush for valentines day and its the best bloomer in the crowd, at one point she started to get that rust on her and I went to kmart and found this stuff reccomended by the rose club called Rose Pride by Ortho and it kills insects disease and mites, it works great oh my goodness its the next best thing and its not limited to roses its for all ornamental use (still didn't save my marigolds from rust) hahaha!!! Or I should have said me! And that wheat(we think) my daughters teacher gave her seeds is getting really tall and has a stalk kinda now. Before it looked like grass and I thought the teacher was just joking with the kids about them being wheat seeds.
I also tried a few new things this year like I saved a peach seed in the fridge for a year in a bag with a couple drops of water like they said to do online. And plant it right before spring and I got nothing. :( I also planted about 20 romaine lettuces and I have 8 still going strong now. I have 7 okra just starting to show signs of life in the seed starter pots. I hate okra but its pretty, easy and fun to grow, I plan on giving them to my neighbors.
So this year seems to be going better then last. I like the safety of the container garden where when we get really bad weather I can bring them in. And my husband is not fond of it cause I make him help! Haha I've found a great product that works for me for my ornamentals. I haven't treated my veggies yet except I added dish soap to the water a few times. My major bug issue here are leaf minors but I see that white moth flying around pretending he's a pretty butterfly and know my battle with him will be coming in the near future! But my battles not lost even if I kill marigolds like crazy, I learned that no matter what some plants suck to grow in florida.


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Its harder then it looks!

Category: My first Gardening experiences | Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:13 pm

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Last year was my first time ever planting a garden. I've tinkered from time to time with some plants and I had potted plants on my patio and a few palms and hibiscus in the yard, but I actually went all out, I even made a composter and did a lot of research about organic gardening and companion planting. I placed poted marigolds all around the back yard to attrack lady bugs and bought cosmo seeds and planted them in pots as well.
I had a huge back yard at the house were renting so I set out three beds, one along the house but I stopped it before the drip line. I ran lava rocks along the drip line in hopes that it would look nice and not washed out and I hoped to help regulate some of the water so the plants wouldn't drown in the heavy rains. I put trellis on one side and bought some marigolds and herbs and spread them out along with some green beans, pole variety on the right with the trellis and bush on the left. I learned that the pole type grew more quickly then the bush, but the bush had less problems. I had a decent amount from my four bush plants and only got 3 beans total off my 8 pole plants! I also purchased a bonnie hot banana pepper plant that produced in that bed a great deal, but the seeds from it won't germinate. :( I had marigolds in and around all my beds and they all suffered from some sort of rust type fungus. My pole beans had those little green worms from the white moth and after I stopped that by picking them all off by hand trying to be organic(that didn't last), then they got blight or fungus. The weather was just hot wet humid I couldn't win. Then my whole bed was infected with fungus and I had no control over the rain. I finally gave and bought some scary stuff to kill the fungus, I lost my marigolds :( and then the pole beans just died. My bush beans survived that whole summer of hell but they looked raggidy, but I did get a decent crop from them once.
My second bed only three feet in front of the other one was rectangular and I had marigolds on the corners before the demise of this bed. I also had 3 long rows of corn aprox 30 something plants. That's all that I planted there and I had back up baby corn plants in pots on my porch cause the squirells occasionally snagged one and id replace it. Then I put a bowl of water out for them and it seemed to actually worked, I left it under there tree and sprayed water in it when I watered my garden. I eventually ran outa baby corn and put a tomato plant in one spot. They corn grew great, it was so beautiful to watch and id never felt so proud. Then that big storm came by and didn't hit us directly but side swipped us and rained for days and my whole garden was underwater. I went out when the weather finally permited and my corn was eaten inside out by what I later learned was corn borers. And I lost my tomatos from to much water they were all split, eventually this plant (Juicy Lucy was her name) was taken out by that hornworm guy! :(
My last bed was off to the side and was my largest and I had squash and cucumber and garlic growing in it. The squash kept getting fungus and those little green worm guys too. I eventually lost the plants from that big storms rain. I didn't do to well but I learned a lot. And I enjoyed trying to maintain the garden.I hope this year will go better. I still want a green thumb, currently my thumb is yellowish brown! :( Thanks for reading my boring story! :)

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