A Big THANKS!
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
Since Memorial Day is traditionally a weekend where a lot of gardening is done, take the day, enjoy the long weekend and spend some time in your garden. Just remember to take some time to honor those that have died to allow us this freedom.
Brian and I had the honor of filming the memorial and committal ceremonies for local young veteran this past week. It was a sad way to observe Memorial Day weekend, but very moving. If you’d like to watch the video we made visit our business blog.
I’d like to take the time today to honor all of those that have served and currently serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, especially those that have died in service to our country. I’d like to offer a big THANK YOU to all of you who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy. I’ll be spending my day in the garden celebrating!
How do you celebrate Memorial Day?
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A Day at the Farm
Last week I went to the farm where my sister is keeping her chickens and has her main vegetable gardens. It’s a beautiful farm, the gardens are lovely (this is the one with the tree peony).
My nieces were super excited to show me the chicken area and hunt for eggs.
We had a great time checking out the gardens and the kids enjoyed running around and playing while my mom, my sister and I chatted. They sure are cute kids aren’t they (must run in the family).
Going to the farm with them reminded me of all the times we visited some of my parent’s friends that had a farm. We loved playing in the barn and watching the sheep. So much fun! Check out my flickr album to see the rest of the photos.
What about you, any fond memories of visiting farms when you were a kid?
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Idleness? Never
“Trouble Springs From Idleness.”
~~ Benjamin Franklin
No time for idleness here at Chiot’s Run. We’ve been busy, especially the last couple days. We have planted 6 trees and built a few rock walls, added a few more flowerbeds. I’ve also been planting most of my veggies in the outside gardens. It sure keeps us busy, no time to get into trouble that’s for sure.
The same can’t be said for Lucy though, all she’s got is idleness. She’s currently enjoying sleeping amongst the forget-me-nots and snapping at all the bees that are trying to get nectar from it.
What about you, any time for idleness or is the gardening season in full swing?
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Homemade Potting Soil
I had a productive day in the garden yesterday. I moved one of my compost bin and harvested and sifted a bunch of compost to use in my homemade potting mix. I have so many potted plants that I would spend a fortune if I bought potting mix for all of my pots. I also like that I can mix up my own organic mix with no chemicals, unlike much of what you buy.
So what recipe do I use for my own homemade potting mix?
1 part peat moss (or coconut coir if you don’t like using peat)
1 part compost
1 part soil
1 part vermiculite or perlite (I prefer vermiculite)
I’m usually making a big batch so I measure with wheelbarrow loads, but you may find it easier to measure in 2 gallons because you can mix a batch in the wheel barrow.
I usually add some of my homemade rock/mineral fertilizer to give it some goodness for the plants. If you don’t have your own mixed up you can use an organic fertilizer in each pot depending on what you’re planting in each pot and the size of the pot (I like Dr Earth Fertilizers). If you use the 2 gallon method for measuring to each batch you can add: 1/2 cup of each: lime, greensand, rock phosphate, kelp meal, soybean meal (I usually use blood meal & bone meal in place of soybean & kelp meal).
What kind of potting soil do you use? store bought or do you mix your own?
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Blooming Already?
I was potting up a few tomatoes on Sunday into the big pots they’ll spend the summer in, and I was surprised to see that they’re already blooming! These are Sub-Arctic tomatoes, they’re supposed to set fruit at lower temps, which is good because we had a frost advisory last night. I’m hoping I’ll get a tomato in a month or so, I’ll keep you updated.
I also noticed that one of my green pepper plants is blooming, I’ve been bringing this plant inside in the evenings, so perhaps it will set fruit, it’s still fairly cold for peppers though with night temps in the 40’s.
This is the time of year when things really start ramping up the garden. I noticed my catmint will be blooming soon as will some salvias.
Anyone else have an early blooming tomato?
