2013 Garden, Part 2- Surviving the Cold and Making Cute Garden Markers

Well, the new ground cover and watering system seem to be working well so far.  The plants didn't seem to grow much at first, but now they are taking off!  We had one more cold night we had to get through.  We covered some rows with extra ground cloth and tarps, and we covered some individual plants with buckets.  Of course it didn't get as cold as we expected, but better safe than sorry!

Preparing for the cold with tarps and ground cloth

Tomatoes and pumpkins did well under buckets.

I got an idea for garden markers from Pinterest that was cheap and easy.  I used metal punches and lids from canned food to make individual signs that I then nailed to stakes.  They are a little hard to read from a distance, but I like how they turned out.

Garden markers

More garden markers

"Corn"

"Green beans"

"Okra"

Here's a look at the corn marker in place

Garden with markers in place 5/15/13

Our potatoes and tomatoes are leading the way this year.  We have never tried potatoes, so it's nice to see them doing so well.  And look!  Our first tomato!

Rows of potatoes

Our first tomato of the season!

I guess this would be a good time to list all the stuff we're growing this year:
Bell peppers, jalapeno, green chiles, corn, green beans, okra, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkin, honeydew, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers.  Whew!  I'm looking forward to seeing how successful we are this year!

2013 Garden- Part 1, Still Experimenting

Well, we really procrastinated planting our garden this year, but it turns out we were just really smart!  We had 4 cold fronts come through in April that brought freezing temperatures to our area.  We finally got around to some of our planting last weekend, but wouldn't you know, we may have another freeze or two this week.  *sigh*  This is a little crazy for Texas!

Ready to plant!

We have a couple new experiments going this year.  The first is our watering method.  We water with well water that is full of minerals and salts.  We have had problems in the past with these clogging our soaker hoses by the end of the season.  No good!  This year we are trying drip tape with holes every 6 inches.  We'll see how it goes.

Drip tape all connected and laid out.  Some rows get double water.

 Our second experiment involves ground cover.  Last year, we tried a combination of clear plastic and black plastic to see which was better.  Black won.  We also just covered the rows and not the spaces in between with the plans of mowing between the rows.  Well, our plants got too big and took over all the space and made it impossible to mow.  So this year, we are trying a 20 year ground cover and covering more ground.  Some students came out and planted onions and potatoes several weeks ago, so we had to work around those areas.  Hopefully our weeding will be manageable this year.

Ground cover going down.

Ground cover done.

Time to plant!  Josh cut the holes and I followed with seedlings.

Of course Titus is always nearby supervising our work and protecting the wheelbarrow.

Some of the planting done.  More to come!

Rain Collection

Sometime in the last 2 years, we were given 6 empty containers to use for rain barrels.  Two weekends ago we put up some gutters on our shop, and last weekend we set up the barrels.  Now we need rain!

I believe Josh used this site to get some ideas and instructions for connecting all the barrels into 1 system.  We did find 1 leak, so we'll have to see if we can do something about that eventually. 
Garden posts should be starting soon!  I love spring!

Spring Break 2013- Florida, part 3

This is the last post about our spring break.  On our last day in Orlando, we went to the Orlando Science Center.  This is one of those great all-day activities for kids that leave them completely exhausted.  Jackson had a blast and the rest of us had fun watching him explore and play.  Unfortunately, Beth's husband had to work and missed out on all the fun :(  We probably could have made this into a 2-day activity if we allowed Jackson to play at each station as long as he wanted.  If you need a non-Disney activity for kids in Orlando, I highly recommend the OSC. 

Something about playing in water is so fascinating.

Boats and waterfalls

Gators and turtles lounging under the warming lamps

For $1 you could make this dinosaur skeleton move for a couple of minutes.  It was worth every penny :)

Dinosaur dig

Picnic lunch in a park with lots of fun art.  I was particularly fond of these guys.

Such a cool and simple idea.  PVC pipes with magnets on them and a huge sheet metal wall.  We could have stayed here all day rolling balls through pipes.  This would be fun to do on a garage wall.

Car races.  I stood at the bottom of the track and delivered cars back to the racers.

It was quite a long track!  It also had bleachers for fans and a scoreboard with times and rankings.  Too fun!

This space shuttle had lots of buttons and a countdown to lift off.  Jackson loved it!

He even had his Star Wars shirt on- how appropriate :)

You could make a tornado with the touch of a button.  I can't tell you how many tornadoes we made that day.

This look of wonder never got old.

This orchard area was awesome.  You picked oranges and put them in crates.  Then you could deliver them to 2 different areas.  Eventually the "oranges" appeared back in the trees and you could start all over again (and again and again...)

Operating the tractor that got the oranges up the ladder system

Delivering the oranges

On our way back to Texas, we spent a night camping near Fort Pickens in the Gulf Islands National Seashore area.  It was almost warm enough to snorkel, but it was a little windy and too late in the day to get geared up.  Maybe next time.  We did have fun exploring the old fort ruins.

That wraps up our Florida trip.  We look forward to visiting again, but it might be better in May when it's a little warmer but not too hot.  Thanks Beth, David and Jackson for a great week!

Spring Break 2013- Florida, part 2

These pictures are from days 4-6.

Walking around Honeymoon Island State Park (off of Florida's west coast)

We found a horseshoe crab and had to take some pictures.  Obviously, this guy is not alive.

We found a second, smaller horseshoe crab nearby.  We left them posed like this by the trail :)

Osprey bringing a twig to its nest.

Pair of osprey in their nest- probably has eggs in it this time of year.

You could see nests like this all over the island.  There were bald eagles too.

Can you spot the owlets in this picture?  There are 2 of them huddled together near the center.

We enjoyed walking along the white sand shores.

Fishing with Jackson in the neighborhood pond.  This picture cracks me up.

Jackson hadn't used a real hook before, so he was pretty interested in Uncle Josh's assortment of lures.

Sadly, all we caught was a turtle.

Josh and his sister, Beth, along with silly Jackson.

Next up, Orlando Science Center and Pensacola...