Veggie Garden Update

I thought it was time to give a few picture updates of my veggie garden. It's looking great. Most everything has sprouted and we're trying to keep the bugs away. We made tomato stakes this weekend - they kept falling over.

Tomatoes in the Earth box - they always do great in this.


Bed #1 - mostly root vegetables - radishes, carrots, rutabagas


Bed #2 - mostly greens - lettuce, collards, turnips


Squash rows - they've exploded in growth this last week

Scarecrows

Scarecrows are a symbol of fall. Since this weekend was the first one that felt like fall, we thought we'd build a scarecrow. The kids loved this project, plus it was really easy to do. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any extension documents on how to build a scarecrow, so we got directions from somewhere else.

John's cutting the wood for the frame here. The saw is a little too loud for the kids.

Screwing the frame together. Kaity's helping with her blankie. It goes everywhere with her - even wood working projects.


Finished frame

Dressing the scarecrow - I bought the shirt from Goodwill for $2.50 and used some of John's old jeans.


Stuffing the scarecrow



Almost finished - just headless!


Making the face - we used an old pillowcase and Will drew the face. He did a pretty good job. The first time he did it the smile wasn't big enough. Here he's making it smile bigger.


We love the scarecrow!


Crime Scene!

Made it to the garden. "Uncle" looks great (Will named him). The only problem is I keep thinking someone is standing outside my kitchen window. It's a little freaky to see him there all the time!

Feeding the Butteflies

The kids loved this! They got to feed the butterflies with a q-tip dipped in gatorade. The butterflies were from Greathouse Butterfly Farm in Melrose. I see a field trip for the 4-H club in the near future!

Butterfly Festival - Batman and LadyBug

We went to the Butterfly Festival this weekend. It was beautiful and they had great kids activities. Here are Batman and the Ladybug having a great time in their homemade costumes.

Passion Flower Vine

I got a small free passion flower vine last spring. It's a Florida native and has done great in my yard. It's almost finished blooming for the year, but it still has a few really pretty flowers. I've been told it will freeze back for the year and then come back next year. The flowers come in many varieities and colors, but mine is white with blue center.

First Bloom

When we moved into this house in May, I bought a Japanese Magnolia tree from the student club. I really like Japanese Magnolias and it will provide a smaller tree structure to my yard. Over the summer, I thought I had killed it. I didn't water it enough during the establishment period and it started turning yellow and dropping its leaves. After a little more TLC, it started looking better. Now, it's blooming! I'm really excited since this was the first landscape plant we put in this yard and since I almost killed it. The bloom is very pretty, but kinda low on the tree so it's a little hard to see (it's a small tree).

Snake!

Well, farm living sure can have its adventurous. Yesterday, Chip (my husband's uncle) killed a 4 foot water moccasin in his yard. Normally, snakes aren't messed with on the farm. But, moccasins are just too aggressive - especially when they're around the house. It was a huge snake. I'm only 4 foot 10, so this snake was almost as long as me. That's pretty big for a water moccasin.

John hates snakes. Since he grew up on the farm, I find this very funny. But, he can't stand them. He's actually bought Snake-Away (which I think is just a gimmick) to spread around the house. It's just crushed up moth balls, but it makes him feel better. Whatever works for him.