Garden Parade

Strawberry Lariat Necklace

2009-02-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

In addition to gardening, I also make jewelry and other fun things. Here is the strawberry lariat necklace I recently finished!

I have more jewelry in my store, Light the Darkness. Cheers!

Spring is here again

2009-02-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

Well it appears I have been doing this Garden Parade blog for two years now, wow! The time sure does fly. I have learned so much about gardening in the past two years though, and this year finally (I think) have a good hold on the pre-season gardening prep. We bought this house in 2006 and the yard was crazy overgrown and it was post Katrina and the shrubberies still had fungus, and all sorts of crazy problems. So we tried to fix and save what we could, yet here we are three years into it all and we have gotten rid of tons of growing things. And lots more need to be removed. Nevertheless, I do have my garden plot smack in the middle of the backyard and that is all I need. :)

Therefore I present to you, Sprouts '09:

We have three types of basil, roma tomatoes, health kick tomatoes, jalapenos, cayenne peppers, and cucumbers. This year I took it easy on the sprouts, they get bigger!

Morning Glory Flowers

2008-10-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

I went outside today just before it started to rain a little and snapped this picture of my morning glory flowers. The weather is starting to cool off as October continues and it looks like they will be around only for a short time... so I wanted to share a picture of some of my favorite flowers.

I don't know why, but some of my most favorite flowers are actually wild growing ones that I have not planted in my yard or garden. These purple morning glory flowers are a perfect example, these things have been growing wild in this area for a long time and I have not planted them, but I love seeing the hummingbirds and bumblebees fly swiftly from flower to flower in the morning.

The Salmonella FDA Tomato Recall List

2008-06-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, the FDA has recalled some types of tomatoes due to salmonella contamination. Hundreds of people across the nation have gotten ill from these tainted tomatoes. Good thing we are growing our own tomatoes this year!

Are you looking for the list of tomatoes recalled? I found the FDA page with all of the information about the tomato outbreak.

Tomato Salmonella Outbreak Recall List

2008 Gardening

2008-06-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

So this is our official first year gardening, because last year we started in the summertime and although we learned a lot, it was a disaster! Never try to grow delicate, heirloom tomatoes in the deep south during the peak of summer. The poor things just would not fruit, it was blossom rot city. This year we were so busy coming out of the gate in January, that it was not until about mid April that we started to first clean up last year's mess and save what we could, and then start the real gardening that we missed last year. Moving from Southern California to the deep South Louisiana, I am learning how to garden on the edge of the swamps.

I decided to garden smart and go with native plants (duh), and heat resistant varieties. We are growing about a dozen creole tomato plants. I am so excited about the tomatoes, expecially in light of the tomato salmonella outbreak recall! We have a lovely tomato garden. We are also growing green beans, cucumbers, corn, jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers, habanero peppers, tons of herbs, and lots more. I will be creating pages for these plants so I can document as much as possible, and learn in the process. If there is one thing I am realizing so far, its that this is all a lot of work! I am outside everyday; mulching, weeding, feeding, fertilizing, repotting, watering, picking off hungry insects, and non stop cleaning up. I am having a great time reusing household things, and feel good recycling containers. Gardening is definitely something I plan on doing for the rest of my life, regularly.

And I have yet to get to my growing collection of house plants. From coleus to fittomias, I have a few lovely indoor plants as well. I have tons of pictures! Lots of content on the way. :)

Better Boy Tomato

2008-06-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

When I posted the picture of my Green Tomato, I did not state what type of tomato it was. Well, it is turning red as I type this blog entry, and I can't wait to eat it!

You can see in the latest photo - the Better Boy Tomato is coming along well and so far is the only tomato on the plant...

I have other types of tomatoes growing and will post more images soon as I get them going. Various hybrids such as Cherry Tomatoes, some Creoles and more. At this time this tomato is the only "full-size" tomato that I will have harvested and grown myself, so I am excited and anxious to pick it and eat it!

Green Tomato

2008-05-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

When I got up this morning, I grabbed the camera and went outside and grabbed a couple of pictures of my cute little green tomatoes!

I only have a few right now and they are small, but I am excited and can't wait to have grown my own tomatoes!

Here is a picture of the biggest one I have in the garden right now...

I eat lots of salads and love tomatoes, so I hope these little guys grow up to be big healthy juicy and red! I will post more pics of them as they grow here in the Garden Parade Blog.

Keep checking back for more images from my personal garden.

Spring Bed Expansion & Dollarweed

2008-04-09T20:16:00.001-07:00

So I am finally getting back to my garden! Its been a long beginning of the year, with family members getting ill and teeth literally pulled out. I am starting my series of small mini gardening site, the first one being dollarweed.

So much for the Pumpkins

2007-10-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it through a brutally hot summer, and the tomatoes didn't completely shrivel up an die. I have no idea if they will make any tomatoes still, although they are finally growing and blossoming without the 100 degree weather. We shall see. However, the pumpkins didn't fare too well. I planted three pumpkin sprouts, organic jackolanterns, and had no idea what I was in for.

The little pumpkin sprouts turned into three gigantic vines and at first I was excited we would have some jackolanterns. Then when two of the biggest ones were about to turn orange, the pumpkin disaster occured. I have no clue what did it, we do have garden moles, but something ate and completely devoured my two jackolanterns. Oh well, guess I'll have to pick one up at walmart. I was planning on growing some pumpkins for the porch for Halloween.

I do have hopes that the cool season will give me time to recuperate with the gardening, start some indoor sprouts, and give me another chance come spring. We had great success with the cucumbers, the jalapeno plants are still stumped and not growing, some peppers are on a potted plant on the porch, pumpkins didn't happen, and don't even ask about the radish disaster. But we had a good time, and we learned. My coleus plants are growing though, from seed they sprouted!

By the way, check out my first Gardening Picture Gallery. These are just some random shots, but more to come soon. Make sure to look at all the pics of the tomato hormworm!

My Mosaic Plant

2007-08-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite houseplants, is this nerve plant, or mosaic plant. Its bright green with hot pink veined leaves are so interesting to look at. The plant needs little sunlight so it does great indoors, and loves damp soil. I have three of these adorable things.

Southern Heat Wave

2007-08-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well, moving to South Louisiana from Southern California and trying to garden in the summer has been an experience. We tried so hard, all the way through July, hoping to finally get a garden going in the backyard of our new home. And not all hope is lost, I just hope the tomatoes hold up through the heat, and maybe produce come September. My poor tomato garden, hang in there!

Today's weather, and its only noon: 93°F - Feels Like 104°F

...and that's nothing! Yesterday it hit "Feels Like" 118. And yeah, that's fahrenheit. Its so hot, even our prickly pear cactus started to produce a flower, and it was killed by mildew. Mildew and mold on so many plants. Lots of the tomato blossoms succumbed to this as well, the pollen clumps and molds and the blossoms rot right off. And let's not forget it is hurricane season.

So I have given up on anything in the yard for now. Our spacemaster cucumber vines did rather well, we got roughly a dozen cucumbers, some really large for a half size compact vine. And I did sprout three pumpkin seeds and put them in the back of the yard and holy bejeezus. These vines are almost the thickness of a quarter in some parts, and they have grown oh a good 10-15 feet out of the little fenced in corner of the yard I put them in. It was a mole ridden little garden area that I figured why not, hoping the vines would even survive. And we already have some little tiny pumpkins on them. Just amazing.

This is our first year learning, officially, so I haven't documented everything just yet to spare myself some embarrassment in the garden blog realm. But hey, up against 110 degree weather we're not doing too bad. Unfortunately, we were not able to start anything in terms of gardening until mid June because we were too busy with house upgrades having just got here at the end of 2006. So I can't wait til the weather cools off!

I have also recently planted more seeds, indoors, in the back of our nice sunny breezeway which gets sunlight nearly all day. Not quite enough to make the basil go crazy, but enough to sprout some baby plants. I did some health kick tomatoes, and some creole tomatoes yesterday. Outside we have several heirloom tomato plants, even about 10 in the ground, and the poor guys are just dying in the heat. It seems like only the vines enjoy the insane heat, and they go crazy.

I hope it rains today!

Honey Bee in Cucumber Blossom

2007-08-02T09:51:00.001-07:00

It is literally a race to keep the greenery tame during the summertime here in the deep, tropical south. The Saint Augustine lawn grows like mad, and if you don't mow the beast every week it gets crazy. The wasps are out in full force and the cicadas are screaming, having a good time.

Our two cucumber hills have turned into massive vine mounds! This is our first year growing, first year in our new home with lots of yard space. Next year I know how to design the bed for the cucumbers, that is for sure. It seems like the vines just go nuts down here. Our cucumbers are out of control, and I planted three little pumpkin sprouts and put them in the corner in the back of the yard and they are going insane too. The vines love the acidy clay soil here it seems. I hope the tomatoes do as well, they are going in the ground soon.

Here is a lovely shot of a honey bee pollinating our giant cucumbers.

Our Best Cucumbers Collection

Plant Stands

2007-07-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here's some really cool plant stands. I myself am ALWAYS looking for plant stands. You can shove them anywhere you have empty space and showcase your lovely plants. I find them onsale at different stores all over the internet. You just have to shop a little and they are out there. Here ar esome intersting three level embellished steel plant stands. I like how they have the curved corner stands and you can buy multiple parts and create your own special plant stand area. Great idea!

Federal Court Orders a Halt to Genetically Engineered Crops

2007-07-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

Just amazing. So Monsanto (who brought us Agent Orange back in 'Nam) is developing grass that is resistant to Roundup, their vegetation killing chemical. This is a corporation only interested in profit, no love for the environment. They also invented polyester.

The article from the Center for Food Safety:

Federal Court Orders a Halt to New Field Trials of Genetically Engineered Crops

Washington, DC - In a decision broadly affecting field trials of genetically engineered crops a federal district judge ruled Feb. 6, 2007 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must halt approval of all new field trials until more rigorous environmental reviews are conducted. Citing potential threats to the environment, Judge Harold Kennedy found in favor of the Center for Food Safety that USDA's past approvals of field trials of herbicide tolerant, genetically engineered bentgrass were illegal.

This is a significant victory. The decision requires far more thorough oversight of the environmental impact of these crops, " stated Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety.

"The Court was clearly concerned that the agency has put our nation's environment at risk by exempting many of these field trials from environmental review. That's why the judge made the decision broadly apply to all future field trials of genetically engineered crops." Mendelson continued.

The federal lawsuit was filed by the Center for Food Safety, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and other individuals and organizations in 2003. At issue in the lawsuit are novel varieties of creeping bentgrass and Kentucky bluegrass manufactured by Scotts and Monsanto that have been genetically engineered to resist Roundup, Monsanto's popular herbicide.

Currently, use of the Roundup weedkiller is limited to spot spraying of weeds in that the herbicide kills any grass with which it comes in contact. The new engineered grass has been altered to be resistant to the weedkiller so that users will be able to spray entire lawns, fields and golf courses with large amounts of the chemical without fear of hurting the grass. Large scale planting of the biotech grass would therefore significantly increase the amounts of herbicide used in home lawns, sports fields, schools and golf courses around the country.

In seminal studies concerning environmental contamination from genetically engineered creeping bentgrass, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found multiple instances of the pollen from engineered bentgrass traveling several miles and transferring its traits to native grasses. Last year, EPA researchers found that the engineered grasses had escaped from field trials to contaminate a national grassland.

"These field trials threaten our public land, our communities and our health," said Lesley Adams, Outreach Coordinator for plaintiff Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.

"We will monitor the USDA very closely to make sure they don't allow any more of these tests until they've rigorously assessed their environmental impact," Adams concluded.

To view the original release and the court's decision, click here.

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Monstanto.... anyone read up about them and their genetically modified corn? They are responsible for the loss of tons of old types of corn from Mexico having infected it with their bio-corns. And the whole patenting of seeds by the US government is a real shame. Watch the documentary: The Future of Food and you will be left as sad and amazed as I was. Shame on them for their bad corporate ways.

This REALLY makes me want to use Roundup some more. Down here in Louisiana you almost have to use the stuff to battle the weeds in the cracks and stuff. We tried all sorts of things too, vinegar, salt, non chemicals. But the weeds come right back. Maybe need to landscape better to give them their own space. Weeds are plants too, after all.

Walmart Flower Seeds & Mail Order Cactus Seeds

2007-07-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a lovely Monday and I picked up some cheap flower seeds at Walmart. It looked like the seed display was rained on, so lots of the packs of seeds were sort of dried and stuck together. And of course, the cheap seeds being the American Seed brand were the ones mostly stuck together. However I managed to find some packs that were not ruined and will be starting some seeds indoors soon to plant outdoors and in pots later this year. This being our first year gardening in our new home in South Louisiana, I figure I will be testing the waters with what flowers will make it through the cold season and the wet mud as well. Being from Southern California, I am realizing the plants here have to be way more hardy to get through the storms if they are going to survive outdoors on their own.

Here is a webcam shot of the flower seeds:

In total I bought: Zinnia Thumbelina, Zinnia Lilliput, Zinnia Candy Cane Mix, Marigold Petite Orange, Marigold Lemon Drop, Marigold French Double Dwarf Mixed Colors, Cosmos Bright Lights Mix, Lobelia Crystal Palace, Bachelor Buttons Cyanus Double Mixed Colors, Snapdragon Dwarf Magic Carpet, Hummingbord Wildflower Mix, and Cinnamon Basil.

And after we got back from grocery and seed shopping, the mail arrived and the cactus seeds we ordered finally got here! That's right, growing cactus in the swamp. Just keep them out of the rain and they do alright. So far, so good. I'll post some pics of our cactus soon too. Here are the exciting cactus seeds:

Cactus seed packets from top left clockwise: Saguaro Cactus, Barrel Cactus, Golden Barrel Cactus, Dish Garden Mixed Cactus Seeds, and Organ Pipe Cactus Seeds.

More about these interesting plants when they sprout and I get them growing!

Better hurry and get the saguaros in the ground! I wonder how long it takes til you get a bloom?

Cute Houseplant Forgot the Name

2007-07-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

I bought a bunch of these at Home Depot I believe, they were so cute and unique with a deep texture in the leaves. I repotted them and misplaced the name tag for the moment, so I'll have to update when I find it. This one has been near a window getting sunlight and he is happy. I had to bring them all indoors because somehow the leaves of this plant are especially tasty to the worms outside and they got massacred. This one I potted by itself because if was one that didn't get too much damage. It has little flower bud things on it now and is very happy.

Garden Parade

2007-07-21T13:41:00.001-07:00

Here is the official first post and launch of Garden Parade.

I have been itching for a garden blog for a while now, and my sprouts have finally taken off so the time is now. I'll be posting lots of pics from my home garden in south Louisiana, somewhere in either zone 8 or 9a. Lots of rain, lots of mud, lots of bugs! I am originally from southern California so all of this is new to me also. My first year in my new home with lots and lots of yard space and places to grow things.

I have already planted tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, radish, peppers, and pumpkins. I also adopted lots of various house plants, and rooting some random vines from the yard. We have lived here only a few months and its been a constant battle with things such as Saint Augustine grass and Wisteria vines. Not to mention the insects. Wasps, dragon flies, damsel flies, worms galore, and tons of lizards that dine on them. I regularly see hawks and buzzards here too. South Louisiana has some wildlife compared to the dry yet hydrated desert I grew up in. Its a gardener's paradise here, if you can get a hold in pest control. :)