Gardening 101

I had very good intentions of starting out this week with a full-on talk of gardening. I have my gardening source down the drive and whenever I have a question, I give a call or stroll down and ask. She is always generous with her vast knowledge. I am, of course talking of my sister-in-law, Arlene. She has fed her family for years from her garden, as did her Mother before her. I am very thankful she puts up with my endless questions-really. I have learned a lot from her and my Mother-in-law.

This year we have already discussed the starting dates for seeds and her favorite seed companies. Which I will share tomorrow. 

Today would like to share my idea for a gardening binder. I need to keep better track of what I'm planting, when I'm planting it, plotting, methods, harvest, yield, etc...



How to Spiff Up A
Garden Binder

1. binder with cover and spine that allow inserts
2. light posterboard
3. scrapbook paper (you will find I love to use lots of this item!)
4. glue stick (I'm finding this little chap very handy too!)
5. scissors
6. something to label your spine (I used tissue paper)
7. ruler and pencil

First, you need to measure the cover and the spine of your binder.
Trace your measurements onto the posterboard.
Cut out posterboard according to your specs.



Now use the posterboard to trace the spine and cover measurements onto the scrap paper of your choice. Trace on the wrong side so no pencil marks show. Glue the scrap paper to your posterboard using glue stick for fast results!

Now that you have your scrap paper glued, place it in the front cover insert. You may want to decorate yours a lot more than I did. For the sake of time I just left mine plain for now.

Before you add the spine insert, use rubber stamps, magazine letters cut out, or your printer like I did to spell out 'garden'. I used wordpad on my computer in size 48 and printed it downward. I used a glue stick to stick tissue paper to cardstock and put that through the printer. I let it dry for a while. Then I very sparingly used a glue stick to put on binder spine.

VOILA!!!
Easily identifiable Garden Binder! YAY!!!



I also intend to enlarge my already large garden this year. We plant out a huge section of butternut squash each year, and now many rows of parsnips, turnips, beets and rutabegas. They take up quite a large section-my soup pot section. Whenever we make soup or stew throughout the winter, we trudge out to the garden and use a garden fork to dig them out of the ground. Parsnips get better with cold.

parsnip plant in my garden
still green in january!

Then the tomatoes take up their own bit of room with all their varieties. Not to mention peas, green beans, lettuces, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, etc...I'd just like a little more room to move around.

flock of tomato cages
awaiting summertime jobs

this is the garden facing east
i must have gone in when it
got cold and haven't been out since.
it's a mess out here!

garden view facing north
what a mess! next nice day
i'm outside moving buckets

Tomorrow we can discuss seed companies, ordering seeds, starting seeds, how to figure when to start...etc...

Today it was so spiffaliciously nice out! I got tons done. Tomorrow Lydia and I are going outside to put lights on the duck fence so when we put them in at night we can see what we're doing! We really do not like going outside in the woods in the dark. We always remind each other to keep our imaginations in check!

So that's it here on the Home-Sweet! Praise the Lord for a very fruitful day and for the warmth of the sun which He reminds us in His Word that shines on the just and the unjust-the Lord is good to all! Praise His Name!

Do you have a garden on your Home-Sweet? Leave a comment and tell about your gardening ventures! I'd love to hear them!So, I have some ideas, but I'm not sure I will get to them all this year. I'd like to section off the garden inside the electric fence as the fence does not bother the chickens who insist on going inside, which is fine, but I do NOT want my rows scratched to bits! They also will eat the leaves of some plants-rendering them weak and pitiful looking!