My last post was about how God works in our lives, and the day I had Sunday in regards to feelin kinda down and out was so inspiring in that sense. Honestly, everywhere I turned I was getting the very same message.

It truly was amazing to me how the frustration I had been feeling was literally crushed out by the messages I was getting from different people. Again, all were basically telling me the very same thing.

It was uncanny how all this came together and I felt I really needed to share that with you. I’ve never experienced anything like that before in my entire life, and I’ve been around a few years.

I have to emphasize once again that I’ve never been what you’d call a devout Christian. I’ve always believed in God, and through the experience I shared with Deb during her ordeal, it became very evident to me he was a very loving and caring God.

Once more, on more than one occasion while talking to Deb she’d make a statement to me and I’d ask, “Where did you hear that,” or “Who told you that?”

Her answer would be simply, “God told me,” or, “God showed me.”

Deb was rock solid in her commitment to God, and from her talks with me, there was absolutely no doubt that his commitment to her was rock solid as well. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it to the day I die, “God walked with Debbie, and I saw with my own eyes he smiled on her daily!”

I believe that with all my heart.

I had seen all this joy in Deb, yet I could never put my finger on it. Sunday, I lived a little of this…the power of God. I tell you guys, it was amazing.

Now…let’s talk about the garden some.

First off…MAN, I’m getting a late start! LOL! Slow but sure…that’s me. I believe most everything will come off if we have pretty much a typical fall and winter. But again, you factor in my luck and this could get interesting! LOL!

What’s in the greenhouse I’m sure will be fine throughout the entire winter so we’re lookin good in that sense. This is also the reason I need to somehow find the time and the moola to get those other two set up as well.

I set out some eggplants today, and like our tomatoes we’ll put the overflow from the greenhouse grow area into the garden out front. That poor ole thing hasn’t been a producing garden in a while. It won’t know how to act!

I’ll take in our radishes tomorrow, and set out some more seeds. I juice these daily as well, so between that and a dern salad or two, they don’t stand much of a chance round here!

The beets are doin pretty good too, and looking through them today the beets are forming up well. You all know I’m a firm believer in the nutritional values of those guys. Still surprised though of how hard to find they are down here??

I set out about 30 or so He Shi Ko onions we’d grew off from seeds, and they’re doin well. I have about 60 more of them in seed trays getting close to bein set out as well. They’re a bunching onion if you guys haven’t tried them before, and I love em.

But, once again that’s not really a good recommendation comin from me…I LOVE everything when it comes to groceries! They are good though.

I also have set out about 20 of the Crimson Red bunching onions as well. They too are good, but I prefer the other. With these we also have maybe 30 more that are pretty close to being ready to set out. Won’t be long.

Let’s talk just a little, actually very little, about the okra I set out next to the greenhouse. Why do I want to just brush on this subject? Simple…thinkin I was bein very smart, and getting out of some work, I decided I’d herbicide around those little fellers.

Well, evidently while I was herbiciding “around them,” after about a week it became quite clear that not only had I herbicided “around them,” BUT also I’d herbicided between them, over them and ON them! Tore there rear-ends up!

Most of my okra will now come from the garden out front, and NO, I won’t be herbicided near them anytime soon, thank you! LOL!

The “maters” better look out though…I’m thinkin bout givin them a good fertilizin tomorrow or the next day! LOL! I figure if a little goes a long way, shoot, a handful or two around each plant outta make those suckers jump! What cha think??

In the next week or two I’ll set out some different lettuces, and that’ll pretty much finish me up. I MIGHT set a few greens out front too, but we’ll see.

All in all though, everything is doin pretty good, cept that dern okra, cause it for some reason just kept jumpin out in front of that dern spray nozzle. Craziest thing I ever seen!

I THOUGHT I kept hearin faint cries of “Banzai,” while I was sprayin it??

I hope the dern turkeys don’t get in there and eat some of those things. The herbicide do them like it did that okra, I’d be in BIG trouble they started havin thoughts on the art of…Kamikazee attacks!

Phew!
Anyway, here’s a video of how things are comin on.

Well, as “ole Bugs” used to say, “That’s all folks!”

You guys take care, God Bless, and keep a smile on your face and one in your heart!

Dub

Finally, we have gotten the garden out front cleaned up. Talkin bout a jungle, this thing had become exactly that. Weeds were almost head high in spots, but yesterday we finished pullin those mutha’s up.

They had gotten so bad in spots that we’d have to take the grubbing hoe and bust the roots up some. But, besides possibly an hour or so this morning, we’re be ready to till the soil, and start planting it back the first of the week.

We’ll have a couple of spots in our irrigation lines to splice back, “that dern grubbing hoe,” but it won’t take 20 minutes to do that. We’ll run it some to make sure all our heads or jets are working properly and we’re back in business.

I’ll probably go with a couple rows of okra, and finish most of it out with 2-3 types of peas. Probably black-eyes, cream 40’s and zippers or purple hulls.

I wasn’t going to plant peas this fall but after thinking on it some, as we’ve got a BUNCH canned and put up, but so many of our family and friends like them, I thought, you know, they can come and pick em a dern mess or two then I don’t have to give them my peas already shelled and canned!

It’ll be interesting to me this go round cause I’ve never set out things like peas, okra, squash and such this late in the year before. I’m curious to see how everything does. I do normally plant my peas in August, but this is usually around the first week. We’ll see??

With this storm that’s brewing, and the course they think it may follow, at this point I’ve had a few reservations in regards to, hopefully for sure there’ll be no “big winds,” but simply the amount of rain that could be generated from it.

We’ve be getting rain steadily the past week or so, and we’re not inundated by any means, but with these types of storms capable of dropping bucketfuls on ya in their passing, I do have a little reservation in regards to going ahead and settin out my garden. BUT, no guts, no glory, huh?

Plus, I try and use the moon favorable times to set out the garden, and if I wait for the storm to pass then I’ll probably miss the good plantin dates this go round.

I’d like to hear from some of you guys in your own experiences about moon favorable dates. I know my Granddaddy Troy used to tell me all the time, “Use the moon, son. If you don’t, using peas as an example, you’ll have the prettiest big bushes, but they’ll produce few peas.”

I always liked to listen to these “old timers,” in regards to gardening, but honestly, I haven’t tried it on dates the moon wasn’t favorable before. You know, above ground producing crops go in on a growing moon, while underground crops go in on a declining moon. Again, I’m just kinda curious in your own experience on this.

After we finish the de-grassin in the garden, we’ll turn into planting the grow areas around the greenhouse. This we should have completed by tomorrow.

Oh, before I forget…I bought me some new britches! Yep, ole Dub in new britches! I gotta say it was out of necessity…ALL my old ones were fallin off me, literally. I swear, this juicing daily, getting some good exercise each morning, doin the gardenin, and watchin what I eat more closely is really paying off!

I’ve gone from a 44 waist, sounds crazy to me now that I’d let myself get into that kinda shape, to a 38. Look out 34, I’m headin your way. I weigh 255 now, down from 317. If I hit a 34 waist, this’ll be the first time I’ve worn that size britches, I believe, since pre-school. LOL!

Anyway, I feel great! One thing that helped to get me on this “health kick” is one of my trips to KFC…ya know, the chicken place. The FRIED chicken place.

I’m standin in line waitin to order, and once I get to the register I ordered a bucket. Now ya got to realize that I’m standin there by myself, just me, and the young lady takin my order asks, “Is this for HERE or to go, sir?” LOL!

Again though, what a difference in the way I feel now, versus then. It’s incredible!

Back to the grow areas. We’ll be settin some tomatoes, though I haven’t hardened them up yet, but I’ll be settin them out today to start letting them become accustomed to the full sun.

I will be planting some okra, squash, and cucumbers, and I have some eggplants and peppers that I’ll be hardening as well. These, like the tomatoes I’ll be planting in earnest next week sometime.

Well, that bout brings ya up to date on what’s goin on here at our place so, let’s end up with something to ponder on a minute or two…this from our ole buddy, Gary.

The Coyote Story

California :

The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A
coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor’s dog.

The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie “Bambi” and
then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is
natural. In the process the Governor is bitten by the coyote.

He calls Animal Control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the
State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State
$200 testing it for diseases.

The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases
from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a
$100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.

The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a “coyote awareness
program” for residents of the area.

The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies
and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.

The Governor’s security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The
State spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special
training regarding the nature of coyotes.

PETA protests the coyote’s relocation and files a $5 million suit against
the State.

TEXAS :

The Governor of Texas is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote
jumps out and attacks his dog.

The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued pistol and keeps
jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge and about $500 of his personal money on his gun.

The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS WHY CALIFORNIA IS BROKE AND TEXAS IS NOT.

Then, last but not least we have a tongue in cheek from our ole buddy Bill, who LEFT California, and resettled in…ole Kaintuck…

A mother and her very young son were flying West-jet Airlines from Ottawa to Calgary. The little boy

who had been quietly looking out the window, turned to his mother and said, ‘If big dogs have baby

dogs, and big cats have baby cats, why don’t big airplanes have baby airplanes?’ The mother who

couldn’t think of an answer, told her son to go ask the flight attendant. So the boy walked down the aisle

and asked the flight attendant who was busy serving drinks.

She smiled and asked, ‘Did your Mom tell you to ask me?’ The boy ‘Yes, she did.’ ‘Well, then, you go and

tell your Mom that there are no baby airplanes because West-jet always pulls out on time. Have your

mom explain THAT to you.’

You guys all have a great day and God bless! Please remember to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub

We’ve had an occasion or two where we’ve caught 2 inches or better but we’d been so dry prior to our rains startin back up that in 30 minutes there’d be nary a puddle anywhere. Like I’d told ya’ll before, it had been so dry the dern trees were bribing the dogs!

Well, ole Devin our grandson is still hangin in here with me and that guy has sure been a help. Today Red and Corey came as well and we finally got everything pulled up in the greenhouse and fed to the cows. We then tilled the beds up good, and put down new soil to fill them back up like they should be.

I just came in from the greenhouse to throw up a post and dang if I’m not sittin here sweatin like an ole boar hog. I’d get my shower but Red and the guys went to pick up another pallet of Jungle Growth so I figured I’d do this while they were gone.

You know though, I was gonna wait to shower until I helped them unload and stack it, but if I’d go on and get my shower, shoot, I wouldn’t have to unload period.

Supervision…pretty good soundin word, huh? Especially if you’re the one supervision-in!

Let’s go back to Jungle Growth for a minute or two. I have to say that hands down, I prefer it to Miracle-Gro. In the video I’m putting up with this post I talk about it a little bit, but what happened was when we first built the greenhouse I was going to use Miracle-Gro garden soil all the way in our beds.

Anyway, we bought Lowes out of the Miracle-Gro they had on hand and the garden center manager suggested we try the Jungle Growth. So we bought some to finish up.

Our first two beds were Miracle-Gro, and our last bed was Jungle Growth exclusively. The difference in a week or so was literally phenomenal. The beds with Miracle-Gro were infested with weeds, yet the beds with Jungle Growth had none…zip narin! That’d be zero in “Yankee talk.”

I could not believe the infestation of weeds with the Miracle-Gro. I took pictures, did a video, and sent them to Miracle-Gro. They did reimburse my money, AFTER a couple of ANGRY episodes, so from that standpoint they did the right thing…in my opinion.

Here’s the first video. The weeds at this point were nothing to what they became as time went on.

Anyway, to this day I honestly believe I had gotten a run of soil from them that something must have happened to the soil. Now, whether it was someone not paying attention to what they were doing at the plant, a machine or quality control malfunction, I don’t know.

But being honest with you guys one more time, if they put the product out that we bought on a daily basis, they wouldn’t be in business long, I promise you. The beds that product is in is a continually ongoing weed problem. Not some, but a lot, a whole lot. I don’t know??

But, with the Jungle Growth, I’ll bet you we haven’t pulled over a dozen weeds…period. The difference is that great, plus, the vegetable plants did AT LEAST as good as the ones in Miracle-Gro. It’s night and day between the two products…at least from my experience.

Now, we found out this morning that Lowes will not be carrying Jungle Growth in the Orlando area. I have only one remark in that regard…WHY?? LOL!

For what it’s worth, I’m gonna call Lowes and try to get ahold of Jungle Growth as well. If their product comes off the shelf, man, I’ll be one disappointed sucker to say the least. We’ll see, but I bought an extra pallet of it just in case.

So, I’m hoping by next week sometime I’m settin some tomatoes, radishes, beets, squash, cucumbers and eggplants in the greenhouse. Before long it’ll be some lettuce varieties.

I’ll continue setting seeds and I hope we can get to the garden area out front before long. It’s one big dern mess too! Okra and peas out there to start, then I’ll kinda play it by ear.

Here’s our video we did earlier today. We just got the last of the Jungle Growth put up and I gotta say…the greenhouse is lookin good again. I’ll do another video fore long.

It’d be nice if Deb were here to share this with me, she absolutely loved piddlin in our gardens, but, if nothing else, I know she’s watchin down over me…my own very special angel.

I couldn’t close today without a little e-mail I got from ole Bill and Sandy, up Mobile way.

Senior Moment…

A Preacher was explaining that he must move on to a larger congregation that will pay him more.

Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth…

Well, that’ll bout do it from “our place,” so take care, and God Bless every one of you guys. Be sure to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart! Deb would be proud of us!

Dub and Deb

Anyway…

Our garden or what’s left from our garden… ain’t much! It was thrown away as you all know, but that’s fixing to change. I shot a video of it this morning and once I took a look at it I was like, “MAN, it’s going to be awhile before you can relax again!” LOL!

I bet ole Deb’s crackin up…dern her time!

I tell you though, our friends have been eatin pretty good, but now even they have evidently had their fill. Honestly though, you’re scrapping for what you’re getting. But thankfully, very little has gone to waste, and then the cows got that. Things find a way of working themselves out.

We’ve got some peppers we’re drying on the bush. Our grandson Devin is coming back this coming weekend and he wants to take the seeds and replant them. I’m just happy to know that he’s taken an interest in gardening and will help him all I can.

I figure 10-15 minutes with me, he’ll bout know everything I can offer him. I never did say I was very bright, huh?

I’ve got a meeting to attend tomorrow, then will be going to pick out a headstone for Debbie Wed. or Thurs. I wanted to make sure I got it right. I think I have.

After that, we’ll be planting seeds once more to get started again. They’ll be tomatoes, beets, radishes, peppers, and probably some more cucumbers.

We’ll be starting okra for sure and some onion sets. Then prior to the full moon in August, we’ll plant our peas. Deb and I came to the conclusion that our peas always did better in the fall. We found there to be less bugs, and our pea crop ALWAYS just seemed to make more peas than they did in the spring.

Another project I’d like to do is plant about a quarter to half an acre of some different varieties of blueberries. We’ve always wanted to do this, but just never seemed to get around to it.

One other thing I’d like to plant, is again, about a quarter to a half acre of peaches. There’s a couple new varieties that are supposed to do very well here in Florida now, and I’d love to try some. The Florida peach was always SO small that people seldom tried growing them. That is supposed to have changed. I’ll look into that a little more.

Most of you guys know that Deb and I had purchased two more greenhouses and had put them under our equipment shed. I’d like to get those up and running as well, but in time. Both these houses are 30 feet wide by 72 feet long, so they’re considerably larger than the one we’ve been using. It is 18 feet wide by 60 feet long.

I’d like to get these set up as you come through our gate, but back against the wood line. This way you’ll be able to see them from the road, but they’ll be back about 300 feet off the road.

I’d really like to retail sell our vegetables and fruit right here on the place. That would work out great for me. It’d give me a ton of things to do, plus generate income for me right here. Deb and I had talked about keeping our paving business for about 3 more years, then letting our son Mark buy it out.

That’s still in my plan…we’ll see.

I do believe though, that our land here will sustain myself easily once I can get this all off the ground. All it takes is time…and money. Time’s not a problem, the flipside to time…IS! LOL!!

This will work though. The few times that Deb and I opened the gate to sell a few plants, the produce wasn’t coming in yet, was actually a surprise to us. People responded. Then, we just couldn’t keep things going with Deb’s ordeal, but the people were calling, “We’re coming by, plus, we’ve told all our friends, BUT, the gate’s never open.”

I had to tell them that Deb was having a few problems, but eventually we’d be open again. They all were very understanding, and promised to keep checking back with us, and some still are.
So, I know this will work for me, but just take a little time. I love doing it, and Deb did too. It was going to be our little niche together.

We had been raised around farming, and agriculture in general, as children growing up, and as we’d grown older, we realized that we’d like to be doing some of the very same things when we… “check-out” from this world! Deb did…I’d like to do the same thing when it’s my time!

You guys take care, and God Bless! Please…keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

As you see by today’s title, Deb’s Garden, then it has to be obvious to you all just exactly who wears the britches in this household…and it ain’t me! Basically I’m just “the hired help,” and also she claims on her tax return that I’m…sub-contract labor.

By this she has no tax liability on my account, but this in itself, ALMOST throws me in another tax bracket in regards to my taxes. But by her only paying me $3.50 a day, no not per hour, but a day, I just barely stay under going into another tax bracket.

Her philosophy to me is simply, “Look Dub, I’m really doin you a favor here. If I paid you more, you’d end up paying more taxes, right? On top of this, I keep a roof over your head, let you borrow my vehicle IF, you need to go to town, and I cook your meals and wash your dern clothes. Ya got a pretty good thing going on here, so my advice to you is very simple…DON”T MESS UP A GOOD THING! Comprende?? I thought you might…cause I KNOW the judge would!”

Hence…IT IS, Deb’s garden, on top of everything else around here too! Marriage…isn’t it grand?? LOL!

The garden is doing very well, and my only complaint so far is…where’s the dern rain? Good night it’s been dry. Our pond is about 8 feet below where it should be, and may possibly be 10 feet. I believe it’s the lowest I’ve seen it before.

You know, I just got to thinkin, everything else around here is Deb’s to hear her tell it, so I wonder if she’s gone and took the water outta the pond too? I sure wouldn’t put it past her!

No, the greenhouse is doing great, the grow areas around the greenhouse are doing fine, and in our garden out in front of the house, what we’ve got in there so far, is doing good too! We’re blessed in all sorts of ways. The Good Lord does provide!

Well, here’s a few pictures for you guys to let you in on what’s going on…

Okay, this first picture is of, left to right, sweet peppers, squash (lemon and straight-neck), onions, and cucumbers. We’re getting squash pretty much daily now, and I’ll probably put up some squash pickles this weekend, or the first of the week. We’ve also been eatin some onions out of…Deb’s garden! LOL!

The next picture is of our tomatoes. If you notice, we cut the suckers and lower limbs off. Thanks for the tip Miz Sandy and Mr. Bill, from Mobile!

Inside the greenhouse now, check out our beets comin up between our okra sets. Beets are really, really good for you! Ours aren’t quite ready, but, they’re getting there! We planted Bulls Blood, Detroit Dark Red, Lutz Salad, and Golden.

Check out the height of those volunteer tomatoes. A couple are now bumpin the top of the greenhouse at the low end.

There’s the cucumbers. They’re the Japanese cucumbers. They get 22-26 inches long, but thin. We love the taste, and they’re supposed to be excellent pickling cucumbers…we’ll soon see! If you look closely, you can see some hanging off the vines. We’re fixing to have to tie more string across the rafters and let them run towards the center of the greenhouse.

There’s a close-up showing the cucumbers.

From left to right, watermelons, squash (crook and straight-neck) eggplants, and far left is hot peppers.

Another view of our tomatoes, again Sandy, we removed the suckers. And lower limbs. The cows ate good! I believe they’d of enjoyed us just pullin the whole dern plants up and chunkin em over the fence to them!

The missing spaces, a row and a half, will have black tomatoes planted in them by next week.

Here’s the garden out front, we’re planting a little as we go out there. Got irrigation to it too, now! YES!! The pictures out here were a little fuzzy, but you can see what we’ve done. Check out that water runnin!

This is a partial row of tomatoes, with eggplants finishing the row on the left, then squash and peppers in the right-hand row.

This is two full rows of tomatoes.

Last is a picture of the greenhouse from the other garden…

We hope you guys enjoyed the photos!

Please take care, and God Bless. I’m relaying a message from Deb for you to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

This is Dub…from Deb’s garden, out!

Dub and Deb

The wind though blew the squash around pretty good. We lost two, just broke em off at the ground, but surprisingly we have maybe 3-4 more that need a couple broken stems cut out, and I believe the rest weathered pretty well.

Watching those things blow around brought back memories of my killing those 50 + plants to get our growin season off to a great start! LOL!

I was talking to our good friends, Bill and Sandy, from Mobile Alabama, who by the way are… “Auburn Tiger” fans (hee-hee-hee Sandy), and she’d sent us some pictures of what’s goin on gardenin wise up in their “neck of the woods.”

Their garden was looking great, and I believe Sandy said they’d just brought in 50# of potatoes! They, like us, love piddlin around in a garden.

Both these guys have green thumbs. The proof in the pudding of their having green thumbs was evidenced to me last year. I called them in January, it was about 15 degrees out up there and I ask, “Sandy, where’s Bill?” Her answer, “Oh…he’s out in the garden pickin some tomatoes.”

“???? 15 degrees and Bill’s in the garden picking fresh tomatoes???”

Sandy’s like, “Yeah, he’s been a little disappointed with em though…he don’t think they’ve done quite right.”

“Okay…”

I have to tell you guys, although I hate to, they’re actually Alabama Crimson Tide fans. Gotcha Sandy! Roll Tide!

Anyway, I’ve got about three videos for you guys to look at if you’d like. One is our other garden we’d just prepped for planting, and one is of the greenhouse and grow area. Honestly, all these plants are doing well. We’re pleased.

The last video, which in reality will be the first was sent to us by a friend, this being Wayne, from Alma, Georgia.

Wayne’s a sport-model in his own right, and that scoundrel grows some great blueberries, but he’s pretty stingy with the dern things.

L:ast year as an example he told Debbie and I he’d send us down some blueberries by my brother, and he did. TWO! When I called he told me, “Shoot, that’s one apiece!” LOL!

Here Wayne’s video…

Not a bad idea actually, huh? If I still drank, I’d be takin a ride up to Ace Hardware!

The next is of our garden are we just prepped, followed by the grow area. Hope you enjoy them!

You guys all have a great day, and God Bless! Deb’s hollerin for ya’ll to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

So far, so good with the garden. After getting off to a flying start this year by immediately killing about 50 +plants, we’re going along pretty good now.

If you didn’t know, well, we’d put up a greenhouse, and started most of our plants from seed. We wanted to use all heirloom varieties mainly on account of Deb’s juicing, or, our juicing. By doing so we’d have no genetically altered seeds, but in essence, basically the food God provided for us, and in Deb’s regard we felt this vital.

Quickly, while going through a Sports Illustrated” the other day, I read something that floored me, really. There was a little write up on cancer, and it claimed that in the US, 1 out of every 2 men would contract cancer in their lifetime. ONE out of every TWO! Half!

I found that just incredible?? What’s up with that?

In women’s regard…1 out of every 3. Still, 33% of women in the US today will contract cancer. Why is becoming so rampant? Is this our diets? Is it from most produce today being genetically altered? Is it what is being applied to the crops for insect control?

How about our poultry? You guys taken a look at the size of chickens lately? Hard to find a small fryer these days, or have you noticed? Is this from growth hormones? I don’t know, but I am asking…help me out somebody.

Anyway, as a whole, we’re just trying to eat a little healthier, but I did find those numbers literally staggering!

Back to my killing our first plants…we didn’t have any idea that if you’d started them from seed in a greenhouse, you had to harden them up prior to setting them in the garden in full sun. This is just setting them out in the sun for a few hours a day until they harden, or toughen up to the elements, for about a week. Once that’s done, everything works out great!

By my not knowing this, I set that first bunch straight out of the greenhouse into the garden, and killed the dern things…graveyard dead!

We have been prepping our garden out front the last couple days, and we’re pretty much ready to get started setting out some plants there now as well.

I tilled it in yesterday, both directions, and man, the soil is really looking pretty good. We’re anxious to see how it grows things off this year. We’d added cow manure and leaves over the entire garden area a couple, three months back. We let it set for about 3 weeks then tilled it in.

We then put out more oak leaves over the entire area again, and after building our grow areas around the greenhouse we put about ¾ of a semi load of compost we had leftover in it as well. This and the leaves are what I tilled in yesterday. Honestly, it’s starting to look pretty rich now.

We’ll be planting tomatoes, peppers, and okra for sure, but probably a couple other things too. We almost decided on peas too, but backed off that. We do so well with planting our peas in August, we’ll just keep planting them then!

We’ll also run irrigation to it after planting. The irrigation around the grow areas beside, and in the greenhouse, has just absolutely RUINED me. No more hose draggin if I can help it! LOL!

I’ll share some pictures of how the greenhouse is coming along, and the grow areas too. The vegetables in both are now really taking off! Everything outside when we set the plants in their hole, we added ½ teaspoon bone meal, and then filled the hole up with Jungle Growth garden soil.

Evidently it was just what the doctor ordered getting the plants started off, as again, everything looks good!

I went out earlier to check things out, plus we’d had a pretty good couple of showers, and good night, it doesn’t matter how much water you put to your plants…NOTHING works as well as rainwater! It all just looked…so alive, after the showers!

Anyway, how bout a laugh before we take a look at the garden? This comes from my sister-in-law Patricia, but just plain ole Patty to us!

God Loves Drunks Too

A man and his wife were awakened at 3:00 am by a loud pounding on the door.

“Over here on the swing,” replied the drunk.

Here’s our watermelons on the right, our squash in the center, and eggplants on the left.

Cucumbers on the right, onions to the left, squash further left, and sweet peppers on the far left. Many of the onions we grew from seed.

Our tomatoes. Some are now on their third tie.

Red-seeded Simpson on the bottom left, iceberg in the center, and Romaine up top. Okra top right, beets scattered through it, and sweet peppers.

Japanese cucumbers…headed into the rafters.

The volunteer tomatoes headed into the rafters as well.

Another view of the tomatoes in the grow area.

Melons, squash, and eggplants again.

Melons, squash and eggplants taken from upstairs porch.

We hope you guys enjoyed the pictures! Take care and God Bless! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Well, the greenhouse and grow area are really beginning to take shape. I got everything hoed, fertilized, and really, it’s startin to look pretty good. I guess it does anyway. Deb hasn’t complained about anything yet, so that’s always a good thing, and a pretty good gauge that you’re sittin alright in her book.

Poor ole thing. She doesn’t like to offend anyone, her bein so shy and all! LOL! That woman ain’t much bigger than a full grown skeeter, but she’ll get on me like white on rice! Whoever said that dynamite comes in small packages nailed it when it comes to her!

She reminds me of a dern ant. You guys ever watched one? Those little things CAN WORK! Then to sit back and see what they can tote, is amazing! She’s the very same. If that woman weighed 150 pounds, I swear she could take over the world if she set her mind to it. I thank the Good Lord fairly often that he made her no bigger than he did.

Anyway, you guys don’t want to hear about my troubles, do you? LOL!

We staked a few tomato plants in the greenhouse today. This was a couple rows in the middle bed. We’d already staked the ones in the beds with the volunteer tomatoes 2-3 days ago. Next week, we’ll be staking a couple three rows in the grow area.

I believe I’ve bout got that “hardening thing” down pat. The bench we made to get them out in the sun is working great, and we ran micro-jet to it as well. Man…this micro-jet has really made watering a breeze!

We’ve got over a couple hundred plants hardened off, put into 6” pots and ready to sell. Most are different varieties of tomatoes, but there are some eggplants, squash, and peppers as well. Matter of fact, this afternoon I made Deb a sign…vegetable plants for sale.

We’ll set it out by the road tomorrow and let em come in and get a few. I caught the cows in the back pasture, so I shot down there and shut the gate. This allows us to leave the main gate open for traffic to get to the house and they don’t have to jack with opening or closing a dern gate.

Once I put the cows in the back pasture, I took the sign and set it out by the road just for the heck of it. Didn’t say anything to Deb. This was about 5 in the afternoon. It wasn’t 15 minutes I’d sold 20 bucks worth of plants.

About 6:30 I went and took the sign down, turned the cows back out and locked the gate for the night. I’ll move them back in the morning, then reset the sign, and we’re open for business once again. We’re havin a ball! Deb is anyway!

An example…Deb was in the house when I’d sold that lady the plants. By the way, this lady, Fran, was really an interesting lady to speak with. She was a nurse too, so we did have a few things to talk about. The juicing, and some of Deb’s alternatives she does (no Sandy and Mississippi, NOT that one, LOL!).

Anyway, after I’d made the sale, I went inside. Deb goes, “Dub honey, everything alright?” I’m like, “Yeah, why?” She goes, “Are you sure ya don’t have anything to tell me?” I’m like, “NO, why?”

She then says, “Well, I could be mistaken, but I really don’t think I am, BUT…didn’t I hear a distinct, Cha-Ching out there in the greenhouse?” So, I coughed up the 20 bucks! I swear, women can SMELL money, can’t they? LOL!

Maybe tomorrow I can send her up town and POSSIBLY pocket me a dollar or two, huh? I doubt it though!

Well guys, I’m tired, dirty, hungry, fixin to get a shower, eat some supper…AND BROKE! So I’ll close out for now!

If you’d like to watch it, here’s a video of the greenhouse and grow area. Check it out, things are indeed movin right along!

Also, you were goin to send me some pictures last week of your garden Sandy…what’s up with that? LOL! We would love to see how its comin along though for sure!

Plus before I forget…Hey Mississippi, how’s Tennessee? We hope you, D-Lo, and all the rest of the gang are havin a great time! Enjoy yourself Sandra, you deserve it!

Here’s wishing you all the very best, and God Bless you and yours! “Ole Tightwad” says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Ole Deb and I are planning to go to sunrise service, swing back by the house to change clothes, then headin up to my Mom and Dad’s for dinner, no not supper dinner, lunch dinner! My Mama loves to cook, and dern if her first born son…don’t love to eat!

Anway, we spend most Easter’s up there with them, and most all the family attends. You know Mama’s, if they have their kids around, especially when they’re getting to cook for them too, then they’re right in the middle of their environment! Ya gotta love them Mama’s! I know I love mine!

Well, we’ve bout finished up in the greenhouse. We have a little room left, but that will soon be taken by three more rows of tomatoes, some celery, and a few bell pepper plants. After that, it’s waitin on it to come in.

The grow area is complete, all but the row and a half we’re savin for the black tomatoes. All our squash, peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, watermelons and cantaloupes are in the ground.

Good night a livin though, that dern topsoil we brought in is sproutin weeds, ALMOST as fast as Deb can talk. For those who don’t know Deb, she can bump them gums well. Actually, very, very well! LOL! So that ought to give ya a good idea as to how fast those little weeds are growin off.

That’s okay though…I got something for em! My hands, and my “hula hoe!” That’s a dirt bustin, aeratin, weed gettin, sucker. I’ll ATTEMPT to get Deb back behind that scoundrel again, but that hasn’t been workin out real well.

I take the derrn thing outta the shed, try and put it in her hands, and she takes a 9 mm. out of her back pocket…everytime! I ask her if she’d REALLY shoot me over the hula hoe, and she just grins and says, “Yeah, I’d shoot you, but not over the hula hoe.” Wonder what that means??

After that, let’s take a joke break…this from our buddy Wayne, in Alma, Georgia.

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one Day.

As they walk, they come across a sign:

“Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“I am entering” said Snow White.

After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, “Well, how’d ya do?

“First Place,” said Snow White.

They continue walking and they see a sign:

“Contest for the strongest man in the world.”

“I’m entering,” says Superman.

After half an hour he returns and they ask him, “How did you make out?”

“First Place,” answers Superman. “Did you ever doubt?”

They continue walking when they see a sign:

“Contest! Who is the greatest liar in the world?”

Pinocchio enters.

After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes.

“What happened?” they asked.

“Who the he.. is Barack Obama?” asked Pinocchio.

Okay, let’s share a few greenhouse pictures of how things are doin.

This, from left to right, are eggplants, crookneck squash, and watermelons. Look at the weeds coming up, but again, this Monday those will be…history. The new dirt must have been full of them, but, we’ll work through this and have em under control. We’d been so busy getting everything set out, these had to wait.

From left to right, sweet peppers, lemon and straight-neck squash, onions, and cucumbers…and weeds!

Our tomatoes. The left will be our black tomatoes when they’re ready to set out. In the pic, there’s 121 already out.

These are some tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Japanese cucumbers in the stands, with peas for our juice behind them, then some lettuces on the far end.

There’s our volunteer tomatoes on the left. In the middle bed are some vegetables Deb has put into 6” pots to sell. We first have to set them outside on the benches you see in the 3rd. picture from the top. This is to harden them, or get them used to the sun after being raised in the greenhouse. It takes about a week.
If you remember, I killed about 50 plants by not doing this.

Well, we once more would like to wish you all a Happy Easter. Take care, and God Bless! Deb’s hollerin for me to tell ya’ll to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

We’ve gotten about three quarters of the grow area planted. Well, two thirds anyway. I believe I counted 101 tomato plants today, in the ground. There are seven different varieties in the ground, and two more hardening off to be planted.

We then have three different black tomatoes up, that are still in seed trays. Those are the Southern Nights, the Carbons, and the Sarah Black. Deb and I have never eaten a black tomato before, so we’re really looking forward to tryin those babies out!

By the time with finish settin out tomato plants, we’ll have in the neighborhood of around 170 in the grow area. Plus probably 35-40 will be in the greenhouse.

Deb’s convinced she’ll be able to sell the heck out of em, so…we’ll see, huh? I do know she’s having a good time with this so far, AND I haven’t killed anymore plants! There is something to that hardening your plants off after all!

We planted bout a half a row of onions, just yellow and Texas Red I believe, that we brought in from our other garden. We planted 14 lemon squash, 14 straight neck, and 17 crook necks. These are all in the grow areas beside the greenhouse.

We’ll be planting 4 types of sweet peppers, and two types of hot. We have some bell peppers in a seed tray. Watermelons and cantaloupes are in the ground, and just beginning to run a little.

Inside the greenhouse…good night a livin! It’s now about 2/3 full as well. Still some little plants yet, and we just planted 4 more types of lettuce to go along with our Romaine, Iceberg, and Black-Seeded Simpson. Honestly, even as hot as it is, they’re doing pretty dern good. These fresh salads are niceeee!

We just set out our second batch of radishes, and have 3 more beet types, and 3 types of carrots that are ready to go in the ground in the greenhouse too.

The end result will be lettuces, beets, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, onions, beans, peas, eggplants, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, mustard, collards, and arugula greens. All inside.

There’s not a lot of room for some of these things, but, it’ll supply us with juice supplies daily. Some of this, some of that, toss this in, and don’t forget that. It works for us.

Combine this with the cost savings, the freshness factor, the taste factor, the nutritional factor, AND the Deb’ll be doin most of the work factor, and shoot, I’m in hog heaven! LOL!

Thios is beginning to work out very well, and we’re trying to learn or pick up on something every day. We aren’t even scratching the surface good of just knowing a little about this type of gardening, but, it looks as if it can be very productive. We’ll keep you up to date.

You guys wanna see a few pictures? You don’t?? Well, ya are anyway! LOL!

This is the tomatoes we have planted so far. From right to left…a row of Beefsteak, a row of Green Pineapple, a half a row of Homestead, with a half of Rutgers. Then a half a row of Mini-Orange, with a half of Fox Cherry. Then a half a row of Isis Candy.

You see our hardening bench on the right? It’s obvious, YOU CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Tomatoes on the inside.

A few more.

Some of our lettuces. Onions behind them against the wall.

Our “volunteer tomatoes” that came up in our compost pile from our juicing remnants of each day. The first stake on the left is 6’. That’s radishes ready on the right front, and new radishes to the left that we just planted.

Our watermelons, and crook neck squash on the left. We planted it today.

Well guys, that’s about all that’s goin on, besides finishing up the micro-jet irrigation. That is REALLY working out too!

Let’s start headin out today with a little food for thought.

Diane sent this to us, and I thought it very well said. We better wake up my friends…evil people are taking away our freedoms and liberties. We have to start standing up for what’s right, instead of sitting on the sidelines.

“Fathom the hypocrisy of a government

must prove they are a citizen.”

Ben Stein

Thank you all for stopping back by to visit with us today. God Bless each and every one of you. God Bless America, Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, and…In God We Trust!

Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb