Well, like I stated last post, I’m bitin at the bit to get this “garden thing” kicked off.

My tomato seeds I planted last week just jumped up last night! The day before, not a sign of a dern tomato, walked in the greenhouse bout noon, looked down and said, “YES!”

The little mutha’s were everywhere!

Just as my luck would have it, the weather’s gonna change…tomorrow?? Around 40 in Tampa through Sunday, with high around 60. This means probably some 30’s here at our place.

Deb, I’m sure, is goin… “You’ll NEVER learn, will ya? Always jumpin the gun!”

My answer now is just the same as it always was back to her…when her back was turned, AND she was out of earshot!

Nope!

And…

YEP!

What can I say??

We started a compost pile a few days back. Actually, not really a compost pile, but literally just some home-made planting soil.

Not only do I “not learn from past mistakes,” and always, “jump the gun,” as my better half used to exclaim, but…I’m a cheapskate, too!

I mean, why buy the dern stuff? We’ll just make our own!

I gotta admit…it’s lookin good already, if I do say so myself. You guys who don’t know me all that well will soon see that I’ll do that pretty often too, which is…DO say so myself! LOL!

I talked about it a little already, but we’re takin cow manure from the pasture and layin it out in a row about 10-12 feet wide, and maybe 40-50 long.

We started off choppin it up with shovels to break it down some. Well…I had Dale doin that originally.

Once I finished up what I’d been doin, I went around there to give Dale a hand in the choppin “goins on.” Bout 10 minutes later, and bout all the choppin I saw I’d wanted to do, a light bulb came on.

I got to thinkin on that 9 wheel traffic roller in the barn. We’re in the pavin business, and Red’s been sealcoating, so, I thought I’d just grab that roller, and bust me up some cow manure!

Worked like a charm, I’m here to tell ya!

Dale was like… “You Da Man!”

I was quick to point out though, that flattery would get him nowhere…at least in regard to Friday’s paycheck!

I believe I’d stated earlier that…I’m a cheapskate, and as soon as I’d explained to Dale that this bright idea of mine had made HIS job SO much easier, I felt it only right…that HE buy the diesel, FOR the roller!

Jus kiddin guys. Honestly, I’m not that bad, but him buyin bout HALF the diesel oughta be bout right, wouldn’t ya say?? LOL!

Just gotta figure out what to tell Red when he sees cow manure ALL over his roller tires???

Not sure just yet what I’ll say, but you CAN bet…Dale will have a BIG part to play in it! LOL!

After we roll the manure, we the take hay and scatter it all over the top of the row, then come behind this with oak leaves. I then take the tiller and stir this all up, and honestly, after 3-4 passes, this stuff IS…

Lookin good! REAL good actually!

Tomorrow we’ll repeat the process once more, to double our quantity. This should insure our having enough to set all our seeds out and plants as well, with this as their starter.

Once I get ready to set out seeds and plants, we’ll then add some regular soil, then some good topsoil, and then, turn this in good to stir everything up together.

I WAS going to use some slow release fertilizer as an additive too, BUT now, I’ll be using something else instead.

Reading through “The Old Farmer’s 2013 Almanac,” I came across something pretty interestin… it states that instead of adding slow release fertilizer, as an example, instead, you can use… “RABBIT FEED!”

YEP, I’ll say it again…RABBIT FEED!

Here’s why…

First off let me say this…

Couple years back, I had some corn on the west end of our garden, out front. This corn was about 1 foot shorter than the rest of the corn, and the discrepancy was increasing. It was obvious the soil this corn was in wasn’t quite as good as what the other was in.

A good friend from Canada (Kunoichi?? Hope I spelled it right!), commented, “Hey Dub, put some grass clippings in,” and I did. The nitrogen from the grass clippings caused this corn to catch the other…I was amazed.

Well, once I got over the initial shock of using rabbit feed as a fertilizer substitute, and I read a little further…it clicked.

Rabbit feed is compressed alfalfa meal pellets, which are nitrogen and phosphorus rich.

I thought, you know, this might work, so, I’m gonna try it and see. I’ll keep you guys informed, unless some of you have already tried this, and if so, let us in on what you’ve found, please?

Alfalfa it seems, also contains large quantities of a hormone called triacontanol, which stimulates cell division and growth in ALL plants.

It also has high quantities of arsenic, which if ya didn’t already know……

NOT REALLY, I’m jerkin your chain about the arsenic! LOL!

They recommend 1 to 2 cups of rabbit feed to cover 16 square feet of garden bed.

So, I’m in, and gonna give it a shot!

That’s what we’re up to so far, so let’s try out a little humor for a change.

Man, I love to laugh, and just here recently, this is coming back into my life once more. Good night…I’ve sure missed it! It feels GOOD to laugh again!

This comes from my Aunt Ann…and is in prayer form.

In church, while reverently preparing for the service, I heard a sweet
little old lady, sitting next to me in the pew, quietly whispering a
prayer. It was so sweet and sincere that I just had to share it with
you.

Amen.

Well…

I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY!

A closing thought to ponder…

“Are you disappointed with society today? If you are, I challenge you to take the first step. I challenge you…to look at yourself.” Rev. Billy Graham

I have to admit that after reading this, I found it actually right on the money in my regard. The first place I needed to start “doing something about the world we live in today,” WAS…right inside my own home!

You guys have a great day, and God Bless you and yours!

Be sure to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub AND Deb

You know we’d pretty much finished the beds in our greenhouse and after doin so we left plenty of space to build a few tables to work our seedbeds on. Boy, this greenhouse thing is new to us, but man…it’s gonna be “right up our alley!”

There’s SO much to learn, and the ways of goin out and doin things are endless, or at least that’s how it seems to be?? Good night, I’m confused already and ain’t even got started yet! LOL!

An example…you guys know that our good friend Billy found and helped us set up the greenhouse, at least in the construction of. That guy knows a lot about just about any possible subject you can throw at him, at least in regards to workin with your hands.

Gardening, building, furniture, welding, designing and laying out things to make life easier, and on top of all this…what a GREAT guy! The guy tells you something…he always makes sure it happens. HIS word…IS his bond!

Well, I was just talkin about all the different ways of goin about things, and yesterday was a good example of this statement.

Billy had picked us up a BUNCH of seed starter trays from his “buddies” in the nursery business…FREE. I’m like, “Man, that sounds great, and ya cain’t beat the price for sure, BUT, who’s gonna buy my gas to come pick the dern things up??” LOL!

Well, Deb and I went to Billy and Janie’s. Billy and I went to check out something down the road. What was it?? Two more greenhouses he’d run across…NICE mutha’s!!

These things were 30×100 each, and really good material all around. 12 foot working height, and boy was that impressive too. Very, very well constructed, and again, very impressive building all around. Dad-bern his time!! We were just lookin, but not buyin…

Anyway, I was checkin out their setup, and how they set up their benches for their seed trays. Here again I was seeing different things, and the how and why’s of doing things in certain ways. It was great. Now, I know for sure that Deb and I will take this whole basket of all these different ideas that we see and read on, and then tweak them to what best suits us. An ongoing, learnin experience.

Well, ole Dub in his mindset of “just wadin out there amongst something,” learnin as I go, then if that way don’t work out, shoot, I’ll just revamp it! As I’m getting a little older, I’ll be 27 my next birthday (Ha-ha-ha), I’m FINALLY beginning to figure out that slowin down some, lookin things over prior to deciding on my course of action, and thinkin a little more while jumpin a little less…shoot, it ain’t half bad!

To this last statement Deb’s goin, “See…I TOLD you so!”

But I was goin to build our seed benches out of wood…not no more! LOL! I got to checkin out their way of doing this, the WHOLE dern greenhouse was set up this way, and it was just too simple…AND so appropriate in regards to their use!

They used concrete blocks for their stands, then they’d ran pipe the length of their bench size, attachin this to the top of the blocks, and then cut and laid fiberglass across the piping as the seed tray supports. Now, how simple is that. No wood to rot out and replace. Once you set this system up…it’s there for the duration! I likes it!

So, once seein this, we’ll build ours this way. First off, when we built our house 4 years ago, there were two or more pallets of concrete blocks left over. The block mason came by one day and said he was going to pick up the extra blocks and take them to another site.

Well, with me bein my usual “shy-self,” I meekly said, “I don’t think so!” He told me that this was standard operating procedure, and to this I mentioned that, “Not here it ain’t!” I asked him if I in fact had bought these blocks, and he agreed that I had. That pretty much ended the conversation right there.

Adam is a great guy, and also one of our neighbors, so it really wasn’t an issue, but I still haven’t figured out if you had “footed the bill” for something, why it WASN’T yours?? That’s just my way of thinkin. I don’t want ONE thing that’s not mine, but if IT IS mine, then dern if I don’t want it!

The point I’m making is that we have the blocks already here at the house. We have the piping and the fiberglass here at the house. The last two bein left over from the greenhouse construction, so from an economical standpoint…our seed bed tables are free of charge. Plus, they’ll last and last from simply the materials used.

We’ll make the tables to a comfortable workin height, plus put a little pitch on the tables so this will allow water to drain away from the plants after waterin. Works for me! Deb’s like, “Can I take the savings from the benches and go to Wal-Mart?” I’m like, “Sure you can honey…when pigs fly!!” LOL!

As you are obviously aware from my last statement…Deb’s not close by while I’m penning this!! LOL!!

But, we now are goin to start putting seeds into the grow trays, and leave them under the porch until Friday. Then Mark and the crew will be here to finish out their week, get paid (I think I’m gonna cry), and we’ll build our benches. This weekend Deb and I’ll move them to the greenhouse.

Next week we’ll finally button up the exterior of the greenhouse. Hang the last curtain, and the two doors. We’ll run water and electric just a little further down the road, but it’s so close to the house, neither of these are an issue it all. We can get by if need be, with just a couple water hoses and electric cord.

Before we close out today, I’d like to share with you guys a video that one of our “YouTube buddies” sent to us. After seein our greenhouse construction takin place, he knew we’d need to start some seed beds.

With this bein the case in point, the video he sent was done by a couple who had been gardenin for, well, let’s just say a LONG time! They had made a seed jig for startin their seeds out in trays. It’s so simple, but for their application it works like a champ!

It’s just an example of how the human mind works, and by so doin improves your ways of doing things. I thought this was just…too neat! We also loved their story…check em out!

Wasn’t that great?? We loved the video! We also loved his sayin… “happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road.” Listen to what he has to say about it, then give it a little thought…

Well, we hope you guys 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