Garden pics!

[dreamflower]

Last week I posted about my garden and my tomatoes, and I promised some pics. Thanks to danachan I am now able to show you!


The first four pics are of my tomatoes, growing upside down, as I told you, and thriving!





Here's a couple of close-ups of my little green tomatoes, which, with all the rain over the last week, are a good deal larger now, though still just as green!





Now, here's my garden. This was once a galvanized metal cattle trough I bought from a Farm-supply store. It fortunately already had a drain hole. I painted it with outdoor acrylics, and filled it with a combination of garden soil and compost. The flamingo is a Katrina survivor; the potted plant next to the garden is rosemary. I have marigolds, basil, chives, oregano, sage, peppers, spaghetti squash and cucumbers planted, but the spaghetti squash has taken over everything, just about! (I'd originally meant to plant it in a separate container, but that didn't happen.)







Here's a picture of the DH's rocks. He set them up as a sort of little seating area near the back of the yard.



And here's a close up of some of my painted rocks. The one in the middle is a hobbit-hole, of course!!



At any rate, that's *some* of what I have going on in my backyard!!

Comments

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Your tomatoes grow out of buckets? I must have missed that. How does that work? I never saw this before :) I love what you did with the containers and those rocks are utterly cute :)

[dreamflower]

Yes; growing them upside down in containers is a kind of new thing. There are info-mercials for expensive kits to do it on TV, but I found these directions on the 'net:
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/tomato2.html

Those are 5 gallon plastic buckets from the feed store; I cut holes in the bottom and planted the plants--the hardest part is getting them through without harming them, but with care and patience it can be done--then they are filled with a good-quality potting soil and topped off with some mulch. I'm growing four varieties: two "cherry" tomato types, Sweet 100, and Sweet Husky, and two regular sized types, Early Girl and a new one called Healthy Kick, which is supposed to have extra lycopene in them.

I had great fun with the containers--lots of fun to paint them the way I wanted. And the DH's rocks were expensive, but he loves them, and so do the birds!!

[aspenjules.livejournal.com]

Your garden is lovely! *is jealous of all the green*

And what a good idea to plant your garden in a cattle trough! You are such the clever lady, and creative too with the wonderful painting on the trough as well as the adorable rocks. Love the hobbit hole, LOL!

You're going to be eating well this summer, though perhaps you need to do something about the conquering squash... LOL.

[dreamflower]

It's very green, isn't it?

Well, I'm getting too old to be crawling around on the ground a lot! And raised beds are ideal, but have to be built. When we moved up here, I noticed a variety of different sizes and shapes of cattle troughs in front of some of the Farm-store, and thought what perfect planters they'd make!

I've been painting rocks for a while. I left most of them in MS, as they are rather heavy to transport, so I had to paint some new ones for up here.

That squash! LOL! It was meant to be planted in another, smaller container I've painted, but that one needs holes, and the DH's drill would not drill through the metal! (He got a new bit, and keeps promising to do it for me now) And I had to plant the plant or it would die on me. I have a feeling I will be giving away a *lot* of squash!!

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

eeee! Pink flamingos! Feels like home! :D

[dreamflower]

*grin* There's a story behind the flamingo. The SCA household I belong to has two "joke mascots", pink flamingoes named Artsy and Fartsy (long story) so those of us in House AF all kind of like flamingoes. I had two of them, and they were put away during the storm, but one of them had something fall on it and got squished. I brought the other one up here with me. He seems rather happy to guard my herbs and veggies!

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Okay...I'm lost. What is SCA and AF? :D

Poor squished flamingo!! *pets it* :-)

[dreamflower]

SCA--Society for Creative Anachronism; it's a medieval re-enactment group--"harmless historical nuts, who wear boiler plate on their butts, and dress up in clothes from the 12th century and beat on each other with sticks and debris" (that's from a filk by Lesley Fish). "House AF" is my household in the SCA. It stands for "Artsy-Fartsy" because most of our members are more interested in the Arts than in fighting...

[lily-the-hobbit.livejournal.com]

Wow... just wow!

[dreamflower]

Thanks!!

[fafojoy.livejournal.com]

Beautiful pics! I love the marigolds in that container especially. Those tomatoes are going to be good too.

[dreamflower]

I'm reallllly looking forward to those tomatoes! *grin* "Only two things money can't buy, and that's true love and home-grown tomatoes!"

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

It's lovely. I wanna come by and sit on the rocks and eat tomatoes when they're ready to eat.

[dreamflower]

Well, come on over, then. It's only what? an eight or ten hour drive? Love to have you!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I would love to. If I weren't trying to save for Scotland this year then I might actually try driving to OK. But then hopefully I will get to see you in Scotland. : )

[dreamflower]

I hope so too! (To see *you* there, I mean!)

[melilot-hill.livejournal.com]

Your garden is so well ordered. The complete opposite of mine with all the plants and flowers growing over, under and through each other LOL

You tomato plants are looking really good!

[dreamflower]

Well, that's because so far it's so tiny! I'm hoping to add one or two more containers each year!

So far, so good, on growing the tomatoes this way! I can say that it's looking like a successful experiment. Of course, the proof will be in the eating!

[gamgeefest.livejournal.com]

So love the hobbit hole rock! *squees over rock*

What a lovely garden you have going there. Except my mom wouldn't allow those rocks in her yard! She gets squiky about rocks w/ holes in them.

[dreamflower]

I've painted a few more of those hobbit hole rocks! As soon as I can, I'll get some more pics up.

*chuckle* The DH paid a bundle for those rocks; the plan for next year is to clear the grass out, and plant some thing else, like sage or creeping thyme or stonecrop in the holes.

[lilybaggins.livejournal.com]

Your back yard is lovely---so homey and hobbity! Seriously, I'm expecting to see a hobbit or two tending to the tomatoes and digging into the squash ...

A preacher at our former church brought us some home-grown tomatoes the other day and they were so good... store-bought cannot even compare...

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

I followed the link you gave me in Flylady and am impressed, very, by your upside down tomatoes. Which are upside down.

[dreamflower]

*grin* That they are!