How do Your Tomatos Grow??

So I've gotten a lot of comments lately about my tomato plants and about how big they are and how fast they are growing. So I thought I would do a post about them:) There are 6 Tomato plants in this picture. 3 to the left are heirloom large cherry tomatoes(I started these from seed), The middle is and early girl from Costco, and the one to the right a beefsteak from Costco.
Here's a short video of me talking about my plants. I recorded another one but it was kinda long so this one is the shorter version:)



So the "Teas" I talk about are really easy and GREAT for your plants! Take rabbit pellets, chicken, cow, or rabbit manure, alfalfa hay, or compost and fill a 5 gallon bucket about 1/5 of the was full and then fill the rest with water. Let it steep for 3 days and then pour at ground level to give your plants a good nutritious drink:) Organic Too!!!!

Here's the longer version of the video if you are interested:)

Calling all Chickens!!

How to call your chickens!

1. Start when they are very little chicks by using a call while you put out their food. (I use 3 high pitched whistles like in the video because that was a sound I heard the chicks make when they would get separated)

2. Make the call every time you come outside with treats! (tomato, strawberry and lettuce ends are some of my girls favorites:)

3. Try to get them to stop following you long enough to get a video of you calling them;)

Alfalfa

Alfalfa is GREAT for the garden! I got this 100 lb. bale at The Stock Shop on 67th Ave. and Thunderbird for about 18 bucks (I also get my chicken and rabbit food there). It is a lot of hay and it's very compressed. I use Alfalfa hay for compost, mulching, chicken bedding and rabbit food. It is full of nitrogen which is great for your soil and gives your compost a kick in the pants;)

Why Mulch? Mulching your soil keeps is cooler. Instead of the sun beating down on your soil and heating up the roots it has a 4 to six inch layer of mulch to get through. It also helps your soil retain water longer. Here's my corn before mulching...

...and after!

Happy Gardening!!

My first Garden! I stared it last October right before...

...the Hail storm!
I had to start all over but still had a great season out of it!

Squash and Zuccini Polinating

I have an Awesome Zucchini plant(front) and a getting there squash plant(back).
I have had to keep the Zucchini trimmed back some to keep it in the 4 by 4 foot space I've given it and the squash got planted later but is also starting to fill it's 4 by 4 space. When I first started seeing flowers I knew that they were either male female but I couldn't tell until which until I finally noticed a female flower. On the inside there are five little fingers like the one below.

The male flower has one single one in the middle, like this.

Here are the 2 side by side. The slender stem is the male and the thick one is the female, and that's the zucchini forming.

This is a picture of the yellow crookneck squash and you can see the little squash at the base of the female flower(up front) and the male flower in the back.

To pollinate your flowers take a small soft paint brush to the center of the male flower and then lightly dust the pollen into the center of the female flower.

So far these plants are doing amazingly well and they are huge and beautiful! Not to mention the Zucchini is delicious;)

My Garden, the Video:)

I decided to show you all my Garden through video because it is so much easier then typing it and trying to describe it:)

Under Construction!

This blog is under Construction right now! Check back for the next few days for lots of gardening tips and great links!