Adam Rodgers Photography

Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

We decided to go to my parents house last week to go swimming. It wasn’t that hot by the time we got there, but it was still refreshing to get in the pool.

My mom has spent countless amounts of time on her flower gardens. I took some shots a couple months ago (spring). I haven’t posted any of them yet. While we were there she had many that were in bloom and simply beautiful.

This is just one of many flower pictures I took last week. Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

Well, this past week we trans-planted our melons (watermelon and cantelope), pumpkins, and some corn. These were all started from seeds, inside. Based on the melon section in the Stoney basic skills It stated that melons do well on a trellis. Now this is something new to me. I have always seen melons grown on the ground. Now the key to melons on a trellis is to tie a nylon stocking under the fruit once it starts to develop, to provide support. So I decided to once again use PVC.

I made the trellis, by making 2 rail type sections and then adding some uprights to help support the rails. I simply tied, lashed the rails and uprights together.

OK, so this week, we transplanted the pole beans to the garden. We started then from seed inside several weeks ago. I am hoping they make it. The reason I say this is, they grew like crazy and I didn’t give them poles to climb before I moved them outside and the wind did a number on them. If has been a few days since I transplanted them to the garden, so look like they are going to be fine, and some of the others aren’t looking that good.

Now if you are wondering what the beans are using to support them, it’s PVC pipe. This is the first year we have grown beans of any kind. It just happened by chance that my wife picked up a book a few weeks ago Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance. The information in this book is great. I have learned a lot just flipping through it. In the garden section there is an entry about pole beans. It recommends using a tee pee or A-frame to support the bean plants. So that is what I did. I made mine using schedule 40 PVC.

Well, we started planing our garden a couple weekends ago. I have decided to keep a running log of our garden’s progress here on my blog. I am planning on posting at least once a week (about the garden), with pictures.

So far we have onions (red and yellow), bell peppers, Roma tomatoes and a couple beefsteak. We have some plants that we started from seed inside that I need to harden and then transplant them to the garden.

This a picture of my pride and joy, Alexsia. She loves to help in the garden. Every time I go out to work in the garden she is there to help. She even helped plant the beefsteak tomatoes.

Adam