[ gardening ] :: carrot buckets + new pictures

Whew! What a busy week in the garden. I have to say, my carrot bucket experiment is going quite well. The seeds are germinating well, so in a few months we will have a bunch of carrots.

I planted orange carrots, first, then a type of red carrot (yes, red), and then Purple Dragon Carrots. They are going to look so cool!

The bush beans will be ready to be picked in about a week. I was so worried that they wouldn't  produce until it got too cold. I think that this September weather in GA, 90 degrees and no rain, is doing them some good. My okra and pepper plants are loving it, too. They'll probably be happily producing until it dips below 70 degrees...in October.

In other news, I started to set some seedlings out into the garden bed. The Demon Dogs were very disappointed. They thought that since it was a garden bed they could sleep in it. *sigh* Norman was moping around yesterday when I filed the space with cauliflower and broccoli plants and took away his lounging area. So sad for him...not.

Emma is guilty by association.

It serves him right! I thought I had a big problem with slugs last week. I would come outside in the morning and my seedlings would be eaten down to a stub. I sprayed, I pelleted, but no luck. It was odd to me too, that this was all happening on the deck - why would slugs be climbing up onto the deck just for my seedlings?

Because it wasn't slugs. It was Norman. My fruit-and-veggie-loving dog. I caved and bought some mature seedlings from Pike Nursery and Lowes to replace what he had nibbled on. All in all, I spent about $25 on Brussels sprouts, 'Georgia' collards, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard,

Should I mention that I can grow collards easily, but my dogs ate the seed packet while I was outside planting one day? Seeds are delicious, apparently. My surviving seedlings (basil, a few cabbage, a few kale) were placed out in the garden to fend for themselves.

Luckily, the herbs that I have planted  around the veggie garden is doing well. I cut back my mine last month and it has come back "fluffier" than ever!

 And finally, I found this guy (girl? they're hermaphrodites) in my garden. A 12 inch long Planarian. I guess they're commonly called flatworms? Anyway, it freaked me out enough that I tossed it over the fence into the driveway. They're virtually indestructible so I didn't feel too bad.

Planarians: the stuff of nightmares!

- Maggie White