2 Redbull = 12 hours of gardening

Time has flown by over the last few months so it's hard for me to remember that when the sky looks like this, it's 8:30 not 6:30. Today was an absolutely perfect weather day so I ended up spending 12 hours in the garden, fueled by my love of sunshine and a cool breeze...and Redbull. I don't drink coffee so when I need to get something done I've been known to toss a few back!

Thanks to Redbull I finally finished planting, weeding and edging my circle creation in the center of the garden.

Four dahlia bushes are sprouting in the middle and the sections around them are different types of carrots, beets and radish. Now that I know the Purslane is an edible friend and not a foe, I'm letting it grow wild. I'll hack off any that encroaches on my vegetable patches and we'll eat it but otherwise it can continue to flourish away! 

Here's a pic of one Purslane patch that's going crazy-

On top of weeding, planting and edging the big circle I also seeded some Okra (I'd run through traffic for fried okra) and a bunch of sunflower rows. I've been reading up on "companion planting" which just means planting things together that help each other grow. I kept reading that Okra is great with tomatoes so I lined the tomato bed with a border of it. 

Here are a few gratuitous tomato pics.

Early Girl

Cherry Tomato

I forget what these are but they were 1/2 price because they weren't doing so well.

None of the tomato plants are looking chipper since I transplanted them...I can't figure it out. They have plenty of water, I tilled the soil with "Bumpercrop" before planting and they're getting a full day of sun. 

Those tomato plants are all adopted by the way - none of my seedlings survived. The wound is still fresh so we'll leave it at that. I had to make a quick trip to the nursery to get a few orphans. On the bright side I'll have 20+ packs of various heirloom seeds for when society collapses and we have to live off the land. I feel better already. 

In my search for beet seeds this week I discovered that Martha Stewart has a line of seeds at HD! Crazy. She can sell anything. I say that because I bought hers, they were organic and had nice packaging- sold. 

Crap, I forgot to get golden beets. Gotta get on that! Also, everyone is getting canned beets for Christmas! YAY! 

Here's a bit more garden action. Everything you're about to see WAS started from seed by me. Not that I love them any more than my tomato plants!

Those elephant ear sized leaves above are my brussel sprouts and they are seriously enormous. Even that gimpy one in the back row is a monster now. Sadly, I have no idea what I did right. 

If the kitchen was done, I'd be cooking stuffed squash blossoms. There are a ton- 

The garden is on a slight hill so in defense of me leaving the grass around I'll say that it's actually very important because the grass roots are keeping my soil from blowing away in the wind or running away in the rain.  

I have a bunch of watermelons and it's crazy how some are shooting out of the gate and others are lagging behind. Here's one that's vining out more and more everyday-

My corn is kicking ass and taking names. I don't want to jinx it but it very well may be "knee high by the 4th of July"! 

I have a lot more to do tomorrow but I'll close by saying that the Purslane is delicious and I'm now eating it straight from the garden like a rabbit. Don't knock it til' you try it!