Rocks In My Garden

More on Monsanto

2011-04-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

Here is another article about the class action lawsuit filed against Monsanto http://rareseeds.com/blog/bakersville/monsanto-facing-gmo-lawsuit/ An interesting read on GMO's. http://rareseeds.com/blog/test/an-interview-with-jeffery-m-smith/ No GMO Shopping Guide http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/ A lot more info on GMO's. http://responsibletechnology.org/ Happy Gardening, Valerie

Big Seed Companies

2011-04-07T12:01:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to repeat my 2 cents worth on Big Seed Companies (1 really) suing farmers. You want to know how I feel watch King Corn and Food Inc. However, FINALLY someone is stepping up and taking action. http://www.naturalnews.com/031922_Monsanto_lawsuit.html

FDA Recalls

2011-03-08T07:48:00.001-06:00

I added a widget to the bottom right of my page, it just would not fit on the sides, that lists FDA Recalls. Two of interest are a recall on a McCormick Product, and Skippy peanut butter. Want a recipe for making (and growing if you want to) your own peanut butter, try HERE. Happy Gardening, Valerie

KILLING THE SQUASH BUGS

2011-02-20T08:08:00.000-06:00

Okay, last year was a bad year for bugs in my garden, unless you were a bug, then it was a good year. Thanks to a post on the SFG Forum (Square Foot Garden) I found something that gave me hope, maybe because it was a video and not just a post of instructions. The post is HERE. Short on time, here is the video. Oh, and they use dish washing soap. I also found out that squash bugs DO NOT

February 18, 2011

2011-02-18T08:21:00.000-06:00

I just thought I would share a picture of what we did in the garden in February, in between cold snaps and snows.

Goundhog Day 2011

2011-02-02T09:11:00.000-06:00

I LOVE Groundhog Day, it's my favorite Holiday. I'm just funny that way, if I could afford to send gifts, that's the day I would do it, and only to people who truly appreciate spring, not just anyone. As I spend the morning, warm and comfy in my home, sipping coffee still in my robe, checking out the weather forecasts and blizzard conditions in some of the less fortunate states, I'm grateful

2010 Garden

2011-01-27T16:36:00.000-06:00

I injured my back last June, and July through the end of October I was in bed or on the couch, needless to say the squash bugs TOOK OVER!!! Here is what we did get done. This free picture slideshow customized with Smilebox Happy Gardening, Valerie

Getting Kids Involved

2010-08-08T12:05:00.003-05:00

Over at The Inadvertent Farmer are several really neat ideas and a contest for getting your kids invloved in gardening. While for most of us, gardening right now is putting our gardens to bed, some of us can still garden for a few months. We live in zone 8a and can garden without fear until November. My kids are already a part of our garden, they each have their own box or bed of plants.

Garden Giveaway from I Love My Square Foot Garden

2010-04-13T10:30:00.003-05:00

Emily over at I Love My Square Foot Garden is giving away her new Gardening Bundle of 2 e-books. What is the Gardening Bundle? The Gardening Bundle is a set of two e-books to help jump start your garden. The first, Planting By Color, is a week by week guide of what to plant in your garden. It covers 18 weeks, and lets you know when to start seeds, transplant, and plant seeds outside,

Growing Salad Year 'Round

2010-04-13T10:07:00.018-05:00

How To Grow Salad Greens All Yearis a very informative article on extending your growing season. Even a beginner can follow along and understand all the tips and techniques explained in this wonderful how to. For even more information on extending your growing season try these. Using Garden Fabric (Row Covers) Season Extending Techniques All of these, and more, can be found at Gardener's

Rain Barrels

2010-04-13T08:25:00.004-05:00

As I was checking my email this morning I came across some interesting twists on the old rain barrel. ;Some are painted and some are urns. Take a look. If you'd like to see more of Tony's work please see his website here. http://www.anthonyswartwood.com/ or you can call him 813-453-2749 Thank you Gardeners Reach & Gardener's Supply Happy Gardening, Valerie Don't know what to get the

The Vegetable Garden Poem

2010-03-09T14:00:00.045-06:00

This was originally posted over at Gardeners Reach by DragonFly Lady. For the Garden Of Your Living... Plant three rows of Peas: 1. Peace of mind 2. Peace of heart 3. Peace of soul Plant four rows of Squash: 1. Squash gossip 2. Squash indifference 3. Squash grumbling 4. Squash selfishness Plant four rows of Lettuce: 1. Lettuce be faithful 2. Lettuce be kind 3.

Help with Companion Planting

2010-03-09T13:16:00.003-06:00

I read up this past winter (yuk is it still winter????) about Square Foot Gardening and Companion Planting. I took notes but since the books were Library books I don't have the book in front of me at this time. I ran across a WONDERFUL blog about SFG and Companion Gardening, and Emily had put together an AWESOME chart for those of us who get headaches thinking about this type of thing. Emily's

2010-02-02T15:03:00.001-06:00

It's seed starting time here in NE Texas, however I am waiting another week or two, as The Farmer's Almanac is saying RAIN until March. However, if you cannot wait here are a few videos to get you started. * Do you or your Sweetheart want to start a Garden, but don't know where to start? How about here. * Happy Gardening, Valerie Don't know what to

Follow Friday 1/29/2010

2010-01-29T07:24:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our Family Garden, if you are new here thank you for stopping by!! Here are 3 things I wanted to share about our garden. Where NOT to put salt in the Garden. The Lizard Story & What we are doing to ourselves (long post) Happy Gardening, >Valerie Don't know what to get the gardener in your life? Try my suggestions on the left or one of these.

Sharpening Your Garden Tools

2010-01-27T12:59:00.006-06:00

I am starting a series on Garden Tools, how long this takes depends on my allergies. Since turning to things natural, when ever I come across chemicals and perfumes (stinky chemicals) my allergies re-act in an ugly way.br /> Long story short, my daughter gets nosebleeds when the house gets dusty or I use chemicals to clean. I have been using Vinegar as my primary cleaner, and when in the

Gardener's Hands

2010-01-26T13:52:00.001-06:00

The most important tool in your garden is YOU. Just as sharpening your ax is important, so is taking care of yourself. Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln Your hands are one of your most important tools. Taking good care of your hands is just as important as sharpening, oiling, and repairing your garden tools. I

School Gardens

2010-01-20T13:19:00.003-06:00

Oh boy, I tried to be good, I tried to be quiet, but a couple of things are really just upsetting me this week to the point of eating Tums for a snack. One of those things is this article HERE, take the time to read the whole thing, it's worth a read at least. I'm thinking the "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" might be an option. I mean really, blaming school gardens for the lack of academic

Luffa Gourds

2010-01-14T10:33:00.004-06:00

This last year we tried growing a few gourds, some with success and some not so much. I'll try to post some of our adventures with them here soon. NOTE:Another great tip on Loffa Gourds, or Home Grown dish cloths, is HERE.

Hearty Hot or Cold Roasted Tomato Soup

2010-01-09T03:30:00.000-06:00

Not an original, but sounded good. I grabbed this from Spark People. Hearty Hot or Cold Roasted Tomato Soup 2 lbs Roma (plum) tomatoes (quartered) 3 Tbsp olive oil 4 cloves garlic 1 quart chicken stock ¼ cup chopped fresh basil ½ Tbsp balsamic vinegar cloves salt to taste ground black pepper to taste Place the tomato halves 'cut side up' on a baking tray with the garlic. Drizzle with

Plan your Garden Before You Plant Your Garden

2010-01-08T15:44:00.000-06:00

With January being planning time, I thought I would share this great site to help you plan your garden. Plan Garden is an online planner for your garden. You can track your seeds, plantings, harvest, garden chores, the weather and so much more there. There is a 45 day free trial and then a small fee for continued membership. I say small fee because it is worth it to track what I have

Make Your own Easy Garden Lanterns

2010-01-07T15:06:00.000-06:00

This idea comes from Fine Gardening. Click here for the link to the video instructions.

It's January!!!

2010-01-04T12:15:00.000-06:00

Yep, it's January again, and believe it or not it is time to start gardening, or at least preparing to garden. To get you started..... From Patti Moreno of GardenGirlTV and Mel Barthalomew of Square Foot Gardening, here are a few tips to get you started. Happy Gardening, Valerie

This Time I Mean It.

2009-12-28T16:00:00.000-06:00

Hit the button if you wonder what all the hoopla is about. I am not making resolutions, just a few goals..... The high and low of my goals are over at Walkin' In Sunshine but I wanted to add one for my garden. I will work smarter NOT harder this year. I have my planting charts, I have the Farmers Almanac, and the last frost date (average date, I know), and will work according to that and

Wraping Up The Year

2009-12-28T02:00:00.000-06:00

As we wrap up 2009 and look ahead to 2010, what projects do we need to be working on or finishing now to make Spring more enjoyable? It may be cold outside, I know it is here in Texas, but there are things we can do now to ensure we are working smarter not harder. Here are some tips for December Gardening from Mel Barthalomew, of Square Foot Gardening, & Patti Moreno, of Garden Girl TV. Happy

Eggplant with Chilli Prawns Recipe

2009-12-26T02:15:00.000-06:00

In all honesty I have not had the opportunity to try this, YET. I am trying to share a 'garden' recipe on Saturday's here and at my other garden blog Valeriesgardenblog and this one looked more than appropriate for this time of year. ENJOY!!! Eggplant with Chilli Prawns Recipe An easy to

Seeds, Seeds and more Seeds

2009-12-25T02:00:00.000-06:00

It's not only Christmas Time, it's seed shopping time. If you want to get what you want, and you want good quality, heriloom (non-GMO or Genetically Mutilated Modified) seeds NOW is the time to order your catalogs, if they still have them in stock that is. January 1 is the time to order here (I would prefer to do it December 1, but that's not up to me), we start planting indoors January 21 then

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-23T11:22:00.000-06:00

My NEW Seed catalogs came!!!! Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Seeds of Change http://www.wordlesswednesday.com

Savory Stuffed Squash

2009-12-20T15:22:00.000-06:00

In all honesty this is not my recipe, I got it from Vegetable Gardener.com here. I also did not have a huge variety of Winter Squash nor a great turn out due to rain & bugs this year so I have not tried this yet, but if you have extra, I'm willing to take some and try it!!!! Savory Stuffed Squash Ingredients: 1/4 cup pine nuts 3 small acorn or other winter squash 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice 2

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

2009-12-18T18:59:00.001-06:00

A Lizard eating breakfast in my Morning Glories. I know that I shared this last picture on Wordless Wednesday, but I wanted to put the whole series in. I had stopped to look at my Morning Glories about 6 weeks ago (they are DEAD now) and saw a movement. I knew there was a lizard living in them, I had seen him before. My eye caught him just in time to see him swallow a small butterfly,

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-16T13:48:00.000-06:00

Killer At Large & Food Inc.

2009-12-14T09:36:00.000-06:00

If you are looking for that final push to garden and eat healthy here you go. We garden here mainly because it is economical and we like to eat good for you food, no cream filled golden cakes are not good for you food. Even the movie Wall-E noted that those little things will last long after human life has vacated the planted, leaving those golden delights for the cockroaches to feast on. "

Using Time Wisely

2009-12-04T15:36:00.000-06:00

It's late Autumn, and Winter is on it's way. El Paso had snow yesterday, and those south of us got some flurries and ice, we were too far north if you can believe it..... *What are you doing in your garden and for your garden this Fall & Winter? I have been devouring books on working smarter NOT harder. Getting up with the sun and back in the house before 10:00 AM is getting harder and harder

Disclosuer

2009-10-24T11:07:00.001-05:00

This policy is valid from 24 October 2009 This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Valerie (valeriesgaradenblog at yahoo Dot com). This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog.

Harvest 2

2009-10-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

The front and back of resourcefulness, for more more information go to www.valeriesgardenblog.com/resourcefulness Our huge tomato cage. The Tequila Sunrise. They will turn a yellow-orange, but this is about as big as they get.

Harvest

2009-10-24T10:28:00.000-05:00

We spent so much time in the garden that by the time I got back inside I was too tired to share about it. So I'll just add a few pictures to share the results with you. Above is a Tequila Sunrise, a sweet pepper. We did use them with our foods, but I also cut them up and dehydrated a variety of sweet peppers to use as a seasoning for foods, it was AWESOME!!! Morning Glories.... My arm, 2

Last week of May

2009-05-31T10:02:00.000-05:00

Once again the original garden, see my Sarah at the opposite corner? Squint & look very hard. See the taters? MMMMMM, we peeked, won't be long now..... I am trying to figure out what to put there when we pull them up, blue pumpkins maybe.... This is one of our expansions, our lettuce, tomatoes and peppers, see Sarah? The expansion and original garden.... See Sarah? Opposite corner.......

THE BIG GARDEN!!!!

2009-05-24T19:26:00.000-05:00

This is a corner to corner view of the big garden. You can see my Romaine on the bottom left, strawberies in the center and the upright shelves are where the corner of last years garden was. Between the lettuce & strawberries are our Tomatoes. The former corner of our garden. The metal shelves are from a job my husband did, read down a few posts. We used these last year for our cucumbers with

To salt or not to salt

2009-05-24T19:12:00.000-05:00

My mint, before slugs and salt. All that rain we had here in NE Texas brought out the slugs. I had heard that salt would help so I got out the salt and salted around the plants. But then, (yep one of my briliant ideas) I thought what good does it do to salt around the plant if the slugs are already on the plant. So I just sprinkled some in the areas affected. BIG MISTAKE. My Spearming,

Cherry Tomatoes & Gourds

2009-05-24T19:05:00.000-05:00

A few Gourds for planting and some peppers that needed to be re-seeded due to to much water. We saved the plastic containers from a few plants we bought, and then had someone give us some. The shelves are from a remodel job my husband did. He painted a store room for a doller store and they were getting rid of several different kinds of shelving. This is just one unit. Cherry Tomatoes for

Ladybugs & Container Gardening.....

2009-05-24T18:57:00.001-05:00

This was my small container garden a week ago. The one in the orange toy tool bench thingy is a petunia I have since moved to a hanging pot with a few other petunias. This is the same Cilantro & Parsley with some Rosemary, Basil and a potted Tobasco plant. I wanted some Cilantro in a pot I could carry in the house in the winter so I always have fresh. I am thinking I need to get a bigger pot.

First week of May

2009-05-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

The view from my porch.... Second view....Close up of chives, taragon, & petunias. Mint; Spearmint (L), Chocolate (R),Lavendar (FR), & Pineapple Sage (M Front).Marigolds surrounding cilantro.That's my kitchen/herb garden, the big one is too wet to carry anything except a big stick (so you don't slip) out there.

Monday, April 27, 2009

2009-04-27T10:46:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted, but yes we have been either very busy or very wet. Right now we are very snotty-sinus & allergies. We are right now waiting on some heavy rainfall headed this way from Dallas. We have been very fortunate here, there has been some bad weather all around us and a couple of small towns in Arkansas just north of us got hit pretty hard, in fact my son in the AR

What I am doing today....

2009-02-08T13:07:00.001-06:00

This is the remnents of a tree my husband was paid to haul off, we have enough wood left to finish out this winter, and start next fall. We stacked the limbs here and burned them 2 weeks ago after getting kindling and small firewood from it. We aslo figured out our hose had sprung a leak during that fire. Today I am going to clear it for tilling, maybe even till it, who knows... Off to the

Seedlings

2009-02-08T12:49:00.000-06:00

Cantelope & Zuchini * These are a few of my seedlings, I have a few more in my garden window in my bathroom (hence the name garden window). At night they are all in my garden tub (get it, garden tub). Spaghetti Squash, Cantelope, Cukes, Baby Watermelon,Romaine & Leaf Lettuce.Last but not least (one tray is not pictured here).... Brocoli & 1 Lemon Balm that I just transplanted today. Great in

Kitchen Garden

2009-02-08T12:42:00.000-06:00

This is supposed to be my kitchen garden, but as I order seeds and plant them, I am wondering, where am I going to put all of this. I think I will just put a few essentials and my precious bell peppers in there for now. So far I have some garlic (2), some feverfew, some lemon balm, 2 mints (spearmint & chocolate mint) and 4 brocoli plants that I transplanted from the big garden because the

Putting It All To Bed

2008-11-10T12:57:00.001-06:00

Putting my garden to bed for some much needed rest. Broccoli!!! Come back soon for pictures of my little kitchen garden.