"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I have already started planting in the garden

although temperatures are pretty chilly........
but that is just what Brussels sprouts love............cold , chilly weather.
I planted a small patch of these.........you can tell by the photo that the chickens wish they could nibble on them.
Did you know that the colder the weather, the more Brussels sprouts produce a better vegetable?
However, in this Texas climate, by the time the plants get big enough, it might be too warm for them to produce.  But that is how the store makes good money from people like me who buy these plants at the wrong time and in the wrong climate. LOL. They really should be planted in the late fall.
However, I have never worked with Brussels sprouts before and wanted to
"experiment".
So you will see in a few weeks, what becomes of this.
I also bought bundles of onions that I hope to get planted later on this week.

If you remember on my January 2, 2013 post, I wrote about a new garden method I want to also
"experiment" with...................
bag gardening. (you can read the archives)
I ran across a really great sale on organic garden soil the other day, and now I can't wait for planting season to use these bags.


I have already begun work on the bed/garden area I want to use this method in.
This is a large flower bed in front of my greenhouse. Each year I battle thick grass, wearing myself out, trying to dig it out. This time, since I am using the bag method here,I decided that I would simply  smother the grass out.
 I placed newspapers on top of the bed and watered them down.
It's a good thing to keep old newspapers for these kinds of things.  

 
I then placed empty feed and bird seed, plastic bags on top of the wet newspapers.
Again, I keep these empty bags for such things. In a few weeks, the grass will have, hopefully, died.
I am not removing any of this however. When planting season begins, I will place the bags of soil on top of this area and begin planting as described in my January 2 post. 

Some of you might remember that I posted about my grandfather's trunk that I was recently given
. I posted about this on November 19, 2011.  You can visit the archives.
I finally found and ordered the perfect wall paper that I am going to place inside of it..............pictured above.........isn't it beautiful?
It should arrive in a week or so and hopefully I will have the trunk papered and filled with my embroidered linens in a couple of weeks!
I can't wait!
How about you?
Have you started planting those "cold month" plants such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage or onions ?
I would love to hear.


18 comments:

IanH said...

Gardening already? You really know how to make a guy envious! :-}

grammy said...

Seems so strange to even think about gardening....
it was 9 degrees early this morning here (o:

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

The house and yard is what's called a 'frost holler' round here and we can get a hard frost 'till the middle of May....Booger!!!

I always get the itch long before to start plantin' but over the years I've learned to wait. {{{SIGH}}}

Oh, I adore the wallpaper you've chosen. Beautiful, I've got a feelin' it's gonna be great.

God bless ya and have a fabulous day!!! :o)

lil red hen said...

It's usually mid-March before we can safely plant here, then it's potatoes, cabbage, and small seeds. I think I'll try the "bag" method in the flower bed this spring; I always have such a problem with vetch and other little weeds. Hope we have good luck with the bags!

Country Gal said...

Hello
I found your blog through comments on Simple Southern Happiness ! I read through most of your blog and just love it . I am happy to be follower of your wonderful blog ! Have a great day !

Country Gal said...

You can also put a garden filter cloth on top of the newspapers then wood chips or mulch on the filter cloth and that stops weeds and grass from growing up through it all, thats what we do for our gardens here. Cant wait to see how the brussle sprouts turn out . Papa would love it he likes them I not so much lol . Have a great day !

nancy huggins said...

I did that with the bags in AL and it worked and everything we planted in the garden got over run with weeds plus Rats ate EVERYTHING. Keep us updated Kathleen so we can watch your Garden grow. Your a smart Lady :)
Hugs
Nancy

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Kathleen, we plan to have a very small garden compared to past years when we had up to 5 beds. Our focus this year is on selling our home and relocating. I tried using newspapers in the front yard to hold off weeds from the flower beds, but found that the pine straw I gathered and deposited there worked much better.

Paula@SweetPea said...

I am ready to start thinking about planting! My friend has an incredibly large garden and I'm lucky to mooch if I don't get my own planted.

Paula said...

I know it's time to start thinking about the garden, but it seems like I haven't had much chance for planning one this year... you put me to shame, Kathleen! :)
Love the wallpaper~ it will look so good in your grandfather's trunk!

Connie said...

No planting here, but I'm glad to see you have yours started. I hope your Brussels sprouts do well for you.

I love the wallpaper. I think that will work great! :)

MaryO said...

I done this w/my garden. Living in SoCal weeds grow 24/7 and I have a large area that seems to attract dandelions! I put down several layers of newspaper then put black plastic garden sheeting over that. Worked well. Had to check it daily because the garden is not in a protected area. Am looking forward to seeing your garden grow! Love the blog. MaryO

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

You have been a busy girl, Kathleen! That's what I need to do - start planting. We did move some of the smaller trees around today, so that's something. The wallpaper is just beautiful. Can't wait to see how you beautify that trunk!

A Colorful World said...

I have to do SOMETHING! The weeds are all over my sandy yard because of all the winter rain, and I don't want to use chemicals to get rid of them! Someone suggested salt. A thought, but only in places where I don't want ANYTHING to grow. I have a section of the yard I want to sow wildflower seed in...can't use salt there! I love this bag idea, and think this is just the trick! I'll let you know. Have plenty of rocks around to hold the bags down! Only, I haven't been saving my heavy bags...they went into the recycle bin! I'll use plastic trash bags maybe.

Your wallpaper is just lovely! It looks perfect for that wonderful old trunk!

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

Goodness, you have been busy and think your bag gardening is perfect.

I hope your brussls sprouts do well. I found roasting them brings out so much flavor so now I cant get enough of them.

GOD bless and keep you safe.

Vickie said...

Hi Kathleen - I have my onion sets ready to go, too! I didn't do any cold weather plants this year. I did dlast year - broccoli & cabbage and the cabbage moths had a field day on them. I'm going to build (rather, my hubby is) some 4x4 or 4x8 garden beds for square foot gardening. Just a few. I'll do my row crops like beans and peas and some trellises for cukes. Just wanted to give the boxes a try - with the drought last year, everything just burned up and we couldn't keep enough water on them. So with garden boxes (and a promise from Mel Bartholemew) we won't need as much water. I'll bet that's the same concept as the bag garden beds. I'm doing basically the same thing with killing the weeds underneath. I'm anxious to see how that works for you! Good luck with your sprouts!

Karen Sue said...

I've used the bag method with success. old, bad soil is forgotten under the fresh dirt, inside the bags, ontop of some cardboard boxes with holes poked in...

Brenda Kay Ledford said...

Wow! I can hardly believe it's gardening time again. Good luck with your brussels sprouts, onions, and new method of gardening. The chickens are really cute. I love the wall paper. It will look very pretty in the trunk.
I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day.