IT'S ALIVE!!

Been a week since my last post. And a very exciting week it has been! Last week I planted my peppers and eggplants. I can't remember if I posted a pic my setup or not. So here it is

These little mini greenhouses are fantastic.  When used with a heating pad.  Keeps perfect humidity for starting plants. 

When I came home from work I decided to check on my grow room. And I was pleasantly surprised.  I have created LIFE !!

My first seedling is a Malaysian eggplant!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

The next couple of days seedlings started to pop up. Very exciting weekend!

The egg plants and jalapeños are really taking off. Sweet peppers not so much yet. But it's only the first week. Should see some action this week with the peppers.

This weekend I decided to plant my tomato seeds. Tomato plant are one of my favorites veggies to grow. Such a huge selection of different tomatoes to grow. Reds, purple, orange, yellow and stripped. 

Well this year I have decided to go with 5 different varieties of tomato plants 

X5 Mortgages lifter tomato: This tomato has a cool story on how it received it's name.  In 1940s Logan, West Virginia, a radiator repairman crossed four of the biggest tomatoes he could find to produce this beauty. He sold seedlings of it, using the proceeds to pay off his $6,000 mortgage in six years t's name.

(Not my fancy shirt)

X5 Big Rainbow: I needed to add some color to my tomato crop. I grew these last year. And they were huge! Very beautiful tomato. They are fantastic for slicing.

X5 Cuore di bue: my absolute favorite tomato. Cuore di Bue is one of the tastiest saucing types with dense flesh and lustrous, orangey-red skin.

A beautiful heirloom tomato from Italy.  I grow these every year.

X5 Rutgers tomato: I have wanted to grow these for some time now. Rutgers is proven to be highly productive. The large, red fruits have a thick flesh with superior flavor. Strong determinate vines yield. Very beautiful tomato plant. These are the tomatoes that put jersey on the map for superior tomatoes.

X5 Gypsy Tomato: I got these as freebie with my purchase at Baker's Creek . These are a Russian heirloom tomato. My patriotic side says cover the bag of seeds with gasoline and light a match!

These are a very dark purple tomato.  They are actually named for Russian Gypsy.

Here are a couple shots of the plants under my new lights.  Everything is looking fantastic! So excited! 

In a couple of weeks I'm going to start my melons and squash. I also need to get started on herbs. Maybe I'll put in a order next week.

We'll that's about it peeps. Until next time!

Dude & His Garden

Gardening on a budget

Back for some more I see.  Glad you're back I'm surprised I  even came back. I always get these grand ideas and then I quickly lose interest.  Like the time I got married. Oh I keed!

You can spend as much as you want on your garden. You can buy some fancy premixed soil from the local big box stores. Maybe put in a beautiful pond with a elegant waterfall.  Have a carpenter build some cedar raised beds. And finish it off with a fabulous cedar fence surrounding your garden.

And you know what I wish I could afford to create something like that. But I can't.  But you know what, it still doesn't stop me from enjoying my little patch.

                             (Watermelon patch)

So how do I save money but still grow healthy beautiful fruits and veggies for my family?  Networking!!! It's a great way to help you garden on a budget.   I was just talking to one of my coworkers about gardening last year. We just moved to our new house so I had to build a new garden.  I was hoping he knew of a place I could score some soil/compost. One of our coworkers over heard us talking. He just happen to have a brother in law who had a whole bunch of composted horse manure. He said I could have as much as I wanted.  He would even load it up with the bobcat! I call that WINNING!!!!   

Another way to score free or cheap compost is to check your local city compost site. I don't think I have ever lived in a town that didn't have a compost site. The use of the compost is free or is a small fee for all residents.  These sites will normally also take your yard waste as well and during Christmas they will also take your Xmas trees

For those that live in the rural areas. Just ask around. I'm 100% sure you know somebody that has a farm or has a friend or relative that has a farm. They will have plenty of compost for you.  This is actually how I filled my raised beds with the first garden I built. And it only cost me a bottle of Christian brother brandy!!

For my raised beds I would absolutely love something likes these.

               But building 12 of these would be just way too much $$$$  And I'm gardening on a budget. My first garden I just used untreated rough cut boards from homedepot.  They worked pretty well. The beds were only about 6 inches deep.  Only noticed some rot near the butt ends of the boards after about 3 years. And this was very minimal damage.  The raised beds still held dirt.      
 Last year I was able to to score some free wood for my beds. One of my coworkers was tearing down some walls in his barn and said I could have the lumber. He even delivered the lumber to my house. Only thing he ask in return was some fresh heirloom tomatoes.  And I definitely don't have a problem sharing from my patch.

I have also seen people use cinder blocks for raised beds. I see cheap or even free cinder blocks on Craigslist all the time. Cinder block raised beds would pretty much last For-EV-ER

Today I scored a great deal. I just started using an app called slickdeals they have all kinds of stuff. Electronics, jewelry, clothing, power tools et ect. Yesterday they had a deal for 50ft soaker hose at sears. Normally 11.99 on sale for 5.00! That's over 50% savings! It looks like that deal is now over :(   Fortunately I was able to get 2 of them!

It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. You can build a garden with any budget. It just takes a little time and some work in the dirt. If I can do it anyone can. The only thing I like more then working in my garden is  sharing my bounty with the people I love.

Dude & His Garden

Day one

So I have decided to create a gardening blog. I was thinking that some of my Facebook friends really didn't give a rip about the "male" and "female" flowers of my watermelon plants..
But for those that do care you can check out this link! Plant baby making parts!

Being my first blog, I had to decide where to start. Should I start on how I got into gardening.  Maybe I would have 100s of new readers and they would want to know where this all started!
More then likely it's just going to be just my Sexy Wife and maybe her sister Sarah and  Swaz reading this.
But if for some reason you have never met me and you just happen to stumble across this blog.. I planted my first real garden in the summer of 2009. Here are a few pics of my little backyard garden.

The white picket fence was put in to keep out my 100 lb american bulldog Ozzy out. It didn't work out so well. He only wanted to get back there when he wanted to "relieve" himself.  And unfortunately dog poop isn't something you want to add to the compost pile.

I like gardening because since I am a man and can't give birth I can't create life. So gardening is the next best thing!
The only thing better than gardening, is heirloom gardening!  I just love the idea of growing something that is pure and that has a real history. And when it comes to tomatoes there is nothing better tasting then a heirloom tomato.

Enough of the past we need to talk about the now and the future!!! Today was the day I started to plant my seeds!!!  This is going to be the first year I grow 100% of all my plants from seed. I'm actually only planting some of my seeds. According to U of M it is now the time to start Eggplant and Peppers.  So that's what I did.

X5 Craig ' s grande jalapeño:This is not my step dad craig. Just some other dude name Craig.  They are the biggest jalapeños Baker Creek seed catalog offers. Maybe the perfect pepper.

X5 Jimmy nardello Italian pepper: These are a sweet pepper. Apparently they were brought over from Italy by the Nardello family. They named the pepper after their 4th son Jimmy.

X5 Topepo rosso pepper: Are another sweet pepper. They are small and compact. Hopefully my grandmother likes them.

X4 Trinidad Scorpion pepper: These bad boys are the hottest peppers in the galaxy!! They just look like hell!

I also planted some eggplants. This is my first year growing them. I don't know what to expect. I only grew 3 of each
Eggplant Malaysian dark red and New York Improved eggplant.
Hopefully they turn out because I absolutely love eggplant parm sandwich!

Tomorrow I have to search for my heat pad. Heated soil helps stimulate root growth. This will help the plant get have a nice foundation.
Tomorrow I will start moving everything to the grow room.

Until next time peeps!

Dude & His Garden