Go away bugs!

I love to sit on our patio. LOVE. I have spent countless hours and dollars making it a haven, and I spend most of my time in our backyard. It has come a long way. When I moved in with Josh the only things in the back were two old couches I swear were left over from his days at Davis. 

I even bought a picnic table. I put that thing together, sanded it down, and painted it white to match the rest! I added pool chairs and lounge chairs and tiny tables. That green bench in the background? I refinished that as well. 

It would be such a nice place to sit and relax if it wasn't for all the bugs! Mosquitoes, flies, little knats.... I hate them all. I don't want them in my food, my hair, or on my skin. So naturally I bought some citronella candles. I lit those babies up! I noticed a few days later the bug problem hadn't really been resolved, but my yard sure smelled like those candles. Turns out, most of those commercial candles DON'T really have essential citronella oil in them! They are simply scented and sold at a high price.

So I returned them. Ordered essential oil ($20-I bought other scents) Brought out a few canning mason jars and candle wax ($10ish at Michael's), and set to work. You can also melt the remaining wax in candles around the house and add it to your mixture.

I cut the wax into smaller pieces so it would melt easier. I used a double boiler and poured the hot wax into a glass measuring cup to make pouring easier.

 I used hot glue and pens to keep the wicks in place. 

They aren't this bright in person. I added citrus essential oil as well to make them smell a bit nicer. It gives it a yellow tint. Some batches were darker. I don't measure =)

I think I'll add the twine stuff to them all. They are cuter than store bought, and the smell is somehow nicer!

Daegan was very interested in the smells coming from the kitchen. He sure did want to be right in the thick of it!

Night Crawlers!

One of my most favorite blogs are gardening blogs. More so, the blogs where the write has a full blown farm! I dream of a bigger space where Josh wouldn't even notice chickens, more dogs could run and play, and I could plant all the things my little heart desires. One of these blogs is Hickery Holler Farm. It's SO much fun to read, and they sure seem to have everything on that place! 

A Holiday Weekend to Remember, her post today, was about the rain storm they just had and how it affected her plants. I sure do take our mild weather and climate here in Northern California for granted!  One of the photos she posted had all these little worm highways from when they had come up after the rain. It occured to me, I have NEVER EVER seen a worm in  our backyard! Not after the heavy rains of winter, not after we tilled up extra soil, not after we mixed in manure, just never.

That just can't be normal. I remember seeing worms come up after rains my entire life. My parents always had lush grass and gorgeous backyard veggie gardens. My mother can grow flowers people will tell you are impossible to grow out of their native regions. Yet, I can't the new rose bushes to look healthy. The grass is patchy and the seeds are not setting as well as I would have thought. The ground is dense and hard in a way that makes no sense. 

So it can't hurt, I ordered worms! Online ordering is my extreme addition. There is just so much more available! I chose Uncle Jims Worm Farm and did a little research on the best type of worms for a yard and garden. His website also gives great little descriptions. 

I settled on 250 "super reds".  I'm not sure if this amount is enough for a yard my size. I plan on distributing them to all areas and hoping they get down to some worm reproduction. We'll see if it helps the yard! 

Organic all the way!

This is my first year gardening, and man o man making decisions about feeding my plants has been harder than I thought. Those little flashy green packages of Miracle Grow sure do talk a good game on their package, and a few other brands swear they will make awesome veggies. I'm a reader though, and so I dug a little deeper. All those fertilizers, fungicides, bug killers, etc. ALL seemed to have intense warnings for me to NOT consume them. Don't get them on my skin, don't ingest them, don't let it touch my eye. Excuse my french, but my first thought was 'what the hell?!' How can I possibly use these on things I am going to EAT?! 

So I set out to find a better solution. Compost and manure seemed to be the place to start! When I tilled up my garden areas I did add gardeners compost soil to help it out, but it just didn't seem to be enough. So before the rains over took Sacramento yesterday, I got up early to feed the soil. 

The extra bags didn't get unloaded from the garage until I realized how much I'd need! I mixed composting soil and chicken manure together and set out. I covered all garden area's in about 2 inches of the mix. After I was done I took my little gardeners hand rake and loosened soil around to help it settle. Then I let the rain we had for about 12 hours do the rest! I hope all those good nutrients sink right down and help out! 

The backyard DOES smell like the inside of chicken coop, and the pup is fascinated by this! He has eaten a good amount of chicken poop dirt haha. I'm not to worried, he seems fine =) I do hope the smell fades a little. It's not helping my case with Josh on how much I need backyard chickens!

You'll notice from earlier photos how much darker the soil is! It's not just how wet it is, that compost/manure mixture sure was rich! My cucumber trellis is back there, and you'll notice a few plants big enough that I have started to train up. I just use that green gardeners tape that is stretchy and doesn't hurt the plant. It's pretty sturdy stuff!

What are you doing to help your garden along?

Wedding Weekend!

This last weekend Josh and I went to a wedding in San Ramon. His friend Nick from college got married so we made a weekend of it! It was so nice to get away from work and everyday things for awhile. We had a great time laying by the pool and relaxing with new friends. Josh was in his element with all his football buddies from college, and we danced the night away on Saturday. 

My little sister and Mom watched the house for us. I sure missed my puppy and my garden! Sleeping in past the 6:30am puppy wake up call is something we aren't used to anymore, and even though I missed him, it was nice to have to just the two of us. I wonder if parents feel this way haha! 

While we were gone my cucumber trellis ordered from the Gardeners Supply Company came and I sure was eager to get it put up and the cucumbers transplanted! I tore into that box within 30 minutes of getting home. It was a breeze to set up, and I got my cucumbers planted! I put in a new row of seeds for pickling cucumbers, can't wait for those!

Here are a few weekend pictures!

My little garden

This year I decided I would have a garden. And why not? I have a nice sized yard. I have planting barrels. Seeds are easy to buy, it can't be that hard. Right??

I'm sure any experienced gardener will have a chuckle at that. It's much harder than I ever thought it was going to be! Like anything I start, I tend to do a bunch of research first. I started with what grows best in my area, and popped into a few farmers markets to see what they were selling. After that, I marched myself down to home depot and loaded up my cart. I started with TONS of seed packets, potting soil, mulch, tools upon tools, and a few kits on how to start seeds inside. 

A few things I have learned:

*The seed starting kits are NOT amazing. They are so tiny that the seeds don't get big enough to transplant, and a lot of mine ended up dying. 

*Real leaves need to develop before transplanting, and the plants need to be hardened off. 

*Starting the seeds in plastic cups with good soil seems to work so much better. I have re-started a few plants this way. I am fortunate to live in the central valley, where our frost wont hit until late November. I have a long growing season!

*Seeds. All about seeds. Next year I'll be buying organic seeds from seed companies. I didn't realize the kind sold in store are NOT meant to produce viable seeds, and aren't organic. I love these two companies websites Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds  and Stark Bro's Nurseries and plan on ordering from them next season. I did order my strawberries from Stark Bro's. When they arrive and are planted I'll give you an update!

I planted A LOT of my veggies in barrels that sit on one side of my house. The rest I took over areas of the yard! I sectioned myself out a 6 foot by 6 foot plot in the corner of the grass. I ripped the grass out by hand, and roto-tilled in manure and soil. I did the same thing for the side of the house. That area had to be cleared of weeds and rocks, and took more soil and manure. It was literally ROCK hard!

 The little fence serves as a marker of where the garden starts, it's pretty, and it gives my demon dog a visual barrier. He KNOWS he isn't allowed inside, and will sit and whine while I weed or tend. Once I'm on the other side of the yard though, he sure tries to sneak in! He loves to eat the leaves!

Here is my section in the grass. I ended up having to re-seed the grass on the other side of the little fence, as I kinda killed some of it in the process. For now it has green beans, tomatoes, and an assorted squash area. I'll be transplanting cucumbers once the trellis arrives =)

This is my stolen side yard! A much better use of space than rocks and weeds! Here I've planted rows of corn in the back. There are seeds planted in between so they grow at different times. This hopefully will help with pollination. There are also pumpkins, cantaloupes, and watermelons. I plan on training the melons up a trellis to space save =) Next year I'm hoping I can convince Josh that a plum tree behind the air conditioner would be an awesome addition. Plum jelly is a family favorite, and Grandma's recipe is 5 generations passed down. 

Lastly, I have 7 of these barrels and plants are in each! Here is my snow pea barrel. They are growing along nicely. I also have sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, hot peppers, and bell peppers. Cucumbers are growing in a barrel as well awaiting transplant time.

What are you planting this year?

Have any tips to share?! 

Fresh Start

 I have always wanted a German Shepherd Dog. Ever since I was a little girl and I rode on the back of my Grandpa's, Misty. I thought she was the greatest dog in the whole wide world. This thought has never left me =)
Last year in April while I was at the beach in Lake Tahoe, I fell in love with a little ball of all black fluff. I was SHOCKED to learn it was a pure bred GSD. I had never thought of them as all black, didn't even realize they could be. So my research (obsession) started and I found myself ordering books and looking into breeders. After about 2 months and a spread sheet of answers back from about 8 breeders, I had it narrowed down to 3 Northern California breeders all with dogs I LOVED. I had made quite a list of criteria to meet! I found that I preferred "straight-backed" GSD's and that research was saying it was closer to the original breed and better on their hips and joints. The breeders I found also all had solid black dogs being produced in their lines. The all black coloring is true to breed and AKC approved for all types of showing. Timing of the litter is what led me initially to Spragues German Shepherds I then fell in love! Her website is amazing, she is prompt on e-mails, and best part?! The facebook page. Where people from every litter past are friends and share photos and updates on their dogs. It was the best feedback I had ever found. I could actually message and ask people, and not a single one was unhappy with their Sprague GSD. His litter is Fancy x Elvis, and I put the deposit down and prayed an all black male would pop up on birthing day. My Daegan, meaning black haired in Irish, was born on January 30th 2013. I love the mess making trouble maker! He has a white blaze on his chest and tip of his tail =)

The collage: 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 11 weeks!

Today 5/22 Daegan is 16 weeks! He's officially a teenager, let the intense teething and wild child phase start!