'Thinning' the garden and more.

[navygreen]

Well, it was rough... but I did it. I murdered some babies in my garden. A lot of babies, actually, and it was heartbreaking to do so.

Because Meri wanted to see "the carnage," I did take a picture of my poor babies.



Radishes 'thinned' from my garden


Six dozen - that's 72! - killed radishes


Four killed cornstalks


Two dozen killed green beans


I'm a murderer. :-(

While I was working hard in the garden, the boys were playing on their Banzai Falls for the fourth time now. They went down the slide a handful of times together today, and it was pretty cute.











And lastly, I bought the boys new swimsuits two days ago so that they would have a spare suit at all times. They've done so many water activities already that I was having to wash their suits every single night. I haven't yet adjusted the ties on the inside of their new swimming trunks, however, so I had to keep reminding them to pull up their suits this afternoon. At one point, Jack was flipped around trying to grasp the back side of his suit, and I caught this gem:


Jack's tan line.

I'm thinking Jack should be the official new Coppertone® model... and it's not even June yet!

Comments

[marshmelococoa.livejournal.com]

Did you just overplant or were they growing crazy or what? Your not a murderer. Survival of the fittest ya know.

Jack tans like my kids and my dad. I for the life of me can never get that brown without burning and peeling 50katrillion times. I am envious. I considered taking a picture of Connor today from the backside with no shorts on. He's so brown and so white in the middle - sortof like a skunk, but different ya know.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Well, I planted according to the seed's directions, but the next steps listed are to 'thin' when the plants reach certain maturity (each veggie is different). The carrots and lima beans will have to be thinned as well, once they really start cropping up, as will each subsequent row of corn. But it feels so awful to rip healthy, happy plants out of the ground. :-(

Isn't it sick? Jack hasn't sunburned once. He's got his daddy's skintone.

[marshmelococoa.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about gardening. I'd just let them all grow and take my chances I think.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish I could. I wish. But nah, I don't think you'd do that either. If you'd spent as much time and money on your garden as I have, you'd follow the directions to the letter as well, I'm sure. You'd want it to be right. ;-)

[livemockingbird.livejournal.com]

You have to take out some--that don't look as healthy as the others--in order to make sure the healthier ones have enough nutrients--and that they don't get strangled. It's like having 27 people live in a house designed for 5-6.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Except I had to take out ones that looked plenty healthy! *cries*

[flyingwolf.livejournal.com]

ok.. I wasn't going to comment, seeing as I made you feel even worse with that silly song.

BUT - you have some choices.

• You can plant one seed every few inches (however far apart you want the actual plants to be - which, of course, depends on what it is). And then you'll have tons of useless space for weeds to crop up when all those seeds don't grow.
• You can plant as directed, but then skip the pruning stage. Your plants will not have enough nutrients or space and your garden will be a disaster.
• You can plant as directed and prune. We're allowed to do that with plants. We're not allowed to do that with animals or people.
• f you know your garden enough you can take a middle ground. Maybe not plant as many seeds as directed. (fresh seeds, well furtilized soil gives them more of a chance. But that seems risky.

And in the end you'll murder them all anyway. ;)

PS - did I ever comment on how cool that water slide is? Wow. I was born way too late!!

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

LOL. Well, thank you for taking the time to spell out all my choices, but I think I'll just keep with what I'm doing (option #3, that is) for now. But - horrors! You should't already be bringing up the death of all these babies of mine in the fall! *covers ears*

And tell me about it! I had a regular Slip 'n Slide, but nothing like this slide!

[flyingwolf.livejournal.com]

can you tell I was procrastinating? (was supposed to be doing invoices :) )

(and think of how tastey those babies will be :) (I've had my share of gardens over the years, but decided I'd rather be riding my motorcycle on nice sunny saturdays then pulling weeds - gardening is much more fun when it's a family activity.)

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

HAHA...it is so June!

Oh wait...not where you are yet. Nevermind. ;)

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Almost... three more minutes!

[railroadjim.livejournal.com]

Did you walk around the garden saying "Redrum..REDRUM!!!"?

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Umm... no?

[desertmommy.livejournal.com]

read "redrum" backwards, then you'll get it...

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Oh, how silly. *slaps head* I get it now, and I'm shocked that I didn't get it myself earlier!

[flyingwolf.livejournal.com]

you never read / watched "the shining", did you?

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

nope.

[xellegirlx.livejournal.com]

i was just about to comment about your kids starting to look tan! And that was before I saw the last picture. It's so great that they're spending time outside playing, and not inside playing computer/video games like a lot of kids do.

I agree with marshmelococoa on the thinning -- survival of the fittest!

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

We got out some mornings (though sometimes the boys just want to lounge around in their jammies inside while I'm checking on and working more in the garden), but we go out every afternoon, staying outside pretty much until it's too dark to see. They're dark little fellas!

[mrs-picasso.livejournal.com]

Awww... I hate to thin too but your remaining plants will be stronger in the long run.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. :-(

I often think how nice it would be if you lived here. We'd sit for hours in the garden and chat, and it would be splendid. :-)

[mrs-picasso.livejournal.com]

Awwww...I wish! I was thinking of this on the way downtown, actually. What I used to to was if the packet said the plants will eventually be 3" apart, I'd make holes 3" apart and plant 2 seeds in each hole. So, I'd have my "insurance" extra but I didn't use as much seed nor did I have to do as much thinning. I think I got that tip from the Square Foot Gardening guy.

[the-fishery.livejournal.com]

ahhh, to be a kid again.

i want one of those slides! how do they work?

[the-fishery.livejournal.com]

i just did a google on banai falls. it says its only a 6 foot slide. your boys faces look like they are going down a 12 foot slide. so cute!

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Well, if you already found it online, then I suppose I don't need to fill you in anymore! ;-D

[laneymunoz.livejournal.com]

I love the picture of them sliding down together... well, the one on their butts, that is. :-P

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Heehee. One of these pics will probably be my new userinfo picture soon. ;-)

[katielovesmatt.livejournal.com]

the pictures of the slide are so cool! aww I'm sorry you had to thin your garden. I hope one day my garden is as nice as yours!

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Thank you. You always have such sweet things to say. :-)

[spishy.livejournal.com]

sounds like your garden is doing real well. fortunately kevin and i didn't have to cull anything from ours. we decided to start our seedlings inside first, so we only planted what we had room for in the little seed starters.

i do wish however that i had planted my tomato plants further apart, they are very entangled right now. kevin and i each planted a garden at our houses. i have corn, cabbage, bell peppers, tomatoes ( 3 varieties - big boy, mr. stripey and mountain gold a solid yellow variety), zuchinni, yellow squash, okra and lettuce.

kevin planted tomatoes (2 varieties - beefsteak and some solid orange type), corn, eggplant, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell peppers, pumpkins (2 varieties - one gigantic, the other luna - a solid white pumpkin), zuchinni, yellow squash and okra.

right now the corn is just above my knee and kevin's is a few inches taller than that. my tomatoes all have 2-3 each on them, plus lots of blooms. all of our pepper plants are blooming and some even have growing peppers on them. kevin's pumpkins are growing like mad. the large variety has leaves that are bigger than my feet!

my cabbages are gorgeous round roses almost 2 ft across. all the plants are touching, but the actual heads are only about as big as my fist right now.

i've found gardening to be more enjoyable than i thought it would be. i also learned a cool tip, that i've tried and thought i'd pass on.

i was encountering some problems with bugs (most likely aphids) on my tomatoes. i really detested the thought of powdering with insecticides. a guy kevin worked with said to sprinkle the plants with flour. so i did. amazingly, anywhere the flour was on the plant, the bugs weren't. of course, if you water over the top, or it rains, you have to reapply. so i've started watering from the base as the moisture on the plants is what initially draws the bugs. just thought you might find that helpful also.

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

Both of your gardens sound amazing! Nothing in my own is that big yet, but I love my little baby broccoli. He's so cute!

I've not had a problem with bugs on tomatoes (yet), but I do have to put black pepper on my green beans or they get eaten up badly. Good thing pepper isn't expensive!

[angelrose.livejournal.com]

Aw poor little plants!!!

The pictures are cute, it looks like the boys have a blast playing on the slide! I am SO envious of Jack's tan!

[navygreen.livejournal.com]

It was awful to be so mean to the plants. *sniffle*

Heck, *I* wish I could tan like Jack too!