Gardening e-books

While I waited to plant my little seedlings these past few weeks, I perused several gardening books that I got online for my Kindle Fire.  There are quite a selection of e-books available on various aspects of gardening. Some I downloaded were good, some not so good.  Fortunately for me, I got them all on days when each was offered for free, and so I spent nothing for the information that I gained, as well as spending nothing on those that were a bust. Here are some of the ones I decided were "keepers:"

SOME GARDENING BOOKS I RECOMMEND :

A really well-written book of four pamphlets with loads 

of information and innovative ideas.  How about growing

potatoes in a 30 gallon Rubbermaid garbage can on your 

deck or balcony?!

This book is a great introduction to composting and 

raised beds.

A good book that will convince you of the value

of raised beds.  It doesn't actually show you how

to build them, however.

This short book gives some good info on these 

particular vegetables which are ones I will be

planting quite aggressively.

A really good book that gives great ideas for 

gardening in almost any situation, and especially

for urban dwellers.  It proves you can garden just

about anywhere.  I really liked that!

I have these gardening books (and more!) on my Kindle Fire HD as well as on my desktop computer and an old laptop. The Kindle makes them portable, of course, but when I want to share the photos or I want to show my son, Ben, (who might be helping me with some aspect of a project) what I am talking about, then I pull up the book on my computer.  That way it is easier to see and share.  I can also pull it up on the laptop for a large display that can be carried outside, if necessary.  Sometimes I really like technology .... a lot!

I have been composting now for several years.  My two bins are just old plastic 30 gallon garbage cans with lids that I alternate from season to season.  The way I do it, one bin is ready to use every 6 months or so.  I use my compost in addition to the llama beans I mentioned last post.  This combination of added material to my garden beds insures plenty of nutrients that break down quickly to create a rich growing medium for plants and seeds, and surprisingly fewer weeds to pull.

Here are my two bins made from old Rubbermaid

30 gallon garbage cans.  The lids lock on to deter

any curious creatures from checking out the contents.

We drilled holes all around the upper and base of the

bins in order to promote good air circulation for faster

decomposition of the contents.

This bin is in the last stages of  decomposition.  I have added a final

layer of "brown" ingredients to the last layer of "green" ingredients....

several inches of dirt and leaves that piled up on my driveway through

the winter and early spring months.

The other bin is in the early stages of composting with a "brown" layer 

of leaves and soil from the driveway on the very bottom and a "green" 

layer being build on top.... discarded produce pieces in this case.

I keep a bucket under the kitchen sink where I collect items to add to the compost bin each week.  I put my coffee grounds, eggshells, raw vegetable cuttings, onion skins, orange and banana peels, small pieces of cardboard, and the like.  You will be surprised at how quickly these things can add up, as well as how quickly they become usable in your garden!  Just remember that you do not want to include anything like meat, fat, grease, kitty litter or animal droppings, as this will make your compost smell or even die!  You don't want that, do you?!

This weekend was spent enjoying seeing the early rewards of all my hard work in the garden the past few weeks.  I am really pleased!  The okra and cucumbers are up and growing quickly, as is the squash.  You can almost watch them grow if you stay long enough among them!  The tomatoes are beginning to bloom (there is even a little tomato on one of the Marglobes!) and it is about time to harvest the rest of the winter crop of Swiss chard in order to make room for the spring crop of plants growing in its range.  I hesitate in doing this because they are still doing so well, and their colors of red and green and purple are so lovely in the garden right now!  But soon the heat of the season will make them wilt and I will have to steel myself to pull them, roots and all, out of the earth. I love the sound and feel of pulling weeds out of the ground, but these are my babies!

This weekend I planted the rest of the containers for the cotton and put them way out front away from the variety I planted in the main garden.  This last batch of seeds was from white cotton that seemed to have a yellowish cast to it compared to the rest of the white.  I planted the darkest and bluest green cotton seeds in the main garden.  I also gave some brown cotton seeds to a friend to plant in her garden.  Wanda's seeds were some of the Sea Island Brown cotton that had more of a reddish cast than the rest of my crop from last year.  I can't wait to see what happens with these variations of the originals I had planted.  I enjoy a good experiment!

Meanwhile, I am trying really hard not to be tempted to buy any perennials, rose bushes, or petunias when I visit the garden department at Lowe's.  Naturally I want to concentrate my efforts and finances this year on the veggie beds and saving up to build my greenhouse by summer's end.

And so I am really enjoying the blossoms on my "butterfly rose" bush (Mutabilis) and soon my chaste bush/trees will present their purple blue spires for me, the bees and butterflies to enjoy.

The flowers of the butterfly rose start off as orange buds

then open to five yellow petals which change the next day

to pink and finally to magenta!  All four colors appear on 

the bush at the same time, making it quite a magical sight!

UPDATE ON NEW BIRD IN THE YARD

The greenish yellow bird I saw last week in my front yard was not the yellow-throated vireo that I thought it was. After a bit more research and sightings of the male that accompanied it, I now have identified it as a female orchard oriole.  For several years I have seen a male of this species in my back pastures singing his heart out at the top of the trees, but I don't recall noticing the female, even though I knew that she must be out there.  I do recall seeing a yellowish green bird fleetingly at times, but it was not enough to be able to identify it. This time, last week's sighting, was in the front yard close enough to really see the female as it perched on a bare branch of the crepe myrtles in between making acrobatic swoops for insects. Several times during this past week, I saw a male orchard oriole out in the front yard at the same time, and I put two and two together, along with some online research, where I was even able to hear the music of this happy songster.

Male Orchard Oriole

You can go to this site online and read all about them and even hear recordings of the glorious songs that I enjoy in my back, and now front, yard!   http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/orchard_oriole/sounds

Finally, on Saturday Ben and I discovered some baby cottontails on an adventure in some high grass in our front yard.  (The front yard has been a very busy place lately!)  They were quite a ways from the two brier patches.  We grabbed them and put them back (hopefully in the right one) and hope that Mrs. Cottontail found her naughty babies soon afterwards.

Baby cottontail bunny

Entrance to the brier patch where we deposited the little bunnies.

Well, I guess that is all for now from HeartSong Farm.  Next week we'll be shearing the llamas.