info

Hardiness zone: 5A

Trying to grow:

5.14.25

Weather:
Storms tomorrow.

So, we're expecting some storms tomorrow. I haven't really been keeping up with WX nerd stuff lately. It's an all hazards possible scenario, but, as usual, I'm on the line where storms may or may not form. Nothing fun ever happens. I am just hoping that the new weather station gets some action (peep the more detailed weather info).

So, I wanted to get a better list of what was actually planted, and it seems that we all have forgotten what tomatoes we actually got. I'll update the list with what I can remember.

The tomatoes are starting to bloom! I gotta try to remember how to prune them. I kinda just let them do whatever last year (I was depressed), but I want more tomatoes this year. Mmmm tomatoes.

Strawberries are blooming too which is perfect for the mason bees we just got! These ones are for fruits, but we will be getting some veggie-lovin bees soon.

I went on a massive morning glory picking spree today. I got every single goddamn morning glory that I could see. In the beds, around the beds, in the grass, everywhere idgaf. I will NOT be dealing with those fuckers this year. I hate them. They make me so mad. My native pretty prairie flowers will not be ruined I stg. While picking the weeds I did spot a sprouted nasturtium. I planted a bunch of them, so I am hoping that they come up. They have a pest control role like the marigolds, but I do just love them. I'd love to get them tattooed.

Pray for my garden fr. I don't want any hail destroying any plants or my weather station..

5.11.25

Weather:
Things are happening.

The wildflower bed is poppin! The dirt is covered in sprouts. I'm so excited to see cute flowers!!!

My partner, and the other tenants who are also our friends, planted the veggie plants we bought while I went to work. The garden isn't only mine, so I'm glad that they're wanting to do some work too. I want them to eat their veggies!

I want them to have things that they also want in the garden, so I do not remember a lo t of what was bought honestly. I know they got a lot more peppers, some sorrel, and more onions? I'm gonna have to do a quick runthrough when I weed out the morning glories tomorrow.

The radishes are really taking over right now. I keep talking about it, but it is really so many radishes. I have no idea what to do. Anyone got radish recipe ideas? Otherwise, I'm just gonna snack on them like a rabbit.

Speaking of rabbits, it seems that the neighborhood rabbits have CRPV. It's a virus that causes warts to grow on them. It is really gross. Don't google it. We're kind of lost on what to do about it, though. Like, do we call the DNR? We don't know. They're wild and CRPV isn't fatal, but it's spreading. Concerning.

We got the tomatoes planted. I don't remember what the non-cherry ones are, but for cherry tomatoes, we have sun sugars and sugar bombs. We really love the sweet cherry tomatoes. They are great for salads, making ketcup, or just snacking on. Last year, it was always great to come home from work, take my bandana off, and turn it into a bag to carry the cherry tomatoes I'd pick before heading inside.

Lastly, I got a pot of lily of the valley. It smells so good to walk by. I wish I could keep it inside as a houseplant, but it needs winter dormancy. Supposedly, they can live in pots just fine though. I hope it lives because I am so in love with it.

An updated "trying to grow" list to come tomorrow as well as more detailed weather info from the weather station which is up and going!

5.8.25

Weather:
The evil..

The morning glories are trying to come back in full force. We're really going to fight them this year. I have their sprouting leaves burned into my memory. May no morning glory survive. They will not pull my poppies down again!

Pictured is what the morning glories look like compared to radishes. I don't think I have anything else with similar sprouting leaves, so it makes it super easy to spot them. I do love the look of the morning glories, but I want my native flowers to prevail.

The bees really love them, so it makes me feel bad. BUT I have other and better flowers for them coming. Big things coming, bees, watch this space.

Fr if any of you are considering morning glories, just know that they basically never go away. Their roots go like 5 to 15 feet deep in the soil. They make ugly tubors that will always try to crop up. BE WARNED!

5.3.25

Weather:
It's beginning!!!!

I think I'm gonna have to buy plants for much of my other stuff. I really fucked up by starting the seedlings way too late. I was just kind of depressed much of the winter, and I didn't want to do anything. That's okay, though. I love buying plants. I'll probably end up buying houseplants, too. I just really need to figure out how to overwinter them with my illegal gas heater. Oops.

Much of what I'm planting will be the same. There's about three spots I'm gonna hit up for the plants. I am going to be super particular about the tomatoes. I unfortunately have early tomato blight which unlike other blights, which are nutrient deficiencies, tomato blight is a fungus. Early blight is when it's already in the soil and late blight is when it gets carried by the wind (I think). All of my garden beds have it, and the only way to get rid of it is to treat the soil with chemicals over the winter. I rent, so I can't just pour chemicals in the yard. Plus, there are ways around it. The fungus doesn't infect the roots. It moves up to the leaves in the wind, but it needs water. All you have to do is put mulch or tarp down and water the tomatoes at the base. This blight also infects potatoes, so I can't grow potatoes.

I think I am still going to try to work on the seedlings. I am for sure doing green beans from seed. They take well on their own in the beds as long as the rabbits don't eat them. The rabbits have already starting digging in the beds. The radishes and onions are doing great, though! I'm already seeing the sprouting leaves of the radishes :)) They're so cutie. I did actually dump the whole packet of radish seed, sooooo there are a lot of radishes sprouting..

The rhubarb, Barb, is HUGE. It bolts every year, and this year is no different. It's technically my landlord's plant, so she had to take care of the bolt (I mostly wanted to learn how to do it without messing up the plant).

The rhubarb is going to be prolific this year. I don't even know what I am going to do with all of it. I'm not that good of a baker, and rhubarb is usually used in baking goods. I might have to get good at making crisp. I have always loved rhubarb crisp, but I am SO BAD at making crisps. They always end up way too soggy. Rhubarb coffee cake is another thing I could do. I can do cakes pretty easily. I am just not the best with cookies. I have an ancient gas oven, and I'm unsure if its temps are accurate. Anyways, rhubarb good.

The wildflower bed is doing some fun things too. There's catnip invading it because there's catnip planted along the side of the house. I'm not too upset that it's in the bed, but I think I'm gonna get rid of it.

The types of flowers that are planted in this bed are ones that take a really long time to come up. The first year was primarily poppies and cornflowers. I LOVED the cornflowers. They were the most striking periwinkle, and they looked like they were glowing at dusk. Anyways because it's been a year since I planted these, we will have new flowers. I really don't remember what's there. It will be a super fun surprise. I have soooomes ideas of what's in it, but I really won't know until it grows.

There are some sprouts that I already don't recognize. There's this fuzzy guy that I am obsessed with. Did I ever say that I'm not that good with flowers? I don't know too much. I just know that I love prairie flowers over any other kind, and I wish florists had more prairie flowers rather than the boring other ones.

4.21.25

Weather:
Forgot a couple things.

I realized that I totally forgot to plant the green beans and the nasturtiums. I wanted to do nasturtiums last year because I think they're beautiful, but it was too late in the season. They are pretty and provide some pest control. There's a LOT of pest control measures I gotta take this year because they were such a hassle last year. I had slugs that I tried to fight off with beer. I had cabbage worms on my brussel sprouts that I watched ants fight. I had rabbits that sat in my yard too comfortably. Thrips on my tomatoes, etc etc. I don't want to use pesticides, though, so I am depending on other plants that keep things away like nasturtiums.

The daffodils are coming up in the front yard. I think they're so fun. I just wish they bloomed longer. There's a few different kinds that the landlord had planted, and my faves are these really tiny guys that grow in only one spot.

A friend had invaded my yard with a friend of his, and they saw my garden in an ugly state so I did a few more things. Added the tarp down for the tomatoes (to prevent early blight hopefully) and added the dirt into the bed. I also planted the green beans that I forgot to plant.

I was pleased to see that the rain from the previous week helped a lot of the existing plants to grow a fair amount. There's catnip in my wildflower bed, the creeping plants are growing, and the strawberries have popped up. It's year two on the strawberries only two more to go for them to be matured. I think? I'm not sure. I do the veggies. The strawberries are my neighbor's thing.

We spent much of the night hanging out in the yard keeping our rent low by playing with fruit ninja with a real sword, crushing beer cans, and playing with the intercom installed in a car. The young American experience. I had my three silly drinks: lead-filled tap water, a Spindriff, and an American IPA.

At this point of the season, there's not really much going on in the garden. It's just a lot of waiting. The things you do notice is the changing of the clouds and sunset. I have a hard time describing this, but clouds in the cold months feels different than the clouds in the warmer months. They look different because the different temperatures have different air densities, but the vibes are different, too. Early spring and late summer has the best sunsets with the best clouds. Along with the cool clouds, the bats are out working hard eating the mosquitoes. I love those little guys. I will be freaking myself out about rabies later, though.

I will hold off on garden updates until things start really happening. I don't really want to talk about watering and looking at dirt everyday. I wanna get my weather station setup too just for my nerdy weather interest.

4.22.25

Weather:
Started the garden work.

I gathered the household to help in the garden after work. I let the garden die last year, and I left it alone over the winter. I was a little disheartened by the morning glories that took over, the tomato blight, pests, and too much rain. I won't let that get to me this year! I am determined to keep things at bay and have a good garden. Unfortunately, I did start my seedlings way too late. If there's issues, I'll just buy the plants, so it's okay.

We cleaned up the beds and added more dirt to one of the beds. We also got the leaves cleaned up, and yard kinda tidied. We're the messy ones on the block ngl. Keeps the rent down tho :p We got Miller High Life bottle tops stomped into the dirt here (pictured below and to the right).

While cleaning up the garden, we stumbled upon many small critters. Several rock centipedes, a ladybug (a real one!), and many, many earth worms. We took a break at the dairy queen. Mmm ice cream.. and then I spent too much money at home depot and bought a houseplant that I will probably have issues overwintering because I have weird heating in my old house.

I was pleased to see that the rain from the previous week helped a lot of the existing plants to grow a fair amount. There's catnip in my wildflower bed, the creeping plants are growing, and the strawberries have popped up. It's year two on the strawberries only two more to go for them to be matured. I think? I'm not sure. I do the veggies. The strawberries are my neighbor's thing.

The landlord forced the rhubarb with a bucket over top. I'm not entirely sure how this works, but it worked pretty damn well. I may have too much rhubarb this year.

Planted/planting: Will come back: Seperate pots for funsies: To get: