OUT WITH THE CARPET !

This is the drab carpet we had in our living room. We always knew it would not be staying.

 The removing of dreaded tack strips.
 Laying down the noise block and underlayment.

 The 1st piece goes down.

 We caught this flooring on sale and could not pass it up. Lowe's had a great sale going on !

 It said cherry finish . But with the wood already in the house, it doesn't look red in any way.

 We did take off all the base boards.

This is what it looks like at the one wall, with the base boards back in place. See , doesn't look red.

 This is the two walls adjoining.

 I'm happy with the outcome. Carpet , so long !

THE SECCESSFUL GARDEN

The lasagna garden is a great success ! I planted sweet corn and green beans and cucumbers in the first bed. We harvested the corn ,than the green beans climbed the stocks , while the vines of the cucumbers kept the coons (we have a family of coons) from getting into the corn. Coons don't like the prickly spines on the cucumber vines

 Our lettuce, where the yellow picking tub sits. we couldn't eat it fast enough, but it was the best! you could pick it and it would grow back. And It keep in the frig for a week or more-STILL FRESH AND CRISP. We are still eating it and I will plant again for winter crop.

 Tomatoes every where !

 This is an average day's harvest.

 Look at those carrot tops ! you can see the size in the tub of picked veggies. I noticed some couldn't grow straight down/so they grew side ways. Next year the card board in the bottom of my beds should be completely decomposed and the carrot's can be left to crow larger if I like and should all be able to grow straight.

 

 onions,sweet peas,lettuce and tomatoes.

 Cabbage was put in as second crop.

 Cantaloupe vines and melons.

 The pepper plants are so full that the plants where falling over .More peppers than plant. I had to stake them.

 Green beans growing on corn stalks.

 Tomatoes grew so tall we had to cut our own stakes and use a latter to hammer into the ground. NOT A BAD THING.

Cabbage and squash- second crops.

 Watermelon vines under tomatoes.

 These are tomatoes growing up this wooden tepee, They are HUGE (The tepee, It's a futon frame with the pins removed, then wired together at the top for easy removal and folding)Looks nice too !

See the potatoes sacks. Our dog would always lay on top of the one sack. There was one on each end /4 sacks. And so it prematurely died back .The others are still green. So I decided to cut open the sack just to see if in fact we could expect a crop of potatoes this year  or not.  To my pleasant surprise ! We ate green beans and potatoes that week. 3 sacks left.

 Hardly any weeds to speak of.

 more pickings.

 For a small space , it's producing A LOT .

 Watermelons

 Cilantro

 Sweet Basil

Look No Weeds. Bunching onions (for ground and peppers after)

Kohlrabi and rutabaga's

 SO FARE WHAT WE HAVE GROWN ( all did very well)corn, green beans, cucumbers , sweet basil, parsley, cilantro, bell peppers, banana peppers, bunching onions, red onions, sweet peas, 2 kinds lettuces, potatoes /2 kinds, broccoli, cantaloupe, water melon, cabbage, squash /2 kinds, carrots, 2 kinds / tomatoes.

  Let me tell you, this way of gardening has required the least amount of work. Never in my life has gardening been this easy. I LOVE IT ! Everything I planted grew very well and produced very well. As a matter of fact, I was able to grow carrots for the very first time in my life. The carrots grew in the same beds as everything else did. Now I will be testing how long I can grow in these beds. Winter crops will be going in soon. I'll keep in touch.

Growing Vegetables.

Well , this raised bed , lasagna method of gardening seems to be doing very well. And, with little effort on my part. I know !  I said I wanted a garden with NO TILLING,NO WEEDING, NO WORK, NO KIDDING. Building the beds , laying down cardboard, cutting slits in cardboard and then watering it down before adding a little top soil and then a mix of manure and hay and leaves and what ever you have on hand, was the most of the work. And that we split into two days. We have 5 beds and we weren't in a big hurry. Now the whole ideal was to be able to grow enough produce to feed our family 's and then some. With no back braking work and very little invested money. So, here is what it looks like today. We have already been eating leaf lettuce , peas and table onions for a week or so.We are wanting to see how long we can keep this garden producing by replanting for fall/winter crops.

 Below , I left 2 beds in the different stages, so you can see how it was done . Of the 3 beds lined up. 1st/far left ( laying down and wetting the cardboard )2nd/middle (has soil) 3rd/right (has compost and leaves and planted).

 now, we did not put a lot of soil in these beds. 10 bags as you see(5 each side of the bed)these 3 beds are 4x12.

 In this small garden we where able to plant(in the 3 beds- two are not planted yet): 4 hills of water Mellon's,3 tomatoes, red onions , leaf lettuce, salad greens , peas, carrots ,  white onions, kohlrabi, rutabaga. 2nd long bed-18 more tomatoes,broccoli,21 peppers,onions,4 hills cantaloupe and some herbs. 3rd short bed,3 rows of corn and 3 rows of beans. We planted 4 bags of potatoes, So fare. I do plan on planting more to see if I can get a 2nd crop.

 Marie follows me every where when I'm out here in the back yard.

 My potatoes over flowed the bag.

 SEE THE PEAS!!!!!!!!!

 They are so sweet tasting.

 leaf lettuce. PICK AND COME AGAIN- that is, you pinch off the leafs and it grows back again.

 Onions.

 Potatoes are in bloom. they seemed to do very well in the trash bags. Now we wait for them to turn yellow and let the tops die back, week or two to harden off the potatoes in the dirt ,and then THE TRUTH ! Is there potatoes in there ?

 you get a few weeds in between the cardboard and wood beds ,but other than that, the rest of the weeds are very minimal and the easiest I can remember, EVER .

 See my little compost pile ,fare end. Come back and SHARE OUR HARVEST TIME.SEE HOW IT ALL GOES . Oh ! And see if we have any potatoes in those trash bags. Till than......