I awoke to a hard banging on the ceiling of my house and knocks on the window panes. I saw my husband wake up and out the room door he went. I got up and looked out the window and it was hailing really bad. I got up looking for him and I went into my daughters room and he was in there with her. I grab her and asked her if she wanted to get in the bed with us. She said "yes". I went into my bedroom to look out at the garden and the tree was bent almost to the ground. I was thinking " my poor plants". When the weather stopped..I went out into the garden and my heart was broken.  

My tomato plants!

I am grateful that I had about 8 plants that broke in half. The rest were just broken up pretty badly. 

I research online and I am trying to save the part that was broken off. I can not start by seed now on the plants. I will cut the plant and put it in dirt to see if it will start a root system. Fingers crossed. 

I put the tomatoes in a healing chamber so they can have some humidity. We will see how it will turn out. 

Mustard's Greens have been torn to shreds. 

I have decided that I am going to make the best of the mustard greens and collards and serve them for dinner today. 

I am going to stay positive about the situation and know that my garden will make a comeback. 

As you can see, I begin to do some of my seeds in December. The broccoli family known as Brassica oleracea is a species of plant that includes many common foods as culivars , including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, savoy and chinese kale. It normally takes the vegetables in this group 8 weeks before they can be transplanted outdoors. Here in zone 7B/8 , we can start early. I like to have my vegetable outdoors in February. The Brassica oleracea family loves cooler weather. Anything weather over 80 degrees and the vegetables will start to bolt. 

I normally like to start my seeds on paper towels. I get my best germination rates this way. 

Savoy cabbage is my favorite!!!! 

Red Cabbage

Broccoli and Cabbages.

Most say that radish should not be transplanted. I have had success for two planting seasons. It works. They turn out just fine....See......

I had them started in the greenhouse along with carrots and other herbs. 

See how great the radishes look! It can be done. You can start radish and transfer them into the garden

If you are wondering what kind these are....Some are Russian radish, rainbow radish , purple plum radish and white radish. 

I have decided to try something new this year. This is what I am using in my soil:

1. Azomite
   
2. Worm Casting  
   
3. Alfalfa Pellets
   
4. Sea 90 will be part of my compost tea. I will use that later in the growing season.

Good Source of Alfalfa is a good source of nitrogen, along with several other minerals including:

• phosphorus
• potassium
• calcium
• sulfur
• magnesium
• boron
• iron
• zinc

Alfalfa builds organic matter in your soil providing nutrients to plant roots. Its high nitrogen content helps other organic material to decompose and helps to prevent erosion. It also feds microorganisms. It stimulates growth and fixes nitrogen. 

What is Azomite?
Azomite is a natural re-mineralizer for soil. It contains more than 67 trace mineral elements and every essential micro-mineral needed by plants and animals, including a wide range of rare earth elements and other minerals not included in fertilizers or animal feeds. 

Flowers, plants and vegetable will all benefits from azomite. Gardeners have reported increased germination rates, improved yeilds and the colors were brighter. 

The use of worm casting
Worm castings are the richest natural fertilizer known to humans. Worm castings stimulate plant growth more than any other natural product on the market. Unlike animal manure and artificial fertilizers it is absorbed easily and immediately by plants. But Worm Castings don't only stimulate plant growth: they also enhance the ability of your soil to retain water (because of its texture), and it even inhibits root diseases such as root rot. 

I just mix all three in the raised garden beds. Once I am done... I water just a bit and cover with plastic until its ready for planting. 

I am totally new at this "blogging" thing. I figured I would up load pictures for the before process of getting ready for Spring 2014. Right now, its a mad house in my back yard. I know in the coming months it will be beautiful and full of life of my growing vegetables. Birds and bees will be humming while I am collecting the fruits of my labor. 

I had such a hard time last year getting water to my plants. I decided to do some research and found using water jugs would do the trick. I put holes in the water jugs and put them into the garden beds. I will also be able to feed my plants this way when I do my compost teas.