So I had to get a new power cord for my lappy because I LOST the old one (don't ask) - and it was only a few $ at Amazon, so I also got a few books.
2 books on container gardening.
Good news: I have done a number of things "right" without knowing any better.
Bad news: I have done a lot of things "wrong" without knowing better. I know better now, next year should be interestinger. <-(is SO a word!)
Also got Keith Richards' "Life". Will bring that along on the drive to Florida for "put your brain to sleep so you can sleep" and entertainment. Since I'm driving, I can bring a number of books. This is good.
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
The final count
Ok, I'm done buying plants for the garden. If the stuff makes it, great. If not... learning experience.
Over the weekend I went out and got 4 more plants.
1) Straight-neck yellow squash. I like these sliced thin and saute'd with a little butter and a spritz of lemon juice.
2) Bush cucumber. Supposed to do well in containers. We shall see.
3) "Black Beauty" eggplant (aubergine). The one I got earlier was not the typical (pardon my french) uterus-shaped ones, but round. While the idea of great purple softballs is amusing, I am not certain I will like them, so these new ones will be more "normal" - presuming I can grow them. Again, we shall see.
4) A square pot with a square trellisy thing with a large-scale sweet green pepper plant. I really do hope this does well. Even if it does not, the pot is cute.
So that's it. Make it or break it. The container garden has:
1 pot of peas - doing exceptionally well. Making pea-flowers. Good.
1 pot of pole beans - the leaves look a little wrinkly, but they are climbing up the trellis nicely, and although they are a few weeks behind the peas, I think they will do ok as well.
1 box of lettuce - doing good. The leaves are getting bigger, and I've actually nipped off a few and put them on sandwiches. Not enough for a decent salad yet, but I will certainly do this again!
1 pot of 3 tomato plants. They seem to be doing ok. A few flower buds are coming on, although I'm not sure they will make baby tomatoes just yet. This planter needs a LOT of water.
2 pots of peppers. Banana peppers in one, big sweet green peppers in the other. They look awesomely healthy, but I've been fooled by peppers before. We'll see.
1 pathetic little pot of basil. And yet... it isn't dead.
1 pot with 2 kinds of eggplants (aubergines). Fingers crossed.
1 pot with a "bush" cucumber. Again with the finger crossing.
1 pot with a straight-neck squash plant. Crossing toes, as I've run out of fingers.
Over the weekend I went out and got 4 more plants.
1) Straight-neck yellow squash. I like these sliced thin and saute'd with a little butter and a spritz of lemon juice.
2) Bush cucumber. Supposed to do well in containers. We shall see.
3) "Black Beauty" eggplant (aubergine). The one I got earlier was not the typical (pardon my french) uterus-shaped ones, but round. While the idea of great purple softballs is amusing, I am not certain I will like them, so these new ones will be more "normal" - presuming I can grow them. Again, we shall see.
4) A square pot with a square trellisy thing with a large-scale sweet green pepper plant. I really do hope this does well. Even if it does not, the pot is cute.
So that's it. Make it or break it. The container garden has:
1 pot of peas - doing exceptionally well. Making pea-flowers. Good.
1 pot of pole beans - the leaves look a little wrinkly, but they are climbing up the trellis nicely, and although they are a few weeks behind the peas, I think they will do ok as well.
1 box of lettuce - doing good. The leaves are getting bigger, and I've actually nipped off a few and put them on sandwiches. Not enough for a decent salad yet, but I will certainly do this again!
1 pot of 3 tomato plants. They seem to be doing ok. A few flower buds are coming on, although I'm not sure they will make baby tomatoes just yet. This planter needs a LOT of water.
2 pots of peppers. Banana peppers in one, big sweet green peppers in the other. They look awesomely healthy, but I've been fooled by peppers before. We'll see.
1 pathetic little pot of basil. And yet... it isn't dead.
1 pot with 2 kinds of eggplants (aubergines). Fingers crossed.
1 pot with a "bush" cucumber. Again with the finger crossing.
1 pot with a straight-neck squash plant. Crossing toes, as I've run out of fingers.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Garden Update
Just 2 photos, but taken this morning.
First off, the lettuces, which are doing pretty well, considering the trauma from the monsoons and lack of sufficient drainage (and resulting mudslide when I tried to pour out some of the overflowing excess water).
And the peas and beans. The peas have gone past the top of their teepee - I think I may have to put more green wire/tape from the teepee up to the top of the fence to give them room to stretchhhhhhh.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
My Weekend with Mr. T
I spent the memorial day weekend hosting a little fuzzy visitor from the UK - he wasn't really big, but he has a big job. He is travelling around the world, raising money for worthy charities. Right now his charity is the helicopter ambulance guys - the ones who go to really bad emergencies and take folks to the hospital fast so that they (hopefully) don't die.
His name is Mr. Tonsilpus, and he has his own website and Facebook and everything.
I volunteered to show him around my part of the world (Chicago and suburbs), and he showed up at my office on Friday night, ready and raring to go. Unfortunately I still had some paperwork to work through, so he gave me a hand with that before we got to go home for the evening. Here he is, checking out my baby Lime Tree in the livingroom.
Equally unfortunate, the Monsoon Monster was still pouring torrential rain on my area, so we really didn't get to do much but sit around the house and play with Kili the cat. Kili gave him the once-over, then ignored him.
Saturday dawned rainy and wet and nasty. Again we were thwarted from any outdoor activity, which was a bummer. I decided to give Mr. T a guided tour of my sewing/crafting area (formerly my daughter's bedroom).
He seemed really interested in my quilting, and it occurred to me that he might enjoy having a little quilt of his own to travel with, since it can get kind of cold overnight in those post offices all around the world.
We picked out some nice fabrics and I put together a "T-sized" quilt for him. (I really, really screwed up with the binding. I'm not used to working with such small pieces, and the corners just would NOT lay flat for me. It's embarassing, but time was at a premium and after the 4th rip&redo I gave up on perfection.) He supervised.
Sunday was again cold and rainy and impossible. In fact, at one point I heard a noise outside that sounded like a train in my front yard. There wasn't a visible tornado, and the sirens never did go off, but it scared me some for sure! Later in the day I thought Mr. T should have at least the opportunity to go outside for a LITTLE, so we grabbed an umbrella and went out for pizza for lunch. (How much more "Chicago" than that can ya get?)
Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza from Giordanos. Mr. T perused the specials menu, but we ended up with a spinach & mushroom stuffed pizza.
Our nice waitperson let me take his picture with her (and the pizza!)
Sunday night we watched a couple of movies - one of them was the Blues Brothers (original), a Chicago classic.
Monday morning dawned bright and sunny. After a nice breakfast and a stroll through my little container garden, where Mr. T inspected my pea plants, we drove into the city of Chicago proper to see the sights.
From where I live, the easiest way to the downtown area is via the Eisenhower Expressway, which turns into the Congress Expressway when you get into the downtown area (right before it stops being an espressway and turns into Congress Parkway) The expressway, all 8 lanes of it at this point, goes underneath the old Post Office building. The building appears to be deserted - many windows are smashed out. Sad. I was always so impressed by this building as a child.
Mr. T said he'd like to see some of the places where they shot the movie we'd watched, so we went down to Wells St., under the "L" tracks.
Then we went over to Daley Center Plaza. Yes, that is the building where the Bluesmobile ran through the plate glass window. There were some kids playing in the fountains and we stayed a bit to watch them.
Mr. T also got his photo taken in front of the Picasso statue-sculpture-thingy.
Directly across the street was a place we remembered well from the night before - the place where the "Bluesmobile" met it's end - directly in front of the County building. Of course, we HAD to get a photo there!
We tried to find Wrigley Field, but the traffic was just wretched. So instead we took a short drive past Buckingham Fountain, which was on and working (but blocked by traffic!).
and then North up Michigan Avenue
And then a cruise through Lincoln Park and past the zoo - couldn't stop, no place to park! On a bright shiney warm day like this, when everyone who isn't a retail worker has the day off, it's hard to navigate through the fun places to go/see!
So as night began to crowd in, we headed back home for a nice little barbecue in the back yard (Mr. T stayed indoors where smoke and FIRE couldn't get at him!) and then the next day back into his Tyvek travelling sack and off to his next destination!
Bye bye, little fuzzball - it was fun!
His name is Mr. Tonsilpus, and he has his own website and Facebook and everything.
I volunteered to show him around my part of the world (Chicago and suburbs), and he showed up at my office on Friday night, ready and raring to go. Unfortunately I still had some paperwork to work through, so he gave me a hand with that before we got to go home for the evening. Here he is, checking out my baby Lime Tree in the livingroom.
Equally unfortunate, the Monsoon Monster was still pouring torrential rain on my area, so we really didn't get to do much but sit around the house and play with Kili the cat. Kili gave him the once-over, then ignored him.
Saturday dawned rainy and wet and nasty. Again we were thwarted from any outdoor activity, which was a bummer. I decided to give Mr. T a guided tour of my sewing/crafting area (formerly my daughter's bedroom).
He seemed really interested in my quilting, and it occurred to me that he might enjoy having a little quilt of his own to travel with, since it can get kind of cold overnight in those post offices all around the world.
We picked out some nice fabrics and I put together a "T-sized" quilt for him. (I really, really screwed up with the binding. I'm not used to working with such small pieces, and the corners just would NOT lay flat for me. It's embarassing, but time was at a premium and after the 4th rip&redo I gave up on perfection.) He supervised.
Sunday was again cold and rainy and impossible. In fact, at one point I heard a noise outside that sounded like a train in my front yard. There wasn't a visible tornado, and the sirens never did go off, but it scared me some for sure! Later in the day I thought Mr. T should have at least the opportunity to go outside for a LITTLE, so we grabbed an umbrella and went out for pizza for lunch. (How much more "Chicago" than that can ya get?)
Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza from Giordanos. Mr. T perused the specials menu, but we ended up with a spinach & mushroom stuffed pizza.
Our nice waitperson let me take his picture with her (and the pizza!)
Sunday night we watched a couple of movies - one of them was the Blues Brothers (original), a Chicago classic.
Monday morning dawned bright and sunny. After a nice breakfast and a stroll through my little container garden, where Mr. T inspected my pea plants, we drove into the city of Chicago proper to see the sights.
From where I live, the easiest way to the downtown area is via the Eisenhower Expressway, which turns into the Congress Expressway when you get into the downtown area (right before it stops being an espressway and turns into Congress Parkway) The expressway, all 8 lanes of it at this point, goes underneath the old Post Office building. The building appears to be deserted - many windows are smashed out. Sad. I was always so impressed by this building as a child.
Mr. T said he'd like to see some of the places where they shot the movie we'd watched, so we went down to Wells St., under the "L" tracks.
Then we went over to Daley Center Plaza. Yes, that is the building where the Bluesmobile ran through the plate glass window. There were some kids playing in the fountains and we stayed a bit to watch them.
Mr. T also got his photo taken in front of the Picasso statue-sculpture-thingy.
Directly across the street was a place we remembered well from the night before - the place where the "Bluesmobile" met it's end - directly in front of the County building. Of course, we HAD to get a photo there!
We tried to find Wrigley Field, but the traffic was just wretched. So instead we took a short drive past Buckingham Fountain, which was on and working (but blocked by traffic!).
and then North up Michigan Avenue
And then a cruise through Lincoln Park and past the zoo - couldn't stop, no place to park! On a bright shiney warm day like this, when everyone who isn't a retail worker has the day off, it's hard to navigate through the fun places to go/see!
So as night began to crowd in, we headed back home for a nice little barbecue in the back yard (Mr. T stayed indoors where smoke and FIRE couldn't get at him!) and then the next day back into his Tyvek travelling sack and off to his next destination!
Bye bye, little fuzzball - it was fun!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sew-servations
A lot of places have been pushing the "You're Fired" meme wrt Donnie's pretend presidency candidacy. Face it people - nobody in his/her right mind would ever HIRE a temperamental, thin-skinned, foolish, poorly attired, hairline deficient bozo like Donnie. "You're Not Hired" would be far more apropos.
The Shrub family is quietly trying to sneak Jeb past the general population's Early Bush Warning System. Be aware, Shrubs, I will fight tooth, nail and knee-to-the-scrotum to keep Jebbie out of the Oval office. Or the round, square, octagonal or parallelogram offices.
A little extra warmth certainly does do some amazing things to lettuces and peas. Squash and beans, not so much. Although I am kind of wondering if the Evil Grey Cat from Hell might not have done some digging in the beans and squash. Either that or Mr. Nibbles, the squirrel. If it is Mr. Nibbles, I won't mind as much. EGCfH, however is fat enough and does not need to eat my beans and squaches.
I am going to take a few days off work this weekend to do more gardening and spring cleaning. I am also going to take a couple photos of grandma's chair and see if I can get a quote from an upholstry place on how much to make it "like new, except pink".
The Shrub family is quietly trying to sneak Jeb past the general population's Early Bush Warning System. Be aware, Shrubs, I will fight tooth, nail and knee-to-the-scrotum to keep Jebbie out of the Oval office. Or the round, square, octagonal or parallelogram offices.
A little extra warmth certainly does do some amazing things to lettuces and peas. Squash and beans, not so much. Although I am kind of wondering if the Evil Grey Cat from Hell might not have done some digging in the beans and squash. Either that or Mr. Nibbles, the squirrel. If it is Mr. Nibbles, I won't mind as much. EGCfH, however is fat enough and does not need to eat my beans and squaches.
I am going to take a few days off work this weekend to do more gardening and spring cleaning. I am also going to take a couple photos of grandma's chair and see if I can get a quote from an upholstry place on how much to make it "like new, except pink".
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Clutching my pearls
Actually, replacing my clutch. *sigh* There is a reason why the Little Blue Neon was being bad. Finally the clutch has gone. As, apparently, so shall my tax refund. Expensive car repair. However, 11 year old car, the clutch was original equipment, so I can't say it went too soon.
Not too happy about it, but it COULD have been worse, so I'll deal. The car will run again come tomorrow nite - but I'm having to impose on Co-Worker "D" again, which I hate.
Just for Croila - photos from the gardening project:
This first one is a very "before" photo, showing the ravages of winter on the former perennial flowers-only garden part. On the right side you can just manage to see the "Octopus" tentacles growing up and to the right out of the frame. All the pots are now out and the last-year foliage trash has been ripped out.
Now, of pure interest value - here is the blue Pot O'Dirt - in which there ARE pea seeds unsprouted as yet:
Here is my make-shift "cold frame" for my lettuces. It is actually just a clear plastic box with a white lid on top of my air conditioner compressor - but it seems to be working:
And to prove it is working - here is a photo of my baby lettuces:
Obviously, this is only "exciting" to me - but it is progress, and all progress is good, even if some of it is slow. I can't wait to see how the lettuces do. I hope they do well. I need a shot of "good" after the word on the Little Blue Neon. *sigh*
Oh - btw - Dear White Castle Advertising Agency Guys:
The term "Sliders"? The one you are bragging about selling in your recent advertisements? Umm, guys? That's NOT a compliment. The original usage for "Sliders" was that they slid right through your digestive system - coming out as fast or faster than they went in.
It's a "bad thing". Just FYI and all.
Not too happy about it, but it COULD have been worse, so I'll deal. The car will run again come tomorrow nite - but I'm having to impose on Co-Worker "D" again, which I hate.
Just for Croila - photos from the gardening project:
This first one is a very "before" photo, showing the ravages of winter on the former perennial flowers-only garden part. On the right side you can just manage to see the "Octopus" tentacles growing up and to the right out of the frame. All the pots are now out and the last-year foliage trash has been ripped out.
Now, of pure interest value - here is the blue Pot O'Dirt - in which there ARE pea seeds unsprouted as yet:
Here is my make-shift "cold frame" for my lettuces. It is actually just a clear plastic box with a white lid on top of my air conditioner compressor - but it seems to be working:
And to prove it is working - here is a photo of my baby lettuces:
Obviously, this is only "exciting" to me - but it is progress, and all progress is good, even if some of it is slow. I can't wait to see how the lettuces do. I hope they do well. I need a shot of "good" after the word on the Little Blue Neon. *sigh*
Oh - btw - Dear White Castle Advertising Agency Guys:
The term "Sliders"? The one you are bragging about selling in your recent advertisements? Umm, guys? That's NOT a compliment. The original usage for "Sliders" was that they slid right through your digestive system - coming out as fast or faster than they went in.
It's a "bad thing". Just FYI and all.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
I have seen the Enemy
Damn grey cat. And me without a bb gun...
It was prowling around the back yards this morning as I drove off for work. No longer a small grey cat - it has grown huge and fat. I suspect that it WAS the thing that was crapping in my plant pots. Grrrrrrrrrr.
It is supposed to get down around 32 F tonite, so I will have to find something to cover up the pots for the peas and the beans. The squash seeds are deep enough and in the mud, so even if it does frost, they should be OK. I can just put the lid back onto the lettuces box.
I am thinking of making a stick teepee for the peas pot if they look to be too leggy and vine-y once they get going strong. I have a few old sticks, and if I put them into the pot and tie them together at the top with baling twine, it should work.
So I did some more work on the Quilt that Shall Not Be Named (Yet) although it actually does have a name, just can't put it here in case a certain happy scottish medical type decides to read a bit. I don't know what is slowing me down so much. I've gotten energy back in other venues - just not this yet. Things that make me go hmmmmm.
hmmmmm
Sunflower seeds are yummy, but for some reason sunflowers themselves kind of gross me out. Something about the seeds in the flower in the circles and bees and guts and gore and yes, I know that is rambling and makes no sense, but neither does my gross-out from sunflowers, so there, neener neener neener. I get grossed out in a similar way by some automotive grille-work. Dunno why.
Nope. Not gonna plant sunflowers.
It was prowling around the back yards this morning as I drove off for work. No longer a small grey cat - it has grown huge and fat. I suspect that it WAS the thing that was crapping in my plant pots. Grrrrrrrrrr.
It is supposed to get down around 32 F tonite, so I will have to find something to cover up the pots for the peas and the beans. The squash seeds are deep enough and in the mud, so even if it does frost, they should be OK. I can just put the lid back onto the lettuces box.
I am thinking of making a stick teepee for the peas pot if they look to be too leggy and vine-y once they get going strong. I have a few old sticks, and if I put them into the pot and tie them together at the top with baling twine, it should work.
So I did some more work on the Quilt that Shall Not Be Named (Yet) although it actually does have a name, just can't put it here in case a certain happy scottish medical type decides to read a bit. I don't know what is slowing me down so much. I've gotten energy back in other venues - just not this yet. Things that make me go hmmmmm.
hmmmmm
Sunflower seeds are yummy, but for some reason sunflowers themselves kind of gross me out. Something about the seeds in the flower in the circles and bees and guts and gore and yes, I know that is rambling and makes no sense, but neither does my gross-out from sunflowers, so there, neener neener neener. I get grossed out in a similar way by some automotive grille-work. Dunno why.
Nope. Not gonna plant sunflowers.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Very Interesting
The Chinese are said to have a saying - "May you live in interesting times".
It is not a blessing, it is said. This last week has been interesting in, I think, the spirit of that saying.
Someone killed my baby wind-chimes. I had them hanging on a hook in the back - a hook that lives in the dirt, and doesn't attach to ANYthing. The sound they made was so small, so tiny, you really couldn't hear it unless you were RIGHT on top of it. But someone took a scissors and slashed them off their base. I found them laying in the dirt below the hook. Asshats.
Did you know that Osama Bin Dead-as-a-doorknob was 1 year younger than me? How very interesting.
I find this especially interesting because I do know a lot of people my age who are fairly religious - and I don't know that there is any one of them who would perpetrate the kind of stuff that the Dead Beard and his buddies did.
I do somewhat wonder what the Saudi royal family is thinking right around now. It is my understanding that Bin Dead-for-a-day-now-starting-to-stink is related to all those dish-rag heads. (Yes, Kal, I know it's a bit racist - but I haven't any sympathy for the Saudis, nor the Talibans, nor, for that matter, anyone anywhere who would kill others for being gay or female or non-arab.)
I wonder if GWB didn't bother to do a lot of trying to track Dead Osama down because it would have caused repercussions at family dinners with the Royal Saudis. Them being all butt-buddies with the Bushies and all.
Pictures on Yahoo of New Yawkers dancing with flags in the streets like a bunch of ... Palestinians. Seriously, folks, aren't we supposed to be BETTER than them? Let's get back to our British roots and do the minimalist bit, eh? Stiff upper lip, dry humor, minimize the maximum, maximize the minimum and all?
9/12/01 - 1/20/09: 7 1/2 years, noting.
1/20/09 - 5/1/11: 2 1/2 years - Mission Accomplished.
No aircraft carrier. No flight suit prancing. Just quietly, calmly, "Justice has been done".
I planted beans and squashes seeds this weekend. The beans are in the pot with the trellis, they are supposed to climb. The squashes are in the dirt near the hook where the dearly departed windchimes were. I hope I get some squashes this year!
The octopus is out of the garden, yet still in the yard, as I don't have a special bag and sticker for yard waste to throw it out in. *sigh*. I may just have to buy one this year.
I also bought about a flat-worth of small plants - 2 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of sweet peppers, 4 eggplants (aubergines), some dill, some marigolds, some cucumbers that allegedly do ok in pots, and some Gerber daisies. Oh and a big plant of basil. Gonna try and make my own spaghetti sauce one of these days.
It is not a blessing, it is said. This last week has been interesting in, I think, the spirit of that saying.
Someone killed my baby wind-chimes. I had them hanging on a hook in the back - a hook that lives in the dirt, and doesn't attach to ANYthing. The sound they made was so small, so tiny, you really couldn't hear it unless you were RIGHT on top of it. But someone took a scissors and slashed them off their base. I found them laying in the dirt below the hook. Asshats.
Did you know that Osama Bin Dead-as-a-doorknob was 1 year younger than me? How very interesting.
I find this especially interesting because I do know a lot of people my age who are fairly religious - and I don't know that there is any one of them who would perpetrate the kind of stuff that the Dead Beard and his buddies did.
I do somewhat wonder what the Saudi royal family is thinking right around now. It is my understanding that Bin Dead-for-a-day-now-starting-to-stink is related to all those dish-rag heads. (Yes, Kal, I know it's a bit racist - but I haven't any sympathy for the Saudis, nor the Talibans, nor, for that matter, anyone anywhere who would kill others for being gay or female or non-arab.)
I wonder if GWB didn't bother to do a lot of trying to track Dead Osama down because it would have caused repercussions at family dinners with the Royal Saudis. Them being all butt-buddies with the Bushies and all.
Pictures on Yahoo of New Yawkers dancing with flags in the streets like a bunch of ... Palestinians. Seriously, folks, aren't we supposed to be BETTER than them? Let's get back to our British roots and do the minimalist bit, eh? Stiff upper lip, dry humor, minimize the maximum, maximize the minimum and all?
9/12/01 - 1/20/09: 7 1/2 years, noting.
1/20/09 - 5/1/11: 2 1/2 years - Mission Accomplished.
No aircraft carrier. No flight suit prancing. Just quietly, calmly, "Justice has been done".
I planted beans and squashes seeds this weekend. The beans are in the pot with the trellis, they are supposed to climb. The squashes are in the dirt near the hook where the dearly departed windchimes were. I hope I get some squashes this year!
The octopus is out of the garden, yet still in the yard, as I don't have a special bag and sticker for yard waste to throw it out in. *sigh*. I may just have to buy one this year.
I also bought about a flat-worth of small plants - 2 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of sweet peppers, 4 eggplants (aubergines), some dill, some marigolds, some cucumbers that allegedly do ok in pots, and some Gerber daisies. Oh and a big plant of basil. Gonna try and make my own spaghetti sauce one of these days.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Off to the Garden Center
Without question, I am def. going to try and grow an eggplant (aubergine?) this year. I think I'll also try another tomato plant, but this time I WILL interplant dill and marigolds in the pot to try and keep the hornworms at bay.
Today the Octopus in the garden dies. It is a wild rosebush that I think got in there from the root stock of a pretty rosebush that I had back there years ago but it died. Every few years the root stock tries to grow again, and last year I let it go out of A) curiosity and B) pure laziness. I already hacked off one "arm" of it, today the rest goes.
My lettuces are up, albeit just as little 2-leaf sprouts - but I'm going to assume that bodes well for more leaves eventually. The peas are ... I think a cat is using the pot they are in for a litterbox, which if I find out it is the little grey cat who shredded my screens, I am going to be ... very angry.
I'm going to plant the beans today. Probably put the squash seeds into the garden as well.
It is bright and sunny, and I can see all the trees in the neighborhood really leafing out, so I'm going to take a 6-day bet and figure that the danger of frost damage is mostly gone. The tender plants - tomato and eggplant and whatever else I am moved to purchase will stay indoors for another week or so - I'm not quite THAT ready to bet that Mother Nature won't go postal on me!
I wonder how many of those red-states that have had the severe weather and wildfires are going to apply for federal aid? *wonders*
Today the Octopus in the garden dies. It is a wild rosebush that I think got in there from the root stock of a pretty rosebush that I had back there years ago but it died. Every few years the root stock tries to grow again, and last year I let it go out of A) curiosity and B) pure laziness. I already hacked off one "arm" of it, today the rest goes.
My lettuces are up, albeit just as little 2-leaf sprouts - but I'm going to assume that bodes well for more leaves eventually. The peas are ... I think a cat is using the pot they are in for a litterbox, which if I find out it is the little grey cat who shredded my screens, I am going to be ... very angry.
I'm going to plant the beans today. Probably put the squash seeds into the garden as well.
It is bright and sunny, and I can see all the trees in the neighborhood really leafing out, so I'm going to take a 6-day bet and figure that the danger of frost damage is mostly gone. The tender plants - tomato and eggplant and whatever else I am moved to purchase will stay indoors for another week or so - I'm not quite THAT ready to bet that Mother Nature won't go postal on me!
I wonder how many of those red-states that have had the severe weather and wildfires are going to apply for federal aid? *wonders*
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Eating the yard
I'm just not succeeding with perennial flowers. Some of them do ok, but most of them are just annoying me, so I'm going to back off of that concept and do something else. Something else being veggies again.
Last nite I emptied a bag of potting soil into a clear plasticy box and sprinkled lettuce seeds on it. Then I added some water and put the cover on to protect it from frost. It is sitting on top of the air conditioner compressor. Hopefully it will make lettuces, since the variety I chose is called "Pixie" and makes small heads of lettuce, which amuses me.
I've started clearing some of the pots and stuff out of the "ground garden" where the perennials "live". The daffodils are doing great and the red lilies are coming up strong, as are the iris. Not sure about the astilbe or those little pruple/blue flowers and I think the bleeding hearts are dead.
I can't decide whether to try and grow a tomato plant again or not. I've had such ROTTEN luck with them the last few times that I'm tempted to just go try and grow peppers and forget the tomatoes. Interestingly, I did better with tomatoes at my Mom and Dad's old house where the black walnut trees were my only nemesis than I've done here with no trees to speak of.
Yes, Croila, I will put in photos - just not yet. A picture of a blue pot full of dirt is not really very interesting, IMNSHO.
Last nite I emptied a bag of potting soil into a clear plasticy box and sprinkled lettuce seeds on it. Then I added some water and put the cover on to protect it from frost. It is sitting on top of the air conditioner compressor. Hopefully it will make lettuces, since the variety I chose is called "Pixie" and makes small heads of lettuce, which amuses me.
I've started clearing some of the pots and stuff out of the "ground garden" where the perennials "live". The daffodils are doing great and the red lilies are coming up strong, as are the iris. Not sure about the astilbe or those little pruple/blue flowers and I think the bleeding hearts are dead.
I can't decide whether to try and grow a tomato plant again or not. I've had such ROTTEN luck with them the last few times that I'm tempted to just go try and grow peppers and forget the tomatoes. Interestingly, I did better with tomatoes at my Mom and Dad's old house where the black walnut trees were my only nemesis than I've done here with no trees to speak of.
Yes, Croila, I will put in photos - just not yet. A picture of a blue pot full of dirt is not really very interesting, IMNSHO.
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