Category Archives: Gardening

Garden Almost Done!

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I better have potatoes coming out of my ears at the end of the potato season, or I swear, I will never plant potatoes again. I’ve devoted far more garden space to them than I’d originally intended, and let’s just say the earth moving required was well beyond my usual levels of tolerance for manual labor. I am not a big fan of digging with shovels for extended periods of time.

That said, I am a little proud of myself for getting three trenches dug for the potatoes.† I assure you, I battled with myself the entire time. After I finished the first one, I didn’t want to dig two more, so I really had to fight against every fiber of my being screaming at me to give up and let Lin finish the job. Smashing one of my fingers half way through the second trench didn’t help any either. The sight of blood coming out of one of my own appendages is usually enough to make me want to stop doing whatever it is I am doing and never do it again. But the whole finger smashing event made me angry.†† Once I’m angry, my inner pit bull just latches onto whatever it is I need to get done and doesn’t let go until it’s finished (or I’m incapable of finishing).

Once I got the trenches dug and the potatoes in the ground and covered with a couple inches of dirt, I realized I had to move the large container, large wheelbarrow, and lawn tractor trailer which were all full of dirt somewhere away from the garden so I could water without getting it wet as well. I managed to pull the large container away from the area, and I very carefully got the broken old wheelbarrow out of my way as well. That left the lawn tractor trailer that wasn’t connected to the lawn tractor. Obviously, it was too heavy for me to move by just lifting the end and pulling it away, so my choices were to wait until Lin got home to drive the lawn tractor or … learn to drive the lawn tractor myself. I didn’t feel like waiting, so I hopped onto the thing and looked at the controls.

Seemed simple enough, so I made sure the brake was engaged, put it in neutral, checked that the mowing blades were in the up position, and turned the key. It roared to life, and I very, very slowly drove it over to the trailer, backed up, and connected the trailer to it. All by myself!!! Then I drove it all the way around the garden to find a good parking space … cackling loudly the whole time, because driving a lawn tractor is a blast! I can’t wait to find an excuse to drive it again, and next time, maybe I’ll take it out of the slow “turtle speed” setting and push it up a bit closer to “rabbit speed”. LOL!

Then I set up the sprinkler to give the garden a good deep watering, sat in the shade on the lawn tractor with my e-cig and a mug of ice water, and felt a pleasant sense of self-satisfaction and accomplishment. I also worried more than a little that I would wake up today and not be able to move at all. Mostly, I was worried about my on-going elbow problem. It’s been getting better (slowly) since I started sleeping with two pillows and keeping myself from sleeping on it all night, but it started complaining the moment I put shovel to earth. By the time I finished the second trench, it hurt as badly as it did the night I injured it. By the time I was done with everything, I was so tired and numb all over, I couldn’t tell how it felt. I figured I’d wake up today and it would be miserable.

Amazingly, my elbow feel better than it has in weeks. Oh sure, my arms in general feel fatigued and achy (as does my whole body), but that elbow pain is greatly diminished. I’m quite surprised. Pleased too! I guess digging some trenches was exactly the physical therapy it needed. Or maybe I’m just so tired all over I can’t tell my elbow is totally broken. Guess we’ll see once I’m not utterly fatigued and aching all over, but it does seem greatly improved. Here’s hoping it’s true that it’s getting better. I am so tired of having an achy elbow.

In other garden news, more tomato seedlings have popped up! Added to the list of this season’s potential tomatoes are Brown Cherry, Pineapple, and Unknown. The Pineapple tomato seeds I saved from the most beautiful heirloom tomato I’d ever seen that we bought at the farmers market three years ago. I’ve tried planting them every season since, and I have had no success getting the plants to survive and produce tomatoes. This is really the last year those seeds are going to be anything like viable, so I am so happy I have two that came up. All I really need is one tomato, so I can keep trying with them, but I do hope this is the year they thrive. And I have no idea what the Unknown Tomato seeds will end up being. They were some I saved, and I forgot to label them. By the time I got around to putting them away after fermentation, I forgot what they were. All I know is they are most likely another heirloom from the farmers market. I have two of those that came up as well, so I can’t wait to see what comes of them.

Today’s mission in the garden is to get the beans planted. That’s all. Then I’m taking the weekend off from the digging and crawling around on my hands and knees. I deserve a properly lazy weekend! Next Monday, I have to start clearing out useless lettuce plants that have decided the season is over and start getting that bed ready for the tomato plants to come. Aside from on-going watering, bug killing, and weeding, that’ll be it in the garden until those tomato seedlings are large enough to transplant into real soil.††† It’s been a long freaking week of garden work, but it’s done, done, done! Yippee!

And I also have to go to the store to get pizza toppings and sodas. I wish I hadn’t forgotten to get these things when I was there on Wednesday, because I really don’t feel like going to the store today. I do feel like having pizza at some point (though maybe not tonight), so having toppings would be nice. I’m sure I’ll manage to drag myself over there, most likely during the time period when Sonic drinks are half-priced. I think I need a cherry limeade today. I might even need a hot dog. I deserve junk food!

But first, more coffee. Lin bought me a French press, which I am dying to try, but I think I’ll finish up the last of the old coffee with the espresso machine today and start using the press in the morning with the nice new bag of San Francisco blend beans. It’s going to be nice being able to make enough coffee for everyone all at one go. Love the espresso machine (and will continue using it too), but one cup at a time is a bit of a drag when there’s more than one person wanting coffee. Can’t wait to try the French press though! I just know it’s going to be awesome.

And I also have to pay attention to the cats that will NOT leave me alone this morning. Apparently, they did not get enough attention yesterday, so I better dish out the head scritches and belly rubs in bountiful doses today. My masters command it!

Footnotes
  1. † In the grand scheme of things, moving 10 cubic feet of dirt with a shovel isn’t really a lot of dirt moving, but it’s the most digging I have ever done EVER. I reserve the right to be proud of my minor accomplishment. [↩]
  2. †† And hopefully, I didn’t disturb any of the neighbors with my little temper tantrum in the back yard. There may have been some loudish cussing, and there most certainly was the loud sound of me whacking a tree with some dry bamboo. Sorry, but busting my finger required a temper tantrum. [↩]
  3. ††† Well, I also have to get back to clearing out the front flower bed, but that has never been a huge priority. I hate that flower bed and wish it didn’t exist. [↩]

In the Garden

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I’d say I’m ready for the weekend to be here, but I’m not, because I have a ton of things to do before the weekend can be allowed to arrive.

Been busy in the garden sticking seeds in the ground. Yesterday, I planted the red onions, and on a lark decided to plant some of my older pepper seeds. NO idea if the peppers will come up or not, but if not, that section will be used for scallions and maybe some radishes (and a tomato plant or two). I don’t really need 15 pepper plants of any sort, but I thought I should plant that many seeds (older, so germination success rates will be lower) in hopes of getting one or two out of it. Today the first round of bush beans are getting planted and the one tomato plant still in its nursery pot will probably find a new home in the garden. That leaves the planting of potatoes for Friday … and then … the garden will be planted!

Carrots are coming up like crazy everywhere in what I am now calling the Carrot Bed. I’d planted one of the bought tomato plants in that bed, but I think before it gets much larger, I’ll be moving it elsewhere. Bed One is seriously going to be wall-to-wall carrots. If you aren’t anal about plants being in perfect rows and don’t mind them doing their own thing, allowing plants to self-seed works remarkably well. Even more exciting than the presence of many baby carrot plants is the presence of new blooms on the parent plants. It looks to me like they are going to drop seed at just the right time for winter carrots. I love nature! It really knows what it’s doing!

The Black Seeded Simpson lettuce is beginning to want to go to seed. It’s always sad when that time of the year rolls around, but it does. Like clockwork, it starts going to seed in April. The days just start getting too hot. We still have a few weeks of salads left, and then whatever is left gets thinned out to the strongest and latest to bolt plants. The rest goes onto my new compost heap (so glad it’s now right in the garden), and the empty area in that bed gets reseeded with basil and other herbs.

The Genovese Basil didn’t reseed itself so well this year. Actually, it did, but the wacky weather we’ve had this spring lead to it sprouting right before that very last massive cold front, and most of the baby plants died. I have three plants that were in a pot and are now a good seedling size and a couple new ones in the bed with the lettuce. This would be enough for general use, but I want enough to put away some pesto in the freezer for winter (and to share with others). I did plant some new basil varieties recently, and those have begun to come up as well. I love basil. Can never have too much of it!

What hasn’t been coming up is dill. I had such poor success with the variety of dill my grandfather used to grow (don’t even ask me the name), so I bought a different variety this year (it’s more of a bush type). It is as hard to get started as all dill plants seem to be. The biggest problem is the seeds need light to germinate … as in, they need to be merely pressed into the surface of the dirt and not, you know, actually planted under the dirt. Outside, this often leads to things like birds and ants having a nice snack or the rain burying them before they sprout. There is something that has come up where I put those seeds, but it doesn’t look like dill. I’ll give it a week or so to see if it is dill or not, but I’m afraid it’s just more stupid weeds.

Another depressing thing in the garden at the moment is the Jet Set tomato plant. I planted it in the lettuce bed, and it looks like hell. I specifically bought this hybrid I’ve never tried before because it’s supposed to be resistant to all the major tomato diseases, but it looks diseased. It could just be the shock of being transplanted … or being unaccustomed to being treated properly (seriously, what is up with the people at Lowe’s – they do not know anything about plants). I’m going to give it one more week to show some new growth that doesn’t look diseased and then, I may very well kill the thing or at least put it in a pot and move it far, far away from the garden.

Speaking of tomatoes, I got a late start this year getting my seeds going. I’d be upset about that if the weather had been normal this year, but seeing as it’s still occasionally getting REALLY chilly at night, being late with my tomato plants isn’t going to be a crisis. Besides, that’s why I always buy a few plants as backups and to give me some early tomatoes. Fact is, having tomatoes before July 4th is really a luxury. Anyway, I got my seeds started late, but I’m having good success with germination. Three yellow pears have come up, as have three of the all new cherry tomato varieties I decided to try this year (Nugget, Snow White, and Sweetie). In a couple of weeks, these will all get moved to the garden. I’m especially hoping the yellow pears do good this year after last year’s total failure to produce even one plant that survived to give me tomatoes. I need some tomato success this season.

The peas are growing, though slowly. They look so healthy and strong though, so I expect them to pick up steam soon. They have just begun to send out arms to grab a trellis, so I suppose I better be making one soon. The plan is to crochet one out of leftover brightly-colored acrylic yarn from the Blanton project and run it from the planters to the hooks on the porch roof. The peas will love it, and once they start climbing it, I’ll have some shade and privacy on the porch. Hopefully, I will also end up with some peas, but to be honest, I won’t be disappointed if I don’t. Pea plants are pretty, and mostly I want some shade and privacy on the porch. The year I had the cherry tomatoes up there, I enjoyed sitting on the porch without baking in the sun.

I think that’s about it for garden news. Today is my watering day, so I better get out there and set up the sprinkler to water the stuff I’ve planted the last couple of days. I watered it all by hand each day, but not very deeply. Now there’s a good block of it done, so I can use the sprinkler and give it a good long watering. Not only will it be good for the seeds trying to sprout, it will also keep the damn cats from using my new garden bed as a litter box. The neighborhood cars have been making me a little crazy this week, but that’s a whole other post waiting to be written. Right now, I think I’ve babbled enough about the garden, so it must be time to go take care if the garden a bit.

And have more coffee. Need more coffee.

Chilly Tuesday Morning

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Brrrrr. It did indeed get pretty cold here last night. It’s still pretty chilly this morning. Feels more like winter than spring, that’s for sure.

Boo! Hiss!

Not that the cold is bothering me too much. You see, I’ve had an idea for that project with the upcoming deadline for which I haven’t been having any ideas. It’s a really good idea too. I get lots of random ideas for art projects, and I don’t always declare them to be good. They all always have the potential to be good, but very few pop into my head really well-formed, fleshed-out, and really, REALLY intriguing. I’m hoping I can do it proper justice, and I think I can. If I can get the first one done to my satisfaction, I suspect it will lead to an extensive series and may end up being my pinnacle works for the year.

This is great, because I seriously need to make the best work of my life at this moment in time. Something unique. Something with a hook. I think I’ve got it. I’d tell you about it, but it’s still bouncing around in my brain this morning and coming together, and I never get in the way of the muse when she’s working. All I will say right now is that it will use my writing abilities and my artistic abilities together, and there’s going to be some mystery involved. I am very excited and eager to get started, which is why I will be off to the art supply store today to get some needed supplies for testing some ideas.

But first, I will be doing some housework and planting squash and cucumbers. Yesterday, I planted the block of corn, and while I naturally want to get everything planted in one day, I don’t want to kill myself doing it. The garden is significantly larger this year, and I have about 200 more seeds/plants to get planted. My goal is to have the whole garden planted by the coming weekend. Maybe I’ll make it. Maybe I won’t. Considering some parts of Central Texas saw freezing weather last night, I’m not feeling like I’m running especially late anymore. Soil temps will have dipped a bit after last night’s lows.

In other garden news, the peas are happily growing, two of my tomato plants have flowers on them, the new varieties of basil have come up, and this year’s weed-like veggie seems to be carrots. I’m finding carrots growing everywhere. Not complaining about that at all. I like it when vegetables go weed-like and pop up all over the place. It means they like where they are growing! Also means a plentiful supply of carrots, which is a very good thing.

I’d expected to see last year’s weed-like vegetable –basil– popping up like mad too, but so far only a couple have made an appearance. Though considering how crazy the temps have been lately with really weird overnight lows, it might just be too cool yet for the basil to be going crazy. There are three that came up in one of my pots that look fabulous, but pots get much warmer in the sun much faster. I think once it stops getting cold the basil will be all over the place again too. At least I hope so! If not, I have plenty of saved seed from last year to toss out there to get it restarted.

Anyway, here’s hoping this really is the last of the cold weather this year. I keep saying that though, and it keeps not being true. Mother Nature seems to be on drugs this season. She needs to get her act together now! Stop with the cold weather already! It’s confusing my plants!

Need to consume more coffee now, because as excited as I am about both the garden and the art project plans, my allergies are kicking my butt. Trees are having sex everywhere! Argh! It’s causing the usual brain fog and stuffed up head. I’m trying not to drug myself, because that certainly doesn’t help the brain fog, but I may have to give in and take a pill or two today. I’m going to try massive quantities of coffee first to get as much done before I feel I have to drug myself. Hopefully, this will work. LOL!

Where is spring?!

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I’m going to go ahead and declare this the Year of Things Not Going As Planned. Now I never again need mention that things haven’t gone as planned. We will all just assume (correctly) that if I have planned something, the post I make afterward will be about how things didn’t go as planned. OK? OK! Now on to the complaining…

So this weekend I planned to get the rest of the garden put in and planted. I did get the fire ants slain. I did get more weeds pulled. I did get my new patch of wild onions transplanted to a better location. The previously transplanted tomatoes did grow, and the peas continued to sprout. Unfortunately, the drive chain on the tiller decided it was too old to do its job, so it broke. This lead to an afternoon of trying to find a replacement chain … and not finding one. To appease my aggravation, I bought a patio tomato plant, a small bag of potato starts for purple potatoes, and a new solar light for the garden area. Then I baked bread, sprinkled some of my new basil seeds and dill seeds in Bed Two, and transplanted the new tomato plant into a large pot and placed it in its new home on my front porch. All of these things somewhat allayed the aggravation caused by the knowledge I would not be working my butt off today planting the new garden area, but not by much. I really, really need to get those seeds in the ground NOW.

I suppose it’s not the end of the world my back yard still isn’t plowed up and ready for planting, seeing as we’ve had an unexpected dip in the temperature outside and the weather has gone all gray and gloomy. I wouldn’t have wanted to be outside working in the garden today anyway, and the seeds wouldn’t have wanted to be out there either. What the hell, Mother Nature?! It’s spring! It’s not supposed to be 53ºF at noon during the spring! I’m supposed to be worried about my almost hairless head getting a sunburn and sweating not having to wear knit hats to keep my scalp from feeling altogether too cold. I’m most displeased by the appearance of a cold front, and it looks like it’s going to be hanging around most of the week. Boo. Hiss.

And how’s the hair doing? Growing. Growing thick and wiry and dark and sprinkled with silver. It’s too early to be upset about it, but I’m not going to be too surprised to discover my hair is just like the hair of every female ancestor on my family tree. There were reasons I started beating my hair into submission when I left home for college. I wasn’t terribly fond of the way my hair began to change when I started achieving adulthood. I wanted to continue having long straight hair and not the wiry, sort-of-curly, sort-of-wavy, kind-of-drab hair it seemed to want to be. But I’m committed to waiting long enough to give it a chance to impress me with it’s beauty and awesomeness before I go all chemical on it. Maybe I can learn to love having hair that sticks out in all directions, curls and kinks however it pleases, and feels like steel wool. And seeing as I’ve been very much about how people should accept themselves as they are and not go crazy trying to fit into societal norms and expectations, I should probably start walking the walk and not just talking the talk. LOL!†

In other news, I have about four weeks to finish the latest art project. I, of course, haven’t really started yet. Oh, I’ve done a bunch of sketches, took a bunch of photos, done a lot of reading, contemplated a lot of concepts, but I still am not at all certain what I want to do on this project. I’ve actually not been feeling very creative recently. That happens, and it’s OK when that happens. A person can’t be totally creative all the time. The muse needs a break, so it takes one. It’s just a little annoying for it to happen when there’s a hard deadline ahead, and when I need to turn out some of the best work of my life. But … no pressure!!! I’m sure my muse will wake up from her nap in time and all will be well in the end, but at the moment, I’m starting to feel a little stress about it all. Therefore, I’m going to spend this afternoon organizing my workspace and looking at all my art supplies. Sometimes, that helps. Sometimes not. At least it makes me feel like I’m doing something productive.

That about sums up things around here. Yup, I just don’t have much to talk about, and I’m not complaining that my life is a bit boring at the moment. I’m sure some drama will come along eventually and spice things up. It always does! Now to go do dishes, vacuum, and then fondle my art supplies and hope some awesome ideas pop into my chilly near-hairless head.

Footnotes
  1. † There’s a whole post about my hair coming soon. A neighbor said something to me the other day that got the gears in my brain grinding, and that’s lead to intensive navel gazing … or hair gazing, I suppose. Since I won’t be working in the garden for at least a couple days, I’ll get to sit down and finish that post. I know you can’t wait. Hee, hee. [↩]