And So It Begins…
Friday night, Jack spent the night at my in-laws, and Troy and I went out to a simple dinner, and then to the movies. I gave Troy three options (two action movies, cause I’m a dude, and a comedy) and he picked Djano Unchained.
Good lord, I don’t mind violent movies, but this one made me hide my eyes a few times. However, it was also a great story, and we both enjoyed it.
ANYWAY, Saturday morning, I was awake with the sun (f you, internal alarm clock), and went outside to get my garden on while Troy remained asleep (until cough10:15cough). I continued to work on removing the root ball from some of the bushes that I cut down last week to clear the way for more blueberry bushes. That mo’fo is going to take forever. I’m tempted to tie a rope to Jack, feed him some straight sugar, and tie the other end of the rope around the bushes, and yell “run”.
After hacking away at the root ball for awhile, I got distracted by something shiny and went off to work on other easier more pertinent gardening projects. I trimmed up some bushes, I cut back the lavender plants and pulled a few weeds. I mowed the lawn and transplanted the mini-drawf apple tree that I planted last year. It needed to move because it is on the side of the house that will be going through some changes this year. Stay tuned for more…
When pulling weeds, I compared this February to last year, and am now a convert to putting down thick layers of straw for mulch. I still have weeds, but they’re easy to pull, and don’t create a weed carpet. Additionally, thanks to their cozy winter blanket, my garlic is now twice the size that they were at this time last year.
I also placed our seed order from Territorial Seeds for the year. I am splitting most of the seeds with a friend from high school, which will help defray the cost. I still have many tomato seeds from last year.
Here is what is one my list for this year (I’m also using almost all of the tomatoes from last year):
| Nero Di Toscana Kale |
| Guardsman green onions |
| Copra Storage Onion |
| Cascadia Snap Pea |
| Sugar Sprint Snap Pea |
| Super Sugar Snap |
| Dakota Shelling Pea |
| Rio Grande Potatoes |
| Gill’s All-Purpose tomatoes |
| Ranger Tomatoes |
| Borage (flowers for bees) |
| Profumo Basil |
| Santo Coriander (Cilantro) |
| Fernleaf dill |
| Spearmint |
| Dial Seed Sower |
| Double Yield Cucumber |
| Homemade Pickles Cucumber |
| Yaya Carrots |
The seed sower thing seems well worth the $8 I’m paying for it. You should watch me planting carrot, spinach, and lettuce seeds. It goes from “one here, and one there” to “oh fuck it, I’m just going to broadcast them” in about 45 seconds.
Patience is a virtue that I have not yet learned. I’ll scream at a microwave to hurry up. Ahem.
I’m excited for the order to get here, and I’m cautiously excited to get back to growing. Part of me thinks that I haven’t been in the garden in years, and another part of me thinks “again? Already? Oy”.
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| Very soon the floor of my dining room will once again resemble a half-ass grow operation. |
What are you growing this year? Are you excited, overwhelmed, or just whelmed”?
I have tried so many times to get a garden growing, but in the four years we’ve lived here, I’ve only ever managed to grow one bell pepper. One! I grew up with a small garden that my parents would pick out of for the veggie part of our dinner and I want so badly for my daughter to have that. We are in sandy soil (as in 90% sandy- gross), dense shade, and we have a mole problem. It’s so frustrating that nothing will grow! I’ve even tried containers!
Very impressive! I’m giving up on growing food. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t work for me. By trade, I am a Landscape Designer – you’d think I’d have a handle on this for Christ’s sake! Can’t wait to see your garden!
I would say, it’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses. Sounds like you have a firm head on your shoulders! ;=D
Mowed the lawn? We have snow up to the deck and beyond …
Man, I love snow. Send me a little bit, ok?
We just moved to Montana, a 2 bedroom, 3rd floor, no balcony apartment. :0( I am, however, in the process of trying to get a community garden set up across the street from our apartment. It may not be ready this year, but I hope that it will be ready for next year.
Could you do a few herbs on the windowsill? Even when we haven’t been able to have a garden, just having something living/growing in my presence has helped.