Saturday, March 20, 2010
The Garden Takes Shape
I've been turning my garden area by hand, one shovelful at a time. I've learned a lot! Gardening MIGHT be a great anger management, as it gives you purposful destruction. Gardening can be good for an exercize routine- you're doing repetitive muscle movements for long periods of time (Heart rate up? Sure! Work faster!). Clay is not soil. Clay with BIG WORMS is good, but still not soil. Grass and sod turned under with out newspaper shavings smell like funky swamp rot when turning the soil the second time. I'll have to try the newspaper shreds trick next year and debate which plan was better.
Since the last post, I have finished turning the soil and clay for the second time. I've remeasured the perimeter and I have 220 sqft gardne area. My path has been stamped, kicked, and shoveled about and is rather clear in the dirt. Yesterday and today, I've been stabbing the clods of dried dirt and clay with my shovel, breaking them up smaller and smaller and shifting the resulting mounds into position.
Today, DH gave me a $40 dollar budget and took me to the Nursery. :-D
I got 11 packets and 1 meshed bag of seeds and things to plant, 4 cu ft of (some kind of "super soil fixer") ______________________ and 1 cu ft of chicken poo :-D DH found the 2nd Farmer's Almanac for Kids and picked that up for some lesson material for school.
He didn't he me trying to tell him how I was trying to bring down my total. The book was 10. I figured the seeds out at 2 dollars a packet ($22 -25) the soil was 16 and the poo was 6. I asked him if the book was seperate from the garden budget ("Huh? Yea" as we are walking to the really long line) Ok... I'm still about 5 dollars over.. "Ok, I'll go thru and put a few of these back for now" I chirp as I start sorting thru the little colorful packets in my hand. "No. Don't put anything back." He says to me :) I love this man!! "Ok Honey, Thank you!!"
$57 dollars later (Hey, I was REALLY close in my estimate) He had to think thru the sequence of events, closely to see how he agreed to almost 60.... hehehe
OH! :( The (really cool) watering can I had found! Ugh!!! I was horrified to discover it was TWENTY-five ninety-nine, not the mere 6 dollars I had thought I read. I must learn to wear my glasses all. the. time. *sigh* I quickly took that back inside! My thumb over the hose end or milk jug with sprinkle holes will work just fine!! LOL
I would LOVE to take a pic of the back yard right now, but the webcam on the computer likes the sun to be a bit lower first. I will snap pics before and after I spread the soil booster. I'll even take a picture of the bag, incase you want to use it to break up your clay and supplement the soil. They have another one for raised bed gardens too. :-)
Seeds that we have now include: Garlic, Onion, White Lisbon Onion, Rainbow Carrot, Rainbow Tomato, Cucumber, Lemon Cucumber, White Corn, Golden Corn, Radishes, Strawberry, Cantalope, Red Grape Tomato, Slicer Tomato, Spear mint, Basil, Carrots, Shrot carrots, Green Bean and Sweet Pea.
Since the last post, I have finished turning the soil and clay for the second time. I've remeasured the perimeter and I have 220 sqft gardne area. My path has been stamped, kicked, and shoveled about and is rather clear in the dirt. Yesterday and today, I've been stabbing the clods of dried dirt and clay with my shovel, breaking them up smaller and smaller and shifting the resulting mounds into position.
Today, DH gave me a $40 dollar budget and took me to the Nursery. :-D
I got 11 packets and 1 meshed bag of seeds and things to plant, 4 cu ft of (some kind of "super soil fixer") ______________________ and 1 cu ft of chicken poo :-D DH found the 2nd Farmer's Almanac for Kids and picked that up for some lesson material for school.
He didn't he me trying to tell him how I was trying to bring down my total. The book was 10. I figured the seeds out at 2 dollars a packet ($22 -25) the soil was 16 and the poo was 6. I asked him if the book was seperate from the garden budget ("Huh? Yea" as we are walking to the really long line) Ok... I'm still about 5 dollars over.. "Ok, I'll go thru and put a few of these back for now" I chirp as I start sorting thru the little colorful packets in my hand. "No. Don't put anything back." He says to me :) I love this man!! "Ok Honey, Thank you!!"
$57 dollars later (Hey, I was REALLY close in my estimate) He had to think thru the sequence of events, closely to see how he agreed to almost 60.... hehehe
OH! :( The (really cool) watering can I had found! Ugh!!! I was horrified to discover it was TWENTY-five ninety-nine, not the mere 6 dollars I had thought I read. I must learn to wear my glasses all. the. time. *sigh* I quickly took that back inside! My thumb over the hose end or milk jug with sprinkle holes will work just fine!! LOL
I would LOVE to take a pic of the back yard right now, but the webcam on the computer likes the sun to be a bit lower first. I will snap pics before and after I spread the soil booster. I'll even take a picture of the bag, incase you want to use it to break up your clay and supplement the soil. They have another one for raised bed gardens too. :-)
Seeds that we have now include: Garlic, Onion, White Lisbon Onion, Rainbow Carrot, Rainbow Tomato, Cucumber, Lemon Cucumber, White Corn, Golden Corn, Radishes, Strawberry, Cantalope, Red Grape Tomato, Slicer Tomato, Spear mint, Basil, Carrots, Shrot carrots, Green Bean and Sweet Pea.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
A day in the Garden
So today was a little busy. I got the strawberry pot filled with my little 6 pack of plantlings, and added 3 little tomato seeds just for giggles.
I am hoping that i can have a tomato plant here on top, but i would be wiser to have it be a small cherry tomato plant instead.
I have it set up on a chair, in hopes that the children and dogs will get over th newness of it and allow it to continue to thrive :) We'll see.
Then I checked on my 2 foot planter full of little radishes. OHHH!! Sprouts!!! They look so delicate!! I better make sure it's not going to freeze tonight...
But the majority of my work was in the big section. I seated the supports for my trellis today. It looks a bit odd, and even more so once start running the string work!
One thing I discovered, was that once you turn the grass and sod under, and wait 2 weeks for the rains to soak back in... The soil STINKS!!! Ewww!!!
So here's to hoping that mixing in some top soil and that stink all creates some nourishing veggies!!!
I am hoping that i can have a tomato plant here on top, but i would be wiser to have it be a small cherry tomato plant instead.I have it set up on a chair, in hopes that the children and dogs will get over th newness of it and allow it to continue to thrive :) We'll see.
Then I checked on my 2 foot planter full of little radishes. OHHH!! Sprouts!!! They look so delicate!! I better make sure it's not going to freeze tonight...
But the majority of my work was in the big section. I seated the supports for my trellis today. It looks a bit odd, and even more so once start running the string work!
One thing I discovered, was that once you turn the grass and sod under, and wait 2 weeks for the rains to soak back in... The soil STINKS!!! Ewww!!!
So here's to hoping that mixing in some top soil and that stink all creates some nourishing veggies!!!
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Adventures of a Quitter
57 hours and 42 minutes.
That is how long ago my DH and I gave our cigarettes to God- our Lenten sacrifice. DH is doing rather well. He doesn't feel withdrawl, just a random irritation at the loss of the hand to mouth thing. He also doesn't understand how this ride feels to someone who is physically addicted to the chemicals, mentally addicted to the enforced break times and the overall "happy" associations with this now forbidden activity.
58 hours and 27 minutes.
I went outside and did garden work to help get past another craving. Two different children came out and asked if I was imagining the grass clumps as Daddy's head.... No, not at all. I am trying to keep my head clear, free of any thoughts. I am safe that way, no reminders of what desperately want, and yet so strongly DON'T want. I want to succeed.
We fought last night, over something stupid. When it was over, he apologized. But it seems the effects of it carried over to today. It seems DH thought I was imagining the clumps were his head, and shared it with the kids. LOL Perhaps he has very good reason for thinking this way. ;-) But, his head is safe. I do not want to dwell on what upsets me. I want to get through it, past all the struggles.
58 hours and 40 minutes.
Matthew 4, verses 1-11
For 40 days and nights, Jesus was in the desert, fasting and praying. The first thing the Devil tempted Jesus with was food! Jesus was strong, and I shall be too! I am pretty sure that fasting and praying in the desert was not an easy thing for Jesus. I do not expect it to be easy for me to quit a 20 year addiction.
Don't belittle my hard work, and the things my children are also enduring, by telling me that I should smoke, rather then yell at my children in my fits of withdrawl. My children and I have talked, they will be ok with some yelling, if it means I will live to see them grow up and start their own families. We all would rather go through this 1 time, all together, then to keep "attempting" and failing. It will only be bad like this for a little bit longer... I promise.
59 hours 23 minutes.
I want a smoke after every meal. I want one after I worked hard on something. I want one when I am frazzled. I want one while I am tending the laundry. I want one approximately every hour, from waking to dark. I want one to keep me from yelling at the kids. I want one because I am bored. I want one because I am on the phone....
Off to go dig past this...
60 hours.
Praise the Lord!!! I can get through these cravings, I can defy Satan and his ever decieving lies. I can get this devil off my back, and out of my lungs. I LIVE!!!! I will survive!!!! I have friends all over the globe, praying for me and my battle. I have posted my shame for all to see~ Confessing this truth and fighting to make it no longer true for me.
I am NOT a smoker.
I might be a quitter, but I am fighting the most important battle in my life~ and I intend to win with God's help.
That is how long ago my DH and I gave our cigarettes to God- our Lenten sacrifice. DH is doing rather well. He doesn't feel withdrawl, just a random irritation at the loss of the hand to mouth thing. He also doesn't understand how this ride feels to someone who is physically addicted to the chemicals, mentally addicted to the enforced break times and the overall "happy" associations with this now forbidden activity.
58 hours and 27 minutes.
I went outside and did garden work to help get past another craving. Two different children came out and asked if I was imagining the grass clumps as Daddy's head.... No, not at all. I am trying to keep my head clear, free of any thoughts. I am safe that way, no reminders of what desperately want, and yet so strongly DON'T want. I want to succeed.
We fought last night, over something stupid. When it was over, he apologized. But it seems the effects of it carried over to today. It seems DH thought I was imagining the clumps were his head, and shared it with the kids. LOL Perhaps he has very good reason for thinking this way. ;-) But, his head is safe. I do not want to dwell on what upsets me. I want to get through it, past all the struggles.
58 hours and 40 minutes.
Matthew 4, verses 1-11
For 40 days and nights, Jesus was in the desert, fasting and praying. The first thing the Devil tempted Jesus with was food! Jesus was strong, and I shall be too! I am pretty sure that fasting and praying in the desert was not an easy thing for Jesus. I do not expect it to be easy for me to quit a 20 year addiction.
Don't belittle my hard work, and the things my children are also enduring, by telling me that I should smoke, rather then yell at my children in my fits of withdrawl. My children and I have talked, they will be ok with some yelling, if it means I will live to see them grow up and start their own families. We all would rather go through this 1 time, all together, then to keep "attempting" and failing. It will only be bad like this for a little bit longer... I promise.
59 hours 23 minutes.
I want a smoke after every meal. I want one after I worked hard on something. I want one when I am frazzled. I want one while I am tending the laundry. I want one approximately every hour, from waking to dark. I want one to keep me from yelling at the kids. I want one because I am bored. I want one because I am on the phone....
Off to go dig past this...
60 hours.
Praise the Lord!!! I can get through these cravings, I can defy Satan and his ever decieving lies. I can get this devil off my back, and out of my lungs. I LIVE!!!! I will survive!!!! I have friends all over the globe, praying for me and my battle. I have posted my shame for all to see~ Confessing this truth and fighting to make it no longer true for me.
I am NOT a smoker.
I might be a quitter, but I am fighting the most important battle in my life~ and I intend to win with God's help.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Too big?
As I toil and till this plot of mine, I am starting to wonder... This is a pretty big plot for a beginning garden. Is 300 square feet too big??
This shot is taken from in front of my Kitchen Window. Right now, the dirt section is approximately 170 square feet. WOW!
I only gained about 2 feet by 10 feet across today. I have about 3 more feet to reach the back boundry line. The dug section measures 17 feet long (front to back) and 9 feet wide. I was pretty close on my estimates of size! I was aiming for 10 feet wide, eyeballing it.
I DID get the girls doing some studies, since they've suddenly become less then helpful, and downright surly. Perhaps I should make them DIG for me, so they will find better attitudes? Eh. We'll see.
My friend Angelic posted a link in my FaceBook comments on yesterday's blog post, sharing this wonderful link: http://www.gardeners.com/Kitchen-Garden-Planner/kgp_home,default,pg.html You can design your garden, and then have it e-mail you the garden plans and all the tiny details you need to know, like WHEN to plant, how many, and how many to thin it out to, and more!!! GREAT link. Makes me wish my printer worked with this computer!! It thinks that gardens don't exceed 4ft by 12 foot... so I have to use it to plan sections at a time :-) I hope to leave pathways inbetween the sections for tending the crops :)
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