My Green Thumb Still Works.

May 302012
 

Despite all the crazy weather we’re having, the garden seems to be doing pretty good.

My original 40 tomato plants are down to 39 now.  Some wayward gust of wind tore one of my babies right off an inch above the soil.

The extra 10 or so that I didn’t have room for (I think I may have overdid it… whaddaya think?) went to Nichole and they are now residing in the nice rich soil in the southern part of the state.

The 18 cumber plants are learning how to climb up the inverted tomato cages.  Some of them are being very difficult students, but I’m working with them every night with lots of encouragement.

The extra 6 that didn’t fit in the garden (I’m really seeing an overage pattern here) are nestled up against the fence line, where I’m hoping they’ll turn into a pretty green wall over the next couple months.

I haven’t been out to the farm in the past week to see how the 100 popcorn and 100 sunflower (a tad overkill??) are doing, but I’m sure I’m not missing anything.  It will be another week until I see real progress there.

Peas are emerging by their trellis and the peppers and dill are getting ready in the greenhouse for their new adventure in the great outdoors.

If the planned frost rumors don’t pan out (crossing fingers), and I don’t loose anymore plants to errant storms and/or bug infestations, my calculations show that I will be canning until 2014.

I guess my green thumb still works.

Maybe too good.

 

They Know Me So Well

May 142012
 

I hope that all you Moms out there had a wonderful Mother’s  Day!

I certainly did!!  I got a wonderful phone call from Chris and got to spend the day shopping with Nichole, Alexis and Kayla (I even got treated to lunch at Red Lobster *happy dance*).

And as usual, neither of my daughters listened to me.  When asked what I wanted for my special day, I said “nothing“.  When they wouldn’t relent, I told them a phone call is all that I wanted.

End of story.

You can about guess how far that went.

Nichole found this gorgeous wooden chest for me…

I finally get to post the rules of the house for the grandkids…

And make lots of new nummy things for them to eat when they visit!

Chris totally has me pegged with these garden stakes!

I can’t wait to see them peeking out of the vegetables that will start going into the garden today.

I love my girls so much!

(even when they won’t listen to me)

Grandma’s Garden

May 092012
 

Rick & I have been fiercely weeding, clearing brush and moving mounds of dirt around to make the garden a more productive place this year.

We’ve even fenced off the area to discourage the neighborhood dogs and various critters that we share the homestead with from thinking that there is a new buffet in town that they are welcome to visit 24/7.  A few of my Hostas were already on the receiving end of a little snack that I’m assuming were from some lucky deer that had the munchies one day, so it made perfect sense to put the rolls of wire to use that were just laying around doing nothing.

Luckily we had just enough to make it around the perimeter of the garden.  But we were missing something:  a gate.  The one that we had used before had met an unfortunate demise a couple years ago when there was a *tiny* fire on the property next to us.

So, being the ingenious people we are, we built our own using the saplings that had been cut down a few weeks ago.

And to make sure that everyone knew exactly who they were messing with if they entered unwelcome, a sign that Nichole gave me on one of her visits.

Now all that’s missing are the plants that I’ve grown in my greenhouse that are just screaming to get in the garden.  And if the extended forecast looks acceptable, some of them will get their wish this weekend.

Until then, I’ll just keep visiting them in their little warm green cocoon, coaxing them along and telling them what a good job their doing.

I’ll tell them you said “Hi”.

 

A Bug Named George

Apr 262012
 

I’m still AWOL.  Or maybe MIA.  I might even be ROTFLMAO.

Whatever I am, it certainly isn’t completing everything I wanted to this week.   Oh, I’ve accomplished most of everything on my *outdoors* list, but I still have one more thing to do:  plant the Sweet Peas.  I don’t know why I’m procrastinating this.  It’s an easy enough job.

– Dig hole

– Drop seed

– Cover with dirt

– Water

– Repeat

So what am I waiting for?  Meh, I don’t know.  Maybe I’m waiting for some sort of inspiration to kick me in the fanny and boot me out the door.  Does inspiration do that?  Maybe I’m supposed to look for it in order to grab onto it.  It must be outside because it certainly isn’t anywhere by my computer.

Could that little bug on that leaf be my inspiration?  You know, like Jiminy Cricket was Pinocchio’s conscious?  That would be so cool!  I’d name him George, and hug him and squeeze him and pull his little tail… oh, wait a minute, wrong cartoon.

OK, I need to get away from this computer for a while.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get out of this funk over the weekend and back to my old witty posts come Monday.

Wish me luck and have a great weekend!

 

Oh My Aching Muscles

Apr 232012
 

Sorry I’ve been gone for a couple days, and I’ll probably be AWOL for a couple more.

The weekend and the next few days are bringing some beautiful weather to the Northwoods, and as the saying goes “Make hay while the sun shines.”  And that is what I have been and will be doing.

Saturday and Sunday were spent cleaning out the big flower garden and the rock garden of all the leaves and debris from last fall.  My Vinca and Lamium are happy to be rid of all the leaves and branches now.  They took a little beating as I tried to tame them back, but they’re tough plants and have already bounced back to their pink and purple glory.

Today was a whirlwind of activity with the afternoon spent rearranging the vegetable garden.  A certain someone in the house (cough… Rick) wanted me to have more space for all the plants that are coming up in the greenhouse.  So instead of 5 geometric beds, I now have a garden that looks like 2 pieces of a Tetris game.  This involved moving countless logs and a buttload of dirt, which bears the question if I will be able to move tomorrow at all.

After work the next couple days (assuming my body is not one big sore muscle) I’ll be planting Sweet Peas and transplanting cucumber plants into larger containers (I lead such an exciting life).

In between all of this joy, I’ll try to find time to throw together some coherent posts just to let you know I’m still alive and kicking (hopefully).

 

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