tsk, tsk, tsk

Three months is a kind of a long time to be absent from my blog.

But happily it doesn't mean I've been absent from life. So much going on that I forget not only to blog about it, but sometimes I don't even turn on my computer. (Eeek!) That is not the girl I once was. But actually I'm kind of proud of being less of a... um, chair potato.

So, you must know that once I *did* get my summer garden planted (which I did since the last post), it starts to beg time from me. It needs watering, and some occasional pruning and then of course the best part is the harvesting. If the weather is very warm (and it has been lately), the garden is a regular/daily part of my morning routine. Plus the veggies aren't the only area that I'm "in charge" of, so summer does increase my yard duties for sure.

Here's a recent pic of the garden in it's crazy overgrown August state. My sunflowers just started blooming since I planted them sort of late in the spring.

The sunflowers are in the overcrowded zuchinni/cucumber bed and the whole crazy mess is blocking the view of the other beds. It's so different from last year's garden but wonderful in its own way. Loving have lots of cucumbers all the time. The basil and the rest of the herbs as well as the peppers are all doing great. The tomatoes aren't doing as well, sadly. The plants are gorgeous but they aren't producing near as many fruits as I had last year. Still, what we are getting is absolutely delicious!

In other summer happenings - my son's graduation party is now history. It was such a fun event that went by much too quickly. I wish I could have just slowed down time for that one day. Here are some of my favorite photos from the party.

We took most of the bulky furniture out of our living room (moved it to the garage) to create a nice big dance floor for the party. Before the party was even over it dawned on me how easy it would be to paint the room while the furniture was still out in the garage, so guess what my next project was? And it morphed into something a little bigger than just a paint job. While I was at it, I decide to re-do my scrap area. It's something I've been wanting to do and this just seemed like the perfect time to give the whole room an upgrade.

I can't wait to share photos of the area soon. It's still a work-in-progress because I've had to put it on hold several times while other important things took priority, but I'm SO close to finishing it that I can almost taste it. (Can you "taste" finishing a project?)

One thing helping me get back to the scrap area project is that I'm now in the throes of pulling of another party. This one is for my daughter to celebrate her promotion from middle school to high school. It's just three days away and there is lots to do. Not the least of which is clearing out the scrap area (yay!)

There will be lots of fun photos to take this weekend between the party and finishing the scrap area. I can't wait to share!

super productive day

Some of the buttons from today's discovery

I got so much done today ... now, why can't every day be so fruitful?

First I did my 30 minute walk. I've been trying for daily on this but haven't managed more than three successive days. Gonna keep at it though. It's gotten easier, that's for sure. I'm walking faster and working my legs more so there's a plus. Next my morning bible reading, which I'm doing better at consistency-wise. I think I've missed two days this month (but made up the reading so that I stay on schedule). So, yay me.

From there it was on to garage/patio cleanup & organization. Just made a wee dent in all that there is to do, but any start is a good one. I was able to find a clothes rack in the garage that I'd promised to loan to my mom and in the process get some of the storage boxes labelled and tidied. The patio had created its own little project for me - a box had tipped over (the cat may have had a paw in this!) The contents had spilled out blocking the path to my scrapbook storage area, so it had to be dealt with.

On the plus side here, I found a treasure trove of buttons to put into my stash. They were those extra buttons that come with new clothes and I'd saved them for 30 years or so. I used to keep them in my old dresser but I guess when I got the new one, they got packed up and forgotten. Still not sure how they ended up in the particular box they were found in, but oh well.

With access to my storage restored, I went about putting away supplies from the Just Us Girls event last month. They've been hanging around my living room for a few weeks too many since I've been super busy with creating for the upcoming issue of Ready, Set, Create magazine. The new issue will hit the streets in less than two weeks (yahoo!)

I also had some new goodies to put into inventory as a result of some recent shopping binges (insert red-faced, eyes downcast smiley here). Actually, truth told I'm not really embarrassed or regretful of my purchases because I was able to snag some awesome deals on unique items that will make great additions to future classes. Yay!

In the late afternoon, I tackled some unruly plants that needed to be tamed. I trimmed an old lantana that has been left unattended for far too long and has gotten very leggy and woody. I didn't have the energy to prune it into complete submission, but it does look better than when it started. I also took the Mexican sage down with a good, serious sheer leaving only a handful of very tender new growth. I also have a perennial salvia that was looking very tired, so took that down to the ground and noticed that it is already sending up some new growth. These are all beautiful plants and I can't wait for them to come back around.

Now, I'm all about preparing my PaperCraft Princess retail sales tax return so I can focus on getting ready for CHA!  It will all come together... it always does.

it's august already? really?

Wow, how did that happen? Seems like one day you're welcoming the end of school and summer's start and then you blink your eyes and the school clothes & supplies are nearly sold out.

My kids actually have about a month of freedom left. Summer school is finished and we have a couple of weeks "to kill" until the end of August when we will enjoy two weeks of very welcome R&R.  So until those vacation weeks creep up on us, we'll busy ourselves with school shopping and then trying to soak in some fun from the lazy hours when we're not.

Fun at a family bbq

We had notice from Southern California Edison that tomorrow is finally "the day" - they will be coming into the neighborhood to replace old equipment and the power may be out as long as 10 hours. Sure hope that is a "worse case scenario" time frame and that it doesn't really take all day.

Formerly a garden path, now zucchini extension

I'm also hoping the contractors don't trample the garden too much. When I placed it way back in the corner by the phone/power pole I thought that I was leaving plenty of room for access to the pole. But being the newbie gardener that I am, I didn't anticipate how much the plants would overflow their beds and how much bulging they would do into the walkways. The zucchini in particular has completely overtaken one of the paths (the one, in fact, that is the direct route to the pole). Hopefully the workers will tread lightly, or navigate up the other (open) path. But I'm not counting on it. Sigh. Well, at least the zucchini was already showing signs of slowing down. That makes me feel less bad about it taken a possible beating.

Speaking of the garden (I don't need much invitation to launch into that topic), July was an awesome month. Finally after weeks of carefully tending and waiting on my plants, they were finally rewarding me with goodness to cook & eat. I haven't had to buy tomatoes in a full month. And my tomatoes are oh so yummy - often (tho not always) better than what I can buy at the market. I've had beans and cucumbers and eggplant and peppers and herbs. I couldn't be happier.

Slim pickings!

I'm wiser this side of my gardening venture, too. I learned that for the joy of a wider variety of plants, I sacrificed volume. So, my little harvests are actually a little funny if you see them on a daily basis. They might consist of a couple of tomatoes, a handful green beans, and a cucumber or two. Never enough to be considered a "bounty". That's also due in part to my small beds. I've got two 4' x 4' beds and one 18" x 6' bed. After I finished setting up my garden I read that a small garden should include about one 4' x 4' bed per person in the family. So, mine is actually less than "small" I guess. It was a good way to find out what was manageable for me, however.

Sunflowers!

An exciting garden development in the past week include the blooming of all my sunflower plants. I find it so amazing that these towering giants started as small seeds a relatively few weeks ago. Wow.

Cornstalk tassels!

I'm also excited to see tassels on my corn stalks. Corn was an afterthought and I planted it kind of late in the season. The oh-so-sunny spot I picked in spring has become very shady as the surrounding plants have filled out (especially the heirloom tomatoes and the adjacent orange tree). Perhaps the corn is suffering from lack of sun. Some stalks are stunted and overall the corn has been very slow to grow. At this point I'm not too hopeful for abundance and will settle for a sweet delicious ear or two.

The sound of the gal working on the chain gang

My summer garden has at any rate given me the confidence (despite my war with the aphids and the battle against powdery mildew) to expand it a little bit. I'm working on clearing a very nasty patch of thatchy weeds posing as grass near my trashcan and compost service area near my garage. I posted on Facebook that I feel like I'm on a chain gang or working for a quarry because this patch is  embedded with large stones that seem to be everywhere! Just when I think I've removed the last one, I find more. They're not too easy to get out of the ground. Years of sitting there untouched has allowed them to sink very stubbornly into the clay like soil and the thatchy weedy grass growing over them hasn't helped either. I'm not sure how many hours of hard physical labor I'll have to put into this patch before it is suitable for planting. Hopefully, my little squash seedlings can stay alive until I'm done.

Mystery bulbs

The last to post about is mystery bulbs. I just planted lots of them into pots after finding several different types in the oddest places in our yard. I think I know what most of them are (paperwhites and lilies), but not 100% sure. So now they're in pots and I'm hoping I can keep them in good shape until it is time for them to bloom. Once I'm sure of what is what, I can put them into permanent homes around the yard. I like what one of my friends posted on my Facebook wall: "Mysteries are often the best thing! Once I found a bulb in my yard, in a house we bought that only bloomed now and then. What a treat when it did!" I'm looking forward to my mystery bulb treat.

the unofficial start of summer

Well, school is nearly out here where we live. The kids have less than two weeks to go until the glorious start of summer vacation.

There is something so invigorating about the change of seasons. I'm already excited about our summer plans which will include a couple of mini "real" vacations (ie time away from home), but also other events that make summer what it is (Hollywood Bowl, the beach, etc.).

One of the things I'm really looking forward to is seeing my first real vegetable garden grow and mature. (That was what the change from winter to spring did to me - inspired the start of a garden!) Today my square foot garden is a month old.

I've grown a few vegetables in the past, mostly herbs and peppers in pots, and of course the obligatory tomatoes. I've done a large floral cutting garden and tended fruit trees, but raised bed vegetables is a totally new adventure. It's been a lot of work, but totally worth the time and effort. So far, we've enjoyed sprouts from thinned salad greens & radishes, a few herbs, and then baby greens and then some radishes. I think the next thing that'll make it to the table will the tomatoes. We've got a few beauties that are just getting bigger and more enticing with every passing week. The zuchini, yellow squash and eggplants all have had blossoms on them so hoping to see some fruit growing on those plants soon too.

Here is a little week-by-week peek at how the garden goes and grows over the first month...

Spot chosen, raised bed kit ready to be assembled

Week 1
The site I chose was a mostly bare spot in the northwest corner of the yard. Last fall, we had removed some "pretend" trees (they were those volunteer/suckers that come up without rhyme or reason, but these had been let go long enough that they'd grown into something of a forest). What I like best about this spot is that it is a pretty sunny spot, and there was very little grass to be removed. The bonus: a garden would help disguise that eyesore of a phone pole. I decided to use the two existing orange trees as my boundary markers.

 Beds in place, grass removed

Building the kits was a snap - no sweat! That was because I handed the job off to the fellas. They even made some noise about removing the grass in my little plot too. In fact, DH made a half-hearted start at the job, but after he lost interest in the project, I took over. It wasn't much grass, but oy! That was a lot of physical labor for an out-of-shape gal like me. (See the piles of grass to the right of the sprinkler - not much, but it felt like a mountain when I was done!)

Plants in beds - hooray!

Next came the dirt and getting the poor little plants into the beds. I had made the (mostly bad) decision to buy small plants before the beds were completed thinking it would motivate us all to get it done. It took real effort to keep those little babies alive while they waited for their new home, but I guess they did do their job of keeping me busy at getting the beds done. By the time I took the pic above I'd placed most of the tomatoes (heirlooms in big pots at back, Romas & Beefsteak in bed at left). I'd also transplanted the peppers (hot ones in bed at left, sweet ones in bed at right) and the squash and a honeydew (bed at right).

The garden is a week old!

Week 2
Not much changed in the first week, except that I added some marigolds after learning that they help with bug control. Oh, and a trellis for the melons to grow up. At this point, I'd sowed some salad greens, radishes, beans, green onions, carrots, and watermelon from seed directly into the bed, as well as starting some seeds into a seed "nursery". Even though I knew the seeds in this bed would sprout in time and the other seedlings from the "nursery" would need to be transplanted to these beds, it was very difficult to resist the urge to go out and buy more plants to make my little beds look more ... gardenish. I'll be the first to admit it - I'm not a very patient girl. I was really eager to see my garden in a more flourishing state. But it took all my self-discipline to not give in to the urge and instead I directed my energies to other things that needed doing, like getting the other pots & planters filled and finishing the mulch walkway.

The seed "nursery"

Here are some of the plants I started from seed. Using an egg carton to start seeds in was a *BIG* mistake. Not only was it next to impossible to keep moist, it was a bear to get the plants out of. The little cells are just too short and are an awkward shape. Plus some of the seedlings had embedded their roots right into the fiber of the carton. I was so worried I was killing the delicate little plants as I pulled them out.

 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers (mine aren't)

This is about 2 weeks after the beds went in - finally, some gratification! (You can see the little pepper blossom getting ready to enter the world, can't you?) And below the first of the tomatoes.

Heirloom tomato twins - can't wait to have a taste

These are from a plants found at Costco. They were in a three-pack and were reasonably priced and all of them larger than any of the other tomato plants I'd picked up at Home Dept. Plus they were HEIRLOOMS - how could I pass them up? Wish, I'd done more research on these 'maters before planting them, though. As far as I can tell, I planted the most vigorous grower of the group in the smallest of my three big pots.

 The garden at 2 weeks old

Week 3
Another week passes and week 3 begins. The seed-sown-directly-in-beds has emerged. The surfaces of the beds look a bit greener, don't they? By this time, I'd gotten a little further on my mulching too. My hubby has added some of that plastic lawn edging to keep the lawn out of the beds. Hopefully between, that and the mulch I won't have much to yank from the ground. We ran out of edging and mulch around the same time, so that was a work-in-progress.

 The garden is 3 weeks old now

Week 4
By the start of week 4, I've nearly finished the mulch walkways (still waiting on hubby to finish the last of the edging.). The walkways are covered in rubber mulch and I just LOOoooove the way they feel under my shoes - nice and cooshey. Very comfortable to walk and work on.  I've also picked up a couple of arched trellises (or is that trelli? or is it trololo?) When I drew up my garden plan, I'd always planned to do flower beds against the two block walls. My first plan was to just plant directly into the ground with some bender board to separate the "beds" from the walkways. But I changed my mind (woman's prerogative, ya know), and decided on raised beds. There aren't kits for the sizes I wanted so it was time to put the boys to work again. (Phase I: convincing them to help!)

During the interval between these last two pics, I'd also picked up a dwarf lime tree (so I now have two fruit trees waiting to be transplanted since I'd also picked up a dwarf pear at Costco when I got those tomatoes). Also, I've added the last of the tomato plants to some planters. I put cherry tomatoes in one of the red planters and "Early Girl" in the other. The wooden planter has two "Better Boys" with some basil. Oh, and I transplanted herbs and started some more salad greens in plastic planters.

The garden is a month old! Look how big the heirlooms are

Week 5
This is the most recent pic of the garden. Notice the new beds along the block walls? They are taller than my veggie beds and thank goodness because I had forgotten how deeply one needs to plant gladiola bulbs. I had just enough room. The guys did an awesome job on my new beds - I love them!

Also, I didn't go with all flowers. My friend Allison started a garden recently too, and after seeing what all she'd planted, I decided to devote one of the new beds to corn. I have to admit I was a little afraid of growing corn and it wasn't even something I'd considered early on. (I wanted to start with easy stuff that I could be sure to succeed with.) But why not be a little adventurous? What's the worse that can happen? I'm out a few seeds (not even a dollar's worth) and the cost of water and I come out wiser (hopefully) on the other side. Today, I noticed that lots of the corn is peeking up through the soil so that's a good start, I guess.

Here are some close ups of the month old garden space:

Hangin' with my gnomie

The start of a honeydew (I hope)

Ichiban eggplant blossom

Long flower bed for hollyhocks, coneflower, cosmos & glads

Small flowerbed for fragrant flowers & cosmos

 

 Corn, beans, cucumbers & squash - 3 sisters and a stepsister

 Looking out from the inside

Well, in the words of the immortal Porky Pig, that's all folks. Hope ya'll have a great summer! (that last part is all me.)