|
|
|
Spring!
sun 17 mar 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130317.html |
|
But nothing could keep me from a walk through the neighborhood... blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and the cherry trees are blooming...
Oh how I adore the cherry blossoms. I love them so much I might change my favorite season from autumn to spring! Seriously, I love them that much. *happy laugh* I walked out to my PO box and discovered my first real mail there. Some junk mail to the previous occupant. sighs. But at least it was artsy junk mail: from a pottery biz in Seattle. I walked along the creek and saw a female Hooded Merganser!
I didn't even have to look her up in my bird book, she had the exact same shape as the male I saw a few months ago! She was trying to hang out with the teals, but the males were having none of it. They were chasing her away, and she was swimming away pretty fast. I walked out to our Community Garden plot to check on the garlic we planted last fall. It's doing great, plus there are some good patches of the cover crop growing as well! Not sure when we will get around to plowing that under. There have been other happy surprises in the garden plot...
This was a major surprise, because I don't remember planting crocuses! But then I vaguely remembered buying some bulbs from one of my co-workers. That was 2010, but only the wind flowers came up in the following spring. I suppose I also bought some crocus bulbs. And today, I was reacquainted with the hyacinth I planted last year. I am thinking about turning that photo into a postcard. So, if you'd like to see it, be sure to sign up for a free postcard! :) |
|
productive weekend
sun 31 mar 2013 | |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130331.html | |
|
Another batch of postcards out the door. Taxes done. All the regular weekend chores are completed. And I got great exercise...
My beautiful Hooded Merganser girl has found someone special! I am so happy for her.
Plus, I discovered several clumps of "The Bane Of My Existance"... an evil weed we tried to irradicate last year. (I still don't know it's name.)
I used my hand tool mercilessly.
|
|
garden
sun 7 april 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130407.html |
|
Well. It wasn't actually "between". I did get rained upon. Ha! At the garden, I was annoyed to discover a third patch of the evil invasive weed that I've been battling since last year. It was right in the middle of the garden plot and I killed it with zeal. Also worked a bit on patches 1 and 2, which are at the edges of the plot. The rest of the weeds are still at the manageable stage... Except maybe the grass, which is getting a pretty good establishment, since I've ignored it due to the Evil Weed. But we have much less of the grass this year, due to our forking efforts last autumn. The state of the Garlic Patch...
The tall, spikey ones are the garlic. By planting it last fall, we gave the garlic a good head start and we'll have huge and wonderful garlic in the late summer! In between the garlic are happy cover crops. We seeded some clover at the end of last year. And the purplish ones are a cover crop from the previous owners of our plot. I haven't looked up what they are yet, but I always let them grow because they are easy to pull up. To the right of the garlic is our strawberry patch. It's mostly grass now, and I suppose I should do something about that. But in the meantime. I'm sure I will be amply rewarded for my weeding efforts with sore muscles tomorrow. |
|
garden
sat 20 apr 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130420.html |
|
An excellent beginning... but I want some serious flowers this year. We were walking back, through the back edge of the Market, when this caught my eyes...
Wow, look at that BLUE! This is a teeny tiny plant, native to the Alps. Stemless Gentian. It will probably die of root rot before the summer gets here. But I'm going to enjoy it immensely while it lives! |
|
garden
sun 9 june 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130609.html |
|
But I think we have turned over a new leaf, because all but one of the plants we replaced last weekend are still alive!
So, the current plant list:
Currently missing (because they have died several times over) are Lemon Cucumber and Basil. Will try again with those next weekend. The guinea pigs are not allowed in the garden!
|
|
rnd +pics
sun 16 june 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130616.html |
|
I did save a couple handfuls of plants, tho. The strawberries were so yummy, I could not imagine the garden without them!
The rest of the garden is coming along nicely. Blossoms showing up, here and there. I ate a good handful of sweet snap peas. I should probably not go to the garden, hungry. I can't bring it home if I've already eaten it all!
I am a happy user of the Google Reader... and like the strawberry patch, we will say a sad farewell to Reader on July 1st. Not because of weeds, and not because of... well, actually, I'm not sure why the Reader is going away. Google is just dumb I guess. Anyway. I have been patiently awaiting the Digg Reader to be built. But, with just two weeks left, and no current updates... I'm getting a little concerned. sighs. Yes, I must have a reader. a decent one. that looks good. and functions like the Google Reader. I have already determined that I don't like Feedly, which is the most popular rss reader after google. And with that, I gave up on the free readers. FeedBin looks like it will work for me. But, if I have to pay, I'd like to wait and see what the Digg Reader will look like (since it'll probably be pay as well).
ha! I almost forgot the squirrel at work...
ha! |
|
first garden bounty
sat 22 june 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130622.html |
|
The rest of the garden is still in growing mode.
And I am still in weed killing mode:
The borage plants are companions to all the "fruit" vegetable plants. Those beautiful star-shaped flowers attract bees like crazy. And bees are necessary if you want tomatoes, cucumbers or zucchini! As we were leaving the garden today...
singing a beautiful song! |
|
weekend odds and ends
sun 30 june 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130630.html |
|
I print all my postcards on my printer. A slow month is 60 postcards. A good month is over 100. All those postcards are printed on that over-used, under-appreciated Canon i9900. And in the past week or so, it has reluctantly printed a couple of pages. And I'm worried that it is about to die in a permanent way. A new print head is $160 and comes only from China and I'm not sure that is the actual problem. A new printer of the same kind is $1050. not exactly in the budget. But it might be necessary for my soul. As of tonight, Google Reader is deleted forever. Damn them. The new Digg Reader came out on thursday. I used it for a few days, discovered it was not updating some of my feeds, and went looking for something more established. *sighs* I think I've settled on The Old Reader. It's still clean, but much prettier. It's free, but if my feeds stay updated, I will be sending them a yearly donation. I am thrilled that I found something that works for me! Last november, we seeded the entire community garden plot with a cover crop... Berseem Clover. Since the plot is too large for us to handle, we've let the clover take over in a section. I think it is beautiful. Plus, it is a good nitrogen fixer, so it's good for future plants!
We harvested 1.8 pounds of sweet snap peas on saturday! Yay! The first zucchinis are growing... And the cucumbers and tomatoes are blooming like crazy. And the first sunflowers in the community garden... a portrait with the waning moon. :)
I can't wait for my own sunflowers! Oh! I also found a volunteer tomato plant next to all the snap peas. Last year, in that area, we had the hybrid Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes, Cascade Tomatoes and Oregon Spring Tomatoes... I don't remember the difference between the second two toms, the sweet 100 were smaller. I am happy about the volunteer tom plant. I doubt it will give us any tomatoes. But I am wonderfully curious about it! |
|
Happy Garden
sat 6 july 2013 | |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130706.html | |
|
A happy surprise, the Coreopsis has just begun blooming! Yay Flowers! Just a few snap peas... left over from last time and they are trying to become "real" peas. They are still wonderful and sweet, tho. The first zucchinis are about the size that you can buy at the store; you know, the tiny ones. I'm going to let ours grow a bit more. I can't wait for a meal of steamed zucchini! And tomatoes on the way...
And with my almost religious weeding, the garden plot almost looks like real gardeners are taking care of it! Well. Not really. But it's the best it's ever been. The grass in the pathways is mostly under control. And the weedy area is just Berseem Clover (our winter cover crop) and a few Borage... both are good and happy gardening plants! I'm thinking about buying some flower cover for the edges of the plot. Doesn't Mow No More, Flower mix sound wonderful?! :)
|
|
garden pics
sun 21 july 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130721.html |
|
There are a couple people with artichoke plants at the community garden. These are Huge plants. The flowers are lovely! But when you think about the tiny little bit of artichoke heart that you buy at the store... I have to wonder if it's worth it! ha.
Someone at the front of the community garden has several roses. Technically, woody plants are not allowed... but these make such a happy entrance into the garden. Plus they give me hope that I will never be kicked out because of my mere weeds! :)
And our garden plot: Yay Zucchini! On saturday, we picked two big zucs and the first three (small) cucumbers... A total of 4.5 pounds. We ate the first cucumber as soon as we got home! And every meal involves zucchini! Garden Love! And, to add to my happiness, I got a new magazine in the mail... I discovered this mag when my Territorial Seed order of No Mow Wildflowers came: there was an extra flyer/ad thrown in. GreenPrints is a garden magazine of stories and art. oh my gosh, why am I not already signed up?! |
|
envelope and garden
sun 28 july 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130728.html |
|
I supported a successful Kickstarter campaign for Kreate-A-Lope, and last weekend I got my reward: some envelope templates! Of course, my original plan was to print some of my more abstract photos and turn them into envelopes. That plan being on hold, copic wide markers to the rescue!
(ha. the sky blue marker definitely needs to be re-inked!
and the violet one soon.)
Now... if only I could just print something to put in my envelopes!
Baby Sunflower!
I ate this sun gold cherry tomato right after I took this pic. It was the most tasty tomato that I've ever eaten in my life. Well, it was the first garden tomato I've eaten this year... but I think it was more than just that! |
|
lingering with bees
sun 4 aug 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130804.html |
|
Yay the baby sunflower of last weekend is now a beautiful bloom! It's also the shortest sunflower in the whole community garden... everyone else has nine-foot tall sunflowers. This one is barely two feet off the ground! I had to crouch down low to get this photo! haha! cute lil' thing! And then I spent some time watching the happy bees buzz thru the borage. :) I saw this yellow beetle on one of the flowers... a couple bees noticed the yellow beetle and didn't land on the star flower. But then one of the bees said "Move aside, bug! I've got work to do!"
The beetle moved to the back side of the flower and the bee took sips of nectar then moved on.
This bug, by the way, is a Spotted Cucumber Beetle. He's a "pest" who eats pretty much every garden plant, as an adult. As a larva he eats the roots of corn. I don't have any corn, and I've never seen the beetle on my cucumber plants... just the coreopsis flowers, and now the borage, both of which are quite healthy. So, to me right now: he's just a colourful visitor! But for future reference: Lacewings and ladybugs will eat the eggs of the Cuc Beetle. And some of the plants which can repel the beetle are broccoli, radish, catnip, calendula. And Nasturtiums...this is the first time I've not had nasturtiums in the garden, I must be sure to replant them next year! |
|
update
sun 11 aug 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130811.html |
|
Might need more stamps!
Lucy and Ethel. Still trying to capture the cuteness, but black faces are impossible! Maybe I should try drawing them?
This is our Grey Stripe Sunflower... Pretty sure the description is about the seeds, not about the flower! :) The plant is probably 6.5 feet tall, and that's a bud in the center. Our other sunflower plant (the short one) was a Zubulon, and it only had one flower. I'm hoping the Grey Stripe has multiples. I eat zucchini at every single meal. Even breakfast... zucchini with a few tater tots, quite tasty! But I can't keep up with the garden abundance. Thinking about freezing some... |
|
garden
sat 17 aug 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130817.html |
|
∞ How Dirt Makes Us Smart And Happy at Green Gardening with Anne Lovejoy. (Animal testing makes me sad. But I'll work it off by breathing in the garden. AND by buying cruelty-free!)
The sunflower is now too tall for me to take a pic of the top. I'm not sure what's going on up there! And, for the first time this year, I have more lemon cucs than I can eat in one day! The tiny little pathetic lemon cucumber plant... has grown huge! Yay!
hm, looks like it's time to make some new feathers! Well. Making feathers is probably hard work. If I were a crow, I'd probably put it off for as long as I could. The crows around me would say, "Sheesh, rift. Why don't you molt or something?!" And I'd just shrug and say "eh." |
|
update
sat 24 aug 2013 |
|
Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2013/20130824.html |
|
We brought home almost 10 pounds of food from our garden plot today. Mostly zucchini, lots of cherry tomatoes, several cucumbers and six lemon cucumbers. I suppose we're averaging about 15+ pounds of food per week? Yes, I'm kind of sick of zucchini. So I've been trying to keep up with the lemon cucumbers instead.
The bees are still very busy and soon this flower will turn into a lemon cuc. Along with dozens more!
Sat, 24 Aug 2013 18:03:42 PDT Weekly Mail Check-in I've met my goal of beating my February mail count, which was 108. And I've still got most of a week to bump up my numbers even more! I've now completed my extra "non-month" postcard mail and I am two postcards shy of completing my June mail. Since I don't yet have a photo picked out for my July mail, I'm going to focus on some replies in the final week of August. Yay Mail! |
|
You Are Here: |
|
|
|
