Boo

So, I'm not currently at the home show as I said in the previous post. Paul got sick and we couldn't go. I'm kinda shocked at how very disappointed I am. I guess I was really looking forward to going. I'm totally bummed right now. Anyway, I guess they will do another one in a year so maybe we will be able to go to that although chances are never good that it will fall on a time off for Paul, so I will try to forget about it until it comes up next year.

Anyway, I did manage to get up the energy to plant some seeds yesterday.


This is the collection of seeds and tools for the project.


This is a new item for me to try out. It's called seed tape and is basically bio-degradable toilet paper with seeds in it. Pretty fun to use especially when it's windy out. I had to be quick with it but it seemed to work pretty well.


One bed with lettuce!


Another bed with radishes, carrots and other fun stuff!

This is my strawberry bed. Hehe. Doesn't it look gorgeous? Ok, so this is just my dream for this bed. It will be a reality at some point, I'm sure.

Here's the super long hose Paul rigged up for me to be able to water the two beds with stuff.


Here's a familiar pose. Must be his favorite "over-looking his domain" spot.


She's obviously slightly less vigilant I think.

Anyway, have a happy Sunday!

Belinda

Brrrr!

The plan for today is get the lettuce and radishes going. But I'm feeling really lazy because it's so COLD out. I'm a wussy. It's high 40s here, but seems a whole lot colder. I need to get motivated and get to it. Paul got me a super long hose so that I can at least give it a bit of water once the seeds are in. Tomorrow, we plan on hitting the 60th annual KC Home and Garden show that's running from 10 to 6 at Bartle Hall. I am geekily excited about it. Give me a break, I'm a nerd. I really don't have too much to blog about since I have no life outside of my garden and since I haven't been able to get out there before today, I'm super boring. Super boring. I'll let ya know how the show is and maybe post some pics from the seeding process.

Belinda

Assassins and fairies

I had a hit last night. An assassin sneaked into my computer room and decimated my poor seedlings. After much detective work and some crack forensic science, I believe that I have identified the perpetrator.


Oh WHY? These are destroyed.


Sigh.


Here's a mugshot of the culprit. I don't know what I did to him to deserve this kind of Mafia hit, but it's too late to do anything to save the little seedlings. In case you were wondering what his punishment will be, that's for the courts to decide.

We've also recently had a supernatural experience. I went out to get the mail one day and noticed this:





You may wonder why this was supernatural. Well, last year, I cleared this entire bed out. CLEARED it. There couldn't possibly have been anything growing in there and there was definitely nothing like this growing in there at all. We must have been visited by the bulb gods who laid this neat pattern as a gift. Alternatively, it could be signal that we are about to be abducted by aliens. Either way, it will make for a good story. It reminded me of the mushrooms that often will pop up in a ring, so, I've determined we have our own personal fairy ring, similar to the one below that I swiped a photo of off google images.



I think I should probably call that show Paranormal States. It comes on A&E after Intervention (best show ever) and is so silly. Paul now refuses to watch it with me since I'm constantly snorting. Anyway, that's our latest fun.

B

Holy dirt!

I moved dirt today. A buttload of dirt. I cannot even tell you how much dirt. Words cannot express the amount of dirt I moved. Okay, so the point of all that is, I filled in the raised beds with topsoil. Paul went this morning and the topsoil was finally dry enough to be dumped into the bed of a borrowed truck. I really wish I had thought to take a picture of the massive pile before I started moving it, but didn't think of it until I had already moved several wheelbarrows worth. I didn't want to cheat myself of the sympathy of all my loyal readers (okay, just my mom reads this). Each bed took 7 wheelbarrows full and then I put in two bags a piece of this organic Miracle Grow stuff in there which was then blended in.

What organic really should say is "IT'S POOP!!" I think that would be a much more realistic marketing scheme. I opened the bag and oddly enough, it reminded me of Nebraska. What does that tell you about that state and it's smell? Yikes. I upgraded the bag to reflect what's really in there. As always, my graphic brilliance is free.




Here's a couple pics of the fruits of my labor.





As you can see, all that soil is now just waiting for some seeds to complete it's magical transformation. As I do not yet have a water source, it will continue waiting. The idea is that we are going to do three water barrels in succession on the back of the garage and use old-fashioned gravity to do the watering trick.

With a complex and highly thought-out plan that had to be approved by no less than three NASA scientists (and yes, we did first have a primer course in how to properly use the metric system), I plan on setting up a brilliant drip irrigation system that will require nothing more than me turning on a "faucet" at the bottom of the barrels. But first, it will help to put gutters on the garage to actually catch the water in a much more efficient fashion than running around maniacally underneath the eaves with a really big bucket. Although this method would be highly entertaining for my neighbors, the gutters are really the way to go.

So, tomorrow, Paul and I may try to get the gutters going on at least the back part and then get the rain barrels made up. Then we still have to till the main garden but the soil is still just a little too tough to be worked. I do hope to have lettuce, spinach and radishes growing soon, but as water is a necessary component to this whole gardening business, it will have to wait. Well, that's all for now, nothing too exciting except that I may have to get on disability after today. I'm in pain and too old for this shit.

B

Yay us!

So, I'm trying to do better blogging and have been doing a much better job (hey, I've blogged more this week than I did last year!) I'm sure most of my dedicated readers (heh, that's funny) have long given up on me, but hopefully, they'll stumble back in someday.

Had to share our little accomplishment. Sunday, Paul and I built two raised beds, super simple to do. We got three 6x8s, cut one in half (two sides of the rectangle) and cut the other two off a couple of feet. We were originally going to just go with the 8 foot length, but it was freakin' huge. We then cut down a 4x4 (6 inches tall) and then used that as an inside support and screwed everything together. It turned all stupid cold on Sunday so we ended up constructing them in the garage and them moving them out. After placing them and mapping out the MASSIVE garden area, we thought it looked asymmetrical and so decided we wanted one more raised bed to balance it out. This works fine for me, more room to grow stuff. So we got the three done, but by then it was a little too late to take a picture (and I was freezing my lady parts off). As it's been raining off and on for the last couple of days, today was the first rain-free day that wasn't cold. Amazingly, it was like 60 degrees and sunny. So after work, Paul and I hit the raised beds and cleaned them out of all the grass. It was hard on my poor ol' out of shape body and my hands are achy right now. But it's always so satisfying to see it nice and clean. Paul also got a temporary fence to place around the garden to keep those darn puppies out. Here's some pics!!


Pretty beds. Well, except for all that problematic grass in the middle of them.


Close up of the bed. Notice the fine craftsmanship inherent in this raised bed design. Yes, it really is just slapped together.


After the hard work. Paul is moving the all the tools back to the garage. The good news is as we were digging, we found TONS of earthworms.


All the beautiful virginal earth. Now, we just need to add in about 6-7 inches of topsoil and we're set. I'm pretty sure this is one of the reasons gardening is so satisfying for me. Instant results :)


Here's the ghetto fence to keep the dogs out. Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking? How freakin' HUGE is that garden? My neighbors have an even bigger one and I have no clue how they keep up.


This picture slays me. He looks so regal. That's my Toby boy watching over his kingdom.


Now Brody girl on the other hand, is just so darn cute.


This is my proof of a couple of hours of hard, manual labor. I am SO not cut out for this. On a side note, that piece of metal is one of the many wonderous things we find in our backyard. I'm pretty sure once we start tilling, we have GOT to find at least one dead body.

Belinda

Deadly Sin?

Yes. I am guilty of a sin. That sin is lust. Unfortunately for my readers (all zero of you), it is a fairly pedestrian lust and not in any way exciting. I am lusting for a hoe. That is not a typo. A hoe not a ho. Hehe. Love word play. My only problem is deciding which is the chosen one. I want two, but will only actually pay money for one. Here's the object of my affection:



These are hoes that people rave about on the internet and they are handmade right here in Missouri!

Here's the site in case you are interested in my dilemma:
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Phyllis/larry1index.html

How odd that my life is so consumed by gardening that I am salivating for a hoe. I'm still trying to decide if this is a sad, pathetic thing or a wonderful thing. I'll have to get back to you on that one.

B

I love people

Often my husband randomly receives packages from eBay sellers. Most of the time, when we receive them I just sigh and wonder what fabulous things he ordered (car parts). These don't normally affect me in any way, but today I had a fabulous time getting a package. I turned into my driveway and saw something on the front porch. As I knew Paul was waiting for something that reportedly got shipped two weeks ago, I was sure his thing came. I pulled it into the house and then trotted out to get the rest of the mail. I returned to the house and grabbed the big package and moved it and then noticed the front of it. I immediately started laughing so hard that I could barely stand. It completely made my day. Check it out below.




Yes. God thank you, yes. That is over 90 $0.23 stamps that adorn that beautiful package. I love people. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you anonymous eBay person. I needed a laugh!

Belinda

Yay! Garden time again!

Well, after taking about 30 minutes to reset my password (which turned out to be the same that blogger didn't "recognize") I finally got in to do some updating. Obviously, it's been a while since I blogged and I always try to say I'll do better. Reality check! I have little desire to do this every day and I often don't even think about it for a while. Anyway, here's what's been going on up in la casa Potter.

As many of you know we recently bought a house with about an acre of land. I really wanted to have a pretty large garden and was incredibly excited about the possibilities. Here's the downfalls: 1) Soil needs serious preparation; 2) Trees/garage are in the way of full sun; 3) There's no plot already here; 4) Prior owners used the backyard as a trash depository (you cannot imagine the fun things we've found in the backyard and this is BEFORE digging! Imagine our surprise when we get a deer bone next to a syringe); 5) Soil is clay (difficult to work with, great to hold in water and nutrients) so this is a pro/con thing. I think that basically covers the fun. So, we've spend the long, long January/February planning out our new garden plot/s. We decided that the cut off tree stump in the PERFECT spot will stay there. We are going to do two smaller raised beds (about 4x8) avoiding the stupid tree stump (who's roots I can only guess are still there, hehe). Then the main, larger garden will be further down in the area. One bed is for strawberries, which we've never dallied with so that will be fun. The other will be for the "cold" veggies, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts. The main garden will have entirely too many things to list out right now. New things we are trying include eggplant and sweet corn. We finally have enough room to try for the corn, but we'll see how that goes. We will be fighting with all the normal things, including deer and raccoons.

On Sunday, Paul and I started cleaning up some of the tree limbs that fell over the winter during ice storms in preparation to get the raised beds going. I ordered strawberry plants from Gurney's and have no clue when they will ship so want to be ready for them. Tasha and her daughters, Macy and Brooklyn, came over and the girls ended up providing us with some seriously cheap child labor as they had a good time running branches up to me and mommy. Here's some photos of them having a great time.

Helping mommy burn the limbs (shhhh...we weren't burning anything according to Missouri Law, hehe)

Macy handing Auntie a BIG limb (according to her, she's STRONG!!)

Brooklyn showing her Tiritilli roots. She's breaking that twig over her leg like a true Ranger Girl!

Macy has no limits. She hopped right into that pile of brush. Brooklyn is busy telling Mommy on Macy.

This is a true action shot. Macy in full run and Dinkleman (the blur of black) charging after her.

Mommy and Macy in a picture so DAMN cute, I can barely handle it.

After all that hard work, the kids needed an airplane. Here, Brookie is getting tossed.

And Macy's turn!

So that was our fun-filled Sunday. This Sunday SHOULD be a day of building the framework for the raised beds. The exciting thing is, last Saturday, Tash and I planted some seeds (broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts) and even though she said her notoriously non-green thumb will surely kill the seeds, they are growing! Yay! It's always like a little miracle when the seeds do their thing. Check out the photo!

Sprouts!

I'll try to keep track of all the wonderful garden changes and keep those who care (those two people in the world that is) informed of the fun!

Belinda