Gardening!
Ok. I think I should finally have an entry on gardening, especially given my userid. Of course, the primary reason for starting on LiveJournal was to document Jana.
I've been working on my 2006 garden plan since October. I planted some Bloomsdale Spinach in containers to overwinter. I also ordered a 4x4 and 3x3 raised bed kits from www.squarefootgardening.com to make 2 3x4 raised beds because that's what fits in my front lawn. To do this, I spent a couple of weekends to dig out the frustrating ornamental bed I had before. Pulled out a Baby's Breath bush I never seemed to be able to kill. A crazy bed of Mint that grew like a weed. And the hardest, I had to pull out scores and scores of my awesome iris bulbs. The only thing I planted, everything else I inherited from the previous owner who really liked high-maintenance gardening.
I also wanted to redo my lawn, but kind of just re-distributed the dirt from my bed over the lawn. I really wanted to lassagna the lawn. Well, next season. At least it'll be better this season for Jana to be on. It was so lumpy before.
I wound up lasagna layering the beds using store purchased compost and other mixtures. A while back, Michael said we couldn't do composting because our outside property is so small, and composting smells. Well, years later and a lot more research later, I've convinced him that we can do it. Yay! I'm currently on the waiting list for the PRC composting class this March. In the meantime, I'm considering the following composters: Compost Factory, $299 (http://www.gardeners.com/Compost-Factory/default/StandardCatalog.20706.35-616.cpd;pgid=8BH4FB4H00000000000000000000VauFp9DY;sid=LMttP8nBabYpMop9h08JPMnLe7vy_J6xswg=) and Home Composter, $70 (http://www.composters.com/docs/bins_p3.html) . Big price difference, eh?
Seeds: I have all of my seed orders in except for artichoke (this will be an adventure) and 2 more varieties of tomatoes. I told myself I wouldn't do a lot of tomatoes, but these sound like exciting varieties! Hmm, wonder where would be a good place to post my seed list? It's hillarious how many varieties of seeds I have for a 24 sq foot garden. At least I do plan on keeping some containers for gardening.
Hmm, well, that's the gardening update for now; my coffee's about gone and gonna get Jana ready for school now.
I've been working on my 2006 garden plan since October. I planted some Bloomsdale Spinach in containers to overwinter. I also ordered a 4x4 and 3x3 raised bed kits from www.squarefootgardening.com to make 2 3x4 raised beds because that's what fits in my front lawn. To do this, I spent a couple of weekends to dig out the frustrating ornamental bed I had before. Pulled out a Baby's Breath bush I never seemed to be able to kill. A crazy bed of Mint that grew like a weed. And the hardest, I had to pull out scores and scores of my awesome iris bulbs. The only thing I planted, everything else I inherited from the previous owner who really liked high-maintenance gardening.
I also wanted to redo my lawn, but kind of just re-distributed the dirt from my bed over the lawn. I really wanted to lassagna the lawn. Well, next season. At least it'll be better this season for Jana to be on. It was so lumpy before.
I wound up lasagna layering the beds using store purchased compost and other mixtures. A while back, Michael said we couldn't do composting because our outside property is so small, and composting smells. Well, years later and a lot more research later, I've convinced him that we can do it. Yay! I'm currently on the waiting list for the PRC composting class this March. In the meantime, I'm considering the following composters: Compost Factory, $299 (http://www.gardeners.com/Compost-Factory/default/StandardCatalog.20706.35-616.cpd;pgid=8BH4FB4H00000000000000000000VauFp9DY;sid=LMttP8nBabYpMop9h08JPMnLe7vy_J6xswg=) and Home Composter, $70 (http://www.composters.com/docs/bins_p3.html) . Big price difference, eh?
Seeds: I have all of my seed orders in except for artichoke (this will be an adventure) and 2 more varieties of tomatoes. I told myself I wouldn't do a lot of tomatoes, but these sound like exciting varieties! Hmm, wonder where would be a good place to post my seed list? It's hillarious how many varieties of seeds I have for a 24 sq foot garden. At least I do plan on keeping some containers for gardening.
Hmm, well, that's the gardening update for now; my coffee's about gone and gonna get Jana ready for school now.