karismar

It’s hotter than blazes outside and still too hot inside to do much of anything. We were at 104 yesterday and look to top that today!! woo baby!  I’m keeping everything watered outside but my basil is droopy. Basil can be somewhat tempermental…it wants it warm but not HOT. Once the new moon is here I’ll transplant it into a much larger pot or directly into the garden. My other basil plants are in the garden but I like to keep one plant potted so I can coax it into holding on into the early fall. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

I saw my first butterfly of the season last week in my backyard and several more this week. Their arrival every year lets me know I’m doing something good outside.  Butterflies in the gardens/yards tell us that some of the balance is shifting back to a chemically free zone. I saw more of them when I was a child, when lawns weren’t abused by weekly visits from the "lawn manicurist" and weeds in the yard were accepted.

Speaking of chemically free zones…did anyone watch the LiveEarth concerts?  I cried through much of it. Melissa Etheridge gave a very inspiring talk during her song Wake Up. wow!  If you haven’t heard it, Google it and listen. I understand how daunting a task it can be to navigate through this world with as little harm done to mother earth as possible, and the feeling like what we do isn’t enough. BUT, one small change made by each of us is HUGE and it will impact us all in a profound manner.  Just find one thing that you can change about your daily life, just one. Once that becomes habit for you then pick another….and so on. It can be as small as recycling the toilet paper cardboard rolls instead of tossing them in the garbage.  Then, move onto building a compost bin that you can toss the cardboard into, in turn giving you some amazing "black gold" to ammend your soil with. These are just some examples but you get the point.  I’m doing more too. I seem to have slipped back into the horrible habit of using paper napkins. gah!!  As an accomplished seamstress I have NO EXCUSE and should be downstairs sewing some very easy napkins. If I took a few hours I could kick out a few dozen. So, if you need some encouragement or support, leave a comment and I’ll gladly support you in kicking your habit as I’m kicking mine!  We can do so much in our own little worlds.

 

I have no title for my blatherings so it’s hey to you all. lol We finished putting up the front yard fence halfway around the lot and I primed it before the rains fell. Good to have it almost done. I found volunteer sunflowers out in the garden from last year I assume. They’ll be a welcomed sight later in the summer when they are full and towerful. My one pagan friend here(did I say I didn’t get out much? lol) gave me some of her raspberry plants earlier this year and they are already producing. most excellent! The lettuce has run it’s course so I’ll be pulling that out and replanting another crop. Swiss chard, onions, fennel and potatoes are doing well. More soil will be added today around the potatoes, not sure how much taller they can get though! This is my first year growing potatoes and it’s a learning year. I need to make more manure tea(my version or fertilizer) today and apply it everywhere. The peas may make it one more week but then they need to be pulled out. They don’t do well in the heat and I’m really needing their space for more planting. I have more squash and pumpkins to put in along with another planting of carrots and radishes. I also need to get to the strawberry fields before they’re gone so jam can be made and put up for the next year.

We have another piece of property that extends outside of the back gate/fence that I’ve been eyeing for a home to chickens. It’s of no use right now and it would be a perfect site for them. It runs parallel to the garden and with a gate installed, access would be perfect and they would be protected from the other animals. I won’t bring any chicks home until spring but it will need to be prepared this fall for them. There is a wonderful little store in Portland that not only sells heirloom plants, organic soil and the likes, but also chickens. She teaches a free class on urbanites housing chickens and I can’t wait to be a student!

My daughter leaves for a 2 week trip to Europe next week and I’ve been getting her ready for that. Items that she’ll need, walking shoes, an international Visa card, etc….Looking at the dizzing array of what can/cannot be brought on board is somewhat ridiculous and varies so much when you leave the country. She has finally made her college decision and will stay on the west coast. HOORAY!! As much as I love the east coast, this will give us one more month with her this summer. I am beyong EXCITED! One of the best gifts I’ve been given is that of really enjoying my kids and wanting to be with them. Well, except for one (at the moment) but I’m not going into that and spoil the mood! lol

that’s how the weekend went but a lot was accomplished. The front and backsides of the house are completely primed and painted!  Wonderful to be that far and so early into June. I mentioned earlier that somehow I had managed to plant only two tomato plants, and that simply won’t do! Tomatoes have always been started by seed here but I simply don’t have the time or a long enough growing time to start now so I went and found my favorite farmer at the market. He is an heirloom farmer and grows organic heirloom produce. Saturday morning I was at the market promptly at 9am when they opened, hoping to snag a few plants. Well, was I ever excited when I stepped into his booth. The most beautiful and lucisous plants!  20 minutes later I waddled away with 8 tomatoe plants of various size/types, 1 Chinese miniature eggplant, more lemon cukes and another rosemary because any good witch knows you can’t have too much rosemary!!  My peas are bursting with blooms and any day now we’ll be rewarded with the sweet sumptous taste of homegrown peas!  My beets and red chard seem to be struggling but I’m hoping they’ll snap out of it and take off shortly.  Next to my peas I found a nice full cilantro plant, one that I had discarded from thinning out the seedlings a few months ago. It looks healthier than the plants I deliberately grew in pots!

After such a hot and sticky week and weekend the rain predicted for the week will be most welcomed and I am happy for the relief. The back needs a lot of weeding this week and the house needs a good scouring…..both are easier to do when the weather is cooler and I’m not being pulled to be in the gardens. 

Here are a few pictures from the garden and backyard. The red roses are next to my bedroom window and I love waking up to them each morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again I find myself somewhat surprised at how much joy the gardens bring me. It’s really taking off. Lettuce is filling out, onions are sprouting and even the grapes that my dog chewed down to the stump last year are back in full form. A new raised bed was put together Saturday and now I get to decide what to plant there. It was a surprise to me, such a sweet gesture from my partner.

We’ve had warm weather the past 4 days so I’ve taken advantage of it and started painting the exterior of the house. Primer is the first coat and I’ve done the backside, the garage and nearly finished with the west side. We’ll have to hire someone to get the peaks and dormer on the second story but I’m encouraged at how fast it’s gone.

A new moon today so more planting is close by. yay!

Here are a few views of the garden, my most favorite place to be….the bachelor button in the pic below was a volunteer off on the backside of the garden. I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

 

 

 

 

Soon I’ll be picking fresh lettuce and peas from the garden and feeling the sun on my face. Not today but soon. Yesterday I was encouraged when I saw the growth of my lettuce!  I could pick it right now and have a baby salad but I’ll wait for a larger crop. Lemon balm is everywhere and I don’t know why it grows like a weed in my yard but I’m thankful for it. 

The rain finally came but it gave us 2 days of unexpected warmth and dryness and I say yay!  Temperatures are dropping to give us a cold and wet day, a prime day for baking something comforting for afterschool snacks(chocolate chip cookies) and a roast in the oven for dinner.  

As I sat in the garden yesterday any noise around me seemed to fade into one single hum, neither bothering me nor intruding. I tend to like "white noise" anyway and have learned through yoga that tuning it all out and still finding my center is a gift to myself. I found magick in the garden yesterday, I always do. Faeiries coming out to look at the new growth and to give my newfoundland a little tease. She goes crazy and I always know when they’re flitting about as she will go leaping through the air trying to catch one. Nothing else is around, not a bird nor squirrel and I know at that moment what she’s seeing.

I think I’ll put on my hat and coat and hang outside after the baking is done, despite the rain as I can’t resist it.  

 

It’s April 20th and our last frost date was April 3rd, or so they say! I woke up to frost on the ground and in the gardens!!  My fear is the tender seedlings aren’t going to make it. It’s too late to do anything now, all I can do is hope for the best. Our weather is so messed up it doesn’t know what to do.

A greenhouse is something I’ve been thinking about and when this happens it pushes me a little closer. Not sure the specifics yet but I’ll be doing some research on them for next year.

Today I have the car for errands. Groceries need bought and some posts and cement to replace the leaning ones along the fenceline in the back.  The fence came with the house but was not installed properly so we’ve been replacing a little at a time. We have an area between the garage and backporch that will make a nice patio spot for a table/chairs so I’m hoping to squeeze out enough $$ to purchase some pavers to lay. The soil needs to be dug down several inches before anything can be layed but that shouldn’t take too long.

Hooray, I see sun out there!! 

I wanted to be in the garden today but wasn’t sure if the weather would cooperate. Showers were expected all day and temps in the low 40’s. Rain and cold together can make you feel crummy out in the elements!  A few dry breaks came my way and I was able to spend a few hours planting and plotting. I always think I know how I want the garden to be until I get out there ready to plant and I stand there looking dazed. It’s coming together but as I’m expanding my plans this year it’ll take time to get it just right. Starts of zucchini and summer squash, Kentucky Pole Beans, Boston & Lemon Cucumer and brussel sprouts were planted. The sprouts are new for me and I have no idea when they are best to plant but I thought I’d experiement and see for myself how they like my garden and the soil. Nothing is as good as first hand experience.

The lilacs in the picture were planted 4yrs ago when we moved here. It was late August and they were marked TLC plants from the drugstore. Looking rather pekid I decided to buy them and see if I could bring them back to life. At .99cents I had nothing to lose. All 4 plants were about 10in high and had maybe a few leaves. Today they are over 6ft tall. This spring is their first bloom of flowers and I am thrilled at their beauty. Smelling delicious as they drape over my newly built garden fence(still needing paint but can’t catch a dry day to paint!) The view is from inside my garden.

My peas are just at that growth where they’re going to take off once they have something to climb on.  One of my projects this weekend.

 

 

 

I have seed starts all over my kitchen, each vying for their share of sunlight. The Boston and lemon cucumbers  and summer squashes have outgrown the trays and really need to be transplanted to larger containers but it just isn’t the right time of moon phase to do it. I sure hope they can hold out for another week without losing their lustre. I used fluorescent bulbs for their growth for the first time and I love the results!  Seeing firsthand the difference the lights make vs. the usual limping around trying to get a few growing for my own garden, has given me ideas for selling the starts at farmers market next spring. If I only focused on selling the starts I would have maybe two months at the market instead of 5or6. I figure those who want to buy starts for their own garden will have everything they want by the 1st of June and then I’d be done. I could always continue selling if my own garden produced enough for feeding us, canning and the market but the market fares would be last. We have a nice farmers market and a few stands with organic produce but I can’t say that we have any stands with organic vegetable starts/plants and I think it’d be a good seller.

                        

                           

                       

 

Every south facing window sill in this house is covered in seed starts. I’m fortunate to have my kitchen window, french doors and bedroom all facing south. Not an abundance of space to place the trays and containers but it works.  After some reading about grow lights I’ve decided that my seeds need a more grown up start to their lives. Unfortunately, the cost of grow lights is not in my budget at the moment(child #2 is off to college in the fall!)so I’m doing an alternative method. This old house has a few ceiling lights with direct bulbs, meaning they face downwards so I figured I could buy compact fluorescent bulbs and set up make-shift grow lights. One is above a tall armoire in my bedroom so I get the heighth I need to have the seeds 2 in. from the light and the other is in the basement over a tall 5shelf rack.  Not your usual "decor" but it’s only for a short time and my guy is very supportive of my "endeavors", crazy as they may seem to others. I’ve grown my garden from seeds for as long as I can remember but never gone this route before. As I continue to pursue a year-round garden I expect to slowly set up a greenhouse of sorts, at the very least I will have several  growlights in the garage and/or basement.

 

this is what I wish for…..size XLarge please