Blog – Page 35

Birds of Prey

05/04/2015 by Holly

About 10 years ago I bought 3 strawberry plants. That was 2 plants too many. These things are fighters.

One day last week I glanced down to see a handful of beautiful–though oddly shaped–berries with bright green tips. Bitty G was napping and Bitty E in rest time (All Praise Be Unto The name Of The Lord) so I thought “we can pick them later.”

Then there’s dinner and bath and wheels on the bus and I-want-to-play-with-exactly-that-toy-at-exactly-the-same-second-you-have-it, and well, they got forgotten. Until the next morning when I woke Bitty E with an Irredeemable Parental Promise, or IPP as those of us who find ourselves unfortunate experts in this realm call it. {In case you find yourself fortunate, an IPP is the singular most stupid thing parents do on an unfortunately regular basis.} {Also: can I use some form of fortunate another time in this paragraph? Unfortunately not.}

The following is a list of items to never make a parental promise on, for it is sure to turn into an IPP:

1. weather

2. people in theme dress and whether or not they might approach you and try to wave

3. purchasability of certain types of lollipops in certain types of convenience stores

4. school attendance of specific friends or teachers

-and now-

5. predatory birds. {I’m looking at you, yellow finch…}

For, you see, those berries way back up there at the beginning of this terribly long story met an untimely demise. Bitty E responded to my IPP in pajamas and early morning sun to lift leaf after leaf while I stood by for the photo op. Gone. Picked clean. Every last one of them. Birds is my best guess. Momma not putting the leaves back in exactly the perfect position after she spotted them the day before is my second best guess, but really, lets keep the blame on the birds.

Bitty E’s response {let’s not call it calm…} tempted me to grab some berries from the plastic refrigerator container and scatter them about like Easter eggs in the yard.

But the birds or the clowns probably would have picked us clean of those too.

On being a sprinkler system pro

04/28/2015 by Holly

I’m typing without the use of my right thumb and pointer finger today due to some sprinkler work I did over the weekend. Ok, not really, but let me just say this: these little sprinkler-doo-hickeys are NO JOKE.

The way you have to pinch and push them tears up your hands. The first three made me think “hmmmmm….this does not feel great.” And the last three made me think “PLEASE GOD IS IT OVER YET.”

But I am happy to report that I {hopefully} successfully installed one side of sprinkler system AND programmed the sprinkler panel and am now wondering if NASA wants to employ me.

I’ve now checked my phone and am sad to report they have not called. I did however discover that someone named “wet couches” has a really funny Instagram feed.

I’m nothing if not hopeful

04/24/2015 by Holly

Why, yes, that is a 4″ tomato plant planted inside a 4′ tomato cage.

I learned the trick years ago of gently pinching the lower leaves off a tomato plant and then planting it deep, so all the tiny hairs will have the chance to become roots. It made a huge difference in my tomato production. Hope the same will hold true for this year!

Today was planting day for the raised beds. Just about anything you could imagine went in…peppers, carrots, parsnips, onions, peas, beans, okra, basil…you name it! I’m too bone tired to remember everything I planted. But now it’s all set and ready…let the waiting and the weeding begin!

{Those are onions…not weeds…}

Coming up roses

04/23/2015 by Holly

My neighbor, Mrs. R, has the most beautiful rose hedge. She is kind, humble, and welcoming–just like her rose hedge–and today she let me photograph it.

The first best thing about Mrs. R’s rose hedge is it is perfectly visible from my backyard.

The second best thing about Mrs. R’s rose hedge is that it’s not even in full bloom yet.

Mrs. R tells me she doesn’t do much to keep her hedge in order–just fertilizes and prunes on occasion. But for the rose nincompoop like myself, I want to bottle whatever she does over there and shake it all over my yard.

Maybe twice.

She grows quite the variety of exotic species. Here is her pomegranate tree starting to bloom:

And she hooked me up with mint from her impressive mint patch:

Which went right into this yummy infusion when I got home:

The yard projects are a-plenty right now, and just seeing Mrs. R’s hedge up close reminded me I needed to get my climber attached to the fence. This is a new purchase for me–a rose picked up the same day as the peach tree–called “the fairy.”

I hope I tacked it correctly…there was a good dose of “here goes nothing…”

It has lots of baby buds on it and my hope is that it will be covered in the small pale pink blossoms Pinterest promised in just a couple weeks.

Two blackberries and two blueberries also went in today. Bitty “helped.”

I’m hopeful to sit down during naptime today and plan out the seeding spacing for the raised beds. Maybe those will get planted tomorrow??

No shame in it

04/22/2015 by Holly

I totally garden for the indoors.

Meaning: I choose my flowers based on “cutability.” {Yes, that’s a word in this house.}

This species of “daisyus weedus” I started from seed almost 10 years ago just after David and I were married. The blooms have come to mark the first signs of spring for me, and I must admit I’m a little attached to this plant. After surviving two moves, it had been in a pot on our patio it’s entire stay at this house. I hope I just planted it in its forever home.