Showing posts with label yard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yard. Show all posts

Preparing for Winter

Did I ever tell you all about my 'choke?

last spring (two growing seasons ago now) i planted little artichoke seeds. yep. seeded the chokes from scratch baby. and three of them grew into beautiful spiky little seedlings. but i was stupid. oh so stupid. i thought you just plunk them in the ground and then that becomes their forever home....

beginner mistake: if the seed grows then doesn't that mean they're able to grow in this temp. region?

lesson learned: just cuz something germinates doesn't mean the plant is hardy to that zone.

Artichokes can grow in my zone (6-7)- no sweat. but to winter in my zone is another story. that's like hoping plumerias (native to tropical and subtropical regions) will be able to super-bulk up and bunker down for the heavy snow of the Pacific Northwest.... No, what will actually happen is they'll be thinking "WTF IS THIS COLD?! gaahhhhhhhhhhhh" {wither away.... die}.





poor plumeria... they're sooooo pretty!
from wikimedia



though artichokes are not that sensitive to cold, there does need to a be a LITTLE bit of coddling to make sure these little guys grow up to be the big strong edible flowers they need to be. 

Coddling which I absolutely did not do. yay me. but i didn't know! (ugh it's getting exhausting to constantly create mass destruction of some kind because "i didn't know")

No more.. this year the snow is yet to arrive and the coddling (though late) will happen. and my 'chokes will flourish!! you'll see!!

genocide and a shitty mass grave





 
 
 
i killed them all :(
 
 


look how happy he looks!!




but no. my worms are not like this happy squiggler. I KILLED THEM!!!!!




more accurately, the accursed Apollo killed them. They got too hot. DAMN YOU APOLLO!! but who am i kidding? the blame lies equally with me- i aided the creation of the inescapable, unyielding inferno that my little worm babies were fried in till their dying breaths.....




how do i even live with myself?!
 
 
apparently i was doing it wrong anyway. too much poop to not enough worm ratio.
 
 
 
....BUT A POUND OF WORMS!!
but too much poop.
but so many worms!!!!
but still too much poop.



i underestimated the poopiness of my beloved number 1's poop. thank god i didn't try anything with number 2's!! evilocity plus poop toxicity can only equal zombified worms that can probably open the lid of their own worm bin. before coming into the house to eat our brainzzzzzzzzzzz


 


"braaaainnnnzzzzzz"





the fact of the matter is i need to step up my game.





and step up i shall. 



worm bin round 2 will be on its way shortly. plan of action? slow and steady will win this race. hopefully only ONE more batch of worms will be needed... with some sage advice from some serious veteran composters and a resolve to brave the nefarious odors of number 1's very special waste I head back into the darkness.

as for the worms in bin 1:


I'M SO SORRY!!!  SOOO SOOO SORRY!!!



Shit. I think I have worms

If you know me in real life, you've probably heard me talk about poop. I talk about poop regularly. Probably because it is a mystery to me as I don't do it.... {crickets chirping} Now is the time to stop reading this post if solid waste is a sensitive subject for you.


You've been warned.


On the Grounds of Coffee

I'm on a high right now... i know- different end of the spectrum from my last post but this should not surprise anyone. The latest and greatest and not-all-that-new-but-still-kinda-new thing in my life is gardening!!

Remember last year when it was gonna be AMAZEBALLS??

So many plans, so many seeds, so much watering!! gaaahhhhh!!

and then.

remember last year when it was a total fail?

THIS year i'm workin it (yeah yeah it's a little late in the year), makin it, doin it (the gardening you creep heh heh), and it's makin me harder, better, fa- wait wait i'm getting this wrong.
 
TAKE 2:

THIS year i'm workin it harder ripping up that NASTY grass!



makin it soooo much better!


and better...


K, i dunno about doin it faster though... there's only so much my back and shoulders can handle.
But for sure it's making me stronger :)

I have a different focus this year. Instead of creating new life, I'm working on cultivating the lives I've already got. Like the tree pictured above. last year it was just an awkward looking treeling with two skinny long arms. this year, after an entire spring of branching and filling out and getting dressed, a whole galaxy of aphids came and stunted so much of the new growth. I didn't know what was ailing it and at that particular time i didn't really care to notice due to my whole not caring to notice much of anything. The other thing killing this tree was complete dehydration- not because i was withholding water mind you! but the tree was planted on a complete slope and none of the water would stay anywhere near the tree... hence: STONE WALL! hour after hour i kept stacking the damn rocks trying to make them stay... and then finally i've got a teeny little dam to keep my tree drunk with water to grow and be merry. the flowers underneath are gardners' strategy that i'm slowly picking up on to attract predators of the aphids that will mosey on over to the foliage and then stumble on a feast of the little aphid bastards to eat away at! HA!

what else this year? a little ways away from my tree i ripped up even MORE grass and built what will be my herb garden next year. I'll be finishing my patio table today- i'll be posting about that soon. I want to build some kind of shade pergola over the patio but that's something i still have to work out...planning on cutting down the plum tree this fall so the nectarine tree can flourish- they're starting to choke each other out now {sad}. I'll have to fix my raised beds once the season ends because we've already got tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers growing in them now. and lastly- maybe most ambitiously- i want to build my green closet. somewhere to grow plumeria and a lemon tree...this project is particularly tricky because adequate lighting is essential and location may be a difficult thing in my yard... no matter. I will make it work. Did i say i've started composting? I've started composting. and learning about feeding my plants. i'm going to have amazing compost in about 3-4 weeks, i'm also going to make some Worm Cafe's for them to come compost around the yard for me, and COFFEE!! who knew coffee could be so amazing for the yard? i've been asprinklin' and asprinklin' some more. everywhere. because my office produces CRAZY amounts of coffee grounds and that means i have an unending supply of food for my garden. stay tuned.....



..........and strawberries

yeah i went there.. two strawberry plants: berries galore and loran.

I have a problem.

I just wanna be a foodie~

Is that too much to ask for? I want to read about food, look at food, definitely make the food, then eat the food, then talk about food, and take pictures of food, and write about food! I want to do all of these things! WHY? WHY WHY?!  It's just... that I don't have to time to devote to being a total food junkie.
I don't even have time to be an anything junkie. I just... can't be a junkie of any kind. I consider this a huge failure and a gaping hole in my life. sad.


Decisions and more decisions

I have to rein in my life and get a handle on my shit for the next couple of months. Like my garden, my life is out of control right now. I've got too many things going on and a ridiculous number of ideas and wants and craziness just stockpiling in the back of my over cluttered, already exploding, little brain.


Gasworks then B&O

What a weekend~ super busy finishing up my patio and then some!

Friday night I went out!!! and picked up rocks for my yard... of course. What did you think I meant out to party? pshaw! that's something only young people do. Didn't I mention I'm already in my EARLY TWENTIES!? {sigh} it disturbs me how much my granny-like tendencies don't disturb me. To ask "what's wrong with me" wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface so.... I went to pick up rocks, brought back a small pickup full and on the way, I went to another random person's house who was giving away free raspberry plants! How could I resist?!?! So I went and dug up some spindly raspberry canes to plant in my garden that has already run out of room {sad}. Got home, unloaded half of the rocks, checked on my plant babies, put down a few patio pavers, got tired, and went inside....


IT'S SUMMAH!!! and an update... and it's long. and that is what she said.

The weather has been getting SOOOOOO nice here and I've got projects lining up around the block! First things first of course- gotta finish my patio. It's moving on to its second summer.. i think it's time. Actually, I'm only three rows from finishing it up and sadly, because it is near the end, it is also the most complicated rows. This is where the shit hits the fan. Where all the ugly is exposed. Where everyone gets naked. And dance around a bon fire... wait, what?


farming~~~

I wish I could be a farmer. Not just the backyard garden kind- the multi-acre kind. I've been planting little seeds and my babies have been growing! I haven't had this much fun in forever. Climbing is thrilling, buying is thrilling, reading is pleasurable, sleeping is euphoric, but gardening and seeing the fruits of your labor... it makes me giddy like a child in a candy store. The funny thing about it is I didn't have to do anything but pop the seeds in, water it, and very occasionally put a cover over the tray so that the wind doesn't cool the soil too much. The plants basically just grow on their own and what's more, it went from a week of not seeing any changes in the soil to four sprouts shooting through in one day!! I'll be posting pictures soon but crazily, when I took pictures at 7 am Saturday morning, only one of the tray pods had a little sprout but when I came back from working at about 11 am, there were four! How did that happen?! It was so amazing that randomly I catch myself sitting next to the tray and staring at the soil as if I'll be able to see the damn things actually pop out of the ground.... Don't laugh.