Seed Sale!!!

I can tell it is getting late in Winter because my mail has been getting drowned in seed catalogs. I might be missing something, but as of yet I haven't seen any really good sales. Noticing this, I was pleased to get a Gurney's mailer with a no minimum $20 coupon. It expires Feb. 9, so I'll have to get moving.

Since last spring I. . .

Not much happened over the summer. More specifically, I neglected my gardens. I am so glad that my plants have more sense than I do, so most of them made it. The summer was ROUGH! It was sooo hot and dry here. My poor beds have gone to the dogs. . .and the cats and the weather.

The cats have decided that their favorite place to conduct "buisness" is under my russian sage. We are in a custody battle for the dirt that my sage lives in. Sadly, the cats are winning. The dogs have decided to completely trample my pine bed, and erosion is helping them. I don't particularly like the look of retaining block surrounding every single bed, but I may have to break down and retain this bed. I'm pretty sure I've lost most of the plants in the pine bed.

On the other side of the house, my maple bed, I had bought the thin blocks instead of the retaining blocks and they are NOT working out. The dirt is pushing them over, so again I'll need to put retaining wall blocks here too. Also in this bed, the cats are at it again. I have recently discovered that my precious maple tree's tiny little trunk has spent the summer being used as a scratcing post. Shock! Gasp! Horror!

The gorgeous spiral tree that I got for the front of the house croaked soon after I planted it in the spring. I figure it just got too dried out before I finally got on the ball and planted. When plants get root bound they just can't soak up their water.

The last piece of bad news is that my greenhouse finally croaked too. After last winter the plastic was cracking and tearing, but I could still use it as a storage tent. The summer's winds finally did it in, blowing it and it's contents all over the place. Honestly, I have yet to go out and relocate all of my containers and such into the shop building. It was hot, now it's cold. What the heck happened to fall? Oh yeah, my real job.

I'd love to say that I have some good news, but unfortunately there is none. Time to accept bygons and prepare for winter sowing. Whew! I need to buy an almanac and prepare.

April 2010. . . almost a year? Plans & Accomplishments

It's warm again so back to gardening and outdoors and all the goodies of life! Although I do not like hot weather and indeed dread the humid 100s of an Arkansas summer, I am still excited to have daylight remaining when I come home and getting to wander around the yard tending to and imagining futures for all of my plants and now empty spaces. We have had all kinds of house updates going on.

Outside

My husband and I finally had all of the brush and woody stuff removed, so now I have a lot more space for new plants and trees. Last fall I bought a gorgeous spiral tree for the front. I have yet to plant it, but that is forthcoming. We have also gotten gutters. Gutters are not exciting to most people, but my how those of us without them have been betrayed:) No more boggy spots behind the house; no more dirt erosion in my maple bed; no more mulch spraying all over the front walk (sigh of relief).

I have that nice new area to play with, but I'm not making any plans past imagination for now. The ground work needs done, and since I don't have the muscles, I will have to leave that to my husband for a while. As long as it gets ground/tilled and mulched this year I'll be satisfied. Other than that, I don't have any new beds in the works. New equals difficult, that's for sure.

The Fence has gone to the dogs.

We FINALLY found a containment system for my Walker. After everything we have tried, tested, and bought it turns out that I should have listened to my papaw four years ago when he told me to "hot wire" the fence. I misunderstood all along thinking that it would electrify the fence itself. So, I spent around $100 for the supplies for the "hot wire" and it has worked like a charm. We can leave Walker outside all day without fear. At first he was "shocked" (ha, ha). But within the week he has gotten accustomed to where he can go and has found what his limits are. By today, he was finally running around like a regular dog. The most exciting part of my day was playing fetch with him (if you can call it that, he didn't actually bring anything back). This dog has NEVER played fetch. If I threw a stick or ball he would step out of the way and look at me disdainfully as if I was throwing things AT him. Not today though. I may even go so far as to say that for a little while--he frolicked.

Inside

We have ordered our new (expensive) french patio doors. They should be installed within the next week or so. Once all of that is done, it will be time for the new floors inside of the house around the last week of April. I ordered wheat colored carpet for the bedrooms and "rustic maple" laminate for the remainder of the house. I can't wait to see the airiness and freshness that the new floors bring to the space. We are also getting new baseboards for the whole house while we are at it. Those we have now are ridiculously outdated. They are big boxy things--just awful.

Paint

I got the bathroom tile painted last weekend. It isn't completed yet. I will need another can for the shower area and the second coat around the sink. I cannot believe how well it turned out. I really did expect a mess ending in having to gut the bathroom to start anew, but gladly it worked out. As for other painting, I'll have to paint the baseboards before they are installed. I'll also have to repaint the bathroom. I'm planning on a slightly olive/avocado toned spa green. I'll need to repaint the hall and living room before the floors are laid. For this, I'm planning a neutral "calm air." I found this in the Behr line. Most neutrals have either a yellow or pink tone to them, neither of which I like. This one, however has a peachy tone to it. I think the people at Behr have found a nice compromise. I could switch though: sensible hue if lighter or pebble path if darker.

The kitchen needs an update as well. I love the color it is now, so I'm just trying to match it. If I go with a darker color in the living room I may choose a slightly brighter one for the kitchen. The kitchen will come later--much later. I'll be painted out for a while. I'm going to leave mine and my husband's individual rooms alone for now. I like the ease of the almost white in my room and think the carpet will add warmth for a bit of change. I don't have a clue what to do about our bedroom. I have painted it about once a year since moving in. There is a thin line between indecisiveness and curiosity: I think they both "killed the cat," or a least wore her out! For now, I feel myself leaning to a grey-blue for our bedroom. I'll wait on that room as well. Earlier this winter I bought (with my husband's input I'm surprised to add) some material for a bed and curtain set. I plan on making the set and deciding on the paint later.

Between gardening, painting, and sewing I'll be a busy bee this summer. My garden won't take much work after the planting-out and mulching are done. I'm the type of person who has to have too many plans to feel prepared. Plus, with no kids or work in the summer I'm pretty much left to my own devices. The last week of July my husband and I are taking my niece and nephew to Disneyworld and West Palm Beach. That will be a blast.

I can't wait to see what turns out.

Long time, no update. . .

My big and pine beds.
This 20 cent cottage mix is blooming more than anything!

I see that I am not going to be as frequent a blogger as I had hoped. Oh well, better sporadic than never.

The maple bed is looking great--the hyds are enjoying their new home.

I got my lady in red replanted in a big container (which I got for only $10). It is now sitting behind the pine tree.

I got a fancy-schmancy water timer for my vacation.

My greenhouse lupines are already ready to plant out. I put them under the shade tree for one day to weather them and some kind of critter pawed out a bunch of them in one container and completely left the other alone. Whatever this critter is, it loves the pine bed. I still don't know which critter it is. I'm leaning towards thinking it is a squirrel. It makes perfect little shallow holes everywhere. I guess their looking for pecans from the neighbor's tree. All welcome--for now--until I am caused greater hardship.

I have a couple of ripe tomatoes which I'm super excited about. Other WS plants are starting to take off and I have a few meager blooms. Can't wait till next year!!

A few of my blooms.

We've had some gorgeous rain here. I didn't think I'd say that after the mush of spring we have had, but man--it sure makes watering easier. I finally got the tree and hyds placed in the new bed. It didn't turn out as grand as I had imagined, but it is still nice to have. I haven't put in the liriope yet. I'm still deciding on using it.

Yesterday I planted out my tomatoes and herbs, and I moved the lettuce and cantaloupe into a less sunny area. I just know a seasoned gardener would have a cow because of my lableless plants, mixing of veggies, herbs, and flowers, and my bare mulchless soil, but whatever. I'll get to the rest of it, and next year will be different. I'm still working out the kinks and having a blast doing it!

Oh my! It is h-o-t today. 95 to be exact. This means that spring is officially over for Arkansans. The farmers said the almanac predicts a summer with average temperatures of 103. Again. . . oh my!

My darling husband hauled more bags of soil out to the maple bed for me today. I don't know why clear calculations never actually work when dealing with soil. I measured, formulated the volume and everything, but no. I still need a lot more soil than the calculations predicted. Shhh! Don't tell my students! The maple bed needs about 8 more bags of soil, then I'll mix in my MG and EG "good" soil, and finally be ready to plant.

Also today, I layed my soaker hose in the fence bed. What a great deal: in the spring I got two 50ft. hoses for $13 at Sam's. I'm just ready for the baby's breath to get bigger so that I can mulch. Yes, that's correct--it is June and I haven't mulched yet. Speaking of the fence bed, I just have to do some more sowing. I'll do that tonight when it has cooled off.

Weeds! I went out to do my biweekly weed spray this afternoon and used an entire bottle of round-up. Damn weeds!

Thunderstorms

The past couple days have been slacker days and I've loved every minute. We've had thunderstorms, thunderstorms, and more thunderstorms. My nasturtium is going to have a tempertantrum if it doesn't end soon. All of the other flowers are loving this humid rain. On a positive note, I cannot believe how great the greenhouse is working. I thought none the remaining peat cups would come up, but I have sprouts in quite a few!