Thursday, May 23, 2013

My World this Week

My peonies in the front yard bloomed this week.

Outdoor work has taken most of my time this week but the garden is almost planted.  There is room for a couple more veggies.  I hope to purchase seeds and get them in the ground soon.

Since we have to put up new chicken wire this year, we still want to expand the footprint of the garden by staking more poles and then running the wire around them.  The raised beds can be built in the fall to be ready for next Spring... more of our "little bit at a time" gardening efforts.  :)

Two more long raised beds will make it possible to grow veggies that take up a lot of space like squash and perhaps pumpkins.  We have also decided to build a raised bed in the area where we tried to grow things before but they kept dying (Hubby thinks there was a walnut tree there at one time).  We will use it to grow rhubarb so it doesn't need a fence to protect it.

This is the latest I've planted seeds since we have had our garden.  It looks much more like early Spring than nearing Memorial Day.  Although last year it looked gorgeous on Memorial Day and almost everything perished in drought.  So I know one cannot judge their garden by how it looks in late May... sigh.

Growing
Some of the herbs and veggies waiting for planting.


Reading
Three of my favorite gardening books perused for answers this week.


Watching
Watching the fluffy one enjoying a breeze through the window.

This has become her favorite place since I moved the vintage sewing machine back just a little so she can jump up without falling.


Listening With
I mentioned how small the itty bitty iPod is.  Here it rests between my cell phone and an eraser.

Very small and just a tad inconvenient (there is no window) but for a cost of $50.00 a few years ago it has provided an excellent listening experience.


Journaling
This is my third year to keep a garden journal within my scrapbook journal.  I'll write more about it later but it's been invaluable!


Isn't it amusing how we look at rain once we've planted a garden?  Two weeks ago I'd awaken to rain and think we had too much of a good thing.  Since planting I've smiled at the sound of rain against the window for it means I do not have to water the garden today!

7 comments:

La Tea Dah said...

I'm making my list for today --- and just changed it all around after reading your post. I think I'll work in my garden. Thank you for the inspiration.

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

We are getting rain here today - very welcome with the garden planted and the new fruit trees!

I have Sharon's book Trowel and Error too! It's enjoyable reading and learning.

Victoria is such a beauty - reigning over her kingdom!

Deanna

Anonymous said...

I am late finishing our garden this year too. I forget I am not 18 anymore !! The weeks seem to just fly by but I just need to try to do the best I can. I saved all the rain water I could last winter. We don't get much rain. I am finishing off using the last of it already to water the garden and the perennial things that were already there. Thanks for the book titles. I will check out your Amazon button to look them up. I do have the little house one. Today we are having some cool weather after 100s lately so a good day to get at more planting! Sarah

Jennifer said...

Planting a garden has definitely changed my outlook on rain. I've always despised rain, I'm much more of a sunshine and hot weather girl...but now that I have to water the garden, I actually don't mind some rain. Not too much, mind you...but some.

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

You're so right about the rain and gardening! It's been hot and sunny and I've already had to use the hose to water the veggies. At least I have my rain barrel water for the flowers!

That's so sweet that you moved the sewing machine for her :)

I don't keep a garden journal. I start to and then totally forget in just keeping up with the garden. I suppose my blog is a sort of garden journal. Not a very detailed one but at least I can see what I planted where and how it did.

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Catching up with reading blogs (finally). It is more addictive than magazines!

Thank you, thank you dear Brenda for the photo of Trowel & Error. I'm glad that you like it.

Cheers and a tip of the tea cup,

Sharon

Vee said...

Raining for a week here and so no flowers are in the garden, no plants done, and it will take a week to dry out the ground lest they rot. I'm feeling very peevish about the whole thing. I'm pretty sure that I've gotten to a place where nothing makes me happy. That is not a good place to be at all. Perhaps I'll just assume that the summer has already gone the way of spring and that nothing can be made right and so give myself over to books and mold.