May 30, 2015

I woke up sick in the head today, and late.  Oh, and I drooled in my sleep and had a purple streak across my face and arm.  Soooo..... Good start to the day.

I'm kind of on strike today.  I did not walk the kids through their chores, I did not do house chores. Those can wait, and the kids can handle cleaning their rooms and bathrooms, or we will deal with it later.

The weather is AMAZING today- I've spent all day in the garden and green house just puttering.  I planted another few flats with wild flowers, coleus, sun flowers, squash varieties, flat parsley, and Siam basil.  I set up an old ladder as a trellis, planted out the rest of the tomatillos, planted corn and beans, spread vermicompost and Sluggo and fertilizer.  I tied back the double daffies and yanked out the singles.  I love that my garden is starting to get that layered feeling.  Love love love.

View from the front porch

Really, really happy that we have a gardener this year.  My wrists are still weak, and will possibly be that way for a long time and will always require a little pampering.  Weeding isn't easy for me.  He just does the big stuff: pressure wash,  mow and edge, and keep the weeds down.  I walk around and pull little weeds when I get a chance.  As my plants fill in over the years, weeding gets to be less and less of a chore.  Oh man the weeds were TERRIBLE when we moved in, and in the first few years.  I was in baby years, and we would have patches of dense, waist-high weeds that I would have to tackle in sudden bursts.  

I measured my soil fertility and PH today with a little gadget I picked up last year.  All is good except in one bed that I always blamed myself for: fertility is hovering around 1 and PH is too high.  (All the other beds are at a comfortable 7 on the fertility scale.  For reference, even though I have no idea what the scale is!). I top dressed with compost from my worms, the rest of my good potting soil, and a good sprinkle of slow-release fertilizer and Sluggo.  I've done all I can for the year!  No wonder those plants always failed in that spot.

I am super happy with how the yard is going.  I have a list of spots that need filling, but what is there is lovely.  

When the afternoon got hot, and I was done, I sat in the yard and soaked my feet in a big galvanized tub.  I'm a suburban hick ;). Did I mention I did all this in my pj's and an old straw hat?  Yoga pants and an old tee seemed like a perfectly fine way to spend a day :)

I made the weirdest dinner tonight, and the kids adored it.  Everything was sweet.  First there was an AMAZING canary melon.  Then I candied pecans with a sugar, salt, and a little chile powder.  There were bread and butter pickles, and finally shoestring oven fries with ketchup (which is nearly as sweet as jam.). Mimi was in HEAVEN.  

I cleaned the kitchen, swept, ran the dishwasher, and cleaned the pig's cage and then served up ice cream for everyone.

OH.  J was busy today- back at Christmas he bought me heavy-duty outdoor lights.  Today he installed a post and guide wires, and strung the lights.  One strand is faulty, so he'll return those, but it looks magical!