Growth

Built a fence today. I used the two sticks from which we liberated the fruit trees (so mighty, our little trees, standing all by themselves!) and some yarn (I might as well do something with the yarn; I am certainly not knitting much with it these days). Not exactly a sturdy fence, the whole enterprise serves more as a visual cue for passers by. I'm not really a fan of fences, but it had to be done--the dogs won't leave the sprouts alone.

This is a dog neighborhood. Everyday while we garden, and happily we do get to garden almost every day lately, a parade of dogs comes by with owners in tow. Some are joggers, but most make their way leisurely to the park and the river views. Around here, larger dogs seem to be the popular choice--shepherds, labs, retrievers. The odd collie. Downtown the dogs are smaller, mostly chihuahuas or terriers. Apartment dogs, I guess. The neighbors will have a dog tomorrow. Apparently it has some sort of eating disorder. I have no idea how that will turn out.

Meanwhile, I get sun and marvel at the growth that I nurture. Our corn stands perhaps six inches high and the brussel sprouts are much larger (although, sadly, they have lost their purple and gold leaves and settled instead for the standard garden green. We water every evening, when I pinch the peas and threaten to eat them straight out of the pod. I have done this once already--sweet, but a little on the small side yet. We will surely have peas in our salad for Brandon's graduation party. I'm happy to have the time to enjoy the garden now. Soon I will be locked away in classrooms every afternoon and evening, four days a week. At least that's only for one month.
~Tarehna

the sprout are coming up! we've got the beginnings of corn and all the various squashes and cukes poking their little heads up out of the ground. the webpage is all screwy right now, but perhaps this weekend if i can grab a few spare moments, I'll throw some new pictures up.
~Tarehna

so yesterday was fabulous. i finally transplanted the tomatoes and did some much-needed weeding in the herb beds. i also had the opportunity to take some new pictures of the garden, which can be found by clicking here:
You can click on the pictures to see them full size, which in some cases, sadly, isn't much bigger. All in all a productive end to the weekend.

edited to say the link has been changed to the new garden site.
24 Mar 04

edited again to say it's all on the same page now

just phenomenal these last couple of days with the sunshine and the warmth...i don't know why, but i never cared about the weather before like i do this year...
...yes, i know why--it's our little plot of land...i'm a gardening fool. not since single-digit childhood have i enjoyed being outside so much.
on sunday evening waltz and i tilled the land...using this method. Well, sort of a combination of the single and double digging. Thank god our plot of land is pretty small. that night i put our little brussel sprouts into the ground.
yesterday after an early afternoon of valuable thesis research (which i felt much better about having done it outside on the lawn) i planted while waltz weeded...then we planted together and i labeled a bunch of stuff (i hate those giant labels with the photos on them that come with the plants from the store)...so now i think i must make a list of all the good stuff we're growing:
in the veggie bed:
lettuce
radishes
carrots
beets
onions
peas
in the herb bed:
2 kinds of sage
2 kinds of fennel
parsley
3 kinds of mint
3 kinds of thyme
lemon balm
st. john's wort
2 kinds of basil
oregano
cilantro
tarragon
elephant garlic
and i think some cukes and zukes are growing in there too
in the center plot:
corn
brussel sprouts
lemon cucumbers
pickling cucumbers
plain ol' cucumbers
green and yellow zucchini
white pumpkins
little tiny pumpkins
ornamental gourds
watermelon
out on the patio:
bell peppers
tomatoes
apples
cherries
limes
lemons
blood oranges
under the window:
nasturtium
borage
(hmmm...yummy flowers)
holy crap that's a long list...let's hope it all pans out and we won't have to buy any produce this summer (or for most of the fall, i'm thinking).
there's nothing like a good day in the garden to make me feel a whole lot better about the world.
~Tarehna