A military spouse's take on blooming where you are planted. I continue to pretend I am living on my dream farm while in reality, I live on a military base, gardening in a plot alongside a Navy flightline, with half of my homesteading supplies perpetually packed in boxes and have a habit of being overly involved in every community we live in. I'm a busy mom to 2 boys and a spouse to a Navy sailor soon nearing retirement. I love this chaotic life wouldn't trade it for anything!
Before we get to the weeds, check out this forecast! Crazy weather for sure.
Got the lights and heat mat hooked up, making do with these 4 foot lights is pretty ridiculous looking, but after a trip to the local big box stores, (all of 'em), I am realizing that 24" shop lights are a myth. I have one from a long time ago but it's a "grow light" and I've been doing this too long to fall for that one again!
Okay, here's the weeds - prepare yourself, it's bad out there!
Sorry, the video is sideways :)
I had a constant companion in a robin that stayed near me the whole time, sifting through the dirt clods I was flinging to the side!
Here's the before & after shots...
Before
After
Too bad this is only about 1% of the work that needs to be done out there. The skies are already dark now and we have severe thunderstorm warnings and a tornado watch in effect already, looks like my fun is over out there for the day.
Just a quick post, some of you may have seen this list, it is a list of seeds that are owned by Monsanto/Seminis, don't purchase or grow these!
The list is most likely not complete so we are always responsible for doing our own research. I know that most of us only give business to reputable Seed Companies, but beginning gardeners are always in need of this info - find a Safe Seed Pledge seed company and go with their varieties if you are unsure. I personally will not do business with any company that sells both varieties as you cannot tell where their loyalties are. (or maybe you can... $$$ !)
*Of note here is the Marketmore 76 Cucumber - Monsanto does NOT have complete control of this one, this is a very old variety, so as long as yours were sourced from a Safe Seed Pledge/non-GMO etc trusted company, you are ok!
The list also appears to be lengthening as we speak, "Cheddar" Broccoli has also made this list.
I wasted over an hour this morning trying to decide what to do today. On one hand, seeds are IN, they need to be started. On the other hand, it's 73º outside and I'm dying to get out there and get started on the spring cleanup!
What I should have been doing...
Definitely no show stopping garden photos here, look at this mess! Above, I have about 15 stands of this fountain grass that needs to be cut down, as the new stuff is already growing at the base! Below, you think I might be slacking in pruning my mums??? The base is already a couple inches of new green foliage! Blech...
What I decided to do instead...
The seeds are all in!
I'm gonna need a bigger boat! I think the binder has reached its limit.
After spending some time gathering all my supplies and cutting old miniblind slats for this year's labels, I was ready to get started. I ended up with 3 flats. Every year I do a spectacular job of "forgetting" that those little flats of 72 plants each morph into larger pots :) Yeah- don't you laugh, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! I'll do a separate post soon detailing what was started and what will be new for us this year.
Here's the result, looking all neat and orderly for the time being. I didn't have it in me to battle the attic so hubby will have to get my heat mat and lights down later this evening so I can string cords and chains all over the place and transform this area into a complete mess.
The only part of the garden outside that's not a mess...
Lettuce!
I desperately need more though, this is it right now. I am waiting on a nice day where hubby is off work so we can go get a couple of trailer loads of amendments for the beds. Not only do they need topping off, but they need some good compost this year as well. Can't plant my peas either until this happens, so we may have a very busy weekend if it doesn't rain!
If it does rain this weekend, I promise I am going to update my blog look! I see my header still states that I am cleaning up fall canning supplies, and looking forward to ALL THAT QUILTING I was going to do!
Now on to the really important stuff... who can tell me where to get the special goggles I obviously am supposed to be wearing as I attempt to comment on your blogs and make it through the "word verification" battle? Holy cows what is THAT all about?!!!
We had a very productive weekend, in spite of terrible weather. We had a mini-nor'easter come through Saturday through today and it brought lots of miserable wind, cold temps and rain with just a bit of sleet last night. Good thing I hadn't started any seeds outside!
Still waiting on seeds to arrive, should be today I think, so nothing to post plant-wise until they show up. We did however, have a good ol' redneck weekend.
The older Subaru has been curbside for the past 6-8 months. Mostly because it wasn't a priority since hubby rides his bike to work every day, rain or shine. It didn't need much, just for him to put some belts on, reattach a fan and fluids and working on an exhaust leak. And fuel... LOL it hasn't had fuel in it for a long, long time :)
Loch didn't show much interest in helping, but Finn was all about it.
Note the hammer... can you tell my husband is an F-18 jet mechanic? They aren't known for their gentle touch, instead they are known for working fast, fun with J.B. Weld type compounds and making things work with whatever is around. Make you feel safe? LOL...MacGuyver Mechanic :) One cool thing is that he changes jet tires all day long so he can rotate tires in like 5 seconds LOL! Good thing Subarus are such hardy machines, they can take whatever is thrown at them, even if it's a hammer.
One last step of getting the battery charged and it's road-worthy again ...
Next up was my healthier version of redneck comfort food. Baked chicken with Panko, our own garden's green beans with wild rice.
Not satisfied with ending our Saturday night there, we headed out for some shopping...
For a fun Saturday night we headed to... where else? Northern Tool & Equipment!
Finn covering daddy while he checks out log splitters that are completely unnecessary where we live :)
On to hubby's favorite aisle... he's been trying to come up with a convincing reason he needs one of these for over 3 years now. Someday...!
Crummy weather outside Sunday meant more comfort food. This time I was cooking from jars and was able to use up some of the canned stewed tomatoes...
in a Spicy Chicken Sausage & Bean Soup!
Today hubby is off work so he and Finn are outside in 30 mph winds and 38º temps power washing the house! We haven't done it in about a year and the siding was green, yuck! Not good when you are trying to sell the house, so I'm excited to get that chore checked off the list.
I'm inside for the rest of the day catching up on lots of little things that have been building up around here. I will also be looking for a place to set up my seed starting rack and lights today. I will have to wait until Wednesday to lug out the lights and chains and stuff, we are showing the house tomorrow evening and I don't want the potential buyers to think it's a grow house from the light emanating out of the shutters as they pull up! We don't have too many lookers in this market, so after this showing the paraphernalia is coming out!
I just checked on hubby and Finnegan - it's a good thing there is a lot of that Chicken & Bean soup leftover because they are wet and frigid looking!
