Heather's Garden

Another Season Underway

Friday was insanely beautiful in our neck of the woods.  Upwards of 75 degrees and brilliantly sunny.  I had to work, but when I went outside at the end of the day and saw this mess in the patio garden:

 

I just had to clean it up.  Okay, I didn't get that far, but it's a start.  It's tough getting around those lilies and irises without breaking the emerging leaves:

One of my friends recently asked me about our composting method.  We have a composter (think it might have been too shady and cold next to the house this winter for it to work), but this was our first year putting the leaves in chicken wire to break down.  The pile is smaller by half, but I don't know that it's ready to be used for anything.  The 2nd wire bin in back is holding all the debris I cleared out of the patio garden:

 

I found quite a few crocuses about to bloom under the leaves: 

 

But today, the first day of spring, was a whole different story!  Lots of blooming crocuses and a welcome sight after a ridiculous winter:

 

Again, still a lot of work to do here, but at least my cheerful little bulb border isn't under cover anymore:

 

Now back to cutting plant labels from old mini blinds.  I think I may finally plant some seeds tomorrow!

The Growing Season That Just Won't End

I really thought the season was over on Monday when I woke up to this:

 

It wasn't just a dusting that melted when the sun came up:

 

I took these photos at 11am.  Note that the basil is still looking great:

 

And the husky cherry tomato that the wind kept knocking over:

 

But no, the snow switched over to rain and the rest of the week was sunny and beautiful.  We had a great lazy day on Saturday, but on Sunday we had to take advantage of the nearly 60 degree weather and get some work done in the yard.  Still no killing frost, see, even the zinnias are still going strong:

 

You may remember that I had Lee clear out the back shed making a nice level spot for a compost pen of some sort.  But he couldn't move two really large chunks of concrete by himself.  We picked each one up together and moved them one at a time in the wheelbarrow to the driveway and then carried them around the house to the front.  The first one wasn't bad, but the second one was literally as heavy a thing as I can carry and my left arm is still kind of dead.  Look how huge it is over there:

 

Back to the project...I've had a roll of chicken wire set aside for a compost bin for years, I'm not kidding -- years!  First I unrolled the wire (with Lee's help), laid it wrong way down on the ground to keep it from rolling right back up, and figured out I had 20-25 feet or way too much for one enclosure.  So I cut it in half (roughly) and formed the first cage.  I just made a circle and folded over the ends over twice -- nothing complicated, and stood it up:

It was a little wobbly, but we figured the leaves would fill it out and we weren't concerned about it going anywhere so skipped stakes.  Lee had already filled up a trash can with shredded leaves (we have that sucking/shredding attachment for our leaf blower) so he started filling it immediately:

 

He went back to raking and sucking up leaves and I built the second, slightly smaller cage.  Here they are when we called it a day a few hours later:

 

I spent the rest of my time clearing the vegetable garden and starting the second compost pile.  Lee will top it off with leaves next weekend.  It's kind of sad how insignificant the veggie garden looks, but I didn't put any of the bean stalks in here.  The strings were kind of torn after a few seasons of use, but I didn't think they would break down in the compost, so they went straight into the trash with the beans still on because I really didn't want to try and unwind them:

 

But this is the first time I've tidied up the garden in the fall and I like it:

 

Lee did a great job of clearing leaves, but as you can see we still have tons on the trees, but at least they're not green so they should come down sometime soon:

 

Some bad news though.  Remember the beautiful ivy that covered a large part of the fence?  Here's a reminder:

 

See how pretty it was behind the hanging planters:

 

No more.  The ivy and the fence are actually our neighbor's property.  He said that it was destroying his fence and it was time for it to go.  Of course, he didn't tell us ahead of time and we just went outside one day to discover it was gone.  Oh well, he dug it up too, so I don't think it will be coming back: 

 

I am bringing some plants inside to try to overwinter them in the kitchen, more on that soon, but this rosemary must be pointed out.  I moved it to the steps to encourage bugs to exit before I bring it into the kitchen, but I can't get over how big it is.  We bought it last Thanksgiving in Florida and brought it home with us.  Sadly we're not going down for Thanksgiving this year, but this little piece of Florida will still be with us:

 

But I have to close with a shot of my beautiful new wreath.  I'm declaring it appropriate for Thanksgiving and if I'm really lazy, Christmas too:

 

It's sparkly and I love it!  What are you excited about these days?

Some Actual Gardening

The weather was absolutely perfect on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was the warmer of the two so I spent some time laying in the sun reading a book and took a few photos around the garden.  But first a few photos left over from the 1st.  Not very good, but I love the clearwing hummingbird moth:

Slightly better:

This spider is huge and I keep almost reaching right through her web to strip dead branches off the tomato plant: 

Lee loves that it scurries up into the dead tomato leaf and blends right in:

 

I did do a little work that day.  I cut the runners off the strawberry plants and stuck them all in the big pot:

 

The eggplants did terribly there this year (something kept attacking the fruit) and I don't think there's enough sun here for a tomato plant, so this pot is now officially all strawberries from here on out:

 

So Saturday became harvest and then lay in the sun day.  This is not the harvest photo -- this is the Kentucky Wonder beans I didn't get last week the other side of our neighbor's fence (he had a sprinkler going) and the pepper and tomato had something burrowing in them, so this is the compost photo:

 

But there were plenty of good beans and peppers:

 

There's tons of bees visiting the basils in the raised bed:

 

The tomato plants look pretty crappy:

But when you look close you can see tons of tomatoes.  Ripen already!  I think a week or two and we'll have more tomatoes than we can handle again:

 

The Yukon Gold potatoes are starting to die back, so I pulled the remaining foliage up onto the containers.  We'll 'dig' them soon.  I have some great seed mixes that Shayna at Botanical Interests sent me and I'm planning to use one along this fence in the spring.  To prepare a bed now or prepare in the spring is the question:

I have to come up with some fall interest plants for this area.  The clematis didn't make it and I think they're too finicky for my inattentive gardening ways (water?, oh yeah, I guess we should water): 

 

On to Sunday.  Sunday was perfect gardening weather.  Just about 70 degrees and sunny.  First job of the day was harvesting the fingerling potatoes, which meant taking the zinnias out of the pots too (Lee planted them in the containers on the gravel patio where we have removed dead/dying tomato plants):

 

We probably only got a little less than a pound of fingerlings in total, but worth growing (more on that later).  Then I went on a planting frenzy.  The rosemary had definitely outgrown its old container, so it was up-potted into a nice blue one which will look lovely in our blue kitchen over the winter.  In the smaller containers I planted some Chinese Garlic chives (also from Botanical Interests -- thanks Shayna!) and I stuck a leftover silver edged thyme in an empty spot in the last container:

 

The Japanese maple got a new home in a larger pot.  I'm trying to plan ahead and research how to overwinter it, most of what I find says that it will be fine in my zone in a pot outside over the winter, but I think I might sink it into the raised bed for the winter to give a little extra insulation.  Spinach in the large black pot:

 

I just love this box and the self-seeded ornamental edible pepper in the driveway, oh and I planted radishes in the box:

 

There are actual peppers on that plant:

 

And this pot got kale seeds:

 

Lee planted carrots in the big grey containers, Burpee A#1 Hybrid on the left and Danvers Half Long on the right:

A row of Detroit Dark Red beets went along the right hand side of the raised bed:

 

And all of the potted herbs moved to the raised bed because with the shorter days they weren't getting enough sun over by the patio:

 

I rescued the various edible ornamental peppers that popped up all over the driveway and in various containers, the two clay pots of basil from the Triscuit packages (the dill bolted already), and some golden oregano (clipped from another plant earlier in the season and now well rooted), and threw them all in a beautiful pot found at a friend's house where it was empty and buried in weeds (and will be returned to her when she moves back to the U.S.):

 

All together a full four hours of hauling potting soil, adding fertilizer, transplanting, tidying up, and finally we stopped and had a cook-out for three (SS2 came home for the weekend from school).  The basil has been so great this summer that we always have some in the kitchen, but this photo's about our green beans:

 

And dinner included our tiny little fingerling potatoes which were the most delicious potatoes I have ever eaten and yesterday's bean harvest with fresh ginger (I can't tell you how delicious those beans are):

Really, the potatoes were like popping a little bit of joy into my mouth.  We will definitely grow them again.  I hope you're all enjoying your Labor Day weekend as much as we are.  Now some Advil (I'm telling you, gardening is a full body work-out) and some more quality time with SS2 before we have to take him back to school.

Bastard Garden No More

Known as the bastard garden and long an area for dumping stuff (composters, empty trash cans, leftover bricks, tree branches, dying plants), the space behind the shed was getting pretty overgrown.  This photo is from May, so you can only imagine how much more the brush and trees have grown since then:

And this is a shot from last year (before we got the floor into the shed and organized all our crap.  It's a terribly shady photo, but hopefully you can see the trees in back of the shed:

Because now they're gone:

 

I think finding the tire back there spurred Lee into cleaning up this area that has been annoying me since we started gardening.  We're going to create some sort of leaf bin back here, perhaps partially anchored on that tree trunk.  The two slabs of old concrete and big rock were too big for Lee to move by himself and we're not sure where that leftover poured concrete came from, but think it might be from when we had the patio put in.  Lee's going to see if he can dig it up:

And speaking of digging up...Jim, you were right, apparently we did grow that tire:

 

And while Lee did all the heavy labor, I earned the not so big bucks working away at my computer.  I did take a couple of breaks over the past few days (few and far between, very busy at work right now), but during one break I spotted this swallowtail way down at the end of the garden on an aptly named butterfly bush:

I only got off two shots before it flew away, but wow was it a beauty:

 

A little later the same day I found this Monarch on a zinnia in the patio garden:

 

And this bizarre spider near the double-lounger.  It's less than a 1/2 inch long:

 

Anyone know what it is?  I can't find anything like it online:

 

We've finally fallen out of the high 80s/low 90s and Lee feels like cooking again, which is good since our kitchen table looks like a farmer's market.  Last night he made a frittata with our own zucchini and lilac bell pepper plus not our own onion and garlic:

 

A delicious Black Russian tomato, our own golden oregano, and more of that lilac bell pepper plus not our own Yukon Gold potatoes (can't wait to try ours though!), fresh mozz, fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano, and eggs:

 

Is your mouth watering yet?  Mine is just looking at this photo:

 

And there's a leftover piece in the fridge!

You Wait A Couple of Days To Update...

And all of a sudden you've got tons to say.  It's been pretty nice around here lately.  A little on the warm side for my taste, but until today, pretty tolerable.  Not go outside and do much of anything weather though except for Thursday when it was practically chilly -- under 80 degrees at 9am!  We decided it was the perfect time to go for a walk.  You can't actually see our house in this photo, but it's dead center of frame behind those trees and we never knew there was this dock on the river through a mowed section of the field between two condo buildings (though it's probably not technically open to the public):

 

Back in our garden I sat under an umbrella and did some work.  But every once in a while I'd hop up to take a photo.  How could I not chase this blue-tailed beauty:

 

Ten minutes later a completely different one in nearly the same spot:

 

Still a face only a mother could love:

 

Lilac bell peppers, but how do I know when they're ready to harvest:

 

I knew this Black Russian tomato was ready:

 

Ugly as can be though:

And it was delicious with fresh mozz, basil from our garden, and some tuna-fish (the meal also featured egg salad and potato salad made of our own potatoes):

Malabar seedlings along the back of the container, but something dug down and took out a bunch and the other purple basil:

 

The wildflowers actually look pretty decent:

 

The whole patch:

 

I've been loving the growth of the cucumbers:

 

The Hillbilly tomatoes will apparently all ripen at the same time -- and soon:

 

The Roma tomatoes don't look too good on the bottom, but the fruit is ripening really nicely:

 

The Brandywine Pink tomatoes look just awful, though even these have fruit ripening:

 

The last day-lily came and went on Friday in the rain:

 

The hydrangea has a few new blooms, but most are old and fading fast.  I have to deadhead it (there's still a lot of warm weather left), but I haven't found the time yet: 

 

The ever-bearing strawberries are producing fruit all of a sudden:

 

I can't get a decent photo of this spot, but it's still one of my favorites in the garden:

 

Especially now that the moonflower has tons of buds on it:

 

I decided it was time to see what we got for beets and onions (though I left half the beets and probably missed half the onions under all the carrot foliage):

 

And while I was harvesting, I figured I'd grab the eggplants and cucumbers too:

 

Lee decided to pickle the beets, and he used some of the onions too:

 

I glanced over at the kitchen table and thought, "Wow it looks like summer in here."  Basil ready to be used, plastic dishes and whatnot for eating outside, empty pint containers for harvesting, empty pitcher for sun tea, and the fan in the window:

 

One of our favorite summer meals -- perfectly grilled hot dogs and veggies from our garden (first time beans have been part of a meal here this summer):

 

We have a new addition to the gravel alley next to the house.  SS2's grandparents were with us on the 4th of July and they noticed that we were composting and offered us their spin composter that they weren't using.  Uh, yes please and thank you:

I know right next to the front door is kind of a strange place for it, but that's where we keep our trash cans.  It's a pretty sunny spot and rather level, so we figured it made sense.  Lee's already loving the easy access and I don't think it's bothering me aesthetically:

Now what do I want to plant in the containers where we had potatoes?

I'm Too Tired To Take a Shower

Day 2 of the marathon to finish the garden was another perfect day to garden--sunny, but right around 70.  I admit I slept until 10am.  Have I mentioned here that I'm a night person?  Unfortunately gardening at night requires too much equipment.  VPH suprised me by putting on gardening clothes right after we all had some bagels and heading right outside.  And SS2 shocked me by following him out the door even though I told him he didn't have to -- what a great guy!  He and VPH had the hosta/rhododendron bed weeded and mulched before I even came outside:

 

And the Mother's Day Garden too (though VPH still needs to fix those rocks on the upper right): 

 

When I came outside they asked me what to do next.  I suggested digging and screening some more compost and as we headed back that way I got distracted by the pile of tarps sitting on the gravel patio.  So we all moved our cars out of the driveway and laid out the tarps.  SS2 rinsed them off with the hose and we left them there to dry.  I just wanted to tell you this because it illustrates how easily I'm distracted in the garden and because I love that VPH insists on keeping this tarp that used to live under the big pop-up shed.  It stuck out a little on each side and he was forever catching the corners with the lawnmower: 

 

On to the compost...since I wasn't doing the heavy labor today I snagged a photo of the menfolk at work.  VPH is calling himself a dirt farmer now:

 

I added some of the finished compost to the top of the patio tomato plant since the soil level was rather low.  But now I'm a little concerned because the water just sat on top of it and it looks kind of clayey.  I hope it won't be a problem, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on it:

VPH and SS2 filled another 2 trash cans with finished compost and then came over asking for another task.  I set VPH to placing the big rock that used to be in front of the little pop-up shed in front of the shed.  He used some of the finished compost to build up because we wanted the rock to serve as a little ramp to make it easier to get the mower in and out of the shed.  I like this photo because you can just see SS2 laughing at his father right before he was excused with thanks for his hard work (and he even went inside and did the dishes -- love that kid!):

 

I think he did a great job getting it pretty close to level and building up the left side (the yard really slopes here and although we did our best, we didn't get the shed 100% level, but it's pretty squared up).  He even put down some grass seed.  Can you see the two patio boxes are in place on either side of the shed now?  So much better:

It's still not as neat and organized as I would like back here, but it's getting there:

VPH was then excused as well and I did fun stuff!  Four fingerling potatoes in the large pot and the basil perpetuo in the little container 'cause it's right near the front door: 

Four fingerling potatoes in the large pot and two more in the smaller one.  This is my little experiment to see if they grow better with the hilling method or a full container (just like I did for the red potatoes): 

 

Speaking of the red potatoes...they're coming up all over the place in the wooden box:

 

And the black plastic container:

At this point I really should have planted the marigolds in the veggie garden, but for some reason I just wasn't feeling that job.  I think it was planting the pesto perpetuo that got me thinking about herbs.  Before I knew it I was transplanting like crazy.  First I tucked some Red Rubin basil into this pot (everything else had successfully overwintered in it):

And some Large-leaf Italian basil into this one (you'll remember that the others were here already):

Then I went nuts with this year's configuration of the herbs in pots by the patio:

The golden oregano overwintered in the large container above and this is some that was spreading there (it creeps on top of the soil and roots as it goes), so I just ripped it up and planted it in a little potting soil -- free plant!  The rosemary came home with us from Florida in December and lived on the kitchen table for a few months then moved outside in March. The tarragon successfully overwintered in a pot outside (and started growing in March). The Bee Balm (a gift from Layanee when I visited her garden 2 summers ago) also overwintered. I grew the dill from seed started inside in March. I bought the lavender in March and planted it in April.  The parsley and basil are starts purchased a few days ago and planted today.  The cilantro was also grown from seed started inside in March.  I had a lemon thyme that overwintered, but I am going to use it elsewhere because it's growing too slowly and I want one here that's good-sized already:

I think this is now my favorite part of the garden with the herb pots, clematis from the boys, and lupine starting to bloom:

So now I have this left in addition to the lovage and basil seedlings (some of which are growing great, but others aren't doing so well):

And only the herb barrel to play around with:

I had just enough energy left to get one more job done.  The dead branches and leaves of the ivy have now been removed, its rapid new growth pointed in a good direction, and stapled in place until it affixes itself properly:

 

When I finished that I noticed that I finally have flowers on some of the peas.  This is the Snowbird variety and the package says 58 days to harvest.  They were planted on March 18th, but they didn't show up until the beginning of April, so I'd say they're right on schedule if I count from when the seedlings emerged:

 

I really was too tired to shower, but we got so much accomplished.  The to do list now reads:  

·     Plant marigolds and potatoes

·     Plant beans

·     Mulch: Mother’s Day garden, hosta/rhododendron bed, veggie garden,  perennial shade garden

·     Finish herb pots/barrel

·     Build compost cages

I should get the marigolds and beans in tomorrow evening, but I'm not entirely sure that the perennial shade garden needs any mulch and the compost cages may not get built this year (I've only had the materials for 2 years now, so there's not exactly a rush).  I will definitely get the herb barrel done, however I'm not too sure where the lovage is going (though now I'm thinking somewhere down near the potato cans at the end of the veggie garden rather than the herb barrel) and there has to be a significant redesign of the barrel planting.  I can't believe we're this close to done.  I don't know what I will do with myself after we finish.

ONLY A MONTH OR SO LATE

The rainy month of June put us behind on a lot of our garden chores and many of the plants behind in growth.  All I can say is we'd better have a mild fall to make up for it!  It took a while, but we've finished nearly all the garden chores and the plants are behind the norm, but catching up.  The hosta/azalea bed is done:

The hosta/rhododendron bed looks great:

He not only mulched, he made us dinner!  VPH and the perennial shade garden:

  

Yummy mustard glazed pork, grilled zucchini (wish we had our own zukes to eat), and brown rice:

 

The veggie garden on May 16th:

 

On July 9th:

Let me take you for a little tour...always left to right.  Bush beans, carrots, habaneros and Brandywine tomatoes:

Habanero, dahlia, lilac bell pepper, dahlia, lilac bell pepper:

Same lilac bell pepper, scarlet runner beans, carrots, habanero, carrots, Kentucky Wonder beans, purple bell pepper:

Black Russian tomatoes, bush beans, peppermint, lilac bell pepper, Perfect plum tomatoes, habaneros, and another dahlia:

The Green Zebra tomatoes are one of my favorite things in the garden right now.  They're so beautiful in their blue pots.  The planter table looks great too with Royal Purple bush beans, nasturtiums, and the one cucumber that survived the rain:

A close-up of the gazillion blossoms on the Royal Purple bush beans:

We have teeny tiny eggplants growing:

 

This nasturtium is blooming despite it's 2 relocations (note to self--a little grass seed here wouldn't be a bad thing): 

 

The marigolds are doing their job and attracting pollinators to the tomatoes on the gravel patio (calendar-worthy, no?): 

 

I think we'll have a daylily bloom on the other plant tomorrow.  I have this sneaking suspicion that it's yellow:

 

These are our old trash containers.  I hate to replace them, but both have gaping holes in the bottom and no longer do much in the way of holding trash or keeping the raccoons away from it.  Rubbermaid apparently would replace them (they're less 3 years old), but only if I had the receipt.  You'd better believe that I kept the receipt for the new ones.  We will drill more holes in these and use them for composting:

 

We're enjoying the garden and being able to spend time on simple maintenance like weeding rather than looking around and seeing all the things still undone.  We still have the shed project and a couple of other little things to do, but really, we're done.

WRITING THIS WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN

And I can't tell you how much I'm loving it!  It's been absolutely glorious here since Friday.  I'm starting to get tan!  More importantly, I have completed garden clean-up and I've got a nice blank canvas ready for planting:

 

And VPH mowed the lawn/marsh marigolds:

And cleaned up the patio (I cleared out the herb barrel saving any perennial herbs that survived the winter):

All the better to enjoy our awesome bulb border:

And the pretty marsh marigolds in bloom until the leaves on the trees fill in and they die:

I'm so loving the tulips (now appearing in yellow and orange):

That I can't stop photographing them:

I find it so peaceful sitting on the patio staring at this border, listening to the wind chimes, and watching the grasses move in the wind.  I wanted to share the experience with you, so I've uploaded a short video here.

Someone still has to weed this bed, though you can see that the hostas have come back, and the fence is down.  The reed fence we bought was too see-through and we won't be using it.  I think we're just going to have to deal with seeing the neighbors since we can already hear them:

In the perennial shade garden I've got bleeding hearts:

 

And fiddle-heads:

 

VPH has lots and lots of stuff to cut into small pieces for compost:

 

The grill is back in its proper location, but I can't get over how different the space feels without those 3 trees.  Granted, the leaves and brush haven't filled in yet and the marsh marigolds have yet to die:

 

But just compare it to what it used to look like:

Much bigger now, no? 

I just watched the weather for Tuesday, 80s at home, 90s at the office (62 miles north).  This is just odd for CT in April.  Then we're back down to the 60s (normal for this time of year) on Wednesday and hopefully then I won't feel so much like I'm behind on my gardening.

NOT SO LAZY SUNDAY

It was really cold and cloudy yesterday -- just 55 degrees.  I hemmed and hawed and whined, but bottom line we took Saturday off and there was garden stuff that had to get done.  First up I had to get that spearmint divided and back into pots.  I split it in half and put half back into the original pot.  Then I split the other half in two and put it into 2 smaller clay pots:

I've been planning for a while to empty out the large herb barrel.  If you're a long time reader, you'll remember that I screwed up and put heavy garden soil and a little potting soil in the barrel last year.  It never drained very well and most herbs like dryish soil.  So the chives had to come out.  I gave them a little haircut first and then realized the clump could easily be divided:

These pots are temporary -- just waiting for VPH to empty the barrel for me before I start a new herb garden.  I love that there are a bunch of buds on the chives already:

Excuse me while I have a ball photographing the chives:

The lavender is staying in this pot for good:

The parsley will hang here for a little while:

I decided to use the mid-sized pot I bought on Saturday for the 3 bleeding hearts I had hanging around.  I cut a piece off a screen from the gazebo to help the soil stay in the pot:

Last year I planted a bleeding heart in the perennial shade garden (pardon the native plants, I've been waiting for it to rain before I weed and put down fresh mulch), but it died not long after.  I read that bleeding hearts die off in the summer heat, hence the pot.  If these don't do well, I'm going to find something else to plant in that spot: 

I'm happy with this, in fact, I think the pot looks really pretty there...I'm just anxious for the fern to grow large enough to be visible:

I finally got around to drilling holes in the new metal garbage can.  Now we can start a new compost bin in it and let the other one finish turning into black gold.  I'm hoping that it will be ready in time to use on our tomatoes.  Now I just need to remember to pick up a bungee cord to hook from handle to handle through the lid handle:

I did sneak in a little work on Saturday after our walk.  I took down the dead bean vines from last year and the netting from the fence.  This is the last portion of the garden where VPH needs to clear leaves.  He also needs to find the bag of lime in the basement and get it down on the lawn.  And someone needs to weed over here -- any volunteers?  Not one of my favorite tasks:

We're supposed to have 2 days of rain -- for which I am very grateful after 2 weeks of none at all -- so I don't anticipate getting much done in the early part of this week.

The to do list is rapidly shrinking.  I keep telling VPH if we just get a little done each day we'll be finished before we know it.  I haven't told him that we'll never really finish, but I think he's already figured it out!

BLOG ACTION DAY

When I signed up to be part of BLOG ACTION DAY weeks ago I had a specific idea for a post in mind.  Fast forward 2 weeks and we haven't done a thing in the garden except relax!  So here's an old post on being greener with updates in bold.  Enjoy!

IT'S EASY BEING GREEN (well, greener)

Ah, Kermit.  I loved the Muppet Show -- Animal was my favorite.  I wonder what that says about my personality?  Are you all singing the theme song in your head along with me?

Working in the earth (okay the potting soil) has made me think about what we do with our garbage.  I'm embarrassed to admit that to date we really haven't been recycling much more than our newspapers.  Cans, bottles, etc. have gone into the 50 gallon garbage cans willy nilly with little guilt.  We've been throwing most of the yard waste behind the big shed into this enormous pile:

VPH calls it his bastard garden because he's usually the one in charge of throwing debris in it and he takes a great joy in seeing weeds (pardon me, native plants) starting to grow on top of it.  Since there's so much poison ivy and God knows what else in there, we don't plan to actually try and use it for anything.  From what I read, even if we don't turn it, wet it, or look at it sideways, it will eventually decompose on its own.  It shouldn't get too much bigger because we've done all the brush clearing that we plan to -- remember it isn't our property -- and I like the woodsy edges which give us a little privacy from the neighbors (allow me my illusion, people).

Gardeners seem to be a pretty laid back group until you start talking about gardening organically.  Then they aggressively try to convert you to their side.  (Or at least they do on-line, I've yet to meet a gardener in person who has waxed poetically about the satisfaction garnered from organic gardening.)  I like Miracle Gro, it makes me remember working on the roses in our yard with my mom when I was little.  Making the green water and carefully splitting it between each bush, then watching them miraculously bloom more...good times.  The organic gardeners win -- I'll start composting, recycling, and I'll try to wean myself from Miracle Gro.  Does that mean I can't use their potting soil?  I like their potting soil. 

UPDATE: I do not like their potting soil and I will not use it again.  Nasty icky stuff.  In the spring I will probably ask my local garden center to sell me some large bags of what they use in their containers.

Step one in going greener (imagining us living completely green is impossible and frankly laughable as I sit on the couch in front of the air conditioner, typing on the laptop, and watching TV) was giving up bottled water.  This one made sense.  We have city water here and it tastes disgusting to this girl who was raised on tasty well water.  We've been spending gobs of money on 5-gallon fridge dispensers and refills for the past 9 years.  Recently I sat down to do the math.  We were conservatively spending $180 a year on bottled water -- probably more.  A water filter for the faucet in the kitchen plus a year's worth of replacement filters was under $90.  Guess who's loving their new water filter?  Thank you, Dooce, for the motivating post.  And this all transpired before Live Earth and every news program started harping daily on bottled water being the new evil.  I love being on the cutting edge.

UPDATE: The threads on the piece of plastic holding the water filter onto the faucet are stripped (turn on the water and the filter falls off) and we've been searching for a metal replacement.  We haven't found one that will allow a washer to fit inside the faucet, so for the moment, we're back to gallons of bottled water and it's a pain.  I am planning to visit a real plumbing supply house on Friday instead of a big box store -- keep your fingers crossed!

Step two is recycling.  My excuse for this one was ignorance.  When we moved into this house (again, 9 years ago) there was a blue recycling bin with the trash cans, but no instructions.  Okay, so if I really cared, I would have called town hall and asked what could be recycled.  Better late than never, I did a little research and they now have a great website that answers all the questions you could ever have about garbage, recycling, and composting in our town.  It's ridiculously easy to recycle, of course I say that as the person who neither cooks nor brings out the garbage, but VPH has promised to give it a shot.  To date, he has recycled at least 5 things! 

UPDATE: Recycling has become part of our normal routine, though it's frustrating how little plastic can be recycled.  What's up with the grocery store only carrying solid white plastic milk jugs and the town not accepting solid white plastic milk jugs?

Step three -- we've decided to give composting a try.  Since it's just the two of us most of the time (we've been lucky if we see the boys once a week this summer -- you'd think that working 30 hours a week was a fate worse than death), I think we can get by with the garbage can with holes drilled in it method of composting for now.  If we find that we can really stick with it and it goes well, maybe we'll graduate to a large container.  I'm also terrified that we'll attract all the raccoons that have so far left my garden alone (praise your deity of choice here). 

We have some ratty old garbage cans hiding behind the shed that I don't mind drilling holes into, but VPH declared that they are inappropriate for this purpose.  Something about not being sturdy enough and the lids are in pieces, which wouldn't allow for rolling the can.  So we bought a cheap metal metal garbage can and a 1/2 inch drill bit for my cordless drill.  That drill was the best 30th birthday present that a girl could receive -- at her request from her father no less.  I can't count how many projects over the past couple of years would have been impossible without that drill.  Really, between the drill and my $6.99 tool set from IKEA, I can do just about anything! 

I used my powers of plotting for good and figured out how to secure a lid on the garbage can to 1.) keep the varmints out; 2.) keep the lid on while we roll it daily (or more realistically every few days); and 3.) allow us to open the lid one handed and throw in our kitchen scraps.  We just threaded a bungee cord through the handle on the top and the handles on the side of the can.  Pretty easy really.

After I took this photo we lifted the can up on a few bricks left over from the retaining wall so the bottom wouldn't rust.  We threw leftover mulch in the bottom of the can -- some of the composting directions we found told us to put wood chips or sawdust in to help with drainage -- and layered in our kitchen scraps, garden debris, and shredded newspaper.  VPH threw in a bunch of worms from the "bastard garden" -- I don't do worms, I know they're awesome and I want them in my plants, but I just can't bring myself to touch one barehanded, though I'm okay in gloves.

UPDATE: No varmints and no rust!

Though VPH was adamant about "not keeping garbage on his kitchen counter top," I found this really cute container that matches the flour, sugar, coffee, and pancake mix canisters already on our counter top (all from W-Mart, and come to think of it, we haven't made pancakes in at least a year, so maybe it's time to put something else in that canister).  It is airtight and has a handle, so I think it's even intended to be a compost pail:

UPDATE: VPH is so good about emptying the compost pail often and rinsing it that we really haven't noticed much of a stink in the kitchen.  Our next debate is where to place the compost bin for the winter since trudging out to the back of the shed daily isn't going to happen.  Next to the garbage bins on the side of the house should work.

VPH is happily using it and very cutely asked me "what we are we going to do with the compost when it is done."  After much internal debate, I decided that it's going on the bare spots on the lawn where the contractor didn't get any top soil over the asphalt he buried out there.  As will the soil from my many containers in the fall.  That should be a fun weekend project.

So now we just have to keep at it and roll the can once a day, which kind of makes no sense to me.  Why put stuff in the bottom for good drainage if you're going to roll it around and mix it up?  I'll report back on our progress.

UPDATE: VPH and I are both astonished -- composting has more than halved the amount of trash we put out weekly.  We had no idea how much of our garbage was foodstuff.  Composting is awesome!  We're adding another container soon and once we get around to fall garden clean-up all the plant material will go in there.  We plan to let what we already have going cook over the winter and then in the spring it's going in the veggie garden mix.   I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to buy a compost screen or attempt to fashion something myself.

So there you have it, our 3 easy steps for being greener.  Have you been inspired to go greener or are you shaking your head that it's 2007 and we're only just starting to recycle?

IT'S EASY BEING GREEN (well, greener)

Ah, Kermit.  I loved the Muppet Show -- Animal was my favorite.  I wonder what that says about my personality?  Are you all singing the theme song in your head along with me?

Working in the earth (okay the potting soil) has made me think about what we do with our garbage.  I'm embarrassed to admit that to date we really haven't been recycling much more than our newspapers.  Cans, bottles, etc. have gone into the 50 gallon garbage cans willy nilly with little guilt.  We've been throwing most of the yard waste behind the big shed into this enormous pile:

VPH calls it his bastard garden because he's usually the one in charge of throwing debris in it and he takes a great joy in seeing weeds (pardon me, native plants) starting to grow on top of it.  Since there's so much poison ivy and God knows what else in there, we don't plan to actually try and use it for anything.  From what I read, even if we don't turn it, wet it, or look at it sideways, it will eventually decompose on its own.  It shouldn't get too much bigger because we've done all the brush clearing that we plan to -- remember it isn't our property -- and I like the woodsy edges which give us a little privacy from the neighbors (allow me my illusion, people).

Gardeners seem to be a pretty laid back group until you start talking about gardening organically.  Then they aggressively try to convert you to their side.  (Or at least they do on-line, I've yet to meet a gardener in person who has waxed poetically about the satisfaction garnered from organic gardening.)  I like Miracle Gro, it makes me remember working on the roses in our yard with my mom when I was little.  Making the green water and carefully splitting it between each bush, then watching them miraculously bloom more...good times.  The organic gardeners win -- I'll start composting, recycling, and I'll try to wean myself from Miracle Gro.  Does that mean I can't use their potting soil?  I like their potting soil. 

Step one in going greener (imagining us living completely green is impossible and frankly laughable as I sit on the couch in front of the air conditioner, typing on the laptop, and watching TV) was giving up bottled water.  This one made sense.  We have city water here and it tastes disgusting to this girl who was raised on tasty well water.  We've been spending gobs of money on 5-gallon fridge dispensers and refills for the past 9 years.  Recently I sat down to do the math.  We were conservatively spending $180 a year on bottled water -- probably more.  A water filter for the faucet in the kitchen plus a year's worth of replacement filters was under $90.  Guess who's loving their new water filter?  Thank you, Dooce, for the motivating post.  And this all transpired before Live Earth and every news program started harping daily on bottled water being the new evil.  I love being on the cutting edge.

Step two is recycling.  My excuse for this one was ignorance.  When we moved into this house (again, 9 years ago) there was a blue recycling bin with the trash cans, but no instructions.  Okay, so if I really cared, I would have called town hall and asked what could be recycled.  Better late than never, I did a little research and they now have a great website that answers all the questions you could ever have about garbage, recycling, and composting in our town.  It's ridiculously easy to recycle, of course I say that as the person who neither cooks nor brings out the garbage, but VPH has promised to give it a shot.  To date, he has recycled at least 5 things! 

Step three -- we've decided to give composting a try.  Since it's just the two of us most of the time (we've been lucky if we see the boys once a week this summer -- you'd think that working 30 hours a week was a fate worse than death), I think we can get by with the garbage can with holes drilled in it method of composting for now.  If we find that we can really stick with it and it goes well, maybe we'll graduate to a large container.  I'm also terrified that we'll attract all the raccoons that have so far left my garden alone (praise your deity of choice here). 

We have some ratty old garbage cans hiding behind the shed that I don't mind drilling holes into, but VPH declared that they are inappropriate for this purpose.  Something about not being sturdy enough and the lids are in pieces, which wouldn't allow for rolling the can.  So we bought a cheap metal metal garbage can and a 1/2 inch drill bit for my cordless drill.  That drill was the best 30th birthday present that a girl could receive -- at her request from her father no less.  I can't count how many projects over the past couple of years would have been impossible without that drill.  Really, between the drill and my $6.99 tool set from IKEA, I can do just about anything! 

I used my powers of plotting for good and figured out how to secure a lid on the garbage can to 1.) keep the varmints out; 2.) keep the lid on while we roll it daily (or more realistically every few days); and 3.) allow us to open the lid one handed and throw in our kitchen scraps.  We just threaded a bungee cord through the handle on the top and the handles on the side of the can.  Pretty easy really.

After I took this photo we lifted the can up on a few bricks left over from the retaining wall so the bottom wouldn't rust.  We threw leftover mulch in the bottom of the can -- some of the composting directions we found told us to put wood chips or sawdust in to help with drainage -- and layered in our kitchen scraps, garden debris, and shredded newspaper.  VPH threw in a bunch of worms from the "bastard garden" -- I don't do worms, I know they're awesome and I want them in my plants, but I just can't bring myself to touch one barehanded, though I'm okay in gloves.

Though VPH was adamant about "not keeping garbage on his kitchen counter top," I found this really cute container that matches the flour, sugar, coffee, and pancake mix canisters already on our counter top (all from W-Mart, and come to think of it, we haven't made pancakes in at least a year, so maybe it's time to put something else in that canister).  It is airtight and has a handle, so I think it's even intended to be a compost pail:

VPH is happily using it and very cutely asked me "what we are we going to do with the compost when it is done."  After much internal debate, I decided that it's going on the bare spots on the lawn where the contractor didn't get any top soil over the asphalt he buried out there.  As will the soil from my many containers in the fall.  That should be a fun weekend project.

So now we just have to keep at it and roll the can once a day, which kind of makes no sense to me.  Why put stuff in the bottom for good drainage if you're going to roll it around and mix it up?  I'll report back on our progress.

So there you have it, our 3 easy steps for being greener.  Have you been inspired to go greener or are you shaking your head that it's 2007 and we're only just starting to recycle?

Does anyone know what this mystery vine is?  We had it last year too.  I'm going to keep an eye on it and post more photos as it flowers.  I don't think it bore any kind of fruit last year.  It looks like a member of the squash/pumpkin family to me just looking at the leaves.  And my recollection is that the seed pods are star-shaped.  I'm glad it came back, it's a lot prettier than looking at the pile.

Zucchini count to date: 7, but only 1 female blossom coming and I'm really thinking that I need to pull them and plant beans and peas.  I may just do it this weekend if I can tear myself away from Harry Potter Book 7!