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mellymellActually, I was barefoot, but that's neither here nor there.
I had to keep Jonah home yesterday because he had thrown up at school on Tuesday. I don't know what made him throw up (though I have some theories). He never ran a fever and after making him take it slow with ginger ale and water crackers after I picked him up Tuesday, he was ready for real food again by 4pm that day. Yesterday he was totally back to normal, running around the house and playing just like always. After lunch, he wanted to go outside and even coaxed me out to play with him.
Of course once I got outside, we didn't play but instead we started cleaning up the gardens. By the end of the day, we had cleaned out all of last season's dead growth in three gardens. Jonah had fun pulling up the pepper plants and knocking the dirt off the roots. He kept saying, "I'm doing a really good job. I'm a good helper." Untangling the dead tomato plants from the Tormato supports we had built last year was a little tricky and slowed us down a bit. But we eventually got it all done. Also, tomatillo husks look really neat after a winter in the elements. All that's left of them are the veins and so they look like little lacy paper lanterns. I kept one to put on the shelf of little natural knick-knacks we have in the den.
Speaking of the Tormato supports, they are by far the best method of supporting tomato plants we have used to date and I plan to build another four of them this year! They're kind of pricey to build and look a little funny in the garden (we get a lot of questions about them, since you can see them peaking over the fence) but they freakin' work beautifully and I think they'll hold up for quite a while. I can't find it in any of the gardening email I get now and I'm not going to sift through the stack of catalogs I have to find it, but I noticed one of the companies I regularly order with is selling something very similar to the Tormatoes this year. It's a collapsible version (basically just the coiled pex tubing) that attaches to a stake somehow. I don't remember exactly, but I remember thinking, "Ha! They ripped off the Tormato!"
Anyway, I feel really accomplished and plan to make the most of today out there as well before the rain comes tomorrow. Seems like it's supposed to be a nice weekend too, but I sort of hope to have all my yard work done by then so I can enjoy the cleaned up yard for the weekend. Sounds like Chris might have some projects in mind to try to get done as well. And I suppose if we're going to move the vegetable beds this year, we should probably get those dug and built and prepped. Then there's the deck we should do sooner rather than later because our back steps are falling apart and the sooner we get it done, the more we can enjoy it before it's unbearably hot.
Lots to do and this year I actually care enough to do it. Last year was a total gardening fail year for me because I just didn't care at all and only did the bare minimum. But this year I think I'll put a tad more effort into it, at least in the spring. It's my hope to get it to a point where I don't have to do much after about May except harvest veggies and the occasional weeding and wrangling of raspberries and mint as they get out of control.
Off to get dirty!
I had to keep Jonah home yesterday because he had thrown up at school on Tuesday. I don't know what made him throw up (though I have some theories). He never ran a fever and after making him take it slow with ginger ale and water crackers after I picked him up Tuesday, he was ready for real food again by 4pm that day. Yesterday he was totally back to normal, running around the house and playing just like always. After lunch, he wanted to go outside and even coaxed me out to play with him.
Of course once I got outside, we didn't play but instead we started cleaning up the gardens. By the end of the day, we had cleaned out all of last season's dead growth in three gardens. Jonah had fun pulling up the pepper plants and knocking the dirt off the roots. He kept saying, "I'm doing a really good job. I'm a good helper." Untangling the dead tomato plants from the Tormato supports we had built last year was a little tricky and slowed us down a bit. But we eventually got it all done. Also, tomatillo husks look really neat after a winter in the elements. All that's left of them are the veins and so they look like little lacy paper lanterns. I kept one to put on the shelf of little natural knick-knacks we have in the den.
Speaking of the Tormato supports, they are by far the best method of supporting tomato plants we have used to date and I plan to build another four of them this year! They're kind of pricey to build and look a little funny in the garden (we get a lot of questions about them, since you can see them peaking over the fence) but they freakin' work beautifully and I think they'll hold up for quite a while. I can't find it in any of the gardening email I get now and I'm not going to sift through the stack of catalogs I have to find it, but I noticed one of the companies I regularly order with is selling something very similar to the Tormatoes this year. It's a collapsible version (basically just the coiled pex tubing) that attaches to a stake somehow. I don't remember exactly, but I remember thinking, "Ha! They ripped off the Tormato!"
Anyway, I feel really accomplished and plan to make the most of today out there as well before the rain comes tomorrow. Seems like it's supposed to be a nice weekend too, but I sort of hope to have all my yard work done by then so I can enjoy the cleaned up yard for the weekend. Sounds like Chris might have some projects in mind to try to get done as well. And I suppose if we're going to move the vegetable beds this year, we should probably get those dug and built and prepped. Then there's the deck we should do sooner rather than later because our back steps are falling apart and the sooner we get it done, the more we can enjoy it before it's unbearably hot.
Lots to do and this year I actually care enough to do it. Last year was a total gardening fail year for me because I just didn't care at all and only did the bare minimum. But this year I think I'll put a tad more effort into it, at least in the spring. It's my hope to get it to a point where I don't have to do much after about May except harvest veggies and the occasional weeding and wrangling of raspberries and mint as they get out of control.
Off to get dirty!
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no subject
on 2011-02-17 09:15 pm (UTC)Glad you're doing the yard stuff this year! You seem happier when you put more into it!
no subject
on 2011-02-22 08:37 pm (UTC)Meh, I still feel like I'm over gardening, but not to the point where I just don't want to do anything. More so, this year I feel like I want to do it quick and get it over with so I can do other stuff the rest of the spring and summer. Like build a deck! ;)
no subject
on 2011-02-18 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-02-22 08:40 pm (UTC)I'm afraid to start my seeds because of all the scale I have inside right now. I wish I had a place I could set up with lights. Wouldn't need to be huge, but I just can't seem to find a place and the garage is apparently off limits. If Chris would just let me build a conservatory... ;)
no subject
on 2011-02-20 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-02-22 08:42 pm (UTC)