When we left for Botswana, it was still winter here. A few of the bulbs were poking out of the dirt, a few twigs had small buds, but most plants were still sleeping.
When we got back two weeks later, spring had arrived. The trees are budding or flowering, the hostas are sending up shoots, the mums and hydrangea are getting bright green leaves.
And check out my fern; I thought it died last year:
Best of all is the vegetable garden. Continue reading
Filed under Garden
Last fall, I planted bulbs in the front planter and a small patch of the back garden. I drew a map so I’d know what they were when they started to grow, and I know I put it someplace clever where it’d be easy to find…
The bulbs are starting to sprout. A few in the front, a few in the back. I’m starting to believe winter might end someday.
Between the shade, the hard rains that smushed the lettuce into the dirt to rot, the bugs carving holes in the rutabaga and cabbage leaves, the squirrels digging up seeds, and something (rabbits?) taking chunks out of almost everything), I don’t think we’re going to have much to eat.
Next year, I’m digging a vegetable bed in the front lawn, since the tomatoes and peppers out there seem to be happy (there’s a lot more sun).
I’m going to build better rabbit fences too – I haven’t seen any rabbits in the garden, just the yard, but something’s eating my veggies.
(My compost pile is doing great.)
Belated garden recordkeeping: Continue reading
Filed under Garden
Last Saturday I took before photos of the yard and gardens at our house for future reference. Yesterday I planted the vegetable garden (with some space saved for things that need to be planted in a few weeks).
Filed under Garden
Adventures in food labelling
Found at the grocery store:
Ready-to-Eat peaches — First, they still have to be washed, so technically they aren’t ready to eat. Second, what would constitute non-ready-to-eat peaches? Green ones? Blossoms? A potted peach tree (just add water)?
Canned tuna — After the ingredients list (tuna, broth, water), it helpfully warns, “Contains: Fish.” Yes. I should hope so. Perhaps they want to emphasize that it’s dolphin-safe.
Garden status
We ate our grape tomato this week. It was very tasty. If we’re lucky, the green tomatoes will ripen sometime this year (then we’ll have ready-to-eat tomatoes). We also had a couple very small heads of romaine (~ 5 leaves each), which actually looks like lettuce now. Our herbs and hot peppers have not yet achieved ready-to-eat status, though the basil is ok if we only want a couple leaves at a time.
I built a thread trellis for my morning glories, as the fence boards are too wide for them to climb. I should have bought flowers that bloom at night, though. I’m unlikely to see the morning glories very often.
Harry Potter
Reread the first 6 Harry Potter books. I timed it badly and left myself with two weeks to anticipate book 7.
Book 5 has really improved since the last time I read it, or maybe remembering that I didn’t like it lowered my expectations enough that it seemed better. Or maybe it was because I’d just finished 4, which is still my least favorite because of the gaping plot hole.
We saw the movie Order of the Phoenix yesterday — it was not good. Umbridge was spot on, but so many other characters did things that were out of character (or at least not supported by anything in the movie) that it was rather frustrating, sort of like watching shorthand. At times the dialogue-heavy scenes were boring.
Orson Scott Card has an interesting essay on Snape. He has some good points, although many of his arguments depend on figuring out what Rowling was thinking as she wrote the books, which I think requires too many assumptions about how she works and how skilled an author she has been at different times.
(I’m still fence-sitting on whether Snape’s good or evil. After reading book 6 the first time, I leaned towards good; after rereading all the books, I’m leaning towards evil. From a storytelling perspective, redemption might work better. If it were me, I’d think that’s too obvious.)
Random question: Where do British wizards go to school before they’re 11? It seems they must all be home-schooled: they don’t know enough about Muggles to have gone to Muggle schools, and unless there are a lot of wizard kids who don’t go to Hogwarts, there aren’t any wizard elementary schools.
Misc.
I finally got a library card, only 10 months after moving here. I’ve been spoiled — this is the first place I’ve lived as an adult where I have to drive to the library because it’s too far to walk.
Yesterday I went shopping and got my early birthday present from my boyfriend: a slipcover for the couch. It looks much nicer than the lack-of-cover we had before. Very thoughtful of him to get that for me. 🙂
Links
GalaxyZoo seeks people to categorize photos of spiral and elliptical galaxies because “the human brain is far better than a computer at recognising the patterns that divide ellipticals from spirals.” After you sign up, do a tutorial, and take a test, you look at photos and determine what they are. [Links to articles about it.]
PSA: Do not listen to your MP3 player outside during a storm.
Yesterday I did my first volunteer stint at the park, which mostly consisted of more detailed training. Watered the butterfly garden, made hummingbird food and filled feeders, fed the fish and turtles and frogs, sent visitors with questions to the naturalist because I know nothing yet…. 🙂
One of my tomatoes is very orange, and my lettuce seems to have stopped dying. Soon I can have a very tiny homegrown salad. Quite exciting.
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My lettuce has sprouted; a few seeds of something else have also started coming up. Or maybe two something elses. (No, I didn’t label my herb container. They’ll become identifiable eventually.)
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