I have (more or less) officially finished the planned planting for the backyard. Caitlyn and I planted pepper plants and three kinds of squash seeds (zucchini, pumpkin, and butternut) this morning. Caitlyn seems to enjoy planting seeds. I put the holes in the dirt and she puts in the seeds. Putting the mulch back over them is fun, but the best part is getting to wave her hands in the water from the watering can. When we’re done, she says, “Plant more seeds!” This may be about the seeds or the opportunity to play with the water. So, the veggie …
Category: homesteading
“So, have you written anything lately?” One would think I had, given how much I’ve been working in the backyard. Gardening is supposed to be good for the writer’s soul, if all those Romantic Poets knew what they were talking about. But, I have no words to show for my labor, just some boxes and a lot of imported dirt. In a month or so, there will be more green back here. And maybe with the arrival of the green, the words will follow. Or maybe the words come later, after the garden is well established. Or maybe I should …
I’ve, more or less recently, gotten interested in paying attention to the seasons. Not just in a “Gee it’s really stormy this afternoon” kind of way, but in a “Circle of Life” kind of way (with apologies for the Lion King reference). And part of paying attention to the seasons, for me, seems to be eating local, seasonal food. There are lots of reasons to eat locally and seasonally, not least of which is minimizing how far the food has to travel before it ends up in my kitchen. Yes, it’s possible to get strawberries in January, but they didn’t …
We visited the McBryde Garden of the National Tropical Botanical Garden with Robert and Jo last week. Took lots of pictures; hopefully some of them will find their way to the gallery. The plants were lovely, naturally, but I found myself somewhat annoyed by the self-guided tour pamphlets’ constant reminders of how rare and endangered the garden’s plants are. It seems the precious status of the plants in a botanical garden would be a given, since there’s probably a reason these specific plants are receiving that degree of care. No one puts dandilions in a botanical garden. Surely, there is …
I moved the avocado that was rooting in a jar of water in the kitchen window to a pot the other day, making first time introductions between roots and soil. I’ve trimmed the top of the tree to encourage branching, but I need to pay attention to all forms of growth to keep it a manageable size. Can you banzai avocado trees? If you do, what size avocados do you get? Also had to severely prune the philodendron. I like the trailing leaves effect, but all attempts to root in the carpet must be curbed immediately. Finally finished Shogun. I …