Saturday, March 29, 2008

Pretty or Tacky?

Here is a photo of my house from Sept 2007:

Notice the cute metal bistro set on the left side of the front porch. Last week Chip and I saw a bistro set in some catalog, and it came in an array of pretty pastel colors. We talked about painting ours a pretty pastel blue. Fast forward to Monday. Chip goes to the store, picks out a can of paint, and before I know it, the darn thing is blue. I mean reaaaaally blue.


So, it is tacky?

Monday, March 24, 2008

Thinking about a Compost Tumbler

Some discarded green onion roots are sprouting in my compost bin. Hmmm, that's not good is it? Or is that normal? I should have put some black plastic over the top of the compost bin this winter, but I didn't think of that until Saturday when I saw the onions. I'm going to give it a good turn this week, and then finally put that plastic down. The onions won't sprout if there isn't sun. Ha!

On Sunday Chip and I visited my grandparents for Easter. We drove up to Koscuisko for lunch with my mom's side of the family, and then we made our way across the county to the Bishop Family Egg Hunt. After we found a few eggs (there is a hunt for the kiddies and a more difficult hunt for the adults) we drove down the hill to my other granny's. The men watched the Memphis vs. Mississippi State basketball game (Chip was the only guy pulling for Memphis), and the ladies talked. And we talked. And we talked. I love those country weekends.

My grandmother and I got to talking about my garden, and she had some good advice for me. I complained about how it is taking seemingly forever for the compost to be "ready". She thinks that I should probably start another compost pile. I only have one now, and I'm adding new stuff to it every day. The compost will be "ready" much faster if I leave it alone for awhile, and I can't leave it alone if I have only one bin. What would I do with all that kitchen waste?

So, I am thinking about getting a tumbler. I like the idea of getting a tumbler because I hear they are supposed to work faster. Hopefully I could load up some of that not-quite-ready compost into the tumbler and have the brown gold I've been hoping for in only a few weeks.

Who out there has a compost tumbler? What do you think of it? Do they work as good as all the ads claim? Or, if you have only one bin like me, what's your secret for getting the stuff ready quicker? I need help!

Monday, March 17, 2008

March Bloom Day

I'm a bit late on posting my blooms for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but I thought I'd share them anyway. I am excited about my garden this year. I've made so much progress in the front yard, and this spring I have some great projects to complete for the backyard. I had fun walking around the yard taking photos of my spring plants. Now, let me take you on a stroll through my garden. Starting in the front yard:

A volunteer muscari (grape hyacinth) with friends: scary bug and juniper bush
a pretty pink geramnium! I just got it this weekend at the Jackson Garden & Patio Show.

bridal wreath spirea just beginning to bloom

sweet olive & it smells heavenly

purple verbena


yellow violas

baby blue pansy

Now let's walk around to the backyard....

carolina jessamine

azalea purple formosa


japanese magnolia


And in honor of St. Patrick's Day... a little clover

Saturday, March 08, 2008

No Snow

All the weather gurus were predicting I'd wake up to 2 inches of snow. That's a big deal for central Mississippi. I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some lunch, and folks were stocking up on groceries like Katrina was coming again. There's barely a drop (or should I say, flake?) of snow on the ground this morning.


I've got a lot more work to do in the backyard this weekend. I've tried to grow a good herb garden for the past two summers, but I've got lots of trees and that means tree roots, too. I don't want to fight tree roots anymore, and I don't think my herbs want to either. I'm gonna build a raised bed for the herb garden, so at some point on Sunday I have to convince Chip to help me load more bricks for it. The bed should look good and it should thrive, although I'm a little concerned about putting it so close to the pool. We don't usually get aggressively splashy in the pool, but I don't want to eat chlorine coated basil either. Ew!

The seedlings are coming up nicely. I'm probably going to have to do something about those darn squirrels very soon. I can see that they've been scratching around in my veggie patch - burying their acorns I'm sure - and I'm worried that it is only a matter of time before they dig up one of my plants. Grrrr....


Here's to Saturday morning! Even a Saturday morning without snow.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The New Seedlings Are Here!

My seedlings popped their little heads out of the ground this week. I'm so excited about it. I have high hopes and expectations right now at the beginning of the season. Of course this is before my garden gets attacked by bugs, fungus, squirrels, and drought. And I'm pretty sure all of that will happen at some point this summer. But now... now I have high hopes.
CARROTS



RADISHES


SWISS CHARD

PEAS