Mess of Mustard

 

Recycling Project

I recently made a denim quilt from worn out blue jeans. The quilt was put in the silent auction of the KCMGA Spring Seminar. The material for the quilt came from the legs of the jeans. The top and seams are left. What to do? Throw them out? Give up and cry? Nope, I make outdoor garden bags for them. Now, I suppose you could put some potting soil in these suckers and it would be pretty cute. I use them to hold random stuff like tools, fertilizer, my teeth (kidding).

Simply sew a seem across the bottom and use left over seams as straps.

Just a Few Things

The first picture is my new baby pot of sedum, echiveria and semper vivum. probably spelled a couple of those wrong, but you don't come here for spelling and grammar;)

The next picture is my Angel Face rose. I love that rose, but it is a fussy hybrid and the bush always looks terrible. Give me an heirloom rose any day.

Finally, Baby Monkey turned 11 this week.

Happy Spring Y'all.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day. If you do nothing else in the coming year to help our environment, please consider composting. Never ever throw you vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, or tea bags into a landfill, it is just wrong and easy to avoid.

It Arrived in the Mail

I received fertilizer in the mail today. Mr. Tom Tubby Lawler asked me to give his all natural fertilizer a try. Here is the link. This is why I love the internet. People who are trying to develop and market their products can find someone who has the hobby that would need the product and instant connection. They get a tester and I get to try new stuff. This looks like it is a manure tea product. I make my own frequently, so I know it is the good stuff. So for the next few weeks, I will fertilize with this new product and report my results.

Lunch

 

Hello Beautiful

 

Spring is definitely here. I saw Blue Bonnets, Indian Paint Brushes, wild violets, irises and grape hyacinth blooming all along the road one my way home from the library. When I pulled up in the driveway, I was greeted by a beautiful sight. My Mutabalis rose bush is in full bloom and showing all of it's colors. Each flower starts out as a red bud and slowly fades from pink to peach. I find this plant to be simply amazing.

I'm A Winner - Finally

I've been sharing and commenting and all but begging to win something over at Double Danger all week. Yesterday, all my stalking paid off. I won the "Complete Idiots Guide to Composting" by Chris McLaughlin and I couldn't be more tickled. I am going to donate it to the library after I read it, of course. James and Shala are still giving some great gardening stuff away so make sure you mosey on over there and leave a comment to win.

First Cookout of 2010

Today has been a near perfect day. Everyone is home and happy. The monkeys brought home good grades. The weather is beautiful.

Manly fired up the grill while I worked in the garden. He grilled steak, shrimp, asparagus, oranges and apples. I harvested some lettuce, carrots and radishes for a salad. We had ourselves a feast.

I am going back outside to finish planting the tomatoes and enjoy the garden until the sun goes down.

This is exactly the life I want for myself and my family.

Happy spring y'all.

The May Flie Mess

My house, porch and deck are over run with May Flies. Will somebody kindly inform those bugs that it is April, not May. They seem intent on committing suicide in every drop of water in my home. They get in the house every time someone opens a door. Only the cats are having fun.

I read up on these little irritants and found out a couple of completely bizarre facts. First, the adults die in a very short time -30 minutes to 24 hours. The adults do not eat - their mouths are vestigial and their digestive tract is filled with air. Another not so pretty fact, they have two sets of naughty bits..ahhhhhh.

Apparently, they only thing the adults do is fly around, make babies and die. Nice, suicidal sex fiends are killing themselves in my sink.

Somebody help me.

Lady Bug Love

 

Apparently, a little bit ago, there was a lot of Lady Bug Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow going on around here because my garden is covered up in lady bug larva. This is a very very good thing. Those little suckers and eat tons of aphids. The aphids appear to be primarily on my radishes.

And there are a lot of radishes. Middle Monkey planted three large Renee's Garden seed packets of radishes while I was day dreaming as he did all the work busy working on another plot. The other plant that is taking over my garden is mustard greens. Someone gave me seeds that were labeled collards. Well they are certainly not collards, they are mustard. If you have ever grown mustard, you know that a little bit of seed goes a loooong way. Well I threw mustard seeds all over the place and now I think I need someone to come over and help me bale it. There is also a mess of self-seeded parsley.

I am currently on the look out for vegetable victims. Those would be persons who unwittingly agree to take some of this produce off of my hands. So far the other library ladies have been good sports and really love mustard. Today they are getting mustard and radishes. Tomorrow - mustard, radishes and parsley. When they start shunning me I will know my vegetables and I have worn out our welcome.

Seriously though, when the produce overruns us, I will find a local food bank and donate the extra. I would just love to hear that you will be doing the same thing.

Double Danger is Giving Stuff Away

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE go register to win something over at James and Shala's blog Double Danger. They really really want to share the gardening love and give y'all some stuff.

It started out nice enough with excited invitations. Then it turned a little more serious with gentle reminders. This morning I received slightly pleading message on Facebook. Then, about an hour ago, it started to turn ugly. Pear pressure has set in people. James wrote, "You haven't signed up for the freakin' giveaway yet? Not cool - people are making fun of you. Don't let them make fun of you." If that isn't some in your face come get this free stuff or you're gonna get a noogie, then I don't know what is.

Really though - James and Shala are about the nicest people on the interweb. They blog about gardening and grillin. They really want to give you some free stuff, so you better get over there before I win all the free stuff. Seriously go over to Double Danger and comment to win. Did I mention that they really really want to give stuff away? No?

And No, I don't know exactly who Pete is, but he needs some love. At this point, I think you know what you need to do.