It Started Out All Sunshine and Kitty Cats

The day started out with my girls being sweet. It was a beautiful morning. I was going to work as an actual gardener again. Birds were singing.

Then we transplanted huge Lantana. Here is my wonderful new helper. She is not afraid of Lantana or falling or her backside. I got a sunburn.

Then I snuck over to the Monkey's Uncle's house to get rid of the evidence/lantana prunings. I got stuck and therefore got caught.

Here are two monkeys and the Monkeys' Uncle chaining his big truck to my little truck. Monkeys and Monkeys' Uncle are very very useful for this crazy woman. Read the previous post to find out what happened next.

Then The Cabbage Exploded

If you are coming here from Blotanical read this post first. I had to do this backwards because I could only post four pictures at a time.

Then the Monkey's Uncle's really big truck got stuck too. Now we had to call one of the Monkey's Uncle's old high school buddies to pull us both out. We got out okay, but sil#1 is going to be royally ticked off when she sees her lawn.

When I finally made it home, I went out to the garden to get some good garden mojo. No good gardening mojo was available. Instead, I found that one of my cabbages had exploded. Ever had one of those days? I am going to drink a beer.

The Votes Are In

The polls is closed. It turns out that of those who voted, 52% would like to scorch their weeds with laser beams shooting from their eyes. Weather control came in 2nd with 21%. Plant resurrection received 17% of the vote. Finally garden tool wolverine made a miserable showing at 8%. Apparently, only two of my readers/victims want sharp tools popping out of their hands. I want to thank everyone who participated in this silliness. This is about as close to politics as you will ever see me get.

Now for a link and a nod.

I would like to say a few words about Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings . She was one of the first garden bloggers who commented on my blog. She also encouraged me to join Blotanical, which has been a blast. She posted about rose pruning yesterday. The article is very very well done. She gave very clear instructions on rose pruning and posted pictures to illustrate. She knows her stuff. Please go over and give her a visit.

Gardening Super Power

There are seven hours left to pick you gardening super power. There are four choices. My personal favorite is weather control. The second choice is garden tool wolverine. Just picture it, you need a trowel and one pops out of your fingers. We would never lose our pruners again. The third option is plant reanimation. With this ability, all of your dead, wilted, dried out plants spring back to luscious life. The final power is laser eyeball weed kill. This is the favorite so far. Apparently, the ability to scorch wayward plants with a glance is appealing to some of us. Anyway, ignore my bad sentence structure and vote for your gardening super power.

Quick...Look... Two More Roses Bloomed

The Mutabilis bloomed. I know it is pitiful and spider infested but IT BLOOMED. This is a cool rose bush. The flowers actually change colors as the blooms age.

Here is a horrible picture of Maggie. This rose smells nice. Kind of peppery. My photography skills are not improving. I need lessons.

Just a reminder. Only one more day to vote for your gardening super power.

My Favorite Sister.

Check out my new header. Sister #3 made it for me. She gave me very good instructions on how to install it. Instead of following the instructions I pasted it all over the place, gave up, then finally went back and followed the good instructions - MAGIC. Isn't it pretty? This is the nicest thing a sister has ever done for me in a blogging situation.

Let me tell you about her. She is beautiful. She is a great mom to Jack, the happiest seven month old baby in our family. She teaches English to high school punks. She never corrects my spelling , grammar, or punctuation on this blog. I know it is bugging her, but she never says a word. I can sometimes feel her cringing (I am pretty sure the colon was not there in my version of the header, oops). Obviously, she is very creative and knows her way around a computer better than I do. She is a gardener. In her backyard she has grown a butterfly garden. She taught me how to do this and now we have butterfly attracting plants also. Her husband is my monkeys' favorite toy. She is learning to sew. She knows all the best books to read. She can make our dad be quiet.

Sometimes I sneak over to her town and visit her baby while she is working. I am going to give her more plants and probably a can of worms.

Love you Buddin Anne

Patio Container Composting

This is how I used to compost when I lived in an apartment. I am putting this together for sister #2. She cannot have a compost pile because of her home owners' association. She really doesn't have enough yard waste and other raw material to create a big enough pile. Her last compost pile was pitiful.
First gather three, three gallon black plastic plant containers. Place about four inches of shredded, wet paper in the bottom of the first container. Add a pound or two of composting worms and compost. To this add your vegetable peels and waste, fruit peels and waste, egg shells, coffee grounds, paper coffee filters, and tea bags. Place the second container inside of the first without pressing down. We don't want to squash the worms. The second container acts as a lid. When the first container is two-thirds full begin filling the second container using the third container as a lid. When the second container is two -thirds full begin filling the third container. The worms will move up through the drain holes into the higher container, just like they do in the commercial worm composting bins. Keep the whole thing damp, but not soaking wet. By the time the third container is full, the contents of the first container should be compost and worm castings. I place the whole thing in a pot saucer. This will catch any liquid that comes through. The liquid is compost tea and can be used to water and feed your plants. Keep this in the shade. It will get too hot for the worms if it is in the sun.

Shredded paper wet to about the consistency of a wrung out sponge.

Red wriggler composting worms and worm castings.