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.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday was snowy and cold. This morning the sun is out, it is cool, but not to cold to work outside. The ground is saturated. We have had way more rain and snow than this clay soil can hold.

I have been working on getting my garden weeded and ready for the later spring plantings. I spent about ten hours on it last week. It looks a lot better, but the compost piles are overflowing. All that is left to weed out are two long areas where I have flowers and perennials. Love that feeling of accomplishment. I am not going to think about what is going on in the other flower beds. That can wait until the vegetable garden is ready. Or a miracle happens and they weed themselves. (I can always dream).

It was really too wet to weed today, but I did tackle one bed anyway. It is an herb/perennial vegetable bed and was pretty soggy. The weeds came up easy, but a lot of soil cane up with the roots. I did find four Mexican Mint Marigolds (aka Texas Tarragon) ready to divide and pot up. These will go in our KCMGA plant sale at our Spring Seminar in April.

Mexican Mint Marigold is a perennial shrubby herb with small, marigold-like flowers in the fall. This herb can be grown in partial shade. It has the smell and flavor of tarragon. I gave a bit of it to my neighbor and it made her cry because it triggered a scent memory of her grandmother. It is a great substitute for tarragon, which is difficult to grown in our Texas heat.

Happy Spring Y'all.

You know you are in Texas when you can experience four seasons in one week - stolen from FB.

My Deck This Morning

 
 

This was our deck just before dawn this morning. I brought in the tomatoes, but left everything else out. I was really worried about the lemon trees, but after everything thawed out, they seem to be fine. Hopefully, this was winter's last hurray.