Some Musings

The kids have distracted me while writing, so I can share my thoughts about my garden.

First the garden.  I've been reading blogs/news sites/facebook/pinterest for years about home gardening.  I realize that it is nothing new, but in the past few years it has become quite trendy and hip.  And since I like to pretend that I am trendy and hip, I've wanted to plant a garden for years. Unfortunately, our previous house was too shaded to really have a decent summer garden, and I wasn't really aware of all that I could plant in the fall.  When we were looking for a rental house, one of the things that made us really like this house was the backyard.  It is both big enough for the boys and it gets great sunlight.  I knew that I would be able to have my garden.  I spent quite a bit of time going through the web and finding information about square foot gardening  and I wanted to try it. 

I started my garden after Easter and the first month it did really well.  I think we had the right about rain, and I planted the right things for the time of year.  I did a mix of plantings from seeds (arugula, carrots, zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, okra and eggplant) and seedlings (yellow squash, hot and sweet peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, and a few herbs).  At first everything turned out really well.  The arugula grew quickly and I liked to eat it fresh.  I honestly have no idea how to cook with it, but I sure did like watching it grow.  The carrots also did well.  And the squash started out amazing.  The seedlings also did very well.  The best were the jalapeno pepper and the grape tomato plants.  And then our lack of seasonal summer happened starting in May.  

This year has been extremely wet which caused a lot of problems for me in the garden.  First, the cooler weather made it difficult to get anything to grow for our zone.  Our zone is much hotter than it was this year and the plants weren't able to do really well.  Second, we got too much rain.  Since we frequently had cool (for the time of year) rainy days nothing did very well.  My squash caught a fungus that screwed up one plant and the other two got bugs that decided to eat it.  I did pure organic gardening.  I realize that if I don't bugs to eat my plant, I should spray it with something.  However, I really wanted to it naturally and not put literally poison into my body*.  I know that washing the plants would rinse away the chemicals, but I didn't want the chemicals on them in the first place. (I might get on a moral high horse at some point about this). I also knew the kids would pick plants and eat them before the vegetables would be washed so that was another consideration on not using chemicals. I think if I had done a better job of mulching the plants some of the fungus wouldn't have happened and some of the bugs would have been discouraged to eat the squash.  I also don't think I did a good job of planting plants that should be together.  I've got better ideas for the future, so hopefully I'll be able to make it better.

I think next year will be better and the hopefully the plants will produce better.  I'm hoping to put in at least one more container and maybe two.  I also want to give the kids a place to plant things so especially Phil won't be as likely to pick my tomatoes before they're ripe! 


* I only sometimes buy organic at the grocery though.  I know I really should for the dirty dozen and sometimes I manage too.  I'm trying to both justify the cost and realize that I should eat like a gallon of strawberries in a week!  

A week

I try to update everyday. But this week has been typical of why I don't. I guess that the kids get in the way, literally.  Phil is in my lap trying to type and asking for  PBS kids.  During the morning when the kids are school, I'm either cleaning the house, working in the yard, or running errands.  Le sigh.

Mommy "style": Here is the mommy style I did for the week:

Tuesday:

Wednesday

Friday:  Very lazy.  I ran errands and then worked in the yard while the kids were at school.  And then it was too late to change before it was time to pick them up.

Saturday

Accomplishments:  I've been working on redoing the containers for fall/winter vegetable gardening.  I'm done with them.  And now I'm working on the front planting bed.  It's a bit more slow going.  There are a lot of weeds and I'm trying to loosen up the soil and work in compost for better growth and transplants.  And at one point, I actually had the whole place looking neat.  However, as you can see by Friday afternoon, the kids and I had wreaked the place. I have also been to Walmart AND only bought what I meant to buy.  It was pretty awesome.

High/Low:  High: On Thursday, I went to see a concert with Matt.  That was a lot fun.  I even dressed up for the concert, and wore heels.  And I didn't feel like the sloppiest person there.  Low: Last night's (Saturday) bedtime. was a marathon of whining, getting out of bed, and shouting by me.  Phil has taken it into his head that bedtime isn't for him and that he doesn't ever need to sleep.  Honestly, if he didn't share a room with Oliver, then I would "lock" him in his room and walk away. Do the Supernanny method of toddler cry it out.  Unfortunately, he does share a room and Oliver has a hard time going to sleep with Phil crying. So, it is a battle.  Last night I had it with the getting out of bed roaming around, so I put Phil back into bed every time he got out of bed.  It took about 20 times before he just stayed in bed.  And then like 2 minutes later, he fell asleep.  I'm hoping tonight is better, but I'm not holding my breath.

Activities: Tuesday: school for Oliver, and grocery shopping for me and the younger two.  I then came home and cleaned up the house "mostly" and worked on laundry.  Wednesday: Fred had his 9 month doctor's appointment.  He is a big boy at over 30 inches long, and 20 pounds.  Technically, he is the size of a 12 month baby.  If he keeps up this trajectory, he'll be colossal.  Future linebacker type stuff. After the doctor's appointment, we went to the park for awhile and ate lunch there.  And then picked up the older two from school.  Thursday: yard work during school.  That evening, Matt and I went to Depeche Mode.  That was fun. Friday: during school I washed my car.  I was upsold into getting the thing waxed and detailed outside.  It looks really nice.  My car hasn't looked this nice since I bought it 3 years ago.  The money both feels like a waste and like a really good "investment".  Investment is in quotes because really it isn't an investment.  Fred and I went to Walmart to kill time while they did the car.  That was fun. I bought stuff to make a wreath.  After school, we played and had fun.

At some point during the week, the kids decided to make waterfall using pool noodles and the water spout.

Saturday: Matt's unit with the National Guard had it's family day.  That was really neat.  This year, they had out different things they use.  They let kids look into one of the Humvees they use, look at the type of weapons, and see radios.  It was really neat.  There was also a bounce house for the kids and a rope to either climb or swing from.  There was also training for the FRG (Family Readiness Group). I'm willing to participate in the FRG meetings, go to events put on by the FRG, and if they really need somebody to be an officer, I'm more than happy to be one.  However, I really don't want to be trained to do stuff.  And I really don't want to sit in a 2ish hour meeting to do it.  There were something 60 completely text filled PowerPoint slides.  It was a bit tedious.  I left after 10 slides, I'm glad the baby started to fuss.  I know that it sounds mean and complaining, but I guess since I don't sit in meetings at work, I've gotten out of practice of sitting there half playing attention to things and thinking about other things (like how much I don't want to be in a meeting).

Menu: Tuesday: oatmeal, grocery store sushi, chicken with mushrooms and kale, garlic bread on the side. Wednesday: greek yogurt with a bit of jam, peanut butter sandwich and a banana. Dinner: lamb with rice, spinach.   Thursday: waffles, egg salad sandwich, and nachos for dinner.  Actually beer was for dinner, which would explain the hangover on Friday morning.  Friday: Greek yogurt, tuna sandwich, Dinner was bean and rice tacos.  I made the tortillas from scratch, but they weren't very good or "oh my goodness amazeballs" that people are always claiming homemade tortillas are.  I'll give it one more shot to be better.... Saturday: bagel, eggs,and fruit.  Lunch: chicken, cornbread, potato salad, and greens.  Dinner: pizza with carrots on the side.

Long entry is long, so I'll leave my thoughts about my first year's garden experiment until later. 

Webs!

Mommy "Style" : 

Oliver took the photo today!

I think this first time in months that I have worn a white t-shirt and not gotten a stain on it.  

Accomplishment:  I figured out a budget for the family and I'm working on how I can implement it for us without breaking it.  I'm loosely following Dave Ramsey.  I've been writing down in a little notebook what I spend in a typical month.  And I mean everything, tolls, meals out, coffee (too much coffee) and trying to figure out a reasonable amount to spend each month.  We have enough money, but it seems like I'm not spending it wisely.  

High/Low: High: We managed to get through Wal-Mart today without any epic meltdowns.  And usually Wal-Mart meltdowns are on my part.  That store completely overwhelms me! Low:My aunt died yesterday.  We weren't close, but she was a special lady and she reminded me so much of my mom who I miss.  I know that she's in a better place.  I've lost my faith, but I want to believe in Heaven.  I would like to attend the funeral, but I know it will be in Pittsburgh, and I'm not sure if I can make the drive by myself and the three kids.  I have the feeling that my dad would like to come with me.  But I don't know if I'm willing to do that. 

Activity:  We went to Wal-Mart this morning and I bought silly-string for the kids.  Oliver likes to call it webs like Spider-Man.  We spent time slinging webs all over the front yard.  The kids loved it.

Spider-Man

Phillip likes the texture

Fredrick is intrigued by his brothers.

Here is a picture of the tye-dyed shirts from yesterday

Menu: Breakfast : bagel and banana.  Lunch: Pastrami sandwich with watermelon.  The kids had watermelon and Angry Birds graham crackers. Dinner: Bratwurst, mac n cheese, and steamed zucchini.  A

Other: I started a garden this summer for a variety of reasons: 1. earn hipster/crunchy cred by growing my own produce. 2. Prove to myself that I didn't have a black or even a brown thumb.  3.  Know what was going to the soil of my plants so in turn I could know what I was eating. 4. Curious George did it and of course, my children wanted to do it.

Half of my garden has done really great.  I've gotten a bunch of tomatoes and the arugula did really well until it got too hot and the plants bolted.  However, most of the garden hasn't.  The strawberries haven't really produced much.  My peppers are complete duds.  And the squash.  Oh my goodness the squash.  I accidently over crowded a bed, so I'll take some blame on that, but I swear everything that can go wrong with it has.  I had manged to get this fungus that only comes out when it has been really rainy.  So far this year, my city has gotten a record amount of rain and when it isn't rainy it is very humid.  Then I get some other form of fungus that is hurting the leaves of the plant.  And now I have either grubs or caterpillars that are eating the fruit and the blossoms.  It is very frustrating.  However, when I get squash from these plants it is amazing.  I know that I'm going to do this again next summer, but I need to figure out how to plant so that the bugs do get to eat everything!