More Gardening "Goals" for MSG 2008

Participate in One Local Summer
Winter Sow
Change wardrobe for My Skinny Garden Blog - I need a new look!

Gardening Resolutions For 2008?

In general I think New Years Resolutions are a crock. Every year I say to myself, "screw it, I'm not making any - it's stupid anyway!" But then the year draws to a close and I start to think I really should at least make an effort to better a few things in my life. I mean, having goals is not a BAD thing, right?

Gardening Resolutions:
Weed more! I mean it is not that likely that I'll completely eradicate the bastard pseudo-morning glory weed that is trying to destroy me, but I'd like to at least make an effort to spend more time weeding and stop only focusing on the fun stuff.

Put my tools (toys) away when I'm done. I have a really bad habit of leaving stuff out in the rain. Not intentionally, but I always think I'll just take a short break then go back outside to finish working. Next thing you know it's been a week and the rake is rusting.

Host a garden party. You may not have noticed but I'm extremely introverted and anti-social. It's true! I swear! I'm also very shy. Why does nobody ever believe me when I say that??? Anyway, I'd like to host a garden party (even though I'm not even sure exactly what that is or what it involves) on my new future patio.

*on edit: Re-read garden blog posts before publishing to prevent stupid errors from being seen by very important readers.

Anti-Gardening Resolutions: Does gardening keep you from doing very important stuff? I've been thinking of doing a post called "The Bad Side Of Gardening" (note: add stop procrastinating to 2008 resolutions).

Clean the house more. Somehow I seem to have decided that all work at home should be done outside the house.

Get back to a regular exercise routine. Again - gardening is at fault here!

Work less. I don't mean garden less - I mean work for "the man" less. I'm getting home entirely too late these days and I miss Mr. W.

So that's about it for me. What about you? Have you made any Gardening or Anti-Gardening Resolutions for 2008? If not, it's time to start thinking about it. Jeez there are only a few days left in 2007, people! Let's get moving!

Santa Claus Is A Gardener

Guess what Santa brought me??? I know, I'm as surprised as you are. Who knew Santa was into Gardening???

I also got some awesome red Crocs, a gift card to HD and Walmart which I'll save to buy gardening stuff next sprint and a Borders gift card for gardening books. Oh, and rechargeable batteries and charger for so my digital camera will always be ready for action. I can't wait for spring!

Thanks, Santa! I love you!

Happy Holidays my garden blogging friends! I've missed you!

Roses Being Scared By The Snow

More snow in Chicago last night.

Reading garden blogs has taught me about micro climates and the picture below is the most obvious one in my yard.

This snow will likely remain on these roses until next spring. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it won't melt nearly as fast as other areas. The fence provides too much shade.

Temporary compost bins are covered in snow.

The rabbit has been spotted! I repeat - the rabbit has been spotted! It's big and probably pregnant. Somebody get the lawn mower! I'M KIDDING! I'M KIDDING! Jeez - relax people!

99 Coconut Fiber Pellets On The Wall

My Coconut Fiber Pellets arrived this week! Let me just go ahead and tell you that I totally messed up the reference to these things in previous posts. I think I called them "Cocoa Cocoa Hull Pellets" What the hell is that? I think I was thinking of cocoa cocoa mulch? Maybe? Hell I don't know. Anyway, I'll be using these to start my seeds indoors in a little while if I can figure out how to use them. I think I need to do something with them and water but I don't exactly know what, yet. I believe only one seed goes in each one and I'm hoping that I'll be able to start one seed in these, then transfer them to a larger container without having to re-pot the seedlings. This appeals to my inner lazy gardener ;)


These came from a great company in California called Peaceful Valley. They have all sorts of great things for the organic gardener. According to Peaceful Valley, and the blogger who first turned me on to these, they are sustainable and environmentally friendly (though having these shipped all the way from California to Illinois is not environmentally friendly.) Apparently using Peat is bad news. I can't remember exactly why and I also can't find the blog of said person who turned me on to these. It's something about creating an edible landscape and its about a couple who moved from the big city in California to a farm where they are trying to grow their own food. Anybody???

So that's that!

Confessions Of A Garden Blogger

Being raised Southern Baptist, I never did confess to much of anything. We were taught that you could just tell God directly what you'd done wrong and keep it moving. This time I feel a confession is in order. Can I borrow sombodies rosary beads?


My fellow garden bloggers, I have been unfaithful. I have started another blog and spent some time previously devoted to garden blogging, blogging there instead. Let me explain.


I have decided to become an Independent Consultant for Arbonne International, a company who manufactures and sells this awesome skin care product that I've fallen in love with. The new blog I created, My Skinny Biz, is a blog sort of like this blog in that I want to chronicle my experience with this business. As usual, I have no experience and very limited funds, so I'll need to be creative.


I'm telling you this for a couple of reasons. 1. it explains why I've been M-I-A more lately. I've been extremely busy trying to get things going with my Arbonne business. Just like when I started gardening and didn't know what the heck I was doing, I have no idea what I'm doing! 2. And of course I'm hoping you'll visit my blog from time to time and for God's sake if any of you have any experience with this sort of thing, please feel free to give me suggestions. If any of you are interested in trying the products just let me know. I've been working hard on my website where my clients can purchase products so feel free to take a peak if you have a moment. Please alert me to any stupid spelling errors right away! http://www.gonatural.myarbonne.com/


So in case you are wondering why I'm doing this - well I blame the end of the garden season! I needed something to obsess over because I was sinking into a deep depression after my last tomato. I need something to be excited about! Plus, I really really love this product! The fact that it is a premium skin care product that is plant based sorta made me feel garden-ish. In fact, when I was trying to think of a name for my website, my best friend suggested "plant your face", which I loved, but my informal focus group hated. I decided on the name goNatural because the products are not made with any animal products or animal by-products and they do not conduct testing on animals. Also, everything is hypoallergenic and fragrance free which screams Natural, right? Arbonne has also been committed to using recycled packaging long before it was cool which earns points from me.

As I mentioned on my other blog, I'm usually willing to sacrifice a little for things that are animal free and lord knows it always seems to cost more, but the best thing about Arbonne, and the reason I decided to become an Independent Consultant is because of the dramatic change it made in my skin. Since I was a teenager I've had problems with my face. Ive used all sorts of crap from Walgreens products to the fancy doctor prescribed stuff but never really been impressed with anything.


So, since I have such big plans for My Skinny Garden 2008, I decided that I needed to do something to earn some money to pay for all the glorious plants I plan to grow in my garden next year. I don't expect I'll be so hugely successful at this that I'd need to quit my day job, but man oh man would that be awesome if I could work from home and garden allllllllllll dayyyy longgg??


In closing I'd like to say thank you all for reading my garden blog. You're the best. I fully plan to continue writing here. In fact, I've got posts brewing right now about Jodi's book which I just received in the mail and cocoa cocoa hull pellets for seed starting. Stay tuned!

What's A Girl Gotta Do To Get "Sharecropped"?

Wow! I'm seriously behind on garden blog reading. Who knew there was a war brewing???

I won't post any links to any blogs where this has been discussed or the link to the evil do-ers' blog out of respect for my fellow garden bloggers who don't wish to give them any more free press but please allow me a few sentences on the topic from my perspective.

Does anybody have a violin? If so, please play something very sad for the readers for the next couple of paragraphs.

Why am I not good enough for the sharecroppers????? I mean I don't want my content stolen either and I can assure you that if I found out I was a victim of this I'd be ranting right along with you. But, I'm not. And that sorta makes me feel left out.

I know I shouldn't covet my neighbors garden blog, but I'm only human! The moment I read about all this content stealing I went right over to the evil-doers blog and did a search for my own. NOTHIN! Here's my stream of thoughts....

"THOSE BASTARDS BETTER NOT HAVE REBLOGGED ME!!!" *on my way to the site"
"WHAT??? I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE STOLEN?????" *not finding anything*

In closing I'd like to say that gardening and garden blogging can be an emotional roller coaster. I need therapy.

What am I suppose to do????

Everything is covered in snow! I haven't left the house today because I nearly killed myself last night on the ice. It's a death trap out there! The funniest site I've seen in a long time was watching my Mr. W last night while he was trying to walk up the handicap ramp onto the sidewalk. He was plastered to the side of the building like Spider man. It was so hilarious! He was really having a hard time - his feet are size 14's! It's hard for him. But alas we made it home safe.

I don't know what to write about - there's no gardening ....

I thought about writing about how my spirea was being squashed by the snow but I was too cold and lazy to go out and take a picture.

I was going to write about the Cocoa Cocoa Hull Pellets I purchased to start my seeds in but they have not arrived yet. I read about them on a blog that I keep forgetting to save the link to and so I'm at the mercy of OldRoses and when she reblogs the site.

I think my Red Twig Dogwood must look really cool in the snow right now, but again that requires a picture.

I hope you are gardening more than me.

The Garden Cave: Getting ready for seed starting

Just imagine the room below even more scary with crap everywhere and millions of spider webs - that's what I started with today. Behold my new Garden Cave!

My house is small and indoor space is pretty darn limited. I have no rooms with south facing windows other than my bedroom, which barely accommodates the king bed. Not only do I need a place to store all my gardening crap, I need a place to work on my seed starting. So, with no other choice, I've been banished to the gloomy dirty basement.

This is the room immediately below the bathroom. It's really the only "room" in the basement - the rest is just wide open space. Besides the washer and dryer, we have mostly exercise equipment and unpacked boxes down there. This room seems to have been somebodies work area and this work table was here when we moved in, along with a saw and some left over paint and supplies.

I think this room should be perfect for seed starting, don't you? I mean I'll need to buy shop lights and a timer for the lights but other than that, I bet I can get some seeds going down here. The basement is vented and has electricity so it doesn't get cold. Here's the work table that was here when we moved in. I'm hoping I can mount the shop lights under the 2 shelves and have my seeds right under them. As they come up I'll need to move them.

Now it's time to start getting my containers ready for winter sowing. Between the seeds I start indoors and the ones I wintersow, I should be off to a great spring start.

I'm curious where all you gardeners start your seeds? Is your house big and sunny enough that you have a proper room for this?

I'm In Tomato Seed Heaven

The folks over at wintersown.org have done it again!

I'm participating in the Garden Blogger Seed exchange that Colleen organized and I was so thrilled to see that Trudi from wintersown.org had posted an offer to choose tomato seeds. I love tomatoes! Remember??

You may remember that I already received my free seeds from wintersown and they actually sent me 10 packs to try, rather than the 6 that they promised. So now, in addition to those, I have the following tomato seeds to try.

Tomato Blend

Large Red Grape (Ind)

Cononaut Volkvov (Det)

San Marzano Plum (Ind)

Brandywine (Ind)

Heinz 1439 (Det)

Beefsteak Tomato (Ind)

Martian Giant (Ind)

Blondkopfchen (Ind)

Others

Hot Pepper Mix

Mammoth Sunflower

So, from the looks of things, I won't be buying any actual tomato plants this year! Imagine how exciting it'll be if I can grow all my tomatoes from seeds!

I noticed these packs have a number with the "DTM" beside it - what the heck does that mean please??

Thanks, Trudi! You Rock!

Devine Intervention: Paths

How did I miss this? ? ?

Over at Gardening Gone Wild they are hosting the first of what I hope will be the first of many Garden Bloggers' Design Workshops. This month's workshop is Paths and Walkways and it just so happens that I've been obsessing over where to place a path in my front garden, or if one belongs there at all.

If you've been following my current conundrum, you know that I'm in the process of expanding the front yard flower beds to prepare for some beautiful things to happen there next planting season. Well, no sooner had I expanded the beds and "lasagna'd" them when I ran across this awesome book Front Yard Gardens. You see where I'm going with this - screw the expansion - I want to plant my entire front yard!

Well the problem is that the yard is a perfect rectangle and that's pretty darn boring. Plus, the yard is not that deep but I think if I plant the entire thing without breaking it up somehow, I'll really have a hard time planting and weeding. Now normally I'd do this the exact opposite of how it should be done and plant first and think of paths later while cussing myself for my bad design and lack of forthought, but since it's winter I have some time on my hands.

So, I'm taking Nancy up on the offer to explain to you that I'm having trouble deciding where the path should go. The picture below is my front yard. I should say that I'm planning to have all those shrubs removed before I start planning so dont let them disrupt your creative juices.

So - where do the paths go? Don't be afraid to say "there should be no paths cuz the yard is too small." That just means less work for me ;)

The yard is 41 feet across (that includes the walk to the porch) and 18 feet deep.

The only idea I've had is to place a narrow walkway along the current curved beds then plant on the other side, too but that seems like it might look like my yard has stripes.

I look forward to your suggestions! And I believe I made the November 30th deadline so that means I get entered into a drawing for a great book. YAY!

The Price Is Right!

Buying
garden center guy - "can i help you with something"
me - "yes, how much is this planter?"
garden center guy - "well here's the price" *pointing at the yellow clearance sticker*
me - "but that says 20 dollars, right?"
garden center guy - "yes, that's what it says" *tipping the pot over to look at the printed sticker on the other side that says 149.99 and shaking his head like a crime has been committed*
me - "is there something wrong with it???? that is awfully cheap!"
garden center guy - "nope, I guess we just got tired of looking at it"
me "WELL I'LL TAKE IT! You will not believe this but I came here looking for a purple pot today - I never thought in a million years I'd find one this size for 20 bucks"
garden center guy - "that is a great deal. let me help you load this in your car"

The pot is 26 inches tall and square at the top with a 22"x22" opening. I still can't get over this!

I'm pretty sure Mr. W hates me.

Unloading
Mr. W - "OMG!" "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST TAKE MY TRUCK IF YOU WERE GETTING SOMETHING SO BIG?" *staring in amazement and trying to determine how to get this out of the car before the game starts in 5 minutes*
me - "I didn't know I was getting one so big but it was only 20 bucks!!! How could I NOT buy it?"
Mr. W - "how the hell did they get this in your back seat?"
old neighbor guy - "let me help you with that.....what is this a refrigerator?"
me - "no it's a flower pot" *whoever heard of a purple fridge? is he blind?*
old neighbor guy - "JEEZUS THAT IS ONE BIG FLOWER POT!!!"
Mr. W - "TELL ME ABOUT IT!"

Taking It To The Next Level

After turning to a complete sissy yesterday over the frozen, hard-to-handle bags of topsoil, I came home and ordered 1.5 yards of topsoil from the garden center near my house. The truck was here within the hour! Now that's what I call service!

In this picture the topsoil looks nice and clean but I found it to be very rocky with clumps of grass in it. I sure hope that stuff doesn't grow in my new beds. Since I've only bought bagged topsoil I was expecting rock and weed free dirt. This stuff looks like they picked it up from the site they are excavating down the street from my house!

It took about an hour to get the topsoil spread on top of the wet newspaper + mulched leaves where the new beds will be next year. Mr. W came home while right in the middle of this escapade and took pity on me. With his help I was able to finish in 1/2 the time!

As you can see, I should have ordered WAY more. I thought I calculated this correctly but ran out before I was able to complete the good neighbor garden bed where the Azaleas are planted. This new look, coupled with the new book I purchased last night Front Yard Gardens has really brought out my hatred for the poodle shrubs. They must go!

Bad Gardener!!

I can hear my mother now. "Why don't you pick up after yourself? You're always leaving your toys laying all over the place it's no wonder you lose keep losing stuff!" It snowed yesterday. One of the things I love about Chicago is that it always seems to snow on Thanksgiving. I left these outside after cutting back my shrub roses the other night. At this rate, all my tools will be rusty next year. Mom is right - I should be more careful with my toys.

GB gave me some of her excess mulch and I almost had enough for every rose to have it's own bag. This was Monday evening and I was working feverishly to cut back the roses and get the mulch on them before it started raining.

I don't know if I did it right but I cut back the roses and piled the mulch around the bottom. I thought I might have done this too early but today it's freezing outside!
Regarding dirt:
I went to buy dirt today and was amazed that Menards had already gotten rid of their topsoil. No more till spring. Home Depot had it but it was frozen solid! I got discouraged and went home. I'll just suck it up and have it delivered.

I still have bulbs to plant! I'm thinking big patio pots at this point.

We Interupt This Garden Blog For A Very Important Cake!

Red Velvet Cake! A Southern Classic and about the most fattening thing in my kitchen at this very moment. That's not easy, I've got tons of delish artery clogging stuff in there but, at the risk of sounding ultra nerdy - this takes the......oh I just can't do it. This cake is probably the best thing I'm able to bake. I make it from scratch using a recipe passed on to me by a dear friend in Memphis. For years she'd tell me how easy it was to make but as soon as she'd start talking about sifting I'd say FORGET IT! IT'S TOO MUCH TROUBLE! Once I tried and and it came out fabulous the first time, I've made it about once per year. It's a big hit with Mr. W's family so I make sure to have this ready every Thanksgiving when they join us for dinner. I was curious about where this cake actually came from so I google'd it and here's what I found.



"Although the details are sketchy at best, red velvet cake is not as Southern as many like to think. The story, which began circulating some time in the 1940s, claimed that Manhattan's elegant Waldorf-Astoria granted a diner's request for the recipe, then a short time later sent her a bill in the amount of $100. The angry woman, apparently with revenge in mind, then began circulating the recipe along with the story. Another "baked" legend with the same storyline is the $250 Chocolate Chip Cookie, also known as the Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.
Home cooks do seem to love cakes with an unusual story or a "secret ingredient." Wacky cake, tomato soup cake and mayonnaise cake are just a few of the unusual cakes we all have in our recipe files, so it's no wonder Southern cooks embraced the delicious and colorful red velvet cake. "

Last night while making my own Red Velvet Cake all I could think about was my very dear friend E. She loves RVC and I promised to make her one before she moved away - a promise I did not keep. E is now living in North Carolina where I bet there is not nearly the shortage of homemade RVC that there is in Chicago, but still, a promise is a promise. I FEEL BAD ABOUT IT, E!! REALLY, I DO!!

Since I didn't deliver on my promise I thought the least I could do is post the recipe in case E wants to try it herself. She's quite the cook and since they recently bought their first house I bet she'll be hosting some party sometime soon.

Glenna's Red Velvet Cake
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Oil
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Buttermilk
1 oz Red Food Color
2 tablespoons Cocoa
2 Eggs

All ingredients should be at room temperature before starting.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix oil and sugar. Add Red Food Color and mix. Add Cocoa and Mix. Add Vanilla and mix. In separate bowl, mix Flour, Salt, Baking Soda. Alternate sifting dry mixture into the oil/sugar mixture then Buttermilk a little at a time mixing well between each addition.

Grease and lightly flour 3 round cake pans. Pour equal parts of cake mix into each pan and bake for 30 minutes or until knife inserted into cake comes out clean. This is very dependant on the oven and since moisture is critical with this cake, I normally set the timer to 25 minutes then start watching it closely every 5 minutes. The sides will begin to separate from the edges when the cake is done.

Remove from oven and cool COMPLETELY before frosting.

Butter Cream Frosting
1 package of Cream Cheese
1 box Powdered Sugar
1 stick Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla

All ingredients should be at room temp before starting.

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and mix until fluffy. Add vanilla.

That's that!

Who's going shopping tomorrow? I don't think I'll brave the crowds but I may sneak out and buy some dirt. Nobody gets dirt for xmas so I should be okay.

Collecting Lavender Seeds

Walking through the garden the other day, I accidently noticed that my Lavender had gone to seed!

I have to say that, besides the Cleome, this Lavender was by far the easiest to identify and to collect seeds from. I find identifying seed heads plants very stressful. I'm getting better at it but it is not that easy for me to determine what is trash and what is seed. I also never know if it's time to collect the seeds or not. I am frequently bent over staring at a dead flower trying to spot something that will scream "I'M A SEED - COLLECT ME". With these, it was simple.

I saw this (see picture above) and got very excited. "Maybe there are seeds in there!" So, I cut off abunch of these and brought them in the house to take a look. Indeed, just inside the pod there is a nice little roundish black seed. Perfect! This is the easiest kind for me. I hate having to sift though all the trash to try to identify what is a seed and what is isnt, like with the Rudbeckia whose seeds look only slightly different from the garbage.

These Lavender plants were the ones I ordered online and when I received them I was so mad at myself for paying 15 bucks for 3 microscopic plants. Not only that, but they did absolutely nothing in the area of growing for a couple of months. Then, one day, they took off and started blooming. I can't wait to try to grow this from seed and I'll definately be sharing these seedlings (hopefully I can make them grow) with GB who lost a ton of Lavender plants this year. Big shout-out to my good friend B who reads my blog from time to time. Want some Lavender, B?

I was also mesmerized by the strong scent of lavender that surrounded me while I was collecting seeds but by the end of this, I had a headache from being emersed in the smell of lavender for so long. It's gotten me thinking about what I can make with this dried lavender. So, please pass on your suggestions or tell me what you do with your dried lavender and I'll get to work!

Confused Wine and Roses

I noticed one of the new Weigela Wine and Roses has several new blooms on it! Did somebody forget to tell them it's November??? I did not see any buds on these shrubs when I found (stole from the poor unsuspecting buyer at HD) them last weekend at that great HD sale. Fine by me - it's a preview of next spring!

I don't know if I mentioned this before but when I was planting this particular shrub, I dug up the damn tulips I'd planted a couple of weeks ago. I mean I sliced a few of them right in half with the shovel. I knew I should have flagged the spot where I'd planted them!

Another thing about shrubs - I've never been a big fan. When I think shrubs I think poodle shrubs like I have in the front of the house. In fact, had you seasoned gardeners who take the time to give me advice (you know who you are) not told me over and over that I need shrubs against the fence, house and garage, I never would have bought them. But, what I've noticed is that, since I've planted a few shrubs, I suddenly feel way more confident in my ability to place my plants! It's like magic! Before I'd buy these plants, read the tag about how tall they are suppose to get, then stand there agonizing over where they should go. Not only that but I was usually wrong. Almost everything I planted ended up hidden behind Zinnias. So, thank you for goading me into shrubs! I feel like next year I'll be able to handle plant placement way better than this year.

I'm a Winner - AGAIN!

I won my football pool again last week! Here are my options:

Big Pot - they should be on sale now, right?

Dirt - I suppose I need to cover the new beds in the front that now just have leaves and newspaper.

Start a patio fund - I'd like to get a patio done at the earliest possible time next spring so maybe I should start saving now?

On the subject of neighbors:
I noticed that, this time when my neighbors on either side raked their leaves, they piled them at the side of their property line closest to mine. I think they are doing this so I can use them for my garden since they saw me out there vacuuming them up last weekend. Isn't that nice!! So, I'm off to take advantage of them. Is 8:45 too early for the loud leaf blower?

On the subject of seeds:
I'm participating in the Garden Bloggers Seed Trade that Colleen organized (see link on my blog) and I'm making my 3rd trade this week! I'm pretty excited about this! I really can't wait till next spring. I think I'm going to turn my basement into a greenhouse (or whatever it's called) so that I can start some seeds indoors. Coupled with the Winter Sowing I plan to try, I should be off to a great start on plants next spring, huh?

8 things you never needed to know about me

MMD tagged me for the 8 random things meme.


When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you, then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to eight other people.

1. I'm afraid of flying to the point that I need xanax for a 1 hour flight to Omaha. I'd really like to go to Hawaii but I'm scared to :(
2. I'm a closet Barry Manilow fan. I'm so embarrassed about it that only 3 people know this: my boyfriend, my best friend and another friend/coworker who let it slip that she loves him too.
3. I'm a big time basketball fan. I am a season ticket holder for the Chicago Bulls - I never miss a game.
4. I haven't eaten meat in about 8 years but every Thanksgiving we make a turkey for the family and I always tell myself that I'm going to eat some because it smells so great. It never works - once I pull the guts out of the raw turkey's butt, I always change my mind.
5. Spaghetti is my favorite food. For me, meals are mostly spaghetti versus non-spaghetti.
6. I have an album. When I was in junior high school, I was one of the 20 sopranos selected out of 200 for the west Tennessee chorus. There were about 100 of us total. I wore a big ugly formal yellow dress to the performance.
7. My fingernails hold me back. Having short ones creeps me out. I mean short like boy fingernail short. When I was in the 4th grade I took violin lessons but my teacher fired me because I refused to cut my nails. Same with guitar - I can't play because I wont cut my nails. This is a huge disappointment to my father who plays the guitar.
8. I have a strange psychological thing about people touching my ears. Think ear guy from Something About Mary. Anytime anybody tries to whisper something in my ear it freaks me out - my reflex is to hit the person. When my Mr. W is aggravated with me he threatens me with this "IF YOU DON'T STOP THAT I'LL TOUCH YOUR EARS!"

Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, MBT at Mr Brown Thumb, Rosemarie at Rosemarie's Garden, Alyssa at My Examined Life, Rusty at DragonFly Garden, Soilman at Soilman's Allotment, David at Leave Me Alone, I'm Digging, Wrenna at Old House, New Garden - you are it!

Are You A Sneaky Shopper?

Yesterday when I went to buy my new leaf blower/chopper upper, I was lured over to the shrubs and trees by an evil 75% off sign. 75% OFF! THAT IS PRACTICALLY FREE, PEOPLE! I was immediately drawn to this Weigela Wine & Roses for $6.25. Now, since I've never heard of this shrub let alone read about the growing conditions I decided it would be best to go home, research it and ask an experienced gardener if it's too late to plant it (thanks, Carolyn!). After all, 6 bucks is 6 bucks. After getting the nod of approval from Carolyn I decided to run by HD and pick up a couple after work today. I just love the deep green and burgundy leaves and apparently it has a nice pink flower, too. So I get to HD this afternoon all excited and there were none left!!! I just kept cussing myself for not grabbing them when I had the chance. I'm trying so hard to break this impulse buying habit. Then, off in the distance I saw one little homely plant that looked sorta like the ones I'd seen yesterday but it had no tag with a name, just a number. As I was making my way into the cashier to ask her to look it up for me I see these 2 carts filled with beautiful shrubs over in the corner. 5 beautiful Weigela Wine and Roses along with lots of other beautiful things. I asked the very young cashier if they were sold and she says "Not that I know of. Go ahead and take what you want and I'll just tell them I didn't know they were sold if they ask me." Crap! A moral dilemma over a damn shrub! I'm thinking that whoever stumbled on these was just as happy as I was and probably put them all to the side to go home to get the truck. What do I do??? I saw them first!! I was just trying to be responsible!! So, I took 2. Not only did I take 2, but I pulled the cart out, took every one of the Weigelas off and picked the absolute best looking 2 and put my little raggedy one on the cart. Not only did I take the best 2 but I actually looked at all the other shrubs on the cart - this person had very similar taste as mine. I condsidered buying others but thought better of it. THAT seemed wrong. All is fair in love and end of season plant sales!!

Am I going to hell for this? What is proper etiquette for plant sales? This whole hiding plants on a cart reminds me of when you find a shirt you love and they only have one left in your size so you hide it in some other whole section like men's jeans hoping nobody will buy it till you come back.

What about you guys? Are you sneaky shoppers? What would you have done in my situation?

Chop Chop

With the weather man calling for rain starting last night and continuing on for a couple of days I was really feeling the pressure to finish my outdoor chores. After reading Rosemarie's review of her leaf blower/chopper I did some research and was pleasantly surprised to learn you can find these for around 60-70 dollars. So, in keeping with my impulsive garden weekend I ran right up to HD and bought one. If you don't have one of these things and you have lots of leaves, GET ONE! It did get clogged up a couple of times, probably because it rained a little last night so the leaves were damp. One warning, this thing also chops up animal feces that may be hidden in your leaves and it is very stinky and very disgusting so be careful! (insert gag reflex here)I offered to rake the morning glory ladies' leaves if they let me have them and even though they said they ARE composting their leaves this year (2 houses in a row in the burbs composting leaves - ROCK ON!) they'd let me take what was there today since they just raked yesterday, the yard was totally covered today and there are still plenty of leaves left on the tree. Man that raking is hard work!

I raked their leaves and my leaves then put wet newspaper (thanks GB) on the grass left in the new front beds. I have to say I felt like a complete fool out there laying newspaper on my grass.

Then I vacuumed up all the leaves with my handy dandy new blower/leaf chopper dumping them on the wet newspaper as I filled the collection bag.

Here's what it looked like when I finished. I was so thrilled that I completed this project before the rain started. Then I sat with a backache waiting for the rain to come to help mat down the leaves but it has yet to do so. THANKS ERROR PRONE WEATHER MAN!

So, my lasagna garden is finished as far as my original plan but I just do not think this stuff will fully decompose by spring next year. I'll probably add coffee from Starbucks but maybe it needs something else? Anybody have any ideas?

Temporary Housing

So, within an hour of reading Marc's post about temporary compost bins I was headed to the hardware store to pick up a few things for my newest project. SO, I'M IMPULSIVE! I blame all you garden bloggers for this! Besides, this IS the answer to all my problems! What a great use of beds during the off season! What a great spin on Lasagna Gardening! What a great idea for those of us have have no place to hide our bins!

I found these really long metal rails in my basement a long time ago. They were left by the former owners and I'm so glad I didn't throw them away. I put them in my car and headed to my local hardware store to ask them to cut them in half for me. All I had to buy was chicken wire. Can I just say right off the bat that I HATE CHICKEN WIRE! I have never worked with this stuff before but what a pain in the ass! Then I just followed Marc's directions. Put metal rails on the corners of the beds.

And wrap them with chicken wire. This was the worst part. Trying to straighten this stuff out enough to work with it was virtually impossible. But, it's done! It probably took about an hour total.

Then I proceeded to throw crap into them. I had planned to fill them equally but after seeing how much space there was I started thinking it would be better to fill one completely first, then the other. Even if one remains empty, it will be nice to be able to turn the full one into the empty one a few times before spring.
Here's one temporary bin that I started filling. I threw all my old tomato, pepper and broccoli plants in first, then the dead Zinnias. It was much higher than in this picture but I could tell that it wasn't packed enough and it just didn't seem right. Since the sod transplant didn't really work I decided to pull it up from the kitchen garden and throw it upside down in the bin. This worked great because it smashed the stuff down and also covered the tomatoes and broccoli which I was concerned might attract animals. Now I've got a place for all the leaves in the front yard, too. I'll be outside at dawn, hopefully before my neighbors wake, to steal their leaves for my new temporary compost bins.Here's the site of my first kitchen garden after it's been cleaned. Before May 21st it had grass just like the area around it. The black weed barrier I used killed all the grass as expected. Now it's just dirt. I bought grass seed to plant in this spot but I guess I've waited too late. Now I just need to keep this spot clear until spring until I can try to grow some grass.

Another Garden Blogger Saves The Day!

For the last several weeks I've been fretting over what to do with all the garden debris currently laying around making a mess of my front and back yard. Here's all the stuff I need to get rid of but just can bring myself to throw away.

Dead Zinnias that were the subject of the bastard garden center piece
Kitchen garden
Annuals I still haven't dug up yet
Trash can full of wood chips
Leaves Leaves Leaves

I got the compost tumbler for my birthday and I do love it but I'm mostly using it for kitchen scraps since it's a closed system. I need more space! Not only that but it's getting colder and colder and the long I wait to clean this stuff up the less the chance that it will actually get cleaned up. I am in that OMG, OMG, OMG I'm so far behind mode.

So today I'm finally catching up on my garden blog reading and I stumble on this AWESOME idea of making temporary compost bins RIGHT IN MY NEW RAISED BEDS! Marc is a genius! I was planning to layer greens and browns in here anyway but only 12 inches worth and I'm sure that would shrink to nothing by spring. So I'll use the marc method which will give me WAY more space to collect. I am so excited! I have work to do!

Bikini Gardening

Have you ever seen those skanky girls that garden in inappropriate clothing? Daisy dukes? Bikinis? Halter tops? Well that's gonna be me next spring!

Not really, but I just need to set the stage here. I should say I've never seen any ACTUAL gardeners dressed like that but you are familiar with the slutty neighbor on TV shows. I don't think I'd ever dress like that in public but I want the option! It may seem crazy but gardening has really taken me out of my workout game. And being out of my workout routine has made me just say to hell with eating right. I'm in bad shape!

Prior to May when I started gardening, I exercised regularly. I worked out 6 days per week! Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you're going to say "gardening is great exercise!" Well sure it is, if you are removing sod like I did the first month. While I completely agree that it is much better to be active and gardening sure does keep you active, it is hardly ever a cardio workout for me. So, I've got to take some action.

For me this is all about being prepared. I know how to eat right. I know how to workout and how often I should workout. I know all about glycemic index and refined sugars and I know that building muscle speeds up your metabolism. I know about eating several small meals per day....more protein....no white rice, pasta, potatoes. But unless I devote a fair amount of time to this I suck at it. Like gardening, I need to be obsessed about eating right and working out and I can't figure out how to have more than one obsession at a time. And I'm not over gardening yet! Plus, when I'm stressed I just go on auto pilot. Auto pilot for me is eating quick, usually unhealthy meals. Remember, I was raised in the south. We fry everything! Any healthy habits I have picked up have been on my own, as an adult. My unhealthy ways are deeply embedded. I BLAME MY PARENTS! Now I don't mean to say I'm not capable or that it's hopeless - I just need to take it very seriously. All my food choices need to be very deliberate and heavily planned.

So here's the plan. Eat healthy and workout regularly and come springtime all my neighbors will be saying "have you seen that skanky looking girl gardening???" Join me if you wish.

Do You Belong To A Gardening Club?

Whenever I stumble on a new obsession I tend to totally immerse myself in it. It's a terrible flaw! It's sorta like hearing a song you like, rushing out and buying the CD and playing the song over and over and over again. At some point you get tired of it then cringe every time the song is played on the radio because you hate it so much. I've done all manner of things to immerse myself in my most recent obsession (gardening) including but not limited to this blog.

One of the very first things I did was to try to find a gardening club in my area. I thought well hey, these people can teach me a lot and they all live in my area. NOT! They don't want me! I have contacted them at least 5 different times in an effort to join their stupid club and the only time anybody ever called me back was when they mistakenly thought I wanted to work on the garden walk next year because I signed a sheet that they told me was for people interested in joining the club. The conversation really made me develop a screw-you-and-your-gardening-club attitude.

me: "hello, this is gina" (they called me at work)

them: "HI! THIS IS WHATCHAMACALLIT WITH THE SNOBBY GARDEN CLUB!" *in a very bubbly voice*

me: "OH HI! HOW ARE YOU?" *I'm bubbly too now cuz they finally called me back*

them: "I'M GREAT! YOU HAD SIGNED A CARD AT THE GARDEN WALK LAST WEEK SAYING YOU WANTED TO VOLUNTEER TO WORK ON THE WALK NEXT YEAR??" *still bubbly*

me: "well I actually signed something saying i was interested in joining the very snobby garden club. maybe I'll work on the garden walk next year but I really want to join the club."

them: "oh. *the tone is now like i walked in wearing white shoes after labor day back in the time when that was taboo* so you don't want to work on the garden walk????*

me: "again, i would love to help out but I'd really like to join the snobby garden club and I'm having trouble getting any information about it."

them: "I'll have somebody call you back. *in a don't call us we'll call you voice*

Of course they never called. I started to wonder if there are different kinds of gardeners. At first I thought they were all the same - you garden, you love it, you want to surround yourself with people who do the same and are willing to go to whatever lengths to do that. But, it seems that these ladies at the snobby garden club think their shit don't stink! Maybe it's just bad business and they have nobody focused on boosting membership (I could really help with that, they just don't know!) or maybe they heard my southern accent and like many people, decided that I'm dumb therefore I don't qualify. Yes, that does happen!

I have not suffered much from being rejected by the snobby garden club. Thankfully, gardening bloggers are much friendlier. But, it's got me wondering - are you a member of a proper garden club? Is it like a cult? What do you do there? Did they welcome you with open arms or did you have to sacrifice a goat or run naked through their garden in order to join? Is it worth it? Am I missing out on anything fabulous that is only accessible to snobby garden club members?

House Plants - Give Me Another Chance!

Now that I've been given this plant that needs to survive the winter in my house I've decided to publicly make a commitment to not kill it. Not only that but I think I'm ready to take the house plant plunge in general.

Garden Buddy and I were talking about this at work the other day and it seems that we've both been boycotting house plants for a while but now we've been inspired to try them out. She's just been on house plant sabbatical. I, on the other hand, have killed multitudes of house plants over the years. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've seen a TV show where somebody had great plants that made their room look great or been to a friends house that had beautiful plants, rushed out and bought random plants only to watch them die. It's not like I work really hard at it and I just can't make them live, I just don't take care of them. I water them about 3 times then decide it's too much work then run around telling everybody I just can't grow plants. The only thing I've not killed was a Wandering Jew. I actually moved off and left the damn thing rooted in the backyard.

I'm excited!

What The Heck Is This?: Restaurant Edition

Pie Guy stumbled on a restaurant that was getting rid of their plants and he talked them into giving him some. He brought back one bag for me and one bag for Garden Buddy. Thanks, Pie Guy! So what the heck are these things please? Will they live in my house? Do they need a lot of water or a little of water?

They are very pretty, yes?

In My Hood

Inspired by all the bloggers who have posted pictures of gardens in their neighborhoods I decided to take a walk around my own neighborhood to get a closer look at a few that have caught my eye from the car.

The house below is one that I ran across a few weeks ago. When I first saw it I actually gasped "wow! they removed all the grass in the front yard!! go on with your bad self, neighbor!" When I actually walked by it I noticed there is still some grass left. Judging from the very tall plants at the street, I'm thinking they must be looking for privacy. Either way, I admire their nerve and I'll be sure to check this garden out again in the spring when everything is in it's full beauty.
The house below is where my favorite neighborhood garden lives. I wish I knew these people and I wish they'd let me look in their backyard - I bet it's awesome! For some reason I always imagine that everybody is like me when it comes to their front yard. I figure all their best work is in the back and they only move to the front when they run out of space or find themselves pressured into improving their curb appeal by some fancy landscapers *glaring at Carolyn and MBT*

Here's the view from both ways on the street. The house is on a pretty busy street so I tried to snap the pictures quickly so nobody would think I'm with the FBI or anything. What, you don't think light blue crocs and Vols sweatshirt scream FBI?What I noticed about my neighborhood is that the gardens are mostly straight and narrow. There are very few curvy lines therefore the few that do have them, like the one in the picture above, really command attention. Walking in my neighborhood also reaffirmed that I prefer the messy look in the garden. You call it "cottage style" I call it charming disarray.

I'm still in search of that gardener in my hood who actually took the plunge to remove all their grass. Or, maybe I'll be the first?

Bastard Garden Flower Arrangement

I love reading about Heather's husband's bastard garden and today I was thinking of them as I was ripping out old dead Zinnias. We had our first frost last night and now I understand the significance. These Zinnias were wet and gross looking so I decided it was time to get rid of them. So long first plants I ever grew from seed!
As I was cramming these things into the old rusty metal "yard waste only" trash cans I noticed a bastard garden work of art starting to emerge. Heather - don't you think this would make the perfect centerpiece for the bastard garden??? The bees loved it so much that I couldn't even move it to the alley for trash pick up because they were attacking me every time I went near it.

In other bastard news, I planted all my bulbs this morning and by the time I was out of the shower the bastard squirrel was already digging them up. I am not a violent person but I so wish I had a gun today.

Productivity Slightly Up

I was finally able to get outside for a couple of hours today. I got a few things accomplished but I still have plenty left to do and last I heard we are in danger of a light frost tonight. I don't really know what that means for my garden but I know all you gardening bloggers are obsessed about it so it must be important.

Here's the composter in it's new home. I put it by the door for easy access. I started a batch today using wood chips and plants from the kitchen garden that I needed to git rid of (broccoli, tomato, oregano). That I was able to recycle the plants made it so much less painful to cut them back.

Here it is about half full before mixing.

And after mixing. Carolyn - you were right! It was much harder to turn with stuff in it. The package insert says finished compost takes 6-8 weeks but I'm sure that's probably in the summer. It's getting colder so I'd be surprised if it was ready that soon. I plan to add leaves and coffee grounds if I can get more from Starbucks.

I also built the second raised bed. YAY!

I put the cardboard box the composter was delivered in in the bottom of the beds (it was the perfect size for these 2 beds) and then put newspaper on top of that and wet it. You may notice in the picture that the papers are all the same. Here's a little known fact that will probably change your opinion of me in some way. Mr. W and I use to have a weekly reading of Savage Love, a very inappropriate sex column published in the Chicago Reader that would embarrass the even the un-embarrassable. I will spare you the details of the column but for some sick reason we find it entertaining that this guy mixes sex and politics in an ever so disgusting way. Anyway, we fell behind in our reading but my dear Mr. W has been keeping every issue in date order for years, in case we ever got a hankering to pick up where we left off. So, I was granted approval to use them in the new raised lasagna bed - Savage Love lives on! Funny comment by non-gardening bf "is there any chance that somebody will find all those papers later and think we are crazy".

Remember the homemade composter I made earlier this summer? Well, I dumped the contents into the new raised beds too. Holy crap you should have seen the 2 big ass worms that were in there!!!! It was so gross but I guess my little contraption was working. Can somebody tell me how those worms get in there? They were much too fat to have fit through the small holes I drilled in the bottom.

Here is what the the beds looked like after I dumped all the crap in that I've been piling up here and there. As I suspected, it didn't even make a dent in it. I plan to add the rest of the plant material from the kitchen garden along with as many leaves as I can get in there, then cover it for the winter.

I still need to plant bulbs and I still need an assistant!

Crap I Still Need To Do

1. Start compost (the new composter is still sitting in the middle of the living room. Mr. W is not happy about this and has chastised me about it daily)
2. Build 2nd raised bed (I bought the wood today!)
3. Plant bulbs (I bought a few crocus and allium tonight)
4. Rake leaves
5. Lasagna the raised beds
6. Pick remaining tomatoes (it's going to be in the 30's tomorrow night)

I need an assistant!

It Is ON!!

The magic dirt maker arrived!

It's the Envirocycle compost tumbler and I love it already! I can't wait to take it outside and start throwing stuff it in! It's so easy to turn and its green. The instructions don't really say how long it should take to finish but I'll keep you posted.

Compost - here I come!

Big Box Bulbs

I am so not excited about planting these...I got these a couple of weeks ago at Costco. They were a great deal at around 13 bucks for each bag. I gotta say I'm only buying bulbs to keep up with the Joneses. What's to like about planting 150 bulbs? Truth is, the only reason I bought bulbs is because if I didnt plant any, knowing me, next spring when all you gardening bloggers are bragging and showing off pictures of your flowers, I'd be cursing myself for being lazy and not planting any. I chose the pink Daffodil mix because Daffodils remind me of my grandma. Mr. W chose the Tulips.

In other bulb news, I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden today with GB and got a few things...

• Navarra Lily
• Stargazer Lily
• Rhine Wine Daffodil

Anybody wanna plant some bulbs?