Jessica Wigington

Sunday, June 2, 2013

My First Harvest!

Well, I lost 3 of my 4 tomato plants, but luckily I have been given a second chance. I went to a plant-swap two weeks ago and a few people were getting rid of some extra tomato plants so I took one. I went and planted it. There were several tomato plants left and nobody else was taking them so I grabbed two more. So far they are doing well, I am a little worried that they aren't getting enough sun, but then it has also been really cloudy the last week or so. I hope and pray that they will make it and provide me a large abundance of tomatoes! I picked my first two strawberries yesterday, they were delicious and sweet! I am finally enjoying the 'fruits of my labors'! :) It looks like my raspberries aren't too far behind either, I am so excited about them. This week I also clipped a little sprig of rosemary and made some rosemary potatoes. They were very delicious. Still so sign of my beans, I even planted a few more, we'll see if we can get them to sprout! Here are some pictures of my garden from last week.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Ready to Plant

After two months of weeding and tilling the dirt it was finally warm enough for my plants to be planted outside in the garden. I think that my tomatoes were getting a little claustrophobic in my bedroom. I took them outside two weeks ago and put them in my garden. I wasn't sure how they would do, they seemed pretty weak when I put them in the dirt. In my over-enthusiasm for gardening I believe that I planted them indoors too early, I just couldn't wait to have some tomatoes! Part way through I moved my little tomatoes to bigger cups, but I still think that their growth may have been stunted a bit because the roots were so cramped and didn't have the room to grow deeper. I planted four tomato plants outside, one of the stems broke off immediately :( and I was down to three. I went out to check on my garden last Friday and noticed that another one had shriveled up, the manager of the garden was there and I asked him what I should be doing differently, he recommended that I plant my tomato plants deeper. So I dug up the remaining two and replanted them much deeper into the earth. I checked on them again this past Wednesday and they seemed to be doing well. We had a bit of rain over the last couple of days, and we must have had some serious winds too, because when I went out on Saturday morning there were pieces of wood scattered throughout my plot and only one tomato plant left-absolutely no remnants of the previous one were there. So I am down to one tomato plant. There is a plant and seed swap at the garden tomorrow, I am going to see if anyone has extra tomato plants they are giving away, if not, I will just go buy me some new plants. It is sad that they were in my room taking up so much space for so long and it was all for nothing! I guess this is what they call a learning experience. I will be/do much better next year!

As I spent several hours outside in my garden I noticed that I was never in the sun, this was nice for me because it kept me nice and cool in the shade, but this was going to be a HUGE problem for my plants-especially for the tomatoes. I'm told that it will get better as the season goes on because the sun will move and my plants will get more sun, I sure hope so! Can we please cut down the ugly pine tree though, just to be sure? I guess this is why they call it a 'beginner plot', nobody wants to stay in it for more than a year. I will toot my own horn for a minute and say that the manager's approached me other day and said that my plot looks better than it ever has in years! I was so glad to hear that, I really have spent countless hours preparing my plot and pulling out all the weeds, I will be very sad if it was all in vain and my plants don't grow. But I am going to have faith, we are still very early in the season and there is definitely time for them to grow. My squash seeds have peered out through the dirt and my lettuce and spinach are growing too! There is much to be thankful for!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Growing Like Weeds

I have spent many hours digging, weeding and tilling my garden...and then doing it all over again! It is crazy how fast those darn weeds keep coming back! This past weekend I mixed some mulch into the soil and I finally started to plant some seeds outside. I planted spinach, beans and mesclun lettuce. The strawberry plants that were left behind from the previous owner are starting to blossom. Since there are numerous birds, squirrels, and other creatures constantly surrounding the community garden I decided I needed to protect my plants so I bought some netting to cover my berries and seeds. Hopefully it will do its job. If not I may have to buy a fake owl to scare them away!

I also trimmed back and pruned my lavender plants, sage bush, rosemary bush, and my huge bay leaf tree. I will admit, I don't know a thing about pruning, I just took my clippers to my plants and went to town! I filled to overflowing two (broken) wheel barrels full and moved them to the compost pile. It looks so much better now!

My strawberry plants

My bean seeds covered with netting to protect them

These pretty tulips just grew all on their own, it was a pleasant surprise.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Com-posting!

Yes, this post is going to be about....compost! Fortunately, there are giant compost piles located within the community garden. I have spent many hours in my garden pulling weeds and digging up dead plants from the previous owner. I took two wheel barrels overflowing with weeds to the composting pile and brought back two wheel barrels full of compost to mix into my soil-a fair trade I must say! I am loving every minute in my garden and I am often surprised at how fast the time goes by. As I put so much time and effort into helping my garden grow, I thought about how much I need to grow. I have used this gardening time to try and better myself by listening to General Conference talks, 'Conversations' on the Mormon Channel (which I highly recommend), and I just finished listening to the audio book, 'Unbroken', which was very inspiring! Sometimes I go there unplugged and just listen to the birds chirp, and the cars drive by, and I think about life and how blessed I am! :)
After coming home from composting I cleaned up and got ready for the day (or rather the evening), and just before I was about to leave I noticed something in my bathroom sink...I apparently brought home a tick from my garden! I was glad that I didn't find it on me, but I immediately felt itchy and gross, what if there were more? I went downstairs and asked my roommate to look through my hair to make sure there wasn't one hiding on my scalp ready to suck my blood and give me Lyme disease. Luckily, we didn't find any more ticks. I was quite surprised that ticks were out this early, I will have to be more careful from now on!

PS: I would love any recommendations for good audio books to listen to!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Giddy for Gardening!!

About two years ago I took a canning class at a community center here in Arlington. While I was there I met a couple who were learning to can so they could preserve the harvest from their garden. I learned that they were the managers of the community garden that sits just across the street from my townhouse. I had seen it before and wondered at times how one would get a plot in there, but I had also heard that there is a long waiting list for it. I asked Scott and Debra several questions about the plots and what it would take to get on the list and they encouraged me to fill out an application, and so I did. I put my name on the waiting list. I never heard anything. Last year came and went and I honestly didn't think too much of it, but back in January I started thinking about the garden plots across the street and wondered how far in advance would they let me know that I would have a plot that year. Did they still have my application on file? Did they ever get my application? What if it got lost and I was waiting in vain? All of these questions went through my mind. I had even looked up their number to call them, but I kept forgetting to do it on my lunch break and they were closed by the time I got home from work. Then on February 18th (President's Day), I got an email stating that there was a garden plot available for me and that if I was still interested to contact them immediately. I immediately wrote them back and said that I would love to have a plot! I began dreaming about my beautiful garden and the amazing harvest I was going to have. I started reading about gardening and researching what to plant and when. I ordered a book online and had it rushed to me so I could begin my preparations. I didn't want to waste any time getting started! I told everybody about my garden. People would ask, "what's new?" and instead of my usual answer of "nothing", I would say, "I just got a garden plot across the street from my house, I'm so excited!" I'm sure some people thought I was crazy!

I met with Scott the following Wednesday and he gave me a tour of the garden and showed me a couple of available plots. After I chose what I thought was the best one, I started mapping out what I was going to plant and where on my plot each one would go. The person before me left a rosemary bush, two lavender plants, sage, and a bay leaf tree (if you would like any of these herbs, please let me know, there is way more than I will ever use). She also left behind some strawberry and raspberry plants in the corner.

I bought some seeds and started planting some of them indoors, which I will move to my garden when it gets a little warmer. So far I have planted basil, lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers. I planted these seedlings in little paper dixie cups, but after a short while I noticed mold growing on the bottoms and up the sides of them and the paper was really soggy. I replanted them in an old apple container from Costco, I just poked a bunch of holes in the bottom of it. They seem to be doing quite well. I just love watching them grow, I am a very proud parent! :)

Last Saturday I spent over six hours digging up my garden. It was completely grown over with weeds. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it! I love having a project to work on. It would have been nice if my dad and his tiller were out here, but me and the pitchfork did a pretty good job getting the weeds out and the soil turned. I spent another hour or so out there yesterday while it wasn't raining, doing some more digging, it's almost finished. I planted some peas and spinach in my garden, since they are spring plants and they like the colder weather I thought I'd better get them started. I hope they do well! Wish me luck!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Quick Sum Up!

It has been over a year and a half since I have blogged. Yikes! The thought of writing about everything that has happened during that time is daunting and so I will give you the Readers Digest version and then go from there. Here are just some of the main highlights:

Had an amazing trip to Boston! 10/11

My sister, Tinique got married 10/11

I have done lots of canning the last two years and I just love it! I've canned peaches, tomatoes, jam, vegetable soup, applesauce, and apple pie filling.

My parents FINALLY came to visit me in DC! 3/12

Roommate pics before our dear Crystal moved away. 6/12

For my birthday I had an Angry Birds party. I made big sling shots and we launched rubber balls from them to try and knock over the pigs! It was a blast! 7/11

My roommates gave me money to see 'Newsies' in NYC for my birthday, it was awesome!!! 9/11

I went on an amazing bike ride through CT and NY...I did take a wrong turn somewhere and got separated from the group, but it was still a beautiful fall ride! 10/12

Our family got matching shirts for Christmas with the number printed on the back of the order we came in to the family 12/12

My brother Jeffrey also got married...leaving me as the only single in the family. 12/12

I have a new nephew! Little Mason was born February 6...you can tell that I am already his favorite aunt! He is only one day old here and has the chubbiest cheeks that I just can't resist squeezing!

For Valentine's Day I made Grandma Burton's mint truffles and took them to my friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc. I had over 250 of them! It was a lot of work, but so much fun to do! 2/13

Just last weekend we had a 90's party at our place, it was great! We had 90's music playing and we did our best to sport our best 90's look!!!

This list is just a small portion of the many exciting things I did over the last year and a half. I feel like I saw and did so much during 2012 that it would take me way too long to write about everything. I went to the State Capitol, Maymont Park, the beach, a croquet tournament, a polo match, Zoolights, the lightning of the national Christmas tree, Handel's Messiah at the National Cathedral, ice skating at the sculpture gardens, etc. It has been an awesome year and a half, and there is still so much more ahead!!!

One big thing that happened last year is that I quit my job at the ophthalmologist's office. I worked as a temp for the National Chemical Society for awhile while I looked for a permanent position. In October I got hired on at the Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, which is a credit union for World Bank, IMF and IFC employees. I work at the International Monetary Fund building and I absolutely love my job! I get to help and interact with people from all over the world and I find that very interesting. I have been truly blessed in my life!!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Holy Land Tour-Day 5

Today we went to Bethany and went to the church that marks the traditional site where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived.

This is the tomb where Lazarus was buried. It was much deeper than I thought it would be, he really had quite a climb out of there.

'O Jerusalem' -this is a view from Panoramic Point

We walked through the Mount of Olives and along the path that Christ walked on Palm Sunday to get to Mary and Martha's house. We walked to the Orson Hyde Park along that path.

This church marks the traditional site of where the Last Supper took place in the Upper Room.

This is the location of where Caiaphas' palace was. The top of this church has a rooster weather vane to symbolize Peter denying Christ before the cock crew.

This is the orignial dungeon where Christ spent the last night before his crucifixion. It broke my heart to hear how he suffered there. It was a very spiritual experience, I felt so strongly how much the Savior truly loves us. He didn't have to suffer through all of that for himself, he did it for each one of us.

To the left of this photo is Potter's Field, which was purchased with 30 pieces of silver that Judas gave back. On the right is where Judas hanged himself.
The Garden Tomb

This is where we believe Golgatha, or Skull of the Rock to be.

The Garden Tomb is another place where I felt the spirit very strongly. Presidents Lee, Kimball and Monson all testified that this is indeed the place where Christ was risen. We had a devotional here in garden where we sang 'I Believe in Christ' and had a testimony meeting. It was such a wonderful experience. My testimony grew so much on this trip!!!