While I haven't blogged in awhile, I've often thought "this would be a good blog"... it just doesn't get done. And mostly that is because I haven't faired very well as an early morning riser, commuter dealing with the new job, a new gardening gig that requires much energy, and after a full day I don't close off early enough with crawling into bed for but 6 hours max of sleep if I knock out immediately. Not a good mix for this chick..
Have I ever told you that I REALLLLY like my sleep? Well, it's true, I do best on no less than 8 and as I must be a relative of Rip Van Winkle, 10 hours would suit me fine.. I know, I know, than I should go to bed earlier, but the only way I can do that is to remember to take melatonin at say 6pm so that by 7pm I'd be unable to keep my eyes open.. but my sensibility says that would suck for a life. Getting up before the sun is one thing, but going to sleep before it sets would just be intolerable. hahaha..
Some of those thoughts that have perhaps ran through my mind just after my last blog about traffic jams was this; Thought #1 We here in California really have so many possibilities to "fill" our minds and time with that when I'm commuting in one direction, and the traffic on the other side in the opposite direction just visible over the high center divider has slowed to a crawl, I really don't wonder "what is going on over there?" but so many of my fellow commuters have this penchant for slowing down to a crawl, to get a miniscual and momentary glimpse as to what might or might not be going on to slow the traffic. While it might have been a minor or major incident there isn't anyway you will know them, or anything that can be done except pray and keep moving, and actually without even stopping traffic. Thought #2 is that if you still have the misfortune of driving a 1977 Datsun that has the maximum capacity of 48 mph running the gas pedal to the floor board, your place on the freeway is the slow lane with the trucks, so please disregard using your left blinker to advance any farther left in 5-6 lanes of traffic to be an obstacle for the rest of us to use our blinker in order to get around you safely... and if you are one of those who are using your phone next to your ear, against the State Law of California while your driving, and suddenly your brain's inability to multitask on the reason you joined traffic ion the first place and your now going 48 mph on the freeway with a speed limit of 65, I would appreciate that you exit the freeway, and park your car in the parkiing lot of the local market and finish your conversation... because all your going to do is cause an accident for those of us who are commuters on a mission! last word on that...
Okay and so what have I been doing since mid May when I decided to plant a garden and after about a week of watching my progression, joined in. Painstakingly a large section of our back yard at the spot of approxiametely the 135-150th ft of it had to be cleared, mostly of weeds and rock hard soil. There was about 8 ft of existing grass that had to be dug up and removed. With many turns of the shovel, about 20 cubic feet of Amend soil mixed in to a depth of about 6 inches, planting was able to be done. While most of the pictures have already been on facebook, of course they will be a duplicate to my facebook readers.
because exhaustion of doing this all with simply a shovel, a patched together back of bolts and screws, aching left ankle at times.. there were no pictures taken, cuz once I got up to the house, I collapsed... so this was the "after the starting point"
this was all weeds, cement hard soil.. you can already see after two weeks the seedling coming up
these small plants above filled in between the ones in the picture below
four rows of corn, planted them in staggered rows by two weeks between them
L to R, corn, a row of carrots that didn't fair so well but for a few plants, 2 rows of canteloupe that have gone crazy and sprawled all over the place, and a row of beans that have been the fastest and steady stream of producers for us so far.
we started with 2 tomato plants, I told Greg maybe one more and so he brought home 3 to make 5..
this was about three weeks after planting day
this "blank" spot is where we planted 8 potato's halved with the eyes facing up as an experiment. In the google search we don't have the most ideal climate for growing them. but to the right side against the wall is a rogue wild canteloupe and carrot start where the seed bag tipped over and they "seeded themselves.. ha had we known that we would have just tossed them in the air.
7 weeks after planting, 07/02/11 these are my photo's using my new camera sitting on my porch trying out the long lens. Tomorrow I will take some close up pictures to add.
This is what we generally take out of the garden every other day as our bounty of bean produce.. better than any beans I've seen in in the grocery store and they taste magnificent in comparison.. My mother in law told me what to do to the beans before I freeze them.. We have been eating them just about everyday and gifting the leftovers, but will need to start "storing them up for winter".. just like a pioneer woman with a cellar would do..
Greg is already talking about his "expansion" program for next year so we can plant other things like cucumbers, green onions, cilantro, radishes, lettuce varieties, strawberries, and perhaps a few watermelons.. And tongue in cheek, perhaps if my medical ailments continue to nag, we could qualify to grow "medical marijuana" for personal use.. hee hee...
