Miscellanea, Part Two

A few random things today ~


In my ongoing attempt to control the chaos, an organized refrigerator.  Post it notes show what foods go on what shelves.  I'm taking bets on how long it will stay this way....




Dogs who cannot stay out of the street do not get to help their 8 year old owner take out the trash.  Then, they pout...




My workout is done in front of an audience ....




Hubby's lunch, to go... He is easy to please...




A plant STRONG boy (checkout those calf muscles)...

Graduation party - Alice in Wonderland

Party Setup -

The dance floor being installed

Pool set up

The cake !

Table setup



Welcome to the party .... the signs are staggered down the driveway as you arrive...

 The above sign reads:

Cosette-

You are so EXTRA special to us

Congratulations on earning your WHATCHAMACALLIT

We can't afford to give you a 100 GRAND shopping SPREE to new YORK

but you can take a FAST BREAK and have a LAFFY TAFFY summer

(but don't CRACK UP)

We could go to the ends of the MILKY WAY

and not find a daughter as SMARTIE and SWEET TART as you.

We hope you have MOUNDS of ALMOND JOY in your future!

Love, Mom, Dad and Ryder

PS - Sorry you work with a bunch of NERDS and CRYBABIES and AIR HEADS and CRABBY PATTIES! 

YUM - cake!

Goodbye and thanks for helping us make it a great time for all! 

The New Garden

We are already outgrowing our boxes in some spots...I think I could fill another 8 boxes right now. 

The tomatoes, especially, love the raised beds and our special soil. 

The first purple bell pepper

We've been harvesting strawberries already from these starter plants, a few snack times' worth

Ichiban eggplant (and the other large, blackish purple kind you usually find in the store)

A salad mix for us ...

and one for the rabbit.   He eats it as soon as its sprouts, the stinker. 

Baby kale for us...

and one for the rabbit, again. 

A close up of a larger variety tomato

My favorite cherry tomatoes

The 15 month old swiss chard plants still producing from a pot

A side shot of the garden

The first of the green beans

Another side shot of the garden

Early sweet banana peppers

Tiny, new yellow summer squash

The small beginnings of a cantaloupe sized spaghetti squash

The R&R area where we can use the time we used to spend weeding just relaxing and enjoying the garden

Our New Garden, in progress

We have demolished our old garden and are building a new, low maintenance one so that we can continue to harvest beautiful vegetables in the limited amount of free time we have available.  It's a lot of work and expense, but I know that it will eventually pay for itself in fresh, pesticide free produce.

Here it is after removing all the old elements and leveling it off.   Seems a shame to spread all that fertile soil around to use for leveling, but we will get more.




Why and how we're doing this -

We installed the first of 8 boxes yesterday and started on the second. We also managed to get the frame of the center sidewalk built and the sprinkler pipes run to the boxes we built and a few we haven't. As usual, it took a very long time to decide on the best way to build them...and a trip to Lowes, of course. The next boxes should go much faster.

The boxes seem huge and will need lots of dirt to fill them. I'm debating building a low water system that self composts food scraps inside a cage in the center of the garden.

I'm thrilled to have been able to save my 18 month old Swiss chard plants. They were in pots but had a long root in the ground. We are watering daily until they can reestablish enough alternate root structure. They are huge and beautiful and have already given pounds of chard with no sign of letting up.


I've gardened only 8 years, the first one was already planted when we bought the land. But every year I've fought weeds until I'm out of fight and want to quit. I've tried every alternative and finally the raised beds made from reclaimed items are what stuck. Those worked for two years but I still deal with weeds around the structures. Plus, the garden is in the front of our property along the driveway and is the first thing you see when you come around the bend before our home.

So, I wanted something attractive, easy to keep up (weed FREE) and permanent. We are incredibly busy between work, homeschool, volunteer work, and so on, that the choice really is either easy gardening or no gardening, and I really want the added benefit of fresh, no pesticide produce for our family and my ETL-ing Mom and Stepdad.

The first box is installed and work on the center sidewalk begins. 







Our other garden produce, planted by the birdfeeders and birds...