Massive photo update part three!

CRITTERS WHO EAT MY PLANTS! The deer have all but destroyed the sunflowers. Every time they valiantly sprout new leaves from their pathetic stubs, the deer come along and strip them bare again. They also sampled my yellow squash plants next to the sunflowers, although they didn't seem interested enough to eat much. I need to get some pictures of the deer, there are several regular customers who frequent my sunflower buffet and aren't particularly afraid of humans. 

Now these guys... these guys are AWESOME. I've never seen them before, but there were four of them hanging out on one of my dill plants. I left them alone, because they afforded me some really great pictures and I felt like they were probably butterfly caterpillars. I did a little research and feel pretty certain they're black swallowtails. Exciting!

They were all just hanging out,

except this guy, who was going to TOWN on these dill flowers! It was a moment of pure nerdy joy to watch him happily munching away.

Massive photo update part two!

GARDEN! So much activity in the garden lately. First... SOMETHING is killing my tomatoes. According to several websites I've been reading, it's either early blight or verticillium wilt, likely triggered by the weeks of record-setting rainfall we had earlier this summer. I can't figure out which, but neither have a good prognosis. The remaining fruits are still edible but the disease will likely kill the plants soon. I sprayed them with an organic anti-fungal spray containing copper, hoping to salvage them, so we'll see.

In far more cheerful news, my watermelons and lone surviving cantaloup plant are thriving. I planted them out by the driveway because there was simply no more room in the garden, and the sunflowers we'd planted there before had either been dug up before sprouting or, more recently, chewed to shreds by deer (see next blog entry for photo evidence). 

Daisy meandering.

My dad bought a few disease-resistant tomato seedlings that were on clearance at the local garden store, though at this point they were less seedlings than half-grown plants (one has a tomato already). I pulled up the peas and their little trellis, as they were starting to dry up and die, and planted the new tomatoes in their place. The garlic is long gone, after I realized how late I'd planted them I pulled them up rather than have them waste space, and put a horseradish plant down (mostly for fun, I have no idea how to grow or harvest horseradish). The eggplant are huge and already have one or two fruits each. The beans will probably be done soon, and I'll probably leave that space to put down another row or two of broccoli in August. I'm already planning out next year's garden in my head, making adjustments and trying new plants.

My mom's Etsy store is finally online! I need to make a banner and pretty up the page, but for now at least we have a few products up. MANY more to come, so stay tuned! The Wratty Wren.

In the garden, all sorts of activity.  A few days ago, we opened up the compost bin and shoveled out the first batch of compost, and spread it over the garden. The plants definitely seemed to appreciate the nutritional boost. The swiss chard is gorgeous, probably going to cook some up in the next few days. The tomato plants have nearly doubled in size, and look great aside from a little fungus on the leaves which my dad wants to treat with a neem oil spray. One of the heirloom tomato plants has a single green tomato, the pea plants each have one or two adorable little pea pods, and the bush beans all have tons of pretty little purple flowers. Unfortunately the deer moseyed into my garden the other night and munched down a couple of bean plants... they must've been rather unappetizing however, because the majority of the plant was left alone. Only the top leaves of two or three plants were eaten. We set up a motion-sensing sprinkler that will theoretically go off when the deer approach and scare them away. 

I was supposed to interview for a second part-time job at a kennel/dog rescue today. I even spoke to the lady this morning, asking for the address. It sounded like she was in the car, and she asked if she could call me back in a few minutes. She never called back, and maybe it's for the best. I don't know the address but I know the city, and I have to cross the Bay Bridge which scares the crap out of me. 

Guess I'll go plant the rest of my seeds instead. Squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. Summery goodness!

The first signs of yummies to come: a little white flower on one of the pea vines, and a tiny green tomato on one of the tomato plants (I can't remember the name of this variety off the top of my head... black something. Black prince? A variety that is supposed to produce early in the season and thrive even in wet, cool conditions.). 

Today I harvested the last of the romaine. Some unknown critter was dispatching my romaine (and only the romaine, no other plants) in the most bizarre way... at the base of the plants, it looked as though they had simply been clipped off with shears, and the plants simply toppled over. The weirdest part was that none of the plants were actually EATEN. Not even nibbled on. Aside from that oddity, the romaine did fairly well. However, I doubt I'll grow it or the arugula again next year. We just don't eat it enough. The patch of garden that was dedicated to lettuce will be home to six ichiban eggplant seedlings as of tomorrow.

For a little 10x10 backyard garden, which I planted without a clue as to my soil type or acidity level or what plants would do well in said soil types or acidity levels... it's coming along damn nicely. Hope it continues.

As promised... pictures! 

The forecast for this week: I get a job. I had a phone interview today for a, administrative assistant position, and while I swore I'd never do another admin job after my last experience, I think this promises to be different. For starters, I can bring my dogs to work (!!!!). I can work from home for at least a few hours a week. And it's part time, 20 hours a week, which I'm sure will be easier to handle than 8 hours a day of monotonous filing and faxing. They said they loved my resume and would be calling to set up a second interview later in the week.

AND...

Tomorrow at 11 I have an interview to be a dog washer at Petco. Likely low pay and physically challenging work, but I'd work with dogs again! It's another part time job. I think I'd enjoy doing both. I feel confident I'll get hired at one or the other, if not both. Finally landing a job will be a huge weight off my shoulders. 

In garden news, I had no idea how fast bush beans grow. I mean, in two days since their little green stems started to surface, they have grown taller than anything in that garden but the onions. The broccoli plants are still tiny, fragile seedlings, and the basil has JUST barely peeked out of the soil. It's fun to see how differently things grow. 

In other news, I finally cracked open the "Organizing for Dummies" book I bought online six months ago. One chapter in, I couldn't stay focused enough to continue. A few days ago I started my self-prescribed ADD treatment of daily B-complex and magnesium supplements... they may take a while to kick in.  

It's good to have a humbling moment every now and again.

What happens when you enthusiastically spray down your lettuce plants with homemade, eco-friendly insect repellant, then walk off smug and satisfied that you killed those stupid aphids and didn't use chemical pesticides in the process?

You forget that vinegar is acidic and start burning the crap out of the leaves until your mother fortunately happens to notice and rinses your plants off with the garden hose.

My lovely little lettuce bunches, all bright and green, are now nice and browned around the edges. I initially berated myself over this blunder, but at the request of my future husband I've been working on rolling with the punches instead of freaking out whenever something unexpected happens. Besides, the plants didn't even die. So no big deal. Lesson learned.

Yesterday we planted more onions since the first batch has grown so nicely, and two rows of green beans. Today goes the cucumbers, peas, two kinds of basil, dill, and cantaloupe. 

Good news in the garden: my garlic did NOT die after all! Every single bulb revived and is growing splendidly. 

As I strolled out this afternoon to check everything over, I noticed quite a few little specks of dirt on my romaine leaves. I bent down to take a closer look and realized the dirt specks were moving... they were dozens of tiny little black bugs! And they were ALL OVER my romaine, arugula, and swiss chard. I'm reasonably sure they're aphids. Whatever they are, they did NOT like the vinegar/water mix I sprayed on them. My dad keeps a diluted vinegar mixture in a spray bottle for surface cleaning, and I was certain that I'd read somewhere that vinegar can often be used as an insect repellant. So I spritzed down the plants and those little bugs hopped off en masse in the blink of an eye. I told my dad about it and he remarked that he'd heard of a bug repellant recipe of soap, vinegar, and red pepper. The soap apparently makes it adhere to the plants better. So that's my next project, stay tuned. 

I had good intentions to keep up my once-a-day blogging. But moving is a good excuse for a long break, right? 

Happy Earth Day!

The garden is slowly coming along, minus the garlic which just flat out died after the copious amounts of rain that turned everything to mud soup. The onions and chard are growing phenomenally. The arugula and romaine are growing steadily. The chives, well... they don't seem to be growing, but they're not dying either. This weekend we plant the eggplant and tomatoes! And I decided that I'm going to plant broccoli in August and try for a fall crop. I've heard that broccoli is a more challenging veggie to grow, but if it fails I'm only out 2 bucks for seeds, and if it works I'll be thrilled.

I feel pretty satisfied with my accomplishments during my first week of unemployment. The past two days have been spent painting what will be our bedroom and living room as of next week. My parents graciously offered to let me and Kenny move in with them and save money for a house of our own. This is absolutely the best possible scenario for us right now, in terms of paying down our debt and saving a substantial amount for a down payment. I feel pretty lucky to be able to do this. 

I've been applying for jobs, only one or two of which I'm genuinely interested in. That one is a veterinary assistant job at the vet hospital less than 5 minutes from my parents' house. 

I did my taxes, e-filed both federal and state last night. My first though upon finishing was that I should have waited until AFTER tax time to quit, because I ended up with a pitiful $27 federal refund, and I owed the state $56, plus the cost of the tax software. 

I'm making my first visit of the year to the county Farmer's Market this weekend. Buying local food as much as possible has become a main priority in my grocery shopping. Local AND organic is even better. My moral dilemma comes from wondering if, for example, its better to buy that organic box of strawberries that was grown all the way in California, or the conventionally grown box that came from a field a few miles away. The first batch was grown without pesticides, hopefully with sustainable growing practices, but had to be shipped across the country, which uses energy and contributes to pollution. The second batch put pesticides on the fruit and into the ground, but used far less energy getting from the plant to my kitchen. 

Usually I try to strike a nice balance by purchasing a mix of local foods and organic foods, buying locally grown organics whenever possible. I've done most of the grocery shopping since Kenny and I have lived together and I've become more interested than ever before in how my food is grown and where it comes from. That's why I was inspired and excited to start a vegetable garden at my mom's house this year... you don't find food more local than what's grown in your own backyard.

Tomorrow... more painting, maybe the dog park for an hour or so, and hopefully planting the blueberry bushes if the ground isn't too soggy from two days of steady rain.  

The romaine and arugula, growing nicely.

The onions are sprouting!

 

I need to carry a camera around with me like I used to. I wanted to take pictures of the garden yesterday because the onions and the swiss chard were both sprouting. The arugula, romaine and chives are thriving, but the garlic seems to be a lost cause. My mom planted 4 blueberry bushes out back by the treeline so they can have part shade. Next up to plant are the blackberry bushes, then in a couple weeks we have the tomatos, peppers, eggplant, strawberries, basil, cucumbers, watermelon and squash.

Mom's also planting TONS of extra flowers in her flower gardens... zinnias, lavender, and gerbera daisies. The hope is that Kenny and I can use almost exclusively homegrown flowers for our wedding, or at least supplement what we have to buy. Flower arrangements are expensive, and the flowers are usually grown with large amounts of pesticides, shipped in from across the country or internationally because they're out of season or not locally grown, and then... thrown in the trash after the wedding. No bueno for our budget-conscious, eco-friendly wedding. The homegrown flowers are just one aspect of the kind of wedding (and lifestyle) we're trying to have... more on that tomorrow. I haven't been up this late in close to a year, and I'm getting a little delirious. Ah, unemployment!