This and That…

Do you have times when you know you should be getting a ton of things done… because your life is going to get really busy very quickly… but you just can’t seem to get your head organized or your self out of your own way?

Yep that’s me right now.

We are having new windows put in next Tuesday.  We had the first floor done last July and are finishing up the rest of the house now. 

But that means I have to finish putting away (and sorting through) the rest of the stuff we hauled out of the attic storage and left in my sewing studio.  The engineer has finished sorting through his stuff… so I need to make decisions on the rest of the boxes and bins. 

It’s been raining a lot over the past week… and on the days it wasn’t raining it was windy.  No - not just windy… it was WINDY!  Between the wind and the rain and my work schedule – I haven’t gotten the rest of the plants in the ground. 

The Engineer and I made my T-Poles for the garden this past weekend.  And look they are waiting in our new shed which was delivered between the wind and rain one day.

There are 3 T-Poles – they will go at either end and one in the middle of one of the raised beds.  A heavy duty wire will connect at both ends of the T running down the length of the beds.  You then hang wire or string off of these down to your tomato plants (or other climbing plants) who then wrap or climb the string.  But The Engineer wants to get a post auger and cement… it’s never easy… never

Which is fine because I need to order new sand and peat moss to add to the boxes.  Everything settled last year and I’ve only got about half of what I’d like in there… so I’ll top them off before planting this year.

These first two boxes have the strawberry plants… both inside and outside the boxes.  (That’s the new shed in the background) 

I had so many runners last year that had leaped out of the boxes - I was giving them away and finally throwing them away.

I’m going to have more strawberries than I can shake a stick at.  I’ll be freezing a lot of them and hopefully making some jam.  After this season I’m going to take all the strawberries out of these two boxes and move them to a shallower box I’ll build along one side of the garden.

Rather than plant my corn in the boxes again this year I was going to plant in this area.  So a couple months ago I covered this area with clear plastic and edged it with boards.  The idea is that it will have a solar effect – heat will build up - the grass will die and then I could till it up and plant.  Some how my grass didn’t know that was the plan… it just kept growing.  I finally had to take the plastic off and mow.  We’ve mowed 3 times.  The only place grass died was where the boards were.

Then last week I hauled the plastic over into the middle of the yard so that the rain could dry off and I could fold it up.  Do you see this spot? This is what happened to the grass that was under the plastic for just a couple hours!  Yeah… a couple hours.  The other area was covered for weeks.  This actually looks better in this picture today as the grass looks like its coming back in… last week it was very brown.  I’m not even going to try and understand… really.

I want to turn this 7 x 8 foot stone area into my herb garden.  This is a picture from early last summer.  The previous owners used a patio set on these stones.  I’ll either rake all the stones to the edges and box in a 3 x 4 foot area in the middle or rake the stones into the middle and plant along the 4 sides… yet another decision to make.

I’ve got a bag of clothes I need to try on and then get rid of because they probably don’t fit.  I’d like to say I got taller… but that’s just not the case.  I thought maybe spending a couple years in storage would make them grow but I’m not holding out much hope for that either… maybe I should just save myself the grief and get rid of them.

And then there is Spring Cleaning… I do need to clean my house… really… because my Dad is coming to visit!  He’s coming out for a couple weeks.  He thinks it’s a vacation but I’m gonna put him to work helping me get some of this planting stuff done.  He grew up on a farm in Kansas… surely he’s an ole pro at growing stuff.

And the kids will come in to see him while he’s here… which means I can’t hide anything as I’m cleaning… and I’ll need the bed up in the studio too… so I do have to finish up there…

All this stuff to do and I’d really rather just go take a nap…

A Big Hello…

First things first…

“Hi Ladies!  I do so miss y’all a bunch!”

That was a shout out to all the wonderful ladies at Southampton Quilts in… you guessed it… Southampton… the one in Massachusetts.  I’m sure there are other Southamptons – and there may very well be another ‘Southampton Quilts’ someplace in the world… but there truly is no other place like Southampton Quilts.  They are all special folks there - the owners - Nancy and Maureen – all the instructors… and especially the customers who are more like friends than just customers.

A special hello to one of the instructors - Beth (I think a living example of dynamite – so much energy in a little package!)  I aspire to be a teacher like her one day… she has a flock of customers students friends that follow her from one adventure in quilting to another.

If in your travels you have the opportunity to travel north of the Springfield, MA area… stop into Southampton Quilts… and tell them I said Hi!

 

Country Road…

We were headed over to my In-Laws Saturday… using the back country roads around the town rather than the main roads through – it’s not about getting there faster – it’s all about the journey. 

As we rounded the corner of the first jog around a local farm I could see the flat bed wagon sitting in the drive along the other side of the farm house - full of plants.

“Oh good – she’s got plants out today” I said as I navigated the turn around to the side of the farm and the gravel driveway that contained the wagon.

“Did you plan this?” asks my husband as I turn into the driveway and stop.

“Yep” is all I say as I head over to see what wonderful goodies she has out for sale.

I have always admired this farm wife’s gardens.  She has lovely flowers and an enviable vegetable garden.  Everything is always neat and trim… always… everything.  So I was quite happy when I first saw plants sitting out for sale last year.  Her prices… could be anything from 50 cents for a small pot to 4 dollars for a gallon pot of perennials.  They are all beautiful and happy plants and you know that is important.  Many of the plants have the garden markers with all the pertinent details – but you are just as likely to find a section of mini-blind plastic with the plants name written on it with the price. 

I make my selections… put the money in the coffee can that is sitting in a box on the wagon and off we go.  Yeah… just like that.

So here is what I came away with… some ornamental grasses,  new lavender irises, purple heuchera (coral bells), campanula (bellflower), and purple cone flower (echinacea), and pink bee balm.

Here are the ruby coreopsis, red yarrow, shasta daisy, and another campanula (bellflower),

I have also started to pick up some stuff at the Green House up the road from me too…

Some herbs… basil, rosemary and garlic, a few annuals, and some lettuce.

I hope to get some into the ground today… but won’t if I continue to sit here in front of the computer.