*poof* and then there was grass

So right before our wedding, the bossman gave us about 30 sq. ft. of leftover sod from his landscaping renovation. and we got up early the next morning to dig up the ground and creatively piece together about a hundred rolls/partial rolls/scraps of sod. and the finished product is fantastic! not only did it look extremely cute when we were done but i promptly fertilized with Scott's Sod Starter and the little grass started growing!!! after devoted watering for three weeks, our little babies were ready for their first haircut! our neighbor kindly let me borrow his lawnmower (we have an ancient pushmower that needs renovation....we are in the process.....but what can i say, it's a process.) and i swear the lawnmower was running for less than a minute! it was almost hysterical how fast i was done.
i also landscaped a little more of the yard, filling in the gap between the baby lawn and the driveway. i'll take a picture tomorrow....i promise. i love dirt. i also love my husband. i love getting dirt with my husband. :) heehee

honeymoons and stinging nettle

I'm back and I'm a married lady! Not only did I have a fabulous weekend, but I learned something too! First off, the fabulous weekend....I truly love the norcal coast. We stayed in Arcata and I drooled over all of the beautiful flowers that were blooming everywhere, particularly the dahlias as big as my head.:) I even found the perfect flowers at the local market for the wedding....they matched my dress perfectly......chocolate dahlias and chocolate cosmos. mmmmmmmmm....delish! Then we stayed at a place in Mendocino that had some amazing gardens...they were that fantastically overgrown english type of gardens that I love. This is where the learning came in.....we were walking down to the beach before we left yesterday and I noticed all of the mint growing along the trail. On the way back, I decided some fresh mint would smell lovely during the car trip home so I reached down with both hands to pick some. My hands immediately started stinging and I dropped the plant I had just picked. The stinging only grew worse and I didn't know what to do. My new husband looked at me panic-stricken......and said.........."stinging nettle!" *DOH* Needless to say my hands stung the entire day, they felt like the pins&needles you get when your foot is asleep and it is starting to wake up....but it didn't stop. The only thing that helped.....benadryl. The moral of the story: don't pick anything that looks like mint but has minute stinging hairs that deposit a mixture of crazy stinging chemicals under your skin as soon as you touch it.

I just DIY'd my ass off

Go me! I got so many little projects done today! Mostly little stuff for the wedding reception. Which involved ALOT of glue. I made the cupcake stand, glued ribbon on all of the little battery-powered tea lights, and made the ribbon clips for the money tree. (I have most of my projects done now!!!)
So by the time I was done, I needed to breathe non-toxic air. My little garden seemed happy to see me. I tore out the remaining tomato plant, even though it had blossoms on it, I figured they were just taunting me. I also tore out three of my smallest bell pepper plants that were just sad little critters. But one of my bigger plants had a little dark purple pepper on it, so I picked it and carried it around for a while, just loving it a bit.
Anyhow, I turned over the soil a bit and planted about half of my little walla walla onion starts. I would have planted more, but there are alot of those little buggers and they would have taken up my whole garden! I'm trying to save some space for my other little seedlings that are still growing in their little peat pellets. I hope they grow big enough to plant soon.
In related news, the weather has finally hit the full-on fall stage, I think. Forecasts say mid 80's for the next two weeks! HOORAY! I lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve fall.

growgrowgrow

all of my little seeds are growing like mad. even the ones i planted straight into the ground outside!!!! i'm so excited for them to become strong little plants. in fact, tomorrow i think i will give them some love juice (aka fertilizer). there are so many things to do and so little time......eep!
NDR(not dirt related): I'm done with school in three weeks, getting married in four, and partying down in five! I CAN'T WAIT.

think sprouting thoughts

Success on the seed hunt! Last saturday at farmer's market i procurred some rather adorable wallawalla onion plantlets that made me so excited and on top of that i found seeds at OSH of all places!!! I got early wonder tall top beets, bloomsdale longstanding spinach, copenhagen market cabbage, and early dividend hybrid broccoli! so i planted some seeds in little peat pellets to grow their little hearts out and just for fun i planted some out in the front yard. i don't know if they will grow or not, but i thought what the heck might as well see!
OH! I almost forgot! i went down to look at my sad little garden the other day and i found the most beautiful little bell pepper on one of my plants! it's so cute and perfect and yellow. i picked it and i think maybe tonight i will see how delicious it is.:) there is another one growing and many more blossoms....perhaps the cooler weather will be kind to me!

ready for fall

this summer has been an arduous one. i surprised myself and in the midst of nursing school, found sanctuary in the labor of my tiny garden. i built my little bed, grew my plants from seed, loved them, planted them, watered them. and now, they are dead. the fires made too much smoke, the sun made too much hot, the gopher made too many late night visits and i succumbed to the *bleh* that was our summer. it really made me realize that summer is a total bummer when you can't go to the lake or work out in your yard. luckily, i had school to distract me.:) now i see the light at the end of the tunnel. we are halfway through august (*hooray*) which means a variety of things: 1) summer is nearing its end, although it looks to be a hot end 2) only 9 more weeks of school and i will be done!!! 3) only 10 weeks til we get married!!!!!!! and 4) it's about time to be planting some fall veggies. so i'm on the hunt....i would like to find some plants and/or seeds locally but have had no such luck as of yet. perhaps, i have not looked hard enough. one would not expect to find beet, cabbage, or garlic plantlets at home depot i suppose.

OH SHIT!

aaaaaaaaahahaha....i don't know why that cracked me up so much. so two weeks ago i put a generous layer of steer manure and mulchy oak leaves on my petit jardin. and holy crap! i came back from a week of vacation on sunday and my plants are growing like gangbustahs. i have multiple tiny green tomatoes and some not so tiny. and the plants themselves are becoming quite unruly and huge. i staked some yesterday and pinched off my suckers.
the only problem is, i found two rather tidy little holes infiltrating my garden and upon inspection they seem to be from a rather industrious little gopher. the bastard chewed on one of my biggest tomato plants and has therefore declared war. and he will not be victorious. in fact, i think i will go now and see if he can swim......and if he can't, i've got the pick ready to stop him in his tracks. i will not sacrifice my vegetable crop to such a despicable little thief.....he must die.

just growin along

hmmm.....a brief synopsis of my growing endeavors for this lovely spring and summer.
not too long now til i have yummy homegrown tomatoes. staked them today and hope to get my fence around them tomorrow. turkeys have invaded our yard despite the presence of canine ruffian, keirna. so far they haven't touched my mini-garden but i will not push my luck.
my little peppers are not looking too hot. the plants are only a few inches tall and i don't see how they will ever be big enough to produce delish bells. note to self: find way to make peppers grow.
my blueberries are beautiful. i have harvested quite a few from one plant and the other is growing vigorously. despite the norcal heat, i seem to be doing quite well keeping my two blueberry plants happy in their pots. i've used a thick layer of old oak leaves as a fabulous mulch.
what else is a-growin? my rhubarb seedlings are struggling. i'm down to two from six. and i just don't know if they are going to grow. from what i've read, they need a cooler climate, so i'm going to try planting them in the coolest part of the yard and keeping my fingers crossed. i planted some seeds today......basil, cilantro, sunflowers, and chamomile. the basil i planted earlier in the year is not looking very hot, so i'm gonna grow some more. same with the cilantro. the chamomile is a virgin attempt, so we'll see.
one of my artichokes seems to be dying. the other: growing like a weed.
gonna go poke around in the dirt.