Weekend....

So, by some stroke of serendipity (I've been stumbling over a lot of that, lately) the latest 'old' entry that popped up was talking about transplanting bushes, and OS kindly noted that this time of year is about the best time of year to do it (bushes are dormant, ground isn't frozen) and it's been raining BUCKETS for the last two - no, three - days - making the ground softer than my hair.

So.

Looks like I might be transplanting bushes this weekend. The move-to ditch is mostly done - I did that much earlier in the year, and I just need to rip out the greenery that has overtaken it, and finish expanding it. The bushes themselves will be 'fun' to dig up and move - but I need to do it anyhow, as it's messing with my gardening steelo, so, that'll be okay.

I'm also supposed to get my treadmill this weekend (yippee!!) so I need to clean the junk from outside the house.

I need closed crocs to work outside in - not the ones with the holes in it, as it's wet and cold and wet & cold feet are the anti-funness.

I got this interesting email yesterday, and I'm going to try to start encorporating the suggestion into my daily life.

Did you know that by simply removing one word from your vocabulary, and replacing it with another, you can put yourself in the driver’s seat and gain 100 percent control of your life?
More often than not, the word “CAN’T” is the culprit of your failures. By replacing “CAN’T” with “WON’T,” you open the door to asking yourself the right questions that may help you get out of your own imaginary prison.
Do you say “I can’t take a vacation,” or “I can’t get a better job”?
By changing those statements to, “I won’t take a vacation,” and “I won’t get a better job,” what questions are raised?
Why won’t you? What’s holding you back? What are you not willing to do to make it happen? Plenty of people have done those things, and are doing them right now as you’re reading this, so they’re obviously not real impossibilities!
Start your transformation by paying close attention to when and how you use the word “can’t,” and then repeat the sentence in your mind, replacing “can’t” with “won’t.” Analyze the sentence, and you may be in for an awakening.

I thought that was interesting, and challenging, and relatively simple, overall, so - yeah.

Urmmm. I think that about it.

Stay warm, ya'll.

A thousand words....

Why must all cucumbers look naughty?

ETA: *LMAO* The keys are there for size reference only - the camera was in C's car, so I had those handy. ;) But something tells me if the cuke WAS going somewhere, well. He would get carded. *LMAO*

 

Because I was feeling all artsy and shit.

The yellow ones hadn't bloomed yet - they were half open when I left yesterday, they should be fully open today, I'm guessing.

I can't remember what color these were supposed to be, but the purple on the edges makes me eager.

 

And it's raining!! Only since I've become a 'gardener' do I really feel the full joy of rain, now. *lol*

 

Life

I feel like I should write. Not for you guys (though I'm certain you're hanging on my every word), but for me.

I feel like I should be taking pictures and singing in the rain and dancing for no apparent reason - like I should be doing these things, you must understand, not that I want to.

I don't want to be at work - only 48 minutes left, and I don't want to come back tomorrow, despite work having been - well, for the job that it is, it's been pretty darn sweet.

My life is dull, I think. It's wonderful and it's peaceful and it's lovely and it's occasionally (more frequently than I would like to admit) lonely, but - in general - it's dull.

No. Dull isn't the right word. It's dull like the ocean on a still day. It's dull like a perfectly cloudless sky. It's dull like a dead tree, carved and sharpened by sand.

The little things perk me up - like C bringing home meatloaf, or finding the perfect pair of earrings or hearing my favorite song.

And it's not like it's a rut either. And for once, I can say it's definitely not limbo.....it's just my life. And perhaps I've gotten to used to it - but I not (looking around for the tricksy hand of the gods) ASKING for it to be shook up, just to be clear. A wee shake-up would be very nice, and much appreciated, though.

I'm going to get a tattoo this weekend, I think.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I realized (in one of those melodramatic flashes of insight), that I'm unbalanced - tattoo wise, and being wise. I - I can't walk that delicate middle line - social, but not to social, open but not too open, wise but not a smartass, silly but focused, eager but cautious. And I want to walk that line - I'm not asking for it to be easy - but I would like to feel a bit less like a drunken sailor.

Anyhow. The only tattoo I have right now is fire.... and to balance it, I'm going to get three more - water, earth, and air. Water is going to be my next one - perfectly balancing fire (which is on my right hip) by being on my left hip. After that, I suspect me & C might finally get our 'matching' tatts, if I can ever finish designing them.

Then Earth, low on my back, right over my spine. Then Air, on my shoulders.

I don't know how long it will take me, but I know it feels enourmously right. I got fire first, oh so many moons ago, because I felt like I lacked passion. I've learned, over that time, that I don't lack in passion in the least - I just wasn't trying to bring my passion to bear on the RIGHT things. Now, I feel like I'm ready to accentuate ALL of my aspects.

My hair, she is growing.

My ass, is shockingly enough, staying the same damn size (too large) without me fighting to keep it there. Even MORE relieivingly, my 'stable' weight is ten pounds LESS than it used to be. Go figure. We have almost finished putting together the fitness room - I need to order another packages of matting, and we need some fans and an A/C unit, and then I can start working on reducing the size of my ass.

My garden, she is growing like wild things - the cukes and the pumpkins are plotting on how to take over the world, the sunflowers are taller than me, the strawberries are finally producing (though, I don't think I like them, and might buy a new strain next year) the peppers are moving slow, and all of the tomatoes I PLANTED flipped me the bird - but a volunteer from LAST year showed up. It is green, and glorious, and dear god, I'm never going to want to eat another cucumber again.

(left side is pumpkins, right side is cukes). At least I can freeze pumpkin puree.

C is doing wonderfully, working his ass off and his heart out and really making that hotel BETTER. And he loves every minute of it. We've been together for almost seven years, and it feels like barely the blink of an eye. We still ain't perfect, but I never even pictured we would be this close to it.

The FatCat is still ruling the roost - though we think he encountered a snake a while ago, as he was skittish as all get out - he damn near levitated when I shifted the hose suddenly, and he's met a dog (and learned that the tops of cars are wonderful places to hide, much to C's dismay) but he still thinks he's the shit. And of sweet heavens, he's shedding like a..... like a.... like a double coated cat in 90+ degrees temps who spends equal amounts of time outside and in an unairconditioned house, and if I ever get into the yarn/spinning thing, I could totally make a sweater. A full body sweater.

The house... well. This has been the last thing we've worked on.

Going from this:

to this:

One thousand, four hunded, and twenty, if you were wondering how many books there were. And I still need/want/crave/desire more. I've come out of the book dragon closet, and I'm proud, dammit.

So. See? It's life. It's quiet, and peaceful, and comfortable and calm, and as much as I dance on the edge of wanting a sudden squall to sweep there - I'm happy - really happy - as it is.

How YOU doin'???

What's Growing On?

I haven't posted for a while about the garden - not much has been going on. I've got LOTS of stuff sprouted now, and I've been watering once a day/every other day - assuming it's not going to rain, that is.

I stayed home today waiting for our counters to be installed - so I spent some time out there, thinning the Skyscraper sunflowers, and spraying the garden with Kiya's Crunchy Food & Pesticide Mix... I need another sprayer doohickey ALREADY! The one I have now sends more water back onto me than it does into the container, and the mix ratio doesn't seem to be right. I think leaving it out in the freeze cracked something. Oops.

Anyhow - pictures!

First - my little friend who was hidden SOMEWHERE in the strawberry patch. I went over to look at my strawberries (which have COMPELTELY recovered, by the way!) and he came hopping out. He was a bigun, too!

 

Look at how big he is compared to my GORGEOUS strawberries? I love the little red edging around the leaves. I hope that's not a BAD thing.  

 

In the same box, we have two kinds of lettuce, the sunflowers across the front, onions, marigolds, and spinach. The last three are still pretty spindly.

This box seems to be doing the best - I'm not sure if it's the screening that I put up for the strawberries shading the soil, the mix of clay/sand that's in there from the dirt in the old bed, or what.  I'm kinda kicking myself for using JUST compost and peatmoss in my boxes - I'm wondering if it's got enough nutrients in it.

I need to start digging out more lettuce seed, as it's high time that I sow some more - I might try it in one of the beds that's kinda *waggles hand* Eh.

Okay - in the next bed, we have the two kinds of green beans. I suspect the first picture is of the heat resistant ones, as they are doing much better than the others. I'm going to thin the threesome down to two, once I can clearly see which two are strongest. Right now, they are all growing beautifully.

 

 

The cukes are looking pretty good too.

There's other stuff in this box, but none of them have moved as impressively as these. I haven't seen a peep from the cauliflower, and the brussels and brocolli are looking kinda weak too - I think it might have gotten too hot for them already. If I don't see anything serious from them in two weeks, I'm going to write them off as a VERY early spring/fall crop.

 

The next box has the 'runners' in it - pumpkin:

 

Squash:

And watermelon!

 

I'm finally getting a WEE peep out of my tomatoes - well, at least I HOPE these are tomatoes, and not a random windborn weed. But I don't think a weed would be quite so organzied.

I think that the peppers are starting to break too, but I'm not sure....no picture yet. This box looks - it looks like it has the potential to get really full, really quick. I tried to plant the runners in the middle, so that I can run them BETWEEN the other taller plants, and if need be, (and they get that big!) I can run them OUTSIDE the box too. Mwauauahaha. And the peppers and tomatoes are going to be trellised (I need to start thinking about that soon) so, that'll free up a little more ground space.

 

Lastly, the flower bed.

The morning glories appear to be rather snackable to SOMEONE. Hurmph.

And the sunflowers are, as usual, doing wonderfully. These are the ones I thinned  - also the ones that make me worry the most about nutrients. The peppers looked a LITTLE yellow I thought, but the sunflowers have several yelllowish lower leaves. I know they are VERY thirsty plants, so I'm hoping it's just low moisture right now, and be sure to triple water them every time I water.

 

I'm going to get back on a STRICT every day watering schedule, and I'm trying to talk myself into waking up a little earlier, so that I can go outside and water BEFORE I go to work, so that they are good and moist during prime sun time. *sigh* I know it's for the best, but ICK.

I figure, between regular watering and the lovely food I gave em today, things should improve.

Notes for next year - get screening for ALL the boxes when going right into the ground in late spring. Early spring (ie, Feb) not so much. Late Spring (ie late March/early April) definitely. Also - go with all heat resistant - hopefully by the end of this year, I'll have figured out enough to feel comfy in buying some full price heirloom seeds. Also, next year, I'm going for some fruit trees.

 

---

 

In other delightfully domestic news - no, the countertops did NOT get installed.

Well, one did. *lol*

The longer ones (around the sink) were MISMEASURED. *asplode* *sigh* So, it was too short, and they have to come back Wednesday. Thankfully, I'm salaried, and take any chance possible to escape from work, so I don't mind TOO much - but still! Dammit! I want my countertops!

Once nice perk - they put in the lift BEFORE they realized that the counters were too short, so we will still be able to install the dishwasher!! They also installed our gorgeous new faucet, so whoohoo! *sigh* I was so hoping that Sunday would be the last time I had to wash dishes. *LOL*

Murph.

Mother Natures Parting Pinch....

<----------Google Inspired Funny, thataway....

So... the Freeze of '07 is hopefully totally over.

Suprisingly (or, maybe not) enough, the freeze didn't bother the seeds at ALL - I've got stuff sprouting EVERYWHERE - it seems like the cool weather (lettuce, brocolli, brussels) are coming up the fastest, which makes sense. Some of the sunflowers have sprouted, and the Alyssum has sprouted....a lot of stuff has sprouted. The germination rate is higher than I expected, as these were dollar store/walgreens/big lots seeds that I've been collecting over the last *thinks* 3 years now.

The main thing impacted - my poor strawberries. I swear, ONE of these years they are going to be able to start the season off right. And danggone it, I forgot to screen them this morning.

The berries BEFORE the freeze. Here - they are still in the old bed, before I moved them.

 

The berries AFTER the freeze - and this was WITH the McGuyver'd greenhoues. And yeah, that's the saddest looking one - poor thing.

Pitiful, ain't it? They are some hardy creatures though (considering they came back at ALL this year) and they are actually looking better than that already - and I think I took that picture on Monday or Tuesday - they are greening up some.

 

---

 

Lets see, what else exciting & new is going on in my life? I met with a new potential doula client Tuesday, but I don't think she is going to hire me, because I was a little - vocal - about my total and UTTER disdain/hate/horror around Babywise - which she was ALREADY READING. Gah. I sent her a list of alternate books, but I think I might have turned her off. We'll see.

Around the house, C is still painting the kitchen, and this weekend, we plan on hanging the kitchen fan - it's the cheapest, and the room we mind the LEAST if we screw up in. *lol* - Lisa - I might be giving ya'll a ring for some tips and hints!

Work is still sucking my ass, and that's all I have to say about that.

I'm going camping next weekend!! Woot for time in the forest with a buncha semi-insane pagan women! I truly cannot WAIT for this - I'mma have so much fun, it'll be INSANE. I need to go fabric shopping this weekend (hrm, I could do that tonight) to make a robe for myself, so I can sew it over the week.

Hrm. Only 1/2 hour left at work.... I should go and do some, I suppose.

Thanks for the cold shoulder, Ma Nature...

Frigid Easter, isn't? Ostara (March 24th) was ever so much nicer.  

Over the last few days, this HORRID cold front has blown in, and overnight temps have dropped below freezing. Yes, it WAS over 80 a few days ago. In-freaking-sane.

So. Luckily, it's barely been a week since I planted, and the only thing that even looked like it had sprouted was one of the okra.

 

I used some cheap, translucent shower curtains I had gotten from the dollar store, and as it was cold as - well, it was cold out there, I took a short cut, and cut small holes for the posts on the corners of the beds, and secured the shower curtains to the bed that way.
It's loose enough that air can flow under it, but close enough that dew shouldn't form on the dirt itself, and thus, keep the dirt & the seeds a little warmer.

I considered watering, but figured that it wouldn't be worth it with the risk of a freeze, and besides, the ground was still damp - definitely not moist, but certainly damp.

That was Saturday afternoon. I planned on watering them this morning, but when I went out there and tried to turn on the garden hose, not only did the sprayer things handle break, hunks of ICE came out of the hose.

Yeah. Ice. In April. It was 85degrees four days ago.

As expected, dew had formed on the underside of the plastic, and was dripping back down onto the dirt - and it was warm(ish) because of the sun hitting the plastic. Go makeshift greenhouse! I left them on - enough light gets through them, that the tradeoff for warmth is a good one. Nothing else sprouted, though.

We are relaxing at home today - I'm thinking about setting up in the library and working on my LibraryThing - hrm. I also need to read for class tomorrow.

Garden.

Hehehe.

I'm home now, thus in a better mood.  Pictures <------thataway if you're interested. Also, the source of the questions...

What are you growing and how in the world did you get all the dirt and peat moss there?

Growing:
Red/Green Peppers
Pumpkin
Okra
Pole Beans (two kinds)
Parsley
Onion (bunching)
Basil
Chives
Tomatoes
Dill (two kinds)
Sage
Brussel Sprouts
Squash
Spinach
Cucumber
Lettuce (two kinds)
Eggplant
Mustard Greens
Brocolli
Cauliflower
Watermelon
Canteloupe
Strawberries
Sunflowers (5 different kinds)
Radish
Lavender.

Plus, there are the herbs in the herb bed from last year
Chocolate Mint
Lime Thyme
Parsely
Rosemary
Lemon Balm

And yes, all of that first list fits into those four beds. The veggies/fruit are all in three beds, the last bed on the end has four of the kinds of sunflowers, as well as allyssum and morning glories. Square foot gardening rocks. I think I gave everything enough room, except the pumpkin. :( We shall see.

The herbs are in a small bed next to the front steps.

How'd I get it all here? In 13 40 pound bags of this......

And four 20 pound (roughly - I think they might have been heavier) bags of this....

All slung in the back of this....

Thumb.

What's the saying? Stick out like a sore thumb? Something like that?

Yeah. That's how I've been feeling in my real world life - esp. at work - more and more. I feel like there is NOTHING here that is really me - nothing here that I do at work that is authentic (and actually work related. The online stuff doesn't count.)

I don't talk to my coworkers, I don't talk to my boss, I come to work, I eat lunch alone, I do the little bit of work that I have to do, and I go home - where my real life begins.

I started with this - that little black area in the bottom corner is the garden bed from last year - the one with the transplanted strawberries, and the one lovely sprig of quince.  

Then I built these.

And then, two days, 600 pounds of compost and peat moss, some REALLY messed up cuticles, 20 something bags of seeds, a couple of feet of yarn, and about 40 pounds of sweat later -  I ended up with this...

The screens are protecting the once AGAIN transplanted strawberries from the sun, as I wanted to move the old bed and resize it. I was suprised to find, as I moved the berries, that I had *thinks* seven? plants that survived from last year - I thought it was just one or two plants that had spread a lot.

I'm doing square foot gardening, and I'm growing a SHITEload of stuff.

This is my life.

My home.

My loves -

That stuff up there - that's what really matters to me. And more and more, it's getting harder and harder to pull myself away, to go to a job that I hate with people that I'm getting closer to downright despising, to earn the money that's still (but much less than before) needed to keep that stuff up there going. In fact if it wasn't for that stuff up there, I would have been out of here a long time ago.

I'm not bitter or anything, I'm just achingly homesick.

And I've only been away from home for 4 hours.

ETA: And I'm about to go back! Good Friday, INDEED!

*happy dance*

About a month or so ago, in a fit of hopeful anticipation, I requested this Friday and Monday off, so that ya know - in CASE TheBoy actually wasn't working, we would be able to go someplace - nothing too fancy... we were thinking of jsut riding down to Tunica, getting a hotel room and a massage, and relaxing.

But. Since Mr.Man is not only the Exec, but also the Iterim F&B Manager, and his 'sous' chef does stupid shit like buying Velveeta for a cheese platter when they have an entire fridge full of cheese (Doh!), he's going to be at work for most of the weekend. We ARE still going out to dinner - and he actually made the reservations, which REALLY makes me feel special, as I'm usually the one to do that. Ahhh, love.

Now, a normal type girl would be - a little down maybe - that an aniversary wouldn't be celebrated with a big shindig. Me, though? I'm kinda stoked. For two reasons.

1) We aren't spending money- even the dinner is mostly free. Yeah, I'm THAT cheap.
2) It gives me a 4 day weekend! With no plans!!

I could hang out with the SG folx - they have bowling Saturday night, and then a Looney Tunes rit on Sunday, but I'm not.

Instead - I'm going to set up the garden!! I have to empty the car of all the HDespot crap that I've been carting around all week (what? I haven't felt like unloading the car! ) to make room for MORE home despot crap.

So far - these are my plans for the Four Day Weekend.

1) Set up the Garden. This includes making the raised beds, tilling/ripping the last bit of greenery still alive under the carpet and leveling the ground a little, setting up the beds, and filling them with dirt and compost. If I'm feeling REALLY froggy, I'll try to plant some seeds, too.

2) Install at least ONE ceiling fan. We got four (replacing all of the fans in the house, and that's what's been rattling around the 'trunk' all week), but I think that the one in the bedroom is the most important, as Mr. Hotblooded decided to turn on the upstairs A/C last night. Dude! It's really NOT that hot - but without air circulation, it gets purty darn warm upstairs.

3) Give myself extensions. I've been saying that I'm going to put in yarn twists for MONTHS - but I was waiting til all the red was out of my hair. It's all out - and I don't know the next time I'll have a really FREE weekend (where I can be at home allllll weekend) so, I'm going to at least TRY.

*happy dance*twirling*singing*breaks out into a musical routine*

So.

I plan on taking LOTS of pictures, so I can record the hard HARD work I'm about to put in tomorrow. I'm actually kinda hoping that it rains, as the rain keeps down the squeeters, and makes the dirt softer.

Anything in particular ya'll wanna see pictures of?

Woot! Time to go - have a lovely weekend, ya'll!

Today

Umm...I'm at my desk, and everytime I move, the back of my arms, or my thighs ache - jsut a little. It's a nice ache - the ache that tells you that you've actually done something active and useful - that you've actaully used your muscles in the way they were meant to be used.

The weekend is basically recapped in the previous two (picture) entries.  On Saturday, I did the last bit of running for supplies for the garden (I calculated it in my head yesterday, and ignoring the inital output for the tools, I spent 30 dollars on the garden - if the strawberries alone make it, it'll pay for itself!) and went to the library sale.

Oh. My. GAWD. It was - heavenly. And the second day - they had dropped the price, so the hardcover books were only a dollar, but the 'good' paperback were still 50 cents. The paperbacks that we advertised as 25 cents were romance novels - one genre that's never really been able to keep my attention. Anyhow, I ended up with 15 hardcovers, and 35 paperbacks (50 books! wow!) for 33 bucks. *delighted sigh*  They were mostly health related books, interestingly enough - and I actually BOUGHT a copy of 'What to Expect when you are Expecting' so that I could actually *shudder* read the book rather than skimming it - that way I can give more constructive critism around the horrors it contains other than just saying 'I hate that book'. I got a couple of cool books about the menstural cycle, a couple of herb books, a crapload of sci-fi books, and some kids books that I jsut couldn't resist because they were old favorites of mine. *thinks* I know I'm missing some category, but I can't remember what.

Work. AGGGHHH!! *pulls hair gently, since it jsut got done last night, and it's too cute to really mess up* Two more years, two more years - that's my mantra, that's my chant on a daily basis. I'm using them to get what I want, and - really, that's all that matters. I'll get over the feeling of not doing jack shit that is worthy HERE by doing plenty that is worthy at home.

Along those lines, I'm already thinking about extending the garden  - not to plant in this year, as I think I'm done - once the plants get bigger and shade some of the bed, I might toss some lettuce out there - and I'll most likely use it as a fall garden - but ONLY that bed. I went and looked at it this morning, and it looked like someone had either stepped on it on a cat's bottom had sat on it. *evil glare* damn cats. All the plants were fine - though the strawberries are looking right - puny. *sighs* I'm going to check the dirt tonight and see if they need some water. I was racking my brain for a way to shade them, but I couldn't come up with anything, and of course, the second I get to work, a brilliant idea pops into my head. *sighs* So, I'll set up the shade tomorrow - it's a bit overcast today, so they shouldn't burn too much - must coddle the berries!!
But I was talking about extending the garden, right?  The clay are that I was talking about is right in front of the deck now - and it's REALLY clayey - I mean, right there, it's PURE clay. I honestly DO want to dig it up. *grins* But, I need to see what is going on in the rest of that area - as well as measure things for my beds. The bed I made yesterday is a BIT bigger than I really want it to be - it's hard for me to reach the middle, and it's bad to walk on the dirt, so the next one will be smaller. *tsk* I might get hubby to help me pull the carpet out to cover the grass today - at least that way, I'll be able to see what the dirt looks like under there.

My next ourdoorsy task is to slowly, but surely, dig up EVERY. SINGLE. MONKEY grass plant. Them summabitchs spread like crazy, and they - they are just everywhere. Well that, and planting the periwinkle - as well as transplanting that volunteer periwinkle that showed up in the front yard.

Inside, we need to swing by HD again, and get some paint remover (because I would very much like to be able to open our front windows), some putty (to fix the holes/gaps/cracks in the walls that were convientently covered by wallpaper) and some 'real' wallpaper removed (to get rid of the VERY stubborn specks and bits of wallpaper still left on the walls). *laughs* Hubby got a bug up his butt as well, and started ripping own wallpaper in the game room - he only did about half a wall, but I still laughed at him. Humph! As if I'm the only one!

*rubs hands together*

Also, I think I've given up on the whole riding mower discussion. *grrr* At the end of the month, we will see how much 'extra' money we have (the budget isn't perfect because I didn't know C's actuall income, so I know I understated it) and get a used mower. *grins* At least the lawn will be nice and cut.

I don't know if I have a green thumb,

but man, do I have some DIRTY fingernails.

*grins* I started the garden!! Take a picture journey with me, eh?

The beginning - just a wild, wild, area. The garden (in beds) is eventually going to go where the deck is now (you can see the boards of the deck at the top of the picture), and will go from where those bushes are on the left side (which we want to move to where that HUGE bush is on the right to make a screen for the garden from the road), and - who knows how far 'behind' me. That black garbage bag & brick thingy is the compost (really mulch) that I brought from the apartment. Anyhow, this is what I started with, around 8:30am.

Three hours, intense ripping out of stubborn grass, handtilling dirt that has an INORDINATE amount of clay in it (I swear, I need a potters wheel so I can use that stuff - it's almost PURE clay), 90 pounds of potting soil, 160 pounds of composted manure, and four boards that I grabbed out of the pole barn later.....

And a better picture.... it looks so bare, and crying out for green stuff, doesn't it??

Green stuff!! 45 strawberry plants (I counted plants and suckers that will be plants), 3 cherry tomatoes (as they were the only tomato plants still around - it's late in the season), two green pepper plants, a yellow habanero, a 'regular' habanero, and the three quince seedlings. The strawberries are kinda droopy looking compared to everything else because they've been bareroot (but in water) since Thursday. I'm hoping they'll perk up now that they are in dirt. I also tossed my 'compost' on top of the dirt - I'm hoping it's still mulchy enough that it'll help hold in moisture and act as a weed barrier.

I'll keep ya'll posted as stuff gets bigger and blooms and fruits and stuff.

Plant Answers....(courtesy of Andi)

I can identify all of them but 2, 3, and 8.

1. Plantain- the crushed leaf is good for bees stings and blisters. A good weed.

2.I am going with a firm wild catnip guess for 2 and 3. http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/nepca.htm

3. can't tell

4. definitely perwinkle

5. Queen Anne's Lace- an invasive exotic in Tennessee. It does attract bees and butterflies though.

6. Lucky You! I believe that's an American Elder, from which you get elderflowers, good for skin creams and brewing, and elderberries, good for diarrea and they make great preserves. If you can take closer pics of the leaves I'mm make sure.

7. I *think* that's a Gleditsia triacanthos, a honey locust. If the spines are cross-shaped, it's definitely a honey locust. They are native small trees.

8. I *think* that's a Russian Olive, another invasive exotic. If the undersides if the leaves are silvery, that's it.

9. Looks like ragweed to me.....or (i am pretty sure its curly dock. Since its not in focus, check it out here. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/curly_dock.html)

10. Those are stickerburrs!!! Kill them immediately!

Plant ID's....

Okay - first one. I think this is burdock, but I'm not sure.

(1)

This is the one that reminded me of mint, but doesn't smell like it.  This is about 6-8 inches high.

(2)

I think this might be the same plant - just MUCH bigger, like 2 ft tall.

(3)

I wasn't sure what this one was, but after talking to the fellow who had the strawberries, I found out it's periwinkle! It's so purty, I wanted to stick this picture in anyhow.

(4)

Chickweed?? Queen Anne's Lace?? It's about - 2-3ft tall.

(5)

This is a tree, but the flowers look almost the same as the ones in the above picture.  Hey, maybe that one's just a baby tree.

(6)

What the heck is THIS one?? What (other than roses) has thorns?? These badboys popped up in the middle of the side yard - there are about 10-12 of them, and the are about 3ft tall.

(7)

This is the so-called "Tulip Tree" thats in a bush form. I haven't seen any flowers, but it DEFINITELY doesn't look like the Tulip Tree in my plant ID book.

(8)

And another picture of the whole "bush".  I have a tree with the same leaves too.

(8a)

I had a few wee difficulites with convincing the camera to focus on this one, and didn't feel like reading the book. It reminds me of hops, about a foot tall.

(9)

And this one - I've no clue, but the little spiky things are pretty cool. It's tiny, about 3-5 inches tall.

(10)

Any ideas, yall??