Tag: raised beds (Page 5 of 8)

Garden Progress

March 14, 2012 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Wow, it’s been warm here! I’ve been working hard over at my garden, and this sunny, 70-degree weather day after day is fantastic! In Colorado, March brings absolutely anything, weather wise — 3 feet of snow or 75 degrees, though more commonly it’s somewhere in between. But what a luxury to have this warmth to make the outdoor work much more enjoyable!

Yesterday I got almost everything planted; the four main raised beds are seeded and the walls-o-water are up so that they can warm the soil for my tomato seedlings which are growing nicely in my kitchen window at home. I still need to amend the soil in the pots and on the south side raised bed, and get those planted.

So far I’ve planted:

parsley

cilantro

dill

arugula

cabbage, red and green

onions

scallions

beets

turnips

bok choy

lettuce

spinach

radishes

broad beans

leeks

…and still to be planted are cauliflower, romanesco cauliflower, carrots, kale, chard, garbanzo beans, and celery. Might throw in some peas, too.

And I accidentally discovered another side effect of my antibiotics — photosensitivity — which I’d read about and disregarded. Well. Don’t disregard it! It means that you burn more easily when out in the sun, but what they don’t tell you is that it’s not your garden variety sunburn (pun obviously intended), but instead it feels like you’ve rubbed Bengay, or that Icy-Hot cream, all over your body — and you can’t wash it off! Bwaa-haha! It’s the weirdest most unpleasant chemical-burn sensation; like your skin is freezing and burning at the same time. They call it a phototoxic reaction; sounds creepy, and it is. This sunburn actually makes me cold and shivery! It’s very weird!

I do see a sunscreen purchase in my near future; too bad, since I probably could use the vitamin D from all that nice sun time. Ah well!

So anyway, elsewhere in my folks’ yard, there are glorious crocus blooming and the yellow-blossoming cornelian cherry bush is in bloom now! Spring has sprung!! And if we get some moisture pretty soon, things will green up in a flash. I can’t wait! I love winter — I love all the seasons — but I’m always ready for each one as it approaches. So I’m ready for winter to be over now, and for spring to arrive!

Does it feel like spring where you are?

*****

Busy getting ready for Spring!

March 9, 2012 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

It’s been a busy week!

Lots of garden work and preparing for spring seed planting which I’ll do either tomorrow or Monday; the weather has been so cooperative it’s been wonderful! It really feels like spring now, and it’s around this time that my eyes start craving greenery — though that won’t happen for a little while yet.

Here are pictures of just a few of the many things happening around the garden:

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We’re adding more raised beds to my parents’ backyard so we can grow even more vegetables!! Here’s one of the spots ‘before’:

And ‘after.’ My mom and I had fun doing this raised bed project together!

And tomorrow I’ll fill them up; I’ll be making lasagna beds which, in my experience, is a fantastic way to make some really awesome soil for your raised beds. I’ll have to do a post about that!

At the helm of her ship.

Building a raised bed, (c) The Herbangardener

Building a raised bed for the other site...

That one lives here now.

Raiding neighbors' recycle bins at twilight for cardboard and newspaper for the lasagna beds.

Oh, and this is cool — our local health food store will save their produce scraps for your compost heap if you ask them. So Mom and I picked up a nice bag of them yesterday in preparation for use in the lasagna beds. Yay!

They look pretty good for so-called scraps!

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Tomato seedlings, (c) The Herbangardener

Tomato seedlings in the window

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Bed time now… tomorrow’s a big garden day! I hope you have a wonderful weekend~

*****

In Garden Mode!

February 22, 2012 / Lindsey / 7 Comments

Man, these past few days have flown! I’ve been in almost an altered state, with a one-track mind focused solely on this year’s vegetable garden. There are big bags of dirt in our kitchen, and open seed catalogs have littered the living room floor like banana peels waiting to snag unsuspecting passerby (sorry honey!).

There’s been much reading, researching, figuring, dreaming, decision making, studying of past garden notes, and starting of seeds. The energy, enthusiasm, and time that seemed absent last year are all right here in front of me to be feasted upon — and I am feasting.

Yesterday I bought seeds for a couple fun last-minute additions to the garden plan — leeks and romanesco cauliflower — and today my mom & I got seeds for a few more things that’ll be new to the garden this year too — tarragon, bok choy, and onion seed (I’ve always grown my storage onions from sets in the past).

I also counted up that I have 37 different varieties of tomato seed. Lest you think that’s excessive, let me tell you that it takes great and continuous restraint to not buy more! But it’s already hard enough choosing only 16 varieties for the garden…

Yesterday I started all my wall-o-water tomatoes as well as my cabbage, romanesco cauliflower, regular cauliflower, yellow bell peppers, and leeks in their seed tray over a heat mat. That was a good accomplishment.

And today, even though my main spring planting time is still a few weeks away, I planted some radishes in the wall-o-water I had set up a couple weeks ago, along with some arugula in the open space next to that. I’ve found that walls-o-water are a great way to sneak in an early crop of radishes, which are in and out before it’s time to put the tomatoes in.

It felt great to get my hands into that cold, fragrant Earth.

They’re calling for snow tomorrow, and I think it’ll be a good day to get the broad beans started, and then come back down to earth a bit by going over my moneymaking work and preparing for a Friday meeting.

I hope you’re all having a nice week. And tell me — what’s currently going on in your own garden??

*****

This Week: Harvest Time!

October 27, 2011 / Lindsey / 8 Comments

Vegetable Harvest 2011, (c) The Herbangardener

The last of the harvest, not including celery. I'm holding the biggest potato of the year -- 1.2lbs!

It was harvest time this week! Monday was the day; snow was predicted for Wednesday, and Monday was an incredible 80°! How very perfectly the weather worked out this year; usually I’m out there harvesting in the freezing drizzle, my half-frozen fingers moving in slow motion. Not this year! I was prancing around the garden in bare feet and shorts ‘n’ T-shirt, clippers and shovel in hand, the air warm and golden with leaves. It was a true pleasure to be out working in the garden that day.

Here are some pictures from the day:

All in all, it was a below-average garden year. I’ve definitely had much more plentiful harvests in past years, and we missed our usual avalanche of tomatoes, but I felt OK with less because it matched my energy level. I was actually glad to not be overwhelmed with produce; it would have been too much for me this year.

And then on Wednesday, as predicted, we woke up to several inches of snow! How funny, I was cooking quinoa in my solar oven on Monday, and then making snow ice cream on Wednesday!

And tucked in amongst harvest day and our snowstorm, I had a spinal tap. Yuck! It wasn’t exactly awful, but it was a strange experience and I almost passed out a couple times during and after it!

For anyone who has to have one in the future, here’s what I would tell my patient if I were their nurse.

Getting a spinal tap: you could compare it to a blood draw. It’s kind of unpleasant, and it’ll probably be a bit uncomfortable…and it feels weird…but it’ll be over soon enough. It’s important to hold yourself in the right position. The doctor will put you in a fetal position…hold that pose, but remind yourself to relax and breathe.

The doctor will first feel your spine and mark where the needle should go in. Then your lower back will get cleaned three times with iodine. You’ll get two shots of lidocaine — one just under the surface of your skin, the other one further into your back. They don’t hurt much other than the sting of getting a shot. Then the doctor will insert the spinal needle; to me this is the worst part. Try not to picture what’s going on and take your mind to your favorite place if you can. You won’t feel pain, but it’ll be uncomfortable pressure and then a ‘pop’ sensation and a give. You might feel a dull ache down your back at this point. It takes several minutes for the spinal fluid to drip out of the needle into the collection tubes, but the worst part is over. Try to focus your mind on someplace nice, and breathe.

They’ll remove the needle but you probably won’t feel that at all. They’ll put a band-aid on, and probably draw a couple vials of blood from your arm, and have you slowly get up as you feel ready; take your time. It might help to have a water bottle or some juice or a little snack with you.

Have someone drive you home. Plan to take the rest of the day, and the next, to recover; avoid doing anything strenuous. Drink lots of fluids to replace your spinal fluid; they say caffeine helps prevent a possible post-lumbar-puncture headache, but if you don’t like caffeine (I don’t), don’t do it. Just hydrate and hang low.

I felt very fragile after the procedure, and had a substantial backache for the rest of the day. I never got the big headache some people do because of the lowered spinal fluid pressure. I drank lots of liquids and stayed in bed the rest of the day, and the next day too.

And today, Thursday, I’m totally recovered and the spinal tap is a distant memory. Now I want to dig out our DVD of that hilarious mockumentary, This is Spinal Tap, about the fictional rock band!!

*****

Movie Time! Garden Tour + Afternoon Thunderstorm

September 3, 2011 / Lindsey / 6 Comments

I was relaxing over at my parents’ house yesterday after a meeting, and decided to take you on a little garden tour! In addition to the utterly scintillating subject matter, the tour features two bonus soundtracks — Ambulance Siren and Thunder: