2012 Garden

What a gorgeous long weekend we had.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, and it was time to get the vegetable garden and the herb garden planted.  I keep it really simple for now, although eventually I would like to do more.  So in terms of vegetables, I will have a TON of tomatoes... we eat them like mad around here, especially in the summer when we can get them fresh.  I will have tomatoes GALORE!  If I find I am drowning in tomatoes when they ripen, I may just have to sell some!  I also decided to try out planting some leeks this year, although I am concerned they may not quite make it due to a *ahem* "mishap" with the lawnmower.  Although since the roots of the leeks are still fully intact after said mishap, I am hoping they will still pull through :D  The picture below shows a portion of the vegetable garden... after this picture was taken, I also added some eggplants, and will also be planting lettuce once I buy the seeds.

My herb garden is mostly planted in a very large container.  This year I have garlic chives, estragon (sorry, don't know the English term so it's the French name), standard basil, dwarf basil, creeping thyme, curled parsley, coriander, sage, and I'm trying to grow some garlic too.  

I also am attempting to grow lavender again this year.  I used to have a gorgeous, HUGE lavender plant in my back yard that also fell victim to... yes... a lawnmower "mishap"... totally not my fault!  since then, I have had the worst luck with lavender, but that was trying to grow it in a container in the house... just can't seem to do it. so this year I bought 3 lavender plants and will plant them in 3 different places on my property.  Hopefully they will all do well... I will be happy if at least 1 of them survives.

Ow, ow, ow!!!!

My whole body is in a state of protest... it's bitching at me about the amount of manual labor I put it through doing some gardening today. I originally planned to devote about 30 minutes to work in the garden, but I lost track of time. So 30 minutes became 2-1/2 hours without me even realizing it. Despite my aching muscles, I am very pleased with what I accomplished today.
Unfortunately, today's gardening has seriously aggravated a problem I've had for a few months now with my wrist. I can no longer avoid going to the doctor about it; I'm sure it'll require an X-ray....grrrr.

Rambles and Miscellany

So I've pretty much been in deep-hibernation mode for the better part of this winter! I celebrated Yule and Christmas at Mom's. My sister and her husband were in from Michigan, and I wanted to spend as much time with them as I could, so the kids and I stayed at Mom's for about a week and a half. The kids and I returned to our house on December 28th, which is when my deep winter "slumber" really kicked in. Since Dec. 28th I've only been away from my home a total of 4 times - and only because those outings were for Dr. appointments, and to help Zach with a presentation at school!

The good news is that despite the fact that Old Man Winter is still holding on tight, I am starting to feel like a human being once again (as opposed to feeling like a big, grumpy grizzly bear). I think my Spring Fever has started to kick in a little prematurely -- I'm dying to be able to get started with the gardening. I would like to start some more seeds indoors, but I really don't have a suitable place with adequate lighting to keep the flats. Eventually, I'd like to get a proper shelving unit designed for incubating seeds and young seedlings. But for now, I need to either come up with a creative (inexpensive) solution, or wait until it's safe to plant the seeds directly outdoors.