A Bit Un-tamed... even for wildflowers

So I stopped by the old garden to see how the flowers were doing. The nasturtiums are doing well and I saw some clover in there but there is a ridiculous amount of grass in the bottom left area to the point that I'm wondering if they planted it.

Workouts and weekends

So this week has been a complete bust on the workout plan. Turns out I'm much weaker than I had thought.

The first day of the month was a Tuesday so according to the plan, that means 15 min bodyweight training. I did a few push-ups, a few sit-ups, some planking and when I just couldn't handle more without knowing I'd hurt myself... I looked at the timer to find only 5 min had gone by. Holy crud I'm out of shape. The next day I felt like I had bruised a rib somehow and I really wasn't in the mood for 45 min of vigorous dancing. Thursday I was dejected and headache-y. Friday... well Friday I just couldn't be bothered.

This week I took a Saturday shift for someone who wanted it off so Megan and I moved our date-night to Saturday night instead of Friday night. Then I found out that an old friend is in town (well, a few towns over) so we were going to hang out Sunday. Unfortunately his van broke down so he can't get here.

Now I'm sipping some hibiscus and rose-hip tea while I figure out what the new plan for today is. It's tasty hot with honey, but also awesome after it's cooled mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with lemonade. Another busy week but overall I'm happy.

Steeplechase

So sitting with a pen and paper I thought about the course ahead and what sort of hurdles I might encounter. Some were obvious as well as their solutions... others less so. The bold seem to be the best.

• Getting produce to customers may be an issue since I don't have a drivers licence let alone a truck.
1. I could just use a horse, but horses aren't allowed in city limits without circus permits.
2. I could get an electric scooter and cart, but that wouldn't hold much and would only go so fast making delivery a longer, harder process that may endanger fragile items.
3. I could get a business partner who drives.
4. I could get my licence and a vehicle.
• Although I have plenty of book learning, I don't have nearly enough hands on experience to be 100% confidant solo.
1. Go Woofing. 
• I'll need a lot more money then I currently have for land and start up costs. The set-up alone will be a big chunk and then I'll need operating capital for the first year till the food starts coming in.
1. Scrimp and save for the next 3 years. (Probably not enough)
2. Find an investor
3. Get help from the small business centre to apply for government loan and grant options.
• I don't know if I can physically do all the labour required by myself
1. Find a business partner
2. Rope friends and family into joining my on this adventure
3. Hire help (maybe later on when bigger?)

• I am a bit out of shape. I'll need to be fit to work effectively.
1. I'm going to use the No-S diet and a schedule of dancing and body weight exercises to get back into peak condition
• I'm going to need a rifle for wildlife control and emergency use
1. Get licence & train on use

That's about it for now but I'm sure I'll think of more later. Goodnight world and sweet dreams.

Packing and Pixels

Thanks to some old electronics boxes from Megan's work and a bunch of wine store boxes, I got plenty of packing done on the weekend, and now there's just a few odds and ends that need taking care of. Been keeping busy with work and getting all the stuff surrounding the move organised. Today I brought home another box of boxes from the wine store because if I don't use them all, my housemates surely will.

I've also been messing around with MSPaint stick people as a new blog has started to emerge from my brain called Miss-Overheard. The basic premise being that I overhear(and likely mis-hear) many things day to day and I try to recreate the silly places my brain goes with those snippets of conversation. I use red text to indicate what I though tI heard. the rest is pure fantasy. An example:

I try to keep it flowing at a steady every-other-day for now. I may be able to do more after the move.

Weekend Transformation

This weekend it was time to tackle the front yard. 

Perfect for gardening.

Obligatory Before Shot

Last fall we got London Landscape Inc. to tear up the overgrown lawn, put down some proper topsoil, and cover it all with landscape cloth to keep weed seeds out. It was completed on time and on budget and I was very pleased. Unfortunately the snowplough decided to tear a strip off the yard near the side-walk. Yay.

Friday on the way home I grabbed some Growers Cider cause I knew after a long day of gardening I was gonna want something sweet and cool to drink. Saturday I spent the morning poking around the house and after brunch around noon I got to work.

First thing to do was go out back to the shed for some tools. as I was opening the shed I heard something behind me and managed to take this pic over my shoulder without startling the lil robin.

So Cute!

The yard was going to need edging and stepping stones in order to look tidy and be functional. I started with the heavy stuff first(thank goodness). I lifted the landscape cloth I found a few surprise grass sprouts, then started digging a trench for the edging stones. Around the edge the new topsoil wasn't nearly as deep so I quickly hit what was out original soil. I packed the gaps with dirt and rocks to prevent run-off. 

Clay and sand are not the best soils.

Four done, plenty to go.

Grass has got to be my most disliked weed.

Last fall when London Landscape Inc was coming I dug out the rosebush meaning to keep it in the basement over winter.... It over wintered in the carport. I'm not 100% certain that it'll grow again but roses are insanely resilient (I had a bush trying to grow from a 1" clipping last year) so there's no harm trying. I burred it deep and watered it well.

This is all that can be seen of the poor rosebush I dug up in the fall and left in the carport.

At this point it was almost supper, rain was threatening and I was tired so I figured it was time to call it a day.

Borders complete, stepping stones placed, rose bush re-situated.

I put up my feet for a bit and enjoyed a cider before dinner. After Dinner, Meg and I cuddled on the couch and watched some TV. The cats slept nearby keeping us company.   :)

A well earned drink to relax with.

They're so cute when they're not fighting.

- - - - - ~ - - - - -

It rained Saturday night and I slept fairly well but woke up sore all over. I am SO glad that all I left was the planting. I settled the stepping stones a little lower in the soil for stability, made and anchored a trellis, and made a little... entry arch? near the porch to show the intent of the stepping stones and that they're not there just for some weird artistic reason.

I bought a nice blend of perennials and self-seeding annuals for the base/filler from West Coast Seeds. I bought a bunch of bulbs from the dollar store, and I still have a variety of various seeds from previous excursions into gardening. I wanted it to be a nice low to no maintenance garden. Other than watering I think the only work involved might be taking the dead nasturtium vines off the trellis in the fall. I didn't plant anything to... obviously food... in the front yard but there's some useful plants in with the just-for-decoration flowers.

I planted some helpful flowers like lavender, chamomile, and calendula. To most they'll just be pretty flowers but if the new renters know their herbs, they'll be happy to have them. I also planted the whole length of the neighbour's driveway with garlic and onions. If they're recognised they'll be tasty, if not, they'll be basic greenery with the occasional round flower ball. :)

Sunday morning from inside before I started.

All Done.

Now I know garden folk love progress pics and I will let you know when everything starts sprouting, but I'm moving in two weeks so I won't be back to take pics regularly... just occasionally. :)

Good Thing We Didn't Have Grass This Year eh?

I saw the plow tracks and the damage done, 

a little strip torn off of every lawn, 

ooh-oh the damage done again.

Week's end will be time.
Edging down, bulbs in, seeds sown.
Fingers crossed; no weeds.

Physical Shopping Spree

(I just realized how this looks but I'm not an affiliate and I don't get paid for anything. I'm just showing you what I got.)

Yesterday I did a lot of walking, and got quite a bit done. Megan was headed the same direction as I was so we shared a cab to the south end of town and I walked my errands and bussed home.

The route I walked.

First stop was the bank. I wanted a separate account for household expenses and I needed to switch my savings account to a TFSA. With that out of the way I walked north east to Sears and ordered our appliances for delivery. We chose these ones for several reasons including maintenance and reviews.

Kenmore 5.1 cu. Ft.

Eureka AirSpeed One Pet

Hamilton Beach 10-Cup

After sears I headed east again and by the time I hit Wellington I was starving so I stopped into a place called Dick and Jane Eggs and Fruits. The food was absolutely delicious.

Recharged, I headed south to PetSmart to get the cats Feline Pine Cat Litter and a High Sided Corner Litter Box. Unfortunately they didn't have the small bag of Feline Pine so I hauled the big litter box and the 20lb bag of litter from the southern most blue dot on the map to the bus stop marked by the red pin (about 1 km)....and then the 1.5 km(one mile) from the other bus stop to home.  My shoulders are fairly upset with me today and I don't really blame them; I haven't done any heavy lifting in more than a year.

Today? I've done very little other than poke around on the internet and a load or two of laundry. 

How's your weekend going?  :)

It Has Begun

Not bad for the first little stint of packing. 

Three boxes ready to go and one box for donations that's about a third full.

A New Year; A New Beginging

Soooo... It's been almost a year.

It's been so long in fact that I considered creating a new blog for this new chapter of my life. I've decided against that idea because I don't want the past efforts lost to time. I want to bring with me the memories and lessons of these past few years.

That being said, there is so much we have to catch up on before I can even start telling you about now, let alone the future. But there's time for that. I'm not leaving the city for at least two more years so we have all the time we need.

For now however, it's past 1 am and I should be asleep. Goodnight.

Fluffy

Well that didn't last long.

Stupid SMarch Snow 

Soggy

Rain has washed away almost all the snow and soaked the soil.

Fingers crossed for a better season this year.

Winter Returned

So the snow came back after some very cold days and blanketed everything. I'm hoping this coating will stay because we could use some build up. The neighbours have their backyard ice rinks and the river's starting to freeze along the banks. Winter seems to have finally come to stay.

I moved the aloe back into the window because it was getting pale in the center.

Looks like it's doing fine now and the  other plants in the front window seem to be doing okay.

Aloe's looking darker.

Lavender's thriving.

Chamomile good, Oregano still small.

Calendula pale, Sage small.

Chives weak but still holding on.

Over all they seem to be doing okay. Do you keep indoor plants? How do you keep them strong and healthy through the cold dark winter months?

Banana Bread Bites, Sort Of

I decided I was going to make bite-sized banana bread today. 

I found a nice gluten-free recipe on Shape.com and tweaked it to what I wanted/had available. I didn't want to use the cherries or raisins, and I did want to use mini chocolate chips. I had two bananas in the freezer waiting to be banana bread and I was a fool thinking I could do without the third. I swapped out buckwheat flour for rice flour and used potato starch instead of corn starch.  

Made a dozen normal size.and two dozen of the adorably teeny size. (lip balm for scale)

I'm not posting the changes I made as a new recipe because it came out really dry... like, butter or drink of milk needed to swallow dry. They're tasty, but Oh So Dry!. Next time I'm going to make sure to use all 3 bananas, and I'm going to mix the chips into the batter instead of sprinkling them on top.

Compost Update

There's not much to be done in a garden like mine while it's covered in snow...

but the compost always needs taking out. 

Obligatory before shot. Please note the multiple inches of snow, and the slight excavation in the centre.

Some critter had decided to dig for buried treasure but it wasn't very disturbed. I scraped off as much snow as I could before putting the kitchen scraps and used pine based cat litter down and covering it all with shredded newspaper. The cats were using the great outdoors as their litter box but it seems the cats have decided it's now too cold and snowy to go outside so they're using their litter again.

Yay me.

I moved one of the stick bundles and a log to the in-use pile as cover. It probably won't keep the snow off but it will keep the newspaper from blowing around and discourage digging.

You can see a bit of the snow layer left around the edges. 

BROWNIES!

I made these yesterday afternoon for desert with dinner.

I must say, they were very well liked.

I got the recipe for these lovely temptations from Chocolate-covered Katie. They are not only awesomely delicious, but are gluten-free(good for me) and full of good stuff like protein. I've written the recipe how I did it. For the original, click the link to Katie's blog.

Fluffy Blanket

It snowed a lot last night. 

There's at least a couple inches covering the garden and more drifted up against the compost.

Back Garden

So here's the idea on this one:

The beds with a diagonal line though them indicate a change of crop in the August-to-October-ish time of year. There's two kinds on cauliflower. One planted early in the spring that ripens in the summer/fall and another we're planting in the fall to overwinter and produce very early next spring. 

As you know from This Post , the garlic is already in bed 4 and should be ready in summer/fall. Bed 9 was WAY too wet for the carrots, onions and tomatoes planted there last year because of the rain barrel run off flooding it off and on. This year we're using it as a pollinator attractor and moving the hosta from the front garden where it got sun burned to this less exposed spot. The zuchini we're planting isn't the standard vine. It's called Ambassador and actually grows up on a central stalk.

Close ups of the beds:

Beds 1 and 3

Beds 5 and 7

Beds 2 and 4

Beds 6 and 8

Bed 9

What do you think?

Front Garden

Remember how I said the last one was a rough draft... well I meant it.

Here's the latest version and I think this is the one that will stick.

 Re-do of front yard plan with list of herbs for spiral and raspberries along fence.

Here's what that means:

Rough Plan for Front Yard

Now do keep in mind this is a ROUGH plan that isn't exact in placement or sizes. The border of the yard is measured and the rest is sketched in in approximate sizes and spacing. Megan says it looks like a face.

North is up. The front yard is bordered on the west by the walkway to the front door and beside that our driveway, on the north by the house, on the east by the neighbour's driveway, and on the south by the sidewalk that runs along our street. It's about 8-9 feet wide depending on where you measure and about 16 feet long from sidewalk to house.

The paths in the garden are marked by XXXX and are about two feet wide. The cross-hatch against the house indicates a lattice to trellis the wisteria and roses. The wisteria has a ? because I need to gather more info on it before committing. The very south edge of the yard will have common self-seeding annuals and some perennial bulbs. I'm hoping for this section to need the least care and to announce to the neighbourhood that this is a garden, not a random mess of "weeds".

If you don't know what a herb-spiral is or why you'd want one check out this lovely post by Antony at The Kale Yard. The cross hatch pattern at the north side of the herb spiral indicates a small frog pond/wetland area that can be used to grow watercress.

I haven't decided what's going where for most of the plants. Where it says "low ground cover plants" could be anything from forget-me-nots to creeping thyme. The keyholes might turn into something else entirely like Tripod supports for climbers... but here it is. :)

Have you got your 2013 plans started?