Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Seattle- Day 4: Dirty & Loving it!


Yay for gardening! I called my sister down and depressed today, but she inspired me to get started with news of her newest post! Presents from Mom?! How lucky :) But I also received a package today. My very own "Bountiful Container" book! And it even came a day early. I, like my sister, super love packages (and yes, I knew this one was coming). But now I have some support in knowing what I'm doing is right...ish. So with a new post from Devon and a new book of knowledge in-hand it began!

First things first. I had to mount those hangy-things on to the wrought iron patio wall (fence?) so I could save some floor space and hang up my long window box. So, I got this thing I thought would work from
Home Depot. And then I opened it and realized I'm crazy it won't work. See?!

But then I realized, I must be really tired, because I just need to move it down! Slight oversight, huh? Haha. I hope that doesn't set the tone for my gardening issues. So I got it mounted. And it looks great!
It's good to be proud of yourself, even over the little things.

Next?

I cleaned out all of my pots of the old soil and dead plants (not cause I killed them, but because they died). I tossed the rocks I'd lined the bottom with and kept the soil. I watched this great show (the name escapes me) on HGTV that said you can just mix last years soil with new soil and get some more use out of it. So, I did just that and I ended up with a whole bag of soil!

That's one less bag I have to buy, which is awesome. I filled another bag with yard waste (twigs and roots from last year's dead plants). They were HEAVY. That is why, as an urbanite (I'm an urbanite!!), you should get an old lady cart. As you can see, mine came in SUPER handy because I was able to wheel my yard waste down to the bin the garage. Thank you, Seattle, for requiring a compost/yard waste bin in every residence! And then I was able to bring up the fresh soil and tomato cage from the car.
So, after cleaning out the pots, I set up the pots how I thought they'd look best and began filling. A bit of old
soil, a bit of new and then hand mixed them. But then I started losing daylight, so I couldn't plant any of my seeds. Which actually is ok, I'm going to study up in my new book to make sure I do it right. And just in time, because it just started raining again.

Oh! Sidenote! Matthew (the fiance) is coming home this weekend instead of me going out to Moses Lake so the garden planting (of blueberries to mint) will be done this Sunday!!! I'm so excited! Wish me luck, I'll keep you posted. Get it?! POSTED! Hahaha!

2 comments:

  1. Yay sister! This looks marvelous. Glad we have our gardens to keep us cheery. Miss u.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dina- Never fear you are getting a box of goodies too. In fact you will have two boxes coming because I had a little senior moment & forgot to put everything in. Sorry, Devon, she gets an extra box -- same stuff though! :-) Daddy is the shipping person and he thinks its funny that I am sending stuff that you could buy at the Lowes -- well maybe he just thinks I have gone overboard! So what's new?! LOL Grandma & Auntie Lou are following your blog too! Now that Grandma is back in Carbondale after her long 4 months in FL we will have to get some plants and get caught up with you girls! Love you both & keep up the fine gardening!

    ReplyDelete