nine

Exciting day today, recieved my shipment from  Holland Bulb Farms.  Exciting until I starting going through it and noticed that two of the items I ordered are just bags of dirt. No plant. These things happen - I've contacted them & I'm certain they'll resolve the issue.  More about those once they are planted :)  In other gardening news, the garden tub is moving right  along. It's been 9 days since the last pictures and there's quite a difference in the plants.   

Tomatoes

Basil

Cucumber

Cilantro

Audrey III

More pumpkins

These plants never cease to amaze me.  I still can't believe I've grown all this stuff from seeds - I am someone who has killed many a cacti in my life!  The weather just needs to behave so I can start beautifying the yard instead of the bathtub.  Poor Shawn, there's about to be some bulbs in the refrigerator...  

Right next to the nail polish!

Meow

Rocks Ann has always been a very photogenic cat.  

She was eyeballing the new crystal in the window... until she realized I was on my way outside.  

Even Forrest is eager to  go out he enjoys watching the wildlife.  There was no need for the kitties to supervise my actions - I just went out to plant the spiderwort.  While digging  through the flower bed, I discovered a forgotten squirrel snack.  The first of many, I'm sure.  

Aw, nuts

Well, it's been a few days since I've been able to post.  The power went out last night and Monday night I was unable to save any posts for whatever reason.  Weekend went by very quickly - volunteered at Helen Krause shelter in Dillsburg on Friday night.  One of my buddies, Chandler was adopted since the last time I was there...  I'm sad I won't get to see him any more BUT he's got a new home so I am very, very happy for him.  Of course there were a few newbies, too.  Here are the girls -

Megan

Meryl

Megan is extremely friendly and Meryl is so full of energy, lovely cats that I don't understand why anyone would want to give them up.  It makes me so sad to see all these homeless kitties, there are 40+ in the adult shelter where I volunteer, the main shelter is even bigger, plus there is another shelter filled with dogs.  I'm thankful they have all found HOKAFI.  

The weekend was spent on a variety of chores as well as hosting dinner for Shawn's mom to celebrate her birthday.  Also took some plants to my friends new apartment - both indoors & out.  Yesterday I planted the spiderwort & checked out some of the flower beds.  I had initially thought that only one lily was coming back, but was delighted to see that there are others out there!  I'm hoping that they all made it through the winter, and no bulbs ended up as squirrel snacks.

Improving the view

I decided to plant the daffodils that my friend dug up for me along with the Tête-à-Têtes from Daffodil Days.  Yesterday's rain made for easy digging today - most of the daffodils ended up beside the rocks along the driveway.  I'll be glad when the fresh dirt blends in a bit more and doesn't look like weird mulch.

the fungus among us

Can I interest you in an old hot dog off a filthy roller with moldy signage?

Yum.

Feed me, Seymour!

I really am so glad that spring is here, and the crocuses are equally delighted.  The plants indoors are also doing quite well.  I am attempting to grow our garden from scratch this year, which ought to be interesting.   I started a number of plants in a Burpee kit as well as some in a Jiffy kit.  The Burpee kit is well worth the extra money, I had less than 5 cells out of 72 that did not sprout....  the Jiffy kit only sprouted in 2/3 of the cells.  Even more interesting, after I transplanted everything out of the Burpee kit - 3 more seeds sprouted!  Of course the plants couldn't spend their entire lives on the counter so they got moved...

Directly into the bathtub.  But it is a garden tub so it seems appropriate.  I know, I'm kind of a hillbilly but I tell you what it makes a fine greenhouse, and the styrofoam cups make marvelous planters!  There are currently 16 pepper plants (4 varieties), 6 tomato plants (2 varieties), a LOT of pansies, butterfly weed, daisies, snapdragons and bachelor's buttons, 7 cucumbers, some chives, catnip, basil, dill, cilantro, parsley, 2 pumpkins and two BIG MAX pumpkins.  That would be what the monster plant in the lower right is.  Audrey III, if you will.

Close up of the fangs:

Seriously that thing grows at an alarming rate.  One morning it will be a scene out of Little Shop of Horrors.  I am thrilled to see it grow so much even if it is a little creepy, and I hope that it lives up to the Big Max name.  Seems like Audrey III is on the right path to producing a 100 pound pumpkin!  

The regular pumpkins are trying to catch up:

So are the cucumbers:

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tub, peppers work on their second set of leaves:

While the neighboring tomatoes just go crazy.  

In the background are salsa tomatoes, with the Supersteak Hybrid up front.  

Most fruits off these bad boys weigh in at 2 lbs.  Now that's a tomato!  I've started watering the seedlings via spray bottle on a daily basis.  It's really working out quite well, I think the plants like it better than the occasional blast from a watering can.  Also it makes for some neat water droplet-y pictures.

Hopefully with all of these tomatoes and peppers I'll be able to make some super fresh pico de gallo, especially since I've got some cilantro growing.

Hopefully I will be able to contain everything in the bathroom until it's time to plant stuff outdoors!

Spring has indeed sprung

It is officially spring as of this past Sunday.  In celebration I crafted some markers for the veggie garden.  The inspiration came from several lovely products on Etsy and I spent a fraction of the price on 3x as many markers!  16 various sized tarnished silver plated spoons off eBay - some varnish & archival quality markers from Michaels and it was time to start my garden markers.

 

I flattened each one with a hammer on a metal workbench.

After consulting the seeds & seedlings I used the archival markers to doodle little veggies on scrapbook paper and glued it to the spoon. I'm no Van Gogh but they're cheery little suckers:

The beans are indeed purple.  We're growing green, yellow, and purple beans along with orange peppers, "carnival mix" peppers that include ivory & purple, and our radishes are sort of inside out.  

Such an oddball little garden we'll have.  

The lot of spoons included 3 very small spoons, and since my lovely BFF enjoyed the markers I crafted her a set of herb markers for her plants:

Naturally, my mother was highly impressed with my fly spoon smooshing skills and demanded her own set.  Since I love my mother dearly, Shawn and I went to the flea market in search of spoons.  He found a matching set of 10 (5 small & 5 large) for the low low price of $5 so I made my mom a set for her garden:

I must admit my mom's pumpkin marker looks much better than mine and the peas turned out pretty damn cute.  Both of our sets need onion & lettuce markers - they will be finished and varnished by the end of the week.  The varnish no longer sprays for some reason so the remaining markers are on hold until I get a new can.  I'm also trying out regular clear coat on a tester (strawberry) marker so I may not be using the craft varnish - we shall see.  At any rate I think the finished product turned out well and I'm eager to see how they hold up to the outdoors.

Forrest, on the other hand, is unimpressed.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Let's pretend I posted this round abouts the fourteenth of last month.  So either a very belated happy hearts day to you, or an extremely early greeting for 2012.  Mostly I just wanted to share this cute basket - enjoy :p