My mostly planted garden...

1 comments Posted by Kelly B at 9:56 AM Labels: ,



Here are some pictures of my new garden. I have flowers, herbs and veggies.  We planted 6 tomato plants, crookneck squash, rosemary, parsley, lavander, dianthus, and a few others. I still want to plant sage, cucumbers, and beans. Oh! And I think some basil. It should be really good. I still need to mulch, but that is all that I have left. I will do a little of that today, but I am still trying to stay out of the sun so it won't be until this evening. I will let you know how it turns out. I hope it works really good, but we shall see. Have a great Tuesday!!  

 

My clothesline is finally set up!!!

2 comments Posted by Kelly B at 12:34 PM Labels: ,

Yeah!! It only took... FOREVER!!!! I have been wanting to use this for quite a while. After a frantic search for the missing laundry rope, and my triumphant discovery, our first load is up. Yes, you have my permission to think me a strange cookie, but if we all tasted the same... where would the variety be? I want to plant something near the laundry line and against the house, but have no idea what. I have thought of lavender, but wonder about the bees. Anyone have any ideas?? 

I am just glad that is one more thing I can cross off my list!! :) Now I only have 3 or 4 more loads to do..... and that is just for today....

 

Just need to do more plantin'!

1 comments Posted by Kelly B at 6:42 AM Labels: ,




I finally got everything in the garden, now I just need to figure out what all I want in there. I know I want climbers that can climb on the chain link fence and I want it to be organic, so I will be researching companion planting a lot this week. I put in 3 marigolds already, and I know I want tomatoes, pole beans, bush beans, nasturtium, cabbage, lettuce, chives, basil, squash and egg plant (if I can manage them) but I make no absolute promises. I just know this will be a lot of fun. Really it depends on what started plants I can find around here. I waited too long to start a lot of it from seed. Next year it should all be from seed. Anyway, here is how it look planted with only 3 marigolds. Next weekend it should be fully planted. Now if I could just stop getting sunburns on top of my sunburns.... ;)

I get to string the clothesline today. I am really excited about this. Very Betty Homemaker of me, I know. That's ok cause I am a Betty Homemaker.... except I am a Kelly Homemaker. Why is it always a put down to refer to someone as a homemaker? Aren't our fondest memories frequently of someone who made a lovely home? Anyway.... lots of stuff to get done today. All this gardening and you now have to wade through my house. Oh well.... ;) Have a great weekend!!!

 

Our lasagna garden

2 comments Posted by Kelly B at 7:39 AM Labels: , ,


It was supposed to be so easy. And it is, really. The hardest part was digging in the wood border. Unfortunately, I thought I had enough dirt and compost. Haha!! Not quite. So today I have to go and get about another 12 bags of top soil and 6 bags of compost. At least I have enough peat moss. :) Here she lies so far. She is 18x6. Much bigger than in my mind. I am really bad about size. Still, it should be a lot of fun. I had better be going. I hafta get to Lowe's to buy more dirt and poop (my kids think that is crazy!!). Have a great day!! :)



 

A Week of Many Firsts

2 comments Posted by Kelly B at 7:41 AM Labels: , ,


This week has been crazy busy. I have not officially gotten over my first sunburn, but added to it yesterday by working on a lasagna garden. Yup, you guessed it. I was peeling last night. I have to chase my kids away from my neck... they won't leave me alone!! :) A lasagna garden is where you don't have to dig out the turf or rototill, you layer on right over the grass... newspaper, top soil, compost, sphagnum moss, other soil amendments. I haven't built a bed around here is a while because the old way is just too laborious for me. I can't throw my back out, I have the kids to take care of. I have heard nothing but good things about lasagna gardening, so we are setting one up for our vegetable garden. I will wait to plant until next weekend, or next week depending on rain. Frankly, I am tired and burnt. But we got the poles for the clothesline installed and most of the garden done. I only have about 12 more bags of top soil and 9 bags of compost to add. Plus the moss. Not bad though. It should go pretty fast. Certainly faster than the old school method. If this works, I will be doing beds all around my house this fall. So exciting....

Big news!! Michael sat in the wooden high chair for the first time this week!! Part of me is very sad and the other is very proud. He is the happiest baby ever. He smiles like the sun unless he is sick. Chloe is potty training. It started out REALLY rocky, but she has been in only panties the last two days with no accidents. She has only worn diapers at night and this morning she woke up dry, removed her diaper, put on her panties and went to the bathroom and went potty. I am one super proud Momma today. :) She sweetly requested a surprise for all her hard work. In a hushed whisper, she informed me she would like to be surprised with Burger KIng for lunch. It is the first time she has specified what she wants for her surprise. Kinda funny, me thinks!! :0 )
So, I will post pictures later today or tomorrow morning with the finished bed. Some pretty good Earth Day projects I think. I hope everyone is doing really well and had a wonderful last week!! I will try not to be gone so long this week.... 

 

One bed down!!!!

5 comments Posted by Kelly B at 4:05 PM Labels: , ,
















I finally got to one of the beds!! I didn't dig it up like I originally planned. I don't think it really needed it. I removed the gardenias. They never really bloomed. I would only get maybe 5 or 6 blooms. This spring they turned brown and yellow. I gave up. It was a beast to pull the out of the ground. For dead plants, they sure had a great root system. I was, however, the triumphant party.The boxwood by the japanese maple will be trimmed down into a small ball. I put a bird bath where one of the gardenias was and the other gardenia was replaced with a plant of unknown origin. Actually, I had the plant tag, but it has mysteriously disappeared and nobody knows anything about it. It is a form of ligustrum (maybe I spelled it right...) that should grow 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I also planted a little princess spirea (spiraea japonica 'Little Princess') and a variegated weigela (weigela florida 'variegata'). I will have to post pictures for those later. 
I had several helpers. Faith and Gabe have decided they want an allowance, so I told them we would pay them for doing things that are helpful to other people. I won't pay them to keep their rooms clean, they are required to do that. They are really excited and are very motivated and helpful kids right now. Of course, I keep hearing the question "How much do I get for that?".  They definitely earned their money today. I am very sunburnt right now, and my neck is very hot. It is a good thing I am used to sunburns or this would be pretty awful. 
Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a great Friday and have a wonderful weekend!! I will post more garden pictures tomorrow. We have a bbq to do now!! :) 

 

Kitchen Cabinet Ponderings....

5 comments Posted by Kelly B at 2:39 PM Labels: , ,

Have you ever felt like this? i am feeling so very restless today. If I had a bucket of paint today, I would feel so much better. Alas, it is not to be. I have the paint, but it is too humid to paint. With 5 kids, you have to really watch the humidity. If it takes too long to dry, well... you pretty much just set yourself up. My kids love to help decorate the cabinets. Crayons, markers, pens.... nothing is too creative for them. In the next coupla weeks we will be painting the cabinets. The only problem is we plan on moving in the next year or two. Should I go for the red anyway? It might hurt resale. I love the idea of black, but it might make the kitchen too dark. I just need to remember that it is only paint. If I need to repaint it before the selling of the house, then I do. No biggie there.It would probably be better to do it white for resale anyway. White, for me, is not really a color choice. At least not for now. Not with them as artistically inclined as they are. Maybe I should give in and paint them with chalkboard paint. Haha!! Boy would that be a great selling point!! :) We have lots of plans for this weekend, so I will be posting a lot more this weekend. Until then, my dears....;) 

 

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