Scenes From the Weekend

Sorry for the horrible iPhone picture. I was excited!

We had a CRAZY busy weekend. It all started on Friday with a trip to Lowe's to pick up trellis, yard tools, and bags and bags of manure and mulch. We've tried the green-waste facility's compost and it was "eh", so we decided this year we'll try bagged.

Ben got all of the beds tilled and turned with manure and the compost we had left from last year.  Doesn't it look pretty? We found a TON of worms! Every shovelful had at least 3. That made me so happy! Our dirt is finally starting to have life!

I marked out my beds with an extremely high tech method of using a yardstick to scribe 12" squares. We're all about the crazy technology here...

Another high-tech tool was used for making holes... A wooden screwdriver from a long gone play set. It works fantastically well! I think I'll keep it around. 

All in all I planted onions, shallots, cilantro, beets, chard, spinach, lettuce, and cosmos. This week I will plant radish, green beans, probably more chard and lettuce, and whatever else I can think of that doesn't need the hotter temps of summer.

We are *supposed* to get lots of rain this weekend. Please please pray that it happens. We desperately need it!

About two weeks ago I started seedlings for tomatoes and peppers. My seeds are really old - the youngest being ones I ordered last year, most are three years or more. But I had good germination success on everything but the hot peppers. So I'll buy new seed and restart those. Come to find out I'm crazy late with the seed starting (I'm still trying to get this whole timing thing down). But I figure since we have such a long growing season, it's all good. I know I promised you a post on how I start seeds. It's coming, but since this is the Year of Not Stressing Out, it will come when I'm able to get it done.

I just love the first little peek of a new seedling. It's like welcoming a precious new baby. So tiny and fragile, but full of so much life and possibility. 

And now the seedlings will have a new home! Ben slapped together a PVC greenhouse this afternoon and it's awesome! I found the idea on Pinterest, and he ran with it (he's good like that). 

 We picked up the pipe and fittings on our Lowe's trip, and he cut everything and fit it together (no glue) so that it folds up and down, sort of like a baby stroller hood. For anyone who wants to build something of the same design, hopefully  you can see from the picture how he put it together. He attached the widest frame to the wall with conduit straps, and the rest hangs free to move up and down as needed.

My sexy man. He'll probably kill me if he finds out I put him on the blog. Sorry babe! You're too hot to crop out. (Plus the floating hand would be awkward.)

I put my tomato seedlings under it this afternoon. Not sure if that was a good idea, or a bad one. But the only way to find out if something works is to use it! Plus if they die then that's just an excuse to go to my favorite nursery.

Happy Monday,
Meg