56 Tom Tags

Oh my aching fingers! I just used a
ball point pen to emboss 56+ copper
tomato tags (goey black ink galore)!
Two sadly never made it Livingston
Perfection and the Russian Oxheart.

Day 1 - What a great day the first day in always is!

The rhubarb looks good - so does the garlic.
... darn thistle though (I'll let it grow a little more & collect it for tea) ... it always bites me no matter how far away from it I get I always seem to back into it.

I planted one raspberry cane last Fall and two raspberry canes today

(thank you Lyn)! ... there's a hole waiting for the soaking Tayberry.

Thought the daffodil needed a drink too (after I knocked it sideways

with a tomato stake so I had to pick it & bring it home for my table :)

I told Mom about my Tayberry planting. She mentioned that her grandfather

had planted it on their farm - the farm that had burned to the ground - the one

where everything was lost - no nobody died but it was one of the family's defining

moments ... they called them black raspberries and her Dad used to always try to

get to the berries before any of the kids could (oftentimes they beat him to it -

but sometimes to their utter dismay they would happily arrive and find it bare)!

Marilyn from Lot 60 passed by my gate on her way home after toiling away for

the whole day in her beautifully manicured garden and asked if I'd like all of the

rest of her tiny pea seedlings. I've had such poor luck with peas so I was thrilled!

Thank you Marilyn - here they are all tucked safely into their new pea bed. But I

was lazy and naive and foolish - believing it would rain at midnight like predicted.

It's morning and I've just gotten up and looked out the window - no rain - I turned

the television on and now I am foolishly expecting rain again - it's due any moment

now ... Burlington's been hit already and blah blah blah (lesson learned) ... ?

Catch of the Day

Ahhh - now I will rest (or not) ... the umbrella looks like a rabbit - BLAaaahhHHhhH!

Well here's a little more entertainment ... not that you are

amused by the same things I'm amused by but ... here goes

... it's the biggest bee I've ever seen in my life ... & it almost

flew right into my camera lens while I was filming it's debut!

... not to mention that I then thought it was going to fly right

up the leg of my pants so I got shaky and hit the stop button.

I'm off to the allotment now

... but before I go, this just caught my eye because I happen to have planted Thai Basil and a number of other plants on the Plan Bee List

... see you later!

all potted up

My shelf is the top one.  I spent half the day potting up seedlings into larger containers.  My plants are doing really well so far.  Best year ever!   Below are some of potted up plants I'm taking home to baby in south-facing windows!

maybe I'll buy the monkey tomorrow

Today I got outside onto the roof after watching 5 hours of the Ten Commandments - intermittently - and planted a big pot of two types of arugula, a pot of nasturtiums and spinach and a pot of mixed lettuces I picked up in Whole Foods in Portland last year.

The chives are up and the sage looks like it's come back bigger and better than ever

   

(and I think I have some big onions)!

I think my strawberry plant looks ok.  In the pot on the right, I planted some Renee's Electric Blue Sweet Peas I just got at Fiesta Farm Nursery yesterday.

Oh - and I potted up a little 6-pak of Thai Basil as well - I don't know what happened to my Lemon Basil that I thought I bought ... looks like maybe I'll have to go back for that tomorrow ... and maybe I'll buy the monkey (hook)!

I didn't buy the monkey

I went with Barry and Gayla to Fiesta Farms and we poked around a bit and came away with a few things.  Gayla was all about the Victorian-coloured, pale, frail as tissue, petunias and whisker-faced little violas; Barry got some red nasturtiums with inky black splotches and I got a Tayberry cane (half raspberry half blackberry).  I told my Mom I got it and she said, "Oh that's going to just go crazy in your garden - you'll have to be careful!"  I can't wait!  I got a few packages of seeds as well.  Some spinach with a surprise extra freebie ... parsnips!  I got some Lime Basil and Thai Basil.  I almost bought a little monkey (now I am very upset with myself that I didn't get it)!  Really UPSET!  It was a little barrel of monkey's-type metal hook that hangs off of a pot and you could hang another pot (with a handle off of) ... not a real monkey!



I went to Lee Valley afterwards because I had to return some stuff for the greenhouse and I got some peanuts.  I don't know what I was thinking because it says on the package that you have to air dry them and then roast them ... I'll have to research this and add it to my To Do List now - as though it isn't already right out of control.  I also got a little bucket with an apron around it that was on sale ... probably because it's a bucket with an apron around it and it's kind of stupid.  But I think I'll be able to use it and it will be kind of practical.  I wish I'd gotten the monkey instead of the peanuts.  Isn't that always the way - sometimes!  It reminds me of barrel of monkeys and my brother used to play with them - they were like his friends.  I'm pretty sure he used to talk to them.  At the time I was thinking of getting it for my boss/co-ordinator because of the One Minute Manager idea where you try to figure out whose monkey something is and then you try to get the 'monkey off your back' ...

After all the shopping I headed over to the greenhouse with my tray of plants that needed to be repotted. I thought I'd brought my chart with what was what but I didn't so I repotted it all up using coloured straws not knowing exactly what anything was other than same coloured straws are now in with similar plants!   I hope they're happy.  I gave them each a little poop.  Mushroom Poop?  That doesn't sound right ... maybe it wasn't poop afterall.  Compost.  That's it.  Mushroom Compost.   Oh Boy - you don't want to see the tray I left at the greenhouse.  It was a real mess ... no straws ... just plants!

Someone please give me a clue!