Building a vegetable garden

Tags

garden patch, postaday2015, sunlight, vegetables

      

I haven’t planted a vegetable garden in ages; I think the last time that I planted tomatoes had to be over five years ago. The reason I am doing it this year is because we had two trees taken down, they had been doing very poorly and so now I have a brand new direct sun filled area, perfect for planting a vegetable garden.

I remember twenty years ago, when we had just moved in to the house, the concrete pad right behind my gorgeous rose bush hadn’t been poured yet, it was an empty plot of dirt, perfect for a vegetable patch. I had borrowed my mother-in-law’s tiller and tilled the soil, I had planted rows of peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and herbs. I had a fairly nice tomatoe harvest, but everything else was disappointing, if only because my patch didn’t have enough hours of direct sunlight. My one eggplant was maybe three inches long and my two peppers were adorable minature peppers.

This year I hope to have a lot more success with the new placement, so that is why I bought a bunch of tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, yellow squash, one eggplant and several cucumbers. I hope that I didn’t get too excited or too ambitious. lol

I don’t know if you noticed, but at the end of the garden patch, I have an entire back row of blueberry bushes planted, this is a first and I am crossing my fingers that they take and produce at least a handful of blueberries this summer, if only to compliment the abundance of wild strawberries I have ripening throughout my backyard.
In other news, my new lavender is pushing up blossoms and my rose bush is ablaze in roses, it smells heavenly outside.

   
 

Longer days are here, hooray!

Tags

postaday2015, rosemary, sunlight, weather

My husband and I were out and about and when we were driving back home, I glanced at the clock on the dash and it was 4:55 pm as we pulled into our driveway and the sky was still the prettiest shade of light blue with a gorgeous gradation of pink to deeper pink right on the horizon framed with the mountains in the backdrop; it was such a shot in the arm to see that daylight was lasting longer.

The pictures that I took of my rosemary plant that is residing in my bedroom were from the moment that we returned home at 5:00 pm and you can see the daylight right outside my window. You can also see that my rosemary plant has grown since the summer when I brought it in to winter it until next spring.

If you look at both pictures, you can tell that despite the cold weather, we do keep it on the cool side in the house, my rosemary plant has grown and it seems happy where it is this year, as opposed to the other years where I kept it in the dining room. The hibiscus plants and the bougainvillea don’t mind being wintered in the dining room, but for reasons that I don’t understand, the rosemary never liked it there. My bedroom apparently is where it feels the love. I am more than happy to accommodate it and my bedroom smells quite nice as a result so everyone is happy.

Now this is an Azalea!

Tags

beauty, blue sky, flowers, postaday2014, sunlight

This morning I was walking Jack to Astoria Park and I had to stop and take pictures of the sky; the sheer blue of it was not just intense, but so clear, not a cloud to be found for as far as my eyes could see. After the past week of not just grey skies; but light grey skies, medium grey skies, dark grey skies and very angry grey skies, seeing all of the BLUE was such a beautiful and wondrous thing.

On the way back to my mother’s house, I did a double take because there not two blocks from her house was the biggest Azalea that I have ever seen in my life. It was absolutely magnificent.

It is days like today that give my heart hope and my soul with light. The darkness that lingers underneath is pushed further down by the infinite lightness that sun, clear blue skies and gorgeous blooms brings to my psyche. I felt such a strong need to share all of this beauty with you.

I have one complaint

Tags

depression, postaday2013, sunlight, winter blues, WordPress, writing

Yes I have a complaint. I do my best to not complain because there are way too many people in this world who live very difficult lives and I am blessed with everything that my family and I have, including Jack. My complaint is that it is getting dark earlier already, Nooooooooooooooo. One of the best pasts of spring and summer is the extended days that we get to enjoy and it is way too early to start seeing the decrease in daytime hours. It is starting to feel like hibernation time, I’m not ready!!!!!

I love thinking about baking pumpkin and apple pies, I love thinking about making butternut squash soups, broccoli soups and potato and leek soups. The prospect of stews and using my slow cooker is making my mouth water, all these things are very welcome. I just wish that I wouldn’t be making these in a twilight setting.

So yes in the grand scheme of things, my complaint is pretty laughable, but in my defense I have noticed that I am prone to depression when daylight becomes scarce. I definitely do fall victim to the winter blues, and even though I try to fight against it by not dwelling on the darkness and dismal days, that is when baking and cooking come into play, it is hard to keep myself upbeat for months at a time, the earlier nightfall comes week after week. For those who don’t experience depression, it’s more than just keeping a stiff upper lip or getting over it, there are a few strategies that work to help combat depression but sometimes those are just not enough. For me my surrounding environment plays a part and that is why I do dread the coming months of early night.

I am going to use WordPress to keep myself occupied and distracted by other people’s writing and stories, along with my baking and cooking, (sniff, sniff no more gardening). So that is my complaint, nothing earth shattering which in and of itself is a good thing, but a complaint nevertheless.