My Mom's Blog

Hey everyone.  I'm super excited because my mom has started blogging... it seems like only yesterday she was learning to text.  Aww, they grow up so fast. Hehe!

Yes, this is my same mother who feeds and waters birds, squirrels, blue jays, raccoons, cows and coyotes - in that order.  (Timeline of My Mom's Critters)  Her blog is about her garden (of course).  She wrote her second post today and it's about her cactus that she has been trying to grow for 2 years.  This year, it finally started to bloom for her.  She has been nuts about it since it's first flower.

Whenever I see my mom, which is almost everyday, she pesters me non stop about taking pictures of her new favorite plant - it changes almost daily. So, we made a deal.  I would take a picture of any plant, or worm, or compost pile that she wanted, as long as she wrote a blog about it. Looks like she upheld her end of the bargain!

You can check her out here at NanasGardenBlog.blogspot.com.

Broc a Lot!

This Summer weather has been doing wonders for my garden! My broccoli is not only confirmed at broccoli, but it's getter bigger and bigger every day! I have to say that so far, the broccoli is my biggest success.

This gardening season has been full of ups an downs for me. A few time in the last couple of months, I've wondered what the heck I was even trying to accomplish. Yesterday, Caleb ate snow peas fresh off the plant. He didn't even have to drown them in dressing. For dinner he picked up a piece of cauliflower and said, "Oh! Broccoli!" and gobbled it up. Close enough for me!

What I wanted from this garden was a way for Caleb and I to spend time together outside. It was supposed to be a little project we could do together. I was also hoping that it would get him to eat more veggies. At the very least, my green has accomplished those things. It's also taught me a lot about perseverance and patience.

This is really something... And I love it, good, bad, and wilty.

Can't... Go... On...

I don't think I am going to survive if it rains one more day.  There isn't anything to blog about other than watching as my plants slowly die under the down pour this year.  It was 47 degrees last night when I checked, and it was supposed to be even cooler than that according to the weather man.  I heard on TV last night that we were going to have record lows.  What kind of a Summer is this?  The worst Summer to start a garden ever. I think I'm going to need a bit of encouragement, and I'm definitely not going to get it from the Sun.

How Gardening Has Changed My Life 4

Today, I let my son play in dirt. There is a large pile of dirt that is left over from when I dug out the garden bed. Caleb got out his bulldozer and his dump truck toys and thoroughly played in the dirt. Of course, our trusty dog, Chopper, was right by his side. They dug and rolled in the dirt together, just like a couple of little boys.

While they were getting dirty, I sat on my porch and played the guitar. I played old Southern Gospel hymns while I overlooked their dirt construction zone. Here are some things that I saw.

1. A hummingbird ate from our feeder
2. A chickadee ate from our seed feeder
3. A squirrel barked at our dog, just to get even
4. A butterfly landed on a flower
5. My son ate dirt
6. My son fed his dog dirt

I love just sitting out here at all different times of the day. Everything changes as the sun moves across the yard. I love it so much; I don't even want to go inside. So, we are grilling for dinner. More time outside!

How Gardening Has Changed My Life 3

Today, while digging in my garden, I saw a worm. Delightful! Worms are fabulous for gardens and I need to keep at least a few in each of my containers if I am to continue my Lazy Vermicomposting experiment. Last time I found a worm I instructed my two year old son to pick it up and move it to the tomato. He was happy to oblige.

It's my usual habit to never walk on grass in bare feet. My normal practice is to disinfect my hands after touching anything. It is not in my character to reach into the dirt, pick up a worm, and toss it at the base of a plant, but that's what I did.

I reached down into the earth over and over again, plucking more than two dozen misplaced earthworms out it and evenly distributing them to each of my plants. The deeper I dug, the more worms I found. There were so many that I started piling them up for release back into the garden bed when I was done.

Suddenly I was ambushed! I disgusting fat, white, lumpy monster with a red face and nasty teeth came hurdling toward me. I shudder to recount the story now. Its soulless eyes were looking into mine as it squirmed and wiggled in the soft dirt. I screamed a string of unintelligible and possibly expletive words as I chopped the grub into pieces with my shovel. I had flashbacks of several recently made zombie movies in my head as I reacted on pure instincts.

I touched worms and I killed on impulse. That is how gardening has changed my life - so far.

How Gardening Has Changed My Life 2

I touched dirt with doo doo in it.

How Gardening Has Changed My Life 1

It might seem as though it hasn't been long enough, but gardening has already changed my life. I was kneeling next to my snow pea plant untangling its delicate little curls from around itself, when something caught my eye. A spider. Not just any spider. A big spider. Not just any big spider. A gross, green, giant spider - a Triple G.

Shock and horror erupted inside of me (in that order). A Triple G spider had made its home inside of one of the still folded leaves of my precious snow pea! The nerve! The audacity! How dare such a disgusting creature come anywhere near by beautiful container garden! This horrid offender must suffer for such nauseating actions!

I stayed my hand. I know that in a garden, spiders are important. First of all, spiders - even Triple Gs, don't eat plants. Secondly, they eat other bugs that do. Althought it is completely against my nature, and its something I have never done before, I let the spider alone. I let it live. It remains, gross, green, and giant; tucked away inside of the still folded leaf of my snow pea plant.

That is how gardening has changed my life - so far.