Victory Garden?

It all began with a yellow bell pepper. I love red, yellow and orange bell peppers; I can eat them like some people will go through potato chips. However, as anyone that spends any time in the produce section of any market can attest, these are usually priced at a premium. Like these things are filled with top-shelf caviar or something. So, I have decided I have to start a vegetable garden in my backyard. I am over paying $3.99 for a single bell pepper laced with all manner of pesticides. Local produce options around here for organic are limited (without spending a small fortune) and I have to admit I am totally jealous of people I know that have already mastered their own backyard gardens, even if all they yield is one type of produce. My husband has been dying for any reason to use his skill saw more often, so commissioning him to build some raised bed planters for the garden project should satisfy us both.

So now begins the scouring of the internet for information. I will undoubtedly wade through hundreds, if not thousands, of wise how-tos based on years of trial and error by folks with a much higher level of dedication than I currently posess, but I am definitely striving for. I want to be good at this. I want success and to reap the (literal) fruits of my labor.

Why not just buy organic produce? Isn't it everywhere at the stores in that 4th largest city in the United States that you live in?

I'm glad you asked.

Aside from being what I consider cost prohibitive (and please don't start on me about how I will probably spend more money getting an organic garden started than I would on a month's worth of organic produce or how the benefits of consuming organic fruits and vegetables greatly outweigh any extra cost), I think that anyone who has farmed or gardened with any level of success will tell you that there is something inherently satisfying about getting out there, getting your hands dirty, sweating and watching something that you have tended to bear fruit. And no, I just can't bear to bring myself to buy organic produce at any major supermarket chain when there's the exact same thing sitting over across the aisle for $1.50 less a pound. I'm a sucker for a deal. I admit it. Also, with organic, you're only promised no icky chemicals. I can't be garaunteed for my extra money that the organic produce is any more nutrient-dense (I don't care what anyone says), and that's what I am interested in. If I grow it myself, in dirt that I am creating and nourishing myself, I have quality control over the poduct from germination to plate. There is something about this that greatly excites the control freak in me.

So purchase numero uno after commissioning my husband to create raised beds was seeds. I visited the local AgriLife Extension services page and decided to purchase seeds from seedsofchange.com based on the upcoming optimal planting time for this zone. All in all, I came out with two different kinds of herbs (parsley and rosemary), three sweet pepper varieties (green, red and orange), two chili pepper varieties (jalapeno and habanero), broccoli and romaine lettuce. Shipping included, I spent ~$47.00 for all of my seeds, all certified organic. As a bonus, moms is rooting a basil cutting for me from her plant--hooray!

I am currently looking at plans for planter boxes that we can build and put in the back corner of the backyard. I am thinking a 4-5' wide bed will be plenty large, but haven't decided on the length yet. The oleander currently back there will be removed (boy did my husband's eyes light up when he heard this), and the garden should get ample sun throughout the day and some decent afternoon shade, thanks to the neighbor's crape myrtle on the other side of the fence. Will make sure to post pictures of this project once the build is underway.

DIY - Day 2

So, I think we need to have a team of scientists come out and study the dirt in our backyard, as it is easily the hardest dirt I have ever encountered. Our shovels were literally bouncing off of the soil as we were attempting to dig it up and loosen it in order to plant the bushes, even with our full body weight on top of the shovels. I'm sure it doesn't help that we haven't had rain in 26 days and the sun has literally been baking the ground the whole time. We quickly had to admit that we were beat. We needed more power.

Abnormally hard dirt, meet your nemesis:

For a mere $42 we were able to rent that lovely gas-powered tiller from Home Depot. It still needed to be a little more powerful, but it got the job done faster than we would have without it. It did more "shaving" of the top layer of dirt than actually tilling it, which turned out to be a slower process than I anticipated. Wetting the soil seemed to help. Some.
Now we know better for the future--there is no such thing as "too much power", especially in a landscaping tool.

Here I go, spreading mulch:

And the finished product:

DIY - Day 1

This weekend was used up by our first real landscaping project for the house. I have never built a flowerbed before, but we understood the mechanics of it, so I bought some bushes from work I have been wanting to plant outside our breakfast area windows for a while, we got our soil, mulch and another shovel, and set to work. Only two trips to Home Depot for this one!

The project was only supposed to consume an afternoon. However, as we started clearing sod (sans sod cutter), I began to realize that this was going to be a job for at least one power tool after all. We did not end up renting the sod cutter because I figured it was such a small area, a sod cutter would have been what my brain labled as "overkill". Once we began clearing the grass, I realized overkill would have been better than what we had carved out for ourselves. That sod did not want to leave!

Here is Brian taking a break next to the beginnings of the new flowerbed:

Here I am, raking out the last of the grass runners:

My beautiful Ixora bushes:


I cannot get over how gorgeous these flowers are!

The rest would have to wait until the morning...

Test

Testing to see if my mobile blogging feature works...

A Housewarming

Our friends, Aaron and Jessica, have bought and are nesting into their first house and we were lucky enough to be invited to the housewarming party last Saturday! We braved the elements to get there (it had been pouring buckets for about two days in a row, and in case you haven't heard, Pasadena floods a little in that kind of weather) and it was totally worth it to be able to hang out with Aaron and Jess and Matt and Natalie. Here's some of what we drove through on the way over: There was a really good turnout at the party--lots of friends and family and people from work came out to celebrate with Aaron and Jess. They had a ton of good food and some really tasty spiked punch that Jess claims to have just 'thrown together'. Here is the only picture I could get of her and Aaron together:

Matt, looking classic as always...

Brian and Natalie demonstrating how inebriated they are NOT...yet...

With the exception of Jess's grandfather in the background, all of these people about to do a shot are teachers:

Aaron letting Matt feel his warm breath in his ear, and Matt liking it...

Aaron says, "Thanks for the hooch!"

Natalie and I cozying up in the garage for a photo:

Nothing Says Easter Like Drinking and Fighting

Last weekend, on Easter, Amy turned 21. We went out to eat downtown at the Spaghetti Warehouse for a late lunch and had third row hockey tickets, right behind the opposing team's bench. (I have since vowed to sit down here for more games, because it is a completely different atmosphere.)

Julian, Amy and Penny at lunch.

Amy and her fiance, Julian.

The other side of the table.

Birthday Tiramisu!

At the game, there was one good fight and the Aeros won the game against San Antonio, which sent them to the playoffs! It was a really exciting game and I can't wait for next season.

Happy with the seats!

Hockey fight!

Amy & Chilly, the Aeros mascot.

We win!

To Kill a Ruellia

When Brian and I bought this house we are living in now, I was very happy with the landscaping out front. The plants were all mature and very healthy. Over the past year and a half, we have decided that maybe they're er...too happy. One of them in particular comes to mind. Ruellia, aka Britton's Wild Petunia or the Mexican Bluebell, was taking over the front bed at an alarming rate, despite having been aggressively pruned back. Then the entire plant began to fall apart from the middle outward and just looked sloppy, as well as completely obscuring a poor defenseless boxwood. It had to go.

Fortunately, I had the ideal conditions for azaleas in their spot, so it was settled. We dug out the ruellia to the best of our ability and the azaleas went in:

They are a little smaller than the other mature plants in the bed, but once they fill in, I am sure they will be wonderful.

As I suspected when we dug them up, the ruellia continue to be a problem and are quite invasive. Here are new shoots coming up around my baby azalea bushes:

So this weekend the nasty plant put in by the obviously sadistic previous homeowners will be painted with the most concentrated, deadly RoundUp I can purchase without a license. And I will keep repeating this process until it is all gone forever.

On a fun plant note, we have inadvertently been propagating sago palms on one end of our driveway, thanks to what I have determined is our hussy female sago. I am also going to attempt to dig these up and pot them until they become established and possibly plant them in the backyard or give them away to friends or family who might want one. There are three of them--here they are at the base of my tramp plant: