Grrrrrrr...Report from the Garden

I am so frustrated today.  After 3 days of rain (over 4 inches of water in the rain gauge), I headed out to the Way Back to see how our garden had fared.  Well, everything seems to have survived all the rain...tomatoes look taller; peppers are perky; zucchini seems to have grown a foot since I last looked.  But a couple of crops have succumbed to some varmint or other. 

I no longer have any peas on the vine...nor do I have any sweet potato slips either.  Something devoured all 18 (!) sweet potatoes...just sheared them off at ground level.  That photo is one I took last week, just after I'd planted the second row.  Hard to tell what it is, I realize.  Just trust me when I say, all you would see if I took the same shot today would be two empty, damp dirt rows in front of the stakes that are surrounding the strawberry patch.  At least the pea trellis will soon have new residents in the form of the new cucumber vines from those seeds that are pushing up through the soaked soil.

I've battled the bunnies before, never getting any green peas to grow in any previous gardens, so I was not so surprised to see the damage done on those veggie vines. You would think rabbits would be a bit cautious when setting up shop on the same property with a brace of hounds...but you would be wrong.  Anyway, I've never grown sweet potatoes before, so I checked all my gardening books (my library is growing weekly, I might add...:) only to discover a notation that deer like sweet potatoes.  I don't think deer visited our little neck of the NC woods...no tracks that I can see.  No, I still think it's rabbits.  Now, why it took "them" a whole week to discover a tasty patch of sweet potato vines is beyond me.  But, "they" sure have mowed 'em down now.  Sigh.  Maybe Home Depot still has some slips for sale?  I'll have to check...

Otherwise, we are enjoying a brief respite from the rains, when no work can be done on the weeds that have popped up in the last few days until the soil dries out a little.  Meanwhile, I've been repotting some of the indoor plants that N/M/E received for her birthday:  a dish garden with pothos, palms, and prayer plant; a peace lily; and an aglaonema "Silver King." 

And, because we had a wet weekend, Mr. T checked off one of his "Rainy Day" chores:  install a new light in the kitchen.  If you've been to our house, you know we struggle with the low level of lighting (the previous owners must have been bats...or otherwise light-sensitive...:)  -- lots of ceiling fans, not a lot of light from the inadequate fixtures.  The lighting in the kitchen was so poor that I couldn't read my cookbooks without walking into another room and using a table lamp. 

No more. 

Now, I can see everything!  I can see all those fingerprints on our cabinets...and on our new three-door refrigerator...yikes!  Yep, we got a new fridge (love it!) and a new dishwasher (love it, too!) a couple of weeks ago...thanks to an instant rebate program from the state of North Carolina on Energy Efficient appliances.  We weren't planning on getting replacements until we updated the kitchen in a couple of years, but what the heck?  Couldn't pass up 30% off from the store and a freebie extra 15% off from the state, now could we?  Certainly don't miss those mis-matched monsters that the previous owners left for us.  No sirree...I'm having way too much fun generating crushed ice.  Now, if I could just find an energy efficient stove, so I could replace the sad one that came with the house...no such thing, but doesn't stop me from wishing...!

OK, So Maybe I'm a Wee Bit Obsessed

It's just a garden.  And, really just the beginnings of a garden.  Only a year removed from being an unkempt patch of weeds, rocks, and rock-hard clay soil at the rear of our property.  But, slowly and surely, we are turning the area we call the Way Back into our garden.

Last year, since we didn't move in until the first week in June, we didn't get much of a start on our garden.  Just a few tomato and pepper plants purchased at the Farmer's Market and plopped into two recently-tilled rows.  Then, came both the unpacking process and Fall:  we covered a large area adjacent to those first tilled rows with the flattened moving boxes and all the leaves collected from our yard (...and we have loads of leaves...:).

Voila!  The boxes and leaves composted right on site (with the exception of that nasty, sticky packing tape), softening the soil, and allowing more rows to be tilled and added to the garden space.  More tomatoes and peppers planted (some purchased at Home Depot during the BOGO event, some started from seed inside) as you can see in the photo above (left)...which will serve as the "before" photo once all of the lovely plants begin to grow.  Added enough rows to accommodate several summer squash and zucchini plants, lotsa lettuces, some melons, and several sweet potato slips.  Oh yes...and onions!   Plenty of onions.  And all of this surrounded by border rows of marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias...from seeds we saved from last year's flower crop...a whole bag-full!  Grow, babies, grow!

Then, earlier this week, I got out my hand cultivator and re-tilled three short rows for the Early Sunglow sweet corn.  Right over by the strawberry patch (11 plants lived out of the 18 planted earlier this Spring).  Next to the flower "holding bed," where the flowers we moved from MO are in temporary residence until they bloom and let us know which ones they are. [This beautiful iris bloomed recently, and we discovered that it was the Yosemite Star (violet and wisteria)...one of those we purchased at the Iris Sale at the STL Botanical Garden in 2008.]

And, just before I completely ran out of energy, I hauled 6-7 wheelbarrows-ful of leaf-mold (remember, we have LOADS of leaves in the Fall...:) to the newly-planted tomatoes for mulch.  I can't wait to see how it all turns out. 

I love it!  So what if I need two days for my back to recover for every day spent working in the garden...I still love it!  Frustrations?  Who can have that many frustrations when you are pouring all that energy into getting things to grow...and returning the land to good use?

When I need a little rest and a refreshing beverage?  I plop down into my camp chair next to my log-table, in front of my potting bench just inside of the garden fence...and take photos of the blue birds who have moved into the Blue Bird House that BFF AW gave N/M/E for her recent birthday...as you can see in that photo over there on the left...all the while slugging down an ice-cold orange Gatorade.  Yum!  Ready to go again in 15-20 minutes.

BTW, did I tell you that one of the weeds that's growing well in the Way Back is poison ivy?  Yeah.  Leaves of Three...beware of Thee.  It's everywhere, it's everywhere!  And, both of us have the rashes to prove it.  Oh well...that's what they invented cortisone cream for, right?  And, Benedryl.  Don't forget the Benedryl.

Obsessed?  Possibly.  Passionate?  Most definitely.  Now, I have to quit blogging so I can go see what's changed in the garden today.

Back Home After a Brief Pause

You know, it strikes me as funny.  When I was in Missouri, I mourned for my life in Georgia.  (Nevermind Florida...we weren't there long enough to know whether we liked it or not.)  Now that I'm back in North Carolina (it'll be a year later on this month, can you believe it?!), I grieve for neither MO nor GA.  I'm perfectly happy right where I am.  I don't want to be any place else.

However...

I do still enjoy my "real" job.  I know, I know...I haven't mentioned my work lately.  With good reason.  My coaching business has taken back seat to my caregiving activities, especially since the summer of 2004; then, came all of the move-related activities of last year...and then the 90th birthday party activities of early 2010.  But, my job...as a leadership development coach and consultant...requires me to make a few trips back to ATL each year.  Until '09, each one of those trips was hard to complete, since I just wanted to stay instead of getting on that return flight to STL.  Now...I hop in Lillie Pearl, point her south on Interstate 85, and pop in my latest Audible.com downloads.  Usually, after a week, I've touched base with my clients, taken care of some personal care details, did a little retail therapy, completed a few books and a knitting project or two, and am ready to return to HPNC with joy in my heart.  Happy to be back on the road home again.  The little break helps remind me of what I love to do...and gives me renewed energy to do what I am committed to doing "at home:"  ensuring that N/M/E's final years are comfortable and as easy as possible.

But, the trips are getting harder and harder to complete as planned.  Try as I might, I can't seem to anticipate all that might happen while I am away.  This time, even though strong support was in place (thanks, AW!), a nasty stomach virus still slipped through the de-fence and found a home with Mom.  We're still trying to get that under control.  Sigh. 

Ah well.  I did get to finish a few books enroute to-and-from.  Love my iPod!  I had downloaded Agatha Christie's The Third Girl, read by Hugh Frasier; Knitting by Anne Bartlett; and Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton.  Finished two of the three.  May have to wait for an upcoming jaunt to Raleigh to finish the third.

And, I was able to complete a scarf (dropped stitch pattern) and get started on a pair of socks (chasing cables pattern) while away.  I'll download some photos next time.  I'm currently on battery power, sitting outside on the deck; missing my camera and its cable for downloading the pix.  Love my wireless connection!

And, best of all, Mr. T motored down from working in Columbia, SC, to join me for the brief pause in our lives.  Yes, we needed that bit of a pause.

Out here in the sunshine, with all the roses starting to bloom, it's difficult to imagine all the devastation that's happening to friends and relatives in TN.  As far as I know, all are safe...although not all have power restored yet.  I'm glad to see that the Red Cross has made it easy for us to donate toward the assistance folks will need to restore their lives to normal.  If you can, be sure to take the easy way:  using your cellphone, text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to help with the flood disaster.  You'll be glad you did!