Gardening!

It’s never too early in the year to start planning a garden, right? In a week or so, I should be able to start sowing seeds indoors! I’m excited. Last year, tomatoes not withstanding, my garden failed pretty horribly. I don’t think the area where my garden is got enough sun — there was a large Forsythia blocking the morning sun (I say was because hubby and I knocked it down later in the summer), and large overhead trees blocked out the afternoon/evening sun. This year, we need to do one of two things: Get a tree guy to come out and knock out some of the trees (or at least some branches on some trees), or I need to move my garden. Where to move it to, I’m not exactly sure. I don’t want a garden in my front yard, but that’s the only place I’m guaranteed full afternoon sun. My backyard is super-shady.

My Yard!

See what I mean? That’s the beast of a Forsythia that was out front; that white line is where my neighbour’s yard begins. My raised garden beds are right behind the Forsythia, just to the right of the white line. So, not a lot of sun…

Having someone come out and take a look at our trees is a while off yet. In the meantime, I can set up my growing station in the basement and get started on those seeds! I grew up having a backyard garden and it’s something I’d really like to continue. This year, I’m planning:

Tomatoes: Orange Paruche, Brandywine

Peppers: Sweet Rainbow

Cucumbers: Diva

Squash: 8-ball, Zucchini

Leek: Lincoln

Watermelon: Not decided yet. Something small

Spinach

Mixed Lettuce/Salad Lettuce

Herbs:

Basil. Lots and lots of Basil (purple, sweet)

Dill

Flat-leaf Parsley

Cilantro

Mint

Chives

I’m scaling back on what I plant, based on last year. I had a LOT of stuff in those beds… so hopefully this year will go a little better. The Forsithya is a shadow of what it used to be – which is sort of a shame, as I really liked the way that it looked. It just got a little too wild. We also had our driveway paved/tarred last year, and that was another reason we had to cut it back. But.. I’m looking forward! It needs some trimming, but we can make it a nice shape and hopefully keep it from hurting the garden.

Hunkering down for Winter Storm Nemo

There’s been a lot of hubbub about the incoming blizzard — we live right in the heart of where it’s forecasted to hit hard. We’re looking at 15 to 25 inches of snowfall between Friday morning and Saturday morning. We’ve done the usual: make sure we have plenty of water and blankets, candles, flashlights. I went shopping this morning for foods that don’t require heat to eat (they’re estimating that at least 15% of the state will lose power). I stopped and picked up kitten food.

I have Fridays off from work, so I would have been home anyway. Almost every school in the state has already issued notices that they’re closed tomorrow — so hubby doesn’t have to go into work. It’s good that we’ll both have a day of downtime; both of us have been ill with a cold we just can’t shake going on two weeks now. Hubby went to the physician the other day and came home with meds, but when I tried to make an appointment there wasn’t anything that could fit into my schedule. So another day or two of bed rest (or rather, couch-rest  I think will help. I stocked up on OTC cold medicine, so at the very least I’ll have enough to get me through the weekend. I do work weekends however — I’m hoping that at they very least the colleges will decide to stay closed on Saturday. Since we live up in the hills, it would be very hard for me to get down to the college where I work Saturday morning if it’s still supposed to be snowing.

If I happen to have any energy at all, hopefully I’ll be able to work on a new quilt. I don’t have anything specific in mind, and I don’t have any new fabrics, but maybe I can make something out of the scraps that I have. We need a spring-themed quilt for the living room … Christmas is a month and a half past and still we have the Christmas Quilt out on the sofa. It’s about time to be packed away, but I don’t have anything to replace it with.

So, while I was out shopping I picked up a bubbling water fountain for the kittens. One of them, Sash, loves to play in water. So much so, that when anyone flushes the toilet he’ll dart into the bathroom to jump in the water and play. In the middle of the night, you’ll hear splashing sounds and the the sop-sop-sop of little kitten feet walking across the bathroom tile. Now, I don’t exactly think that toilet water is the most sanitary thing to be schlepped across the floor, so I’m hoping he’ll entertain himself with the fountain. And so far, I haven’t been disappointed! I’m thrilled that he loves to play in it.