Nerves: an Interlude

Do you get nervous? Like so nervous you feel like you are going to puke? And then you worry that you are going to puke in the situation that is making you nervous in the first place and that makes you even MORE nervous?

Tomorrow is making me nervous. I've got an interview in for my real job (re:not sewing, cooking, gardening related).

So my life is put on hold while I make sure I'm properly prepared.

So the blog is on hold.

Photo shoot for Mad Men Dress Challenge #2 is coming very soon.

I promise.

Maybe even tomorrow?

We'll see.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Harley immediately making himself comfortable on a pile of painting sheets. That dog always find the fluffiest spot in the room.

Please! Share! What makes you ridiculously nervous? Maybe it'll make me feel better, haha.

{I think I've posted this before, but I just find this song so darn calming!}

Grow Write Guild Prompt #2: Your Fantasy Garden

Unlike the last Grow Write Guild prompt, this one is pretty easy. Write about your fantasy garden. This is the garden you could have if you could have ANYTHING. I am almost certain I could write about this, feel satisfied with my response, read my response, and then realize that I missed twenty more things I would like to have in my fantasy garden. I'll try not to ramble too much. :)

The first three things that come to mind for my fantasy garden:

1. I would want to sprout a couch.

You know you want to!

2. I would want a wisteria tunnel:

Can't you just imagine reading a book on that bench there in the summer?

3. I would want an edible front lawn, preferably in raised beds like so:

Delish!

(At this point I am realizing I should probably just direct you to my Pinterest boards. Well too bad for you! I'm going to keep going!).

I would want a few cherry trees, a few apple trees, and a nectarine tree. But I'd settle for peach. :)
I would want to grow TONS of strawberry plants, including wild strawberries.

Source

I would grow red, white, and black raspberries as well (I'm currently working on this in real life).

Source

I would grow corn, beans, soybeans, spaghetti squash, red peppers, peas, asparagus, all colours of carrots, every type of cherry and sauce tomato, purple and Yukon Gold potatoes, zucchini, mache, purslane, spinach, cucumbers, celery, onions, shallots, garlic, and green onions, to name some off the top of my head.

Source

Oh, and because this is fantasy, I'd obviously have a bunch of pineapple plants, which I would eat in its entirety when fruited and then get massive indigestion from. Cause that's how I roll.

Source

I would have a pergola with all my edible vining plants, including some grapes:

Source

And I would have the coolest herb garden you've ever seen:

Source

 I would have fancy stepping "stones" for my garden path:

Source

I would have a bee hive,

Source: http://www.photo-dictionary.com/phrase/1788/beehive.html

and some of these for bees that don't live in colonies,

Source: http://shoestringgarden.blogspot.ca/2010/04/bee-house.html

and of course a bunch of flowers that the bees like.

I'd also have a bat box or two to invite those adorable furry flying mice to come and eat my mosquitoes:

Source

And let's not forget birdhouses:

Source

Source

I would have tons of succulents planted all over:

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

And the rest of the space would have native wildflowers and grasses growing all over. That way my non-food garden can be water smart!

Source

But I would have one peony plant and one ranunculus plant, just cause I think they're puuurty.

Source

Source

And let's not forget rain barrels, bird baths, and composting bins.

I feel like I rambled. Sorry. I hope that I at least provided you with a bit of inspiration. I know it is making me want to try to tackle a few projects I've been thinking of for the garden.

What is in your fantasy garden?

{C-O-L-A}

It's Time!

It's that time of year again to start your seeds! Well, if you really must know, it was that time a few weeks ago and a few weeks ago these seeds were planted. But if you've been keeping up, you know I've been too busy sewing to post about this until now.

First things first: get out the seed stash and divide them into groups (herbs, flowers, tomatoes, direct sow lettuce/peas/beans, and other indoor starter seeds).

The stash.

The lettuces, all direct sow once the frost has passed. I never could grow spinach successfully.

More direct sow seeds. I'm pretty pumped about the chickpeas and carrots!

All our herbs. These will be started now.

Our tomatoes. The Wild Cherry Tomato was the best investment ever. Harley loves them! These will be started now also.

More seeds to start indoors. I am especially interested in the zucchinis.

Some onions. We will grow some in pots and some we will start outdoors in our planter boxes.

Our flower seeds. We have a small section for flowers only (we keep finding glass and rusty nails in there so it probably isn't suitable for food), and I'm trying to keep the flowers low-maintenance hence the Black Eyed Susans. The colourful paper are leftover wedding favours from when we got married. They are seed papers!

Then, grab a bucket, pour in some potting soil, and get it nice and moist.

I love the smell of warm dirt. For reals!

Then, grab your vessel of choice, load them up with soil, label them appropriately (we always name our plants), and plant your seeds according to the directions on the packet!

It is probably important to note that in addition to the ceramic pots and the compostable pots in the background of the previous photo, we also experimented with containers:

Toilet paper tubes. Don't do this. HA. Ours went moldy like the next day and sadly, Zelda, Zorba, Zala, and Wendy are no longer with us as a result.

Our egg shells, however worked great!

Meet Walter the Wild Tomato!

And they all sit upright if you just keep the carton. Ain't they cute lookin'?

My only suggestion is that if you do use egg shells, you rinse your shells out and let them dry completely before using. We didn't and they stink a little.

The reason why we did the tomatoes in egg shells is because my tomatoes last year, at the beginning of the season, had blossom end rot, which is caused by a calcium deficiency.

(Say hello to Bran, named after Bran Stark, for all you nerds out there. It starts tomorrow!!!) One of the solutions to prevent blossom end rot is to crush egg shells (since they are high in calcium) and sprinkle it on the dirt above the roots. I figure by planting in egg shells, I eliminate one step and recycle the shells. We'll see how it turns out, though!

Anywho, I suppose the eggs are also appropriate since it is Easter tomorrow? Since, you know, when Jesus rose from the grave, he hid a bunch of chocolate eggs around each of the apostles' houses. :)

Happy Easter! Enjoy your family time!

{Oh gawd the 80s! Stahp!}