Monday, January 21, 2013

Catalogs

I have finally arrived.  I have been sent a gardening catalog!


Wait...  What's this?  Well...that's not my name...or my address.  Like not even on the same street.  DAMMIT!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Focus on the Farmer's Almanac

Since Sheryl at the Yard Fanatic had such good luck with carrots using the Farmer's Alamac, I thought I'd give it another try.  For Christmas a few years ago, my friend, Bond, gave me an Almanac which I dutifully read through, cover to cover, and then promptly set aside.  I only ever looked at it to make sure I wasn't planting on a bad day...and even if I was, I was more like, "C'est la vie.  I've only got time to plant today and so today it shall be."

And so, here we are.  A few years later, a few years older and a few dollars poorer.  I asked for the almanac this year and my father-in-law bought it for me and so I shall attempt to stick to the almanac schedule at least through one growing season. Give it the "good ol' college try"  (who every came up with that phrase, that's such a weird phrase)

On January 1, I looked at the almanac and determined that the best time to go about throwing wildflower seeds about was on January 6...at least that's what I'm choosing to believe "start seed beds" means.  I also believe it means "start all seeds for the spring season as long as they are in flats and not in 4-inch individual containers.  Also plant garlic even though it is much too late in the season, but what else are you going to do with it?  eat it?  It's already sprouting."  And lo, on the 6th, the Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas, the day the wise men made it to the sweet 6.5 pound baby Jeebus, I was outside spreading seeds like crazy.  And starting my little seed flat.  And putting together my mini greenhouse that I got from my dad.

Today, I read the Almanac again to see if there's a good time coming up for carrots or peas, and I read this, "January 14th-16th - Fine For Planting Any Aboveground Crop Where The Climate Permits. Extra Good For Peppers, Tomatoes, Peas, And Other Vine Crops."  Ah good, peas.  I can plant peas in a week.  Also.  CRAP! I should have started all my seeds in the flats on the 14th instead.  Boo Urns.  Oh well, c'est la vie.

***As part of my "focus" goal, I've been trying diligently for the last two days to get some pages going that I've wanted for a while now.  Across the top of the page, you should see tabs for Blog, Freeze Dates, Rain Fall Amounts, What I'm Planting/Harvesting, Plants I Love, and (eventually) My Experiments.***

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Resolution: Focus

Taking a page out of The Whimsical Gardener's book, I'm going to have a one word goal for the year.  That word is "focus."  It applies to all aspects of my life - work, personal, garden, photography, and so on and so forth.

So yes.  Focus.  Focus on the now. Focus on the future. Focus on the plan. Focus on the animals.  Focus.