We will start with the good news: my onions, lettuce and chives are growing like weeds. Some of the lettuce may actually be ready for picking. How can you tell when lettuce is ready? A few heads are huge, so I feel like I could pick some leaves off and make myself a salad. I will have to do some research online about that.
The bad news: I keep hacking my one butterfly bush with the weed wacker by accident. The first time I did it, the bush rebounded nicely (I don't hack the entire thing, just some of the low hanging branches). I'm hoping it rebounds again. And, I promise to hand trim the grass around it from now on!
The ugly: my herbs. I either planted them too early or I got a bum batch. The only herb that is growing is the rosemary. The dill, parsley and basil all bit the dust. I was consulting with a friend over the weekend who suggested that I probably put them in too early, considering we had snow when I was away and some very cold nighttime temperatures throughout the month of May. I am not defeated - the herbs I bought at the Linden Hall Garden Club's plant sale are doing great (of course someone else planted them). I will get more basil and probably some dill and will try again later.
So, this weekend is all about weeding. My garden and my flower beds really need to be weeded in the worst way. I discovered that while I was mowing tonight. Here's a tip: don't try to weed and mow at the same time. Mowing is one of those activities that requires your undivided attention!
I bought a custom made sign at the Memorial Day festival that says "Welcome to the Oasis." I can't wait to hang it! I'm going to get the flowers for the gutter along the trellis this weekend. After I have it planted, I will post an updated picture of the Oasis. It is truly fabulous!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Temperature Changes and Snow in May
This past week I was in Hershey for a conference. Before I left, I mowed the lawn and tended to all of my plants, veggies and herbs. I felt confident that things would be okay while I was gone, particularly since the forecast called for rain.
Imagine my shock when I woke up Monday morning and heard the temperature in State College was 35 degrees! I was so worried that my plants and herbs were stressed. I met up with our maintenance guys for lunch that day and they told me that Western Ferguson Township had snow. Snow?! in May?! Only in State College....
Thankfully, I returned home and all was well. My grass was ready to be cut and the flower beds definitely needed to be weeded, but other than that, everything seemed to have fared pretty well.
There are some new additions to the Oasis and the garden. I attended the Linden Hall Garden Club's Plant Sale before leaving town. What a hoot! The ladies bring any and every kind of plant imaginable from their homes and auction them off. Bidding starts at $.25. I made out like a bandit - for $9, I came home with a house plant (which I keep forgetting to water), two planters in cute hanging metal buckets that had peonies and other cute plants in them and a pot of herbs. I was so excited! The ladies will be selling pies at Memorial Day. I will definitely be contributing a few pies again this year as a way of saying thank you.
I also scored a new addition for the garden. Bruce, the chair of our parks and rec committee and a really great guy, stopped by and dropped off two chive plants that he dug out for me. They are great! The one is absolutely huge. I'm so excited to see them flower.
I have to say that gardening has been a huge learning experience for me. My onions were looking a little sad a few weeks ago. I mentioned this to one of my elected officials, who happens to grow the biggest onions in Boalsburg. He advised that the onions love water and hate weeds. A few days later, after some weeding, some watering and a lot of rain, the onions had perked right back up. Its nice to have some many people to lean on with my questions.
I'm off to Erie on Tuesday, back on Thursday. Here's hoping there is no snow in the forecast! I was going to put my tomatoes and peppers in this weekend, but I think I'll hold off another week to give the soil temperature time to rise. Tomatoes and peppers are really tempermental and like a warm soil (pretend I know what I'm talking about, okay?).
Have a happy Memorial Day! I will be in Boalsburg at our festival. When your town is the birthplace of Memorial Day, you really don't get the weekend to yourself. I don't mind, though, as I like to watch what happens in town. People on Main Street start sprucing up their porches and everyone seems to be throwing parties. Its nice to live in a place that takes so much pride in its heritage.
Imagine my shock when I woke up Monday morning and heard the temperature in State College was 35 degrees! I was so worried that my plants and herbs were stressed. I met up with our maintenance guys for lunch that day and they told me that Western Ferguson Township had snow. Snow?! in May?! Only in State College....
Thankfully, I returned home and all was well. My grass was ready to be cut and the flower beds definitely needed to be weeded, but other than that, everything seemed to have fared pretty well.
There are some new additions to the Oasis and the garden. I attended the Linden Hall Garden Club's Plant Sale before leaving town. What a hoot! The ladies bring any and every kind of plant imaginable from their homes and auction them off. Bidding starts at $.25. I made out like a bandit - for $9, I came home with a house plant (which I keep forgetting to water), two planters in cute hanging metal buckets that had peonies and other cute plants in them and a pot of herbs. I was so excited! The ladies will be selling pies at Memorial Day. I will definitely be contributing a few pies again this year as a way of saying thank you.
I also scored a new addition for the garden. Bruce, the chair of our parks and rec committee and a really great guy, stopped by and dropped off two chive plants that he dug out for me. They are great! The one is absolutely huge. I'm so excited to see them flower.
I have to say that gardening has been a huge learning experience for me. My onions were looking a little sad a few weeks ago. I mentioned this to one of my elected officials, who happens to grow the biggest onions in Boalsburg. He advised that the onions love water and hate weeds. A few days later, after some weeding, some watering and a lot of rain, the onions had perked right back up. Its nice to have some many people to lean on with my questions.
I'm off to Erie on Tuesday, back on Thursday. Here's hoping there is no snow in the forecast! I was going to put my tomatoes and peppers in this weekend, but I think I'll hold off another week to give the soil temperature time to rise. Tomatoes and peppers are really tempermental and like a warm soil (pretend I know what I'm talking about, okay?).
Have a happy Memorial Day! I will be in Boalsburg at our festival. When your town is the birthplace of Memorial Day, you really don't get the weekend to yourself. I don't mind, though, as I like to watch what happens in town. People on Main Street start sprucing up their porches and everyone seems to be throwing parties. Its nice to live in a place that takes so much pride in its heritage.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Spring Time
Ahh, spring is finally here. Its such a new experience to be enjoying spring from the comfort of my own home. I really noticed when things started to bloom and was very excited to watch my spring flowers come up. Some of it was the thrill of the unknown - since I didn't plant these flowers, I had no idea what was actually going to come up. Some of it was the excitement at the end of winter. And a lot it was being able to watch my very own ecosystem bloom in front of my eyes.
Tonight, I mowed the lawn, trimmed and raked out the flowerbeds in the back. I grilled chicken and veggie kabobs and asparagus. Katie came for dinner and we ate in the Oasis. It was an awesome night. Tonight is one of those great State College nights - the daytime temperature was about 75, which means the night time temperature should be about 45. I'm sitting on my front porch for a change of pace, listening to the sounds of the peepers calling for their mates and the traffic on the bypass. It almost perfectly captures State College - we're in the country, yet we still have the hustle and bustle of a small city.
Don't get me wrong - its a heck of a lot of work having a house. The yard alone could keep me busy for days. But, I'm learning that I need to keep myself very organized. I'm lucky to only have one night meeting this week. So, tonight I'm focused on the yard. Tomorrow, I will clean. If I've played my cards right, I shouldn't need to mow again until after I return home from my conference in Hershey next week.
Its a new way of life for me. There is so much more responsibility than when I lived in an apartment. I want my house to look nice; I want my friends to want to hang out in the Oasis. I want to be able to enjoy the fruits of all of my hard work. This house was the biggest dream I ever dreamed and it came true. So, now I'm going to do my best to enjoy every minute of it; to discover the little things and to take time to appreciate the rebirth and renewal of the spring season.
Tonight, I mowed the lawn, trimmed and raked out the flowerbeds in the back. I grilled chicken and veggie kabobs and asparagus. Katie came for dinner and we ate in the Oasis. It was an awesome night. Tonight is one of those great State College nights - the daytime temperature was about 75, which means the night time temperature should be about 45. I'm sitting on my front porch for a change of pace, listening to the sounds of the peepers calling for their mates and the traffic on the bypass. It almost perfectly captures State College - we're in the country, yet we still have the hustle and bustle of a small city.
Don't get me wrong - its a heck of a lot of work having a house. The yard alone could keep me busy for days. But, I'm learning that I need to keep myself very organized. I'm lucky to only have one night meeting this week. So, tonight I'm focused on the yard. Tomorrow, I will clean. If I've played my cards right, I shouldn't need to mow again until after I return home from my conference in Hershey next week.
Its a new way of life for me. There is so much more responsibility than when I lived in an apartment. I want my house to look nice; I want my friends to want to hang out in the Oasis. I want to be able to enjoy the fruits of all of my hard work. This house was the biggest dream I ever dreamed and it came true. So, now I'm going to do my best to enjoy every minute of it; to discover the little things and to take time to appreciate the rebirth and renewal of the spring season.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Planting Fool
I planted onions, two kinds of lettuce, dill, parsley, rosemary and basil last Friday. Here are some lessons I learned:
1. One pack of onions is not one plant, it is many tiny plants. Buying two packs doubles the amount of tiny plants. I will have the mother load of onions in about 60 days if they grow. Duke has offered onion recipes, but if anyone wants onions, let me know. I have two rows planted, which equals about 40 heads.
2. Gardening is hard work! My hamstrings were killing me for two days afterward. I'm either getting old or the weights I've been lifting at the gym are not doing me any good.
3. Four inches apart is actually a lot closer than you think.
After my planting frenzy on Friday, my parents came up bright and early on Sunday to help with the rest of the yard. My mom was a raking and weeding fiend, which was a huge help. They brought my new lawn mower up so I could finally mow the ghetto lawn. I was so embarassed by my tall grass!
The new lawn mower is self propelled, which theoretically means it will be easier and faster for me to mow the lawn. Um, not so much when the grass rivals that found in a meadow. Oh and here's a tip: don't engage the self propelled thing when you are turning. Bad things will happen! (In my case, it was spinning around with the lawn mower a few times - awesome sight for the neighbors, I'm sure.)
After the yard was mowed and everything was suitably weeded and raked, we headed to Lowes. My mom decided I needed a hoe, a wheelbarrow, some shurbs, impatients, some other kind of flower and a gas grill. I thought my dad was going to shoot her as we were trying to fit everything into his SUV. Oh and can I just admit that I had a good chuckle carrying the hoe all over Lowes? In my head I kept thinking, "I'm the ho with the hoe, bitches!"
After we made it back to Boalsburg in one piece (and miraculously didn't manage to have anything fall out of the back of the SUV on 322), my mom and I started digging holes for the shrubs. My dad supervised from the Oasis, as we decided we had stressed him out enough for one day. My mom was doing the digging and just couldn't believe the amount of rocks we found. Um, meet Mount Nittany and Tussey Mountain. I'm pretty sure that the rocks in the soil are the result of Boalsburg once being a part of this mountain range.
Once everything was planted, my parents headed for home. A few days later, temperatures dipped down into the mid 30s. Fearing for my new children (the food growing in the garden), I set about moving my pots inside, covering the basil I planted in the garden with a bed sheet (conviently anchored by the rocks we dug out of my yard) and covering the impatients. I decided the best way to cover them would be to use blue plastic cups. It looked like I had some raging kegger and all the cups wound up in my flower bed!!
The Oasis is a very enjoyable experience now that all of the furniture is here. The gas grill is a welcomed addition. I now have the desire to grill everything in sight. I stocked up on meats yesterday at the grocery store and plan to make some kabobs tomorrow night for dinner. I'm saving the drunk chicken for when Laura and Court visit in June.
I'll post some pictures later, after my camera decides to cooperate.
1. One pack of onions is not one plant, it is many tiny plants. Buying two packs doubles the amount of tiny plants. I will have the mother load of onions in about 60 days if they grow. Duke has offered onion recipes, but if anyone wants onions, let me know. I have two rows planted, which equals about 40 heads.
2. Gardening is hard work! My hamstrings were killing me for two days afterward. I'm either getting old or the weights I've been lifting at the gym are not doing me any good.
3. Four inches apart is actually a lot closer than you think.
After my planting frenzy on Friday, my parents came up bright and early on Sunday to help with the rest of the yard. My mom was a raking and weeding fiend, which was a huge help. They brought my new lawn mower up so I could finally mow the ghetto lawn. I was so embarassed by my tall grass!
The new lawn mower is self propelled, which theoretically means it will be easier and faster for me to mow the lawn. Um, not so much when the grass rivals that found in a meadow. Oh and here's a tip: don't engage the self propelled thing when you are turning. Bad things will happen! (In my case, it was spinning around with the lawn mower a few times - awesome sight for the neighbors, I'm sure.)
After the yard was mowed and everything was suitably weeded and raked, we headed to Lowes. My mom decided I needed a hoe, a wheelbarrow, some shurbs, impatients, some other kind of flower and a gas grill. I thought my dad was going to shoot her as we were trying to fit everything into his SUV. Oh and can I just admit that I had a good chuckle carrying the hoe all over Lowes? In my head I kept thinking, "I'm the ho with the hoe, bitches!"
After we made it back to Boalsburg in one piece (and miraculously didn't manage to have anything fall out of the back of the SUV on 322), my mom and I started digging holes for the shrubs. My dad supervised from the Oasis, as we decided we had stressed him out enough for one day. My mom was doing the digging and just couldn't believe the amount of rocks we found. Um, meet Mount Nittany and Tussey Mountain. I'm pretty sure that the rocks in the soil are the result of Boalsburg once being a part of this mountain range.
Once everything was planted, my parents headed for home. A few days later, temperatures dipped down into the mid 30s. Fearing for my new children (the food growing in the garden), I set about moving my pots inside, covering the basil I planted in the garden with a bed sheet (conviently anchored by the rocks we dug out of my yard) and covering the impatients. I decided the best way to cover them would be to use blue plastic cups. It looked like I had some raging kegger and all the cups wound up in my flower bed!!
The Oasis is a very enjoyable experience now that all of the furniture is here. The gas grill is a welcomed addition. I now have the desire to grill everything in sight. I stocked up on meats yesterday at the grocery store and plan to make some kabobs tomorrow night for dinner. I'm saving the drunk chicken for when Laura and Court visit in June.
I'll post some pictures later, after my camera decides to cooperate.
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