Garden Spring 2013

Here's a plan of our garden for the present in Azalea Park, Charlottesville, Va.

[Apologies for the misspelling of Zinnia in the above graphic!]

We planted zucchini, cuke, melon, and okra seeds yesterday (Wed, 29 May 2013), and watered the tomato and pepper plants.  Also cleared out the north middle edge for some more flower seeds.

This Spring has had its ups and downs.  In April we tilled the entire garden (except some onion and garlic subplots), and planted some lettuce and radishes, and late May two pea rows.  But then it rained and rained for most of May. 

Finally went to the garden around the 20th of May, - mowed down weeds and did more tilling of un-planted areas.  Then planted tomatoes, peppers (in the NW quadrant), and two rows of beans in the SW quadrant.  Also planted double rows of flowers along the edges, except in the NE corner along the fence where cosmos, zinnia, and marigolds had been planted.  Weeded by hand the cosmos and marigolds, though the zinnia did not come up or were overwhelmed by weeds.

That's where we are at the end of May, just before our week long trip to the beach.  Deej says we should tell Anne to pick peas while we are gone.

Spring weekend (6-7 April 2013)

Saturday was mostly shopping - juices, kitchen counter light, 4 bags top soil, 2 bags compost, real mouse traps, stamps (green and flower ones, and the tiger stamps) and mailing a birthday card, tacos, sauces.  Unloading the very heavy six bags onto the wheelbarrel (pumping air into its tire, oiling its squeaking wheel) and putting next to the plot in the back yard. And watching my granddaughter Eliza on a little screen, streaming Talent Parade in Des Moines, first hookup from the computer to viewing on the TV.  Facetiming with Betty, bemoaning non-contact with our sister Barb. Thinking about this summer's WOSA reunion. Joy at getting my wifi external drive working properly again. Re-booting the automatic lights. Final four basket ball in the background.

Sunday various chores - making my own eggs with bacon and toast and coffee. Picking up 20 branches in the yard from storms this past month.  Taking photos of Spring flowers.  Doing 5 washes over the afternoon and evening. Studying and then pruning the Concord grape vine. Rushing to get on to the 2 pm e-chai Hangout, 9 minutes late, but at least Bill was there.  Not Nadeem (his son's in town), or where's Helen, and maybe Cate was on, but didn't see her?  Pleasant discussions with Bill about cellists, grandson baseball games, Spring weather, stories of Dad, etc. Driving out to the ever-changing Azalea Gardens play area and gardens. Clearing off last year's plants and piling the dead stocks up.  Checking on the community shed and the tiller in there. Returning home, clearing out the dead blackberry plants and pruning them back, digging holes and planting four thorn-less blackberry plants. And then finding watering cans and watering the new plants. Organizing and sending off 164 family photos, copied from Facebook postings, through Walmart to Barb.  Finding out I never got my previous order for Strawberry juice packets, so re-ordering another dozen. Watching some of women's Final Four.  Second night of Deej's delicious tacos.  Deej needs to set the new mouse traps.

Late January - cold, inauguration, curry club

Tis cold again now on this Tuesday morning - though overall it has been a very mild, mild winter.

This last week end, we gathered for another Curry Club - at Milan and then over to Beth's for chai.  For some reason(s), it was very nice and enjoyable, more than most gatherings.  People were interested, interesting, talkative, attentive, warm, pleasant. 

Deej and I had gone to a retirement party for public librarian Linda, at Gynkos on the Corner Friday evening (18 January 2012).  Nice group, mainly Music library group with Sue, Perry, Winston, etc.  Especially nice to see Ming (who had worked with and knew Linda) after many months.  Talked a little about changes in what used to be her Alderman East Asia collection.  Good food, shared several different Chinese dishes - all different. 

Then there was Sunday football.

And the nice Inauguration on Monday, which was, to me, a surprise holiday, also Martin Luther King's holiday.  Removed the big branch in the Druid yard, and filled up the Bird Feeders.

Barb's calling again, must be in a manic phrase after months of depression.

I'm trying to get the house webcams to work again on this new desktop computer. Maybe the living room one is working, but not the one in my room.  What to do?

Plant #4 after weeding

Planted 2 hills of zuchinni and 2 hills of burbleess cucumber after weeding the south fence edge with the scuffle hoe, also on all three paths between the two rows of okra.  And then watered them.  Picked cosmos, zenia, and marigolds - one green and one yellow squash, and a few hot peppers. In about 1 hour from 7:30 to 8:30.  Light work compared to yesterday. Two young couples were around working.

Monday's garden, viewed from the north side

 The garden weeding was after work, after we had gone to get Sam's gas ($2.97 a gallon, and 13 gallons) in Deej's car, and the at the pet store - Jado cat food cans, dry food, and kitty litter - the last bag of kitty litter was horrible - clumped and hard to clean. Then, after the garden, I came home to a nice meal Deej had prepared of shrimp, a wonderful okra dish, fresh cucumber and hot peppers, plus desert of her peach cobbler with some ice cream.

We had a nice lunch (Tuesday) with Kathy at the Corner (No. 3 restaurant) - she leaves tomorrow.  Demonstrated Facebook, before Kathy went with Deej over to special collection. Highlight of work - re-estimating the number of pamphlets of cataloging - probably more around 2500 instead of my initial 1200 I had made months ago.

Yesterday (Monday 16th July) I went by myself, leaving an hour early, to weed at the garden, from about 5:30 to 7:30.  Boy, was that hard.  But needed, and a lot easier with the two showers on the weekend that totaled about 1 inch, and soften the soil, for it's hard rockness because of the drought during the past 3 weeks. Mostly pulled grass along the east edge where there are some gladiolas.  And then planted some seeds which I had had soaking for 2 nights - 3 hills of pumpkins, plus 4 or 5 watermelon seeds along the eastern fence and on the cucumber cage, and then three places along the middle part of the west, north, and east fence.  But the main seeds I planted were flower seeds along rows in the east fence rows - 3 type of cosmoses and marigolds.  Also did an L of okra in the northeast corner. Two Mexicans were can watering in a garden to the east, the truck guy to the west was there when I fist came, and an lady drove in to her garden to the east, and the Pakistani lady was working her garden to the west up by the basketball court - her little daughter playing around their van.

We'll see if anything comes of those seed plantings so late in the season.

Here are some photos, taken from the north side for a change (see above)
Three orange cosmos - blazing away

 

The okra / zucchini hills and the row of planted flowers

The recent history of the garden? after the April and May tillings and plantings on weekends, we went to the beach the first week in June and weeds grew.  And we spent considerable time weeding corn, peppers, tomatos, okra - and placing newspapers over some weeded areas. We did get some onions, and started to get beans.  In early July we mowed the higher grass in the central path and the eastern edge, but then we hit a dry three weeks and could not pull any more weeds, nor scuffle hoe - it was way too hard.  We started to get cucumbers by mid July, and peppers, more beans, dug the small potato area, tented the kale, picking zennias and marigolds.  We watered during the weekends, including last Saturday, before we got almost an inch shower. And then Monday and Tuesday (above) I weeded and did some planting. We sprayed some oil on the corn tassels. Still to come is corn and tomatoes - and those may come at the wrong time - while we are away all next week in Seattle for the WOSA reunion, sailing, a day trip to the Victoria, Canada gardens, etc.

Saturday we bbqed vegetables and hamburger, finished cooking them just in time as the shower arrived. I had mowed the back yard also.

Sunday I bought metal stakes and put up a little fence around the back yard blue berry bushes and the corn / bean / squash hills - the shower that evening came before I was done, so I worked in a nice 10-minute natural rain shower.  By then Kathy H had arrived.  I showered and we went and had a nice meal at Sticks.  Kathy showed some really fantastic photos of cicadas, grasshoppers, spiders, frogs, insects which her colleague (Piter?) had taken in May when they had a month in Mozambique with EO Wilson. 

That's it - a story of weeding, planting, fencing, picking, showers, Kathy's visit - - - -

day to day

What if some of these posts are just boring listing of events?

Yesterday (Wed, 11 July 2011) stayed home in the morning as the locksmith came to replace our broken front door lock - replacing the silver one with a working gold one.  He arrived on the dot at 10 as scheduled. Cost $130.

Jado got out and refused to budge from his resting spot underneath the bush on the front west side of the house, so I left him there when I caught the 12:37 pm Route 4 bus in to work.

The User Services meeting was to last from 3:30 to 5, but let out at 4:15 pm after discussions about preparations for the Fall library web site.

I finished up my self-evaluation / annual report and forwarded it on to Anne.

Caught the Route 4 bus home, after waiting almost a half hour for it at the art Studio.  Deej not as lucky - had me drive and get her at the Omni at 5:50 as no Route 4 came.

Ran to the store to get pork, and combined it with a can of beans, bell peppers, onion, garlic, etc for supper.  Froze 3 two-pork chop bags of extra pork.

Today (Thursday) caught bus fine, but very noisy chicken hen house on crowded bus with groups of women talking to each other at the same time. Worked on LC overseas acquisition bill payments (Pakistan, India, Iran, and Cairo/Middle East) and gave them to Buddy on his second last day of work.  We talked with Rose about how to handle stuff after Buddy's gone.

Normal lunch of sandwiches and apple down in staff lounge with Deej.  Worked some on pamphlet listing sets, before going to the 2 pm HumSoc meeting - mainly about departmental goals for the coming year - Services, Collections, Space. Reply about researcher's question on Happiness and the Dalai Lama. Purchase Requests.

Trolley to Studio, Route 6 to 5th / Elliott top of the hill, and walk down and into the back yard by 5:25 pm. Deej got in late around 6 after walking with Rea and husband to catch the 6 at the Salvation Army Cherry Ave bus stop.

Rinse and wash some dishes from crowded sink. Left over pork and beans for supper, and mango w/ ice cream for desert. No water mellow like the last two nights.

Boring nothing TV - found the Roku controller (after it was missing for a month and a half), but nothing on there either.

Egroup ar discussion family letters, junk, what to do with, what to throw out - after we saw / discovered Jackson Day's dad's trunk in a museum in Shanghai.

Was that listing of events, or some more?

Plant #3 and more

We've done some more in May - in spite of some rainy days, and weeds, weeds, weeds!

Planting #2

After work Thursday (3 May 2012), we went out to Azalea Park and did about an hour of work.

Azalea garden plot

Look! the shed's back! - after being vandalized about 2 months ago.

Peas are coming along. Radishes are growing too, and Deej picked about 10 small / medium sized ones, before they got too large and hot.  They were good at supper.

I mainly dug holes for plants we had bought on the weekend at Ezroths or K-Mart.  Put in 3 more cayenne and 3 new bell plants near the center of the west side of the garden.  (see photo below) Also about 9 marigold plants of 3 varieties along the border at different places.

marigolds at our entrance

Peppers

We've had drizzling rain and fairly warm days recently.  It was finally dry enough to mow the Druid yard Sunday (6 May 2012)

Jado rests on the just-mowed Druid back yard

I went to the First Friday and saw some nice art at McGuffy, Fish Gallery, a side place down 1st street, and then the 2nd Street gallery.  Saturday worked some more on Hauser's books (to add or not), then picking up Beth to go to the Curry Club where we joined Betsy and Mary.  A nice small group and we lingered some since we decided not to go to Betsy's house for chai.  There was a din of 8-10 year old Indian kids in the same side room making it hard to hear some of the time.  Drove up to Tandem Friends School and sat with Herb and Annie for Tom Joseph's memorial Quaker meeting from 2-3 pm.  Lots of interesting and nice things said by 15 men and 7 women.  Saturday morning also Facetimed with Julie which I haven't done in months - the big, sad news was Matt's broken leg from a motorcycle accident - painful and going to have some surgery on it.  Also got to see and say hi to Lauren and Eliza.