GetSheila

Stepford Sister Strikes Again

I spent the day at my mom's with my sister Karen emptying out the patio, removing the lattice and shredded plastic used to keep it warm in winter (gotta keep those stray cats happy,) hosing everything down inside and out, then putting it all back together again.

It looked depressingly the same when we were done, only with less spiders.

Not satisfied we had “done enough,” we then cleared the garden paths of rampant poppies and spider plants and dug up and re-laid the pavers so you can actually walk AROUND the entire garden. What a novel idea!

We then adjourned to my house where we showered:

• Karen with Jesse, baby shampoo, and screams every time Jesse did the shake all over thing and flung water everywhere;
• Me, alone.

Being the ultimate hostess, I made a light dinner of salad and flatbread pizza. It doesn’t matter the pizza came from a box in the freezer and the salad from a bag. I did add onions and raisins and sunflower seeds to the salad. That’s something.

I’ll vacuum in pumps and pearls next week for Suzie Homemaker penance.

As the last remaining people on earth who had never seen Hellboy, we then did so and are now obsessed with obtaining the sequel. Hope it’s good. Though how can it possibly be bad with a giant, buff red guy with a deep and sexy voice? So he has horns, big deal. So did my ex-husband.

When the movie finished around 7:30, we were going to take a well deserved soak in the hot tub only to discover it had started to rain. Drat. What to do? While I contemplated finding something else to watch on TV or, well, anything that would keep me parked on my ass, Karen pulled some pita dough out of my fridge that she whipped up in about ten seconds the other day and baked up a batch of pitas. Every single one puffed up beautifully in the oven. She would want me to tell you that because apparently it doesn't always happen.

I don't think Karen lives in Idaho. I think she lives in Stepford Valley with her Stepford dog and Mr. Stepford.

And a bunch of Stepford chickens.

 

Technorati Tags: karen,mom,spring cleaning

Unidentified things in my garden

I have many plants in my garden. The problem is, I don’t know what the heck they are, when they bloom, or how I should be taking care of them. Luckily, they just bloom willy nilly, I enjoy them, think about how I should find out what they are and do some actual garden planning, then promptly forget all about it.

 

Mom gave me these bulbs a couple of years ago. I planted them in a row so they looked rather pathetic last year but they’ve filled in quite nicely. No idea what they are but they sure are pretty. Bluebells?

Here’s another bunch. I really need to dig ‘em up and redistribute them.

 

Mom also gave me these bulbs. I think they are some kind of lily. We’ll see when they send up a flower. I just love long, graceful, green tendrils.

I think this is a camellia bush. It’s hard to tell what with all the ivy choking the life out of everything in that corner. Here, let me give you a better idea of what’s going on over there:

I sprayed round-up ALL OVER the ivy last year and…nuthin’. A few leave turned brown but that was it. I used to love ivy. So green! So pretty! So freaking indestructible. BTW, that taller clump on the left? It’s a rose bush. No really, I swear.

This one I can identify, I just have no idea how it got here. I suspect a bird did a fly-by palm seed pooping and – voila! The grassy stuff in front I think is Monkey Grass. It borders most of the back fence garden, but not quite all so just looks unfinished.

Oh hey! That’s the other volunteer palm tree peeking out from behind the rose bush on the left but look! There’s another one starting in the middle of the picture. Guess I’m going to have to dig them up before they grow to gigantor proportions. Meanwhile, I had planted 6 more bulbs and a forsythia. The latter is barley surviving (middle, back) the bulbs are nowhere to be found, and I do believe that’s a volunteer spider plant on the right. Or maybe it’s one lonely surviving bulb. Hard to tell.

And then there are the barely identifiable because they are starved for water but hanging in there because they are cactus, uh, cactus things. They normally shoot up a long stem with a pretty flower on top but mine never have. Perhaps I need to bunch them closer together for water accumulation purposes.

 

The tree that broke last year after PG&E came out this year and topped it so it wouldn’t interfere with the electrical lines. Who knew? If you wait long enough, you don’t have to pay someone to prune your trees. PG&E will come and do it for free. It may look like shit, but did I mention “free?”

Yes, my grass in a bit sad. Not quite sure what to do about that.

 

It’s lovely over here. Must be the tree roots keeping the moisture around.

 

Technorati Tags: yard and garden

 

 

My Tree Broke

My neighbor called me at work yesterday to tell me my tree broke.

 

The tree man comes today to perform surgery. I predict a much sunnier back yard in my future.

Click anywhere on the slideshow to jump to my Picasa WebAlbum and see the photos bigger.

 

Technorati Tags: broken tree,back yard,gardening

Big fat juicy…worms? grubs? caterpillars?

Behold the big fat grubs in my compost pile no one can identify:

The ones in the last picture were moving around. BLECH.

There seem to be a fair number of them deep in the wetter, denser depths of the pile.

Any ideas? I’m counting on you!

 

Technorati Tags: composting,compost pile,worms in compost,grubs in compost

Composting Chronicles: Week 3

I am now a composter. Here is my fledgling pile:

It doesn’t look like much yet but it will soon be a mountain of decomposing matter, which sounds gross but will be awesome. I need to get some stakes and wire and build a taller structure for maximum heat inducing pileage.

Week 1-3 additions:

• Grass clippings
• Leaves
• Tea bags
• Eggshells
• Banana peels and rotten bananas
• Onion cast-offs
• Dryer lint (Yes, you can compost dryer lint! They do say it should come from natural materials, though, not synthetics. I find that amusing. As amusing as the caveat that hair is exceptionally beneficial to a compost pile but it should not be color treated.)
• Potato: I found one random potato on the back lawn after returning home from vacation. I queried my house sitter Lizzie via text, who replied, “Someone at the rave must have brought it as a snack.” God I love her.
• Old produce from the fridge, including blueberries, lettuce, bell peppers, and green onions.

I am doing it all wrong, of course, the composting. When you start, you are supposed to layer brown matter, green matter, brown matter, and so on. For a definition of brown matter vs. green matter and more information about composting check out these sites:

• Composting Fundamentals
• Compost Happens!
• 163 Things You Can Compost

I don’t have much brown matter so it is pretty much all green at this point, but I am not concerned. My mom has had a compost pile for years and she just throws things out there willy-nilly. Even if you only turn it maybe twice a year, it does break down into lovely compost eventually. Turning if more frequently and having the right proportion of green (nitrogen) to brown (carbon) ingredients just speeds up the process (and keeps the pile from getting too smelly.)

The photo above was at Week 1. Here it is at Week 3:

Notice it is slightly smaller than Week 1, yet includes 2 additional weeks of lawn clippings, leaves, and a plethora of kitchen waste. I have been turning it frequently to keep it from getting anaerobic and smelly so it is coming along nicely. I included the grapefruit in the shot since they are left over from last year and will soon be chopped up and added to the pile. I noticed new green ones on the tree and realized I never picked last year’s. Oops. I find grapefruit disgusting but the tree came with the house so what’s a girl to do?

When I had so much fun turning my sister’s huge compost pile with a tractor, she told me it was fun for her the first 10 times, too, then it became a chore. I am sure that is coming for me with putting on my plastic garden clogs and turning the pile with a hay fork, but so far I am still having fun with composting.

Technorati Tags: compost,composting,fun with composting,gardening