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Gardening ahoy! Plus ASoIaF
Oct. 13th, 2009 10:35 am
Noob gardener tip #1: Wear gardening gloves.
So yesterday, since the garden bed was ready, I decided it was time I put my plan of planting garlic into action. I also figured I'd go to a nursery and pick up a couple of chard/kale transplants while I was at it. The place I chose to go to had 5 stars on Yelp, so I figured that'd be a good place for a newbie gardener to start.
Well, it was enormous. Too enormous. You could actually drive down lanes and pick out potted trees that you wanted. After nearly knocking down a couple of trees, I finally found where I was supposed to park.
The only chard they had was $10 and for 'decorative' purposes. I talked to a worker and she said that all their fall/winter veggie starters were out -- surprisingly none of them were chard or kale. They had things like broccoli, beets, lettuce, bok choi, various cabbages. I looked in my NW gardener's book, and supposedly none of these are winter veggies; they're for planting in early spring, for harvesting in spring/summer. So.... yeah. Don't know what to make of that. In any case, I went nuts. Most of the transplants were $0.69, so I figured even if I screwed up or even if they weren't really fall/winter veggies, I could at least practice planting them pretty cheaply. I ended up buying enough to nearly fill the two beds I have, along with the garlic I was planning to plant ... I think I have 2 squares left, which I plan to fill today with shallots.
I was so eager to get started that even though I couldn't find my gardening gloves, I went ahead and planted everything anyway, figuring my trowel would be enough, and it would be good to get my hands dirty. I didn't count on the splinters. OMG so many splinters. Oww. Hence I learned my lesson about gardening gloves.
( Pictures! )
So I ordered a paper trimmer, it arrived and was awesome, and now I think I have wrapped just about every book I intend to wrap. Yay. The trimmer I got is one where you just slide the nob up to cut the paper, instead of a guillotine-like thing. I think the razor is hidden, so there's no chance of accidentally cutting myself. Thank goodness for technological advances, because I am so clumsy that I'd fear for my safety or Talis's if I'd had to use a guillotine one.
Mmmkay so I have finished A Storm of Swords... ( Spoilers. )
And I've even started A Feast for Crows, which is going by rather quickly. I dread the day I finish and then I will have to join the masses of people waiting for book 5. Sigh. ( Spoilers. )
So yesterday, since the garden bed was ready, I decided it was time I put my plan of planting garlic into action. I also figured I'd go to a nursery and pick up a couple of chard/kale transplants while I was at it. The place I chose to go to had 5 stars on Yelp, so I figured that'd be a good place for a newbie gardener to start.
Well, it was enormous. Too enormous. You could actually drive down lanes and pick out potted trees that you wanted. After nearly knocking down a couple of trees, I finally found where I was supposed to park.
The only chard they had was $10 and for 'decorative' purposes. I talked to a worker and she said that all their fall/winter veggie starters were out -- surprisingly none of them were chard or kale. They had things like broccoli, beets, lettuce, bok choi, various cabbages. I looked in my NW gardener's book, and supposedly none of these are winter veggies; they're for planting in early spring, for harvesting in spring/summer. So.... yeah. Don't know what to make of that. In any case, I went nuts. Most of the transplants were $0.69, so I figured even if I screwed up or even if they weren't really fall/winter veggies, I could at least practice planting them pretty cheaply. I ended up buying enough to nearly fill the two beds I have, along with the garlic I was planning to plant ... I think I have 2 squares left, which I plan to fill today with shallots.
I was so eager to get started that even though I couldn't find my gardening gloves, I went ahead and planted everything anyway, figuring my trowel would be enough, and it would be good to get my hands dirty. I didn't count on the splinters. OMG so many splinters. Oww. Hence I learned my lesson about gardening gloves.
( Pictures! )
So I ordered a paper trimmer, it arrived and was awesome, and now I think I have wrapped just about every book I intend to wrap. Yay. The trimmer I got is one where you just slide the nob up to cut the paper, instead of a guillotine-like thing. I think the razor is hidden, so there's no chance of accidentally cutting myself. Thank goodness for technological advances, because I am so clumsy that I'd fear for my safety or Talis's if I'd had to use a guillotine one.
Mmmkay so I have finished A Storm of Swords... ( Spoilers. )
And I've even started A Feast for Crows, which is going by rather quickly. I dread the day I finish and then I will have to join the masses of people waiting for book 5. Sigh. ( Spoilers. )
