Daughter's 8th Grade Formal Dance

Man does time fly. She is now 14 and growing up so fast she just went to her 8th grade formal dance (so glad without a date). The sad part is it was truly hard to find a dress that was conservative and did not show case too much. Some of the dresses out there were not for a then 13 year now 14.

Books I'm Reading-Sue Grafton, T is for Trespass

http://www.suegrafton.com/index.htm

So far this book is going good. What I like about this book so far, is the fact that one of the characters has stolen an identity and somehow.....someway she has crossed Kinsey's path (you know she is in trouble now). I really like how Kinsey questions the accident victim (another story within the book), she is so smooth. If you have not read this series yet, you really should. Think about it you will have 20 books to read, while the rest of us wait for "U is for....." I am not sure what Sue is going to do when she completes Z. Hopefully she will continue with more. You have fans out here that love your books.

More Garden Updates

I did some cleanup in the garden today, I actually had more time to really look at everything. Usually it is just a half hour after work or some time on the weekends between doing this and that. Hopefully the photos are much better. Today was a truly hot and bright day.

If you see in my other photos how many leaves this tomato plant has now it is amazing (but no tomatoes).



I bought 2 more tarragon plants (I noticed the plants at the store are not as good looking as they were when I originally both my herbs). Hopefully I can get these to looking good.



I staked the beans, even though they are not big enough yet, but I wanted to have the stake in to prepare for their growth.


This is my cucumber plant. I read up on cucumbers and it looks as though I have the male and female parts but I may not be getting pollination. I am still reading to see if there is anything I can do about this. I read that some people use a paint brush to get things going. I wonder if I should have some romantic music going on in the background.


I started my own compost bin. I took a trash can and put holes in it (saw a video on a gardening show) and we will see what happens. I have lawn clippings, left over soil, vegetable clippings, etc. in there. I add water and turn it with a pitch fork on a regular basis.

Totally Perplexed

I planted my tomato plant in early March and to date I have no tomatoes, just a few piddly flowers. I used organic miracle grow with food in it. I was also fertilizing the plant when I was fertilized my other plants and I have tons of vines and leaves. I read this past week that you are not to fertilize until you have tomatoes on the plant, then you feed on a regular schedule. I am wondering if my extra fertilizing made it produce a lot of vines and leaves and maybe now I will get tomatoes. I just don't know what I did wrong.

When I first tried to grow tomatoes about a year or so ago, I did them in pots and they did not survive. So I thought doing them this "new way" that I would have a better chance. If you have any information, that would be great.

My Garden-Update

This is truly amazing and I surprise myself every day. The reason I say that is because I really don't think of myself as an all outdoors person. I don't like bugs and I surely don't like getting stung by mosquito's (which I have tons of bites from this weekend due to a recent rain we had). Also, I am new at all of this and yet you will find me outside daily keeping up with things and learning as I go. I am also planning my cold season garden. WOW I truly amaze myself.

There was been considerable progress in the garden in the last week....

we now have jalapenos


a little bell pepper has appeared


the string beans are forming


In our first raised garden bed the spinach did not take off (wrong season for it), so I planted some dill. I can't wait to make a Greek salad with it.


The arugula started to bolt, so I planted some more from seed and within a couple of weeks this is what it looks like. The chives have not taken off as I had hoped, I think it is because the cucumber plant (mind you no cucumbers yet, but lots of flowers) may be blocking the chives, plan to move it to another location.


I also potted up 4 tomatoes (2 are celebrity, 1 is roma tomatoes, and the other is a patio cherry type tomato). I saw on Youtube that someone did this same technique and then used the top to plant flowers that way the soil won't dry out as much. I will see if I get better results with my tomatoes here than an the topsy turvy tomato planter (I planted in here almost 2 months ago and no tomatoes yet).

2nd Raised Bed

About 3 weeks ago my husband and I built another raised bed, it took less time than the first (knew what we were doing and I operated the drill with better precision :) this time). 2 weeks ago we planted (all from seed) more peppers, lima beans, broccoli, cabbage tomatoes and peas (may not be the season for it, but we are experimenting). We also planted potatoes in big pots, they are not seed potatoes as I can't find any (you have to get them right away as they go fast), will see what we get with the sprouted store bought potatoes we have.





We noticed the lima beans have taken off considerably. This weekend alone all of the seeds planted have sprouted and are growing really fast.

Chairty-4 Patch On Points

Completed this quilt, I just need to quilt and bind it. All the fabric was donated to the charity. Looks pretty good. Will post final photo later.

Twin Needle Stitching

I have had a twin needle for quite some time, but never really understood it. Came across this video (as I am sure there are plenty more), but it was very interesting.
Twin needle stitching for knit fabrics – Sewing How Tos BurdaStyle.com

Currently In Progress-Sock

Well I am a knitting fiend on my first sock. I chose to use 100% mercerized cotton, because I wanted to see how the construction would come out (I just did not understand how it is done). I am liking it very much. Although I think I picked up a couple more stitches on the gusset, but I think for the most part it will be okay. Will let you know how it turned out. UPDATE....Completed my first sock on 05/18/09 (had to figure out the kitchener stich). Now I am casting on for the 2nd one. Picture to come soon of the complete sock. YIPPEEEEE so excited.

Currently In Progress-Quilting

Wonky Stars (these will go into a quilt together)

Log Cabin (need to work on my log cabin, I guess I could call it a wonky log cabin)

Flower

I was in the back yard this morning and saw one of plants sprout a flower, it had never done that before and to be honest with you, I can't EVEN remember the name of the plant. However, it is real pretty and it has a couple more buds on it that may be sprouting soon. I am guessing it is the type of plant that takes a few years to develop and then sprout flowers.

Little Leaves Appearing

I went out yesterday after I got off work to check the plants in the raised bed (I am so mad at myself because I forgot to water yesterday morning and it was upper 80s and low 90s yesterday). But to my surprise there were little green leaves appearing in almost all the sections I planted from seed (I just planted these last Saturday, that is 3 1/2 days ago). What in the world. That is so awesome. I went out this morning to water because it is supposed to get into the 90s again before NOON and more leaves had appeared. I just could not believe it. Still waiting on my green beans and tomatoes to appear (I am being patient).

I did notice that my arugula and chives are starting to thin out, not sure if it was due to not having water or if it is there time to pass on and for me to bring in more. Will know more by the weekend.

Here are some updated photos, I plan to start thinning out the collard greens this week.

Collard Greens


Radish

Husabnd and I

My husband is really getting into the gardening with me. He now wants to build another raised garden for various types of potatoes and to also grow more onions (since the first pot we used for the onions made them small, no room to grow). I am really excited about this and this is yet another event in our lives that we can do together. We are a good team. Now for the composting bin. I am in debate of building my own (my husband says that will attract to many strange creatures) or buying one made out of plastic and is sealed. Need to decide soon, so all of the stuff we have from the yard can go in there and the heat of the sun will make great compost. I bought a couple of bags from the store and they are expensive.

Books

Look what came in the mail this week. I am trying my hand at socks. These books have so many nice patterns, I just have to sit down and create them. Really looking forward to it.

Newly Built Raised Bed

Well, YAHOO, I finished putting together my raised vegetable garden. My husband and I started it last night around 8:00 and was done by 10:00. What should have taken about and hour took 2 because I did not have the power of the drill turned all the way up so it took longer to get the screws in (until the last 2 corners), so sorry honey. I also forgot to get longer screens for the corner braces, should have gotten 3 1/2 screws and not 2 inches (it would have to go through the frame (2 inches thick) and the brace (2 inches thick). Did not want to go to the store to buy more stuff (I know, I was tired)