Thursday, February 24, 2011

Just Like The Old Cow's Tail (And a garden update)

Ugh. I am way behind (2 whole days) on my 28 Days of Love Project. I just haven't been able to get pictures taken and blog posts written. I have a list of things, I just need to find time to get them photographed and written about.

Actually... I just realized that it might end up being OLD pictures, since the camera has accidentally been handicapped and isn't working right now :(

Yesterday my pea seeds came :) This afternoon while Susannah took her nap I went out - in the drizzling rain - and planted peas! It wasn't supposed to rain until this evening - I guess the weather man was wrong! I knew if I didn't get out there and plant them today, it was only going to get more muddy and be harder to do. So I pulled on my faithful Tingly boots that Mom gave me for Christmas (yay!) and tromped on out there.

Daniel helped me measure off the corners of the garden so I'd be sure to get the first row square in the garden, and then I measured off of each row for the following one. Then I used some string, a stick and a shovel to pull a straight line for me to follow with the hoe to get straight rows. (I am OCD about having straight rows - it makes the garden look much nicer.) After I went through each row twice, I sprinkled in some fertilizer. Then I found a piece of discard lumber from the trash pile (plenty of trash lumber with the addition project going on!) and dragged it through each row to stir the fertilizer in a bit.

1 lb. of pea seeds later, Tada!


I had just the perfect amount of dug up space to fit 6 rows :) The rows are roughly 3' apart.


I'm so tickled to have the peas in the ground already! Last year we planted the Tuesday (3/9) before Susannah was born on Thursday, and I knew I wanted to get them in a little earlier this year. As early as possible is best for our area since it can get too hot for the plants if we wait even until mid-March.

So, all the garden stuff on top of maintaining barely the bare necessities of housekeeping, the house looks like a tornado went through. One of my sisters is coming for a quick weekend visit and I hope to lasso her into helping me do some whirlwind cleaning and get the place whipped into better shape.

So that's where I'm at! I might be on top of getting my peas planted, but I am way, way, way behind in so many other departments. The title of this post comes from an old diddy we used to sing sometimes while we were waiting for somebody. One of line is "Always behind, just like the old cow's tail."

For now, I need to go to bed. Tomorrow's another busy day, getting together with a friend to try some new recipes, picking my sister up from the airport, and hopefully getting some of these dishes and laundry piles under control.

6 comments:

Amanda said... [Reply to comment]

Oh my goodness. It is so fun to see someone start planting their garden already! I won't even start my tomato plant seeds indoors for another month or so! I usually put my peas out at the end of April if we don't have any snow left on the ground! Can't wait to see the peas start popping out of the ground for you! You must take pictures (if you camera gets fixed!)

Candi said... [Reply to comment]

Love these garden posts! Can't wait to get ours in the ground. Been looking through magazines decided what to get :)

Rachel said... [Reply to comment]

You are your mother's daughter. Remember when there was nearly divorce and bloodshed the first year rows were made without the cinderblock and string guide?

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I must not be my mothers daughter.... I have never used a guide, measuring device or whatnot. As long as there are rows of some sort I am happy!!!

Sally said... [Reply to comment]

I can't believe you have enough space to put 3' between your pea rows! That's the stuff dreams are made of. In my dream garden, I'll have plenty of space, kids that enjoy helping to tend it, and very straight rows measured off. As it is, I used to measure off the rows and use a string, but I believe the last few years I've just eye-balled it and then winged it. They were crooked. But, Alan always said you can get more in a crooked row!

Miriam said... [Reply to comment]

@Sally Hmm, well, I guess since we're on 2.5 acres I've never thought of NOT putting 3' between rows! And on a good year when the peas do well, it is STILL like crawling through a jungle to pick them!