Today was the long-awaited plant swap. Unfortunately, one of the other ladies didn’t show up so it was just the hostess, Shannon (who I brought along) and myself. The hostess, Kris, and her husband Bobby were very nice. Unfortunately, the only downside was that I didn’t get any plants out of it. Kris had prepared goodie baskets for the two people who were posting on the forum that the swap was first suggested on. Shannon’s seedlings were too few to share since she is starting her first garden, so I told her she was more than welcome to offer some of mine since I brought a ton. Came home with maybe half or a little less.

After running errands with Ralph, I consolidated what was left in the living room and was able to fit them all on window sills. The card table was put away and the plant holder is now back on the porch. I fed the compost bin, tried seeing if I could root some cuttings from the winterberry bush and started cleaning up some of the nursery pots to store away for next year. I’ve learned so much this season that I’m already looking forward to next season.

That’s right, snowed. So needless to say I’m not outside in the yard. I did give the seedlings indoors a bit of fish fertilizer because some of my eggplants were getting yellow leaves. I ended up pulling out a handful of seedlings that looked too beat up to even bother with. I figure that, since I have packets of seeds, I could pick out the ones that I had extra seeds for.

Of the two tomatoes I started (black zebra and Tula black seaman [no joke, that’s the name]), the zebra started slower but is now looking more developed than the Tula.

Ralph has decided to only use one of the Topsy Turveys this year for his Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, so I may use the Topsy Tree for some of my seedlings. I also have a pot that a now-dead indoor tree used to inhabit. I will probably fill it up with sugar snap peas. In previous years I would only plant like 6 sugar snap peas because the plant quantity seemed like a good amount, but the average harvest was usually only enough to use as garnish (5-6 pods per plate). In one of the garden beds, I’ve planted 10-15 sugar snap peas, but this will allow me another set to harvest and to move in the shade if needs be. Plus, if it has a decent yield, I can always take out what’s in the bed for other plants.

After the fish fertilizing and seedling thinning, I think I have some better ways of starting seedlings for next year if I have to do it indoors. I feel like I’m blabbing.

I spent just enough time outside to water things. My Disney rose bush is looking pretty bad. I’m already determined to go buy another one, but I will wait and see what happens this week. 3-4 more tulips bloomed. I thought these were in an area I only planted friteralia in but I could be wrong since these are solid.

I didn’t realize the plant swap was so soon. I thought I had at least another 2 weeks. I’m not sure my offerings are looking too healthy right now. Might post that on the forum and see if others are suffering the same fate. We’re all in the same area, so there is a chance that it’s not just me having a black thumb. I’ll make sure everything is well-watered and then bring them all out in the sun tomorrow. It just feels like a bad gardening day.

A blue jay decided to build a nest above one of our back patio lights; the one closest to the grill. Between a metal patio roof, light fixture and grill, I’m worried that the eggs will cook rather than incubate. Ralph thinks we should move it before eggs appear and the bird get territorial.

Onions look like they are getting stronger after an iffy transplant. Not all of them, mind you, but a decent amount for my first try.

I mulched the Disney rose bush because it’s looking pretty bad. I hope, hope, hope it survives. If it dies, I’m going back for another. I absolutely love the blooms.

I think I figured out what is happening to my blackberry lilies. Either doves or quail are doing their butt-imprints and snacking on them…including the ones I just planted. If any are left, I’ll be very surprised. Two of my 5 dahlias have fallen over. I’m half tempted to think that the doves or quails had a hand in that as well because it looked like somethings tried to uproot my tulips, too. Might it be raccoons?

Had to replant some things for the swap. Since I hate the wind, I didn’t go out and peek at the seedlings I left outside to harden off and they dried out.

Other than that, I’m at a point where I just want to see if what I have and what I’ve planted are going to get to a good start from here on out. This is the last night in the next ten days at least where the night will be in the 30s. The lows are projects to stay in the 40s for most of the week with low 50s showing up by next weekend. *crosses fingers*

So, as I’ve said, I’ve been creatively burnt out for at least 3 years. All my quick/local efforts to rectify this don’t seem to help as much as I hope. That’s why I’m looking forward to Portland like someone with a bursting bladder panically runs to the bathroom; relief and knowing that everything will be alright if I can just make it there.

That being said, I’m finding that I’m losing my patience with clients where I normally wouldn’t. I would never let them see that, but when I’m alone I do sit and grumble, rail against indignities and claim to cut them off after the current project is completed. But, as I soothe myself with the thought of “it’s almost Portland time!”, I wonder if it’s just me and my burnt-out state. Granted, there are one or two clients that I know I’m getting my chain yanked by, but what about the rest?

Am I literally at a serious breaking point? Can it be fixed, healed or mended whether or not I actually reach that point? Do I let the dam break in a non-client environment and just see what comes out of the wreckage? I’m trying so hard to not let the seams burst, but what if bursting in a “controlled environment” will do me more good than trying to keep it all together? Does it sound stupid to just have a good cry right before the trip so that I let it all out and go on the trip with a clean frame of mind?

This all sounds so silly, high school and trite when I say or write it, but I know what I’m feeling does not feel right. I’d rather try all the possible options rather than just let it eat at me until I lose all love and passion for creative work. I never want to lose the high I feel when I’m doing something creative. I do want to lose the guilt I feel when I see all my art supplies or see the portfolios and projects of others.

It’s worth fighting for, and if fighting means allowing myself to crash & burn, break and/or bawl uncontrollably like a baby so that I can bring myself back up, I’ll do it. It scares the hell out of me, but I will. 22 days until Portland.

Dear Michelle 2011,
Has 2010 taught you anything? I hope so. For instance, I hope the first seeds you sow are your cool-season crops on or around St. Patty’s Day, as is the tradition in Reno. If you order seeds online, I hope you remember to give them to Ralph when they arrive so that he can hide them from you until Tax Day. You hear that? TAX DAY.

If you forget and you sow early, you totally deserve the crowded areas around your windows, the gnats you detest so much that you forewent indoor plants for so long to avoid, the sad-looking seedlings that look like they won’t make it, the pain of hardening off too many plants that you didn’t winter sow (in and out, in and out, in and out), the realization that your Spring Cleaning efforts are almost all for naught after one weekend of said hardening off, the legginess of more than half of your seedlings because you don’t have a grow light.

Isn’t that what you should be doing right now, instead of fussing over seedlings? Spring Cleaning, finishing up any indoor projects before the warm, non-windy weather beckons you like a siren and doing more of the personal art projects I hope you accomplished in 2010. On nice early Spring days, did you spend the time to amend your clay soil in the front yard? The soil that make planting any new plants or seeds a pain in the ass? Have you at least mulched?!?!?!?

Please remember that late April through most of May is windy, and you hate the wind, don’t you? You’ll neglect things outside on the really windy days and realize that you may have to redo a lot of what you have already accomplished because you started too soon.

If you’ve found a way to create a hoop house, cold frame, cold tunnel or other contraption to lengthen your growing season, do not forget to only start with seeds you know you can replace/resow if they don’t make it your first year using your newfangled thingamajig.

DO remember that you liked using iced mocha cups for starting eggplants and tomatoes and that baggies over red plastic cups (for Sugar Baby watermelon, lemon cucumbers and zucchini) will only work if, as soon as the plant is big enough to not fit in the baggie, it should be near planting-out time. Beans grow fast and do not need to be started indoors.

Remember to try wintersown gardening. If you forget your reasons, look at token’s blog for 2010. He had hundreds of plants that were hardy and good-sized to work with.

Exercise patience, don’t use the generic Ace soil in the white bag and remember to order & use the nifty spray you found that reduced the clay-i-ness of your soil.

Best wishes,
Michelle 2010

I planted the Disney rose bush and two bishop’s weed. We’ll see if I regret the bishop’s weed in the coming years. It can be invasive but is such a nice-looking ground cover that I hope I won’t. That’s the hard part about ground covers, finding one that will spread a decent enough area that you don’t have to buy a million plants. Maybe that’s why I like my lamium so much. It grows about 18″ wide and then stays that size. If you cut some out to transplant, it fills back in. Of course, it’s a gorgeous ground cover, too. One of my lamb’s ears is not looking so hot so I moved an urn-shaped planter that was next to it in case it just wasn’t getting enough sun.

I wish I had more to report on the veggie gardening. At least I’m down to just one window (with a card table) of seedlings still indoors. I left a good portion of Plant Swap seeds and seedlings outside. Figured I can start the hardening off process for the future owners.

I still need to plant my pieris. I hope to do that this weekend, if not sooner, so that the plant doesn’t die in the pot. Each year, there seems to be one plant that suffers that fatality. Watered everything and it looks like half of the dianthus and poppies that were put in ground might make it. Keep your fingers crossed because tonight it’s supposed to be cold.

Had a date with Cody last night. We went to dinner and then watched “How To Train A Dragon” in 3D. He’d already seen it before but was more than happy to see it again with me since we’re both dragon lovers. It was a cute movie. Afterward, I stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up ingredients for tonight’s dinner (I’d promised Ralph meatloaf on Thursday and, due to a meeting running longer than expected, didn’t have time to make it). Having a date with Cody, shopping in an empty grocery store and driving home at night all hit me with a wave of nostalgia. Of a time when I would spend a lot of time out of the house to avoid my mother, or, when I was living on my own, living without so many obligations that I could just roam a grocery store at night. Of course, coming home I still had to work on jobs for clients and the normal day-to-day stuff, but the feeling didn’t leave me for the rest of the night. I don’t long for those single-life days, but I do miss a lot of who I was back then. A more creative, freer spirit. That’s what I’m trying to recapture again. I need to let a lot of the mundane things not weigh so heavily on my shoulders. I don’t know why or when I let things weigh on me so much, especially the little things.

I hate working outside when it’s windy so I didn’t, even though my new Disneyland rose bush has already brought me so much joy. I love staring at it and kept a picture open of it on my desktop all day. I hope I can plant it out tomorrow. Also, due to the wind, I didn’t bring any plants out for hardening off.

I did a lot of potting up over the weekend. But now I think I’m at an awkward point where I should plant this weekend and hope for the best, but I also want the plants to “rest” a bit in their new pots. As gentle as I try to be when repotting, I’m sure it’s still enough of a shock to the little seedlings. The night time weather is still going to be in the 40s for the next ten days as least, so maybe I won’t be planting this weekend. Damn me and my early planting!!! A lot of my squash already have buds on them. I think they’re a bit small for that right now, but I have plenty of seeds left over to start from scratch if I need to. They are fast growers so I’m not overly worried about them. It’s the tomatoes and eggplants I need to worry about.

It’s bright, warm and windy today so I brought all of the seedlings out. Decided to plant all my poppies and dianthus in the bed where I direct-sowed a portion of them. I decided that I wouldn’t do the hardening off of these guys because they are at a point where my taking care of them inside will either do more damage than good, so I’ll just see how they fare in the location I allotted them outdoors.

Cleaned up the driveway bed of weeds and the one boxwood that is totally dead from being one of the neighborhood dog bathrooms. In a little bit I’ll wet down the soil, plant the xeriscape seeds and then cover them up with what’s left in a compost and garden soil bag. Will do that for other areas I plan on sowing seeds in.

Bought some things at a couple of nurseries on the way home yesterday. A Felix Crousse peony that I put next to my Sarah Bernhardt peony, a Summer Wine yarrow whose foliage was just too pretty to pass up (and I have been thinking of getting a yarrow anyway), a japanese spiraea, spanish lavender and a Mountain Flame japanese pieris. I planted the Southern Comfort heuchera bought a couple of weeks ago, but I still need to find a place for the lambs ears.

My Queen of the Night tulips are in full bloom and gorgeous, but my friterallia have not bloomed yet. There are plenty of buds on it, so maybe it’ll bloom this month.

Break’s over. Time to get back into the garden.

Break #2
The front yard is done for the day. I started taking pictures to share and the camera died. So I’ll let it recharge over night and then take photos tomorrow.

I’m really dreading prepping the last veggie bed, even before I spent the first part of the day working on the front yard. I’m half tempted to just cover it in compost since it’s so full anyway. This is one of the things talked about in The New Square Foot Gardening book I got. In a raised bed with good soil, you’d just need to add compost as your compost bin is ready. No need to work the soil. I just get such measly yields though, that I think the soil could use something.

Right now, I’m just ready to have the house back. So if I can think of a way to not bring the seedlings back in, but give them the protection they need, I’ll be happy.