Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Planting

I got the garden planted today and now I can't keep my eyes open.  I went right to work on it as soon as I got home from dropping Camri off at school and finished just in time to make it 10 minutes late to my spanish class.  Jeremy and I have talked about extending the garden by wrapping it around the side of the house but I'm not counting on that happening anytime soon, so I went ahead and filled the space that our garden usually takes up.  The soil is so soft in that area from so much use that it was no trouble at all digging into it with the shovel to turn it over.  I planted as much as I could in the space that I had.  Now it's filled with tomato plants, pepper plants, cucumber, and lots of different herbs.  Hopefully we'll get a truckload of dirt this weekend and we'll be all set to extend.  Then we can get the squash, zucchini, and the extra tomato and pepper plants put in.  Here is my only problem.  I ran into some grubs as I was turning the dirt over.  I didn't think much about them.  I even picked one up, cleaned the dirt off and studied it, with gloves on, of course.  Those little suckers are UGLY! lol  I just left them in the soil because I assumed they were natural little aeraters just like worms.  Wrong.  As Jeremy and I were talking about the garden over dinner, he asked if I came across any grubs.  Apparently, the little buggers chomp away at plant roots!  Why I oughtta.....!!!  I didn't realize this or I would have contained them and brought them to the pond on one of these gorgeous spring days.  I'm sure one of the ducks would have loved to gobble them up or one of the fishermen could have used them for bait.  The slimeballs got away for now, but  I hope they don't expect the same courtesy next year.

Oh, I also called my daddy about the mysterious package.  Seeds!  Some of them are Morning Glories and others are some type of gourds.  Morning Glories are pretty vines that offer big fat green leaves and the prettiest trumpets of flowers in purples and blues. I looked up pictures online and can't wait to get those in the ground.  He said that they attract hummingbirds, so maybe they'll come back to me after all!  He also said that the gourds from the seeds that he sent are perfect for making little birdhouses with.  Tune in this fall for a special birdhouse post, if all grows well.  Get it?  If all "grows" well.  (knee slapper)

Off the subject, but I thought this was worth mentioning.  I took Sabrina to the doctor yesterday for her 8 year old well check.  Each time the kids have their yearly well checks, I like to compare their weights and heights to see where everyone is/was at a certain age.  Normally, they are within a couple inches of eachother, but this time I noticed something kind of cool.  All three of the girls measured 51 1/4 inches at age 8.  Ha!  Vanessa, like her mommy, has embraced her shorter size, but Camri who teeters around 5'1 continues to vow if Sabrina is any taller than her, she will be very upset. lol  Bets on the table, please!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has definitely sprung in Texas and I have the fever, for sure.  I know some of you don't care for the time change that comes with spring, but I don't mind it a bit!  We've been enjoying the extra light in our evenings.  For some reason, it makes the evenings feel longer and I definitely need that.  Mr.P and Sabrina are back to wearing one of Daddy's t-shirts when they can't locate any jammies, or if they're just too lazy to go find some, and that always means summer is on the way.  I've always loved seeing the kids run around in a cool, cotton t-shirt with their little legs and feet sticking out of the bottoms.  It's a sure sign of warmer weather, in this house.  With spring comes our garden.  I CAN'T WAIT to dig my hands in the dirt and plant.  We do the usual -- tomato, peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, lots of different herbs and this year we are trying our hand at.......strawberries!  I've read that they spread, so to keep them under control, we plan on putting them in a planter.  I hope they thrive.  It will be nice to bite into a plump, juicy homegrown strawberry in a few months.

Last year, Jeremy drove us to a cotton field that he passes every day on the way to work.  At that time, the cotton was perfectly fluffy and ready to be picked.  I'd never seen a cotton field before and the kids and I were just bubbling over with excitement.  He was just planning on driving us by the field, but I just couldn't help myself.  I "politely" ordered him to pull to the side of the road so the kids and I could get a closer look.  I couldn't get out of the car fast enough.  It was just so cool to see a whole field of cotton puffs.  It was in the afternoon, but Jeremy said in the morning when the sun is shining on the field, it's very pretty.  I hopped out of the car and as I was studying this plant, I just couldn't help myself and plucked a fluff of raw cotton right off.  Jeremy, still in the driver's seat and already paranoid about being stopped in the middle of the road, was horrified at what I'd done. lol  And if that weren't enough, I told the kids that each of them could also pull off one fluff and then we had to go.  Jeremy, wild-eyed, was expecting Farmer Brown to pull up any minute in his cotton picking station wagon and haul us in to the local police station....or that's how he looked anyway.  His eyes kept darting around, looking for any sign of the fuzz, while he kept instructing (more like pleading with) us to hurry up. lol  I kept giggling and telling him to calm down...it was only 5 cotton balls and one plant makes around 4.  Each ball of cotton that we picked had seeds enbedded in it.  I carefully picked out each of the seeds and I think we'll plant them in the garden as well.  It would be cool if they produce even a mini cotton ball for us!

This year we got smart and instead of spending lots of money on plants, we spent a little money on seeds.  We planted them at the end of January and now they're ready to go into the ground.  My friend's dad, Popo, also gave us some nice hearty tomato plants that he grew from seeds.  His are much stronger and prettier than ours, so hopefully some, if not all, of our plants will take off.

I'm also looking forward to filling my hummingbird feeder and putting it out.  Last year, I saw no hummingbirds : (  The year before, I loved watching them, but for some reason, they didn't make a visit last year.  My daddy had the same thing happen, so maybe there was something going on.  Whatever it was, hopefully it won't keep them from making an appearance this year.  I also received a new finch feeder for Christmas!  I've had one on my birthday and Christmas lists for a couple of years now and I was finally good enough to receive one!  I can't wait to hang that one up also.  Maybe I'll get to work on that tomorrow...

Lastly, I received a package in the mail yesterday from my daddy.  It had these strange little woodchips inside and a note from him telling me to call when I received the package and he'd explain what they were.  I'm just sure it has something to do with spring!

Longer evenings, lighter clothing, birdies chirping, mowers buzzing, gardens to plant.....yes, spring has definitely sprung.