The no-cost seed starting kit

We got more snow yesterday and sunshine too.  That's springtime in the Rockies I suppose.  I have six tomato plants in the ground and they seem to be doing great, all tucked into their cozy beds, covered with ugly green wall 'o water things.  Sure doesn't look great, but we have had 3 hard frosts during the weekend, and they still look happy and are growing.  Even the plants that were dropped on their heads are looking so much better.

Even though I don't have good sunny windows to start seedlings in, I started some anyway.  I prefer to have actual plants to put into the garden, rather than seeds.  It's easier for me to keep track of what I need to take care of.  So, I gathered my cheap-girl seed starting supplies: empty toilet paper rolls and newspaper.  I can't remember where I read about this, but I know I'm not the first person to come up with it.  Crumple a bit of newspaper and stuff it into the cardboard tube.  Then smash it down with the end of a wooden spoon, or whatever works.  Fill with dirt and plant.  Write what you planted on the side of course.

Now, these little pots are a bit tipsy.  I put a rubber band around a bunch of them, which seemed like a smart move until they became damp.  Then the rubber band kind of squished the tubes a bit.  To keep them all together, I cram them all into empty mushroom containers.  They are all contained and easy to water from the bottom.  Since I'm using garbage, these starter pots didn't cost me a thing!

I planted cucumber and summer squash, thinking that I had at least a week until I had sprouts.  Nope!  They came up in just 5 days, so I've been playing the take them outside, bring them back in game during our cold weekend.  One of the t.p. rolls kind of unraveled this morning, so that lucky squash got to go to his home, under another wall 'o water, of course.  Hope it makes it through the night, it's supposed to get cold again.

Now I think I'll go transplant my free strawberry plant with some pansies.

If Mother Nature had a mood ring, I think it would explode...

Okay, I realize that this is nothing compared to some parts of the world, but seriously, what is going on with the weather?  We have snow today and while I'm grateful that it's not a snow tornado or anything... it still feels kind of cruel.

Here's how things looked yesterday...

And today...

Yesterday...

Today....

I'm not crying though.  Even though I transplanted my tomatoes out yesterday.

I knew this day was coming and had originally planned to keep my plants inside until Monday.  That plan changed.  I decided, after the baby managed to pull the tray of plants off the counter and scatter them across the kitchen floor, that they were probably safer and better off outside, in the ground and covered by the trusty old wall 'o water.  I didn't peek while I was outside, so we'll just have to wait and see.  The plants looked a bit worse for wear anyway, what with being bounced off the floor and all.  I bought four of the tomato plants for cheap because they had been frosted a bit.    They were starting to make a comeback... we'll see.

I tried a new recipe yesterday.  Gyros, or as we knew them in Germany, doeners.  Since I had left over lamb from Easter, it seemed like the perfect time to try this one out.  I made pitas for the second time in my life.  I still can't figure out how to make them poof up like they are supposed to.  Two of them did it, the others not.  Then, I made tatsiki, which is an absolute must if one eats a doener in Germany.  It consists mainly of plain yogurt, cucumber and garlic.  I think I went a little crazy with the garlic.  The kids could barely eat the sauce and they really tried.  It sure tasted good though. 

Although, as with most new to me recipes, I made way too much.  Now we have a bowl of tatsiki sauce sitting in the fridge, with no lamb to put it on.  I mixed some into tuna fish and stuffed it into the leftover pitas for lunch.  The girl liked it, the boy not so much.  I thought it was fine with a bit of cheese melted in there.  So now I'm trying to come up with new and fun ways to use up a very garlicy creamy sauce.  I'm thinking I'll bake up some fries to dip? 

Soggy Spring

Well, old man winter apparently heard about my hint comment and is trying to get back at me.  He seems to be throwing an all out tantrum, flailing around, throwing rain, snow and wind every which way.  I recognize the tantrum, because it feels strangely similar to the fits my baby has begun to throw. (The doctor says it's normal and I should be worried if she doesn't throw tantrums.  Easy for her to say.)  We are to expect snow tonight, nothing serious, just annoying.  Old man winter also seems to have some influence over springtime's decisions and has convinced her to not allow us to see the sun for a few weeks.  Seriously, he has got to get over it and move to the other hemisphere already.

It is nice to see that Spring has plans to move on in anyway, snow squalls and cloudy skies not withstanding.  There are blossoms on a few bushes and the leaves on the lilac bushes have made themselves known.  There is a tint of green haloing many of the neighborhood trees; a little foreshadowing of the coming leaves. 

In garden news, I batted my eyes at the wonderful husband and he put my little raised bed garden together, well, the outline anyway.  I moved my winter sowing experiments inside to try to protect them from the tantrum throwing toddler.  It seems to have backfired though.  She now wants at them even more.  We still need to get materials together for the second raised bed.  The dirt is still a bit of a problem, although I did break down and use a home depot gift card to purchase four bags of steer manure (cheap, but still... I'm a rancher for crying out loud!) and some special garden compost stuff, which came with a mail in rebate.  Six dollars back will buy me a few seedlings I think.  We did not buy enough to fill two raised beds, but it's a start I suppose. 

We have some friends that have some top soil that we could use, but the getting it here is difficult.  As of right now, my plan is to use the bags we just bought, once they are empty, to transport some dirt here.  It's going to take a few trips and we'll have to wait until things dry out a bit.  I'm not really anxious to plop a few bags of mud into the back of the van.  Our minivan has  been cussed more than a few times lately for not being a truck.  Sure would be easier to haul all of my garden stuff around if I had a truck.  I realize now that I have been spoiled all those years on the ranch.  There was a never ending supply of compost, trucks to haul it, tractors to load it and space to put it.  This urban gardening thing is tougher than I thought it would be, and I'm not even started!

I'm linking up with the Homestead Revival Barn Hop!

Checking in

My goodness!  I haven't posted in a while, have I?  Work happened and then spring break happened and then I got hooked into a book.  An audio book, actually, but it doesn't seem to matter.  When I get into a book, I can't think about anything else.  Audio books are good because I can still make dinner and do dishes while "reading".  The book is now over, so here I am.  :)

Spring break was an adventure.  The kids and I traveled to the ranch and were enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  The snow was melting quickly, and there were bare patches in the meadows.  Of course, I forgot the camera.  I did use my  mom's but I forgot to email myself the pictures.  Typical of me.  Then, we woke up one morning to 8 inches of snow.  Eight!  It kept snowing all that day too, but it was harder to measure since the snow was melting at the same time.  Crazy old man winter.  I think he's getting a bit senile.  I understand that he doesn't want to feel like he's not needed anymore, so I tolerate frosts and little skiffs of snow into May, but 8 inches?  He is obviously in denial, so if someone could strongly hint to him that his services aren't needed anymore, I would definitely appreciate it.

I'm trying to get caught up with the blogs on my reading list.  I hope I haven't missed anything too important.  I've missed my blog world while I've been gone.

Renewed garden hopes

Happy Spring!  There are crocuses blooming in the front yard!  I know this because my son picked one... every year we go through the "don't pick other people's flowers" routine.  One day he will get it.  Maybe.  He's so cute when he brings me flowers though.  We'll have to plant a few flowers just for him to pick.  That would be fun, don't you think?

I took the opportunity to spring clean my car today.  It had an entire winter's worth of garbage and toys and crayons in it.  My husband kept asking me if we could clean out the car one of these days.  "Of course!",  I say, "I'm tired of the tire changing stuff being under my feet!"  I think I finally got the message that by we he means me.  So there I was, head down, bottom up, digging the insane amount of trash out from under my son's seat and explaining to my daughter where to put the pop cans that she found.  Then my landlady opened her garage and needed to drive past, which meant that the laundry basket bursting with random gloves, toys, etc, and the grocery bags stuffed with trash needed to be moved.  It's embarrassing for me to know that other people know how messy I really am, so I tried to not make eye contact.  She stopped to talk anyway.

Are we going to renew our rent contract?  Yes, I think so, I say as I try to gather as much garbage as possible right there where she can see.  Then there's a little chit chat about her grandkids, power bills and new sprinkler systems and then she says, "Would you like to put in some square food gardens by the fence?"  She has seen me out there, looking over my pitiful little garden plot.  Eyes come up..."YES!"  She also informs me that the planters around the edge of the patio are fair game as well.  It's shady, but I think I can figure out a few shady plants to put there.

It turns out that my landlady used to square foot garden herself. (not at this house unfortunately)  I should have asked a few more specifics about what she has pictured, or how many boxes I can do, but I have to have such questions working in my brain for a few days at least in order to actually ask a worthwhile question to anyone, and I definitely could not form any sort of question while I sat on the floor of my mini van trying to get that yellow colored pencil out from under the edge of the chair.  No worries though.  She offered me some videos that she has about this gardening method, so I have a little time to prepare for another garden discussion.  Remind me to ask how far down the fence we can go.

I'm so excited!  As it was, my plot was 11 feet by 1.5 feet.  Not a lot of space to grow tons of veggies like I want to do.  I'm not a pro at square foot gardening, but I'm sure I can figure something out.    And now the garden planning gets to start all over again!  Too bad I have to wait for my winter sowing bottles to sprout before I know how much of what I will have.  That would make planning a bit easier.  But I guess I can pass the time by figuring out how to get some gardening boxes going. 

When it rains, it pours and when it floods...

What a day. The result of April and May's wintery weather and then the unseasonably warm weather this week? High water. Way higher than usual. The last time it flooded like this was 1983 when I was just 3 years old. We spent the day yesterday pulling tons of stuff out of my mom's basement and then trying to get the water cleaned out. It was mostly dry this morning, until the water level rose again. Here are some pictures from yesterday, but the water is even higher today.

He doesn't have to stand in water, he just is.

The road to a sister's house.

The mares and foals.

We had to dig a trench in the road to relieve pressure on the bridge. It washed out today anyway.

Our yard. The kids are having a great time.
Yesterday was a really rough day, and it's still not over, but I did learn some things. First of all, de-clutter. I've always heard the statement "if there was a fire, what would you save?..." I would change that to, "If there was a flood, what would you not want to drag out of the house, soaking wet?" Second, have an emergency plan. I was so overwhelmed, I had no idea where to start working. As a result, several old blankets are safe and sound, but some of my food storage is ruined. I cried about that. And last, it takes a humble person to allow neighbors to go through your horribly unorganized and overcrowded basement. I was mortified when a few ladies showed up to help. I desperately needed the help, but it was so embarrassing to let them see the absolute messiest part of the house.
Well, I'm off to pump water out again.

Spring flowers

I hate to complain about the weather again, and I'm not really complaining, it's just crazy! We had spring back in February and March, winter in April and May, and now we're having summer weather. The forecast says we'll be back to spring by the end of the week though. After my last post, the weather really turned nice and I enjoyed some beautiful days to garden and enjoy our spring flowers. My mother's tulips can always be counted on, even when they get snowed on, and my Grandma's daffodils still come up every year. I love that they remind me of her. She had a true green thumb and her poor yard just hasn't been the same since she left us. I so appreciate these spring flowers. They are tough and dependable, like the women who planted them. I try to plant some everywhere I live, in hopes that someone else will enjoy and appreciate them as much as I do.