It's always a Tuesday

Whenever I have a bad day, it's always a Tuesday. Yesterday was nothing. I found out my mother died on a Tuesday (second worst tie). My loving grandmother died on a Tuesday (second-worst tie). My husband was catastrophically injured on a Tuesday (worst day of my life). Stupid (his) family power game drama family meeting (third worst day of my life) Tuesday. If it weren't unchristian, I'd wonder about the numerology/astrology people. "They" say that Virgos tend to have trouble on Tuesdays.

You get the idea. I went to bed and slept well last night. When I woke up, sun was shining in my window, gently warming the room. I murmured as I sat up and was greeted by a soft, loving meow from Frosty. It's been a good day.

I got the candy and snacks done. Snacks haven't been crazy-busy, but brisk enough that I'm not worried about business. I saw some good people I like. We had good rides (yay!), even the one that took an hour (other pickups and drop-offs) to get us to work.

Ron cancelled his appointment with the hand doctor. I don't blame him. I'd be scared of anyone getting around one of my hands with a scalpel. I mean, it's your hand.

"The sprouts" as I call them, are all looking great. The in-ground tomatoes and small salad transplants all got covered last night. I like to take a 20-ounce plastic soda bottle (or 2 liter) and cut it in half, making two "domes"' I can place over the plants. The plastic is clear and lets in sun. The plant is cozy. I've never had a problem with my little system (except a slight storage issue when the weather warms) and the plants grow beautifully. Consider it if you enjoy soda like I do, or you're "into" bottled water.

The severe weather did beat up one chard seedling and the leaf lettuce. The lettuce looks battered but "recoverable", I don't know about the chard. It only had the first set of leaves. It's such a pretty shade of hot pink.

Which reminds me; for some reason recently Metrolift has been taking a lot of elderly women to our dentist. He's an awesome doctor, Dr Peterson, Champions Dental Group. We've never taken anyone there before, then this week it was 3 trips or so. Interesting. Anyway, the landscapers planted "Bright Lights" Chard as an ornamental out in front of his building. It's striking and spectacular. It makes me want to grow more in my garden (I've already started 8).

At some point, I need to sit down with my graph paper and do more planning. I plan to grow a bush summer squash (white tint), a "tame" butternut (vines only 4 feet long, and variegated - I love variegated - going into bed 1), a buttercup (I'm prepared for rampant growth), and a bush acorn (Cream of the Crop, Jungs had it). Squash are space-hogs generally, but I plan to pound in my fence posts and string netting. Since I don't want to set out a curcurbit feast for the bugs (squash and cukes are related), I also plan to grow some pole beans and malabar spinach up the netting. I can get a lot more harvest out of my space if I go vertical.

Since Bed 1 has the best soil, I'm putting the salad crops into it. The lettuce isn't very demanding and will appreciate the spoiling. I've got 5 mesclun transplants growing right now, and I've started 2 each of various romaines (total of 6, jiffy pellets waiting on another couple leaves each). I also have 3 more mesclun (jiffy pellets, kitchen window). Life's short, plant more marigolds. So I have 2 six-packs and 4 seedlings waiting to "go" into their beds, plus 4 transplants already planted into 4 various beds. I need to start some Nasturiums too.

I've got onions and collards everywhere, including some in clay pots. They don't seem to mind. 2 tomatoes in ground, looking happy, and 2 "Stupice" seedlings I have growing in different 4 inch pots. The NZ spinach is taking it's time germinating but the seed companies warn you about it.

The collards are looking spectacular. One plant in particular was languishing in bed 2, but I figured out I was shading it too much and moved my compost storage bin. It's rebounded nicely. I can hardly wait to eat them, I plan to pick leaves off the bottom of the plant so I can prolong the harvest over a long period. I plan to wait until I've got at least a dozen good palm-sized leaves at least.

The more I think about it, the happier I am that I've planted herbs and marigolds. I didn't really do that last time and I think that was a mistake. No matter what the weather, I can rub some rosemary for a quick pick-me-up. Hmmm. Maybe some oregano?