Win-win

I had a busy day out in the yard today. As soon as I woke up, I took the covers off the in-ground tomatoes and put out a tray of seedlings (mainly lettuce). The younger seedlings stayed inside until later.

Off to work, pretty quiet. The milkman had another crisis but the substitute managed to get the delivery to us on time. Amazing. Off to the bank (still no public bathroom, which I find incredibly rude), made the deposit. Then it was off to the "Warehouse" aka Sam's club. I needed candy bars, it's not urgent but we could run out in a couple days. Traditionally, this is the dead time so we're not worried about slow sales.

We had to ride around for a while after that, but the driver is a really nice lady. It wasn't bad, and it was a van so we weren't "sardines".

I took a nap when we got home, Ron did too and overslept. He missed his ride to Starbucks and called a cab. He should be home soon. Before he left we dragged all the metal junk out to the curb. I figured the "junk men/scavengers" would be by, but little did I know how fast they'd be. One guy was literally waiting at the curb for me to drag something out, and the rest vanished when I went indoors to the bathroom. Good! They can have it, make a few bucks, and I get to feel good for helping them out AND recycling. Definitely a win-win. Tomorrow, of course, we put out Papi's cans. From what I gather, he thinks we're fine people for doing so.

I used my garden as a reward for doing all the trash/junk disposal. I planted about 8 lettuce transplants, a dozen Safari marigolds (love those marigolds!), a broccoli raab, and 2 celery. I also did some minor weeding (very minor), and watered everyone in. It's going to rain tomorrow but I don't want my babies to dry out. The direct-seeded chard, the beets, and the radishes all look great. They don't have their first "true leaves" yet but they're vigorous. The garden really looks so much more cheerful with the marigolds.

The front border of garden bed 4 was bare. I plan to plant a bush winter squash in the bed. That's going to hog up 9 of the 16 square feet. Three more feet are taken up by 2 collards and about 15 onions. I also planted a row of onion transplants (I ran out of allocated space) along the west border of the bed. As I was falling asleep last night, I thought "A row of marigolds on the south border of garden bed 4 would be so cheerful! And they'd repel bugs." So I did it. I even allocated some space to 2 marigolds, as yet unplanted, because my "Safari" are solid yellow and solid orange. I'll get or grow some bicolors eventually and I'd like to tuck a few in there. I used 6 inch spacing. They look so incredibly cheerful, all the garden beds have flowering marigolds now. I'm so glad I got them. I doubt the winter squash will mind. If any of the 3 winter squash fail, I'll probably plant that space in either pole beans and tomatoes (for the vining sqash), or bush beans and marigolds (for the bush). My Sunset Garden book says winter squash doesn't do well here. We'll see. I'll always wonder if I don't try.

I find it interesting that my last couple afternoon naps have only lasted an hour. Am I developing a better tolerance for my medication? That would be great, but I'm skeptical. I don't have any symptoms to speak of so I'm willing to tolerate a lot of side effects. Ugh. I'm sorry, but mixed bipolar episodes with rapid cycling and psychotic features have got to be hell on earth. Horrible. I'm so glad that's all controlled by 5 pills a day. I'd take 'em if it meant I grew a tail!

Thankfully I haven't. I just wish my garden book would arrive, along with the famed winter bush squash seeds. When they do come they'll just make a good day better.

Tomorrow, it's going to rain. I'm glad we have the day off.