yes, I planted tomatoes

[flea]

We did the first of (probably innumerable) runs to Lowe's today, where we purchased manual hedge-trimming shears, chains to make the ceiling fans turn on and off-able without jumping, toilet shims, and door-stoppers. We didn't buy a $200 ladder, bars to allow the hanging of clothes in the childrens' closets, paint (though we took sample cards and Casper seems to want her room painted lime green and pumpkin, hmm maybe some editorial drawing of the line will have to happen there). AND of course I bought potting soil and plants: 1 small thyme; a cherry tomato and a regular tomato, both advertised as being good for late-season planting; a cucumber; a basil; and a pink-flowering vinca, chosen by Casper. The vinca joins its compatriots in the front garden, and the thyme went in there too, and then I got a little beyond myself given that it's in the 90s and there were more mosquitoes than really anyone should have to abide, and planted the tomatoes, basil, and cuke in the back right below the deck. Doing all this included unpacking the boxes in the shed (to find the tools), digging up the bed (good soil) - well, not digging up so much as weeding and digging holes for the plants, finding the hose and hooking it up (works) and assorted other not strictly necessary things. I feel the better for it, though.

I think it is necessary to hire someone to mow the back yard, or at the least borrow someone's electric mower. I think we could keep up with the grass if we mowed it weekly, but at 4 weeks gone we have no chance.

Our neighbors on the right having decided to have a kudzu plantation in their back yard, that's a huge issue to deal with. I don't think manual trimming is going to work, but mr. flea wanted to start with that before moving straight to the electric weed-whacker.

I have a lot to learn about the existing plants - expect a series of "name that plant!" posts with photos. But not quite yet. And I need to find a better garden store than Lowe's, and maybe take some classes at the UGA botanical garden.

Comments

[serrana.livejournal.com]

Dunno if you guys have a Master Gardener or Extension program, but we love ours, and it's v. handy for garden mysteries.

We keep borrowing the neighbor's ladder. Well, he only uses it a couple of times a year, and we only use it a couple of times a year, so somehow years have gone by and we're, um, still borrowing Jerry's ladder. But he doesn't seem to mind.

[askye.livejournal.com]

I know here there is a garden store that specialises in Native plants, not all Native, but it's locally owned and it specializes in that. You might want to check to see if there's something like that.I know the one here is helpfully named Native Nursery and has gardening classes and stuff.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

It was about a year after I bought the house that they opened the Depot just up the road from me. I was there pretty much every day for the first two weeks they were there. Perhaps Casper could be assuaged with very pale pumpkin walls with dark green trim. When we moved from our little cape to a much larger house across town, my mother decided to wallpaper the house, and I was handed a bunch of sample books and offered the the chance to pick a pattern for my room. Being 13 and a boy, I chose one with lots and lots of race cars on a beige background. Mom pointed out that it would probably look awfully busy if the whole room was done up that way, so she let me have one wall of that and suggested a plainish pattern in a similar beige for the rest of the room. That turned out to be a pretty good call on her part.

You're going to have fresh tomatoes just in time for Thanksgiving.

toilet shims

I had to look these up, although now that I have they make perfect sense.