Friday, March 27, 2009

Dreams and Drudgery

I really need to dig out the camera and get some pictures up! Life has been trundling along pretty much non-stop for the last little while, so my efforts here have been less than they could be :) Most of my free time is spent working on the Latticework Afghan that I'm making as a wedding present for some friends who got married over a month ago. This sucker is taking forever! The top-stitching is super-pretty, but it means that you're essentially making 2 afghans, one stitched on top of the the other. It will get done, though, sooner or later (probably later).

I'm also starting to dream about what I'm going to try to grow in my little garden this year. Last year's garden was a complete disaster. Every plant was destroyed by some type of bug - the lettuce by aphids, the beans by an unidentified black bug that hung on the underside of the leaves, and everything else by spider mites. All I managed to harvest was 3 tiny tomatoes and a few stalks of swiss chard. I threw out all the soil/mulch/etc. and left the pots out in the unheated sun porch all winter, so I'm hoping that, with a good washing, any remaining creepy-crawlies will be taken care of. And I'll be buying sanitized soil this year.

I love the idea of growing my own food, but I seem to have a rather well developed black thumb. I need to find some hardy plants that do well in containers. Maybe just an herb garden this year? Except for TC's jalapenos. Or a mix of veggies and flowers? Herbs and flowers? What do you think?

1 comment:

Sherrie said...

I would try a hardy cherry tomato (like Tiny Tim) in as large of a container as you can get. Lettuce (as long as the bugs don't eat it) is super easy and makes you feel like a real gardener, and bush beans (if you like string beans) are quick and easy, too. And if you grow herbs, at the end of the season you can freeze what you haven't used for the winter, and even use some in soaps and such. Okay, I'm blathering on. Good luck!