Good morning, and what a lady! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
On Wednesday, I had my first garden day of the season. Oh, it was so beautiful out. IT was in the mid-60s, with bright sunshine and just a touch of breeze (an important factor, as too often wind mars the beauty of early warm days).
I was confined to the front yard, as the back is still layered in snow. And it was pretty damned soggy out, as we'd had a bit of snow on Monday. But I was able to clean up and cut back and rake up and generally set the stage for Springtime in the Rockies.
And I saw the first ladybug of the year. Yea!
Of course, Wednesday's balm was followed by snow, wind and cold on Valentine's Day. And the bulbs are a week or two behind where they were at this time last year, with just a few tips barely peeking out of the ground (and confirming that, despite having had so much snow last year, this year has been consistently colder).
But the warm-up is on the way; the ladybug says so!
The appearance of the first ladybug means that it is, really, time to get moving on starting the seeds. My initial plan on Wednesday had been to get the flats filled and ready to go and, perhaps, start the eggplant. Alas, plans get diverted.
The weather was part of the diversion. I mean, I just had to get outside.
The other problem was that the Mister was hanging about. He caught the bug that I had caught from Da Boys, so had been off work since Monday. He was bored, cranky, and out of sorts.
I have found that really messy projects — such as dampening potting soil and filling flats — are easier and faster when I don't have the Mister underfoot, especially when he is bored, cranky and out of sorts. He has a tendency to hover at my elbow, "helpfully" cleaning up behind me, when I'm not ready to clean up because I'm still in the midst of making a mess. I'll reach for something only to find that he has "put it away" (tromp down to the basement to get whatever it was that I hadn't finished using). Would that he would clean up after himself as diligently as he cleans up after me when he's bored, cranky and out of sorts!
Plus, he's a backseat driver, offering how such and such would "serve your purpose" when I've already planned how I'm going to proceed. Really, I don't want to hear how it might "serve your purpose" to put the light rig here, rather than there. I've only been doing this for a dozen years, and if I need advice, I'll ask for it (and yeah, I get cranky and out of sorts when my blessed day without males underfoot is stymied by males underfoot!).
So I've put off starting the eggplant until next Wednesday, although I may get a head start by laying the seed out on damp paper towels this weekend to give them a bit of a boost before potting them up.
As for the pictures of the pooties, that's what they were up to on Wednesday: Arwen the Terrible conquered my computer chair (the girls fight over the computer chair), and stared through the window at Zasu sitting on the outside windowsill, while Zasu just as diligently stared in through the glass trying to figure out how to go through it and jump Arwen.
Late Wednesday afternoon, though, I was able to give the Mister a project to keep him occupied. The mailman brought a check from my brother, representing my portion of the Dadster's life insurance policy — enough to pay for replacing our 15 year old stove (it heats very unevenly), the dishwasher (which doesn't wash dishes very well anymore), and the freezer.
The Dadster had insisted I have the freezer when he sold his house in Oregon. I would have passed on it as it is not a frost-free model, and the door opens the wrong way; it really wasn't worth the effort to haul it from Oregon. But, when your elderly father wants to give you something, you take it. At the time I privately said we'd use Dad's freezer until he passed away and now, that has come to pass and, in an odd way, Dad is providing us with a new model that will "serve our purpose" better than the old one.
In any event, the Mister loves to shop (and I hate it), so he's been scoping out new appliances on-line. I'm really not very picky; my only requirements are that I want a stainless steel gas stove, and a frost-free freezer where the door opens on the right, rather than the left. The rest is up to the Mister.
Of course, I'll have to trail around him this afternoon as we troop from store to store and he shows me what it is that he's selected. And I'll dutifully nod and say, "yeah, that looks great! That will definitely 'serve our purpose!'"
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?