pick my brain?

The weather was crazy after we planted the veggies… some nights got real cold and there were days of extremely heavy rain. Now it’s hot outside. Well, seems the lettuce and beets bit the dust. Withered and dried away to oblivion. So sad.

The tomatoes seem to be doing extremely well and the strawberry plant is spreading, though no strawberries for us yet. Bok choi seems to have gotten larger, though I’m not sure how to make it more full. Arugula is doing well also, it seems. We’ll see how it goes.

This morning, I checked on our plants. Looks like some critter has come and eaten two of our three unripened strawberries. Phooey.

Oh what a weekend. I think this is the first weekend in what seems like ages that I actually felt some relaxation time. I am amazed. What’s exciting is that Hans and I went to the nursery after church today and got some veggies and fruits to plant in our garden. Our tiny back yard is really starting to fill up with plants! God is blessing us abundantly even though our soil is rather poor, and it is really exciting. I hope that I won’t need to be too concerned about how we’ll walk around out there from over crowding or something.

It’s always good to share, though. We had dug out some of our lambs ear last week and so we took it to the Lins’ and planted it in their front yard. How fun!

Here’s what we planted.

• chocolate mint – in the ground (this was probably the least wise decision)
• tomato plant – in a hanging basket
• colorful white and pink vinca – scattered among the garden plants and one in a pot

Also, we started a square foot garden! In that, we planted these veggies and fruit. I’m amazed at how much food can fit within a 4′ x 4′ area.

• leek
• chives
• beets
• bok choy
• lettuce
• arugula
• strawberries

All this for just about $25 after tax. Hopefully they will all thrive and produce great fruit. On a slightly less upbeat note, my worms need a serious caretaking from me. I hope I get some time soon to do that!

I have seeds from 2003. Wow, that’s old. We planted a bunch in the square foot garden we just set up today. I doubt any of them will sprout, but maybe we’ll be surprised.

• tomatoes
• beans
• black seeded simpson lettuce
• onion
• carrots
• radish
• broccoli

Eh, we’ll see.

What is wrong with me? I think I have vertigo again. This time for real. I’ve got that “things are moving” feeling and my left ear is kind of hot. Going to the immediate care clinic to get checked out. I hope it goes away since tomorrow we embark on our ski trip.

Some plants just don’t get cut down before winter hits, and at that point, it’s really difficult to motivate myself to get out there. Here’s a photo of the garden taken a few days ago. Today, Hans and I cleaned it up and cut everything down to prepare for new spring growth. It is very exciting! Moving the leaves aside, we found more bulbs peeking out of the ground. The sedum has many new shoots coming out and the thyme looks exquisite. The lambs ear always look tremendously trampled after the snow, but they’ll perk right up. The one unfortunate thing was seeing a bunch of very large slugs moving around the garden. Yes, very large.

On March 11th, I took these photos. They are the first signs of plants coming out of the ground this spring. Knowing Chicago winters, I am hoping that if a cold snap returns, it won’t be so cold or long so as to kill these lovely shoots.

Today, only a few days later, the shoots grew and the buds are more visible.

Amazing! Wonderful! Spring has sprung!

I’ve had health problems lately. It has caused me to read and read and read endlessly on the internet. Much of what I’ve read has to do with better nutrition and digestion. One of the digestion tips is to chew food well. I know we all hear that from our moms growing up, but in the hustle and bustle of the world we live in, chewing gets the short end of the stick.

Today, I made a few pieces of chicken, some oatmeal, and cut up some celery. I am not a cook, to say the least. It took me all of 30 minutes to prepare the meal, but it took nearly an hour to eat it! I don’t know that I have the time to spend an hour eating a small amount of food like this.

Well, I’ll blame it on the celery for now. I’ll have to experiment with other foods to see if eating time can be cut down. Plus, my jaw hurts from all the chewing, and the sad thing is that I am not sure if all these measures will help my ailment.

Hans got me a new phone about a week ago. I think the news widget makes me read more news. Of course, any increase is better than zero. So far, I like the phone though it took a while to get used to. If I had to name one thing I don’t like about it might be that I can’t make a call without looking at it since there are no real buttons.

On Monday, I ate a viviparous tomato. I wish I took a picture of it because it was extremely bizarre. I did not eat the sprouts because I didn’t know if they would be safe to eat. If I find another one, I’ll take a picture.