Ignorant Historian

Last year I started a vegetable garden for the first time in fulfillment of one of the items on my bucket list.

But I knew it was never going to one time thing. In fact, doing it once made me want to garden all the more.

We had some great weather in March, so I considered planting a couple of weeks earlier than I did last year, but I’m glad I didn’t, as we actually had some cool weather at the end of the month. Then April came and all the craziness that came with, so this was the first opportunity to plant, about a month later than I would have wished.

The good thing about that, though, is that I likely won’t have any veggies until after I get back from traveling to Texas and Kansas in June. Hopefully I’ll get to enjoy the first fruits of my labor!

Last year I planted a zucchini (which I never actually ate), a cucumber, a tomato, a bell pepper, and some herbs.

This year, I’m planting:

On the top: cilantro and 2 window boxes of lettuce. On the ground: cucumber (left pot and the 2 front right pots), 3 tomato plants, and a bell pepper plant (peeking out from the back right.

The 3 cukes that survived wind and squirrel.

I had already started a dozen cucumber plants from seed a while back. I took them with me when I babysat last month, and the kids loved taking care of them (and did a great job!). I gave them 3 of the seedlings, as I only wanted 9.

Apparently I’m not as nurturing as those children were, because they didn’t thrive in my solo care. the wind knocked down and broke 3 of them. Then a squirrel got to 3  more (apparently they weren’t too tasty, as he left the last 3, which I transplanted. It now looks like I’ll have two crops of cucumber plants, which is fine by me.

I actually hope to grow 9 cucumber plants this year, instead of just one. Last year’s plant produced one cucumber every other week. I want to have at least 4 a week (actually I could eat 1-2 a day, as that ‘s what I did every summer growing up), so I ninetupled it (I’m sure that’s a word…).

I also increased my tomatoes which may seem odd if you know me. I’ve never liked tomatoes and am not a big fan of tomato-based products. But tomatoes are not only the showiest vegetable to grow, they’re good for salsa, something I hope to make a lot of. I’ll even can some if I can. I can eat half a small jar of homemade salsa in one sitting, and it’s good for you.

I’m trying out a new (to me) variety of tomato, the celebrity (the one in the middle). Will be interested in seeing the difference between the celebrity and the 2 big boys.

What I’m most interested in this year is the lettuce. I love a good salad, but lettuce–especially lettuce that tastes good–is expensive. I love the idea of picking fresh lettuce and putting it straight into a salad, so I hope it works out!

Are you gardening this year? What are you planting?

The excessive rain we’ve gotten this past week tried to drown our plants, but these are now thriving.  Jury is still out on the bell pepper…hoping it’ll perk up!

Objects may be smaller than they appear.

Baby cucumber:

Baby tomato:

Baby zucchini:

I have no idea why I’m writing an Earth Day post.  It’s not likely that this will be the first one you will read, if you spend any time at all in the blogosphere.  But over the past year I’ve been taking more intentional steps to take better care of our home.

I’ve already mentioned our garden a few times.  It’s been growing, especially the cucumber and tomato plant (which is already about 1/3 to half it’s full size).

I wish I could show you pictures, but that’s what I get for having supervised-visitation only with my plants (I joke that I feel like I don’t have custody of them as I haven’t yet moved in with Jen).

You’ll just have to picture growing plants (except for the mint which I apparently killed by burying the seeds WAY too deep).

Another thing that I’ve finally gotten good about it using reusuable shopping bags.  I’ve only gotten a few eye rolls from cashiers (that used to be me, so I understand), but it’s worth it on many levels.  I wish I could tell you my primary motivation for this is creation care, but that’s secondary.  I really just hate having to mess with plastic bags.

I’ve also been working on water usage. Still haven’t figured out how to help with the garden water, but I have figured out that I don’t need to run the shower while I’m shaving my legs.  Saves gallons of water, especially when it’s been a while since the last time I shaved (I apologize for any men reading this!).

I’m not trying these things because being green is in.  I’m doing them because I believe that as a Christian I’m called to be a good steward of everything God has given me, not just my time and money.  And that includes this beautiful planet God has given us for a home.

I’ve still have got a lot to learn.  That’s why I’m excited to read Green Like God which I just ordered from Amazon.  I heard about it on Carol’s blog, got excited about it, and then realized I knew who the author was, as he was a student at Southeastern when I was.

Even a global warming skeptic like me can take steps to take care of the Earth.

Have any more suggestions?

Photo by cygnus921

This past week Jen and I started our garden.  It was perfect timing as she was on spring break and with tax season coming to a head, I was dreaming that I was to.  Here’s what we did:

(I apologize for the dizzing picture taking over the side of the deck) We planted some phlox (the pots were left by the previous owner, so we had to put something in them).  I think they may get too big for these pots, but oh well.

We planted some cucumber (near) and zucchini (far).  Can’t you tell?  Okay, obviously they aren’t sprouting yet in this picture, 15 minutes after they were planted.  Not pictured are the hair ties holding the stakes together.

See, look, actual plants!  This is a bell pepper (foreground…complete with my partial handprint on the left there ) and tomato.  I bought the Better Boy tomato plant because it said that it was America’s favorite.  While I’m usual skeptical of such claims, I went with it as I didn’t want to unintentionally end up with tiger-striped tomatoes or something.

And here are our herbs.  From front to back: parsley, cilantro, mint, and rosemary.  I have no idea what you do with rosemary, but it was the one that Jen was the most excited about.  The mint is growing from seeds (those seeds are tiny…I think I threw way too many in accidentally!) so that’s why you don’t see them.

If you’re growing a garden this year, what are you planting?  When will you do it? (I know we can plant earlier here in NC than in KS where I grew up as it’s thankfully a milder climate here.)

One thing that has always meant “summer” to me is gardening.  We always had a garden growing up.  Not only did we have a beautiful yard on the block, we had a vegetable garden that would provide most of our vegetables for the summer.  We grew tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, beets, radishes, strawberries, and bell peppers.

Now that I’ve been gone from my parents house for almost 9 years, one thing I ‘ve really missed is fresh, home-grown vegetables.  I’m not sure that I miss having the chore of picking the tomatoes (they’ve always made me itch, and I don’t like to eat them), but having the fresh produce was great.  Cucumbers especially…I wasn’t kidding when I said I had at least one a day growing up.  Besides, now that I’m an adult, I realize how expensive this stuff can be.

Now that it is finally spring, it is time to start thinking about how I’m going to do #3 on my list.

My future roomie and I (I’m moving over Memorial Day weekend) are starting the plans for our own garden.  When we first talked about living together (as she was searching for a house), one of the things I mentioned to her that I wanted to do was have a garden.  I’m so glad that she’s joined in my excitement for this project.  We’ll succeed or fail together, and enjoy it either way.

We’ve already bought the pots and the soil we’ll need for our escapade (we don’t think we’re up for trying to prepare her poor soil for veggies, so we’re going with a container gardener).  We’re going to attempt tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini as well as some herbs (hey, I might have no idea how to use fresh herbs, but she does!).

What are your experiences with gardening?  Any advice to a couple of newbies?

Photo by The Ewan

I’m still definitely leaning towards going to Europe in the summer.  Everyone: family, boss, you all is saying “go for it!”  There are still some possible reasons why it’s not a good idea, but for now I’m going to assume I’m going unless it’s clear I shouldn’t.  That said, since everyone is all for it, I’ll let them pay for it!  Kidding…unless, ya know, you have money you just don’t know how to spend and I can help you out by letting you spend it on me.

Still haven’t killed my flowers, and they’re as pretty as ever.  I’ll have to figure out what I want to plant next year…I have a whole lot more options as I’ll be in a townhouse (99% sure on that one).

So far I’ve lost 3 pounds and have already gotten compliments on it.  What’s better, is that I’m feeling skinnier, as I seem to be loosing it around my middle.  I tell ya…I think it’s the increased water intake as that’s the biggest change I’ve made thus far.

This weekend I’m helping a friend move into her new home and I’m super excited for her (it’s also the aforementioned townhouse).  It’s just perfect for her and I can’t wait to hang out with her there!

I realized that it has been 2 years since the fire when a friend mentioned her second anniversary (the fire was 2 days before her wedding…and yes, I made sure she wouldn’t find out about it until afterwards).  It really feels like it was forever ago.