Not According to Plan

For the most part my straw bale garden is doing well but the herbs growing out the side?  Not so much.  The thyme and parsley which are planted in the end of the bale on either side of the hose seem to be doing okay but those other four?  Uh-uh.  In fact, they're well on their way to dying.  Typing that last sentence led me to abandon my keyboard for a few minutes and scurry out to transplant them along the timber sides of the garden and give them nice big drenching drinks of water.  The oregano, on the left, is in the most critical condition.  The two basils, on the right, are next worst, and the rosemary, second from left, isn't doing too badly but it's a plant from a dry climate.  I transplanted it anyway.  If I have to go buy more herb plants I will and next year I'll be sure to arrange the soaker hose more carefully.  Live (or kill plants) and learn.  

I have high hopes for a better crop of blueberries this year.  Look at all the flower bottoms clustered on this bush.  The flowers themselves have faded and fallen but each and every one of those little cups could turn into a berry if it wanted to.  I noticed some tiny green orbs in a few spots but I'm not going to say too much more in case I jinx them.  Let's just say that having to use up more soaker hose by laying it under the blueberries seems to be turning out to be a good idea.  Next year they might get only one length of hose instead of two so I can snake the soaker hose back and forth on top of the bales for better coverage but I'm guessing that having water twice a day is doing wonders for them after the haphazard watering they've had in the past.  And let's not forget that last growing season was the post-broken ankle, using a walker or a cane season so any gardening success this year is cause for excitement.


One aspect of the straw bale garden I read about but hadn't seen until today is the mushrooms.  Not eating mushrooms, that would be too  much to hope for, but plain old toadstool mushrooms.  One of my bales is ahead of the composting game.  It's a darker color and it's slumping in the middle already.  That's the one with the mushrooms on it.  In other news the Early Girl tomato right next to these mushrooms has a flower on it today.  Go, Early Girl!



Not much yarn news today.  I finished Advent Garland Mitten #9 and added an inch or two to the ever-pushed-aside Sudoku Long Strip #1.  It needs to be about 64" long and it's about halfway or maybe a little more.  Perhaps I'll work on it more often since I've decided to see if I can solve the Jumble and Sudoku in the daily paper.  I have a lot more luck with the Jumble but I'm getting a bit better at Sudoku.  Logical deduction has never been my strong suit so I'm extra happy when I can finish the 2-star ones and make a start on the 3-star ones.  I pretend that I can do the 4- and 5-star ones but that's mostly a waste of graphite.  Someday...



June 3--Adolf Boehm, Landscape.  The landscape all around looked like it was on fire.  The leaves were every shade of red, orange, and yellow.  They rippled in the wind like undulating flames.  In the center clearing there was a small dark mound like the nexus of stillness in a storm.  Angus stood at the treeline studying the mound.  It hadn't been there the day before.  He prided himself on knowing every bit of the land around, knew the animals and birds, knew the comings and goings of the people too.  He thought about the gossip he heard in the hardware store about a city woman buying Caleb Nelson's old place up the road and turning it into a retreat for artists.  The more he looked at the mound the more uneasy he felt.  He tugged his hat more firmly on his head and had lifted one foot to go investigate when the mound moved and resolved itself into the form of a woman in dark clothes lying spreadeagled on the grass.

Okay, kiddies, that's about it for today.  I've already changed the sheets on the beds and have the first load of laundry in the washer.  As soon as this is posted I plan to go downstairs to fling more laundry around and then I think I'll see if I can't manage to sew up at least one of the two tablesetter placemats I have cut out.  Then I can iron and organize the fabric I washed last weekend that's in an out-of-the-dryer ball on the ironing board.  And you might know since I have a bunch of chicken parts thawed and a little boneless pork roast marinating for cooking on the grill tonight it's decided to be a rainy day.  Or maybe I only decide to grill out when it's supposed to rain.  One or the other but I'm more likely to blame the weatherman than myself.  I'm off.
--Barbara