A Weekend Update

I added a green pepper plant to our little garden this weekend. We will see how everything goes. We're deeming this year our experimentation year. We're not sure about the sunlight and the watering and the soil. But the snails seem to be leaving it alone, and I haven't seen any bunnies in our yard since I blocked off their one (known) entrance.

This weekend was free dirt day. The local waste management company donated a big pile of lovely mulch and residents could come load up bags to take to their gardens. I made two trips. I was filthy and tired by the end, but it looks so nice! I think it will really help our soil too.

This weekend was also our annual city-wide yard sale. We went out as a family and visited our neighbors and found a few deals:

X-box, 3 games, 2 controllers, 2 car-steering wheel controllers: $30 (we have one, but it died in the move or at the finger of one baby, we're not sure which, so it was nice to find a cheap replacement!)

Glider/Rocker in good shape: $10 (talked down from $20 - I'm such a haggler!)

2 very large clay plant pots: $5

Adorable baby rocking chair for the play room: $5

A diaper champ disposal system: $1 (is it disgusting to buy someone else's old diaper pail? I'm going to rinse it with bleach...)

Great craft/computer desk: free!

After an hour of cruising around we felt very good about our haul and had introduced ourselves to some of our very nice neighbors. A successful day at the sales!

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

So that's what we did!

Here's our itsy bitsy garden patch. 4 bean plants, one basil plant, two tomatoes, and a little strawberry that I found in our yard. I'm not sure if it's a volunteer or what, but it's cute, so I'll care for it.

Since this is the first time we've planted in this bed, I have no idea what to expect or hope for. Hopefully the plants will grow! I had to amend our -solid- clay with a big bag of garden soil, and I'm sure each planting we'll have to do something else to make the soil better, but at least we have a place to put a few veggies!

There used to be rose bushes where those beans and tomatoes are, but we offered them free on Craigslist to anyone who would come dig them up and haul them off. Worked like a charm! I'm still fielding calls from people who want free bushes. Don't worry, I still have a dozen - yes, twelve - rose bushes in the front yard. I think that will be plenty for me.

I got some nice organic slug and snail killer to protect against this nasty guy!

Oh, I hope it all grows! I went out to check on them this morning while I was still in my jammies and slippers. They made it through the night ;).