In an effort to cut down on All The Blogs, I'm moving my gardening daydreams from an old blog to this blog for your reading enjoyment.
You're welcome.
As we all are mentally aware, it is indeed spring, regardless of Mother Nature going completely ape all over the country. My dear friend down in Virginia? Snowing earlier this week and broadcast of 80's by week end. Here? Snow Monday, 60's on Thursday. Up by my parents' home, in the vast wilderness of northern Wisconsin? A foot of snow. It'll probably stick around until June because, you know, it's northern Wisconsin.
However, I am not there. I am here, southeastern Wisconsin. Despite the April snow showers, I see signs of spring everywhere. Song birds aplenty, trees showing their buds, and the spring bulbs pokin' up their heads through the dirt. My crocuses are even up!
Do you know what that means?
I get to bring out my brown thumb, usually reserved for indoor killing of plants, and start killing outdoor plants! WOO!
If you are at all familiar with my passion for gardening, you are equally familiar with my stunning inability to produce anything commensurate with the amount of time and money I sink into my garden. It's the story of my life, really: be super enthusiastic about a lot of things, but never get beyond mediocrity. Another example is my verve for baking! Alas, it's not that great. Edible? Most of the time, yes! Do you taste the love in every morsel? But of course, but you also might spit it out because sometimes love doesn't cover up the burned taste.
Except my cheesecakes. Of all things in my life I do, my cheesecakes are not mediocre and taste amazing. They ain't pretty, mind, but looks fade and my cheesecake has ALL the personality. It's the cheesecake you take home to meet your mama, marry, have a couple of kids, and let it settle around your middle until you die, fat and happy.
Where was I, before death by cheesecake?
Ah yes: doing what you love but keeping your day job. That's gardening for me. Every year, after I harvest my meager bounty, I consider tossing in the proverbial towel and just chilling the next summer. But without fail, once those seed catalogs start worming their way into my mailbox as early as December, I get a fever for spring. The only prescription?
This time last year, I moved across the country so I had very little time to garden. I managed to put in 3 tomato plants and 3 pepper plants because my mom and sister are amazingly supportive of my gardening habit and enable me by giving me seedlings. The yellow and orange cherry tomatoes did alright! But I think I got 1-2 peppers that were smaller than a tennis ball, 1 roma tomato, and several heirloom tomatoes. It would have been more, but a big portion of the harvest rotted on the vine. Or got infested? I dunno. Never figured that out. The carrots never even came up.
This year? We've got it all!
I also have a planned non-edible plant menagerie which includes a rose bush. Like, not a Home Depot rose bush this time. Like a fancy pantsy more than $15 rose bush! Considering the financial investment, I'll put some serious work into the rose bush. But my other, old seeds from previous years? I might put in a solid gold effort. There's also a chance I might Sound of Music them all over the yard and see what happens to sprout.
I also sing to myself while doing yard work, so I'm not entirely unlike Maria. If she were a tubby middle aged white girl wearing a 20 year old hoodie and purple crocs and grooving to the Trolls soundtrack in Midwestern suburbia, we'd be twins!
I know a lot of my friends and family dabble in the botanical arts, so I'm looking forward to hearing all about their adventures in dirt as well.
Stay tuned for more of Sensational Soil Stories. Stay green, my friends!
You're welcome.
As we all are mentally aware, it is indeed spring, regardless of Mother Nature going completely ape all over the country. My dear friend down in Virginia? Snowing earlier this week and broadcast of 80's by week end. Here? Snow Monday, 60's on Thursday. Up by my parents' home, in the vast wilderness of northern Wisconsin? A foot of snow. It'll probably stick around until June because, you know, it's northern Wisconsin.
However, I am not there. I am here, southeastern Wisconsin. Despite the April snow showers, I see signs of spring everywhere. Song birds aplenty, trees showing their buds, and the spring bulbs pokin' up their heads through the dirt. My crocuses are even up!
 |
| Squint. They are there. |
Do you know what that means?
I get to bring out my brown thumb, usually reserved for indoor killing of plants, and start killing outdoor plants! WOO!
If you are at all familiar with my passion for gardening, you are equally familiar with my stunning inability to produce anything commensurate with the amount of time and money I sink into my garden. It's the story of my life, really: be super enthusiastic about a lot of things, but never get beyond mediocrity. Another example is my verve for baking! Alas, it's not that great. Edible? Most of the time, yes! Do you taste the love in every morsel? But of course, but you also might spit it out because sometimes love doesn't cover up the burned taste.
Except my cheesecakes. Of all things in my life I do, my cheesecakes are not mediocre and taste amazing. They ain't pretty, mind, but looks fade and my cheesecake has ALL the personality. It's the cheesecake you take home to meet your mama, marry, have a couple of kids, and let it settle around your middle until you die, fat and happy.
Where was I, before death by cheesecake?
Ah yes: doing what you love but keeping your day job. That's gardening for me. Every year, after I harvest my meager bounty, I consider tossing in the proverbial towel and just chilling the next summer. But without fail, once those seed catalogs start worming their way into my mailbox as early as December, I get a fever for spring. The only prescription?
 |
MORE PLANTS.
|
This year? We've got it all!
- Onions
- Sweet peas
- Carrots
- Mint
- Thyme
- Basil
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Raspberries
Because if I try even more... I might actually find my cheesecake plant!
Sweet peas are in the ground, onions are in a funky sprouting container that may or may not contaminate our house with mold, and the rest are on deck.
 |
Sweet peas were planted in the foreground.
The mid and background are for other victims. I MEAN SEEDS.
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| Mold bomb or onion seedlings? TBD. |
I also have a planned non-edible plant menagerie which includes a rose bush. Like, not a Home Depot rose bush this time. Like a fancy pantsy more than $15 rose bush! Considering the financial investment, I'll put some serious work into the rose bush. But my other, old seeds from previous years? I might put in a solid gold effort. There's also a chance I might Sound of Music them all over the yard and see what happens to sprout.
I also sing to myself while doing yard work, so I'm not entirely unlike Maria. If she were a tubby middle aged white girl wearing a 20 year old hoodie and purple crocs and grooving to the Trolls soundtrack in Midwestern suburbia, we'd be twins!
I know a lot of my friends and family dabble in the botanical arts, so I'm looking forward to hearing all about their adventures in dirt as well.
Stay tuned for more of Sensational Soil Stories. Stay green, my friends!
Love you!!
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