I've been dreaming of summer and gardening since February. I have been watching youtube videos on gardening and dreaming of what I'm going to plant this summer. Last summer was very nasty and rainy the entire season so I never planted the seeds I got. When it is raining my fibromyalgia flairs up and I usually can't get out of bed. I found the seeds I bought last year and I started some sage and some sunflowers. I also spouted some apple seeds and some lemons from store bought fruit. Yesterday I had an avocado and you know I planted that sucker too.
I was looking at seed catalogs but I wasn't finding what I was looking for. We have a very short season here in central Alaska. I read online about Siberian tomatoes that are more hardy and only take 48 days but they weren't in the catalogs. I found some on ebay last night and ordered some.
This year my goal is to try to plant less so I can focus on those things and maybe be able to handle the garden myself. I want to plant peas and beans (which are pretty easy I think) and tomatoes, some loose leaf mixed lettuce and maybe carrots. I've never had luck with carrots so I'd like to try again.
I also want to add some new things to my perennial garden. My whole front yard is all perennials so even though I wasn't able to do anything in my garden last summer the flowers in front took care of themselves and looked great. The lilies are amazing.
oh I just can't wait.
.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Watching the Snow Fall
The last several days have been warm and the snow is melting a little. I haven't been able to see the sun shining for a few days since we have been getting snow. The sky looks a solid white/gray with no clear spots at all. This afternoon the snow started to fall and we had some wind that was stirring it around so it looked like the snowflakes were dancing in the air. I always want to take pictures of the snow falling but it just doesn't capture well so I took a video.
It wont be much longer and we will be seeing that snow melting into puddles.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Building Bridges
This is what I do.
When I think of all the things I want to do I feel like I'm standing at the edge of a giant ravine and what I want to do is on the other side.
It can be very depressing if you let it.
I've changed my thinking though. It hasn't been that long since I got this inspiration. I can change the way I do things, break things down into smaller projects or tasks and in the process I build a bridge to the other side and accomplish my goal.
The sun is shining and I am loving it so I'm slowly cleaning my house one wall, one window, one square of carpet at a time. I used to chose a room or two to clean each day but now I know my limitations. I think of what would make the biggest impact for me at the moment and do that. When the sun was streaming in the window the other day I cleaned the window and put plants over there. That was the most I could do that day but it made a huge difference. The next day I took it easy and rested. I have to recharge but I had one of my boys here so he helped. I just had him move some things for me and take some bags of donations outside to be picked up. He also cleaned up the entry way for me.
Today I'm vacuuming a little, dusting and running the vacuum because it has a hepa filter built in.
My living room looks great now so I am ready to move on to the kitchen/dining room area next.
I've been thinking about gardening a lot lately too. It seems warmer than usual right now and the sun is melting the snow. The branches of the large spruce trees are full of snow that is slowly melting and dripping water. From where I sit on the couch, looking through the trees, it looks like it is raining. We usually have spring thaw in April and March is usually really sunny but still cold. I think this is going to be a good year.
I'm starting to plan how I will plant my garden outside. My husband is going to get some wire fencing for me. In the front yard we only put a decorative rail fence around the right side and planted grass in there since the neighbors on the left had something encroaching on our property. That got moved before they sold it but the new neighbors don't seem to realize that half of what they thinks is their driveway is our yard. I want to define that corner better and put up some wire fencing that I can plant vining plants up like sweet peas and scarlet runner beans. I love how that looks. I could also plants some other things over there but it is a bit of a slope. The property is gradually sloped down towards the road and on the sides to allow water to run away from the house so I shouldn't really change that. It could still be fixed up to look nicer.
I would also like to plant some sunflowers. I'm going to look online to find a good variety to grow here with our short season. I'll also look for tomato, beans, peas and lettuce. There are so many things I'd like to plant but I really need to just pick a few things and focus on taking care of those. I don't want to get in over my head. My husband can't always help since he has to work. My boys can help but they are usually not very willing helpers when it comes to yardwork.
We didn't even use our backyard last year since it rained so much so I'm anxious to get back there and clean up. My boys mowed it but the trimming didn't get done like it should have. My shrubs need to be cleaned up and pruned. I want to set up an area for composting. I've watched Ray on the Praxxus55712 channel make compost and he makes it look like something I could do. I even got a tub to try composting in the garage. I got one of those tubs with the two hinged lids that meet in the middle so that lets some air get in there. I put plant clippings in there and veggie scraps from the kitchen. Oh, and coffee grounds. My oldest son goes through a LOT of coffee. I just can't wait to get out there. Can you tell I'm chomping at the bit??
When I think of all the things I want to do I feel like I'm standing at the edge of a giant ravine and what I want to do is on the other side.
It can be very depressing if you let it.
I've changed my thinking though. It hasn't been that long since I got this inspiration. I can change the way I do things, break things down into smaller projects or tasks and in the process I build a bridge to the other side and accomplish my goal.
The sun is shining and I am loving it so I'm slowly cleaning my house one wall, one window, one square of carpet at a time. I used to chose a room or two to clean each day but now I know my limitations. I think of what would make the biggest impact for me at the moment and do that. When the sun was streaming in the window the other day I cleaned the window and put plants over there. That was the most I could do that day but it made a huge difference. The next day I took it easy and rested. I have to recharge but I had one of my boys here so he helped. I just had him move some things for me and take some bags of donations outside to be picked up. He also cleaned up the entry way for me.
Today I'm vacuuming a little, dusting and running the vacuum because it has a hepa filter built in.
My living room looks great now so I am ready to move on to the kitchen/dining room area next.
I've been thinking about gardening a lot lately too. It seems warmer than usual right now and the sun is melting the snow. The branches of the large spruce trees are full of snow that is slowly melting and dripping water. From where I sit on the couch, looking through the trees, it looks like it is raining. We usually have spring thaw in April and March is usually really sunny but still cold. I think this is going to be a good year.
I'm starting to plan how I will plant my garden outside. My husband is going to get some wire fencing for me. In the front yard we only put a decorative rail fence around the right side and planted grass in there since the neighbors on the left had something encroaching on our property. That got moved before they sold it but the new neighbors don't seem to realize that half of what they thinks is their driveway is our yard. I want to define that corner better and put up some wire fencing that I can plant vining plants up like sweet peas and scarlet runner beans. I love how that looks. I could also plants some other things over there but it is a bit of a slope. The property is gradually sloped down towards the road and on the sides to allow water to run away from the house so I shouldn't really change that. It could still be fixed up to look nicer.
I would also like to plant some sunflowers. I'm going to look online to find a good variety to grow here with our short season. I'll also look for tomato, beans, peas and lettuce. There are so many things I'd like to plant but I really need to just pick a few things and focus on taking care of those. I don't want to get in over my head. My husband can't always help since he has to work. My boys can help but they are usually not very willing helpers when it comes to yardwork.
We didn't even use our backyard last year since it rained so much so I'm anxious to get back there and clean up. My boys mowed it but the trimming didn't get done like it should have. My shrubs need to be cleaned up and pruned. I want to set up an area for composting. I've watched Ray on the Praxxus55712 channel make compost and he makes it look like something I could do. I even got a tub to try composting in the garage. I got one of those tubs with the two hinged lids that meet in the middle so that lets some air get in there. I put plant clippings in there and veggie scraps from the kitchen. Oh, and coffee grounds. My oldest son goes through a LOT of coffee. I just can't wait to get out there. Can you tell I'm chomping at the bit??
Monday, March 2, 2015
Spring Fever
The sun was out and shining beautifully today. It is March in Fairbanks, Alaska so we will still have snow for a while. I have definitely been bitten by the spring cleaning bug. I decided I wanted to have more clear space in the living room so I had the boys haul off the old coffee table and an end table. That really opened up some space and it looks nice. There was another piece of furniture that we used to have below the front window but we moved it at Christmas time to put the tree there. Now I don't want it to come back.
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