I just wish I could take each of you on a personal tour of my dust-free corners. I'd point out the previously filthy yet now pristine shelves in the kids' rooms, I'd beg you to inspect my light fixtures and under my dust-free bed. I'd even offer you to join me for lunch in my gloriously clean kitchen.
Yes I'm aware that I'm not normal but I get my kicks where I can.
Anyway, Saturday after cleaning a room I went out and raked the yard, washed my windows and cleaned out the flower beds in the front (there's still too much snow in the back to tackle yet) and it thoroughly put me into the gardening mood.
I'm thinking of trying something new this year: raised vegetable gardens. In Anchorage it can be advantageous to have your vegetables in raised beds so that the soil warms faster and you can plant earlier than if it's in the flush garden beds. I'm considering making some beds now that the kids are older and need less grass in the back yard--I'll keep you posted.
But here are two great links I've seen recently that I think I'll also try. Above you see the indoor water gardens Martha made and then there is this amazingly clever idea for making terrariums--recycling old light fixtures. Genius.
And if plants aren't your thing I offer you an Easter treat: roasted peeps. I'm not a peep fan but I'm seriously thinking of buying up a crate of the bunnies and saving them for summer camping. I can only imagine how great the smores made with these guys would taste.
12 comments:
Try reading "The New Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. You get a fantastic yield using only 20% of the space used by traditional methods.
Also, you can plant seeds (in enriched soil) in plastic milk jugs and place them outside. When some greenery emerges, you can take the emerging plants out and plant them in the soil you have prepared -- the plants are hearty because they grew in adverse, cold conditions. (i believe this style of gardening is called "wintering over").
You CAN take us on a tour and I'd love it! Just get out that trusty video camera and let us see those pristine corners. It would inspire me to get cracking.
Square Foot Gardening is nice... but it's not going to extend the Alaska growing season a whole lot ;) .
I made a couple homemade peeps last night, and they just might be destined for roasting (since I won't eat them!). (If you'd like to see them, they're at my sisters' and my new craft blog, WaywardGirlsCrafts.com .)
I am a green thumb wanna be...I am terrible at growing anything. I am considering a raised vegie garden this year...we will see.
We don't get much sun in our yard, so I don't bother with much gardening. I always feel like I'm wasting too much water and effort, and I just get my heart broken, over and over. Instead, I support our local farmers market.
The greenest I seem to get is buying flowers at the nursery and planting them, and trying to keep them alive through the heat of the summer. I tried a few seeds this year. We'll see how they do. I'm pretty good at growing avocado trees, though they rarely live more than a few years. They're free and pretty, though, so I keep doing it.
square foot gardening is great! Every year I've lived here in AK I've done a little garden. It's nothing to sustain my family on but oh the joy of going out and getting salad from my garden! Peas, sugar snap peas, broccoli and cauliflower have done wonderfully for me. I tried rutabagas even though I've never eaten one but they got slugs and bugs really bad. This year I'm hoping to try some potatoes on the side of the house sans fence since I hear moose don't like them. Update us on your gardening adventures!
I love the indoor water gardens! Unfortunately I think my cats would love eating them and soaking their paws.
Me and my husband are trying a garden this year and I have always aspired to having a green thumb and I am anxious about not measuring up.
Thank goodness peeps are, well, what they are. I saw your reference to roasting these "little bunnies" and got a little worried. "Peeps" were just not in my lexicon. They are now, though. And they look awesome in the s'more picture!
The idea is very nice.
I agree " the new square food gardening" is an excellent book. Very nice and practical ideas
It's just me, missin' Scribbit commentary.... I hope you're out there enjoying life and that all is well in Alaska.
Good luck with your raised garden beds. I lived in Alaska until I was 10, born in Fairbanks and moved to Anchorage around age 4. I remember my mother gardening in her small raised bed as well as in containers. People were amazed that she could grow vegetables in Alaska. I think she enjoyed the surprise on people's faces when she presented salad greens from her own garden. Have fun!
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