Weeds or wishmakers?

This pic is of my lil' guy grabbing a dandelion to make a wish. There is something so deeply poetic and dreamy about this concept for me. As adults, we see them as weeds. Children see them as wishmakers. May some of your weeds become wishmakers today.

Carpe utcunque humido

According to Wikipedia, 
"In 'Horace', the phrase, Carpe Diem, is part of the longer Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero – "Seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the future", and the ode says that the future is unforeseen, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine."


Well, no kidding Horace. The green stars have not been in alignment for me this gardening season. We have been soggy, we have had pests and more pests, and a wonderful new addition to our family. All of these have created a wonderful playground for blogging ideas, however, they have not been very conducive to effective gardening. Gardening with a little one has been one of the greatest challenges over all. 


My dear partner in gardening, my husband, has more than taken up the slack for me. I got the big beds prepped, but he made the pumpkin / watermelon bed, planted the potatoes and weeded the entire yard. Not a task for the weak at heart (or back). Everything is ready to go and last year I had everything mapped out. Seeds were planted indoors and fragile seedlings were hardened and then planted with love into the the fertile soil. Mounds were made when the temperature was "just perfect" so I could place the seeds into the warming ground where they could germinate into strong, fruit-bearing plants. Each task completed at it's orchestrated time that was designated on my Excel spreadsheet and in my beautiful, new gardening journal. Gardening bliss.


This year, Horace and I came to terms with the reality of a new baby and gardening. Sunday was my day. Sunday. I had about 3 1/2 hours between feedings, 8 seedlings, $150+ in seeds and a bag of complete fertilizer. Did I mention it was raining? Why of course it was! But I had work to do. Polar fleece pants, sweatshirt, baseball cap, rain gear and garden boots, I set out to complete my task. The almost-4-year-old wanted to join me and I thought, "Great!". He gave up after 10 minutes in the rain. "Mom, I am hungry." Whatever, deep sigh. We will have to work on that...later. Right then, I was busy getting things planted and off he trotted to his dad inside the warm, dry house. 


Quiet.
Peace.
Dirt. (ok, mud)
Seeds.
Me.


Time to roll. ‎5 types of pumpkin (one variety says it can grow to 800 lbs, HA!), zucchini, yellow squash, patty pan, lettuce, spinach, marigolds, watermelon, chard, butternut squash, delicata squash, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, carrots, oregano and chives. IN. THE. GROUND. 


So proud.


I know in my little gardener heart, that this isn't the way you are "supposed" to do it. Everything has it's perfect moment to be planted. But this was MY moment that I had. We will see what grows this year. I had to seize the moment because I did not know when this moment would present itself again. So Carpe Diem and more appropriately, Carpe utcunque humido (loosely translated: seize this moment, regardless of how wet it is).

The asparagus bed and potato boxes

big beds with cloches

strawberries working their magic in barrels

the infamous bed of LB (he's back)

Yikes, I might need to weed the raspberries. 

Any suggestions about how to do that with a baby on your back?

The new pumpkin / watermelon bed :)

Towhee

Source: http://www.nps.gov/band/naturescience/year-round-and-winter-birds.htm

This is the bird, the Spotted Towhee, that has turned my gardening world upside down for the last month. And I am pretty sure it is just one bird.

ROUND 1
Neil built the framework for our trellis and I stapled the 4" netting to keep the deer out. They have been one of my main concerns lately. I planted two varieties of snap peas. Yum!

Later that afternoon, as I was basking in the warmth of the sun and nursing the babe, all tranquility was lost. A @&$! Towhee jumped right through the trellis like it was the front door to the Las Vegas Hilton. Oh and today there was a FREE All-You-Can-Eat Buffet! Each and every little pea that I had so carefully planted, seed by precious seed, had been scratched up and chewed on. Humph. Round 1 winner - Towhee.

ROUND 2
A trip to the hardware store provided me with a chance to get some fine mesh bird netting and some more peas. I bought several packets of each variety.

Mesh in place. Seeds planted. Waiting.

Next morning. Dirt kicked everywhere. Peas unearthed and shelled.
Round 2 goes to the Towhee.

ROUND 3
Mesh checked. Corners battened down. Seeds haphazardly planted, but they are in there. This is the first time I have planted something while muttering profanity.

While sitting for a visit with my mom, the little bastard (said with a love and respect for nature) pushed up the bottom of the mesh, hopped right in and started scratching and eating. I now felt he was doing this this with a great sense of arrogance and spite. My blood pressure was rising as I ran out the door, threw on my boots and chased him out. We will call Round 3 a draw.

ROUND 4
Apparently, this little mastermind figured out how to get through the bottom of the net. I had to find a way to tuck the net under the trellis. Bit by bit, I tucked every last inch of netting under the trellis and anchored it with plant name tags in the Towhee's favorite places.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Head back and throw some more peas in...literally.

Again while nursing, the little bugger came back. He went to his favorite spot and cockily grabbed the net and flung it up, but it didn't go anywhere. Ha! Then he tried another spot. Foiled again. Ha Ha! Now I am starting to feel a wee bit smug. His movements started to become somewhat frantic as he tried different spots and spastically flitted up and down the mesh netting. He could SEE the newly planted seeds. I am sure he could even smell them. If a bird could drool over a potential meal, I was sure he was. I giggled. Unexpectedly, he FLEW OFF! Victorious!!!

Oh @&$!, he headed to my uncovered bed right next to it. You see, I had come in to nurse since my husband had given me the morning to do my "big planting" and I hadn't covered my freshly planted beds yet. Little Bastard was digging up my basil seeds. My hero, my husband, threw on his shoes and ran outside in the rain to play the part of terrifying scarecrow. He shooed the Towhee away. Safe.

When I returned outside, I checked the peas and was surprised to find 3 little green shoots popping up. Happiness. Round 4 - me. Finally.

When it comes to parenting I always joke that it is like the TV reality show "Survivor" and you have to "out wit, out smart and out last" your kids. This has been taken to a whole new level with this bird. While I am a bird lover, I DO NOT love this bird. I finally took one round, but I will not rest. There is a fear that boils deep inside. We WILL have delicious peas this summer. We will as long as they survive.

It is shopping time

Today was suppose to be all about building the garden of giants, a little 2'x8' area that is going to house the seedlings for our giant pumpkins and watermelons. It was the day I was going to set my deer / raccoon sprinkler in motion. Today was going to be my gardening day from sun up to sun down; however, the weather had other plans. I know I could have been outside since it wasn't actually raining and I AM a true PNW'er now (after 14 years) with my collection of jackets for every weather scenario.

I opted to stay in. I opted to take a long, hot shower all by myself. I opted to hold my little sack of sugar while she napped. Sorry garden, tomorrow is another day. My dedicated other half spent yesterday making sure you were ready for me, but today I opted to stay inside with my babes.

AND...while the babes took their afternoon nap, I set up a little store on Amazon. The books I have mentioned on here are linked into the "Mental Chew Store". So, if you also find yourself tucked inside with a babe sleeping in your arms and you need a good read to download or flip through, I have a pretty good list started. Enjoy!

Squishy Spring

This has been an incredibly squishy spring. The ground is squishy. My beds are squishy. Even my brain is squishy. The rain has been coming non-stop and today we received a much deserved respite from the deluge. So after our swimming lesson (yes, more water!), I ran home, fed the baby and then ran into the yard to complete my pea bed. My lovely husband built the frame for the trellis last weekend and I put up one side on Sunday, one side today. It is amazing how long tasks take with a babe on your back, even if she is taking a much needed snooze in her Kokopax (love it!).

So the trellis is up, but I already have some (damn) little Towhees scratching around in there. At least my rogue tulips are now safe from the deer. I hope.

This pic is for my dear friend who is no longer living on the island, but every time I see a tulip I think of her smile. 

This is snap peas part II. These are Oregon Snap Peas this year. The acorn squash from last year and the cucumbers were a little pathetic. We are going to start out with peas.  Please, notice that the barrels are covered with garden cloth. This is my feeble attempt against the avian friends / fiends. 

Ok, rain, today you are forgiven for keeping us indoors and making me watch "Blue's Clues" more times than I would like to admit. The greens, purples, yellows, pinks, whites, oranges and reds are putting on their show. Exhale. Inhale. The air is so fresh and light and crisp. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.