Via faithful commentor Max:
Spring is here! The frozen hellscape of four weeks ago is no more. So things are starting to grow.
The little purple flowers that come up with the weeds are back!
[Editor’s note: I mislabeled them ‘squill’ but of course those are wild violets]
And the thing I am most happy about – the new apple tree that went into the ground at the beginning of November survived being under two feet of snow (while positioned right next to the ten foot tall Snow Mountain) is ALIVE. A (still tiny) new leaf.
I have lots of things to plant today.
***********
Spring has absolutely arrived here, north of Boston, because all week my allergies have made me stupid & achy. But I’ve made a start on this year’s garden irregardless. Pro tip: if your soil is stony clay & your flower beds are crowded a perennial spade is absolutely a great investment — I’m just sorry I waited this long to get one!
What’s going on in your gardens (garden planning) this week?
raven
Planning? That shipped sailed weeks ago. We are ass deep in rain and weeds, the greens have gone to seed, the azalea’s are nearly played out and the roses look like they are about ready. Honestly though, I’m sure my wife has plans for what is next because she told me we need a truckload of compost soon. The pipeline guys came back and took down all the retention fences and the rye grass is growing like mad so it is really green.
qwerty42
Rain? Yes, my brother thought it had been about 5″ in the last week and that does not count yesterday …. and it’s raining right now. Have some plants to go in, but will see if we have better weather later. At least I got some things in.
Nunca El Jefe
I came back from a business trip to ask of the hostas lining our walk growing like gangbusters. Also too, the birds have been chirping since 4:30 am. I really dislike jet lag, but the sounds of spring are a good thing.
Tommy
My garden is going in next weekend. Adding a third raised bed this year and pretty excited about that. Still not sure what I will plant in it, but thinking cucumbers. I have not planted them before because they can take up a lot of space, which is sad really since in the summer I can get cucumbers by the metric ton.
Tommy
@raven: After a super, all-time cold winter spring has arrived here in full force the past two weeks. Above 60 each day. Couple that with about 6 inches of rain during the same time and everything is growing, blooming, you name it. My hostas can alive almost overnight.
It has been so nice I’ve been out walking 27/7. My fitness tracker has me walking more than 15,000 steps a day. A few days over 20,000.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Headed to Grandma’s house today to celebrate here 98th birthday. This is her 68th and last year in her house, as her failing eyesight forces relocation to an extended care facility. She’s asked if anyone wants special things from her home before they hold an estate sale. That breaks my heart. But I’m bringing a shovel because I want some of her glorious irises for my own garden.
OzarkHillbilly
The flowers in the 2nd picture are probably Birdsfoot Violets, can’t say for certain as they all have their little heads turned, being shy I guess.
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Sad, the end of an era, but 98 years! Here’s to a life well lived.
Tommy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Say happy birthday to her for me. My grandfather made it to 97. Never made his 98th birthday. He had lost his eyesight as well. Plus he wouldn’t let anybody help him and had a few falls.
My mother was in the process of moving him to an extended care facility. He wanted none of it, but his mind was still sharp and he knew it was the right decision.
Before it could happen he passed away in his sleep. My mother still kicks herself, thinking that he just “gave up” when he knew he had to leave his house he lived in for more than 70 years. As much as I tell her that is not the case it still pains her.
Tommy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I know you didn’t ask for this advice, but what I saw two weekends ago I went to an estate sale. Made me sick to my stomach.
A wealthy family in a huge, eight bedroom house. They had a lot of “nice” things. The auction company was almost giving stuff away. Not even pennies on the dollar.
It made me so sick I had to walk out. I couldn’t bid on anything. People should get a “fair” price for a quality product.
I almost wanted to find the family, say get a Uhaul. Put the most expensive stuff in it, ship it to my house. I have an empty bedroom or two. I work out of my house and have some free time.
We can agree on a percentage and I’ll sell the stuff on eBay and get you the value you deserve.
I just didn’t realize this was how these things worked. I just couldn’t believe there wasn’t a minimum on these items.
satby
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Congratulations and a Happy Birthday to your grandmother. Pro tip: if there’s anything she seems especially sad that no one seems to want, take it and tell her how much it means to you (fib if you have to). Get the rest of the family to do the same if she has lots of treasures. It helped my mother a great deal to feel like her special things weren’t going to end up at Goodwill, and made her move a little easier. And the fact that you’re taking some plants from her yard will be a nice way to have her always with you.
And before you dump stuff, do a bit of research, grammas have lots of stuff that sells well, like depression glass or antiques. There’s a reason why antique dealers scour resale shops for stuff to sell.
Edited to add: that could help with assisted living expenses.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Tommy:
I’ve actually done what you describe in a limited way with eBay. I used to deal high end audio gear. For several friends’ families I’ve dispersed collections of equipment for a percentage commission. They get the best price and it’s worth my time.
I know people who do estate sales and yeah, lots of it is horribly unethical. They’ll spot the valuables, undervalue them and let their cronies buy them cheap for a kickback. Auctions are theoretically more fair but they have to be well advertised to get the best bids.
Grandma and Grandpa lived pretty lean and didn’t have a lot of capital into their possessions. The things that have sentimental value will stay in the family.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: For Grandma (it’s also an audiobook) and anyone who wants to celebrate Earth Day by getting rid of STUFF:
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
which I just finished and was incredible. Life changing! And I haven’t even done it yet… gotta get psyched up. Per the book.
Tommy
@satby:
Amen to that. My father and grandfather were only children. My parents now live in the house my great grandfather built. They were all well off if not rich and liked to buy “nice” things and they have many generations of stuff.
My mother has made my brother and I promise we will NEVER put the stuff up at an auction. I don’t think I ever would, because much of what they have I have no research or understanding of.
It is amazing when I ask about something, when I think it has almost no value it is very, very valuable. Then stuff I think might be worth something, well it isn’t.
satby
@Tommy: EBay lowballs. Because antique dealers are looking there too. Better than dumping things at a thrift store, but thrift stores do a lot of good with the proceeds and are a place where people of limited means can dress the whole family in better stuff than they’ll buy new at Wal-Mart for less.
Goodwill is one of my least favorite charities though, probably because I once worked for them. I know the issues with Salvation Army, but they are front and center when a family is evacuated from a home for fire or flooding, giving the family replacement clothing and housewares for free. So they are my personal preference if you have a choice of where to donate.
Tommy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: That is so good to hear. My parents are retired and I don’t understand it, but they spend about 1.5 weeks a month driving around the midwest going to flea markets and antique malls.
Doing this for years and years they have a pretty good idea of the value of things.
They were at the same auction I was at. After I left mom says things that she knows for sure items that were worth $1,000 walked out of the place for $20 or so.
And I was even more stunned to learn the sellers, not the auction company, made them pay for advertising.
MomSense
The last of the snow islands melted and now the backyard is mud so I’m ignoring it until the ground firms up a bit.
I tried to rake up the salt and sand that the snow banks left behind but it is too fine for a regular rake. I’m going to try a broom today. There is so much of the stuff that I think it will kill the grass and everything else if I don’t remove it.
satby
On topic: Max, is the red flower up top a Gerber daisy already? Where are you located? Love that!
Though this has been a crazy year, my peonies are up and getting buds while the mid and late daffodils are still opening. I don’t remember that ever happening before, the peonies usually appear about a month later.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought they looked like Siberian Squill (Scilla sibirica) I asked about them last year here & got them identified. WE have lived in this place for 20 years & they just showed up about 5 years ago and have gone nuts, they are all over our yard this year. The flowers last about a week and the leaves are gone before it’s time to mow the grass.
satby
@MomSense: if you have a shop vac try that. You’ll get some teasing about vacuuming the lawn, but it’s fast and effective.
Raven
@satby: Charity Navigator is a good place to look when evaluating organizations. Almost anything with “Veterans” in the title is a ripoff.
currants
So I see two different types on Teh Google Machine, AL–one with a pointy blade and one with a square blade. I’m guessing the pointy one is the one you mean–looks like it would be fabulous for dividing some of the plants I have that need dividing, and easier if digging in stony ground than a square bladed thing (I’ll be honest, I don’t know what on earth use the square bladed thing would be in New England?).
satby
@WereBear: I need that book!
Thanks!
Ultraviolet Thunder
Ebay values basically depend on arbitrage. I’ve been selling there since ’97. The best bids come from people who only have access to that item through auctions, so valuation is complicated. I’ve sold huge amounts of ‘obsolete’ American ’50s and ’60s audio equipment and the high bidders are almost always in Asia, where these are scarce items. I got stunning prices (after repair) for stuff that sat ignored in basements for decades.
We donate household stuff to charities several times a year. Grandma has always supported Salvation Army, so the serviceable ordinary stuff will likely go there. And in the distressed city she lives in it will certainly be used and appreciated.
Raven
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I like our local habitat for humanity store buying and donating.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Gotta roll out. Enjoy your Sunday, everyone.
Tommy
@satby: My parents have a ton of bedding, clothes, kitchen stuff, you name it. All of that will go to Goodwill and I will just take the tax write off.
There is a huge, I mean huge Goodwill next to my favorite Chinese buffet. I hope this day isn’t anytime soon, but there will be a day I walk into the store and say, “I am about to make your day. Where do I pull up the trucks?”*
The only thing I am not sure about is my father’s books. He has so many he bought the house across the street to put them all. Well over 10,000.
*Of course I am joking. I’d arrange for the delivery ahead of time :).
satby
@Raven: I agree. I won’t even donate if it’s not a four or star.
In my long misspent career I worked for both the Red Cross and Goodwill. Neither will ever get another dime from me. Partners in Health or Doctors Without Borders for international aid for me. As much as I dislike the Salvation Army attitudes about gays, they are the ones out feeding people during disasters, giving at no charge goods to people who have lost their homes, even locally doing food backpacks for kids on the school lunch programs to take home over the weekend so they get lunches both days. They do a lot of good. I’m confident they will come around on the gay issue soon.
Raven
I had a weird one this week. Our 15 years old Kenmore stackable washer dryer met it’s end and I found a new model on the Sears site that was worth getting (save the Sears sux stories). It had free delivery and setup so the guys came and got it all together . When I ran a load In was convinced the pump was faulty because it seemed to just sit and try to pump with no decline in water level. I finally was frustrated enough to call their,support and convince them it didn’t work and they agreed to replace it. In the meanwhile we figured we’d run a load just for fun. It turned out that they cycle I had it on was just agitating and the thing worked fine. It’s way slower than the old one but is quieter and more energy efficient. I’m feeling pretty dumb.
Tommy
@satby:
My grandfather was a doctor and he was an early, early supporter of Doctors Without Borders. He gave them hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars over the years.
He was a small town rural doctor and for years he was the only doctor for like 50 square miles. He understood more than most how terrible it was not to have access to a doctor.
Raven
@satby: My mom worked for the Red Cross in LA and they were fucked up!
satby
@Tommy: A lot of Goodwills are not affiliated with the main organization, it’s like they’re a franchise. They aren’t very transparent about their financial management and they count the people working in their retail stores as people they’ve helped, though they don’t only hire unemployed people to work in their stores, in fact it’s a pretty competitive job in some areas.
MomSense
@satby:
That’s a great idea. I’ll have to borrow one from my neighbor.
NotMax
@Ultraviolet Thunder
Leave the shovel in the car and tell her your intentions first.
Brandishing a shovel and beginning to dig a hole in the yard at someone’s 98th celebration could be misinterpreted as rather Hitchcockian.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy:
A reputable used book store. There is a place on South Grand at Arsenal in STL, Dunham’s, that I frequented back when I lived up there. Lots of rare books as well as the everyday stuff. I am sure there are a few on your side of the river, but I wouldn’t know them. Anyway, any used book dealer would kill for a chance to bid on a collection of 10,000 books, especially one that is as focused as your father’s probably is.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: We don’t see squill around here, When Max said, “The little purple flowers that come up with the weeds are back!” it made me think of Birdsfoots which grow wild everywhere around here. All of which is a long way of saying,
“I dunno.”
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: 99% of them are all military history. The house he has then in shares the alley with the local library. I also know the President of the Community College (dad also sits on some Boards). I will start with them.
As I mentioned in other comments I’d NEVER put their stuff up at an estate sale, but with the books, not sure what else to do. I’ve been begging my father to hire somebody from the community college and have them enter all the books, for like $15/hour, into any of the many book programs out there.
He is the only person that has any idea what he has and the potential value.
HeartlandLiberal
We leave Wednesday for Europe. Will not be back till June 4th. I had planned to till the 2,000 sq ft vegetable garden and plant wildflowers, but it has not happened. So I am just having the guys who cut the lawn mow it till we are back. I will just plant a late garden of tomatoes and squashes and pumpkins, and see if I can persuade some beets to grow. Things that we like the most. Last year’s tomatoes let me make batches of the best homemade spaghetti sauce ever, so doing that again would be worth the late effort. I also am giving up on the strawberry patch. Too much work for too little return. I am going to turn it into a 12 x 8 herb garden. Read an article recently that pointed out financial return wise growing your own herbs is the absolute best bang for your buck. Plus fresh basil. What more can is there to say at that point?
max
@satby: On topic: Max, is the red flower up top a Gerber daisy already? Where are you located? Love that!
Yes, yes, it is. It’s not native though, snagged it at the store. It was too pretty to pass up. (Those pictures are a week old. The apple tree has started to take off.)
@OzarkHillbilly: The flowers in the 2nd picture are probably Birdsfoot Violets, can’t say for certain as they all have their little heads turned, being shy I guess.
(checks links) That’s a relative. I think it’s actually wood violet. Which is an invasive perennial. It’s trying to take over my lawn, which is fine with me, actually, since my lawn sucks.
max
[‘Bloody hell, it’s raining again.’]
(Which
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Also another place a lot of thrift stores and libraries use is Better World Books.
(Hope the link works on the Kindle)
Ok, it worked, but not the way I expected!
WereBear
Clothes4Souls is highly rated and and might have a drop box near you.
I have to drive an hour to get to a Salvation Army… who doesn’t want to take anything. So my donation is the shipping in many cases where the stuff is still really good, just not right for me; shoes, coats and jackets, non-prescription eyeglasses.
Since resigning myself to age-related presbyopia (being right on time with that after decades staring at computer screens is triumph enough, I figure) AND only needing a 1.0 for most instances has driven me to Readers.com, which has the incredible variety my small town does not offer. Now that I’ve figured out what I like and what works for me, I have a whole bunch to donate to the Lions Club.
Tommy
@HeartlandLiberal:
I’d sure think that is the case. I am something of a foodie and love to cook. I refuse to use any herbs that are not fresh, and that can get costly pretty fast. Even more so since I am single and usually just cooking for myself, so sometimes what I buy doesn’t even all get used.
This pains me a lot, because my hippie, liberal self hates to waste any food knowing there are people starving all over the world!
Plus, added bonsus when I started my garden I assumed I’d fail. In my house plants don’t live very long. I’d had a few epic fails in my garden. Had to learn from my mistakes and I made many.
But from the first year I didn’t have any problems growing herbs. Being able to just walk out back and cut some fresh herbs was about as rewarding of an experience I can recall.
satby
@Raven: Not just there. I worked for the national HQ. Fish rot from the head, I believe the old saying is.
woodyNYC
Wow its a fast pile-up spring this year, In Brooklyn the daffodils were blooming before I saw one barrenwort come out of the ground.
Now I’m in the Catskills putting out tomatoes despite my skeptical frost-shy neighbors. Victory is for the bold!
OzarkHillbilly
@max: Around here, both are referred to as “Birdsfoot Violets”. Our bad.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: Don’t a lot of flowers have regional names?
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: Most do. But this is us lumping several subspecies into one envelope.
Tommy
Other than adding another large raised bed. Tending to the soil this week (I make my own). It is all about planning. This may sound dumb to experienced gardeners (I am not one, this will be my fifth year) spacing is a problem for me.
My smaller raised bed, where I grow five types of hot peppers, I got that down. But the much larger one, with tomatoes, herbs, eggplant, and zucchini not so much.
Each year I seem to give the plants more and more space and they still end up growing into each other. I can’t see how this is good for production.
Now I am adding a third raised bed, that is huge, I am going to give everything a lot, lot more space. Thinking of only adding cucumbers to the new bed and moving all the herbs to it to give my other beds more space.
gelfling545
@satby: Seconded on the Salvation Army. Yes, some of their religious views are archaic but in my experience they do not ask that one subscribe to them to be helped . I ran into the SA a lot when I was working on a project re: veterans’ housing & SA are at the forefront of a lot of relief efforts for the homeless as well as disaster relief here.
satby
@gelfling545: They do a lot of actual good, aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, and go where help is needed, offering it to everyone in need without proselytizing. That’s really the best you can expect out of a religious organization. Acts, not words.
Tommy
@gelfling545: I think you guys/gals might have turned me away from Goodwill to SA. As I mentioned there is a massive Goodwill store next to a place I love to eat once a week. I always step into the Goodwill to see what they have.
A lot of my friends can tend to be a little elitist and think it is strange to shop at a Goodwill. I force them to go in after eating and they are stunned by how clean it is, well lit, and at times high-end products.
I bought, about six years, a $350 Cuisinart coffee maker there for $25. One with a water filter and grinder built in. In the original box and maybe used five times (if that).
All it was missing was the basket the coffee goes in. Was able to get one online for $18.
One of the best, if not the best deals I’ve ever gotten. It has made countless cups of really good coffee.
satby
@Tommy: Oh, I shop at Goodwill all the time. I only shop at thrift stores, except for groceries. My favorite thrifts are the small ones run by local churches or community groups, in Benton Harbor there are two doing heroic work helping a very distressed community with job training, jobs, and providing community service alternatives for non-violent offenders. I’m supporting a client at one, and I have helped them learn how to prioritize and get a bit more money for the items people donate.
RAM
Bullwinkle J. Moose: “I love violence. They smell so nice!”
satby
About gardening: I have some orders to fill and then I want to transplant my tomato seedlings into bigger pots for a month before I put them in the ground. Then I will start the fast seeds, the squash and pumpkins. I saved some “butterkin” seeds from one I bought last year, a new and delicious hybrid if you like squash. Hoping they grow as butterkins and don’t revert to a parent strain.
Tommy
@satby: I am a person of habit. Many I learned from my parents. As I have said here my parents have more money than they could spend in a lifetime. But part of the reason for this is they don’t waste money.
They will use coupons. Price matching. You name it to save even pennies. I used to think this was “cheap,” but as I near 50 I’ve learned it is just smart. Prudent I might say.
Mother got me shopping at Goodwill and at least sticking my head in a thrift store from time to time. These places only make up a pretty small percentage of what I buy, but I always kick myself I don’t do it more often.
I picked up a North Face winter jacket a few years ago. Paid $70 for it at the Goodwill store I keep mentioning. Online new, and it was like new, it would have been $435. That savings of $365 is almost two months of power bills, water, and gas.
I made a good living but that is REAL money. A tangible thing that has a direct effect on my life, letting me either save money for retirement or buy other things I need/want.
OzarkHillbilly
My own garden grows apace. Got my tomatoes in this week. The earliest I have ever put them in. Last year I didn’t plant them until May 1st. But the Spring has been very mild hereabouts and with no temps in even the low 40’s predicted for a week ahead, I went ahead and planted them on our “last frost date”. My yellow onions all look a little sickly but the reds one row over appear glorious. Not sure why that would be. Gonna rework the carrot bed as it now appears certain all the seed got washed away by the torrential rains that followed my sowing. If soil temps are suitable, I will be planting my peppers this week
Got all my herbs in the other day, tho I have an empty tier in the terraced garden so I have a little room to play with a new flavor. All my garlic is going gangbusters, the plants all look much better than last year (this is probably more do to a better selection of varieties than it is anything I did).
Meanwhile on the “back 40”, the chickens are growing well and healthy, and feathering out. The Columbian Wyandottes are particularly striking in appearance, while the Silver Lace Wyandottes are just plain ugly. Finished fencing in the first chicken run yesterday, weather permitting I will finish the 2nd one today.
Tommy
@satby: This may sound totally stupid, but how do you start your seeds? In your house on a window ledge?
Many, many years ago I might have tried to grow a crop of plants that was illegal at the time? Not so much anymore in DC where I lived.
So I might have some pretty nice grow lights.
I am sure I could head to Google and figure it out, but that is on the agenda for next year. I live in a small rural town. Farming community and not looked to this, because my True Value hardware store is also a feed store.
The gardening plants they sell, about half the price of what I’d get at a Home Depot, grow better. Ran tests the last two years and they yield almost a third more then what the Home Depot plants do.
I guess what I am saying is I can buy dozens of plants for under $50, well seems like a deal. Also no effort.
But at the same time I’ve looked at some of the custom seeds I can order and well ….. I want to try that.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
Squill are nice because they are always the first thing up, sometimes pushing through the snow to bloom. After winter on the frozen tundra they let you know there is a change coming.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m in south Georgia this morning, looking at what appears to be nasty weather approaching, and tornado warnings on the TV. Going to try and get out of here and head home to Atlanta before it gets horrible, and will probably skip Andersonville unless it clears up pretty quickly.
@Anne Laurie, top:
Please tell me you did that on purpose, as a kind of OMG Easter egg for the many pedants in the group.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh I am so jealous of your chickens. I assume you’d seen me talk about my chicken debate with City Hall. Technically I live in an unincorporated part of the city. It shouldn’t be a problem.
I should note my neighbors don’t care.
It is the goal of myself and the lady that lives behind me to get this done. But this is going on a second year with no action or info from City Hall. I’ve let Amy (the lady that wants to do it with me) take the lead.
She has experience working with or fighting against the city. Years ago she got a degree in massage therapy. To get a business license the city wanted her to get tested for STDs. She was like WTF. She fought them and won.
I hope the same thing happens here ….
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: You can do Andersonville pretty quickly of you forgo the museum. Still, you should skedaddle.
raven
max
@OzarkHillbilly: Around here, both are referred to as “Birdsfoot Violets”. Our bad.
No biggie – but I think this is actually a different woodland violet, simply because I think we have different soils here (red clay, very acid, lots of rain and trees, cooler) than Arkansas. Plus these puppies are really purple, which is why I like them.
max
[‘Man, I pulverized my arm doing the weed whacking yesterday. Ow.’]
WereBear
@raven: Well. North Carolina. If the dateline is THE COUNTY I imagine it’s pretty rural, homogenous, and unimaginative.
Exactly the kind of place my mother fled from.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: The crocuses do that for me. By the end of February I start looking for them peeking up. Always make me smile when they do show themselves after a long cold winter.
@Tommy: Use grow lights. You can better control the light that way. There are a lot of aspects to starting plants, and many need different conditions. Best thing you can do is read as much as you can before you try, Starting Seeds Indoors: Storey’s Country Wisdom Bulletin A-104 is a good place to start. Here are some good tips from Rodale’s.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: The crocuses do that for me. By the end of February I start looking for them peeking up. Always make me smile when they do show themselves after a long cold winter.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: Use grow lights. You can better control the light that way. There are a lot of aspects to starting plants, and many need different conditions. Best thing you can do is read as much as you can before you try, Starting Seeds Indoors: Storey’s Country Wisdom Bulletin A-104 is a good place to start. Here are some good tips from Rodale’s.
too many links got me moderation-blech
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly:
Figured that. I need to reorder the bulbs, but the set-up I already have in place. Next winter I’ll read 24/7 and see if I can figure it out :). Worse case I fail a few times like I did with my garden as a whole. But seeds, even good seeds, well they don’t cost that much in the grand scheme of things.
OzarkHillbilly
@max:
Just like our soil, our violets just come up a few weeks before yours.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: aimai talked about this book (i think) last year but she couldn’t recall the title. Then someone here mentioned it a few weeks ago – along with a couple of others. I checked it out on amazon but decided against it because some reviewers talked me out of it.
With your recommendation, I guess the third time’s the charm, so I will order the book.
WereBear
@WaterGirl: I’m so pleased!
It’s a life changer. I am looking forward to carving out a whole weekend to implement according to her procedures. One Fell Swoop is the recommended way, and if I work ahead on the blog, get groceries Friday night, and otherwise clear the decks, I think I can do it.
And a chilly, rainy, weekend in spring is the perfect time.
J R in WV
@currants:
Square bladed shovels are usually used in bins, basements and barns, to move grain or sand or coal, material like that. Sawdust in mills or workshops.
Pointed shovels are used for digging in dirt, planting shrubs or trees, building beds, pipelines or foundations in reasonably soft dirt or in places a machine like a tractor or backhoe can’t get to.
We donate stuff to Habitat resale stores, they take almost anything, resell it at a big discount and use the funds to build a new house for someone willing to help build yet too far down the chain to afford to own their house without help. Jimmy Carter used to work on houses with them, and still supports their work.
Here they are the go to place to dispose of (recycle mostly) used buckets of paint. They can blend multiple part-buckets into a full bucket that is still a desirable color, and use it in one of their project houses.
I agree with the Salvation Army as a worthy cause. I’m not a church-goer or believer, so their preachy side rubs me the wrong way, but they are less like that than most similar organizations. I always hit the red kettles at Xmas usually with a $50 bill. Here locally the volunteers doing the bell ringing are mostly so happy when you stop at the kettle, and very friendly and outgoing.
dogwood
@satby:
I’ve been retired for a couple of years, but when I was still teaching I decided to center the 11th grade research project around charities. We passed the hat every day for an entire semester and each of my classes ended up with around $600. Then the kids had to research and evaluate charities and make a presention advocating for the charity they found most worthy based on a preset list of attributes. One class chose KIVA which is a micro lending outfit. That was 15 years ago, and I am still relending that money on behalf of those kids.
Linda Featheringill
I’m actually going to have a garden this year!
Daughter bought me an elevated garden bed [VegTrug], Her Love bought some soil and put it in there, and plants are scheduled to arrive during the last week in April, more or less.
I have two beds that are on the ground, so I planted spinach and kale in one of them and corn in the other. After giving the corn a head start, I’ll plant some beans among the corn.
I don’t plan to be rooting around on the ground this year, so those babies in the old beds will have to sort of look after themselves. The elevated bed is waist high and just outside of the kitchen. I might enjoy playing with that.
So, all in all, I’m looking forward to having a garden this year.
Linda Featheringill
@WereBear:
I bought that book! I think it’s kind of like a guide book to an ongoing effort, something you’ll come back to time and again.
Tree With Water
@Tommy: My small side yards take up most of my garden, and are in shade a good part of the day. However, there is a patch outside my front door that gets ample light to grow some food, and I intend to do so in upraised beds. Any tips on what to look for when I buy one?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@WaterGirl:
FWIW, G is currently obsessed with that book and it seems to be helping him a lot. I should probably read it one of these days, too.
One of the things he likes about it is that it’s not necessarily about getting rid of your stuff. She’s not advocating that everyone live an ascetic lifestyle. It’s all about keeping the things you love, finding places to put them, and getting rid of everything else.
Tree With Water
@Mnemosyne (tablet): A car trunk full of tumbleweeds my mother had forced my father and I to collect in the Nevada desert hung from nails for years in our garage. After a few years of hanging there, every time the garage was cleaned my dad would ask her if we could take them to the dump, and every time my mom said “no”. She always swore that one day she would spray paint them, and use them to decorate the yard. Or something like that. One weekend when she was out shopping, my father decided it was cleaning day and to my surprise ordered me to toss the tumbleweeds. I had him reconfirm the order, laughed, and carried it out. When my mother got back home, he challenged her to point out what was missing. She named the obvious, but didn’t notice the bare nails on the wall. I’ll never forget the exultant tone of my dad’s voice when he told her, “We threw away the goddamn tumbleweeds!”, or my mother’s heartfelt, “Oh no!”. I assure you, they’d have been hanging there for years afterward, and she would have insisted they be brought to the house they later moved into, had my father deferred his command decision. It was among the finest of those hours allotted him… especially since he had been raised in Nevada, and collecting tumbleweeds made as much sense to him as collecting sand in a desert.
SWMBO
@Tommy: My MIL used to start her seeds in damp paper towel in a ziplock bag on the window sill. She planted them around her driveway and in a garden in the back yard but she started with damp paper towel in a bag. When the seeds would sprout, she’d move them to small peat pots and then transfer them a few at a time to the buckets or in the ground. If you have to cut the paper towel to separate them, it still helps hold moisture near the new roots. She ordered some of her seeds from (I think) a Dutch company the winter before (think November) so that she had time to get them and decide how many to start. She also ordered low acid tomatoes since her family couldn’t eat a lot of high acid ones. Research which types of seeds over the summer that you think you want to try.
My sister used to live in Madison County just north of you. They have master gardener classes all over. Call the local county extension office and sign up. They know what types of soil you have and can help you find better plants for your location. They can help you with fungus and pests and other problems. They had several “workshops” where they would go out and work on local projects. A VFW nursing home, city property or other building that they would go out and divide the bulbs (everyone knew they would do well locally) and take the excess bulbs and plant them other places. My sister got a couple of iris bulbs that were glorious.
I grew up between Arkansas State University, western Tennessee and STL. ASU has a large ROTC program. If you wanted your dad’s books to be read and used, you could consider donating them to the ASU library. They are grateful for any donations. If they sell them in the future, they use the money to buy more books. FTW!
satby
@Tommy: Tommy, I use the Park Biodome. I have almost 100% germination since I started using it with a heat mat under it. I now own 3 with inserts of different sizes.
BruceFromOhio
AAUGH! Its the CARPP lightening bolt!!
@SiubhanDuinne: We call that one “the hand grenade.” You pull the pin and toss it on the table, and see who twitches first.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne:
@BruceFromOhio:Yup. Picked it up from Pogo (well, Congersman Frog) half a century ago, and keep it in my vocabulary because it makes people twitch!
Anne Laurie
@currants: Yeah, the one with a relatively small, pointed blade is the kind I bought — I need to divide up a bunch of irises & daylilies later in the season, but it’s also been much nicer to use for transplanting some new ‘frost hardy’ perennials already.
I think the squarish or plug-shaped ones that also get called ‘bulb planters’ are more useful in sandy soils than in our New England clay!