Bad news

My fellow Greenthumber is gone. She passed away Oct. 14th 2010. I still can't believe that she is gone and I miss her terribly. Right now I would be ok with her walking in the door and laughing at how sad I became when she was gone....anything as long as she is back. My wonderful tree hugging friend sadly will not be walking through my door ever again. I have to get used to the idea, but still can't make myself accept it. Instead of making myself deal with it, I keep myself busy...work myself hard. Anne would be proud of me right now. She would be proud except for I can't say goodbye to her. Fuck I want my friend back...

It's alright...there is always next year....

This year our garden didn't do very well...Though it did do better than ANYONE who has been on the property before imagined that it would. Our landlord said he was never able to get a fruit or veggie out of the land here. I think it's more to do with timing. I went outside the other day and found a nice red tomato with a squirrel bite in it. Ahh well...my dog enjoyed that! There has been much going on inside this house, and inside the families of the people living in this house. Keep our fingers crossed that next year nothing will get in our way! I am going to be fitter than ever! Next year!

Time Time Time

Where does the time go.. no posts yet lots of happenings that have diminished any time to blog.. Once I move there will daily postings from both Greenthumbz!

As fortune had it, I have been able to rent the main part of the house that has the acre of wild flowers and daily awwws and ooohhs! Now i get to live there..

Haven't  lived in a house in over 20 years.. When my good friend Lisa and I started working on the garden to say we bit off more than we could handle. The the cosmos came together and I am renting the main floor apt and have started the move.. but last night I saw the fireflies for the first time and all is well with world and I get to live in eden where there are no apple trees. I am humming again, which is a good sign that streaks of happiness are breaking  through the dark days and into a relaxed and peaceful future at least for this summer,

Petace

Promises Promises

I will not remove my name from my fellow greenthumber.. Cross my heart and hope to .... all that jazz!

mother of invention...woot woot!

Ok...So awesome that you bring this up. 2 days ago I tried to mow my lawn with my icky gas powered lawn mower...as soon as I started it, gas started SPEWING out from the tank in all directions. Guess the mower has seen the end of it's days here, no way I'm gonna repair it! So I spoke with my hardcore friend Della who always has the tools I need. She was awesome enough to bring over a push mower for me to try to do the yard with. Gawd, I shoulda had Anne out there with a camera! No way I was going to mow my half acre thigh high grass patch with a handy dandy little push mower! So back to Della I go. Wonderful woman that she is, she lends me her weed whacker. I spent ALL day yesterday on the front lawn...but it's cut. I went through all of Della's cutting string...but it's already replaced. The next morning my arms feel weak as a babies and I can't straighten them, but I will be out there finishing my lawn today :) The job needs to be done. Last night to make myself feel better I drank some beer  and planted Alyssum on the fallen willow tree in the back yard. I don't know what we have going today...I think making more pest repellent will be in the mix somewhere.

What happens when Lisa goes outside to do nothing but enjoy the beauty.

After cutting grass for the last 2 days, it was difficult for me to hold a coffee cup, so I decided to just enjoy the yard and recoup a bit. So I get out there with my skimpy clothes, cup of tea and latest tree hugger book. I used to be quite a reader but something killed that a couple of years ago. I hate it. Anyways, I go to lounge on my new favorite hammock that Anne donated to the yard the other day. It's so cozy and has a perfect angle for a wonderful view. As soon as my butt hit the fabric, the ground was close after. I sat there laughing, because I knew I looked funny but I was also relieved that my yard is difficult to see in to. So the hammock is kiboshed and I go for a plastic chair with a fold up camping chair in front of me to put my feet up on. I get comfortable...sipping tea...getting silly....getting bored. Can't keep my focus on the Farmers Almanac for some weird reason. SHHHhhhh.... I grab my tree hugger book but same result. I walk around the yard and water all the plants, taking notice of their different stages of growth. There are a couple that are ready to go in the ground shortly. Today I decided that I was going to grow some Verigated Morning Glories on top of the fallen Willow tree (amongst the Allysum) instead of pouring water on the soil and risk losing some nutrients for the plants that I want to flourish, I made a mud out of my Greethumbs pest repellent and compost, then added it to the soil already on the tree and planted the MG's in that. I think it'll turn out wonderfully as long as I remember to add water and nutrients regularly. It did turn out to be a lazy day after all though...when I was done those things, I went and snuggled with my wonderful Chris and slept till it was time for him to get up and ready for work

try not to cut the grass on the hottest days!

Maybe I should have learned this lesson yesterday, but all I could think about was getting it done before my landlord sees it. I was embarrassed to have people over because i was ashamed of my almost 3ft high grass/dandelion combo gracing my front yard. So for as long as the cord would reach, as well as how long it took to run out of string, I cut grass. Yesterday I cut grass for about 8 hours all together. We also did some very cool planting. This morning got some new hardcore string to replace what I used and started cutting the side of the house towards the backyard except for the heavy machine, it went very well. Eventually a neighbour saw what I was putting myself through and offered to lend me his gas powered mower *phew* and I gracefully accepted. So the grass part of the yard is ready for the landlord to see...as well as some of the garden has been prettied up. I am very happy with our progress. I feel bad sometimes because I can be hard to work with at times..But Anne and I have a way of communicating that helps us resolve most issues fairly quickly. There is a thunderstorm coming tomorrow. I always hurt when the rain is on it's way. I wanted to have so much more planted before the storm hit. Hopefully I can get up early (as usual) and get some things planted before the rain starts!

Necessity is the mother of invention!

We started this project with both of us liking gardening. It has grown into a challenge to keep cost down by utilizing already owned items, no pesticides and homegrown veggies and tons of flowers.

We will be blogging these inventive recycles and welcome suggestions.

Wheelbarrows are expensive and the one we were using was small, wobbly wheels and a rusted hole in middle. Solved the hole with garbage bag but we needed a better way to transport items. A Fold up grocery cart and a reuse of laundry hamper that fits in the cart. We now have 2 inventive recycling buggies and 1 rusted wheelbarrow which we still use.

The size of the leaf piles were huge and no way our wheelbarrow or carts could handle a huge quantity so Lisa grabbed a large tarp which we covered then folded and both us hauled away a substantial amount to the compost heap multiple times.

NOTE: The contributions of plants and cuttings from friends and family is much appreciated. Yesterday we planted 2 chocolate soldier plants and coleus in one of the round beds. A fuchsia will be grown in a pot and tomato plants which will be planted once we decide on bed for tomatoes. Full bag of tiger lilies and assorted surprise bulbs again much appreciated and if you hear of anyone dividing plants or giving them away, let us know we will pick up.

whew...nice little Hosta patch. Will it grow?!

Here I am finally to say hello. Today Anne and I planted a Hosta patch with seeds from my last garden (torn from the heritage house) We also tried V-logging (wtf?) but my voice didn't come through on the recording for some reason. Anne says I am a natural..we'll see about that. I made this pest repellent after receiving a suggestion from Anne. I altered the recipe a bit as I always have a tenancy to do. I made it BIGGER! It consists of rain water, crushed red peppers and garlic which I let steep for over a month. Once Anne and I started the seeds, I immediately got irate at the rodents running around my yard! They had the audacity to come and pick out my yummy beans and peas? How DARE they!? So I came and put a healthy amount of my goop on the soil and then put a thin layer of fresh soil on top (for aesthetic purposes) and TaDa! Here are many plants now sprouting and not being eaten!!! Woot wooty woot woot! We have decided to go with the type of garden that we will dig a patch for each plant in an area that we see fit and see how it all comes together later. We think it'll be easier this way..no worrying about how to get a tiller here and back to the shop! I think I am out of words for tonight..... peace out

Today May 21st 2010

We planted the giant rhubarb today!  One of the few plants we will buy this summer, gathered seeds, cuttings, transplanting and bartering for plants!

Community Gardens have to be expanded into parkland, rooftops, backyards, front yards, it is time to take back our food and health.. and we are here to learn and share about growing one's food.

Daves Garden

 Dave's Garden is an informational website where a large, international community of gardeners can learn from each other and find resources offered by the gardening industry.


PlantFiles is largest plant database in the world, built by 41,589 gardeners working together from around the world. The database has 181,544 entries, 267,271 images. This is only 1 of the many collections of anything garden. check it out.


This net collective of gardeners is a very good answer to where to go on the internet if you garden and especially in winter where you can then see everyone's efforts from the past year. 


My favorite part is the identify plant forum, post a pix of unknown flower and voila identified! 

Green Thumbs Canada

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

wow eek sigh breathe
For the 3rd year my friend Lisa and I have shared our gardening passion. From a 6 x10 ft itsy bitsy square Lisa jumped into gardening and grew magnificent morning glories, herbs, corn, tomatoes, lettuce and the tiny front garden had lilac, four o clocks, sunflowers, zinnia, portulaca, hens n'chicks, and by the end of the summer my balcony flowers found refuge in Lisa's garden.. amazing jumps in size, color and blooms we both knew this was it.. watching plants grow and eating garden grown vegetables, there is nothing better for our souls.

Last year Lisa moved into a gorgeous heritage house and we almost fainted with the size and the ideas that swept us away with growing. I found my southwestern balcony is fantastic for seeds as the concrete heats up and this weekend will be starting seeds inside and at this moment march 4th 2010 the balcony is 21F or 69F.. Unfortunately all our work was erased when the new owners decided to renovate which quickly became major renovations to outside and inside accompanied by fumes, styrofoam, dust and in the end a 20 ft metal container on top of most of our garden..

In the fall, Lisa started dating Chris, and it is so heartwarming to see a friend happy and loved. I consider Chris and Lisa good friends and Chris lives in a house that has a HUGE untamed garden complete with pond. Needless to say we are sooo excited to have space to choose and indulge our gardening habit.. stay tuned

To start this season off we have rejoined Dave's garden and all winter I read the 365 Days of Gardening: by Christine Alison and tried to lend it to Lisa but couldn't part with it so Amazon is sending Lisa a copy and watch out the gardening gals are loose... woohoo