Plants Plants Everywhere!

The garden is doing well. The only real problem so far has been trying to find room for all the plants. I've got squash and corn lined up on the deck waiting for homes. I didn't want to plant the squash in the plots too close together, so I very quickly ran out of room. The squash is all going to be trellaced outside of the plot, that's the plan anyway. I am hoping to get a place out front for all the pumpkins. My idea to plant corn in the front yard was quickly vetoed, apparently that isn't up to neighborhood code (aka it makes us look like rednecks). I thought rednecks in Redding was all the rage now, but I guess suburbia has an image to uphold or something. So now I have to find someplace else for the corn, which is no easy feat seeing as how our house and most of this area lives on rock. Until I get enough muscles to swing a pickaxe the corn will be living on the deck. I hope they aren't holding their breathe or stomata (that's a plant joke, although not a funny one or probably even a correct one).

I have also found myself with a multitude of tomato plants. My mom got a little bit (by that I mean a lot) excited about growing her favorite tomato plant, the yellow pear tomato. So now we have over 20 of them, which she thinks might be enough. What are we going to do with so many yellow pear tomatoes? I don't know, but if that's what makes mom happy, I'm happy to be of service. So far I have 6 in the ground, one in a huge pot, and three more in a hanging bag garden. The rest as you can see in the picture are still in their start container waiting for me to come up with homes for them. Oh and just so you understand the tomato situation a little better, we are also growing four other types of tomatoes as well. Looks like we are going to be eating salsa with every meal this summer and learning how to make our own tomato sauce.

By no means am I complaining about our abundance. It's exciting! All this time, effort, and expensive water is really paying off. Now maybe a beefy guy with a pickaxe will show up and make another garden bed for me out of this rocky clay we call soil around here. Is that asking too much?

In Memory of Mercury

The last few months have been a time of transition for me. I've had to give up a lot in order to make some positive changes in my life and most of them have not been easy. After the dust had started to settle and I was just beginning to realize everything was really going to be fine, another loss came knocking on my door. Mercury, the little grey cat who's owned me for the past four years disapeared. I searched high and low for her, but she's gone. I miss her terribly!

Mercury, aka Turkey, was by no means a little angel. She got the name Beast Cat for a reason. She was always trying to let you know it was her who was in control. We all routinely got swatted by her when we forgot this. She did have her redeeming qualities, she rode in the car on long trips well, she walked on a leash, and she had an entertaining obession with her many teddy bears (all named Ralph) and her extensive collection of live strong bands (aka Lance bands). When she did decide it was time for cuddling, there was no way anyone was going to deny her.

In honor of her I am planting a lavender garden. She loved lavender almost as much as I do. I used to picked huge bunches of it to make lavender wands and she would sit with me the whole time and chew the pieces I wasn't using. She was always trying to get into the basket with the lavender too, we had a many a fights about this.

This morning I went to the Farmers Market and bought a provencial lavender plant for her. Provencial lavender is very fragrant and has long stems perfect for wand making. Her garden should be done in the next few weeks so her little kitty spirit will have a place to rest and eat lavender stems. I can only hope she knows how much I love and miss her!