planting

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com

Well, I planted a twenty five foot bed, next to the neighbor's wall. I don't like her, peeking out her window blinds at me. So, I'm growing ten foot tall amaranth, eight foot tall sunflowers and morning glory vines & gourds, to climb the tall stuff. I also sewed some marigold seeds in the bed.

I moved my planters out to the driveway. My neighbor's devil grass is taking it over. I already rototilled, lightly, over the area, to loosen most of the roots. I raked it out. I covered it with black sheet plastic, to kill the remaining roots. I'm disguising, and weighing down the plastic, with my planters. In a year or two, the devil grass ought to have died.

I built a "chicken shack," for my baby birds. I had a large, wooden packing crate I was using as a brooder, but it's a little small for the babies to walk around in. They need to exercise a lot, or they'll get spraddle legged. I turned it on its side and nailed a plywood "porch" to the front. I nailed an old dog blanket around it for insulation, covered with a sheet of plastic. I built a chicken wire and wood frame to front the box, like a little porch. It has no bottom, but has a chicken wire and plexiglass "roof." Their water is out there, away from where they sleep. They're out back, in my chicken yard, in the straw. I keep them warm with an old waterbed heater, which has a thermostat, sprinkled with hay, in the back, bottom of the box. They also have a red flood light I bought cheap after xmas one year. I put their crumbles food inside a cat food dispenser, so they can't get it too dirty. They're comfortable back there. My next order of poultry chicks is scheduled to be sent out on April 13th. So, by the 15th, they ought to have lots of company in there.

I'm getting a lot done, but I always have the nagging feeling of so much more to do. I haven't begun to plant the back yard yet; it's too early. I'll wait 'til after April 15th, the frost danger deadline.'

I've ordered a BUNCH of plastic tarps off eBay. Theyr'e pretty big: 10x10 and 5x7. The smaller ones will cover the back porch I built. There are ten of those. I'll also use them to cover our outdoor tent area, where I'll be barbecuing. The bigger ones, I'll use to construct a larger storage and sitting area. And I can use one to cover Ma's car in the driveway. They'll last a couple of years or so. The sun eats everything here. And what the sun doesn't rot, the winds tear up. So, I know they're not permanent, but they're going to help a lot. I want all my gardening, bicycles, tools, etc. covered, protected and out of the neighbors' sight. And I want shade: for people and pets.

It's nice to have a budget. True, all those tarps, sixteen or so, only cost me about forty dollars, but, a year ago, it might as well have been four thousand. I just couldn't have justified the expense.

My tools have rusted from exposure to weather. I keep them oiled, but there's only so much one can do without a shed or garage.

So, tarps aren't a luxury to me.

I haven't been writing, because of the Bed Crisis. The mattress pad came undone. I pulled it out from under the bottom sheet. But the springs poked me in the hips and I couldn't sleep. So, I moved out to the living room and slept on the futon couch I assembled. Ma slept in her room, which is where the good computer is: the one I use to write blogs, etc. I get up too early and would have woken her, writing. I get so busy during the day, I don't want to stop to write.

The bedding's washed, the featherbed is on top of the mattress, and clean linens are on. So, we're back to sleeping in my room, together. She's asleep, so I can write.

I'm going to have a yard sale soon. Probably in a month. I often buy stuff in "lots" on eBay, so we have extra curlers, sun hats, lipsticks, etc. And we both have stuff we don't need that we can sell.

But, first, I want my garden in. I figure, if I do about twenty feet by two feet, per day, I'll have it done in about two, three weeks.

We have lots of rain barrels. And we flush the toilet with our collected shower water. So our water bill for the garden shouldn't scare the landlord. I even flush the laundry water into the garden.

And, in about 2 months, the back yard will be full of young poultry, including about six ducks with their own pond. It'll be nice. The garden will be grown enough that the chicks and ducks won't eat the seedlings. There will be shade. It'l be quite pleasant, I hope.

I guess that's about it for this post.