Home wrecker plus garden picts!

Happy Tuesday!!

The whirlwind continues in my neck of the woods!! I'm car-less and I work in an area that has no bus stops so Ry has been dropping me off. Today his boss asked him to be at work for 6AM..that meant I was at work at 5:30 (I usually start at 7)..eek! I am looking at this as a positive thing though because that means that I get off at 1:30..wahoo!! Anywho, things are coming together...slowly...at the house. I didn't take any time off so I've had to organize after work and, well, sometimes it just doesn't happen. The hubs is working this weekend so I am planning on spending a lot of time in the closets..ha..jk..more likely the garage which looks like a battle zone right now with boxes, tools, gardening stuff etc! As for time in the kitchie....ya...umm...it hasn't really happened. I've been eating on auto-pilot: salad with avocado, pickled beets, carrots, cauliflower, parsley, cilantro, cabbage..etc etc! I really need to stock up my pantry and haven't had a chance to make it to the ONE health food store that I can get to by walking. I was searching meetup.com and found an organic food buying group in my area so I'm going to be in contact with them soon!

Okay so you are probably at the edge of your seat wondering why I would admit to being a home wrecker? Ha...well I didn't even know I was one. What? Let me explain. On Sunday I was outside almost all day in the garden and didn't take my phone with me. When I finally looked at it at 5pm, there were 9 missed calls from this weird number. One time the caller left a message saying her name was Cindy and if I could give her a call. I don't know a Cindy so I thought it was probably a wrong number. Then on Monday morning..literally 7Am on the dot.. I get another call from her and she flat out comes out and says if I'm with "her man" that I should tell her so she came kick him to the curb (apparently this man works with me in some way or another). I tell her I'm married...and am not with her man but she still doesn't really believe me. I'm in total shock at this point and aggitated. I can't believe I get a call like this at 7AM. I finally tell her in a firm voice that I'm not with her man (she still hadn't said his name) and so she doesn't need to worry. She hangs up and I'm immediately in contact with Kelly..AKA office gossip lover..and so she tells Tommy who is the boss of all the guys working here. He phones her up and she admits her name isn't even Cindy and she was assuming because "her man" had a post-it with my address and phone number that he was up to funny business. Well, I found out her man was the guy who dropped off my soil on Saturday and so he needed the post-it to know my address!!! Crazy hey? She was really embarassed and even called me to apologize.Made for good Monday chit chat at least lol!

Onto something a bit more..classy, shall we say? My garden is in and 90% planted...wahoo!

It was quite the adventure as we were making raised beds vs an in-ground garden. I didn't have the time to rent a rotatiller and do all that. It was pretty awesome too because the previous owners of the house left some wood behind which was just enough to make my two beds. I love it when things like that happen in life, don't you? I was pretty lucky too that Ry and his buddy were there to help me. Although working with two "construction" guys has its own challenges..LOL! No, they were fantastic and the beds look fabulous as a result.

First off, I needed to start the day off right so I made a PURPLE MONSTER!!

Don't fall over...fast food joints are not serving smoothies now..wouldn't that be the day! Don't worry I don't eat here either...the hubs.."attained" this mug when he was really young and its perfect for large purple monsters. This monster had romaine, banana, frozen blueberries, Chai Vanilla Vega, cinnamon. Sooo delish! I thoroughly enjoyed sipping on this in the morning sunshine:)

Look at all those bubbles! I have to admit that I haven't been eating too many of these monsters lately. I really need to get into it again and I know I will be for sure especially when berry season strikes the coast!!

This is how Nemo started his morning. You think he likes it here? Oh ya, baby! He loves being around people no matter what they are doing. The hubs had the saw going and he was sitting on the table nearby just checking out the scene..love him!


Once we were fueled..the digging began! I didn't know exactly how it was going to work when you put a garden bed above turf so I did a quick search and found a source that said you need to dig up the turf. I later read ,after all the pain-staking work was done, that there are easier ways..oh well.

Before!!!

After!! The hubs and his good buddy dug up the first bed but I did most of the second bed because they had to go pick up more supplies and I wasn't going to sit around waiting for them. I loved it! It was really hard work (everything was sore the next day..including the thumb muscles..ha ha) but I loved feeling the earth and seeing all the wormies in there. Man, there were some HUGE worms, some like small snakes! I take that as a good sign that my soil is pretty good ( more worms mean your soil is bacteria-driven). Next year I'm going to get a full soil analysis done to make sure I don't have any contaminants in there because more likely I will only be using the raised beds for this growing season.

I call this area operation central!! As you can see by the sawdust below the hubs was cutting a lot of wood that day. I am very appreciative to have a handy hubby who loves doing new projects:)

The boys had a few levelling issues with the beds, so while they were busy creating solutions for that I started filling the planters. My work garden had so much lettuce that they said I could take some home for my own garden..and I was the only one who took any..oh well more salads and green monsters for me:) I just learned a couple days before doing my own garden how fragile plants are, especially frail types like lettuces, when they transplant them. Once you dig them out of the ground they need to spend the least amount of time as possible out of the dirt. I thought they could survive at least a 1/2 hour but its literally minutes. The large leafed plant right in front is a member of the mustard family...oooh she is spicy! I also planted other pots but I forgot to take a picture:( There was re-potted sage, rosemary, and lavender, a pot with parsley, another with purslane ( techinically a weed that has large amounts of omega 3), and one with a tangy lettuce mix that contains cilantro, arugula, and other leafy goodness.

The first bed! Tomatoes, holy basil, spinach, beans, carrots, beeets, and more lettuce.

My carrots that I grew from seed! They are a bit "stringy" right now but I hope that this new, rich soil will help them out:)

The second bed! More lettuce, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, swiss chard. I had the hardest time with my kale and collard seedlings and so I'm not sure how well they will do but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt! Ryan's great uncles wife bought me the fully grown kale..so sweet! She also gave us a ton of garden tools and even a practically new BBQ!!

Thank you so much Alinne, you are one of a kind!

Those boards on the right hand side are my "walk-through" because immediately to the right of the picture the hubs is putting in a compost..yay! I love "recycling" my food scrapes.

The other end of bed #2. From the left: lettuce (varities of butter), swiss chard, kale.

My lovely zucchini hump..haha..I mean hills!


A swiss chard baby!

I also planted some sunflowers and pumpkins. I have a quarter of a bed left. Any suggestions on some veggies I should be planting? Since this is the first time I was planting a veggie garden on my own, I felt like I needed a little back-up! I purchased The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden by David Hirsch from a thrift store ages ago mainly for the recipes in the back of the book. Moosewood Restaurant is vegetarian restaurant that focuses on local and organic foods located in Ithaca, NY. I'de heard great things about their cookbooks and so I scooped this one up the second I found it:) It turned out to be an amazing reference for my first garden.

Doesn't the cover just make you want to get your green thumb on!


It had great ideas for a variety of different garden designs. I went with this one that was basically for a raised bed garden. I didn't follow it exactly but it really helped with learning which varities of vegetables thrive together.


Another great reference was the "beneficial companions" page. It showed which veggies and herbs like each other and it also shared pairings that are bad.

The book when through every veggie you ever wanted to plant (well almost) and explained how they should be planted and what they need nutrient wise. The also went over ways to use each veggie-steaming,baking, raw etc!





I know there are a lot of bloggies out there who have a green thumb like Kelli, Lori, Pen, Lauren, Aletheia, and Katie. (If I missed you give me a link to your garden post, I'de love to see:) Even if you just grow sprouts or wheatgrass...that's AWESOME!

Anywho, back to work for me! Even though I'de rather be doing this...

Have a great day everyone! I've missed you all and feel pretty out of the loop:( I've got a lot of posting to catch up on so watch out for my post 10 million posts coming your way!!

PS - The lovely Bitt is having a great giveaway for Jennifer Cornbleet's new book Raw for Dessert plus a flirty apron. So go check out her amazing blog! You have until Saturday June 12 at noon pacific to enter!