A little of what the Thompson's are up to.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Greenthumb?

So there really is no green thumb here but I have plenty of enthusiasm and effort and I hope that counts. I'm really getting into this gardening thing lately, maybe its my need to produce a tangible product at the end of the day, I'm not entirely sure but anyway, here is what this Brit and my half Brits do on rainy afternoon's, we begin our garden:-

Here is one monster root of a tree/shrub thing I pulled out. I asked the gardeners to do it and they took their chain saw to it leaving an annoying stump that's kinda right in the middle of my planting area so I took a shovel and saw and went at it myself, I think it weighed more than Sara!!
Sara really likes to get into it, this is how it goes:- she plays in the dirt and then promptly goes inside to wash her hands leaving a nice trail of dirt in her wake, then she goes back outside and the whole thing starts again. She usually gets her clothes wet during the washing hands stage and so this particular day she went through at least 3 sweaters. She also likes to eat the dirt (we do discourage this behaviour) and so in most pictures you will see a ring of the stuff around her mouth.

So these are the rainy days pictures, the earlier ones were last weekend. My two little garden crusaders. Sara can say 'shovel'.
So we may have a yard but most of it is concrete and so most of my planting is going to have to be in containers. I found these awesome whiskey barrel containers at The Home Depot, they have similar ones at Target for around $49 but at The Home Depot they are $20!! great find and they are huge, in this one we are growing strawberries.

And no room for a monster container? check out the tip that Victor from Home Depot gave me (he was awesome BTW if you ever need gardening advice go see him) poke some holes in your bag of dirt and sow your bulbs, seeds or seedlings right into that. We are attempting onions in ours but he was telling me that people in NY do this on their balconies with tomatoes, you may only be able to put in 2 tomato plants with their cages but hey, its a start. The rest of our seeds: arugula, sunflowers, carrots, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes.
Oh and my peas and sweet peas, here are the only planting areas in my yard and up the fence I am planting sweet peas and actual peas, sweet peas are more of the flowering decoration plant and they go in between each pea plant, apparently they go well together, the sweet peas attract good bugs that eat the annoying bugs that will eat my peas. I'm also planning on putting my arugula in here too.
And I can't forget my amazing husband who comes home from work (working to support my gardening habit!!) to dirt all over the yard and no housework done because we have been outside all afternoon making the yard a mess, and does not complain but just takes the girls and gives them a well needed bath. Love you babe, your the best.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...
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anniemcq said...

I love the tip about sweet peas and peas - I'll give it a try!

brookeisacrazylady said...

looks awesome!

Rachel said...

you look totally hard-core with the saw and the root stump in your hand! good luck with all of it!

Lisabella said...

How cool! I've been thinking of growing some herbs on my balcony. Do you recommend starting with seeds or starter plants?

Beth said...

That's so cool. I will get tips from you because I want to do this during the summer with Tyler. Maybe plant a little herb garden with some flowers in a pot on our balcony.

Gina and Jon said...

Wow.. go you Claire. Is there anything you can't do?

Jen said...

Those are some of my earliest & most cherished memories with my mom was helping her plant flowers and get dirty in the garden. That's why I am so in love with my garden now. It helps me feel close to her and I call her when I'm done and send her pictures to see if she has any suggestions for me. Good on ya Claire!