Photo shoot

My amazing girlfriend over at The Fabulous Life of a Coaches Wife is a Stella and Dot stylist which she is fabulous at. She wanted to do a photo shoot of "real people" wearing the fantastic jewelry she sells (seriously, this stuff is fantastic, check her out!) so she booked a session with Murray Photography (they are amazing!) to take some photo's of Jessica, Ali, Sarah and I wearing some of the pieces. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot:

Fantastic jewelry and fantastic photography with awesome girls! What a great afternoon!

Soil Testing Continued...and Garden planning

Ok- I know I said that I was going to post about the continuation of soil testing yesterday, but I babysat an 8 month old all day and let me tell you, I was tired...I did the testing but chose not post about it. So here is the deal, I took pictures of the testing process, but there are so many steps that it was just a little overwhelming and I think that the moral of the process is, read the directions and interpret the results...I really can't walk you through it.

I totally just sold out. Haha. Each bed had a different problem. I am low on nitrogen in all beds and my ph is basic which surprises the heck out of me.

I have made a garden plan- something I have never done before. In the past, I just planted. This year, I am paying attention to which plants like shade more, which plants should not grow next to which plants, etc. This is a trick of Organic gardening. Certain plants use different nutrients and attract different pests-companion planting helps keep these at bay. Herbs will be staying out of the garden and will be getting their own bed! Hurray.

Ok-so I have a diagram and I am armed with my ph, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium results from each bed. I am headed to the nursery where they will tell me what I need. Hey, I am not expert - I trust the experts!

After correcting the PH, the following will be planted ASAP (please not that I will be planting other things later, these are the April plantings)

Bed #1 (most shaded) - Need to up nitrogen and lower ph from 7 to a 6

• Leaf Lettuce
• Radish
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Beets
• Head Lettuce

Bed #2 (some shade) - Need to up nitrogen and lower ph from 7 to a 6

• Onion
• Carrot

Bed #3 (little shade in morning) - Need to up nitrogen, phosphorus and lower ph from 8 to 6

• Watermelon radish
• Artichoke

Bed #4 - lower ph from 8 to 6.5 and up nitrogen. No plantings yet. 

Bed #5 - I need ph for blueberries to be 4-5 and for raspberries to be 5-6. I will need to chat with the nursery staff for some help on this. 

Wish me luck ladies! Im off to the nursery. 

In the Garden

Today, I am working outside because there is a beautiful ball of light called the sun which is shining down on us and making it impossible not to be outside (ps, this is Trooper's favorite word and a frenzy to the door generally follows when you say "outside")

Soil Testing:


Step #1 obtain materials: Gloves, soil testing kit (purchased at Lowe's for 4.95), shovel, containers

 Step #2: scoop soil into containers- each bed gets it's own container because soil issues will vary from bed to bed

Step #3: Make sure furry helpers are on hand to supervise.

 Step #4: Take containers inside and lay out paper labeled with which bed the soil corresponds.

 Step #5: Dump soil onto each piece of paper

 Step #6: Separate out rocks, worms, sticks and vegitation

Step #7: Leave to dry overnight. This post will continue tomorrow :-)

Other Random garden things:

 My beautiful Snap Peas!

 The way the garden looks today

These are my bulb's in the front of the house. Notice the trail of destruction...Trooper is a plant assassin. I will be moving these bulbs after the growing season to somewhere else.  Oh look, destructor's butt is even in the picture! Surprise Surprise!

I am not a daffodil fan...but they are pretty anyway. These too will find a new home after the growing season. 

These beauties are growing so well! They will also be re-located, but I love to watch them grow. 

Ah, the replacements. These Azaleas will be moving in to the spot formerly taken by the bulbs. These will be green all year, flower in he spring and they will require little maintenance and be more hardy in case destructor continues to run through my flowers. 

Another project:

This is what the babies room looks like. Gulp. It is the office/storage/I have no freakin' clue what to do with "that" room. I have no idea what I am going to do with this stuff. Much of it is documents and photo's and stuff. Hmm. I need to figure it out soon, but I am still putting it off...

I'm, um, looking for some goo gone. Holy crap, the husband has a lot of cans and bottles and tins and things! Alas, no goo gone. 

Baby Bump 17 weeks 6 days

Shout out to the Coaches Wife

I am working on my blogger award, promise!

Oh and PS, upon moving the clawfoot- yes, it is cast iron, made in the US of A. Makes me feel a bit guilty moving it on....but I really think that a normal deep soaking tub that is 6 feet long will be a better tub for in the bathroom and for kids...so I think we will sell the clawfoot.

Speaking of the bathroom, we are still tearing things apart. So far, I have purchased the Vanity, light bar, towel hooks, toilet paper holder, medicine cabinet, magazine rack and I think that is it. Still to purchase are the toilet, marble for the floor, tub, tile for the shower and fixtures for the sink and shower. I will take pictures as we progress and I will do a cost breakdown at the end of the project. We have managed to score some pretty good deals!

Tubs

We will be dumping the clawfoot. The problem with our clawfoot is that the water level remains well below the rim. So low, in fact, that there is no deep soaking going on it it at all, I have even resorted to stuffing things in the overflow to try to get it to hold water. So with that, the clawfoot will be getting the ol' heave-ho and we will be getting a tub, a nice deep soaking tub. We will be surrounding said tub with white subway tiles and adding a shower as well. The plan is to get a 6' tub, the current one is a 5' which is the standard size. It will also be 36" wide, a standard tub is 32" - so basically, this thing is going to be a bathing dream. The decision has come down to the following tubs:

 American Standard Cadet

 American Standard Colony

 Kohler Archer

Kohler Mariposa

We are leaning toward the Kohler Archer...thoughts?

Gardening Re-think

I have mentioned before that we had great luck with our organic garden the year before last and then last year, we massively expanded our garden and proceeded to have horrible luck. I am {yet again} re-thinking the garden. This year, I will have a lot more time to devote to the endeavor so that is helpful. I will have time to learn how to can, preserve and create. I will also have time to train, prune, weed and learn about soil nutrients and other tricks of the pros that help in growing a magnificent garden.

I am especially committed to making a great garden this year because we are trying to save green {the money kind} and produce is supposed to become astronomically expensive. Besides, there is something really great about knowing where your produce came from and what {in our case, none} chemicals were used in the production of the produce. An interesting side note is that I loooove garden grown tomato's out of our garden. I haaaaate any other tomato's, like will not touch them. I am a picky tomato eater. They have to be bright in color, crisp in texture and crunch and NOT mushy at ALL. {Let's not even get into how I am with bananas...slightly green, no brown spots, no mush, not overly sweet...}

In the first year {2009}, our garden list was as follows {I am also making note of whether it grew or not} I have made things that grew very well green, OK or well Orange and Didn't grow red

• Zucchini - Grew like crazy
• Yellow Squash - Grew ok
• Lettuce (mixed) - Grew very well
• Kale - Grew like crazy
• Carrots - Grew well
• Mint - Grew very well
• Tomato's (several varieties) - Grew very well
• Bush beans - Grew well
• Pole Beans - Grew well
• Snap peas - Grew well
• Cucumber - Barely grew
• Yellow cucumber (pole variety) - Grew well
• Bell peppers - Did not grow
• Basil - Grew very well

Int the second year {2010} our garden list was as follows

• Lettuce (new mix, hated it) - Grew very well
• Onions (yellow and red) - Grew ok, got too wet and rotted or stopped getting bigger
• Strawberries - Plants grew, berries did not. Plants took over garden, became a weed
• Tomato's (many varieties) - did not grow
• Carrots - Did not grow
• Mint - Did not re-plant, grew back from previous year, became a weed
• Zucchini - Grew like crazy
• Yellow Squash - Barely grew
• Pole Beans - Barely grew
• Snap peas - Barely grew
• Bell peppers - Didn't grow
• Vine Watermelon - Did not grow
• Potato's - Grew very well
• Corn - Grew well
• Cantaloupe - Did not grow
• Pumpkins (various) - Grew very well
• Blueberries - Not fruit bearing this year
• Raspberries - Not fruit bearing this year
• Basil - Did not grow

As you can see, the years were very different and with the major expanse of garden, we did not end up with more produce. So this year, I am re-thinking the garden and what I will plant. I will not be planting bell peppers. Lesson learned. I also will not be planting and melons. Sad. I will not be planting Corn either. Yes, corn grew well, but there were several things that I hated about growing corn. It took up a ton of space, it was all ready at the same time, there were earwigs in the husks (which are good for the corn because they are eating the bad bugs but nasty to peel), and once our corn was ready - corn was practically being given away at farmers markets and grocery stores. No corn. 

I will be trying some new tactics as well. No pole beans. I will be planting bush beans only. I will plant the vine cucumbers again in the place of where the beans would have gone. I will be trying to dig out the mint. I never imagined that mint would become a total weed. No more mint in the garden unless it is potted. I will be trying to eradicate strawberries. This is another thing, like corn, that I will either purchase from someone else or not eat. I have had enough of strawberries and their creepers that establish new strawberries and take over my garden. 

Weed 1 and weed 2. How sad

I will be adding some new things to my garden to see how well they grow. Broccoli, beets and new lettuce varieties. Maybe I will even do some spinach. We are going to try something new with herbs. We are planning on building a box on or near our back door to plant herbs in. That way, they are right outside the door and I will be more likely to use them. 

I spent some time today getting the gardens ready for more planting. I have weeded and "tilled" (I did it with one of those open hoe's) 3 of the 4 garden beds. The final one has some new strawberries that need to be pulled and the mint that will have to be dug out with a shovel and it started raining so I bailed. 

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I plan on spending some time getting my hands dirty (and no doubt, Mr. Helpful will be getting his paws dirty) in the garden. I will be recruiting Nick to help me set up the raspberry vines. We will be planting our raspberries in a raised bed. Better drainage and (hopefully) fewer weeds. I need to move several of my blueberries and get several more. I will be planting the second row of snap peas and re-planting the carrots and broccoli because guess what, they aren't even sprouting. I may get a jump on bush beans but I will be consulting the farmer's almanac. 

In the mean time, here is my to do list before planting:

• Obtain soil testing kit and test ph
• Fix any problems with ph (I suspect the soil is acidic because there is a ton of moss)
• Add nutrients to soil (I will be talking to the friendly staff at a garden center for this)
• Building tomato cages (I will be doing wood ones from here forward, the metal ones are cheap and need to be purchased new each year)
• Making a planting schedule (following the farmer's almanac)
• Kill the grass surrounding the beds, fabric, add bark mulch

Whew. I'm tired just looking at the list. I will keep you updated on the progress of the garden and let you know what the friendly people at the garden centers have to say about nutrients, etc.