Update Time

Time for an update.

I have postponed my surgery, again, for about 6 weeks. I am suffering from extreme stress and need to deal with that before safely undergoing major surgery. This last three months have been tough ones for me. First I was sick for a month, then it snowed...and snowed...and got really, really cold...and snowed. I got snowed in, couldn't get out of the yard - let alone the house - and Christmas was a total non-event. So was New Years. All our Christmas plans, first to go to Sooke to be with Hammond, Megan and Rylan, went out the window. When the weather forced us to stay home and keep the home fires burning, quite literally, Kate and Jon were going to be here. Then, you guessed it, we had a snow storm and the road was closed so no visit. And it's been all down hill for me since then. Bente couldn't get out of her yard either so she couldn't visit.

Not sleeping, not eating, not doing anything. I know now why my motivation left town for the Baja beaches. It writes that it is coming home soon. I can't wait.

So, I have postponed the surgery, and am dealing with my stress, one day at a time. It is a load off my shoulders not having to worry about it right now. I hope to have it in 6 to 8 weeks, and look forward to having it behind me so I can walk again.

I have my seed catalog's to hand, and spend a lot of time looking through them and dreaming of things to plant in my pots and gardens. As the snow recedes, slowly but it is going, I visualize where things will be.

I bought 10 terracotta colored plastic windowbox planters last fall, for a dollar each on clearance at Walmart. I am going to put them along the shed and, well, the other shed too, and fence and plant them with climbing things. Things like Scarlet Runner Bean, Hyacinth Beans, Asparagus Peas with their cinnamon red blooms and winged pods. The catalog says they have a " prostrate growing habit" but I will force them upwards on wire on the shed. Dwarf Grey Sugar Snow Peas and its two-toned purple blossoms with edible flowers and foliage. Edible when it is young. How cool is that?! Lets see, what else...

...Oh there are purple podded varieties of peas that I would like to grow as well. Think how pretty they would look hanging against the green foliage. And there are also purple podded beans as well as striped red and yellow podded ones.

What's that you ask? What about the dreaded Mole People, Bush Bunnies and Deer? Hah! Already thought of that. I am going to loosely cover the soil in the pots with Landscape Fabric once I plant the seeds. Cover the edges of the fabric with soil to keep creatures from lifting it and making a feast of my seeds and seedlings. When the seedlings press up against the top of the fabric, I will make a tiny X for them to poke through. And, um, then...well, we'll deal with what to do next when we come to it. Haven't got quite that far yet.

As far as the Deer getting over the fence, I dealt with that last year, using old CDs and DVDs. I have to renovate the fence top but it works, so will go with it again. Besides, I have gotten quite attached to the sun zinging off the mirrored disks as they move in the breeze. The Bear? I'm thinkin' water cannon. No, only kidding. Hopefully there will be lots of forage for him in the fields and he will leave my garden alone until fall before I have to deal with him again. Maybe he will move on to greener pastures. Yeah, right.

I am planting my tomatoes in the round, heavy plastic stock water tank that Richard will be moving into the yard as soon as the snow is gone for good. Will position it so that the drain is on the downhill side - the yard slopes downhill at that corner where we will be putting it - and remove the drain so water doesn't build up in it.

The tomatoes I will be planting will be the ones I had such success with last year, and hopefully some new ones. Tumbling Tom, a wonderful cherry tomato. Striped Cavern. Brown Berry which is a Heritage Cherry type. Radiator Charlie's Yellow Mortgage Lifter, one of my favorites! Bull's Heart, an absolutely marvelous red heart shaped tomato with amazing flavor. This year, I will let the indeterminate ones grow only so tall, then prune the tops so they produce larger and more abundant tomatoes instead of putting all their energy into vines.

Of course there will be flowers and herbs interspersed amongst the tomatoes and beans and peas. Lots of Zinnias, Sweet Peas, Poppys, Petunias, Marigolds, Osteospermum...well, you get the idea.

Speaking of Herb plants, I am hoping most of the ones I left in the yard will have survived. And I have to tell you, Mason has done his best to see they do. No, really he has. You see the snow made it easier to reach to the top of the planters when he was walking on it, and, being a male dog, much easier for him to have something to cock his leg on. Only problem is, where he couldn't pee into the pots before the snow, now he can, sigh. I think the Lavender Mint will be history. It seems to be his favorite.

Note to self: Next fall, when moving plants be sure to place all herb pots at a higher level, just in case we get snow again next winter. I am hoping that the rain we get will wash the urine out of the soil...

...of course, you never know, do you. It might make that old Lavender Mint just thrive.

I'll keep you posted.