And It Begins...

A tired urban farmer

   This weekend was the start of nice weather in Seattle. One thing people should know is that spring slides itself very stealthily into Seattle. One day it is a soaking grey, mushy day, the next is a windstorm and then somewhere in the middle of all that foul-weather and storming a beautiful warm day is plopped in!

  This weekend was a prime example of sneaky Seattle weather. Thursday was dark and grey and rained big, sloppy drops all day long. Friday was cold and sad and then suddenly Saturday came along and it was glorious! A dance and sing in the sun, praise the Sun God kind of day, work hard and play hard day.  A truly lovely spring day!!

  A perfect day to work out in the garden and get it ready for the vegetables! It took a few hours but most of the beds are weeded and on Sunday the boyfriend and I wandered the alleys of Seattle looking for forgotten and lonely bricks waiting for a garden bed to call home. We ended up finding an abandoned shopping cart from the local QFC and used that to haul about 35 bricks back to the garden. A couple of odd looking hobos  with a heavy load.

  I also made use of my AWESOME pot maker( I am going to have to take a picture of it so that you all can be jealous of it). It takes a strip of newsprint paper, approximately 3" by 10" long, and turns it into a biodegradable pot for plants starts! My little green house is now filled with little pots ready to be planted!

  I haven't been able to decide on what I will be planting this year, but there are so many options and I should get at it here within the next few weeks.

A few ideas have been:

• French Breakfast radishes
• Chinese Long beans
• bush beans
• Lacinato kale
• Swiss chard
• Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Sunflowers
• Assorted lettuces
• Zucchini
• Patty Pan squashes
• Jalepeno

  Etc, etc, etc... The list goes on and on and on and until I actually get these things in the ground I will continue daydreaming about everything I hope and fantasize about planting. Revise, renew, add and subtract plants.

  The Chicks I picked up at Issaquah Grange on March 12th, are doing well, growing and starting to look like the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal.  They are cute little fuzzy critters for about the first two weeks of there lives, but their bodies grow faster than their feathers and soon they are hideous, spotted creatures that are all beak and legs... Kinda like teenage boys...

What're you looking at?!

A teenage boy.

  They peep and cheep and peck a lot. They make quite a bit of noise when they see the giant hand coming towards them. They are slowly becoming less afraid and treats seem to help that along. Funny how something as simple as earthworms and dandelion leaves can bring joy.

A lot of plans this year, as usual. I always have a lot of plans for the garden, and for my life, it is always a matter of whether it comes to fruition or not. But then that is what a garden is. A garden is potential. You put something in the ground and with care and hope and luck you should have something happen. You'd have to fuck up pretty bad in order for nothing at all to happen. 

So the plan is to keep this journal and see what potentially happens...