2010 Gardening Assessment

Beans: Awesome. Definitely planting them next year--maybe 2 packets' worth.

Cucumbers: I'll do them every year, I think, along with nasturtiums--they really keep the bugs away from the leaves, and look pretty too! I'll mulch them right away, though, to keep the moisture in. Same is true of basil.

Pansies: also going in every fall and/or spring whenever the existing ones die out.

Peppers: 3 plants, and only 2 tiny peppers before September. Now, of course, there are 5, but we'll see if they get big enough to actually eat before the first frost. Not worth the money and effort.

Tomatoes: 2 plants, 3 small tomatoes, not counting the one the bugs got. Again, not worth the effort.

Carrots: Not nearly as tasty as the baby carrots I planted last year. Doing the babies again next year, again with parsley as the companion plant.

Spinach: Too late to get seeds for this fall, drat! Definitely buying 2 packets as soon as seeds come back: some for early spring, some to plant in the fall.

Daikon Radish: Also too late to get seeds. Getting some to grow sprouts--they make the most delicious, slightly-spicy sprouts, excellent for hummous or chicken wraps!

Geranium: The one I got at the Adelphi Friends Meeting's spring festival has been so pretty--white flowers with bright pink around the edges of the petals! I think I'll get 2 for next year.

English Ivy and Swedish Ivy transplanted from the ground cover to the hanging pots: About half the plants lived. Going to continue in the hanging pot that wasn't knocked down by the recent thunderstorm (we lost two HUGE branches from our corner tree, and a branch on one of the side trees is ready to go.)

Parsley and chives are such abundant perennials I don't need to buy seeds for another year at least to have all that I need.

All in all, a very good year!!

Thunderstorm!

We had a moderate but close--very close--thunderstorm last night. I kept hearing a "pop" sound, much like fireworks, and finally looked out the window. It looked like fireworks out there--one of the electrical wires across the street was on fire and sending up sparks like crazy! One emergency vehicle was already there, and by the time Ken had come downstairs to see what was going on the fire trucks were arriving.

The firefighters had to break into the building cati-corner to us, hunting for electrical fires in the wiring in the walls. Fortunately, no one was hurt and mostly the roof and the interior were damaged. No one was sufficiently injured to be taken in an ambulance that we could see.

We lost two huge limbs--better than 12 feet long--from the maple on the corner of our property. One is still hanging from the tree and our coop's maintenance department has been alerted about it. (No, Mom, I'm not going anywhere near that tree.) The other was chipped up by our city public works department this afternoon--I'd called at lunchtime and got them just in time. Or perhaps they were simply looking for all downed limbs in the area.

All's well that ends well--our unit wasn't damaged, no one was seriously injured, and we didn't even lose power.

Book Review: Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other

my Goodreads is having an attitude about transferring this, but here's my review of an adoption memoir I'm currently reading:

Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption by Scott Simon

Warm and humorous if rambling memoir about one of my beloved NPR radio hosts and his wife adopting two girls from China.

I'm a bit put off by the highly non-chronological order, but it's still an engaging and very real book of the joys and challenges (paperwork! intrusive questions and clearances! more paperwork!) of adoption and parenthood.

This slim (178-page) memoir a heartening book for people like me still going through the long pre-child adoption process, and a good way for non-adoptive people to understand the physical and emotional details.

I confess I'm getting all mushy, even over the spitting-up stories. And reading some of the humorous moments to my husband.