Spring Planting

 It was Palm Sunday ... a day of rest and celebration.  I spent it working my butt off.  Who knew spring could be so labor intensive.  

Just because I didn't know about this moon we are having at full size for two nights, here is the pink phlox that it is named after.  A definite reminder that it's time to plant your plants.

Here it is ... I made it pink for you!!  

This is what it DID look like and not the least bit pink as they advertise everywhere.  

Instead, it's all about the planting season.  Back in the ancient days, Patty Chance and I used to plant crazy big gardens and grow most of our food.  Tomatoes ..... oh the fresh tomatoes that tasted as sweet as sugar, red and purple potatoes, onions, garlic, peas, beans ... even peanuts.  Everything you can imagine, we grew it.  Where we got the energy to do that while working full time is beyond me!

I tried to be smart, and unlike waging war with the Costco crowds, I was out the door at 7:45 to Home Depot.  That's WAY too early for me to be out and about.  I had decided, with lots of pushing and shoving from Patty who grows a garden every year ... all year long ... to pick up a couple of things to grow in my flower beds.  Nothing big, just a couple easy things.

Who knew there were so many different kinds of little tomatoes?  I picked out three varieties just to see which was best.  I forgot about how much work it was to PLANT these things.

Here they are .. four containers of soon to be delicious food in my mouth.  No one said growing your own was cheap.  Each one of these was $5.00.  Seems to me they used to be $2.00 and you only got one kind called LITTLE TOMATOES.

I had a pot already half full of sand from something that died.  That happens a lot around here ... they die.  I have more funerals than anyone on the block.  Sadly, I forgot the tomato cages, but I did remember to get two bags of mulch for $16.00. 

I also picked up some squash seeds that will be planted in between my rose bushes.  Oh yes ... by the time I got out of there it was $47.00.  You can buy a lot of squash and tomatoes for $47.00.  

I seem to remember only the good part about PICKING the veggies.  I forgot about all the hard work to PLANT the seeds.  Lucky for me, I have very sandy soil ... in fact ALL sand.  I dug two holes, mixed in the mulch and planted the seeds right along the rose bush drip lines.  Later I added hedge drip lines so I don't have to worry about watering them.  GOSH ... that was a LOT OF WORK!  Maybe I'm just old!

A pot ... a pot ... I need another pot, yea none could be found.  I scrounged through the garage to find this perfect size tub.  Of course it needed drain holes, so I dug out my handy dandy mikata drill and went to town on the bottom.  It amazes me every time that I charged that thing up almost a year ago and the battery STILL works.

More planting ensued.  To water these, I thought to set up a faucet timer like one I used way back when ... and I mean WAY back.  Amazon is my friend, so maybe I can find one like it.

SHEESH as my grandmother used to say ... did I mention that was a LOT of WORK!!  It was even worse as I tried to program the sprinkler system to work every other day as normal, but also to turn on the drip section EVERY day.  I got it wrong.  I heard it scream to life at 1:00 am.  I'll be back out there today trying to figure it out.

Where's the fourth tomato plant you ask?  Sitting on my kitchen counter.  Yes I need another pot for that one, a timer and more drip line, so I guess you know what I'll be doing today.  I sure hope these things are worth it!!!!!

I spent the late afternoon watching the Bristol Motor Speedway race, mostly uneventful.  There was no pink moon, but there certainly was pink exhaust as Larson burned off the last of the rubber on his winning car.  Funny, because the entire time, I thought #11 Hamlin was in the lead.  It was pretty much the only car shown on the tv screen.  I'm not one for burnouts, but I had to admit this was epic!!!!!  

And so my day ended with a little extreme bull riding on the telly as I lay on the couch exhausted.  How could that be?  I didn't really work that hard at all!!!!  More spring planting to come!!