Planting the garden

Today I spent quite a while in the garden planting. I planted Optimum Corn, space miser zucchini, lemon cucumbers, romaine lettuce, summertime lettuce, and crook neck squash. I transplanted the celery into the south square foot garden and put the shade cloth over it. It's really in need of the shade right now while its getting established. I also spent some time texting back and forth with my sister who is gardening in a row garden for the first time. She needed to know how far apart to plant onions. Where to plant things - I always plant my tallest items on the east since my rows run north and south. I'm just glad she is willing to ask questions - it makes for a better crop and then she won't have to waste as much time with trial and error, cause I know I did. What are your gardening questions?

Vole Damage and power raking

The voles damaged so much of our yard that it required a good professional power raking.  

My husband volunteered the kids  to rake it up afterward.  I raked the upper tier with my daughter and my husband and son raked the rest.

It's made a huge difference in the lawn.  It's like the grass woke up.

Field Trip with 1st graders to local businesses

This first store is a farm supply store.  Many of the kids were pointing out which animals their fathers or uncles had shot - either to protect their farms or for meat.  Most of these kids have eaten venison and many of them said they had the kid's size .22 single shot rifle in their home.  The girls all wanted the pink one.  Yes, it's a whole different world out here but we like and so we stay.

Then it was time to check out the birds.  The chickens were starting to loose their down for adult feathers.

There was one turkey in this box but I'm not sure which one.

The children got to pet the chicks, turkey, and a duckling.

 Surprisingly, the duck was the least soft of them all.

And then we went to another business that is a huge pet store with obedience courses (more for the people who own the pets than the pets - dogs and birds learn quickly).

chinchilla - theirs is the softest fur ever!

and two types of chameleons

And of course, this conure was a hit with the 1st graders since they have had Kiwi visit several times and now have had Mambo for a visit. This bird was labelled as a Sun Conure but I'm pretty sure it's a Jenday conure.  Sun Conures have a lot more yellow on their wings.

Spinach, Radishes, and other spring plants growing in my garden

So in this first photo I have drawn a red line at the edge of my property.  This year I am going to put rocks down for mulch all the way to the property line.  The field behind it is an alfalfa field. 

If you look closer at that square foot garden you can see the radishes are growing.

And the spinach has sprouted. 

This is the first flower that has bloomed in my garden.

I've transplanted the Kale, Cabbage, and Broccoli. 

This is blue kale.

This is dutch round ball head cabbage.

The peas have all sprouted.

The garlic is getting tall. 

The mountains still have a dusting of snow.

And the Wellsvilles are looking beautiful especially at Sunset.

The new paint color reveal...

So my son's old bedroom is now the same color as the hallway.  And I had to paint the bottom half white too. Here is what it looked like before.  I loved it but it was too dark for the birds.  This is now Kiwi and Mambo's room.  I have a few spare rooms in this house.  I think I should set one up as a craft room and I'd really like a Macaw and an Eclectus.  I could live with just an eclectus.  Someone want to give me one?

What it looked like before!

The flash didn't do the color justice.  It's a brown grey.  Benjamin Moore Ashley Gray

The shadow on the floor is from the flash paired with the wide angle lens.  

Proof the grass is turning green.

  Ceiling - my son exclaimed, "Mom, it looks like the state of Utah - our state!" I'm so happy my kid has a state he can claim. I moved so often as a child that I couldn't even remember which state birds went with which state I was in.

Take a look at someone else's garden today

Check out Edible Gardens Point Loma most recent garden post or view the video here. 

It's a work of art.

This video is worth the 4 minutes it takes to watch.  It's an entire year of gardening for a family in the suburbs.

Give your plants room to grow - or - Little peat pots are a waste of money!

Well now there isn't even a comparison.  I'm so glad that I decided to do this.  Sometimes we think that we are saving money and that the slightly more expensive pot that takes up more space is a waste.  WRONG! I grew all of my celery in the tiny pots last year and they were still pretty small when I transplanted them.  It took them forever to grow into something worth eating.  This year I can hardly wait to get the large pots into the garden so those roots can spread out even more!

If you want to see the progress go

Here 

Here

and 

Here

Kiwi is healing and starting to molt. I hope his wings fill in this year.  He had kidney problems and an infection so he was on Allopurinol and an antibiotic as well as baby aspirin.  His little bottles said, Kiwi Bird Vanderbeek.  I thought it was so cute.  And because we've trained him to lay on his back, we had no problem giving him his medicine.  He's such a good little parrot. And daddy is no longer allowed to feed Kiwi crackers or anything salty. And well, we've added things like apple slices in his cage at night. For those of you who are new, he is a Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure. They are super friendly, perfect for people allergic to cats and dogs and parrots with powder glands (African and Australian parrots), they love the whole family (flock), and they learn tricks quickly.  They don't talk much and learning to speak on command isn't easy for these parrot.  They are loved for their quiet nature.

 Here is the top view of the celery.  The comparison is beyond funny. 

Now if someone could please tell me which of my dozen fire alarms are beeping, I'd be so happy! 

My awesome digital scrapbook of our spring vacation in Moab, Canyonlands, Arches, and Dead Horse Point 2013

I created the elements in Adobe Illustrator and the background paper in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

All four of us took photos on this vacation but most of them were taken by my husband.

Dead Horse Point State Park

Arches National Park - Delicate Arch

Canyonlands - Mesa Arch 

Canyonlands - Shafer Trail

Arches - Double O Arch

Arches - Landscape Arch

Arches - Double Arch

Arches - North & South Windows

Arches - Park Avenue

National and State Parks - Junior Ranger Program!