It's still very cold here today (-20c) but the sun is out and that is encouraging - hope spring gets here soon!
I was looking through some gardening magazines on the weekend and now I'm anxious to start planting. I'm going to add some arugula to my herb garden this year.
I really want to carve out some time to garden this year. Last year was a total bust for me. I let the yard just go to jungle. At the very least I need to weed out my outdoor circle space and replant the lavender that got smothered. If it's not monsooning this weekend I'll make an effort to get out there.
It's cold but very sunny here in the North of England! We've had snow but it's very bright too. I went running despite the ice - the thing I love about walking and running is being out in the countryside, and as I do the same circuit constantly, seeing the seasonal changes in the fields and hedgerows as I go past!
The leaf buds are now on the trees, and it was the first day of official spring here, this week, despite being so cold I had to light the fire in the morning which we never do! I'm hoping my rose bushes won't be killed by the frost as they'd already started making little leaves...
Interesting to think of us pagans gardening, the world over! We made a veggie garden out the back last year and this year DH is going to dig up some more lawn, to double the veggie garden in space. I've only got out in the garden once since January, but managed to do a lot of weeding. Now to plan what we want to plant... Last year was the first year so we cleared the ground and planted spuds to clean the soil. This year I don't want to waste any space with spuds, so thought I'd do a lot of rocket and lettuce and stuff we really eat all the time... Maybe beet and carrots, too? What kind of things do you all grow?
Boy I feel really bad... temps in the 50s here during the day and the upper 30s, low 40s at night. If I could just get the weather to clear... can't see the stars if the clouds are in the way.
Thanks Stargazer, that made me feel so much better . . .
Well it's a bit warmer here today and more sun - yay!
We've only been in our house for about a year so last year we had to clean up a huge mess that the previous owners left behind in the yard. The house was okay but it was a rental unit so no one looked after the yards. I dug up so much junk, broken glass, garbage, building materials etc. at one point I wouldn't have been suprised to find body back there -in fat I did find a perfectly stripped squirrel skeleton one day - ack! Lucky I had heavy duty garden gloves on or I would have totally freaked!
I planted an herb garden in the backyard consisting of Lavender, Mint, chives, basil, oregano and some tomatoes. I would like to try out a few more things this year although I think we need to remove a lot of the soil in the raised beds and replace it with better quality stuff.
The front of the house is a brick courtyard with 3 small flowerbeds and a blossoming tree. My mum and I planted yellow day lilies in the centre of two of the beds and mixed in white daisies and black pansies in with them - they turned out really well.
The third bed had some daffodils mixed in with purple flowers and a climbing plant - this one was okay but not great - so we are going to try something that grows taller and is a little more lush in order to cover the grey concrete at the front of the house.
I am just dipping my toe in the gardening waters but I really enjoy it. It makes you feel connected to the earth and nature. I make my husband laugh because everytime I dig up a worm I apologise to it and gently put it down elsewhere in the garden - DH thinks I'm nuts but I figure the worm is not doing me any harm so why would I harm it - right?
I make my husband laugh because everytime I dig up a worm I apologise to it and gently put it down elsewhere in the garden -
This made me laugh because I go through the same thing. A few years ago, our office building was overrun with literally millions of ladybugs (which was followed by millions of flies a few weeks later... <shudder>...)... the exterminators came and I was so upset about the whole thing. When I found this lone ladybug, and I knew the exterminators were coming back that afternoon, I caught it and ran all the way downstairs from the 11th floor and across the street to release it at the park. My boss was actually angry with me for leaving my desk, but I figured hey, he'll get over it.
Nice story about the ladybird (that's the British word for them!), Diva!
The only things I kill with no conscience are wasps - really hate them! Although even killing one of those is wrong, now I think of it! I also leave cobwebs until the spiders have gone - we have some fairly high ceilings in this house that are prone to them - I could never bear to hurt a spider!
We had snowfall last night. Haven't had proper snow for several years - must be global warming because when I was a kid in the 1960s, we used to have sledges and the snow often got deep enough for us to be snowed in for several days.
I am so jealous! I want a house with a yard so much. I am stuck in apartment living for a while longer though.
I helped a friend who does have a house pick out some plants and start some seeds, but it's going to be a while before it's warm enough to do much here. It's been beautifully clear and just freezing cold.
i am thinking of starting a little box planter for my deck to at least grow a few herbs. not quite the same but a start.
lizziness - I used to grow herbs in windowboxes when I lived in an apartment - it does give you a lift when you grow something like that. It was nice to be making spaghetti sauce and just pop out to the balcony and snip of some fresh basil to add to the pot
Diva- that's a cute story I do the same with spiders - I take them outside and put them in the yard but let them be in the winter.
Pheonix- I have a wasp phobia - I actually will cross the street to avoid one if I have to.
I am so jealous! I want a house with a yard so much. I am stuck in apartment living for a while longer though.
I helped a friend who does have a house pick out some plants and start some seeds, but it's going to be a while before it's warm enough to do much here. It's been beautifully clear and just freezing cold.
i am thinking of starting a little box planter for my deck to at least grow a few herbs. not quite the same but a start.
I have to say it doesn't suck... at least until the mortgage payment is due.
I have about 3/4 of an acre... and have spent the last couple of years "landscaping". Rhodys all along the front, around the Giant Cedar Bonsai (It really does look like a giant bonsai with its dead section, big rock and sitting on the little knoll like it does). All manner of flowering scrubs and bushes, in every color but white. And just about anywhere I can put them. I even got my hands on three lace leaf maples ... cheap!
Boy I know around my house when spring is due... the forcythia is in bloom now, the Clematis is not far behind... I can't WAIT. I can feel it.
I'm hoping this year to be able to put in an herb garden, but I haven't decided where just yet. The one thing I'd REALLY like to do is get my hands on a Rowan Tree. I'll have to start looking around.
Stargazer, I noticed in your profile that you breed Yorkies? *sigh* I've been looking for a breeder over here (England) but they're not so easy to find. Which can't really be right when I see so many people with Yorkies! When I first moved here, I had to leave my little guy behind because of the doggy immigration thing. He would have had to spend 6 months in quarantine and it would have killed him, poor baby. So I began to look for another right away but just couldn't find anyone with puppies. Instead, in my depression about not having a dog, I got a Cocker instead. He's really very sweet and excellent with the baby (toddler now) but I miss having a eensy little lap doggy!
It is so rainy the last few days! Which is better than the bitter cold it was last week. At least rain feels like Spring! We have lots of big plans for the garden this year. I had onl'y ever gardened for herbs and veggies but my oh-so-English-husband has introduced me to the joys of gardening for aesthetics, as well. Our garden tends to stay green all year round thanks to a milder climate, except for the wisteria on the front of the house. Eek, it looks horrible! We're training up some honeysuckle to cover an ugly wall and it has continued to grow all winter albeit slowly. I imagine once the warm hits, it'll take off like gangbusters. The passionflower has gotten it's little tendrils around everything again and needs a good trim. I mostly grow my herbs in pots dotted around the patio. I definitely need to split the lemon balm, sage and thyme into 2 pots now because they've grown so much.
Oh and we're adding a small area at the back for a pumpkin patch. Maybe patch is too grand as I'll only be growing a few plants. Still they get pretty enormous! I can't decide whether to start my tomatoes and peppers indoors at Ostara or just wait and buy seedlings. I always have way too many seedlings when I do them myself and end up giving alot of them away. Hmmmm...still, I love watching the little babies pop up through the soil and I get a village wise woman vibe from giving away the seedlings so I guess maybe I'll start 'em indoors!
I've been pouring through the seed catalogues lately the way some women look through Victoria's Secret or Chadwick!!
Stargazer, I noticed in your profile that you breed Yorkies? *sigh* I've been looking for a breeder over here (England) but they're not so easy to find. Which can't really be right when I see so many people with Yorkies! When I first moved here, I had to leave my little guy behind because of the doggy immigration thing. He would have had to spend 6 months in quarantine and it would have killed him, poor baby. So I began to look for another right away but just couldn't find anyone with puppies. Instead, in my depression about not having a dog, I got a Cocker instead. He's really very sweet and excellent with the baby (toddler now) but I miss having a eensy little lap doggy!
I know that Osmillion Yorkies is over there. They are one of the top breeders in Europe. I've been kicking around the possibility of importing a dog from there if possible. But I'm not doing much breeding any more. I just had to have one of my girls spayed yesterday. That leaves me 2. I currently have more rescues than show dogs.
Hello everyone. Sorry it's been awhile since I have visited the site. Have been doing so much overtime at work my diet has fallen off the wagon and I am needing to get refocused. I started out by doing a chakra cleansing to get all the negativity out and rebalance. speaking of dogs I got a new collie puppy with my tax return 3 weeks ago - it really make coming home from work special to have dogs who love you and greet you!
I have a mini bull who was Crufts qualified but we have never shown her. She had one litter and then sadly, developed lens luxation, which means we can never breed from her again. We managed to get her diagnosed and then operated on by a specialist (200 miles from here!) the same day so saved some of her eyesight, although she doesn't see very well, she's not entirely blind.
Her son is a real champion and last I heard had been sold to a dog trainer in the US - he had a foul temprement, though, unlike my little mini who is a sweetheart! We also have a staffie (not show quality - nowhere near!) who is a lovely dog. As my foray into breeding was so disastrous (and it was my lifelong dream to breed dogs), we won't be doing it again but when these two go (a long time yet, hopefully), I'm going to get a dog from the staffie breed rescue. My kids were too young for us to risk a rescue a few years back, but in the future, it should be OK. We adore our bullies - I'm the third generation of my family to have them.
I walk my dogs every day and the staffie comes running/interval training with me - he's so spoilt, though, he's still overweight!
I've been seriously SERIOUSLY slacking.
Ah well...back on track...Spring means "New Beginnings" right?
Anyway...I haven't gained anything...but I haven't lost any either. I have a dr's appt to find out why I'm going to the gym and eating well but not losing any weight (I have some other health issues that may be a good reason why)
Pagan Chick chat March/April 2006
At the very least I need to weed out my outdoor circle space and replant the lavender that got smothered. If it's not monsooning this weekend I'll make an effort to get out there.
. . . 
And just about anywhere I can put them. I even got my hands on three lace leaf maples ... cheap! 
