It made me sad to only see Husband for a half an hour in the morning (6am) before he left for work, and then another half hour or so before we went to bed (11pm or so). Yes, I was definitely glad to welcome Saturday, the first Saul-less day. And this week has been gloriously Saul-free.
Our landlord, the coolest dude ever, keeps getting cooler and cooler. This weekend, we saw him riding one of the horses (bareback), and we chatted for a while. He asked if it might be alright if he called us up sometime to go sailing on a nearby lake. Also, he has been tilling the garden directly behind our little apartment for us to use for planting. He's the coolest, and really makes us want to stay where we are just so we can enjoy all that there is around us. (They also ninja-planted some pansies by our door. I don't know when they did it!)
So, yesterday I went to the public library to check out some books on gardening and composting. To my surprise and dismay, the selection there was quite sub-par by my estimation. There were only a handful of books about vegetable gardening, several of them having been published in the UK. Not that I have anything against the Brits or that I think that they don't know anything about gardening, but one must admit that there is marked difference between the climates of GB and TX. I welcome their advice, but would prefer something more locally informed.
I discovered I don't know the first thing about gardening. I've had reasonable success with my former gardening experiences (those little lima beans I planted in the plastic cups worked pretty well), but from what I gather, it's quite a different endeavor to plant one's own garden. Everything makes a difference: where you plant things, what kinds of seeds you use, how much you water, etc. And composting! I thought you just put a bunch of trash in a heap and then put that on your garden, but actually, there's a lot of that sciencey stuff behind it, apparently. You have to have a good balance of carbon- and nitrogen- rich materials, as well as sufficient amounts of water. Who knew? Science is amazing.
So, if anyone has any garden tips (what I should or shouldn't plant, how to nurture my little plantings, how long to let my horse manure rot before putting it on the compost heap, etc.) please let me know! I know SOMEONE reading this blog has to know something about gardening.
That someone would be someone other than me! Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteI myself know little, especially about Texas gardening... but my aunt lives on a ranch in Trenton (do you even know where that is? I actually don't), so she may know. Desperate enough to email a complete stranger?
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I just managed to find your blog, but this is going to be awesome.
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