Today was supposed to be a powerfully victorious return to the garden. It almost wasn't. Forecast was for rain, and my back and bum hurt a lot.
It's also damp and chilly out. It is mid-May and still not 900 degrees (which for DC is wild and crazy). I had Geoff go out midweek to our 3 garden plots to turn them and weed them (he did a half-assed job but it is more than half of what I needed done and now I/we don't have to do it, so there's that).
Doug and I went to the little garden center on the roadside in Kensington. I think it used to be a gas station, but for the past couple of years, there's been a proposed demolition of the existing building to put up some sort of something. A small local farm has been using the lot and building as a roadside stand and has grown the business over the last 5 summers we've been here.
Their selection is decent, better than the big box stores, and the employees are super nice. But compared to years past, the plants looked beat. The weather is probably a huge factor, as it has been cold and dreary this spring. We will probably go straight from the 60s all the way to 90, the way weather works.
Shopping was difficult because of how painful my back and butt are, but we picked out all the things we needed and got home. The rain was holding off, so I set up in the backyard and Doug went to do the veggies in the beds that Geoff turned for us.
He got the tomatoes, peppers, and the seeds in for the sunflowers. Last year a bird came and pulled all of our peppers out of the ground which sucked, so we're probably going to go grab some netting and cover things up. Hopefully before the stupid birds get grabby.
Also, Phineas is a cherry tomato fan and eats them right off of the vine so this year we'll want to protect them from him. He's a monster.
Here are some pictures.
Up top is some dill. I've been using a lot of dried dill in recipes lately so we got a little container. The middle picture is chives in front, and marigolds which were supposed to go up in a pot on the front porch but I opted to pop them into this purple-ish pot. Last is the petunias and vinca vines. The vinca should grow down from the pot and the petunias will hopefully expand and thrive.
All of the pots came from Doug's Aunt's house, in part of cleaning up we also did some work in the yard and I asked her for some of the multitude of pots. She was very selective, there were some I really wanted but she didn't want to part with them. Okay sure, fine, they're yours. Maybe you'll put something in one of these nice pots someday. Maybe not. But the five we were able to take will be very happy here.
It felt good to be out there, working and digging and filling pots. I was a little jealous that Doug had the garden plots to work on but to be honest, very happy I didn't have to do it. I don't think I could. I sat on the steps and used one of the small tables, which was the perfect height. I was able to move things all around to the left and right with minimal pivoting, and the step was the perfect height for me to be able to get up and stand if I needed.
We got the hose out, and I watered the veggie plots and sunflower seeds, then came around back and hosed down the table that I got super dirty, watered all the plants in the pots. Dill and Chive joined their friends on the stairs, the overwintered Oregano, Parsley, Thyme, and Mint. And the petunia pots and marigolds went on the corner of the patio.
Doug had found a metal plant stand in someone's trash a few weeks ago. We discussed spray painting it but I liked it rusty and rustic. Depending on how the vinca does on the one down low, I may need to put it up on something too, but for now it is on the ground. The marigolds may go on a little wicker table that Doug also found on the side of the road for trash day, and that's one we'll get a spray paint coat on and liven it up.
Ignore all the weeds and stuff behind the flowers there. Weeds and ground cover just take over everywhere around here, and it is super hard to keep up with. Part of my project is to weed all around there, but, I'll do it and a week later it will look like I've done nothing. Maybe best to just leave things go and let nature do it's junk.
After cleaning up everything I sat down to rest for a few, and the rain started up. It was supposed to rain all day, so we were happy and lucky to have the reprieve to get this all done today. I anticipated we'd get things bought and they'd be sitting out until the next dry day. Which may not be until Monday.
I forgot to take a picture of the herbs so I'll save that for tomorrow. You'll have something to look forward to.
Alright, the digits.
Exercise:
Dude, just moving around was effort today. And the gardening was work.
Blood Glucose
10:30am: 166
4 pm: 161
9:30pm 163 (better than the wild highs of the past couple nights...)
Food:
Coffee
Water
Seltzer
sugar free iced tea (crystal light Peach)
Leftover cheeseburger with bleu cheese dressing & 7 grape tomatoes
2 bratwursts, a burger, cucumber salad with goat cheese (no buns) 6 grape tomatoes
Cashews
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