Dirt 'N' Plants

While the month keeps on kicking my arse in various ways, I seek comfort and calm in dealing with our garden and plants. :)  Something about taking care of a living thing that doesn't scream at you is rather nice. hehehehe 

We got our shipment of dirt in and....wow...it was a lot of dirt. Shana rounded up and it ended up being a rather large pile. We have ideas and we're going to end up using it eventually, but it created some interesting situations for us to deal with for sure.



Storing the dirt was one thing. We had to put it somewhere, so I managed to get a spot that was out of the way. But, I need to roll back in when the spoke clears and pull it away from the fence so it doesn't damage it over time. I just had to get it out of the driveway! heheheh

The kids love helping!

Shana looked into SQUARE FOOT GARDENING and we talked it through and thought that it would be a good idea for us. Basically, there are sites that call out how many plants you need per square foot for good growing conditions. 

http://squarefootgardening.org/square-foot-gardening-method

It really made sense to us, so we went for it and came up with a plan. 

Not our final, but close :)

Once we had things laid out, we headed to EAST BAY NURSERY and made our purchases. We had to think through the current water crisis as well - leaning away from items that needed a lot of water. We're going to do another round of conditioning where we use items to help keep the water in the soil as much as possible.

We popped the plants in their spots and started shifting things around until the plan seemed right, then we planted them and set them in.

Super happy about this. I've made some mistakes along the way for sure :::grin:::, but there's nothing like hanging out in the yards with the kids. It's a true, family based activity that also helps the overall feel of the house itself. I love it.

I'm going to document the goings on in the front later. The back is shaping up nicely. Our apple tree has finally started to bloom, but I'm not sure we'll get the amount of apples we got last year. We did purchase the same bug boxes and I'll spray with the natural oil to keep the pests down, but we might not have the same volume.

We've invited my brother-in-law up to help with the olives this year so they don't "die on the vine" like last year. He's a "foodie" and enjoys various food processes, so he'll take on the olives and maybe even our figs. Very cool.

And we're seeing good progress on our blood oranges! (...so far...)   It looks like pampering them worked - we're getting many more possible fruit buds this year!

A lovely moment of zen, looking at all of these photos and making future garden plans. Much needed. :)  If you're feeling a bit burnt, maybe you should run down to the local nursery and snag a plant or two to take care of. It might do you some good! :)

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