Grass

In March at school we always make leprechauns. To make these leprechauns you decorate a green plastic cup and grow grass for the hair. This year I was so busy that sometimes I forgot to water the leprechauns and then of course the grass was planted by 6 and 7 year-olds, but I was surprised at how well the grass grew. It came up quickly and was thick and grew tall. How hard can it be planting grass? well lets just say our front yard is not quite as nice as the leprechaun hair but it will be soon (I hope). Erik and I have been working really hard on making our front yard more to our liking. We leveled it and then planted grass.

It looks so much better than before

Although it is still a little patchy...

My Little Garden

Here are more recent pictures of my garden. We are growing: Squash, pumpkins, cucumber, raspberries, tomatoes (cherry and regular), eggplant, peppers (orange and yellow bell), arugula, cilantro, carrots, lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, and potatoes. We also have strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, and apple trees outside of our little garden. I would like to go to the farmers market and buy some basil. It is pretty magical to watch the seeds grow and know that pretty soon we will be eating these delicious fruits and vegetables!

We already have little green tomatoes!

Vegetables planted by seed

Camping at Elk Lake

Erik and I met two of our friends at Elk Lake to go camping. It is beautiful, however, if you are considering going in June keep in mind:

• make sure you are driving a truck or a vehicle with four wheel drive that you don't mind getting scratched up.
  
• Saying it is a bumpy road is an understatement. Brie this must be similar to your village roads but with less snow.
• Bring plenty of warm clothes because you are at the snow line
• Beware of leeches in the water
• Do not follow the directions on the website!
  
• Don't go on "roads" that don't look like roads.
  

All in all it is a beautiful lake with a pretty nice campground. It takes an experienced or daring driver to get you there. We had a great time paddling in the kayaks and playing cribbage. The weather couldn't have been better! I don't know what I would have done if it was raining or snowing.

Preparing a Garden

We dedicated a weekend to preparing a garden site in the back yard. Erik had laid down plastic to kill the grass for me last fall. Then he rota tilled the area for me and it looked perfect to plant. However we ran out of time so I assumed we would plant the next weekend. The fence is falling down on the same side of the yard as my garden site. Our neighbor told us that she wants to replace it with a 6 ft tall chain link fence instead!!! This made both Erik and I panic and feel sick at the thought that our only privacy in this fishbowl we live in would be taken away! He went over to her house the next day and proposed the idea that he would take apart the fence and fix it. She agreed to that (not really wanting chain link either but it is the cheaper way to go). That weekend (the one I thought I would be planting my garden) poured and we sludged around the garden site working on the fence. Erik did a great job fixing it. The only problem is that my nicely rota tilled garden turned into compacted dried out cracked clay! There is no way my little seeds would grow in this! Unfortunately I had already planted the raspberries my mom gave me. So the weekend after we fixed the fence Erik bought me a truck load of compost that he mixed in and rota tilled the garden area again. It was a lot of work but it was worth the time and energy because now my seeds have a chance of survival. I planted the fruits and vegetables I bought from starts: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cucumber, arugula, and cilantro. I waited for warmer weather to plant my seeds. I also learned the importance of slug bait! I woke up one morning to find that both of my squash had been eaten to oblivion and that my cucumber plant was halfway gone. I started squash from seeds and also decided to plant pumpkins. When the weather got nicer I planted: butterhead lettuce, another type of lettuce, spinach, kale, carrots, swiss chard, more cilantro, and potatoes. I am still in search of basil starts since I didn't plant any by seed. I also have strawberries, blueberries,and huckleberries. My raspberries and apple trees will not be producing fruit this year.

Garden halfway planted. Recent pictures coming soon!

More Landscaping

The end of the school year got pretty busy, especially since it was my first time teaching the end of the school year so I haven't updated the blog in ages! In May Erik and I met my mom at the Clackamas fairgrounds for the Master Gardener plant sale. We came to look so we brought my car, but we had no idea how affordable the plants would be! We went crazy :) We bought a hardy fuchsia, a cherry tomato and regular tomato plant, and two orange bell pepper plants. We kept seeing people walking around with beautiful azaleas but we couldn't find where they were coming from. Finally I found the booth that was selling them, however, they were sold out. The nursery owner told us he would have more tomorrow. So what did Erik and I do? We drove to Canby bright and early the next morning and bought two blueberry bushes, three azaleas, a Japanese lace leaf maple, and a Japanese coral bark tree! We have enjoyed all of our plants and the neighbors have all comented on how nice our yard is looking. We even inspired our neigbor to the right of us to relandscape her front yard. We are by no means finished but the place is looking better from the outside. I am still searching for the right evergreen perenial to go in the garden bed under the window. I am considering hebes and then planting bulbs and anuals in there too...we'll see what hapens.