First, a tribute to my good lifetime friend Willie, aka Willicent P. McPhee who passed into kitty heaven on 13-MAR-09. We won't forget you lad! Willie ran into our life around 14 years ago. A thoughtless neighbor had allowed their female cat to have a litter (in their garage). Willie was one of those kittens who, one afternoon, flew across the street and straight through our open door. There he stayed. He purred on my stomach when I was pregnant with my son and became his wonderful friend as he grew. He was always gentle, always affectionate. Last year he made his first and last trip to the family house on Martha's Vineyard. Would that I had known he was ill. He should have gotten tons more hugs that last year. Hug those you love folks, furry or not. As I held him in my arms at the vets I told him to save me a seat on the other side.

Of late my thoughts have turned to gardening, another love of mine. Specifically vegetable gardening because it goes along with eating. There is nothing like the convenience of dashing out the door to gather yummy veggies for meals. I won't say that it's a cost savings for us. It might be but I generally end up spending a bit on the garden. For instance here is a poly greenhouse (it was on sale). It has a 3 year warranty and I certainly hope I get more time out of it. Right now it only houses a rosemary that I overwintered in the house. It's doing an admirable job of it!

The trash bags in front of it are filled with seaweed which I collected yesterday. I have been nervously plotting (no pun intended, OK, pun intended as it's April fools), to expand the veggie garden. The man of the house objects to a yard appearance that isn't neat. He feels I won't be able to keep up with it all. That may be true but there are techniques to help one succeed in this respect. Heavy organic mulches. Impermeable strips to keep down weeds under the fence. Yes, I even plan to erect a "temporary" fence around my new plot. I am using my classic approach of amassing the materials needed then erecting the new entity in a day or 2 to avoid sour expressions aimed in my direction. Here is a view of the proposed location:
I will have to dig up the sage and lavender (assuming it made it through the winter). Better to pot those for now. You may be able to see the beach stones I have started to amass. They will be good for a rough patio area at one end of the garden. I have a Hardy Chicago fig tree on order thanks to feeling jolly last Sat night after 2 glasses of a nice Cabernet. Actually, most of this is all Eliot Coleman's fault or rather the fault of Four Season Harvest which he wrote. He keeps a fig or 2 in amongst his patio stones under his poly greenhouse. An admirable book, I encourage all who are interested in gardening to read it. We are on the same parallel as Northern Italy, Southern France. Any veggies they can overwinter there we can here IF we modify our climate. We have the same amount of Winter sun.

The little white flags are the outline for the dog's electric fence perimeter. I have yet to train him in it. He has a pretty good sense of boundry, not surprising since he is a sheltie.

As for the seaweed, I read somewhere that mixing blood meal and humus with it will result in a finished compost in 2 weeks. Trouble is, no ratios were given. My daughter takes horse riding lessons at a small farm up the road. I plan on hauling some manure home soon. Seaweed, manure, blood meal and leaves mixed with compost from last fall...that should make a nice base for the new garden.

So I spent some money on the poly greenhouse. In many other ways I am saving. I have become alert to scrounge opportunities. I recently sifted through a pile if discarded lumber only to find some ipe (it might even be teak) offcuts and some nice solid hardwood flooring offcuts. GREAT for garden projects such as beds or greenhouse shelving. I honestly tried to disassemble pallet wood but it was quite a lot of work and my time is at a premium. I may go back to it if I get a better saw. I have found some very nice pallet projects on the web. This is a beaut Shed from recycled pallets
It even has a chimney. And this chicken coop if built in my yard would be turned into a guest house! I am all for greener living. Wish me luck in my pursuit.