Finally!

We moved - thanks to three professional guys and their truck (Action Movers - great guys!).  So, we have one week and a bit more in our bungalow.  Paul is loving walking to work - the weather's perfect, still a little cool in the mornings, and bearable in the afternoons.  The dogs are adjusting, one more than the other.  Ziggy is 10, and not crazy about the stairs, and there's no getting into this house without stairs.  Ozzy clambers up, or down, with no thought.  Ziggy - he thinks about it.  Makes me wonder if his vision is not so good, but that's just me being a worrier.

One tomato and four chiles still in their little pots prompted me to dig up some space on the south side of the garage last night.  What I dug up was a lot of brick, concrete, and rocks that the garage builders had used to fill in after digging the footing.  Actually, it was probably what they had dug out from digging the footing, so I take back the accusation.  I amended the soil with some of our own compost, and stuck the plants in the ground, along with some marigolds that I bought to put in a pot, but they never made it there.  They all look a bit lonely out there now, but that'll change.  The neighborhood association has a couple of dumpsters available this weekend, so the rocks & stuff will be history. 

The community garden is coming along; I fertilized the chiles and tomatoes with fish emulsion today, and will wait to see if any of the plants are dug up in the morning.  Always a problem with fish emulsion.  I cleaned out another bed - mostly bermuda, which will continue to be a problem - just to make the place look neater.  But, while I was unloading the weeds in the compost area, I saw where a couple of beds had been seeded with cowpeas, and teff, which I found is a cereal grain (good old Google).  So, I think, I have seeds, too!  I'll clean out another bed, and plant cowpeas, too (great for continual production), and okra, and a melon.  Probably stick in some flower or other just for fun.

I'll post a few pics - too dark to take any now.  It's been a crazy week!

we begin

Transition. Still here, but wanting to be there. We're moving, little by little, waiting on a closing date, and biting our nails that the deal won't fall through. At the old place, where we sleep, we are maintaining. Mow the yard, clean the house, and pack. At the new place, we mow, we clean, and we unpack. And, we plant. So far, I've moved a few select perennials, those hard to find or really unique plants, to the new house. There are already a few foundation-type beds around the house, and I'm using those beds as holding areas until we find permanent spots for them.

One of the great things about the new place is that there is a community garden just a few houses down, and across the street. The house that had been on the lot burned a few years ago, and some of the neighbors took it over and built raised beds from salvaged wood from the house. They planted cherry and peach trees, and established a compost pile area, too. Over the weekend, I talked with a neighbor who was working in the garden, and he hooked me up with a couple of beds to get started. So, Monday afternoon I'm trundling down the block with a wheelbarrow full of tools and plants. My two beds were full of bermuda, chickweed, and a few unidentified weeds. I dug up the weeds, but I know the bermuda will be back. After amending with our homegrown compost, I planted roma and rutgers tomatoes, and anaheim, jalapeño, serrano and cayenne chiles. I plan to fill out both beds with basil and annuals, like marigolds. The community garden was a big part of my wanting to move downtown, although being downtown is enough of a draw for me.