It’s not what you think.
I am not building another house somewhere. {But OH HOW I FREAKIN’ WISH}.
My old neighbor Jenn called yesterday and told me she was having a sport court put in {I live in suburbia after all}. The landscape guys were there and she wanted to know if I could pop by because she was going to have have a drip irrigation system installed. She wanted some sort of garden, but didn’t know what she wanted exactly or where to start.
If there is one thing in this world I absolutely love, it’s starting {vegetable} gardens from scratch. I could probably make a nice business for myself doing it if I was more of a people person. And cared what other people thought. And liked spending time sketching out plans only to have other people critique them and then say no, they wanted something else entirely.
Anywho, Jenn has 4 kiddos and knew she wanted raised garden boxes. So I suggested she build 6 raised beds. This would give her plenty of room for walking paths. She was a little worried 6 garden boxes would me too demanding, but I told her that for a first time gardener with 4 kids, I thought they would be able to handle 6. 9? Probably too many.
Then she talked about wanting a row of raspberries and possibly a spot for a pumpkin patch. I mentioned if she had a long narrow plot to start the pumpkins she could train the pumpkins up the slope during the late summer months and still keep her evergreen plantings intact year round.
What do you think? What do you see that I don’t?
Since Jenn lives in my old neighborhood, I of course had to drive by my old house to get to her place.
I’m not sure what the etiquette is for driving by your old house and snapping a picture or two but for the record, I’m sure it’s pretty normal {okay, drive-by YES, picture taking NO}. After all, another family owns the place now and I don’t want them to think I am a total psycho coming back to check on the house and plants I sold them.
Anyways… They ripped out all the old garden boxes and are having Chino build them a garage/shop for their business. The greenhouse and apple trees are still there and it looks like they are trying to grow corn, so all is not lost.
We couldn’t really expect them to keep 16 raised garden boxes now could we? That place was a B.O.A.T.L.O.A.D. of work. I have no regrets about selling. It’s just this weird in-between phase our family is in right now that gets to me from time to time. I have a plan. A really good one and I wish I could press fast forward every single day sometimes, but I can’t. Not yet anyway.
Remember the vegetable seeds I started under grow lights not even two weeks ago? Holy plants on crack people, look at them now. It’s nuts.
Even though this week is going to be a bit cooler… I’m going to continue to try and keep the seedlings under the grow lights for another 2 weeks so they can get nice and big before I set them out in the garden.
I may need to set the Oak Leaf Lettuce out a little sooner though, as they are getting pretty big. Luckily I have a shady spot to put them in.
What’s new with you this week? When was the last time you drive by YOUR old house?
~Mavis
Tamara says
We’ve been in our little piece of heaven since 1978 so no driving back for us!
Shay says
A bit off topic, but I am having some major weather envy here lol. In Dallas/Fort Worth our highs are ranging from 100-109 (before the heat index which will raise temps about 5 degrees) over the next week. I would be curious to know if anyone has an outdoor garden in this area, and if so, what they do to protect them from this heat. I gave up on that years ago for the summertime. Even the weeds can’t take it lol.
Mrs. Chow says
I don’t get that kind of heat, but I get enough, and a lot of humidity. The thing that a lot of people use in this type of weather is shade cloth, which comes in different styles, depending on what you want to cover and how much sun you want to block. Johnny’s Select Seeds in Maine sells it.
MerryMouse says
Poor you! I can’t imagine 109 degrees! Last week here in Oregon I had 102 and that was enough to sunburn/scorch my poor raspberries. I ran out to the local feed store and they had shade cloth. I got home and rigged up a PVC pipe sun shade to attach to the trellis. Looks crazy but it worked. I have also been known to stick kid-sized umbrellas around my yard to shade specific plants. I also have quite a few plants in large-ish plastic pots that I can move into the shady deck/patio when it’s scorching. I have row covers on my PVC-hooped beds to protect/shade the green beans. The squash don’t seem to care. Mostly I have to keep everything wet. Good luck!
Mavis says
Poor raspberries is right. Even 102 sounds miserable!!
Kathleen says
I’m currently gardening in your neck of the woods. Some plants simply won’t survive the heat, no matter how much you water. Others thrive on it. I’ve found sweet potatoes, peppers (although they have trouble setting fruit), melons, and sometimes cucumbers are my best bets. Tomatoes just don’t like this heat, so I pull them in July. I prefer to go into minimum maintenance mode until the worst of the heat passes, when I can plant for the fall season. While gardeners up north are winding down their season, we have a great growing season into December, and with the help of row covers, all winter long.
Deborah says
Send some of that good weather here to East Texas. We’re at about 107 right now. And 79-ish for lows at night. It’s HOT here!
Ellen in Clackamas says
Mavis, did I miss a post somewhere? Do you still have the house and garden on the East Coast? Haven’t heard anything about it for a while.
Mavis says
We still do, we’ve just had so many projects around here so I haven’t have a chance to write about it in a while. There will be plenty of trips back there this year though, so you’ll be seeing a lot of posts about it soon!
RebekahU says
I am so happy to hear that you do drive bys too!! I always feel really weird about it. We built our absolute dream house in 2003. We lived there for a couple of years and then my husband got a dream job offer in South Florida (the job turned out to be an unbelievable disaster… we should have stayed put…). So we moved. We left our dream house. Fast forward nine years… Now we have moved within 30 minutes of our old house. Everytime we are in the area we drive by. When I do it, I drive super slow but never stop. I have taken pictures. My husband… different story. HE PUTS THE CAR IN PARK. Once he even got out and stood in the road. It makes me feel like the neighbors are looking out of the windows saying, “They’re back!” 🙂 So far, no one has called the police! Thank goodness…
Mavis Butterfield says
So glad to hear I am not alone!! 🙂
Kareno says
Sign me up! I would pay to have a backyard garden designed by Mavis! I don’t live anywhere near you, but I can send you pictures of my yard and you tell me what to do. I have major garden envy of your gardens.
Diana says
Several years ago, I drove by the house I sold in 1981 in Michigan when I moved south to GA. It was pretty surreal, but I was so excited to see the Blue Spruce that was my last Christmas tree in the house (it was a balled root tree) that the neighborhood kids and I planted in the front yard, was still there. It was huge and beautiful and I cried when I saw it.
Good memories…
Mavis says
How fun to revisit such a great memory! So glad that tree was still there!