Week 54

Made more good progress on my to-do list on the last two days of spring break.

I stained the interior of the windows & doors downstairs the same honey color as the rest of the wood in the house. Turned out pretty well. I skipped photos because the difference is a little too subtle to see in a photo.

I also made progress on touching up the paint in the downstairs rooms. Should be able to finish that next weekend.

In other news, the vegetable garden has been planted & is ready to go:

The total area is 19 square feet -- the long side is 7 feet long, and the little angle is 2 1/2 feet long. I trimmed that angle down by a couple feet this year to open up the area in front of the panda a little more.

I decided against a garden border of broken terra cotta tiles because I realized that I don't know whether those tiles have lead in them. I am using these broken pieces of concrete instead and/or until I get around to testing the tiles for lead.

The bed has been planted with beets, arugula, lettuce, snap peas, and some seeds that Jon brought me back from a trip to Japan. Hard to tell exactly what he brought back, but judging from the packets, I think I planted lettuce, spinach, and some sort of lumpy squash. Favas go in next week, when the seeds arrive.

I've been doing some research on water conservation in vegetable gardens. I'm trying two things: sunken beds, where the level of the dirt around the plant is a little below grade, so that water is concentrated around the plants instead of running off all over the place, and these things:

These are unglazed terra cotta pots sunk into the bed and filled with water. The idea is that the water seeps out slowly into the soil through the clay, getting to the deeper roots of large plants around them. I put caps on them to keep the water from evaporating, & keep bugs & other animals from being attracted to the water. 

Speaking of animals, you might be wondering how I plan on keeping Pickles out of the garden, these small pieces of concrete not being much of a physical barrier. She is pretty good about stopping when you tell her to stop, but just in case she decides to chase a squirrel or something, I put these branches down on the bed:

These are from the rosemary tree that I cut down last February. I knew they would come in handy for something in the garden! 

Next up: we will be hooking up our new washing machine this week. When we mentioned the demise of the old washing machine to Jon last week, he said that his company had a couple they had decided to get rid of, so we cancelled the order at the store. Thank you, Jon! So, now all we have to do is hook it up and get rid of the old one (which the garbage company will haul away for free). 

Mr. Bunkport is also tentatively scheduled for Tuesday! Cross your fingers that all goes well!