springtime poetry

Julie, Julie tell me truly,
How does your garden Grow?

uh...Believe me, I have my doubts, you know!?!?

OK, so i'm not a poet

and i don't think i'm a gardener either.

yet.

but i'm giving it a whirl.

the odds are stacked since i live in a HOT desert.

a garden, in Las Vegas?

i reminded myself...it IS possible.
others have overcome our climate amazingly well....and maybe i will to.

here's a picture of our friends Kevin and Kira Barney's amazing desert garden...just a small piece of it!

i have hope.

and i'm finally getting around to something i've wanted to do for YEARS!

it all started about 3 weeks ago when i was talking with my friend melissa and she asked if i had a garden and mentioned that she was going to garden this year. i replied that i didn't but always had wanted to. i also went and looked at courtney's garden. and i mustered up the motivation to plant my own! then i realized that now was as good of a time as any.

so we got things started.

i learned as much as i could from here..
http://www.agardeninthedesert.com/


Here's what I learned....

Gardening notes

Water dirt once a day for a week or two, as needed, to get the dirt working

I would keep your very first garden small so you don’t get discouraged if something doesn’t go quite right.

I put my garden along my west wall to shade it from the brutal, summer afternoon sun

Your garden will need full morning or early afternoon sun, at least 6 hours of direct sunlight.

The soil composition is very important. You want to have lots of organic material, meaning manure and compost. The more dead, organic matter the better the soil, which means better produce.

You also don’t want to step on the garden dirt and compact the dirt

Don’t plant right after you add the amendments because the soil needs time to release all of what the plants need.

When shopping look for the words compact, patio, pixie, tiny, baby or dwarf. Just because the plant is bred to be small doesn’t mean that the fruits will be small.

If you want green beans you can get more yield from a pole variety than a bush. You can let them climb up instead of on the ground, using less space.

WATER: when it comes to watering your plants, you might look for a “weeping” hose. These can be found at Lowes’s and Home Depot. They use less water and actually give your plant a drip that saturates the root zone and water better than all at once. Be sure to water regular at least every two or three days.

SOIL: Make sure your soil has enough compost and fertilizer. Soil is important. Vegetables need a rich organic soil to mature and produce good tasting fruits. Remember, if you are going to eat it you have to feed it!

SUN: Vegetables need a good 6 hours or more of sun in a day. Without sun the fruits will not ripen and the plant will be stressed.

For those of you who don’t have any compost of your own, be sure to buy a good quality compost like Kellogg’s or a similar brand. The cheap compost-mulch is just that. The forest magic is mostly ground up bark and does not do much in the way of adding to your soil.

Now is the time you should have already gotten your soil prepared for spring planting. If you haven’t, not to worry, you still have time if you act quickly.

Now is the time you should have already gotten your soil prepared for spring planting. If you haven’t, not to worry, you still have time if you act quickly.

I also found some more information here.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/home/gardening/mills_tomato.html

can you say brain overload!?!

i got over the overload.


then we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

we brought in some pretty dirt.

justin tilled the land.(while sporting every plastic tool known to man.)

we planted some seeds ..some of which have even grown seedlings.

[along with the seedlings grew some pretty tiny white worm looking creatures too.]

yuck. we threw those away.

then we picked up some cheater plants from the nursery....a little help you know since we got a late start.

we hooked up some cute little soaker hoses.

made cute little rows (which i love.)

then lovingly put each little plant in it's new home.
(most get to live here.)

(the lucky ones get to live here.)

[as ugly as it looks...this thing is amazing. it's like an earth box (but i made it.)
go here for info. no ground or garden of your own? then make one of these. if you want to know how to make your own, let me know. ]

all of which made my fingers beautifully dirty. pretty huh?!?


now i get to go outside and water and check on my garden..which is fun.
except when i notice some plants dying...already.

but i'm o.k. with that.
it's a learning experience right!?

and do you know what makes me happier than anything???

justin is LOVING every minute of it.

EVERY DAY he asks, "can we garden today mom?
and i say yes.

so that's the beginning of our gardening story.
there may be many more beautiful chapters to come.

but there may be just one more chapter....
the end.

but i pray this is just the beginning.
and if any garden needs prayers...mine does. :)

clueless

i have another confession.

yesterday, was st patricks day.

but my kids had NO CLUE that there was even a holiday going on in their midst!

no green.

no pinching.

no clovers

no clue.

which reminds me....

i have NO CLUE why we celebrate that holiday anyway.

i'm not irish.

i think i'm not at least.

and, this isn't Ireland. right?

so, i've observed this "holiday" for like 3o years now and i still have idea about it all.

well, scratch that. i've observed st. patrick's day 29 years.

every year cept this one.

oops.

bad mommy.

i deserve to be spanked with a 4 leaf clover or something!

i guess i could make ammends and tell them tomorrow is st. patrick's day!?

or not.

self imposed torture for a good cause

Dear Abby,

I need HELP! I have a confession. I like blogging, a lot. I have thought on occasion, " Oh blogging, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways." I've counted the ways before. Believe me, there are lots. Blogging is my drug of choice. It makes my mind whirl with delight to actually be thinking, growing, expanding, gleaning, sharing, communicating, relating and creating. It's wonderful.

But there's a problem I have. I feel like Ariel when she stated so poignantly, "how could a world that makes such wonderful things be bad?" Relating to my circumstance I say, "how could a blogworld that shares such wonderful things be bad for me at times?" Blogging never fails to cure what ails me, but I'm sick of it's pesky side effects. And I've felt more than a few. For example, I have Blogsession. You know, a blogging obsession. Sometimes, I just don't stop. It starts with just one little click, then before you know it, and hour (or 2) have gone by and I'm reading some stranger's blog that lives in Arkansas about making homemade laundry detergent. Then there are side effects of the side effects. It's not pretty. (See figure a, b, c and d.) Why is it that wonderful things are just so addicting!?!? The worst side effect of all is bloguilt. As it is with other things, when I overindulge, I feel guilty. I should feel guilt for Pete's sake, seeing how it's a natural indicator that something is amiss. So my question is, "how can I blog away freely without these unpleasant side effects!?!" I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks a lot.

Sincerely,

Julie the blogger.

anna KNOWS she can get away with anything when i'm overdosing on blogging.

did i do that???

poor lil guy!

uh...
Alright, so I didn't really send this to Abby.

I don't even know if Abby even knows what a blog is.

I just needed to write to somebody….anybody.

Except Dr. Laura.

She'd just yell at me and tell me to get over it.

Really, this is just so trivial that I would never bother anybody with this.

As a result I was left to figure it out myself.

So I pondered and decided it was up to me so find a solution to my dilemma.

Then, one especially guilt ridden day, I was thinking while driving and had the feeling that I need to limit my computer time.

I just hate it when I realize that I have yet another thing I need improve on in my life.

But then again, I do love overcoming issues and being in control of my life.

I had to come up with a remedy that would NOT resemble hitting the delete button on my blog or banging my computer with a hammer.

Instead, I've come up with a more reasonable solution so that I can still enjoy something I love without all of the negative side effects.

You know, a pro without the con.

My plan is a bit over the top.

Many of you may not need such a drastic intervention.

Well, I do.

Believe me, I've tried other means.

They just take more self control than I have developed.

Luckily I've finally found the solution for not overdosing on a wonderful thing.

It's name: K9 Web Protection Alert. Here's what I did.

• I downloaded K-9
  
• I restricted all internet access.
  
• I set up a daily time limit of a half hour of free time. (honor system w/myself…in my head.)
  
• When my time is up, the internet simply stops working and i give up....or log back in IF i can justify it! {this actually works wonders because it actully makes me stop, evaluate weather what involved in on the internet is really worth my time!}
  
• I also allow myself to use a 5 minutes worth of access if I need quick info like a recipe phone number or a map.
  
• Now, whenever I decide to use my free time, I just login, allow access for the half hour and that's it.
  

I've done this for a week now and my side effects….bloguilt, blogsession, and blogoverdose are gone!!

I can now blog away to my heart's content.

Oh the joy I feel.

I can do something I love, WITHOUT FEELINING GUILT.

That is, until this dreaded alert pops up. Over and over and over and over and over again. Until I just give up trying to click back and decide to actually decide to give in and click that little red x.

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

p.s. this may not work for me forever.I wan't to know how you avoid bloggermania side effects. i can use ANY help I can get. :0)

p.s.s.....karen Kondos and other privatizers. pleeeese let me into your blog!!! i miss you! my email is morjulie@gmail.com

ripe and ready!

it's a known fact.

morris people eat, love, worship avocados.


ask anna....and justin....and mommy....and daddy too.

and since avacados are an iconic food here,

the green, fleshy goodness is bestowed

upon every morris child on the eve of their 6th month birthday.

the family gathers round for the big moment.

it's a time of love and sharing what we love.

i have such fond memories of anna's 1st encounter.

it was true bliss.

"bring it on!" she would say as the green gushed.

knowing his family legacy,

can you imagine the excitement and wonder dallin MUST have felt leading up to that blessed day?

his FIRST time eating solid food.

and there, in front of his face was his very own ripe avocado.

drums were rolled.

the beautiful green flesh was scooped and placed on wanton tongue.

and then, i could almost hear his dismay...

"NO THANK YOU! I'll have another order of breastmilk please."



c'mon buddy. don't you understand how amazing avocados are?

they even have their own website!
it's o.k. we still love you and think you are cuter than humanly possible.


don't fret little dallin.... no pressure here.

we will just wait patiently for the day when you join the morris way!