Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Turning over a new leaf

Literally. And we're so excited about it! Russ built a 6x6 foot vegetable box in the backyard! I've wanted to do vegetables for a while, but have always been a little nervous that I totally don't know what I'm doing. This year we just decided to give it a whirl even if everything dies.

So... today while the girls were taking a nap, I decided to go out and finally get these plants in the ground. We spent about $45 on plants and fertilizer, about $40 on dirt, and I can't remember about the wood, but I'm sure it wasn't that much. So, for about $100, we have a fun little project and hopefully a lot of vegetables!
Here's what I planted today:
Squash, Zucchini, 2 different kinds of Lettuce, Green Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, Roma Tomatoes, Strawberries, Dill, Chives, Cilantro, Parsley, Thyme, Basil, Lavender, and Marigolds (to fend off pests).
Squash and Zucchini will grow pretty big, that's why they're taking up 1/2 the bed, but the rest should do pretty well in their little square foot lots. I recently read most of a book called Square Foot Gardening which suggests saving space by splitting your garden up into 1x1 foot plots and lets you know how many of each type of plant will fit in each square foot plot. So, I just followed his advice - except he proposes a 4x4 foot box so that everything is easy to reach (makes sense), but we had already made our 6x6 foot box, so we just started with that. I'm so excited to see how everything turns out! My biggest concerns are the Dill (was all wilty today - maybe we didn't plant it soon enough), and the lettuce since lettuce isn't a summer-lovin' plant like the rest of them. I also would like to get some cucumber seeds, beans, and more tomatoes, but we just got what we could in our first run and we'll add other things later. I also hope to be able to plant some flowers so I can have fresh cut flowers around when a few things are harvested and there is more space.

If you have any advice about keeping away pests (bunnies, deer, insects, worms, etc...) please share your thoughts! This is the one area I REALLY don't feel confident in and we definitely have lots of deer and bunnies.

What a great thing to be able to teach the girls! We're excited.

Noa and Ruthie
Last night a certain little someone was doing something exciting on her own... It was bound to happen sooner or later... Lipstick! She was going to Aunt Libbye's and wanted to get ready, I guess. She even asked for a "pony" (pony tail) before we went. :)
And Ruthie loves sharing Noa's "top teeth." :)

Update on the house
Well, we've had several people go through our townhouse on James Island. We received an offer on Sunday. Great! So, on Monday, Dolph (our friend and realtor) and Russ went over to the house to see if they could assess the attic before the house inspector came and they accidentally busted a pipe, flooding the house. The water was running for about 10 minutes before they could find the key (renters had moved it) to turn it off. UGH! That house drives me crazy! Sell, sell, sell at all costs!!! Anyway, the upstairs carpet needed to be dried out but ended up being o.k. The dining room now has a hole in the ceiling where the chandelier was as water was rushing through all the light sockets. Many other things happened to, but it is enough to say that you don't want that to happen the day you're sending your buyer a counter offer. It gets worse...

Yesterday their realtor called Dolph and said they were coming over to see the house in 30 minutes! Russ and Dolph raced over there and tried to clean up what they could, but it was definitely not presentable. The dehumidifiers (rented from a distaster place) were going all over the house, holes in the ceiling, carpet torn up... all taking away the leverage we had with our counter offer. Double UGH!

BUT! By God's grace, the buyer gave us another counter offer (which we thought she would anyway) and Russ signed the contract today accepting her offer. We just have to make it through inspections now and we'll be rid of that place!

Please pray that the deal goes through. Please pray that there's no more drama with this house and it is smooth sailing from here on out. Please pray that the inspections go well.

Thank you Lord for your lessons... but we are done with this one now. :)

3 comments:

Irene Weeks said...

Please let me know if the marigolds help keep any bug critters away. Little pests are what discouraged me 2 years ago and I haven't tried again! The only veggie I was successful with was tomatoes. I never heard that marigolds helped with pests... now I'm getting pumped about trying again! AND.... praying hard about your townhome... you go, you gazelle, you! :)

G-Metal, Coco, Angel Face and Bunny said...

I have the black thumb of death, so I can offer no advice on the garden, but I hope yours is so fruitful that you never have to buy fresh veggies or fruits again! ;)

That is AWESOME that you sold the house!!! Thank you God. But awful about your horrible experience!! Oh my goodness. I would've crapped my pants if I were Russ not been able to find that key and water gushing out. But just think, those are the actual events that make really funny stories like ten or twenty years AFTER the fact.

Jenny G. said...

Jackie, You'll have to try out the veggie & herb garden and let me know how it goes. Now that we have somewhat of a yard & I'm home to mess with it... I'd love to try it too! I guess it's too late for me to start this year, right? That's fun & exciting.

keep us updated on the town home. I hope everything goes through and it sells! That would be awesome! We're praying for you guys.