Progress in the Mesclun Garden

If you look close, you'll see some tiny green sprouts amid all that brown soil.

Got the chicken wire all the way around the mesclun garden now, and just in the nick of time it seems. Two of the rows are showing tiny little green sprouts already.

Fixing a Leaking Outdoor Faucet

When planting the mesclun, I turned my outside water back on for the first time since the beginning of winter. Nighttime lows no longer get down below freezing, so we should be okay if I leave the water turned on at the outside valve. But this reminded me that I've had a leaky outside faucet for a year now.....which is why I had to turn the main valve off last year every time I used the water. Well, no more. The spouse is going to fix the leaking faucet. So, I found a video at AOL videos, and the job looks easy enough, if one has the upper arm and shoulder strength to wield a pipe wrench. We'll see. I'll take some snapshots to show the progress of this "honey do" task.

Growing Mesclun

I don't know how much if anything planting mesclun saves over buying it in those big tubs at the supermarket, but growing it is rewarding. A few years ago, I laid out a single spring planting and had enough for the whole neighborhood well into the hottest part of summer. This year, I set up a new space in the yard and will have to see how successful I am. Today I planted two seed packets that I bought directly from Burpee Seeds online: classic mesclun mix and sweet mesclun mix. I did a poor job of estimating how much of each packet to place in each row, and the last row has few seeds in it compared to the other rows. Maybe that means I'll have room for an early planting of basil. We'll see when this planting starts to spout.

I still have time to finish putting my rabbit fence around the bed. First, I have to find more chicken wire; then, I have to hope chicken wire keeps rabbits out.

Going Green . . . All the way

Today I got tired of a slow drain in one of my bathroom sinks. Nothing worse than brushing one's teeth and having the water (that you only turn on to rinse) start to back up in the sink. These are old pipes, probably full of rust and sharp edges, catching hair and everything else solid that manages to find a way down the drain.

So, I went to a wonderful website, mrsfixit.com, and found a solution for a slow drain that didn't involve risky chemicals or calling a plumber. I started my kettle of water boiling according to the instructions, then got a cup each of baking sode and white vinegar from the pantry. What could be greener? Since I'm unable to take the drain cover out of the sink, I merely made sure it was open, and poured the baking soda into the sink. Most of it stayed at the sink bottom, as I expected. Nevertheless, I then poured the vinegar into the sink, and voila! I had a sinkful of something that looked like Alka Seltzer once it's begun to work. Bubbles, boiling bubbles, or something like that. I wish now that I'd taken a picture of it.

After a minute or two, I poured the kettle full of boiling water into the sink. You should have seen this, too......next time, I'll take pictures.

To make a long story short, my sink now drains. Although the water doesn't rush down the drain like I'd hoped, it does empty much faster. In a week or so, I'll repeat the process to see if a second bubbling out gets a better result.

And I'll take pictures, I promise.

Early Sunsets

Spring evenings, after a rainstorm, are often the most beautiful of the year.

First Signs of Spring

The daffodils planted in sunny locations like this one are in full bloom. Unfortunately, this year some of the bulbs have been in the ground too long and they've stopped blooming. I'll dig them up and replant in another location (as the daffodil website recommends. If they don't bloom next year, I'll have to purchase new bulbs.

Still working that weedy side yard

I just read some interesting posts about bindweed eradication (the most interesting one being the suggestion of using a nuclear bomb). Thing is, though that suggestion carries much humor, the bindweed problem is not funny.....at least to me, a homeowner whose land becomes more filled with the weed every year as I stay one step behind in trying to eradicate it (getting rid of the wild pink Gilia is another issue).

All that said, my hope is that the gravel I'm slowly covering that area of the yard with will eventually do the eradication for me. As new bindweed shoots appear, I can spritz them individually with RoundUp, which I've learned empirically does kill the weed deader than a doornail. As far as keeping bindweed from popping up in the tree wells (since they are kept moist most of the summer), I've learned that laying down thick pads of newspaper (and holding it down with rocks) does the same thing as the gravel . . . keeps any light from reaching the weed's leaves or stems . . . and thus does not allow them to grow.

Problem solved . . . as soon as the labor is done.

Now as to the pink Gilia . . .