Stepping out of the winter slump.

It’s amazing to me how much more I enjoy little Casa Bloom when the weather is nice. Obviously, we’ve been absent from this blog all winter, stewing and whining about our muddy, funny little house. In front of the house, the yard was a pit of mud, rotting walnut detritus, and the garbage that sketchy people threw over our fence when they were passing by. The back was a cold, slippery wet slab of concrete, complete with a rotting vegetable garden that never did much of anything late last summer/fall, a bird feeder that scattered seed all over the world, and a hibernating hanging basket that I always smacked my head on when I tried to stay under the eaves and out of the rain as I took the trash out. But then March, April, and now May marched forward, and slowly but surely the slab became less slippery, the bog out front started to dry up, the grass began to grow (and grow, and grow, and grow!), and bluebells burst out all around the edges of the yard. Suddenly the house looked a little less “Skidmark” and a little more “Bloom.”

Today is the first of May, and I can happily say that project Summer Bloom is well underway.

As the sunny weekends have increased, so has D and my interest in being out-of-doors. Two or three weeks ago I scrubbed off the slab, and wiped down our patio furniture. D bought us a nifty new mower and whipped the grass into shape. I tied back the roses that were threatening to devour anyone walking near them in the yard. I moved my hopeful little seedlings off the kitchen windowsill, and into long, low pots outside. I bought a rosemary plant to replace the one that desiccated over the winter (under the eaves, it received no rain… whoops). And now we’re full-head, full-tilt, rolling, tumbling, and rocketing our way into and out of spring.

There are too many topics that I want to address in-depth, so I will begin by talking about a couple of them briefly—you can expect greater substance as the weeks go by. Let’s just get this ball rolling for now.

Flymo the Hovercraft Lawnmower

As the weather improved, and the alternating sun and rain incited a riot of growth on our lawn, D sallied forth onto Craigslist to find us a better contraption for mowing our lawn (our prior incarnation of a lawnmower tended to just push the grass down rather than mow it). We were set on NOT buying a gas-powered mower, if possible (think green!), which limited our options to manual-push-spinning-wheel-of-blades type mowers, and electric ones. Given our success with the prior version, we opted to search electric. And did we ever hit the jackpot.

Not only did we end up with an awesome electric mower, but we ended up with a bright orange electric mower with no wheels for only $40. I know what you’re thinking, “With no wheels of course it was only $40! What good is a lawnmower with no wheels?” Well, my friends, let me introduce you to the FLYMO. Our new little buddy is a bonafide Hovercraft lawnmower. That’s right, it HOVERS over the grass on a CUSHION OF AIR. I swear, using it is more like vacuuming the lawn that mowing it. It’s fabulous. Until we get our own pictures up, you can visit this dude’s flickr site to see a picture of a Flymo that looks just like ours…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vifferrari/94207463/ or you can check out the whole Flymo concept on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flymo. It’s from Europe, ok? We’re just that much more ahead of the times. And if you want to try it out, admission and a test run will only cost you a bottle of wine, a 6-pack of beer, or just some delightful company.

I’m sure more will follow on this soon. We’re still excited about it.

When Seedlings Take Over your Life

As we were working hard to figure out the best way to cut things down, we were simultaneously working our hardest to grow things up. About a month ago I bought several packets of seed from the store and started planting lettuce, basil, and a few other random things in little peat pots. Those peat pots lived in relative warmth and happiness on our kitchen window, growing and sprouting, and being all cute. I finally decided that it was time to graduate them into real pots, and now I have two long planters of basil and lettuce starts growing their little hearts out on our back slab. As the weather warms I’ll probably have to move them (because it will be far too hot for their delicate sensibilities back there), but for now they get sunshine, water, and the company of a few other plants.

I was especially pleased to discover yesterday that my basils had developed a second row of leaves! We’re onto tier two!

In the garden (read: real dirt in the ground) I’ve started lots of arugula and some peas. Despite a brief problem with the peas looking like they’d been through the slug mower, I think we’re off to a good start. The arugula is sprouting well, and my little rows look so cute and linear. The only garden enemy we’ve encountered so far has been a hungry neighborhood squirrel who, along with burying walnuts in our planter drawers last fall, has made a habit of sniffing past our garden and un-earthing the seeds and/or starts before they get a good jump on life. I had one sunflower plant that had emerged and that I was watching excitedly and expectantly. I had achieved about an inch of height (cooing, and smiling at it), and I went out one morning to check on its progress, and it was gone! Eaten! Dissappeared! Darn Gestapo squirrels! I wouldn’t have made the connection were it not for a Saturday morning at the kitchen window in which I caught Mr. Squirrel at his dirty tricks.

Finally, now that I’ve moved the lettuce and basil starts outdoors, the kitchen window sill is hosting an array of new seedlings. Sunflowers (I decided to try them again… this time starting in a squirrel-proof environment!), cucumbers, string beans, larkspur, and a wild experiment to see if I can get bell peppers to grow in Oregon. Who knows. Bear with me and I’ll keep you updated.

Hurrah for spring! Hurrah for growing! Hurrah for starts!