You just cant find good help these days

So our neighbor who owns a landscaping business was supposed to strip 1400 square feet of sod out of my backyard last Friday, which he delayed to Monday, which the weather did not permit until the end of the week (which is NOW) and this morning we called him (left a message) as to what time he was coming today, to which he called back half an hour later with a story of how he JUST found out today that his sod-cutter JUST broke and that we would need to pay him an extra $60 on top of the previously agreed-upon price so he could go to Home Depot and rent one. As if!

I got all the raised bed frames put together, some of them out back and some sitting in the garage, I got a shelf full of root-bound brassicas that should have been planted out two weeks ago, and now I have an unexpected date this Saturday with some heavy machinery -I'll rent the thing and do it myself rather than give the bonehead down the street any business after what he pulled. How hard can sod removal be, anyway?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXFU8tHGh3Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yfNamqbBUw&feature=related

It's a Harden-Off Life...

..for us!

Finally!!!

The tooth that came out today has been loose for about a week. The weird part is, it's the other tooth on the left that's been wiggling and driving her nuts for the past 4 months. Guess it still will.

Wood for Raised Beds!! Woo-hoo!!!

The thing that has been trapped inside my imagination since last January is going to become a reality! The design and layout has changed a dozen times over as many months, not to mention the countless sheets of paper sacrificed, done over with version after version....but today was the day that those countless arguments about money and feasibility appear to have come to fruition...Pakman took all the seats out of the mini-van and brought back a load of 2x6's from the lumberyard...the first entry on the material take-off list I had prepared just for this venerable occasion...pics to follow.

Homegrown Tomatoes

Y'know, my mom loved to garden. Even when she wasn't feeling all that great she still had to have something growing in the yard. Maybe that's where I caught the bug from. This morning I saw the date on the calendar and noticed that today is April 10, mom's birthday. Then I went to check the plants and noticed that today is also the day that my one prodigioius Stupice seedling decided to open it's little bloom. Coincidence? probably. But kinda cool too.

Now, time for a song...

(this video was originally downloaded from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxwjMtI4aoM) but for some unknown reason I couldn't copy the embed code so it was easier to just download it and re-upload it.)

Sweet Sixteen and Fabulous Four

They are alike enough in their personality to be twins in my book. Except that they were born only 12 years apart.

By the way they both say thank you to their Grampa for the lovely cards and contents therein.

Friends and family on Saturday night with the ice cream cake....

And just the immediate family today with homemade cupcakes....yes the little one helped me make them....she left her own personalization on most of them.

Well, that's it for (immediate family) birthdays until July. Good because now just the sight of any kind of cake makes me want to hurl.

Stupice Rhymes with "My Pizza"

So why is it spelled like that?

I potted up a Stupice seedling 10 days ago and man it must have grown a cm per day. Apparently they're not lying when they say 60 days to harvest, because look what I just found~ a teeny tiny flower bud! People talk about getting a ripe tomato by June 1, I may just beat that. This little guy and his tree brothers and sisters are now too tall or my grow light shelf. I hadn't bargained for this. I just repotted them 2 weeks ago and they took off like gangbusters. I need a taller shelf and more grow lights. Should I repot again or wait another week? I don't know! I wish I had a hoop house. No, I wish I had a greenhouse. I wish I lived in Arizona. Wait, no I dont, too hot and dusty, I don't care if its a dry heat, I like it right here. I wonder if it will bloom before May 1. I think I'll pick up some liquid kelp and worm castings next week. Couldn't hurt. In other news, I have revised my garden layout for the umpteenth time. That does it. I'm buying the wood for the raised beds next week.

Well-Groomed Onions

Gave the onion sprouts their first haircut the other day....don't they look just all spiffy with their new do? It's been a week of scrapbook milestones hasn't it. They were growing all crazy falling over each other and up into the growlight, so I must have read once upon a time that you're supposed to snip them down to get them to grow straight and bulk up. So I did. And if I were really frugal and resourceful I would have made a lovely pesto with the trimmings...but I just composted them instead. I know, how original. Oh, and by the way, my Baker Creek order came today, and guess what? They sent me an Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, just exactly like I ordered! Except that instead of the 10 seeds per pack listed on the site, there must be about 30 in there! The seed envelope was just plain white, instead of sporting the typical Baker Creek artwork, so they must have scrambled and found an outside source. Two thumbs up Baker Creek! Plus, my free bonus seeds are yellow marconi peppers-something I don't already have and will definitely enjoy growing.

Graduation Day

These occasions are so bittersweet, aren't they... I mean, you spend your whole life preparing for this day, so you'd think when it finally happens you'd be ready for it, but no...The emotion is so....raw......The first of my seedling six-packs graduated to empty frosting tubs, foam can cozee's, and old slurpee cups today and I'm beside myself! One six pack of mixed sweet bell peppers planted way back in January, and one six pack of "tree-type" tomatoes, from Val and Dan. Actually got seven tomato plants, because one was sharing. I never grew tree-type tomatoes before. They are not really "tree-like", but they're supposed to have a compact growth habit like a determinate variety, but instead of bearing all fruit at once like the determinates, they bear fruit continuously throughout the season like the indeterminates. Sounds perfect for patio containers, perhaps to give to friends and/or relatives. That's why I started them so early. By the way, I sowed the rest of my garden tomatoes yesterday, 40 cells worth. That's 20 different varieties, NOT including the 4 trial varieties I have promised for Dave, or the elusive Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge that I ordered from Baker Creek last week but when I checked the website the next day a "out of stock" message appeared. OUT OF STOCK! crap. Maybe I'll have to shell out $9 for 5 seeds on ebay after all. Because 20 varieties is not nearly enough tomatoes is it?