Garden Changes

In June the poppies were in bloom in the garden at the back of my house.  Lovely though they were they didn't last but a few weeks.

I trimmed them back to the fluffy fern leaves when the blooms died off.  I did save the seed pods to some day try my hand at making more plants maybe at the next duty station.

Now that its July another flower has decided to blossom in the garden bed out back.

The delphiniums are now in bloom.  They smell as wonderful as the poppy plants once did while they were in bloom.

The potato plant should bloom by the end of the month if all went well.  I planted three store bought potatoes in three beds.  So far so good.  I can't wait for my own potatoes especially the purple ones.

Though its hard to see, the salmon snapdragons are still blooming and the dahlias have started to bloom too.  I'm still waiting for the hollyhock to send up its blossoms but with all this grey I'm having my doubts.

Off to the far right you can see my hanging tomato plant; I started from seed.  I also have the marigolds in a basket that I started from seed.

Victory Gardening

Gardening is one of the best ways I have found in which to cut down on the environmental wastes.  Instead of buying those cans of vegetable or frozen poly bags of produce I sow my own seeds for vegetables where ever I live.  Last year I grew green onions, pumpkins, rhubarb, sunflowers, lemon thyme, peppers, Italian and curled leaf parsley, basil, tomatoes, nasturtiums, strawberries, yarrow, marigold (some are edible and used as egg substitutes), lavender, lemon balm and rosemary.  If I had more area in which I was allowed to plant vegetables I would utilize it too.  There are some restrictions to gardening on the military installations.  I'm limited to the two front flower beds and the one in back I got permission to have installed over the old tree stump.

In the next week or so, when the plumbers have finished tearing up my bathroom for the Slab Leak, I'll begin my indoor sowing of seeds in the peet pots I purchased last summer.  Whatever I grow I always share with friends and family.  Its seems as though I have a green thumb when it comes to gardening and what I plant grows like wild fire.

Over the winter season my husband has been compiling compost so that we can work it into the soil of our flower beds this spring.  We don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers aside from the once a month use of Miracle Grow.  Its my little cheat making it not a totally organic garden but I don't use it very often.  I usually forget to use the stuff and still have an unopened bag of the singles from last year.  I don't think that the nitrogen, pot ash, and ammonium sulfate combination is going to be all that harmful to the vegetables, no more so than  using potting soil that contains a boost to it.  Most smart farmers, even the organic gardeners use items to correct the soil ph and organic fertilizers of which they hope are actually organic to begin with.  But back to the idea of a Victory Garden before I get too far off this environmental post.  I could use Epsom salts to fertilize garden as well as cow manure.

If funds are tight and fresh vegetables seem to be always off your grocery list due to a tight budget, the seed packets are inexpensive enough to purchase.  Our housing service does offer dirt that can be used to grow your plants but you are better off sterilizing it in your oven to ensure there are no extras that you don't want in your garden beds.  Growing your own vegetables is a thing of pride.  I feel a happiness surge whenever I look out on my garden and see how well everything is growing knowing that I'm doing my part to supplement the food on our table.

Enough of my ramblings.  Get yourself some seeds, some dirt and even a broken cup will do for a pot.  Go start your own Victory garden.

Here are some links to sites for more information on the subject:

Victory Gardening with Heirloom Seeds, nothing tastes better than heirloom vegetables! http://www.heirloomseeds.com/victory.html

Grow your own Victory Garden just about anywhere http://www.victorygardeninitiative.org/

And a wonderful source with a full color online catalog, http://www.burpee.com/

Serenity and no its not the Sci Fi tv show

 The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

 The above prayer is the one my mother would often recite to herself when things just didn't go as she had planned.  I chuckle now seeing the actual words written out above and how they can apply quite well to the life of an Army wife.  I'm not the religious sort, more of the spiritual type leaning away from any organized religion.

The Army life brings with it many challenges.  Just yesterday I get a phone call from my husband, after 1700 hrs, stating that he wasn't sure what time he'd be home.  Our routine is forming.  Before he deployed to Iraq last year he was home all of six months and we had barely had time to form any routine.  Before Iraq he was in Korea for a year and before that he was in BCT and AIT which took up eight months.  I'm still adjusting to Army life with my spouse actually being home.  For the better part of three years I've been living alone, eating alone and in general going about my own daily routine without interruptions with the exception of doctor appointments.  Now I'm learning about sharing my time with a guy that has a very busy lifestyle.


Before Army life my spouse was an outdoorsy type of man.  He would teach snowboarding at a NY ski center.  I tried snowboarding once and had lots of fun falling.  No seriously I laughed when I'd fall and try to get back up.  During the warmer months he'd work as a journeyman landscaper.  He loves being in the outdoors.  So it should have come as no big shock to me that when he got home from Iraq he started digging holes in the yard.  Not just one hole to enlarge a garden but several holes.  He has now installed a drip edge and filled in the low spots in the lawn, front and back!

So as I roll up his laundry into the style he has become accustomed to since learning it in BCT I'll roll this up as well for today.  I'm learning to accept this new lifestyle and all that it brings to me with friends and new experiences. Tomorrow is a new days with its own challenges that I'll learn to accept as they come my way and hopefully not complain too much about but that is still to be seen.

To those of you that read my blog, many thanks!