Tag / plans

by Sixer

Naturally, the Garden

I might not know where I plan to be in five years, or what path my career will take me by 2030, but I not only have plans for my 2020 garden I have already bought seeds.

2019 saw growth for myself, as gardener, in two ways: first, I was finally able to start sprouts successfully, managing to keep alive three Okinawa sweet potato slips and about two dozen seedlings. True, many didn’t survive transplanting, but the fact they died outside of the house, from something other than me forgetting to water them, feels like a level up. I also kept much better records than normal. Not perfect records. Not even complete-but-lacking-significant-details records. No, they petered out with the warming weather, leaving me little insight into how my garden works past May. But this is still significantly more information than I’ve ever captured before. I’m excited to improve further in these areas, and to add a few more to my tool belt. Top on my list to try out in 2020 is succession planting, which will require a number of changes in my attitude (and additional care in transplanting seedlings). Also, I plan to devote an hour a week, every Sunday morning, to garden tending – maybe if it’s on my calendar it will actually get done. And maybe if I keep up with it I won’t be so prone to negligence come June.

So, those are my two 2020 personal goals. My goals for my garden are even more ambitious. I really, really, really, want to eat more veggies this year and somehow this desire keeps getting tied into my garden plans. To be able to provide a good portion of my food needs from my own front yard is the distant Ultimate Goal that all other yearly goals point towards. To that end, this year I want to effectively use the spaces I’ve already established, rather than introduce more spaces I do nothing with. I do need to buy more soil and supplements to build up my first box’s soil, and I want to try out a few grow bags this year – especially for my sweet potatoes. But my growing plans are still as audaciously unlikely as ever. I’m starting a butterfly section near my front door which, to start with, is going to have bronze fennel, orange milkweed, and whatever extra marigolds I get to germinate. I also might stick a ground cherry in there, if I have space. Long term, I hope to have zinnias, cone flowers, and perhaps another perennial with the power to entice butterflies and bees (but not wasps). I’m also going to stick marigolds, ground cherries, kale, and lemon grass in my lower front window bed, which has historically been neglected. Both of these areas have uncertain to outright awful soil, and are going to be wedding nightmares. Scheduled weeding will be a must.

The main box is going to be my Succession Planting Learning Arena (SPLA).

  • Season one, spring: Kale, lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, string beans
  • Season two, late spring: Cucumber, tomatoes, basil, marjoram, marigolds, okra, cilantro, string beans, carrots
  • Season three, summer: Peppers (sweet and spicy), nasturtiums, okra
  • Season four, late summer/early fall: Winter radish, squash, carrots, lettuce, kale, beets, cilantro, garlic (from grocery store bulbs)


And then, finally, in the half barrel I’m trying out …… peanuts! They should be a lot of fun, especially since I went ahead and ordered the striped variety. Extra peanuts and peppers will, hopefully, go into grow bags.

Even if I fail miserably to reach my goals, it’s going to be a very, very yummy year.

by Sixer

Skipping Ahead

I am sitting here by my window, watching the world awake. No passionate dawns today – just a warm, happy glow slowly intensifying into daytime. I have moved my furniture twice in the last thirty days. I liked where my desk was before, but I realized even though I could see the window from my chair, I couldn’t really see out the window. So I moved it to a better spot. But that threw my bed placement off a bit, ergo the second rearrangement. Now it’s all settled and I love it, which might not be a good thing. See, I’m already thinking ahead to next year and the changes and challenges I want to to take on. One of them is the dreaded Go Out More, so having a perfectly restlful house is going to make it harder. However, it will make my other goals a little easier. I’m still wanting to start sewing, for instance. But mostly, I’m wanting to start reading, and that’s where my planning has focused.

There are all kinds of reading challenges, but the ones that make the most sense to me are those that let me dig into my already overflowing shelves. For this reason I’m joining one of the many TBR (to be read) challenges.

I’m throwing caution to the wind and pledging 24. Mount Blanc. That’s two books a month. I think I’ve been averaging one every three month this year. To make things more interesting, I’m adding the color challenge in as well. Any ideas for a third one? There are lots of challenges out there, but most of them seem geared to a certain genre (mystery, sci-fi, romance, fairytales, etc.) and the books I’m drowning in right now are all non-fiction or plain fiction, so I need something more like the sewing or knitting challenges that people host, which go by theme (reminds you of spring, gifted, plaid . . . . ). Maybe I’ll follow one of those challenges, translated into books? Hmm, could you call Tonybee’s A Study of History foundational?

by Sixer

Cycles

아녱센요! (a-nyeong-se-yo, or my attempt at a hello).

It’s nice to see everybody has survived their summers. I’m so looking forward to fall. Having only one class, I should be able to post more often, right? I guess I should warn you, I just published a post a few minutes ago, but I dated it August 15th. I actually wrote it on the seventh, but my pictures wouldn’t upload, so twenty days later here it is! And yes, the power to alter my blogs chronology is some kind of scary cool. Should I say I wrote this when I was six?

Most of the things I alluded to in the previously mentioned post are actually still current. I did sign up for a class, I’m still following my study plan (loosely, but enough to make me wonder if I’m merely an alien replacement), and I haven’t yet made my bento freezer staples. However, Snow White and her dwarves are scheduled to leave today for a week so I’m looking forward to a productive weekend at least. Maybe even an actual post?

I’ll tell you all about my class when I have something more interesting to say than “I’m taking such-and-such at such-and-such a time.” In order to distract you, can I tell you the latest news in sewing blog land? Ms. Casey, from Casey’s Elegant Musings, is going to hold a circle skirt sew-along. I’ve watched her swing dance sew-along, and Ms. Gertie’s one for Lady Grey (that was hard to watch, I love colette patterns), and I’m thinking this time maybe I won’t just watch.

Desire.
Dream.
 Do.
The three steps of obsession.

This, combined with my halloween costume, my language study, my class, my blog, and the fact that I do actually work now, should fill up my hours quite nicely. I’m hoping to get a lot of crafty stuff done now because, come November, I’m trying for Nanowirmo again. Last year I hit the humiliatingly low number of 5,000 words, which must not happen again. In recognition of all these plans, I’m ending this post with a sappy limerick poem. Enjoy!

My dreams sometimes seem like so much rubbish.
Like shiny candy wrappers,
Tossed away with glee.
In the sweetness of this swiftly fading present,
I give up a cloudy future
For hard and sure reality.