I suppose there are some ladies who lunch. I haven't met them yet. Everyone seems SO busy. I've always been determined not to be so busy, so when I did unfortunately become SO busy, I was so disappointed in myself. I may not have become a lady who lunches, but I am thrilled to have enough down time to begin tackling the yard. We bought our house almost four years ago. It was our first home purchase, and because it had taken us so long to finally buy a little place of our own, we were thrilled. I vowed to never have another white wall, and I quickly ripped out the sad old rose bushes in the back yard to finally have an amazing vegetable garden. I'd been gardening in our rentals for years, in sad old containers and without much luck. So, my Dad and Dan built some raised beds for my birthday a few years ago and we brought in some special garden mix soil for maximum veggie potential. Which brings me to Problem #162 on my list of life fix-its. (Notice I'm not starting with #1? That's because I never seem to do things in logical order.) That special mix that we spent a fortune on, had delivered, and moved into the boxes by wheelbarrow-ful? It came with a special surprise:
Don't let this little guy fool you. Cue the Britney Spears... 'cause he's
not that innocent. That's right. Grubs. Do you know what these tiny little grubs do to veggies? They eat the tap roots. The plants look pretty good, but don't grow any veggies. Do you know any organic solutions to killing the Japanese Beetle Larvae? Didn't think so. Neither did any of the garden pros at any of the garden shops in the Tri-Valley area, or online gardening sites or gardening chat boards I've visited. So, we've tried picking them out by hand. (A fun game for the kids, but they tend to give up after a few hours.) I've tried planting menacing plants that are supposed to repel the grubs. (They just eat at the roots for dessert.) I've tried two rounds of nematodes at $40 a pop. No luck. The only thing I seem to be able to grow successfully? Grubs. I have a beautiful, prolific assortment of them. Ugh. My birthday is Thursday. This is what I ordered to ring in my 39 years of bliss on this planet:
I'm skeptical, but trying to have some faith. If you can just try to contain your patience, I'll update in a couple of weeks and let you know how it works. Say a little prayer for me. Found something else in the wreckage that I've never seen before. Now I'm on the lookout for some smurfs... too cute.
Bright red! It was mixed amongst my favorite weed. I'm not sure what the weed's scientific name is, but to me, it's "wanna-be four-leaf clover". Just like marrying a Gallagher makes me, "wanna-be Irish". Still, amongst the rubble are a happy little faces that manage to survive all sorts of neglect:
They are so cheerful, I planted a whole mess of them in the Grand-daddy version to greet me at the front door when I come home.
What IS it about the word PANSY that makes me giggle like a teenager? These hearty faces are anything but pansies. Their ability to thrive in the middle of the winter muck is one of my favorite things about them. It's one small shift toward cheerfulness...
Don't let this little guy fool you. Cue the Britney Spears... 'cause he's not that innocent. That's right. Grubs. Do you know what these tiny little grubs do to veggies? They eat the tap roots. The plants look pretty good, but don't grow any veggies. Do you know any organic solutions to killing the Japanese Beetle Larvae? Didn't think so. Neither did any of the garden pros at any of the garden shops in the Tri-Valley area, or online gardening sites or gardening chat boards I've visited. So, we've tried picking them out by hand. (A fun game for the kids, but they tend to give up after a few hours.) I've tried planting menacing plants that are supposed to repel the grubs. (They just eat at the roots for dessert.) I've tried two rounds of nematodes at $40 a pop. No luck. The only thing I seem to be able to grow successfully? Grubs. I have a beautiful, prolific assortment of them. Ugh. My birthday is Thursday. This is what I ordered to ring in my 39 years of bliss on this planet: 
I'm skeptical, but trying to have some faith. If you can just try to contain your patience, I'll update in a couple of weeks and let you know how it works. Say a little prayer for me. Found something else in the wreckage that I've never seen before. Now I'm on the lookout for some smurfs... too cute. 
Bright red! It was mixed amongst my favorite weed. I'm not sure what the weed's scientific name is, but to me, it's "wanna-be four-leaf clover". Just like marrying a Gallagher makes me, "wanna-be Irish". Still, amongst the rubble are a happy little faces that manage to survive all sorts of neglect: 
They are so cheerful, I planted a whole mess of them in the Grand-daddy version to greet me at the front door when I come home. 
What IS it about the word PANSY that makes me giggle like a teenager? These hearty faces are anything but pansies. Their ability to thrive in the middle of the winter muck is one of my favorite things about them. It's one small shift toward cheerfulness...
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