el jardin

really bad shot i know... but it shows all my baby plants!!! here is what im attempting to grow:

vegetables [or fruits as im told]: soy bean/edamame, bok choi, zucchini, multicolored bell peppers, heirloom tomatoes, green and purple beans, eggplant, mesclan lettuce, and cucumbers cos they came in a pack.

flowers: sunflower, aster, snapdragon, morning glory, sweet pea

herbs: thai basil, rosemary, lavender [for leah], fennel, italian basil, oregano, flat parsley

so far i havnt planted the herbs or the sweet peas. and everything but the eggplant is growing. out of three plantings [maybe 12 seeds?] one tomato has sprouted but probably wont make it thru the night as our house is rather chilly. basically the two reasons im trying to grow my own garden...are COMPLETELY FAILING.


but heres some lettuce in an extreme closeup

and some little sprouties and..tin foil.

someday soon ill make a garden plan rather than just a sketch. but mostly im worried about how to get the cat shit out of the back yard and how to keep the strays from ...repooping in the yard. and digging. and generally being a crazy cat herd cos the damn woman across the street feeds them every day.

gardening

since i finally have a yard and am staying in a house longer than a year, i can plant a garden! granted, most plants i have ever had have died or learned to survive without sun or water... but im going to attempt a green thumb regardless. i got two books from the library: complete idiot's guide to edible gardening and crops in pots cos it had a cute title. turns out im not a complete idiot and dont need such a basic book. but they had some good ideas on mixing crops and growing an arch trellis covered in beans and tomatoes. too bad arch trellis or arbors are like $400.

instead of looking for seed starting kits, i decided to buy a burpee newspaper potmaker and "super growing pellets". the potmaker is cool buuut the dirt pellets are definatly not worth it. they take too long to absorb water and are pretty clearly designed for the plastic cell containers. it took 2 pellets to fill one of the newspaper pots and after 4 days, several of the dirt things are molding on the top layer. i hate to think what is happening to the seeds buuuut i planted like an impatient schitzo so there are probably 5-10 seeds in each paper pot. i also assumed none of them would grow, but my bok choi have proved me wrong already!

next plan of action: find gardening book about not killing plants...

recycling

in holding to the civil engineering code of ethics that i learned thru rote memorization, and in conjunction with the fact that we are living on an overpopulated island...i have been trying for the past 3 months to organize a recycling program at our office. after calling the town of islip, i was told to call the "recycling educator" who told me that since were renting space in a commercial building that doesnt pay town taxes i have to contact our building manager or garbage hauler. but due to the deadbeat landlord and his not plowing the parking lot after 4" of snow or the shoddy workmanship of our office remodel or the $22,000 of late electricity bills... i figured i should call the hauler.

after very poorly organized attempted meetings, i finally met with camille from winters brothers and arranged our FREE paper recycling plan. because of some slight miscommunications we received this lovely piece of junk:

it just so happens to be marked "property of the us postal service" and has priority stickers stuck on the inside. not to mention the dried crusty bits of trash, chunks of dirt, and horrid smell on the inside. fortunatly, it was about 5 times too large for our office and we traded it in for the smaller cleaner model:

well smaller atleast. but nothing a lot of lysol spray cant fix. but sarah helped me make little laminated signs for the top. due to the lack of resale value...corrogated cardboard isnt being recycled in islip but..paper and paperboard are! and i taped signs to clean trash cans around the office. soooo woo. even though the entire office has made fun of me for my enviro efforts. atleast im trying.