Preparing Dye Platters: Step by Step

1. Buy two 4x8' sheets of rigid foam insulation, about 1.5" thick. They cost about $9 each.  Have the store cut them in half so they will fit into your car. You will have four 4x4' sheets= $18 plus tax.

2. Leave them outside all winter so they can a) annoy your husband and b)collect dirt and debris and provide a home for spiders and various lizards. If you can, leave them near the dryer vent where they will collect lint.

3. Line them up against a wall and hose them down like a firing squad.
4. Measure and mark ( on the foam sheets!) the width and depth of the dye shelves and using a carpet knife, score the cutting line lightly several times. Place scored line over the edge of worksurface and give the foam a karate chop, which will show the foam who is the boss.

5. Cut one quarter sheet larger than the others so it can sit on top of the shelf unit, and leave one half sheet for larger dye projects.

6. Call it a day and wait for someone to notice that they never cut these for you like they promised.

+++++++

Learning to relax Part B.

I like to read with my feet up. We have four old fart chairs and all of them have ottomans. I like to have an ottoman, even if it doesn't match my porch. This nice red table is from Target. It holds my drinks and books and munchies. The spot I have chosen is breezy and just bright enough for reading. Perfect.

 If it gets too cool or rainy I set up another spot in the library/bubble tub room. It is small but has adequate lighting, the requisite old fart chair and ottoman combo and plenty of books to peruse. Outside my two windows (one is hidden in this shot by the bookcases) I can see the garden, the pond, enjoy the breeze and know when the rain has stopped. Again, perfect.

I am reading instead of dyeing fabric, which I am putting off until June which is, as you know, right around the corner.

Getting Started

Ahhhhh. I have been thinking about this all winter: how I could dye fabric without having a lot of hassle. Indoor dyeing just isn't going to work for me here. And we have no basement and the garage is just too dark, etc etc etc. My solution is the stoop outside my studio door. It faces east and usually all the weather comes at us from the west side of the house.
  This wire shelving unit was loaded with stuff, tucked away in the corner of the garage and was integral to my plan. Unloading it was the major deterrent to putting it into action. Gritting my teeth, I began and within 15 minutes it was empty. Note to self: Sometimes the hardest part of any action is the first step. OK. I have my work station set up, with the table on bedrisers from either Target or BBand Beyond and now I am about to cut down my 1" styrofoam sheets to fit the width of the shelving.
For those of you new to my dyeing methods, see this alternate blog: http://www.lazydyer.blogspot.com/

  However, now it is the weather that will delay my start. It is barely warm enough for the dyes to work, but the humidity will prevent the fabrics from drying overnight, so I will just get the rest of the fabric ripped into 1/2 yard lengths (matching the width of Wonder-Under) and when the rains pass, I will begin.

 In the meantime I am still swooning over the increasingly blue hydrangea (unretouched photo!)

But I'm fit to be tied at those dirty raccoon buggers that stole my perfectly ripe just about to be harvested tomatoes!

 The before and after shots. Grrrrr. I suppose this will be happening all summer. No wonder folks around here keep big dogs.

I am preparing to have more tomatoes than I can possibly eat. Yesterday I succumbed to this adorable plant. O, yes,  I am a sucker for short and stocky leafy things. This is a Husky Red Cherry tomato which is suited for containers and gets only about 4 feet tall and promises to bear lots of fruit until frost. We'll see.

The field beds are looking good and getting watered daily. I have three more tomatoes there, a Patio and two Brandywines. I hope to be able to share my produce with tomato lovers of the non-furry variety.
 Nice grass eh? Dave is saving the clippings for me and I am sprinkling them around the plants as mulch. This will save moisture and improve the soil, in time.

My newest babies, zucchini from seed. I presprouted them and in two days they were this big. Last year I planted lots of different squashes and got absolutely none. I hope I am inundated this year with zucchini, straightneck, acorn, and cucumbers. Ah the vagaries of the garden...

Perfecting Laziness

I am learning how to relax from the champion relaxer Popeye. That light colored blob on his back is a butterfly, who is mistaking the Pops for a fluffy orange flower.

There is a bit of a hang up in my thinking when it comes to doing nothing. I feel guilty. And a bit of that guilt has to do with being called lazy once when I was a kid. Thanks Mom.

 "Lazy? Really? Well I'll prove I am not lazy"... and now years later I find it difficult not to be INVOLVED and BUSY. Arghh.

So I tried doing nothing all day yesterday. I took two naps. I kid you not. Two. In between I watered, even tho we had just had rain, things looked wilty. And then I chose a book from my mystery collection and set up the footstool in front of my chair on the porch in the breezy shade and read for hours. It was wonderful. I could make a day of this, I thought, but then at the end of the day I had NOTHING to show for myself. Arghh again.

So I am starting again today.

But first I must do a bit of organizing, wash the dishes, and run to town to drop off some things at Goodwill, buy some stamps and remember to get the ink for my printer. Then I can be lazy for the rest of the day.

Enjoying

 While still in my pajamas I was out early planting green beans, beets, tomatoes, bush cucumbers, and zucchini. Everyone got a good soaking, including me, and then time was called.
It's all in.
I know I've said that before, but the buzzer has sounded and the fat lady is singing.

La dee dah.

The time has come to sit in the garden and just enjoy the fruits of my labors.

Labor is really not what it should be called. More like compulsion. Yes. The fruits of my compulsion.

Every Spring I feel a rush of enthusiasm to be out in the yard making it into a place with slow entertainment and everyday wonder. Gentle thrills are felt when a flower finally opens in its new spot, like this Siberian Iris which I moved to the muddy pond banks where I knew it would be happier. It rewards my decision with a beautiful bloom.

 

Twin pink waterlilies, not the least bit worried about forgetting their SPF 45, show me how to soak up the rays. Waterlilies have got to be the easiest plant of all. No weeds, no feeding and plenty of returning color.

The fish love them for the shade and nibbles they provide and of course, the frogs feel proprietary about their lounging pads.

I noticed some familiar ripples in the murky water and tossed out some fish pellets. I was rewarded with shiny gold faces, bobbing to the surface and greedily gulping the food. This year they are not just having one pellet per surfacing, but sliding in three or four at once into their big open mouths. Babies are growing into teenagers and changing from black to patchy orange, and are more greedy and energetic to get their share of the  food.

I placed my chair down next to the clear water of the  mini pond. When the sun comes out the fish hide, and when a cloud passes, they reappear. The remaining 13 goldies seem to be thriving and we are all happy about that.

Equipped with my mp3 player, my knitting, a big iced drink and a warm breeze, I made the decision to do nothing but sit and bask.

 

Meanwhile the Scarlet Runner Bean is doing its Jack and the Beanstalk imitation. I installed a pole above with strings hanging down to the plants in hopes they would find the necessary support to climb. It's happened. The seed packet said these beans would be tasty...but will they? Have you eaten Scarlet Runner Beans?

Flowers aren't the only source for color. Limey green is becoming my favorite hue, with yellow and purple close behind.

Up to my ears in the garden

The weather is so fine and I seem to find more places to plant things. In my mind I keep thinking I should be getting back to the studio, but it doesn't work out that way. Still in my pajamas I find I need to plant more basil, since the seeds I planted in the back garden are just doing nothing, I resorted to the same spot in the front where the plants flourished the past two years. I will fertilize to make sure these seedlings will have a good start.

Speaking of fertilizing, I am guilty of reproducing watering cans, which correspond to the number of bags and boxes of plant food and Miracle Grow collecting in the potting shed.

My plants are just doing great without the extra food, at least I thought so, until I visited the Signal Hill Nursery where I saw just what a little Miracle Grow can do.

Un. Be. Leafable!

 There is a bit of the competitive gardener within, so today I will mix up some growjuice and see if it makes the big difference.

A pair of darling house wrens have set up a nest in my flower pot in the shade of the jackmanii clematis. Five little eggs nestled in the warmth. Momma Wren is usually there to protect them, but lets me sneak a peek every now and then. I tiptoe on the porch and am gone in a second.

For today's flower, we have the perennial Johnson's Blue Cranesbill, aka hardy geranium. Long and leggy, but florferocious! There are several varieties in the collection, including a little one called Tiny Monster, perhaps tomorrow's flower.

Am I Blue?

I have been trying to grow hydrangeas for years. I had them in my former garden in IL in several places and one barely bloomed and then it pooped out. Some were in the shade, and some were in the sun, and neither seemed to matter. The plants were leafy, green and flowerless.

A woman from GA was on TV with her beautiful hydrangeas and she swore that cutting them back each year made them bloom, but now there are lots of varieties which bloom on old wood, as well as new wood. Who can keep track of the promises these plants offer? Not me.

When we moved here my first planting (the first week!) was this hydrangea. It almost died while I was away teaching in Switzerland, as TN was having a drought. But it came back, all leafy and flowerless the second year. Here we are today, the third year and with no help on my part it is huge and full of flowers. I am thrilled, to say the least.
And even more thrilled that some of the flowers are starting to turn blue. Am I seeing things? I did a search for answers and found this site.

The petals are pink and then the ones around the edges are light purple-y with some even looking kinda on the blue side.

 No doctoring of these photos, I swear.

And the plant is loaded with blooms and buds. I have another smaller plant in the back garden and it has buds which are still forming. A third plant is small and pitiful and has no blooms. I'll have to wait a few more years to see if it 'takes' I guess.

And then one day I have may have this kind of abundance.

A Froggy Day

Playing with my new camera is so much fun. I found out that 14x zoom isn't the end of its tricks. I zoomed up to 38x. Don't ask me how it does it. I am not interested but just thrilled that it does it. These pictures are taken from far away.

Some of these bullfrogs are so heavy that they have to find just the right size lilypad or risk sinking. Once securely on, they don't move for hours. I guess they just eat when a bug flies too close.

This is truly self indulgence. But I am loving the detail I can get from the bank.

I love to see their eyes as they skim the surface.

And for a change, a dragonfly hovers, looking so much like a helicopter.  Pond fun!

Living Rurally

The blog entry from yesterday got this comment which made me laugh
---If you made your beds by the road here, everyone would enjoy reaping the rewards free gratis - in other words they would harvest your veggies without asking.

Yes I can understand that. I know how risky an enterprise these roadside gardens could be in more densely populated areas. But there are so few people here, and those who do live here have their own gardens and will be having a chuckle at these two small beds. We are gambling that we'll get stuff to grow well enough to harvest SOMETHING.

Our road sees log trucks whizzing along at 55mph and then a few commuters morning and evenings. The mail lady goes by twice, once to service our side of the road and then once to service the opposite side. We look up to see whose pickup is flying by, and who is using our driveway entrance as a turn around. That's entertainment!

We expect deer problems, but really, there haven't been any deer sightings since last fall. This Spring is so lush after a rainy winter that food for critters is Abundant. Do you think they will like hot peppers?

If it turns out that veggies are a bust, we can always do flowers next year. I may plant a few seeds just to have transplants for the main gardens nearer the house.
We'll see what happens.

Cecil B. De Mel...What I really want to do is direct

 My back recovery choices were to lie in bed and watch daytime TV, ugh, or hobble out to the car and go with the guys to get mulch. I chose the mulch trip. I suggested the huge mulch pile in Signal Mountain and since Mike is from around here, he took us on the scenic route which goes along the Tennessee River. We'll do that route again. Gorgeous.

Signal Mountain's mulch pile is superior to the other free mulch sites. Very well broken down, and almost to the point of soil. (more than you want to know about mulch, I am sure).

Here is a close-up view of it in one of our new/old garden beds, which was the point of the trip. My directorial debut was kind of misinterpreted.

What I had in mind was laying the mulch down on the grass, and then putting the frame down, and then filling it with soil. I felt the mulch would act as drainage from the Spring runoff and also a barrier to keep the voles or moles from finding the softer soil in the bed. O well.
The guys will fill the rest of the beds with composted manure and then I will plant. I have the easy job. Of course. I am the director!

We decided to have these two frames as veggie beds in the field we have along our road. We call this Dave's Memorial Garden or the more hopeful name, the Zen Garden. Since we had the frames leftover, and since this is a much sunnier spot than anywhere near the house, why not use it for green beans, peppers, squash, beets etc. We have no rabbits here, surprisingly and only deer, raccoons, fox, coyote, wild dogs, possums and snakes, so we are holding back on the  optimism for this venture.

 Dave traded in his riding lawn mower for this push model so he could have the exercise. He finished this job dripping wet. While these two beds look mighty small for such a big field, just you wait. You know how things expand around here.

I had but to mention once that I would like steps to go down to the pond and years later, here they are, installed.

There will be a hand rail soon, as safety is a priority. I have tripped and stumbled enough on flat ground to know that I don't want to fall into that water. We have guys like this waiting...

Questions and Answers from yesterday's comments.

I was sitting on the back of my garden bed's wall to take those pictures. I didn't even have to try and get down to the water's edge. That's what I like!


And the battery is a little rectangular rechargeable one like my other camera and I can easily charge it up in less than two hours. I will get a second one anyway.

I can stand today...which is quite an improvement over yesterday. But it will rain today and the next two days which is like enforced rest.
 
For therapy I have powered up the hot tub and am waiting til it reaches the right temp for a good soak. Getting in and out will be the trick.

I got a new camera

After many thousands of pictures, the zoom feature on my old Canon 700IX  stopped working.  It had only a 3x digital zoom/10x optical zoom and this new one has 14x optical zoom which I find I need. I want to take pictures of things far away without getting my feet wet. For example...the pink water lilies are opening today and I can't get close enough.

This is a pretty good closeup, but what about getting even closer?

Like this for example.

Now that's what I wanted!!
And it does nice macro details too.

Before it was delivered today I was working in the garden and I turned and lifted something at the same time and pop! there went my back. So I am out of commission for anything but painful hobbling.
I will have to wait til I am bendable again to play more with this new purple beauty.