Strawberries!

As I mentioned before, our strawberry plants went insane. Went from having 4 to 40+. I even gave a few away. The June Bearing variety are ripening up nicely, while the Ever-Bearing still has a little more to go.

Here are pictures of the patch and the first picked berries (5/25/09). And boy, ARE THEY GOOD!


Before & After!


Now here are pictures from today, a week later:

And just as many will be ripe enough to pick tomorrow! I love summer!

We put a net over the patch due to only getting one half-ripe berry last year, before some creature ate them all*. We have a rabbit under the tree, but I have a feeling it was a mole last year that had a hole near the patch. Along with Grammie's plastic owl, these seem to be successful against curious critters this year.

*Well, it would rip it off the plant, and then leave it with a bite mark- not even eating it- just to mock us!

The Return of the Garden

It's gardening time again, so I suspect that will push me to keep up here!

Let's keep this post basic! Here is what the garden has done BY ITSELF over the winter and spring:



-The strawberries came back in full force. Strawberries are really a weed that we actually like! We planted 4 plants last year. There are over 40 now.
-The sage bush has taken over the entire herb area. It will definitely be getting cut back this fall! Thyme doubled in size, but is over shadowed by the sage.
-The blackberry bush has also gotten much bigger.
-The spinach that did not survive at all last year, is nice and hardy now!
-The lettuce that bolted while we were on vacation left its mark with some nice fresh Spring lettuce for us!
-Cat nip survived winter in their tiny pots are are regrowing now.

On Memorial Day (May 25) we planted more goodies!



In addition to the plants listed above, we now have:
sweet basil, small yellow onions, red Chieftan potatoes, eggplant ("little fingers"), orange bell pepper, red bell pepper, Tokyo long white onions, broccoli ("Packman"), zucchini, rainbow swiss chard, and a roma tomato plant.

It's been a week since we planted them and they are really doing well- especially with these on/off storms!


June 1

The sage flowers are really pretty and the honey bees love them too. I cut some stems and brought it in as a bouquet!

Close ups:



Broccoli, red leaf lettuce, swiss chard, strawberries (more in next post).

And just for your reference, the layout plan:

Tilly

Tilly, in all her recent Tillyness.

Hello everyone!
I have been back in the States since November.

I have been busy with my chocolates and just became an instructor in a science program.

Writing and such

This time last year I had my novel completely outlined, eager to start my epic tale of revenge. This year, well, I'm trying! I'm taking a little different approach listing things that I like and attempting to make a story out of it. So expect a story involving Bigfoot and time travel. Actually I think I'm going to do a light-hearted story that could read like an 80s kids movie (yknow, back when they could swear and shoot guns).

Now I was going to put a picture of the garden now, but I can't seem to find it!
It is overrun with greens! The cosmos are past their prime but managed two tiny pink buds. I can see the carrot top greens sticking out! Not sure if an actual carrot will appear though. But in terms of weeds, there are plenty of red and blue mini flowers accenting the chaos.
My indoor basil is doing OK though! I put in a little Halloween accent to help them stand up strong.



I am going home in a few days. The tentative plan is to come back to Japan after the New Years some time. It's sad to leave all my new friends!

It's that time again

It's the end of September (and Happy Birthday to ME!). Which means I have one whole month to outline and prepare for the impending madness of NANOWRIMOOOOOOOOOO (read it in an echo-y voice).



www.nanowrimo.org

NaNoWriMo, if you forget, means "National Novel Writing Month" despite it being an international sensation. The goal is to write at least 50,000 words in the month of November- a noble feat!
Last year, I successfully accomplished this with my novel called Shadow of the Vultures.

As for this year, well, I don't know! Do I want to try a comedy? Something light and fun? Or do I need that intense driving force of a strong storyline to keep me going? I have a month to figure it out!

NEW garden

*I have also put this up in my Japanese blog, but I will chronicle it here! Garden <3!*

I was sad to leave behind my first garden at home, which was blooming readily and giving us many goodies to eat.
So I took it upon myself to have another one! We have a rare and lovely little plot instead of a plain balcony behind our apartment.



So I bought a little shovel and rake and put all my energy into making a nice little area.



I know it is a little late to plant things, but since weather is a little milder here, I'm hoping for the best. In the meantime, I have also planted some of them indoors to keep them growing.



In the garden I have: Cosmos, Marigolds, Morning Glories, Mini tomatoes, Mini carrots and one potato.
The indoor pots are: Cosmos, Marigolds, Mini tomatoes, Mini carrots, and basil.

It's been 3 days, and the Cosmos have 4 sprouts indoors and one in the garden. It's very exciting!

Also in the garden, there is a little brown lizard that hangs around, comes and goes. I see him about every two days and then he scurries off. I've named him Willy.