Katiebird's Garden & Wildcraft

After all the crazy rain yesterday and all of last night, I walk out this morning on my way to work during a moment of no rain and walk towards the patio garden to see if anything popped up with the warm rain.  Well, what popped out was that little sh*# of a rabbit, whom I call Bun-Bun.  I was hoping the human-scented and noisy cement patio would keep him in the back yard but to no avail.  More ugly fencing to come to the patio now and some blood meal.   Another curious thing, I planted a whole packet of Lima Beans and only one has shown itself after about 3 weeks.  I thought Burpee was better than that.  That's what I'll be re-planting this weekend.  Of course I threw away the receipt.

Yesterday after work (BG was 145 with a little insulin on-board, but nothing to worry about) I sauntered over to Micheal's to grab some foam boards for my pelmet boxes I'm making for the kitchen windows.  What's a pelmet box, you ask?  Check out this tutorial at Little Green Notebook .  Cheap and awesome decoration!   So, after leaving Micheal's, Lowe's is right next door, so I went over there to check on some brackets for hanging said pelmets and after having a helpful worker make a couple suggestions that just weren't working at all in my head, I thanked him and he left on his merry way.  I was still pondering the brackets and noticed it was really hot in there, like they didn't have the AC on all day.  So I'm fanning my face with my papers and I just start sweating all over.  My back was sweating, my face had beads of sweat rolling down.  And only after noticing that noone else was hot or sweating and that I couldn't pay attention to what th...

As promised the other day...I finally have some pictures of my herb spiral and my patio garden.   New Herb Spiral So far I have two basils, rosemary, an interesting fuzzy oregano, cilantro (coriander,) and lemon thyme.  I will be adding a Greek oregano and possibly a nice plain chive to fill the bottom space.  I haven't quite thought of what to fill the surrounding area with yet.  I am leaning towards some bright flowers since there's so much green! Patio Garden  The above is my patio garden, which this year is mostly vegetables.  I will be filling in all the empty space with annual flowers though, as I can't NOT have color!!!  Who loves that ugly fence as much as me?   The far corner is the catnip grove as I call it, it has 6-8 bushes that will grow about 3-4 ft. each.  The stuff is very potent, according to my cat, Stickee.  Our mild winter had a couple little volunteer bushes that grew near the steps and my cat escap...

Check out my blog post at the Farm Bell Recipes forum at the Chickens in the Road site today! My herb spiral is in and looks amazing!  Photos to follow, tonight.  Thank you to my hubby for helping me build and re-build it many times :)   The gardens are flourishing with this week of close-to 80 degree weather and so is that pesky toddler-age rabbit that has now discovered my garden!  So far the carnage:  one cucumber plant (totally gone, not a bit left) and a large marigold plant chopped in half!  Didn't even bother eating it!  Little sh*!  I think I'll be installing some fencing tonight...though I hate how it looks!  See you later with pictures.

My post about Micro Greens is being featured on the Chickens in the Road Blog and Website  in the Farm Bell Recipe section!  If you haven't come across this blog/website/forum yet, it is a must read.  Susan McMinn (yes, she used to write romance novels too!) posts hilarious stories and pictures from her farm and funny little animal-inhabitants.  There is also a recipe forum and lots of other reader advice areas.  My little story is going to be featured on May 16th, so go, my 7 followers and check it out next week! 

My hubby, JB and I have been very busy this past week and this weekend!  He has been extra productive, leveling some spots in our yard and throwing down some grass seed.  The gardens were also all tilled, compost added, seedlings and seeds planted, my herb spiral has started to take shape but needs lots more dirt and filler.  JB also mowed the vacant house next to us, since the lawn was looking pretty bad and the landlord was very appreciative.  We also decided we'd donate some Hostas to their front area as well, because our previous neighbors weren't that into keeping up there yard.  Hopefully this brings in some decent people to fill the space.  I'll be taking some pictures of my gardens so I can have some decent before and after photos for this year, as I think it will be a good one! This week's list of to-do's: 1.  Finish planting all of my seedlings and seeds 2.  Finish the herb spiral and start purchasing the plants 3.  Get a bird ...

    D oesn't this look lovely?  A bit stormy, but the rain and warmth are needed.  I'm hoping my little plants will get all jazzed up with the warmth and double or triple in size by this coming weekend. This week I planted the Scarlett Runner Beans, Scarlett O'Hara & Grandpa Ott Morning Glories, and Trionfo Violetto beans.  I came across a description of these heirloom beans on the You Grow Girl blog-which has tons of useful garden info on it-recommend reading this for urban-gardening info also.  The rest of the patio garden (6'x25'+?) is now all weeded and chopped up, waiting for the rain.  I have chosen to fill my gardens with vegetables first and then pack in the flowers once the veg are established.  Last year I planted over 100 annuals in the patio garden and it was amazing and jungle-like...though I only had about a 6'x12' area for vegetables and it wasn't enough for me!  I think I may put a couple of the t...