Garden Update

When I started my garden this past spring I couldn't have foreseen what was to come. As I carefully cultivated my soil, worked in compost and chose my plants there was no way to tell that 2 months down the road I would have absolutely nothing to do with it anymore.

I should have seen the warning signs in retrospect. How my father gave me the evil eye as I was planting in a spot he didn't deem 'right'. Or how he scoffed at the spacing saying I'd not planted them far enough apart despite following every written direction I had at hand.

But about a week or two into the process it was becoming abundantly clear I was losing control of my own project, as he'd prod me awake at ungodly hours because I needed to water my garden at least twice a day. This after I'd read in my latest gardening magazine purchase that most people OVER-water their tomatoes. You can't tell men named Bob anything.

The piece de resistance came a few days after we returned from vacation when he doused the mother effing hell out of my plants with a combo of Miracle Grow and Sevin Dust. When he was finished an entire 5 pound bag of Sevin Dust was gone and my garden looked like a scene out of White Christmas.

I could have cried.

No, scratch that, I did cry. A lot. Because I wanted it to be organic. Because I knew that everything I read said that using Sevin Dust does nothing more than leave your plants vulnerable by killing the good bugs too and allowing the bad bugs to just come back stronger and less defended when the dust washes away.

And come back they did. Within weeks my plants were covered in cut worms. The leaves were browning and curling. One squash plant was dead with a capital D.

But he wasn't finished yet. Despite my protests that I'd decided to leave my tomatoes unstaked to allow a bigger yield of fruit he decided to wrap them with twine and in true Bob fashion...WAY too tight. So tight that weeks later as the fruit became ready to pick you almost couldn't get it out from the mess of twine. And immediately after the wrapping the yield slowed to an almost stand still.

It's not ended as this morning he picked a mess of tomatoes I would have not touched for days because he "doesn't want them to rot". I was livid. Crying, again for the thousandth time in regards to this garden.

I love my father, I really do. But it doesn't make up for us having what I will admit is a most difficult relationship. This garden has become the physical manesfestation of every problem we have. If I say the sky is blue he says it's yellow, if I say up he says down, if I say organic he says Sevin Dust.

So in the effort of being honest and upfront on my blog I felt I should update the garden disaster for everyone who asks me now, "how is your garden". My garden is a mess. My garden is not really my garden anymore. I'm trying to let that go.

But if left to my own devices and my own piece of land I feel confident that one day I could really garden gloriously. I'll just have to make sure my father doesn't visit.

In other progress news, my room makeover has stalled. Mostly due to a change in plans, since I'm now considering a 'fresh green' color palatte. When I finally set down the design magazines and start painting, you'll be the first to know. You know, if I ever decide to make a decision.

Photographic proof that despite what I have written here, I don't want you to think the garden has been a total waste. (Just not how I'd have done it. Which is hard for a control freak like me.)







Although I'm not kidding about the Sevin Dust. This was one of his lighter applications:

HGTVing my Life

Early in the summer I tackled my bird retreat project. I consider it to have been a success, especially when I walk out to a million birds chirping in the backyard every morning.

Before fall hits us all like a ton of bricks and before winter begins to creep up, I've decided I want to get one more project in.

Making this room I reside in multi functional and pretty.

You see, I do not forsee living in this room in the years to come. I'll be off on my own, making some house my own. However, for the time being it's mine. And for the time being I hate it. My mother hates it.

Most days it looks just like a hodge-podge of things, where my formerly packed up in tidy boxes apartment exploded all over the room in a tizzy of books here, trinkets there, 14 old comforters on the bed and my lamps that used to cover an entire apartment, but now hold court in one tiny corner.

Bit a problem, don't you think?

I sat down to make a list of things I wanted out of the space.

1. Multi-Functionality: I want this room to transition into a room my mother could use to craft or watch television in when I'm gone.
   
2. Organized: Stuff is everywhere in this room, none of it where it should be.


3. Beautiful: Blame it on the free subscription to Elle Decor, but by God, I want this room to end up beautiful. I like statement pieces, and bright colors.

Things I currently hate about the space include:

This chest of drawers is HIDEOUS. I've been trying for 22 long years to rid of the damn thing, and it hasn't happened yet. But I've vowed to burn it in the backyard in a ritualistic cleansing if someone doesn't find somewhere else for it to be.

I also hate the tv. For obvious reasons I'm thinking small flatscreen.



This is the space behind the door. A cork board from when I was 12 and a book shelf that is overstuffed with only a small portion of my treasures (note to self: STOP BUYING BOOKS). I'm seeing all of this gone and shelves that go from floor to ceiling behind here.

Part of the area where my lamps have gone to die. What isn't wrong about this space? Ancient musical "THING" that nobody uses anymore. A storage thing for all of that crafting I don't do. Oh and a glimpse of the ugly awful desk that takes up space.

Gone. I want all of it gone.

What else do I want?

• I want aqua/robin's egg blue walls, with purple accents...possibly striped purple/green/blue kind of accents.
• A giant abstact on canvas with oil. Which I'm going to do myself. Yes, little ol' non crafty me.
• An old chair which hopefully I can find someone to reupholster for me in some sort of the stripy purple/green/blue fabric that I hope I can find.
• Curtains made from the same material.
• New TV.
• New storage space, IN CLOSET, rather than the chest of drawers.
• And a long countertop/desk sort of workspace across the wall where the desk and chest are now.

I'm going all trading spaces on my own ass.

Why am I doing this?

• Something to pass the time while I'm car-less.
• Insane desire to beautify things.
• I like to undertake the impossible.
• I hate that damn chest.

Mostly the last one.