All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go

     No, there is not a typo in my title.  I realize that one would expect me to use the word “flair” instead, but I’m making a pun.  It’s really obscure and I don’t expect any of you to catch it.  It’s pretty bad (no, not dirty!).  Second off, I meant to have this post to be a part of the previous one, but that one quickly grew out of control so I decided to break them up.  Don’t worry, this one doesn’t have nearly as many boring words and way more pretty pictures.

     I have more pictures from my garden to display.  It’s nearing the end of August and thus, the growing season.  I’m going to try for a couple of fall crops soon, like carrots, spinach, and lettuce once more, but definitely on a smaller scale. 

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     Just a quick item before we begin.  I’ve been listening to the soundtrack to “The Phantom of the Opera” intermittently while writing this, so if my writing at some point suddenly becomes lyrical or melodramatic (more so than usual), you’ll know why.

     Whether or not my garden was a success depends entirely on how you choose to look at it.  In terms of actual production, it was a flop, and a fantastic one at that.  I planted about twenty different types of plants.  Five grew: the corn, two pea types, sunflowers, and the zinnia.  From these five, production was probably around a tenth of capacity.  If that.  So I’m looking at around two and a half per cent yield.  That’s not enough to break even (and it certainly doesn’t take much to break even on just the price of the seeds vs. the price of the produce).

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     So how about that freak storm that rolled through Provo?  Pretty cool, eh? 

     No.  No it wasn’t.  At least not for me.  This happened while I was at work and it was even coupled with a momentary power outage that turned off about half the computers in the building (why the other half weren’t affected is something of a mystery to me).  After the storm was gone, people were tuned in to Internet radio and Internet news stations to see the damage that was done.  There was the usual: shingles blown off roofs, trees blown over, downed power lines, etc.  But there were also some unusual areas damaged.  Like the Provo airport.  It was almost comical.  Also posted were shots of houses that were seriously damaged (one guy had a picture of his living room showing a huge crack in his ceiling).

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     It’s hard to keep track of phases any more.  Actually, at this point I think the whole phase system has completely broken down.  What I’m trying to indicate is that I finally have gotten something of a harvest.  Sort of.  So here it is in all its glory:

     Yup, about twenty pea pods.  Woo!  There’s about six more that might mature still and be edible.  It’s tough to say.  I might also say that the pods themselves are hard to spot.  They don’t stick out much so each pod was like hidden treasure.  I still haven’t asked the bishop what to do, if anything, for tithing on my bounty, but I don’t think 2-3 pea pods is worth trying to give back.  Perhaps I’ll just be five cents or so more generous in tithing from my next paycheck.

     On a positive note, they didn’t taste too bad, though some weren’t exactly sweet.  I’m sure the corn will turn out better.  Oh please let the corn turn out better!

     I hope I don’t get struck down for my numerous plays on scriptural/religious phrases.  It’s all in innocent fun.  This is just a little update on Project Eden, showing what week nine looks like.  For those of you at unawares, I gave up Janus for adoption on Saturday.  I’m still coping with that, which is why I haven’t been able to post about it (since I’m sure you are just aching for me to do so, anyways).  I plan on doing so soon, including a picture memoir of our time together along with the experience of dropping him off, but I still need a little more time.  Project Eden, however, is still an emotionally neutral topic and something I can have fun with.

     It has been hot.  Really hot.  Admittedly, there are places in the US that are hotter, but I don’t really care because it’s hot where I am now and I am not dealing with it well.  Were I in those places where temperatures are ten, or even twenty degrees warmer, I would probably have long since packed up and moved out.  I am from Idaho Falls and I spent just about all of my life there.  This means I am accustomed to snow-covered winters, windy springs (not my favorite and I don’t miss that so much), and temperatures that are, on average, ten degrees cooler than in Provo.  I’m serious, for as long as I can remember I have compared temperatures between Idaho Falls and the Salt Lake Valley and noticed that they are consistently that much warmer.  It never ceases to amaze me how different the weather can be over such a short distance.

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     I found some pictures I took last week of the trellis before I put it up so I made a whole new post for them.  I’m sad I didn’t find any of the garden that showed the weed problem.  Anyhow, for the garden pictures I also uploaded the behemoth pictures so you can click on those two pictures to see the bigger versions which allow you to see more detail.  I’d like some feedback as to whether or not you actually like that.

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I would like to remind everyone I still would like help if possible.  I just don’t want this new post to push it out of everyone’s mind.

     I spent all of my afternoon and evening until sundown today weeding.  There were a lot.  A LOT!  I mean, I have had more plant matter in weeds than in what I planted and wanted to grow.  It was a lush green carpet of…weeds.  Until the past week I’ve been pretty busy and on days I didn’t have something else calling my attention, they were usually days I had work at stupid in the morning, so I came home and napped instead.  While my last day off (the 4th) I used to de-nastify the house a bit, today I took to the garden pulling weeds.

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     So if any of you happen to find that you have some time to surf the Internet upon checking this, I actually have a request.  My flower/herb patch is over-run with weeds.  This is nothing new, but while pulling them I’m afraid of accidentally taking some of them with the weeds.  I have no idea what these new weeds are, they are entirely different from what was in the garden patch (with most of the ones I’m familiar with also growing here).  I know they’re weeds because they grow ALL OVER THE PATCH!  Grr.

     So I’ll post here a list of the plants and what I’m trying to find are pictures of them as little seedlings, after they’ve sprouted.  There are a few that I’m fairly certain are not weeds, but I’m not sure.  So if you have the time to do a brief Google search and post a link of where to find the picture, I’d appreciate it.  I’m looking for them as well and will post what I find, but it would go faster if I had help.  Trying to find pictures of some of the vegetables as seedlings made me realize it’s not as simple a project as I would have thought.  There might be a somewhat central repository for these things, but I haven’t found it yet.

Flowers:
Coreopsis, Sunburst [Coreopsis grandiflora]
Petunia, Fire chief and Violet Blue [Petunia hybrida]
Daisy, Livingstone Mix [Dorotheanthus bellidiformis]
Bachelor’s Button, Polka Dot Mix [Centaurea cyanus]
Zinnia, Dahlia-Flowered Mix [Zinnia elegans]

Herbs:
Mint [Mentha piperita]
Parsley, Curled [Petroselinum crispum]
Catnip [Nepeta cataria]
Basil, Lemon [Ocimum basilicum citriodorum]
Cilantro/Coriander [Coriandrum sativum]

     Well, this weekend has been somewhat busy, and yes, eventful.  I guess I’m not sure where to begin.  To basically sum it up, I have a garden update, a website update, I washed my car, and went on a date.

     So first item: garden update.  I would like to say that I am still planting flowers.  I finally have the herbs in and two rows of flowers, but I still have more flowers to go.  Time has really been a problem lately.  While the days are extended (I LOVE summer!), I have more projects than time.  As such, the update is really just to show you how my garden grows (ha ha, catch the reference?).

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     You are all probably dying for another update on my gardening project, aren’t you?  What?  You’re sick of reading about it?  You never liked reading about it???  I should’ve guessed, but you jerks!

     Ha ha!  Really, no need to call the psychiatric ward.  It’s just been one of those days.  Anyways, the extension to my garden has been dug, fertilized, and tilled for over a week now, I just haven’t had a lot of time to go out and work in it.  Between working everyday until five, napping (days start early, usually around 6:30am and I still have a hard time getting myself to bed before 11pm, at the earliest), and something that vaguely resembles school, I find myself short on time for much of anything.  Not only that, but it’s right around the hottest time of the day when I get home from work (a little past) and going out there just to sweat profusely over a minimal amount of effort is something of a psychological deterrent.  I understand that often the first foot from the ground is the hottest, but this can be ridiculous!  Sometimes I wonder if I don’t have at least mild hyperhidrosis.  It’s really embarassing.

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