Iris reticulata
My beautiful new miniature Iris, thank you E & A!

Yesterday I knit myself a big, warm, soft, fuzzy cloak of depression. Perhaps not the most productive thing to be doing, but given the day I had previous I am not going to be too mad at myself. I think I needed to do that. I spent much of the day in pj's, under a toasty electric blanket, knitting my heart out and watching movies. Today, I am much better and am turning my focus back towards the positive again for the most part. Bought some more mulch to use on my vegetable bed and a couple more herbs to plant along with some bulbs. The lady at the nursery even gave me a ton (ok not quite a ton, but to this newbie gardener seemed like a ton) of bulbs for free. I also went to the bookstore and got a new book:



Knit Lit is a wonderful collection of stories about knitting and life.

Blech! I don't feel like blogging today. I am going back to rest in my Codeine induced haze.

See you tomorrow (or at least blog at you)!

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

Ha ha ha who knew there is an actual need for knitting Biologists? ; ) Too bad my knitting skill needs so much work...ah well!

Feeling a wee bit stressed out about my morning plans tomorrow. I am having a hysterosalpingogram done and without going into too much gory detail, it is an often painful blue dye test to see if the tubes and such are in working order. Ten hours standing in an Organic Chemistry lab working with hazardous waste sounds like more fun, but what can you do? They say I need it done so off I go to the evil doctor's laboratory.

Yea! I carved out some time for myself tonight and did some knitting. I made some more progress on my scarf which by the looks of things I will get to wear next winter. It has been a while since I have been able to knit due to all the gardening fervor. I expect when the rains come in February and March I will have a lot more time for my knitting and a lot less for my gardening! Note to self: plant the veggies before the rains! = )

"Tiffany" rose from my garden



"Of weighty matters and dirty hands"

I discovered an added benefit to my gardening today when I found that I had lost five pounds! A win-win in my book, I get a beautiful garden and a svelte figure at the same time. *cheer* Even Yahoo Health is urging us to get out and garden in this blurb.

Today I worked some more outside first picking up debris around the yard from yesterday's wind and then pulling up grass and iceplant from the plot planned for veggies. Since I only have classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday that leaves my Tuesday and Thursday for studying and gardening at least until I become gainfully employed. Anyone out there need a newbie gardener-knitter-soon to be Biologist?? Mmmkay didn't think so!

The Santa Anas have arrived! I took this picture of the palm trees swaying in the wind near our house.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments about my new little garden. I am excited about the changes that are happening in our outdoor living space and it is fun to be able to share that here. I hope this inspires us all to take time to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors and reconnect with nature!

I went back to school today (sigh). I am ready to be done with school, but as I realize every time I have a break it will never be done until I actually go and finish. Sometimes I can be so darn slow in things. I actually enjoyed my Physics lecture today about conductors and insulators (it's all about the Chemistry, a language I can understand), so that is a good sign!





A parting shot of my wind ruffled furry companion.

Have a great week!

We did it! I have my first little plot developed and planted. Flea came over and worked very hard with us to make this happen and I absolutely love how it turned out! Thank you thank you thank you Flea, you are the best!

Check out the progress pictures below:

In the morning it looked like this.

After the initial mulching and the walkway was established then it was planting time.

Maddie was definitely enthralled about all the work that was going on.

Here I am with my beautiful new Huntington Carpet Rosemary.

After several hours of hot, sweaty work here is my wonderful new herban garden finished!

Even though she was dead tired Flea still had fun goofing off.

Here we are the gardening goddesses!

Even the dog was dog tired.


Thanks to Flea's guidance and hard work we now have a better idea of how to turn this jungle of ours into a real garden that is not only beautiful, but also useful.
Next weekend the second section will be worked. I will be extending this down more and be planting my kitchen garden. It is time for veggies!






~Sheila


As a side note: Hoorah! My comments section is working (not that I am expecting anyone to actually comment on my ramblings mind you). It has been a quest to get it to work correctly and now finally it does. Thank you Yariv at backBlog for fixing it for me!