Thursday, April 14, 2022

The Flowering

Some people think that gardeners are born with a "green thumb", a natural ability to make plants grow. I'll let you in on a secret: gardening is 10% research, 60% physical labor, and 30% crossing your fingers and hoping things work out. Getting to see the actual flowers is the reward for many months of mud and hope. And the flowers have arrived!


Last fall I planted 456 tulip bulbs and 90 daffodils. For the purposes of cut flowers, a tulip is only good once; you pull up the whole bulb when harvesting, and that's it. It seems a little harsh to the poor plant, but once you cut off the flower and the leaves, there's nothing to feed the bulb for the next season and it may never flower again. Daffodils do multiply over time though, so I should have more and more every year with no effort at all! What you see below is a double daffodil, which are much more rare to find in grocery store floral departments, so I'll definitely be doubling up (see what I did there) on those next year.


I didn't have my flower stand ready in time to sell most of the daffodils this year, but the tulips are coming in fast and furious and I'm opening up tomorrow! I intentionally am not linking to my business here because the website contains my address and full name, and I don't want any weird people lurking around here. BUT if you are interested and I know you're a legit person, let me know below and I'll contact you through your blog or your email if you want to leave it.



This desk is actually my virtual meeting background, so I put these flowers here to strategically distract from a tense presentation I gave to 100+ people this week. I think they worked because no one asked me any hard questions. My art desk in general is sadly neglected these days. I keep an art journal open in case I have a few minutes to stop over and work, but things tend to stay unfinished for a long time. 


In other farming news I had a huge pile of leaf compost delivered last week. The backyard is fenced, so I need to shovel and haul it one load at a time onto the beds. The new garden is now ready to go. I'm excited to get my blowtorch out again and burn holes in more landscape fabric. I will not be doing this on a windy day like I did the first time, which resulted in me having to relight the torch after almost every. single. one. of the 155 holes.


This may have been one of my longest knitting-free periods... ever? Because I've been crocheting instead! All of the yarn I'm using, besides the black, is leftover from other projects. I finally decided not to keep saving it for some future unknown project and just use it up. I did absolutely no planning for this, so I'm just randomly choosing colors and I guess I'll just keep going around and around until I decide I'm done. I think this would make an excellent children's book: a woman keeps crocheting the same blanket until it gets bigger and bigger, swallowing her house, her neighbors... etc. You can have my idea if you want to write it!



I've now finished 21 books this year. I have been a lot better about quitting books I'm not into, so even though I probably won't match my total from last year, I see that as an improvement. I really enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club, which is about a group of amateur investigators in a retirement home who end up involved a real murder. The writing was quite funny and I loved the backstories and personalities of the main characters. (Trigger warning for multiple suicides, though.)

I also finished Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am on audio. It blew me away! I usually like every memoir I read, but the writing was top-notch. The book focuses on "17 brushes with death" which was a unique take on the standard memoir. It made me immediately go and check out another book of hers. 

I hope you're getting at least a hint of spring where you are!

13 comments:

  1. Those double daffodils are delightful! I would totally buy those if I walked by them in a store!!

    I loved The Thursday Murder Club - I found it SO funny and unexpected. Those characters! The second one in the series is just as fun. I'm looking forward to the third!

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    1. Oh awesome, I've already checked out the second one!

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  2. What gorgeous flowers! One year I planted over a hundred bulbs, and the squirrels dug up and ate almost every single one. The ones they left have NEVER FLOWERED. So, I will live vicariously through you. Good luck with your flower stand!

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    1. Squirrels are THE WORST. I weirdly don't have squirrels in my yard (I said that really quietly so they wouldn't hear) but if I did it would be WAR.

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  3. Those flowers are gorgeous.
    I read I Am, I Am, I Am, too. It was a very unique memoir!
    And the blanket looks gorgeous! The colours remind me of jewels/beads my kids have and play with.

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    1. I can see the beads now that you say that! Thank you!

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  4. Wow - such beautiful flowers! Amazing variety of daffodils, and the colours of the tulips are just gorgeous. What a wonderful harvest.
    I liked The Thursday Murder Club too, more for the wry, sometimes laugh-out-loud humour than the plot, which seemed a bit thin to me in places. Richard Osman is fast becoming a National Treasure in the UK - primarily for his TV work - he's so quick-witted and clever, but never takes himself too seriously and seems like a genuinely nice chap. I'll definitely give the sequel a go.
    I'm another lifelong knitter who has been led wildly astray by the hooky charms of crochet. It's been nearly six months since I picked up a pair of needles - granny squares have taken over my life! Your book would make a great cautionary tale for other other unsuspecting crafters.

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    1. It's funny because I read a review of The Thursday Murder Club, and someone mentioned the "celebrity author". Being in the US I had no idea what they meant, and had to Google Richard Osman. I made a granny square blanket years ago, and all of the ends and sewing together ended up taking me nearly 4 years to put together. So from now on I think I'll stick to patterns that don't require so many color changes!

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  5. We bought The Thursday Murder Club some while ago. Hubby has read and enjoyed so I must get a shuffle on and read it myself. Thanks for the nudge :)
    I have also been a long time knitter who started to feel the call of the crochet hook.
    The tulips and daffodils are so bright and cheerful, I always love when they start to flower.

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    1. There is something about crochet and how fast it is - you can see progress immediately which can be addicting!

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  6. Your flowers are wonderful, I never knew that about Tulip bulbs although I did learn recently that they are very tasty to rodents which would explain why mine get eaten whenever I try to add to my collection in the garden, I love Tulips and would love to have more growing. Daffodils on the other hand are toxic to rodents.

    I love Maggie O'Farrell and have read several of her books.

    Your blanket is so lovely, I have never mastered crochet but would love to learn so that I can make blankets x

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  7. You are the second person to recommend The Thursday Murder Club-I think it will be next on my list. I'm reading Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form and Emptiness and am loving it!

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  8. Your flowers are gorgeous! As you know, NM isn't big on spring flowers and I miss them so much!
    I love your blanket!

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