State of the Garden, Part I

This post is dedicated to that chick that be out gardening in her pajamas, The Pajama Gardener Carleen Brice.

Yeah, Ma... There are several questions throughout here and only an expert like yourself can answer them. I'm too lazy to research this. So please help a sista out. Much obliged!

Ahhhh yes...

'Tis that time again. You know, it's time for the Oldgirl to crank up the garden...

If you can remember, last year, I did about 10 posts on my backyard garden.



Man oh man, the excitement of it all!

The gorgeous beans!


The radishes that looked like they were smoking the crack rock!


The fat okra!



And the cucumbers!!!


Those cucumbers sho nuff set a salad OFF!



But the beans... THE BEANS, THE BEANS, THE BEANS!

Remember that pot of beans, potatoes and smoked chicken!?
That. was. some. GOOD. eatin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GLORY!!! Can't wait for all that!

And who could forget Oscar-Tyrone's obsession with snatching beans.
I'm still not sure what that was about.

But, it's gonna take a bit of work to get all that goodness back again. And I am NOT as excited as I was last year. Now in the least.

Maybe it was those $90 water bills that came in all summer. That's a real eyeopener, when I'm use to little $20 water bills.

So...

I was out looking at my patch of earth in the back yard:
(*Carleen spills cup of hot orange mint tea all over her desk. She clutches her pearls, backs away from the computerscreen, and screams "What the... What in the world!!"*)

LOL!

You know, it ain't all that bad. And I really want to take an axe to that tree. I told Milk and Cookies to cut that sucker down when he and my neighbors were out building the fence (See my "Hence the Fence" post).

But noooooooo, he thought it was such a nice tree. HUMPH.

And right now, it's got all these berry things growing on it. Eww. I'm wondering what kind of tree it is. Hmm.

The berries will be bright red soon. They will fall out the tree, all into the garden, and I have to run around out there picking them up.

*gas face*

Anyway, Mr. Thomas, one of my more colorful locals, cleared out the patch of land for me. And, he did it in the middle of the night. He told me the other day, "I can do that, because I know your yard that well, girl!" *crickets).

So everything is ready to go, I suppose.


And oh... what 'tis that I see out in the midst of the garden? It is my Rosemary bush from last year. And the lemon balm also came back! GLORY! (It also means there are two less things I have to plant). And what is that growing next to to the rosemary plant?

Is it the beloved herb of old, the Cannabis ativa?

I smile like Celie smiled. I step closer. I remember my dope smoking blissful days of old. I have special thoughts of lighting it up...

Uh, it don't quite look like the magical herb. I don't know what it is.

I just keep thinking in relation to the number of the leaves:

"When there's three, let it be."

Meaning... it's something else.

Is it poison ivy???

*Lee frowns and takes one giant step backwards.*

Uh, Pajama Gardener... Is that Poison Ivy?

HUMPH. That right there would be my excuse for not gardening at all. I thought about that for all of 5 minutes.

Then, I put on a glove and pulled it up.

And if you look closely, right in between the rosemary and lemon balm, there are a few brown sticks sticking up.

That was last years basil. Now, I've been giving it a chance to sprout leaves. I don't think it is coming back. Still brown and dry as all get out.

I dug it up, and put down some type of strange mint plant in it's place. (Yo Carleen, where can I get some of that Orange mint? Do that even grow in Georgia, or is that a Denver thang?)

Carleen is calling for peeps to plant a "peace garden" per Pearl Cleage's new book.

Yo, I'm gonna have a "peace row" in my garden. That's as good as it gets. I will not be feeling very "peaceful" if I have to do more than that, hon. LOL!

And while rummaging around in the garage, I saw this.

Why in the world do I have so much lighter fluid? And I've been looking for that can of butter flavored PAM all frickin' year!!!!!

Well, you know what THAT means... That can only mean one thing:

Summer is commin', and it's time to throw down on that grill!!!!!!!

Yes sirree!!! The perfect activity while working out in the garden!

So... what's my game plan? I only plan on working out in the garden for about 30 minutes a day. That's enough for me. I have put out tomato and cabbage plants last weekend, and will plant beans this Sunday. (No bush beans this year, I am doing the vine variety, so I have to build some trellises. DANG!) I will also plant cucumber, squash, and okra seeds this weekend.

I might fool around with some peppers. (Not sure about that because I suck at growing peppers).

All I know... My work is definitely cut out for me!

Stay tuned:)