mudpies's Blog

No time
May 12, 2009 | 7:38 AM PST
Tags: time , garbage , compost , recycling , Strawberries , environment , drinking water , local politics

Finally!  A nice sunny morning - temperatures still a little below normal, but promising,  nevertheless.  Unfortunately, I have no time to indulge in my favourite sport - gardening. 

It's garbage/compost/recycling day here.  I need to dump some tired goods from my fridge into the compost pick-up bin;  ensure that I've rid the house of unwanted recyclables - newspapers, cardboard cartons, box board, along with the stuff I put into the bin every day; and lug all containers to the curb.  I'm committed to the program, but that doesn't make it any easier.

I need to take my van to a nearby town for an emissions test so that I can get a new sticker for my licence plate before the current one expires.   While there, I want to purchase some strawberry roots to fill in some bare spots in our newly transplanted (last fall) patch.  I'll meet my youngest daughter and we'll go together to the garden centre where we'll both purchase other plants as well.  Neither of us needs more plants, but the "I wants" will set in.

Just time enough to get home and prepare a cold supper for my husband, before heading off to a council meeting scheduled for 6:00.  If I'm not there by 5:20, I'll have to stand through what promises to be a very long meeting.  Along with a large segment of our community, I'm opposing the rezoning of property adjacent to one of the largest wetland preserves in Ontario and the headwaters of a major river for the purpose of storing explosives used in the mining industry.  I'm not opposed to the operation, per se, but to its location.  A spill of ammonium nitrate could contaminate the marsh, the river and various aquifers necessary to clean drinking water throughout southern Ontario.  I can't believe that the local, provincial and federal governments have even considered allowing it to operate in its current location, but each agency seems to pass the buck to the next.  Duh!!  I'm afraid it's a case of one agency being afraid to step on the toes of another.  In the meantime, each of them has lost sight of what is critical to our environment.  No decision will be made this evening, but I'll likely rant on about this in future.

I'm heading up to visit with my mom early tomorrow morning, so you won't have to read about my frustrations with the process until later in the week.  I'll try to appease you by taking and posting  those photos of the fresh greens of the near north on my journey.

Hurtin'
Apr 30, 2009 | 4:49 PM PST
Tags: clay , earthworms , compost , sand , astilbe , fresias , snapdragons , candy tuft

I don't understand it entirely, but I'm a hurtin' piece of business this evening.  Every muscle seems to be aching.  I turned a lot more of my flower bed, but I've been doing that for a couple of days now.  I have to admit I haven't been sleeping well, but that happens frequently, unfortunately.  Gonna try to hit he sack early this evening after a long, hot bath and a drink of milk.  I'll snuggle in with a good book.  Hopefully, that will resolve my achiness.

After digging in that clay for a couple of days, it amazes me that earthworms can manage to make their way through the stuff.  But, sure enough, there were lots.  I managed to finish enlarging that flower bed, then amended the soil with compost.  Would have liked to add some sand, but didn't have a convenient source and wanted to get the bed finished.  Planted a white astilbe and a few assorted fresias (haven't had any luck with them in the past, but hope springs eternal), then overseeded with snapdragons and candy tuft.  I'll be seaching eagerly for any sign of new life every time I pass that bed.  I think it'll be pretty if it comes to fruition.

I forgot to mention that I took a dozen or so tomato plants that had gotten very large out of my mini greenhouse on Monday.  I guess they didn't like exiting their nice, warm,  humid home, because they looked like they were ready to collapse.  Poor babies!  They have since recovered and are looking happy and sturdy once again.  I won't be able to plant them in their permanent home for almost a month.  Even then, there's a full moon scheduled about the 6th of June and I may have to cover them in case of frost.

 Well, I have some research to do regarding a planning issue within our township, then I'm going to have that bubble bath.

Night, all.