Gee Thanks Mom

The saying about my mom is that she could stick a pencil in the ground 
and it would grow.

Me on the other hand~

As I've said before, I plant and God laughs.

This is the carrot and beet patch.

Last year, Mom sent a couple big bags of "composty stuff."

We dumped it in this plot and turned it under thinking nothing more of it.

Fast forward to this spring.

Carrots and beets get planted - though a smidge later than usual.

Before long, there were red stalky clusters of stems all over!

(Amaranth)

Then, sprinkled here and there in their midst were plants with round leaves and purple flowers.

(Dwarf Hollyhocks)

And where one or the other of those wasn't hogging the ground, were those little white button sized daisy looking flowers that I was all too familiar with.

(Feverview)

Mom brought up two pots of them a couple years ago, 
and they are now nearly to plague status.

So after a couple wheelbarrows full of pullings, 

there is at least a little room of an occasional carrot or beet 
to eke up through the earth.

I planted two types of carrots.  One did significantly better than the other.

I will be pulling the rest of the flowers, because I don't want them 
seeding here in the garden.

I know it might already be too late.

They really are pretty - just not in the garden plots.

I'll be sending this picture to Mom with a big ol' sarcastic Thanks!

It really is okay and not disrespectful.

We harass her about her jungle preservation skills on a semi regular basis.
Lesson learned, dump "compost" from Mom someplace I want flowers.

A Lesson in Patience....& Compost

Just in case you don't know the whole saying:

Patience is a virtue.

Virtue is a grace.

Grace is a little girl

who wouldn't wash her face.

Patience certainly does pay off.

It seems difficult in today's age

of instant gratification.

But here is a great example.

Our compost bin was really more of a compost heap.

As I would pass the railroad crossing

where they work on the rails and dump things,

I would often notice that there were 

what I would call crates for lack of a better term.

They were almost like 4 pallets strapped together.

I always thought what great compost bins

they would make, and 

that next time I saw someone there,

I should stop and ask for one.
(Some gals want diamonds - me, compost:)

I know they just break them down and send them to the dump,
but I wouldn't just take one.
About a week or so ago,
I saw one not by the rail road tracks
but farther up river on the side of the road near private property.
It had obviously fallen off of their truck.
After about a week,
I figured they didn't come back for it so must not have wanted it.
I stopped and picked up this roadside litter.
We have already been using it.
It works wonderfully.
I might stain it to match the fence,
just so it's not such an eye sore.

So by waiting patiently, (or even a little impatiently,)
we received a wonderful "new" compost bin.
I still might stop and ask for another,
but it will take us a while to fill this one.
One mans trash...

Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches