Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!" 


Do you see lots of cutting, chopping, and slicing in your future? Holidays seem to always mean fancy cooking with lots of prepwork. Prevent mishaps by putting a damp paper towel under your cutting board. That will keep it in place and it won't slide around when you're chopping the eight millionth potato in a row.

More Front Yard to Garden Conversion

The yard-to-garden conversion is moving along nicely. The next step was deciding exactly how much of the lawn was going to disappear. I wanted the garden to have a curved edge, instead of just running a line straight across the lawn. So I dug way back into the dusty depths of my brain and remembered some geometry work from 10th grade. Mrs. Campbell would be proud.

First, I enlisted the Noble Assistant to help measure the distance across the lawn. This would be the base of my equilateral-lawn-triangle-compass-creation.

Then I determined where the apex of the triangle would be and jammed a screwdriver into the ground. I tied a string to the screwdriver and the other end to a can of spray paint (confusing the heck out of my friend who was taking the pictures). Then I pulled the string taut and sprayed a smooth arc with the paint.

That wasn't enough lawn removal for my taste, though. So I repeated the exercise with red paint. The less lawn, the better, right?

It's a little hard to see here, but next spring the lawn will be gone up to the red line. More sheet mulching to come!

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!" 

Just in time for your Thanksgiving festivities: if you're peeling a bunch of potatoes/carrots/other veggies, spread a couple of sections of newspaper on the counter or table. Peel directly onto the paper, and when you're done, put the whole thing in the compost pile. Easy cleanup and good for your compost!

Planning the Front Yard Garden

I don't plan on having a shrubbery, but I will arrange everything "for a nice two-level effect...with a little path running down the middle."

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!"

It's getting to be travel season, and lots of airlines charge extra for heavy bags. Avoid these charges by wearing heavy items on the plane, like your coat and heaviest pair of shoes. (You can always take them off once you're on board.) Also, weigh your bag before you start filling it--if you have a ten-pound bag, you're starting with a serious disadvantage!

Replacing Lawn with a Garden

Yep, that's a giant piece of mowing strip...crazy projects are afoot at the BrownThumb house.

There's nothing like reading a classic garden book to get you feeling rebellious. I just finished reading Food Not Lawns, and proposed an idea to BrownThumbPapa that I was sure he would veto.

"What do you think about ripping out part of the front lawn?" I ventured. "The sun is better in the front yard and we could plant some artichokes and snapdragons." (An odd combination, but they're two of his favorites.) To my surprise, he quickly agreed. "Less lawn for me to mow? All riiiiight!"

This weekend, the project began. I'm doing sheet mulch by the fence to smother the lawn. It starts with a layer of wet cardboard topped with some leaves and compost. It decomposes over the winter and you can plant directly in the mulch.

The next step was to remove the mowing strip between the lawn and the rocks. The pickaxe was great for this, and the pieces came out in huge chunks--as you saw above.

That's all I had time for this weekend. I'm sketching out ideas and spending a lot of time with my Sunset Western Garden Book and graph paper. I'm thinking asparagus, strawberries, and an artichoke or two--what do you think?

Gardening Books: Best of Both Worlds

What to do when the weather is too crummy to garden? Read, of course. I love books just as much as I love gardening. When I spotted this while thrifting last week, I grabbed it without a second thought. It's Sunset's Vegetable Garden Book, copyright 1944.

The pen-and-ink illustrations remind me of my Grandpa. He was an accomplished artist, and this style is my favorite.

For such a tiny book, it contains lots of information. And I love the way it's written.

"I'll do it tomorrow" causes a lot of trouble in the vegetable garden. You can't put off watering, spraying, and cultivating without suffering loss in quantity and quality. If you are inclined to enjoy the vice of procrastination, mark well the next few paragraphs and refer to them frequently--the most common causes of failure in the garden.

Celery is a heavy feeder and a heavy drinker. Its favorite home is muck land. Water them thoroughly, and keep on watering. This is one plant that is hard to drown.

Seekers after vitamins A and C (and that should include all of us) need look no farther than the kale patch for an exceptionally generous source of supply.

You might not grow roselle or salsify in your garden, but I bet your Grandma did. The book even includes a recipe for mock oysters using salsify and egg, which reminds me of the tough times they were living in. Your vegetable garden could make or break your family's diet in those days.

The very best part was the surprise I found tucked between the back pages.

Mrs. Alvah Eugene Dailey, thank you for the book. It's in good hands.

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!"

When you make up a batch of homemade cleaning solution (like laundry soap), write the recipe right on the container. No more searching around in your recipe box and craft files to remember where you put it!