Planning a REAL garden

I've finally decided that I have 2 actual, permanent homes. We don't plan on moving for years (if ever) and neither will my mother. I spend half my time at my mom's anyway, so I consider it my second home. And someday I expect we will have to move back there to help take care of her as she gets older. Soooo.... It's time to settle in to some real serious gardening.

The goal here is to use mostly organic techniques and create a garden that will suit our needs and requires as little care as possible. We need a minimal care, high pleasure garden to relax and play in. Kids of all ages, from 6 months (my brother's littlest child) to 46 years old like to spend time in the garden, though we can never enlist much help from any of them. We have lazy, non-gardeners living with us... I think they're allergic to physical labor.

Mom's garden will have to serve the following purposes:

• Play area large enough to set up a small swimming pool for the kids.
• Grilling and chillin'
• Providing an escape from the heat of the day during summer months.
• Fshpond for guppies.
• flowers for leimaking

My garden's purpose:

• Play area again.
• experimental garden (for trying out plants I like before committing... kinda like relationships)
• Growing veggies/fruits
• Herb Garden
• Cutting flowers (just cuz I like em)
• child's garden to grow stuff in
• Grillin' and chillin' again
  

Gosh...I sound so organized. Don't let this post fool you.

Some stats:

• Zone 11 (yes there really is such a thing!)
  
• Most areas are hot, sunny and dry. A few pockets of dry shade.
  
• Red Dirt hard soil. Needs amendments to grow the stuff we like.
  
• Womanpower: 2 weekend gardeners. No real muscle power, just smarts and persistence. Possibly able to enlist a slave or two with a bit of bribery. (Child labor- the laws don't apply to family members.)
  
• Not much money to spend on a garden. Let's budget $10.00/month (or $120.00/year) per garden.
  

Resources we can tap:

• Occasional brute strength (if we feed The Man).
• A big heap of mulch, located at a nearby Community College. (Haul your own, but it's free.)
• A pickup truckload of compost. We have to wait till uncle is available, but the wait is worth it!
• The library of course... for ideas, inspiration and knowledge.
• An empty, undeveloped space in the back for extra filler (soil, just as bad as ours). Will have to explore to see if there are usable rocks there.
• Mom's gravel pile.
• Plants from friends and family... (probably have to make our own cuttings.)
• Bunny poo from the family pet.

Things we can NOT do to the garden (I have to remember this because my big ideas are too costly and we haven't enough strong slaves to help with the heavy work):

• Tear up the sidewalk to replace it with a flowing path around the house.
• Replace the old shed.
• Building rock wall terraces

I think I will have to start a gardening blog... so future posts will be on my gardening blog.

Replacing screens

Sorry... no pictures this time. I inherited a new camera and am still learning how to use it.

Time it took: Me? I spent over an hour doing 1 window screen. Then my son took over and finished the job. It took him maybe 20 minutes per window. Note below why it took me so long...

My mother needs to have several screens replaced. This one's a very doable job and I've done it before. When my kids were very small, they poked holes in the screen door (several times) and garden mice occasionally chewed through her fiberglass screens.
This time, I'm using the metal screens to keep those mice out. Of course, the kids can still poke holes, but now they're old enough NOT to do it.

So... Starting with the list of supplies, you'll need:

• Window screen - comes in fiberglass or aluminum at Home Depot.


• screen tool - Don't try to use a screwdriver or something else... This is worth the investment and only cost a couple bucks.


• GLOVES if you're doing the aluminum screen, unless you're very careful and adept with home repairs (which we all know I'm NOT).


• x-acto knife or very sharp tool for cutting the excess screen.


• Rubbery Screen Spline - Bring a bit of your old screen spline so you can pick the correct size.


• Tape

If you read the back of the Spline packageyou'll find the instructions for replacing the screen. It's a rather simple proccess, basically remove the spline/screen. Cut a new screen piece abou 2" larger than the frame. Secure the frame by taping it to a table or something so it doesn't warp while you... um..."spline" it. Place the new screen on the frame, and push the spline in using the tool. Simple right?

Note: This job is not for weak hands. My fingers were tired and achy from doing lots of handsewing and gardening over the past weekend and the spline was a bear to push in. Eventually my son took over, but I did manage to get 1 screen done quite neatly. If you use fiberglass screen, the job is much easier. Metal screen'll fight back.... with teeth and claws, so use your gloves.