Month: May 2020

How does my garden grow (spring 2020)?

We are quickly shifting from spring to summer here in Chicagoland, though it varies by day which we’re enjoying. My first round of seeds has been planted everywhere I had planned, a couple starter plants purchased where seeds didn’t germinate, for the annual herbs up front, and my new garden bed. What’s more exciting is seeing tiny plants popping up across the various beds… and in the composter. Wait, what?

On the left, a garden tower with marigolds and petunias. Top right is the herb garden; middle right is tomatoes and squash; bottom right is garden bed with marigolds and petunias.

Yes, there are tiny squash plants in my open composter, just like there were last year. Those are probably acorn squash or carving pumpkins… it’s hard to tell at this stage.

My garden tower is filled with marigolds and petunias purchased through the Boy Scouts. The sheer quantity of individual plants included in their flats is insane; I filled the garden tower with half of each flat, and was left wondering what to do with the rest.

The star-shaped bed in front is my herb garden, with mint, chives, and cilantro carrying over from past years. I added parsley, sage, and rosemary into the points, and small (they only grow to about 6 feet) sunflowers in the middle, just behind the ninja gnome. There’s also mint popping up in the mulch… and the other points… I’m working on that.

In the back yard, my carrots failed to germinate in the keyhole bed, so I bought a couple tomato plants and a bell pepper. While I was watering them this week, I noticed the acorn squash and honeydew sprouting, along with the mystery squash in the composter. Based on what I can see at the moment, some of those mystery squash will probably end up in the windmill-shaped bed (not pictured) I set up last fall. One of the three squares in that bed has nothing germinating that I can see at the moment. One of the other squares is filled with okra, with all sixteen plants poking out.

The garden bed pictured in the bottom right is the old, cracked bed frame that I mentioned in last week’s post. It seemed like the perfect place for the rest of those marigolds and petunias. The empty space at the head and foot, also known as the “built-in trellises”… that’s where the big sunflowers have been planted. Big meaning they can grow up to fourteen feet tall. Past experience tells me that they tend to topple once the flower blooms, weighing too much for the roots to support. Shortly before that happens – if I’m on the ball – they’ll be secured to the trellises. Hopefully I’ll have some lovely photos to share later in the season.

Last, but certainly not least, is the small selection of fruit in my yard. The raspberries and mulberries came with the house; the raspberries are flowering, and the mulberry leaves are emerging for the season. On a more exciting note, the strawberries I planted last year near my grilling area have a tremendous amount of flowers, so I’m certainly looking forward to those.

When life gives you lemons, make lemon meringue pie.

I know, that’s not the traditional saying, but I generally march to the beat of a different bagpiper. I think it’s safe to say that 2020 has provided a significant number of lemons to every day life, and there’s only so much lemonade you can drink. So I like to look for something that takes a bit more effort. After all, life went to the trouble of giving me something.

The latest lemon to hit my life was when the support rail of my bed broke last week. It wasn’t unexpected, as it’s the second time one of the wooden rails broken, but the first time was a tiny break near the bolt. This is a full-fledged, half the length of the bed break.

Broken wooden support rail in a bed frame.

I suppose I could tell a funny story about how it broke… an epic battle between Arwen and Cassandra, which the bed lost. But it wasn’t that epic – Cassandra was holding Arwen, and fell back onto the bed when the cat struggled to escape. I heard the crack from the next room.

My lemonade approach would be to order new support rails, or finally get around to ordering a new bed, which I had been looking at for a while. I can honestly say I wasn’t surprised that it broke; the previous break was a couple years ago. I was more dismayed at the timing, since shopping is a bit difficult at the moment. I have ordered a new bed, figuring it’s a good use of stimulus money.

But what about the bed frame? I can’t exactly donate (even if places were open) or give away a broken bed frame, even after gluing it. That wouldn’t feel right. Our spring trash day, when we can put bulk items out at the curb was cancelled… and if it hadn’t been, was actually the day the bed broke, so the break would have been after the pick-up anyways. And to be honest, it’s a reasonably nice (if broken) bed… a pretty wood color that was originally a crib, converted to a toddler bed, and now a full-size bed.

And then I realized what my lemon meringue pie approach would be. With the feet planted into the ground, the support rails will be the right height for a raised garden bed. The size is just about right to reach into every part of the bed for gardening and weeding, possibly with pavers, or even by splitting apart the support slats from the bed itself, and rejoining them as walkways. And the head and foot of the bed are effectively built-in trellises.

Of course, this takes time to set up. Even though I’m not digging deep, I submitted a dig request to mark the utility lines, just to be sure. I need landscaping fabric to reduce weed growth, and a mix of dirt and compost to fill the bed once that’s all done. I’m looking forward to planting sunflowers in it this year, as the spot I’ve chosen is remarkably sunny.

I bought a furnace.

I can’t say that’s a phrase I ever wanted to use. A furnace certainly wasn’t on my top ten things to shop for list. But I knew it was coming.

I had hoped my boiler would limp through one more winter. Last winter, it gradually lost water over a period of three to four weeks, with no obvious leak. That implied the leak was somewhere in the pipes to the radiators, but those pipes are buried in the foundation throughout the house. I learned how to bleed the system – drain the water and the build-up of air into the garage work sink to allow the water to replenish – buying functionality for another pair of weeks, until the room temperature variances started again.

As with all home improvement projects, I did my due diligence and requested estimates from multiple companies. Ultimately the one I chose was not just because they included a maintenance package and removal of the boiler, but because their sales representative explained what he was looking at in the house and attic, and what they needed to do for each piece of the puzzle.

Unassembled pieces of ductwork along with my stuff in the garage

Switching from a boiler and window air-conditioning meant there was no ductwork in the house yet, so we spent four long days with people crawling around in the attic and hammering away in the garage. I pulled what little I store in the attic down, moved furniture around in the garage, and parked outside for a week in December.

When they were done, I had a working furnace, a smart thermostat, and more importantly, peace of mind.

And an air-conditioner. Because I have ductwork now, and it will be far more efficient than window units.

Thoughts on The Long Earth

I just finished reading a book about traveling between parallel worlds. It was an amazing book, and at some point down the line, I’m sure I’ll share the review of it here. While reading it, it struck me how clever Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter were in creating a mode of travel for The Long Earth that was so clearly available to the masses.

When access to the means of travel, in this case, across the multiverse, is controlled by a corporation or by price, the story will be about a select group that can travel. In The Long Earth (the name of both the first book and the series), the plans for the “Stepper” were released online, and involved mostly items that are available at your local hardware store. And a potato to power it.

If you ever had a potato clock, you can appreciate the simplicity of it with at least a vague understanding that you can power something with a potato. Or pair of potatoes, for the clocks. The Stepper plans were deliberately accessible and available to everybody.

Another twist in The Long Earth was that humanity only evolved on ours, referred to as Datum Earth. No need to wonder if you’re going to meet yourself, or an evil version, on the next Earth over. People stepped either east or west, with the nearest Earths, as measured in steps from Datum Earth labeled “low”. Some people went higher, building new homes far from the civilization they knew, exploring the new frontiers.

And some people found they didn’t need the steppers. Interesting adventures were had by all.

Thoughts on Bridge 108

I’m fortunate in that I’m provided with many good books to read. This review was originally published in the January 1, 2020 issue of Booklist.

Award-winning author Anne Charnock begins Bridge 108 by introducing readers to Caleb, a twelve-year old from climate-ravaged Spain, living illegally in England as one of Ma Lexie’s assistants. He found his way there with Skylark’s assistance, not realizing that he was being trafficked and enslaved. A spur of the moment decision leads Caleb to freedom and on an adventure to find a better life for himself, with the added possibility of locating his mother, who he was separated from before meeting Skylark. As his world turns upside down time and time again, he gradually realizes that his parents’ dream of escaping to England – legally – was naive, causing him to reflect on the people who have aided or hampered his quest for a better life. This coming of age story sees Caleb sampling multiple jobs in a dystopian world, striding solidly forward in his efforts only to have them come crashing down due to outside forces. The potential reality to this late twenty-first century setting, with drought, wildfires, and closed borders, makes Bridge 108 both appealing and frightening.