Wednesday, April 02, 2008

garden center woes

i dropped $65 at the garden center today. our new apartment doesn't have any landscape to speak of if any of you lovelies out there in the cyber world have extra flower seed packets lying around i'll take them off your hands *cough cough* most of the money i spent was for the communal garden at maggie & austin's. why the heck are blueberry bushes so expensive again? anyways, as far as flowers right now ive only got two kinds of cosmos, lavender, one measly dahlia, and a ranaculus mix. oh and i suppose some strawberries in a container. im thinking of bidding on some seed lots on ebay. this one is striking my fancy because it's cheap, easy to grow, and pretty. (sidebar: how can anyone, in good conscience bid on this auction when the person keeps saying "sew" instead of "sow"?) if i had just a tiny bit more space i would use the square foot gardening method but alas, i don't even have 4x4 ft. guess what i want for mothers day? mulch & seeds! the person who lived here before us is a mystery to me. there is a half barrel in the back and obviously has been put to good use, it's full of rich soil for example. yet the front bed looks like it was used for an ashtray or broken bottle trash can. i felt like so grossed out cleaning it out this afternoon. listen, i get that this is an apartment and not a home someone owns but that much broken glass is just uncalled for! it's not that hard to show an certain level of pride in where you live. this is by no means a low income area, how hard is it to throw out a bag of mulch?

while at the garden center augustine picked out the worst looking lawn ornament and begged me for it in the way that only a near-three year old can. i told him we didn't have money for such things which is code for "EW". commence lie on the ground, kicking and screaming tantrum.

suicide machines - i never promised you a rose garden
&
smog - i feel like the mother of the world


augustine is a pretty well behaved child, i don't know what brought this on other than just Toddler Gimme Gimme Syndrome. it thrills me to see his interest in gardening (and baking). it is some of the rare times that i feel like i am leaving some of me behind on him. that should i pass away that would always remain even if he didn't remember how it got there. anyways a kind, well meaning lady shoved a piece of candy into auggie's palm asking him if "it was really THAT bad?" and he shrieked what he always does when he is having a tantrum, "I WANT MY DADDY!" (as if david would roll over and die about the silly lawn ornament??!) i was really disappointed and told him so in the car. the serenity prayer ain't just for addicts on days like this folks...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a closet reader of yours and I happen to have an entire drawer of seeds that I was planning to use this year and can't because we have to have the whole yard dug up to fix our septic system sometime this summer so unfortunatly I am probably not going to plant anything. Let me know if you are interested.

MamaFeelgood said...

Hey dear...how do you make the header that you have on your blog? I'm trying to start posting on blogger so that family can keep up with us but I cannot, for the life of me, get a picture to fit in the header. Can you help me out or direct me to a page that will reveal the answer to me?

Thanks,
jeannine

Amber said...

Aw...ok well first let me say, I am very sorry that Augustine had the mega tantrum...but in my heart of hearts, I do feel a bit better, because sometimes (now that I am a mom and for some odd reason all of my friends only have perfect little girls who never make a darn peep) I think Im the only one who's child has tantrums because they can't have whatever REALLY weird and random thing they see at the store :) So I guess...so sorry...and thanks :) haha

Olive said...

heather - of course! you are wonderful!

jeannine - the above header is 650 X 295. if you go into your blogs layout options go to header > edit and input it there

amber - like i said, usually aug is a peach (or close enough to it, he's still 2 afterall!) but i just dont get what the big deal was. the rest of the day was the same too. when david came home from work he was kind enough to take the kids outside to enjoy the nice day while i read on the couch in... get this!... QUIET! :)

Anonymous said...

Do you just want flowers? I know I have some cucumbers and I think some other fruits/veggies, I will have to check when I get home, they are all yours if you want them. I know by next year I will change my mind about what to plant.

Olive said...

ill certainly take whatever you have but i am pretty stocked on cucumbers actually. youre awesome!

Anonymous said...

my e-mail is rindge5@aol.com if you want to let me know where to send them

Radiantsun said...

o.k I'm ignorant I guess. How did I not know the serenity prayer was for addicts?! hahaha I love that one. oh well!

I live in MA and it snowed again last night! MY herb garden is actually popping up through the snow! I feel so bad!

saltycanvas said...

Hello Jenny!
Morning Glories! Those are my favourite! If you have a trellis or a railing or something for them to grow up, they will produce lots of beautiful pale blue/purple flowers. They are gorgeous! I could send you some lovely Canadian seeds :)

I bought some body products through "Lush" (GREAT green company!) a week ago and they sent my soap in a small organic box that, when planted, will grow into beautiful flowers. Such a neat idea!

Gardening is so expensive though! I only have a balcony and since I am away from home, I try to plant lots of flowers in windowboxes because my mother is an avid gardener and it makes me feel a little closer to home.

Laura