What We Did This Weekend:
Comfort Food, Green Thumbs, and a Pair of Funny Girls
Friday night we went out to dinner with some friends in our ward. We took them to Dan's Long Branch Steakhouse in Overland Park. We had been there a few times before and love the food. They have what Brookie believes could be the best chicken tenders in the Greater Kansas City Area. And I really like Big D's Country Fried Steak (the D is for Dan). And what makes a great meal even better is a great discount, and that was provided by Restaurant.com. They've been having some great promotions lately, so I was able to score a $25 gift certificate for only $2, which we used Friday night.
Saturday was an historic day in our household. We planted our first vegetable garden. Thursday morning a friend of ours let us borrow his tiller so we could prepare some ground our back yard. We marked off about 100 square feet and fired up the tiller. So Saturday, with the soil ready for our seeds, we were ready to plant.
Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. When it finally stopped raining, we went outside and dug out the edges of the garden to put down some landscape timbers for a nice border. Our soil has so much clay that the rain made it really difficult to work with, but we were determined to get our plants in the ground. Earlier in the week our mail-order plants and seeds arrived, so we were really anxious.
We were able to plant our raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, red onions, garlic, potatoes, peas, and corn. But working in the clay wore us out, so we didn't get everything in the ground yesterday. I don't know if anyone else feels like this, but we never think that things we plant will actually grow. We live in such an instant-gratification society, that I found myself wishing that we would see the little seedling popping out of the ground right away.
And, after a hard day of cleaning, laundry, and heavy gardening, how would you unwind? Us? We went and did some baby sitting. We babysat for some friends who went to dinner and entrusted us with their two little girls, both under two years old. They're so much fun. When we were putting the oldest little girl to bed, Brookie tied the sleeves of her pajamas together. We had a great time, and when they were both in bed, we watched the rest of the Royals game on TV.
So that's what we did this weekend. Exciting huh?
Saturday was an historic day in our household. We planted our first vegetable garden. Thursday morning a friend of ours let us borrow his tiller so we could prepare some ground our back yard. We marked off about 100 square feet and fired up the tiller. So Saturday, with the soil ready for our seeds, we were ready to plant.
Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. When it finally stopped raining, we went outside and dug out the edges of the garden to put down some landscape timbers for a nice border. Our soil has so much clay that the rain made it really difficult to work with, but we were determined to get our plants in the ground. Earlier in the week our mail-order plants and seeds arrived, so we were really anxious.
We were able to plant our raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, red onions, garlic, potatoes, peas, and corn. But working in the clay wore us out, so we didn't get everything in the ground yesterday. I don't know if anyone else feels like this, but we never think that things we plant will actually grow. We live in such an instant-gratification society, that I found myself wishing that we would see the little seedling popping out of the ground right away.
And, after a hard day of cleaning, laundry, and heavy gardening, how would you unwind? Us? We went and did some baby sitting. We babysat for some friends who went to dinner and entrusted us with their two little girls, both under two years old. They're so much fun. When we were putting the oldest little girl to bed, Brookie tied the sleeves of her pajamas together. We had a great time, and when they were both in bed, we watched the rest of the Royals game on TV.
So that's what we did this weekend. Exciting huh?
I never thought I would get into gardening. But when you do see your plants starting to sprout it's so exciting. And instant gratification is nothing compared to the wonders of eating what you've grown yourself. I'm so excited for our summer garden. We're not great at gardening so far but I'm hoping each crop we'll get a little more successful.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, I'm having a really hard time breaking the habit of two spaces after a period when I type. But I am making the effort because you explained why instead of just saying your not supposed to do it anymore.
We have the same soil conditions. The last two years we have added composted steer manure to our soil and it has seemed to help with the clay soil.
ReplyDeleteMight I suggest looking into square foot gardening. Then you make your own soil. No clay.
ReplyDelete