It never ceases to amaze me how shocking it is to people that women can mow the lawn. Today I was mowing our front lawn and a guy walked by and said, “That’s something you don’t see everyday.” What’s up with that? Of course women are capable of mowing the lawn! Admittedly, it’s been a while since I have been the regular mower in our family. Our front lawn in Albany was extremely steep and I couldn’t mow the lawn because I probably would have ended up flat on my face in the street below. Here in Tacoma, we have been using our landlord’s lawn mower and it is really hard for me to start so Adam has been mowing the lawn. Today I decided to abandon that mower and pull out our lawn mower and do it myself. It started right up and I was so happy! Asking Adam to mow the lawn or work in the yard is like asking him to spend the day at the dentist. It’s a necessary evil for him. I hate nagging and particularly hate nagging about something that I know I am perfectly capable of doing myself. For me, mowing the lawn is an opportunity for exercise, fresh air, and you get the benefit of a nice looking landscape. I’ve been using a pedometer for the past couple of months and really aim to hit that magical 10,000 step mark. It is so difficult to accomplish in everyday life! I find myself looking for ways to get these steps in by parking far away, vacuuming my house, making trips up and down the stairs to put away toys and laundry. Being outside is even better! I spent an hour outside mowing and weeding and had 5200 steps by 10am. It’s the gardener’s “crossfit.” So ladies, pull out the mower and give it a go!

The kids did a great job adding new soil to the pots and leveling them off with their garden rakes.

Gavin handled preparing the pots up on the porch.

About three weeks later, we have seedlings. The above seedlings are sugar snap peas.

Above is our lettuce pot, which is definitely going to require some thinning once the seedlings get bigger. One of the drawbacks to having kids handle the planting is that many seeds get wasted. But who wants to spoil the fun of throwing handfuls of seeds in the dirt?!? If you want to encourage a love of gardening, it’s important to make it as fun as possible. I have to exercise a lot of patience when having the kids help!

Liv checking out her lettuce seedlings! “Keep on growing, little lettuce!”

]]> http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/04/veggie-pots/feed/ 4 http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/03/community-gardening/ http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/03/community-gardening/#comments Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:30:46 +0000 girl has thyme http://girlhasthyme.com/?p=1829 I mentioned a while ago that I am working in a community garden located in University Place, WA. The season is just getting underway and I am so excited about this experience. This is my intern project for my master gardener certification. My role in the garden is acting as a liaison to the elementary school where our garden resides. Right now the third and fourth graders each have two garden plots. The first class is coming out next week to get their seeds planted. To prepare for planting they are getting seed markers made this week. We will be planting peas, lettuce, carrots, spinach, and radishes next Thursday. This spring we will be teaching the kids about composting, water-wise gardening, and discussing the community garden’s purpose of donating produce to the food bank. I’m sure the kids will bring a lot to the gardening experience. It doesn’t matter what your age is, it’s always exciting when you get your first harvest! “Wow, I grew that! Amazing!!!”

Beyond my work with the school, I decided to get a plot at the garden for personal use. A few weeks ago I took Olivia out with me so we could weed our garden space and plant some seeds. She had a hard time grasping the concept of keeping the dirt in the raised bed but we eventually came to agreement that she could have a little bucket of dirt for her own purposes. Since then we have driven out to our garden a couple of times to check on the progress of germination. We have a few lettuces popping through, along with some peas. Hopefully we’ll see carrot seedlings in the next couple of weeks. It’s definitely not the same as having my vegetable garden right outside my door but it’s fun to go on “garden adventures.” It’s about a 10-15 minute drive to the garden. Depending on where we decide to buy a house, we may join a community garden a little closer to home next year. If nothing else, this is an educational experience for us all and so great to be surrounded by other gardeners. Here are some photos from the garden. Keep in mind, it’s very early and most of the garden beds are still asleep. I will post more later in the season when there is more growing.

This is our personal garden site.

The key word in this type of gardening is “community.” It almost seems too obvious to write about but it truly is heart warming. It’s really easy to get lost in our own lives and it’s nice to be involved in a project that takes us outside of ourselves. If this is something you’ve considered, I highly recommend you check into a community garden near you. Even if you don’t have your own space (some have quite the wait list), they always need help with maintenance and most have a garden for the local food bank. If you know nothing about vegetable gardening, this would be a great way to learn!

Since moving back to the Pacific Northwest, I’ve been taking notice of a landscaping trend that I find very unappealing. This would be the palm tree epidemic. Suddenly, I am seeing palm trees everywhere in northwest landscapes. What is up with this? These trees are symbols of sunny vacation spots like Miami or Hawaii. When I arrive in a tropical climate, I love being welcomed by palm trees signaling it’s time to let go of the day-to-day routine and order a drink with an umbrella. But when I’m strolling my neighborhood, I want to see rhododendrons, Japanese Maples, and garden beds lined with hostas and hydrangeas. I’m all for adding some elements of surprise and variety but these palm trees stick out in a very bad way (in my humble opinion.) They’re tacky. Yes, I said it.

I’ve been trying to figure out the rationale behind this trend. Does it help people manage their seasonal affective disorder? Are these people who recently moved from a sunny location and the trees are a reminder of home? I really don’t know but I wish this trend would come to a quick halt! Am I alone on this? How do you feel about palm trees in the Pacific Northwest?

A little girl is playing quietly with her dolls. She suddenly stops and says, “what’s that sound?” She runs to the window and pulls back the drapes to look out. “Oh, it’s a bird! Hello birdie, what are you saying?”

]]> http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/03/girl-meets-bird/feed/ 2 http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/02/planting-seeds-with-an-incentive/ http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/02/planting-seeds-with-an-incentive/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:09:21 +0000 girl has thyme http://girlhasthyme.com/?p=1791

Can you believe we’re nearing the end of February? That means we are almost through with winter and can start looking forward to spring. Now is a great time to start thinking about this year’s gardens. This year once again finds me in transition mode. We’re looking for a new house and that makes it a little difficult to plan a garden. I have found a wonderful solution, however. As part of my master gardener training, I must work on an intern project. I decided to participate in running a community garden in University Place, WA. I have always found these projects exciting. I cannot wait to discover how the community gardeners work together with the local food bank and elementary school. I will be writing about the project as it kicks off but for now I am planning my personal garden patch. I will be growing my vegetables in a 4 x 12 ft raised bed. This is a little smaller than what I had in New York, but I have other obligations to the community garden so I am sure I will be kept busy. Man, the temptation to digress into the world of community gardens is far too tempting as I think about the project! Ok, to the point: I placed an order for some seeds last week. I ordered seeds to grow lettuces, greens, carrots, radishes, and peas. I am trying to draw out how I’d like to best utilize my space. I am sure there will be some trellising involved. At home, I am going to experiment with containers. I will do a pot of lettuces and also peas. For me, the best part of gardening is experimenting. The fruits of the labor are just an added bonus. Gardening makes life far more interesting. It makes you pay attention to things around you. You will start noticing how people are incorporating edibles in their flower gardens. You will be amazed to see that it’s possible for your friend to grow enough food for a salad just from a few pots on her deck. Are you getting excited yet? Have I planted the seeds of gardening excitement?!?

The excitement of garden planning got me thinking back to an old post from last year. It was about creativity and New Year’s resolutions. I just went back and reread everyone’s comments. It’s inspiring to read about how you are adding hobbies to make life more fun and interesting. Of course, I did bribe you with a giveaway to encourage the discussion. I’ve decided to do that again this year by giving away a canvas bag that I embroidered. Yes, in 2012 I added embroidery to my list of hobbies. Never saw that one coming but my mom started working on some embroidery projects and it looked like fun. Embroidery nicely compliments some of my other crafts such as knitting. My mom and I found some great canvas bags and garden related patterns. We thought they’d make great farmers market bags and I’ve made several over the past few months. I’ve decided to offer up this “Going Green” bag as a giveaway to one lucky reader. All you have to do is write about what you’re most excited to experiment with this year in the garden. Maybe you’ve never grown anything! This is your year to dig in and plant something. Maybe you’re an avid gardener but want to try growing something on a trellis for the first time this year. Whatever it is, let this giveaway inspire you to actually do it! I will choose a winner on March 4th!

]]> http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/02/planting-seeds-with-an-incentive/feed/ 14 http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/02/moisture-meter/ http://girlhasthyme.com/2013/02/moisture-meter/#comments Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:50:48 +0000 girl has thyme http://girlhasthyme.com/?p=1777 Yesterday in my garden class, the speaker opened up his presentation with the statement, “the problem with plants is people!” I thought this was pretty clever and really not too far from the truth. We are always trying to diagnose a problem and one of the biggest challenges in gardening is figuring out how much water plants need. If you’re like me, you are so desperate to keep them alive, you water more than you should. The reality is that over-watering is more often the cause of death to a plant than not.

When I got my lemon tree, I took care to really review the instructions on how to water the plant. Lemon trees, like many plants, like moist soil but not wet. It was recommended to purchase a moisture meter, so I did. I ordered this moisture sensor meter from Amazon and my life with houseplants is forever changed.

My lemon tree arrived on January 30th. After I got it planted, I gave it a good watering as instructed. I then ordered the moisture sensor which was scheduled to be delivered on February 6th. From what I read, this would work out great because the instructions said that lemon trees need water every 7 days or so. By the morning of the 6th, the soil was really dry. I was so anxious for the moisture sensor to arrive so I could get the tree watered. Later that day, the meter arrived and I quickly put it to work. Here were my findings:

When I measured down by the roots, the meter showed that the soil was moist. Not dry, at all.

When I moved the meter even further down, it showed that the soil was actually leaning more towards wet.

For curiosity’s sake, I measured the top part of the soil. Sure enough, super dry. This is where many of us go wrong; we touch the top of the soil and think that the plant is thirsty.

I then proceeded to measure the other plants in my house, which all had been watered a few days earlier.

I discovered that I committed the crime of serious over-watering! The plant above was way past wet. Another plant also measured past wet even though the leaves were drying out and curling up. While it seems counter-intuitive, this is actually a sign of being over-watered. Roots need air and if you saturate them with water, known as “wet feet”, they can’t transport nutrients up to the leaves and can end up with root rot. Moral of the story- a moisture meter is really quite helpful in determining whether your plants need watering. I ended up waiting until today to water my lemon tree and I’m guessing the other plants won’t need watering for about two weeks. This is what the guy meant by “the problem with plants is people.” Sometimes we need to just back off and let them do their thing!

A few weeks ago I was daydreaming (otherwise known as wasting time) on Pinterest and came across a picture of a lemon tree. Growing citrus trees indoors has always intrigued me so I decided to take action and look into ordering one. There are several websites that sell citrus trees and I’m not entirely sure how I found Four Winds Growers, but that’s where I got my new tree. They sell several varieties of citrus trees and their company has been around since 1950 or maybe even earlier. The reviews were all very positive and there were even a few testimonials from the Pacific Northwest. I ordered a 2-3 year old Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree and it arrived in beautiful condition and came with a pamphlet of great information.

In anticipation of my tree’s arrival, I went out to find a decorative pot. I wanted something understated but also fun. I came across a clay pot at JoAnn Fabrics. It has a cute little rooster on it and I like the neutral color. As an added bonus, it was 50% off so it came to less than $20. Later that day, my tree arrived and as I was reviewing the information pamphlet, I discovered that clay or terracotta pots weren’t recommended because they rarely have adequate drainage. Sure enough, my pot had one small hole in the center. I enlisted Adam’s help to see if we could drill additional holes to improve the drainage. We weren’t sure how to go about drilling into a clay pot without cracking it, so we turned to our friends at YouTube. YouTube is such a gift and to any of you out there that take the time to make instructional videos, THANK YOU! Sure enough, there was a video about our project at hand. The key is to use a small drill bit to make “pilot holes” and to keep water running over the pot while drilling. Once your pilot holes are drilled, you can use a larger drill bit to increase the size of the holes. We decided to add six additional holes and it turned out great!

Once we solved the drainage problem, I got the tree potted and promptly named it “Lemon Drop.” It’s somewhat silly to name a plant, but the kids get a kick out of it and we take turns saying hello to Lemon Drop throughout the day. Plants are living things and a very important part of our environment. I think there is a lesson here for kids and adults to have a connection to something outside of the human world. By naming our tree, hopefully we will work harder to make sure we are meeting its needs and keep it alive!

Here are a few highlights from the information pamphlet about growing dwarf citrus plants indoors:

• Citrus like 8-12 hours of sunlight a day. (This will be a bit of challenge in the PNW winter months, but I have mine in the dining room where there are big windows. So far it seems to get enough light.)
• Citrus grow best between 55 and 85 degrees. Indoor temperatures averaging 65 are conducive.
• Water as needed to keep the soil moist, not wet.
• Once trees are about 3 years old, they are mature enough to handle fruit production.
• Lemon production takes 6-9 months from time of bloom to edible fruit.
• Dwarf citrus trees can grow to reach 6-10 feet if you gradually move up to larger pot sizes over the years!

So there you have it! As my daughter, Olivia, likes to sing, “We have a lemon tree! We have a lemon tree!” And what a lovely tree she is!

Or do you just have thyme…?

It’s a good question. A blog that is only filled with apologies for not blogging is not much of a blog. The truth is that I do have time. Life does get busy with the usual day-to-day routines. Often I find myself sitting for periods of time trying to decide what to do next. Should I empty the dishwasher or get the laundry going? Should I go to the grocery store to be ahead of the “what’s for dinner?” question? Should I update my blog? Yes, yes I really must do that soon, just as soon as I finish… and so it goes.

We are starting to look for a new home. It’s exciting and also overwhelming. In our past experiences, we’ve only been looking for a relatively short term home. This time we are looking for a place to settle down, a place to raise our family. We’re finding ourselves conflicted on what type of lifestyle appeals most to us. We love living in urban neighborhoods but living on the water sounds pretty magical. Once you start factoring in schools and all that, it gets even more confusing. Anyhow, our days are pretty much filled with this conversation and cruising the MLS.

On the garden front, super exciting news: I am training to become a master gardener through Washington State University! It is such a great program. I have full-day classes on Fridays for 10 weeks and the class requires a lot of at-home study. I’m learning all about soils, composting, plant identification, and this week – insects! I should have tons to share with you over the coming weeks. After the classroom training ends, I owe the program 60 hours of volunteer work, at which point I will become a certified master gardener! The volunteer opportunities are so exciting that I am sure I will pass the requirement with ease. To maintain my certification, I’m required to complete 10 hours of continuing education and 25 hours of volunteer work annually. What I love most about this opportunity is that I not only gain personal enrichment, i.e. learn to be better at gardening, but I also get to meet people in our community and feel connected to something so much bigger. I think we all like the idea of volunteer work but it’s hard to find something that you are so invested in. I’m hopeful this is it for me.

So yes, I have time and will be better at carving out more to put words to the page. I learned a lot about composting last week so I will get that information out to you soon. Compost… how’s that for a hook? I bet you’re just biting your nails with anticipation!

We sold our house in Albany very quickly. In fact, the first couple to walk through the home, put an offer in. This was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is obvious. The curse was that we only had the one couple come through so they kind of pushed us around a bit and we weren’t entirely sure how to navigate without other buyer feedback. The process was brutal, stressful, and kind of ruined our last couple of months in New York. But at the end of it all, the house was sold. This was the second house we sold in a timely manner. Some call it lucky. I call it- I know what I’m doing. Ok, it’s probably a combination of both. But, Adam and I worked our asses off to get that house ready to sell. Here is how we did it:

1. Make a room by room list of all things that need to be addressed. Look at the rooms like a buyer. You might not think caulk with mildew is a big deal, but it is. Little stuff adds up to statements like, “that house needs a lot of work.” Go room to room and then just tackle a project each day.
2. De-clutter. This should be obvious but very few people do it. Pack up everything that you won’t need. You’re moving anyway so get a head start on your packing. I took this as far as emptying every kitchen cabinet, wiping them down, and packing away the non-essentials. This goes for all household closets. Create the idea that there is ample space for storage. If your bedroom closet is small, pack up half of your clothes so that it appears like there is space to hang lots more. I packed up all the kid toys that would not fit in the few select baskets I had around the house. You may have gotten used to the kid clutter, but nobody else wants to be tripping on Mr. Potato Head while they are inspecting your crown moulding.
3. Paint. If it looks dirty or dingy, paint it! I painted trim, doors, and window frames. It is one of the least expensive ways to update a house. Fresh paint makes a huge difference.
4. Address the things that bothered you about the house when you were purchasing. For us, this was our freaky basement and laundry area. Our house was 110 years old. The basement was creepy. We scraped the walls of their peeling paint and repainted them white. The floor was dirty looking so we decided to paint the floor as well. They make some great garage and basement paints now. We organized all of our boxes down there on pallets and showed how much storage the basement offered. In the laundry area, we painted it a nice blue color and put in a folding table. If someone was in the market for a colonial house, our basement would stand apart. I also used a Glade plugin down there, fresh linen scent! If this is where laundry is being done, make it feel and smell like a laundry room!
5. Create transcending rooms. It’s like when you are looking in magazines and see rooms that you just want for your own house? I personally could live in a Pottery Barn catalog. You need to take your home’s best selling features and bring them up and over-the-top. For us, this was the backyard with the gardens and our front porch with its swing. The backyard was fairly simple to address because it already had lots of plants which made the space appealing. I purchased $100 worth of black mulch to make all the beds pop and found a big empty planter box to store the kids’ outdoor toys. T-Ball sets and water toys can really be distracting. The front porch was the reason we bought our house so I knew someone else would feel the same way. A year ago, we spent an entire month refinishing our porch. A month before we listed the house, we gave it another fresh coat of paint. I sewed a new cushion for the swing and also some decorative pillows. I put a vase of fresh flowers out on the bistro table. The whole idea here is to get the buyer to see themselves hanging out in your house. This totally worked because the buyers asked for our porch furniture when they made their offer. At that point, I knew that the porch had pulled at the buyers’ heart-strings.

I am confident that all these things are why our house sold quickly. It was a lengthy process to get our house ready to go. I began working on these things about 6 months before we knew the house was going on the market. The effort proved worthwhile and I am so grateful that we no longer own the house. Though, I miss it dearly! Now we are enjoying being renters and not having a bunch of chores for the time being. We plan on looking for a new home to buy sometime early next year. It is definitely more fun to buy than it is to sell!

Here are some exterior photos of our home in Albany right before it hit the market.

Fresh paint on the porch, black mulch in the beds, and nicely edged grass to give a crisp first impression.

The backyard just needed some fresh mulch and nicely arranged furniture to convince buyers that they might stay awhile.

The front porch did not have a swing when we bought the house. This was one of the first things we added. I knew it would add to the home’s value beyond just our enjoyment. Before we listed, I made some fresh pillows and a new seat cover.