Saturday, April 13, 2013

Gotta love Indiana weather!

A couple of days ago, it was 81, yesterday it was about 48.  Today, it seems we had a hint of both of those days.  My son had his first soccer game this morning and man was it cold and, of course, the wind kicked up about 15 minutes before the game started.  For once, I wasn't upset that my family leaves all sorts of random stuff in my car because I found my husband's goose down coat in the trunk.  Our Coach said I looked like Nanook of the North.  Ok, at least I was warm!  LOL.  

This afternoon, the sun came out and it warmed up quite a bit.  It turned out to be a pretty nice day.  Cool but sunny and bright!  Time for a little time outside!

In moving the blackberries and working to expand the strawberry bed, I find that I need more strawberries.  And more compost.  Hubby and I worked in the strawberry bed for a bit.  I couldn't get as much as I wanted done because of the lateness of the day but we got a good start.  We moved some of the strawberry plants to kinda fill in some space in the back.  I also planted some strawberry roots that a friend (Thanks, Alisha) had left over from starting her own strawberry bed and gave to me.  

Even though I compost, with expanding the strawberry bed, I need more than I have.  Just as quick as I am done with finals (two weeks, I only have two weeks left!) we're going to bring in a load of compost to fill the new part of the bed.  That is a great hint, when starting a new bed, I always start with compost instead of topsoil.  It's much more nutrient rich and is like jump starting the plants without using store bought (chemical) fertilizer.

Working on the strawberries made me think about my canning stuff.  I know I need to start stocking up on SureJell for my jams and jellies.  Now is a great time to be on the look out for canning supplies.  Yard Sales, Garage Sales, Tag Sales, whatever you call them in your area are a great place to buy things like Water Bath canners, Jars, and other odd supplies.  I, personally, am on the look out for a new Water Bath canner.  My giant one covered two burners and was, as my husband puts it, a hundred years old.  It developed a leak.  My replacement is smaller but still good size.  I don't *need* a new one but I *want* a big one like I used to have.  I think I will hit up some sales in the country.

8 comments:

  1. Where do you get loads of compost from? Is it expensive?

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  2. We generally get ours from a place called Greencycle Indy. It is at 1103 West Troy Avenue (there are 3-4 other locations in Indy too). Garden compost is about $25 or $30 for a truck load. They do offer delivery, but I have no idea what that costs. I seem to remember, before Hubby got a truck that it was cheaper for us to rent a trailer from Uhaul than it was to have them bring it. My van had a Reese hitch and thought it was a truck anyway!

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  3. Thank you!! Another (probably stupid) question what is the difference and/or benefits/disadvantages of non-garden compost? Luckily my bil has a truck and I'm pretty sure I can get him to get it for me!!! :)

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  4. I will have to look that up. I've never heard of non-garden compost. I'll see what I can find.

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  5. Chari, I am not finding anything on non-garden compost. Where did you see that at?

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  6. I don't really know what I'm talking about. You said garden compost, so I assumed that was food scraps, grass clipping, etc. Somebody told me there was a horse stable that always had signs up offering compost, I assumed that was more manure and such? I just want to make sure I'm getting the right stuff!! :)

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  7. I call it garden compost, meaning where I put it. Where, oh where, are you getting horse manure compost? The best compost we ever had in the country was when my girls had horses!

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    1. Okay, I gotcha! I will ask my friend about where she saw this at. I will see her on Wednesday and let youknow! :)

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