In the past couple weeks of garden development, nothing much has gone on. Per Evelyn's previous post, we hit a road block when we discovered what we thought was DEAD ivy growing under all of our compost. That hulk ivy (as we now call it, cause its green, mean, and sort of takes over) was growing all over the yard we we all first moved in. Paul and Evelyn moved into their side of the duplex a month or so before Nick and I came along, and cleared a lot of it out. However, it still hangs around (anyone know any good methods to kick ivy in the butt?).
We had to start digging up and around the manure, leaf, and compost cocktail to pull it out of the beds. This really sucked. Especially since we had to back track some of all our hard work. The rain and chilly weather has returned, and the beds are in disorder in the backyard, and the ivy is still in them. Hopefully we can get this all ready to go before planting time. With my full time job, and with Evelyn, Paul, and Nick working AND going to school, none of us have really been able to complete the annoying task... and thanks to the rain and chilly weather, none of us really want to.
P O I S O N I V Y
In other news, I discovered I am allergic to poison ivy/oak/sumac/whatever. When gathering bricks in our back brush, I came in contact with something fierce. Two days later, I had blisters running up my arm and wrist, with a huge 5 inch diameter circle of poison oak on my back shoulder.
While at work one day, I looked down and the rash was significantly worse than it was at the start of the morning. Since it was itching and blistering like crazy, I took sick leave and left work early, driving myself directly to the nearest CVS Minute Clinic. The nurse practitioner could not believe her eyes as I removed my shirt to show her the giant swollen patch on my back, and promptly prescribed me a heavy dose of steroids (which, in turn, caused me to eat us out of house and home... apparently they make you hungry).
When I was a kid, I could play in the woods all day and if I came in contact with poison oak, i would get a small patch and it would be over in a couple days. My mom, however, is pretty allergic. I remember anytime she worked in the yard, even if she did not come in contact with any poison looking substance, she would have to take a shower and allergy medication right afterward. Now I know how she feels.
A N Y W A Y . . .
Now, I say nothing much has gone on in the past couple of weeks, but our little sprouts are going crazy. Evelyn has been taking great care of them, and this last Friday she taught me how to start seeds indoors as we began the second grouping of plants. Evelyn is a great sprout sitter, and when Paul and Evelyn make a trip to the beach next week, I get to babysit (I am pretty excited). It is pretty miraculous how a seed as big as, or even smaller, than one of these letters from this size font can grow into food for people. Nature can be mean, but it is darn amazing.
Evelyn also has mapped out our garden and planned all the plants... and I really hope she posts her design up here soon!
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