New Things

I've gotten a bunch of new things and wanted to share them.  First, the additional raised bed is built - 4'x12', which combined with the existing 6'x12' raised bed brings the total square footage of the raised beds to 120 sq ft, plus the other space I use and the pots, I probably have pushing 150 sq ft of gardening space now, which is pretty good considering the small size of the yard and the fact that I want to keep the swing set and space for the girls to play as they grow up.  Here is a photo of the new raised bed (about 1/3 full of dirt) and the old bed behind it.  You can also note the absence of honeysuckle against the stockade fence, which is down and awaiting the arrival of a chipper.

The second new thing(s) I recently received were 2 bird feeders from my mom, a hanging sunflower feeder and a hanging finch feeder.  They have been out for 2 days and already we have a lot of birds using them.  We've had lots of mourning doves and sparrows (which Kate has declared "mommy birds" and "baby birds" respectively, due to their difference in size), and a few goldfinches.  

I also got quite a few new things at Target today.  I really like Target.  I found plant markers in the dollar bin today (if only they weren't made in China - sigh) and got 3 packs, plus a 2 hr watering timer, which will be WONDERFUL for when I'm running the soaker hoses because I am really bad at getting distracted and forgetting to turn them off.  I also got 2 bottles of the liquid Terracycle fertilizer there for the tomato seedlings and sunflowers we recently planted. I love Terracycle not only because it's an organic fertilizer, but because they package it in recycled plastic soda bottles and recycled plastic milk jugs.  I also got Kate a new pair of rain/mud boots (she picked the dinosaur ones which are really cool), plus a new pair of gardening gloves for her as she lost the last pair she had, and a new watering can because her other two were really cheap and broke so quick.  

The last "new thing" I have is about the worst case of poison ivy I've ever had.  We had a fairly significant poison ivy vine growing up the back fence post behind the garden beds, and late last week I decided to pull it out, as nothing else seemed to be killing it (I even borrowed my neighbors Round Up, I'm sad to say, and it didn't kill it).  I wore long pants, long sleeves, gloves, socks, boots, etc, and thought I was super duper careful, but I still managed to get a fairly good sized patch on the inside of my lower right arm, some on my neck, a bit that has just developed on the inside of my upper left arm and I believe some on the outside of my nose.  Grrr.  It has been a couple of itchy, itchy days.  I have been using hydrocortisone and Benadryl a bunch and trying very hard not to scratch. However, I figure it's better that I have it than one of the girls getting it accidentally and being this itchy.  That would really not be fun.

Finally, here are a couple more potato pictures - I can't believe how much they are growing!