Pallets, Leaves, and Garbage

Although our recent weather might fool someone into thinking it is spring, it clearly is not. I wish it was spring because then it would be time to start my first Square Foot Garden. I've gotten a little mini-start, however. Even now in November.

I didn't know I should start my compost now, but my friend Sharon said I should, and she knows stuff. So I decided it was in my best interest and that of my future SFG if I got the compost composting.

A few weeks ago, I was driving Alex back from a birthday party (her third in so many weeks--she's so unsocialized!), and I happened past a home with a backyard stacked high with pallets. (Note: the backyard was open to the busy street, so I was being completely safe.) So I pulled over and had a brief conversation with the owner of the backyard and of the stacks of pallets wherein I found out that he just lost his job and was making ends meet by collecting pallets, disassembling them, and selling the "parts". I asked for three. He offered them to me for free. I paid him a few bucks anyway because how is a guy supposed to make a living giving away stuff for free?

Anyway, those pallets have been sitting in our backyard since then. This weekend my dear husband attached the three pallets, attached wire mesh to the sides, and Voila! I have my compost "bin".

In addition to making my compost bin, he also did the final grass mowing of the season. Those clippings went into my compost pile. And so did the veggie scraps from dinner last night. Which he also cooked. (I do really do stuff around here!) Don't worry I won't be reporting each and every scrap or grass clipping that goes into my compost, but since this was the beginning, I thought it blog worthy.

The Murder Story

Murder. It is such a harsh word. Especially considering the fact that I am only talking about plants here. And I suppose if I were to stand trial on behalf of all of the vegetation that has resided--however temporarily--in and around my house over the years, I would be found guilty only of involuntary, uh, plant-slaughter.

Yes, I have a black thumb. Don't believe me? This is one of my current houseplants:

And this is the only kind of plant I've been able to sustain for any length of time:

And to show you my depth of botanical knowledge, I have no idea what this vine is called; I simply refer to it as "that plant, you know, the kind you can't kill." And you really can't. It can be all brown and shrively for a week and perk up in minutes with a mere sprinkling of moisture. Yes, it's my kind of plant.

So, knowing my sordid past with plants, one might ask why I am planning to plant a garden this spring. Because I am. I've always wanted a garden. I think it would be nice to be able to provide my own food. Like in the olden days. Like Half-Pint and her family did. Plus, I think it would be a good learning experience for the kids.

I'm going to hopefully make this whole Gardening Thing easier for me because I am going to go the way of Square Foot Gardening. Reading about this method is so exciting because it actually sounds fun!

I'm going to start small: one 4x4 for herbs and then maybe another 4x4 or a 3x3 to experiment with some veggies. I also would like to reserve a square foot for each child. That's one thing that's great about Square Foot Gardening: it's perfect for Control Freaks like me. If the kids have their own square foot, I will be far less likely to fret over it.

So I'm really looking forward to spring. Before then, I will probably start some of my seeds indoors. And in the meantime, I'm reading and researching, researching and reading. I am bound and determined to turn my black thumb into green, resulting in a little less, uh, murder around here!