The herb list I belong to has chatted about “Lasagna Gardening” in the past, and I’ve always thought it sounded like a great concept. The idea is to layer four to six inches of compost or layers of material over a spot where you want to make a new garden bed. If the area is in your lawn, the layers will kill off the grass and the bed will be ready for planting without having to use harsh chemicals.
Oddly, I found a note about this method in the “Real Simple” magazine, November, 2003. They suggest mowing an area you wish to dedicate as a bed next spring, and then putting down four sheets of newspaper, and a four inch layer of shredded fall leaves or bark mulch. Hose it down and let it sit for the winter.
I think I may try this on a section of my formal garden that has been infested with grass. I plan to put down layers of newspaper, chopped leaves, shredded paper from the office, compost and grass clippings. What better time to renovate a bed than in the winter, when nothing is going on?
If you’re interested in this technique, you can read more about it in ” Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!” by Patricia Lanza, et al You can buy the paperback new for $11.17 at Amazon.com. What have you got to loose?
Monthly Archives: November 2003
Birthday Reminders
And, while we are speaking of memory…
Did you know that you can sign up to be reminded of important dates, such as birthdays and anniversaries?
www.birthdayalarm.com has a service that allows you to store names and dates and then e-mails you seven and three days before each birthday. Go check it out.
Can you hear your family beginning to talk about the fact that each and every one of them have gotten a card or a call from you, and ON TIME!!!???
Postcards
Have you noticed an increase in the number of postcards you’ve been receiving from businesses? The other day I received a postcard that had our last name printed across it in nine fonts, four directions and three colors. It certainly got my attention, and I set it aside, rather than throwing it out. It was from the woman who had helped us to refinance, reminding us that her bank has other services to offer.
Memory
(Can’t you hear the song from “Cats” running through your head???? Wait….that was “Memories”……)
Okay…..memory is a touchy subject with me. The past three or four years my memory has been shot full of holes, and it’s particularly disturbing since I have to remember detail for our company, to care for my mother, to manage the house, for my husband, and for my own interests. I decided to blame it on menopause, firmly announcing to one and all that I would get it back on the “other side.”
Well….it’s possible that is true. But until then I read everything I can find on memory. (Sometimes more than once. *G*)
Did you know that scientists feel that we begin to loose our memories at age 35? It starts with simple things like misplacing our car keys, or in my case….my purse.
Senior Driver’s Tests
I’ve said many times that my mother lives with us. She will be 87 in a month, and last year at this time she voluntarily decided to stop driving. I suspect the world heaved a sigh of relief. I occasionally made her drive so that I could observe her driving, and I knew she was coming to the time when she’d have to quit. She had voluntarily limited her driving the last couple of years to four or five places: the hair salon, the grocery store, the library and JoAnne’s Fabric, and her doctor. If she needed to go elsewhere, I took her. We talked about the least heavily traveled routes, and we also talked about times to avoid being on the road. I think we eked out freedom as long as we could, and I was lucky that SHE was able to decide it was time to quit.
State of Illinois Strikes Again
This morning I was listening to the third installment of the Petulant Politics of Illinois. We have a zealous young governor, Rod Blagojevich (BLAH-GOY-A-VITCH to the uninitiated), who was saddled with a 5 billion dollar deficit in the state budget when he took office. Of course his primary concern is cost cutting.
Well, he’s been initiated to the real world of budgeting, now. FOr example, it seems that agreement had been reached concerning funding for the office of the Secretary of State, but at some point, the legislature decided to add an extra five million to that figure. The Governor is up in arms, saying that the legislature is spending the public’s money like “a bunch of drunken sailors.” One legislator took offense, and said he’d never been a sailor!
A budget was agreed upon last Spring, and the legislature adjourned for the summer. During the summer the Governor cut additions that he felt were special interest in nature. When the legislature returned for the two week fall veto session, they began restoring that funding to the budget.
There’s a good explanation of the situation at this site.
Voyager 1
Did you know that Voyager 2 left Earth before Voyager 1? ( Voyager 2: August 20, 1977, Voyager 1: September 5, 1977) Recently, on the nightly news, we heard that Voyager 1 has reached then end of the heliopause (the edge of the solar wind’s influence), and is continuing on into space. I believe they said it is moving at a rate of one million miles a DAY.
I checked the Voyager website, and it’s speed was given in these terms: “Voyager 1 is speeding away from the Sun at a velocity of about 3.50 AU/year….” I don’t have enough math to do the equation, but if you do, you can check to see if 1,000,000 miles a day is correct. Isn’t that an astounding figure?
Favoritism
Recently Bogie directed us to Dawn Olsen’s blog for a post on the subject of parental favoritism. I encourage you to read that post. It has plenty of food for thought.
I come from a family where the parents were divided on the subject. I have three sisters and a brother. Each of the girls felt that Dad loved them the best. We have no idea how he kept from showing favoritism, but he was a master at it. Dad’s been gone almost 20 years, but we are still comforted by the sense of love and family that he instilled.
My mother has always championed my brother. Given the ridiculous lengths she has sometimes gone to defend him, it’s a wonder he turned out so well! For the longest time the phrase “You always DID love him better” would pop up at family gatherings. He would smile a cheesy grin and nod.
One year in an attempt to get even, she had t-shirts printed for the two of them that said “I DID love HIM better,” and they wore them to the family Thanksgiving dinner. It didn’t stop the taunts, but it slowed them down.
Did I Hear That Right??
I was cutting down the peonies today, and I never garden without listening to the radio. The news was on, and I was sort of paying attention to the report. I’m sure that I heard them say that the Illinois General Assembly voted today not to give illegal aliens legal driver’s licenses.
First of all, why in the world were they voting on this issue?? When we have such pressing matters concerning the residents of this state, why are we at all concerned with documenting someone who is here illegally? And WHY are we not packing them off to detention when they apply?
I know…..to be politically correct I should be calling them undocumented persons. In these times when we are so concerned about “Undocumented persons” within our borders, what possible reason could we have to discuss giving them legal driver’s licenses??
Please tell me that I heard that wrong, that I missed the boat, and that I need to apologize. Otherwise, it’s time to vote the jerks OUT!
Cats
I’m a cat person. When I was growing up, my family always had dogs. We had some great dogs, but it wasn’t until I grew up and moved away that my parents had cats. Dad was allergic to cats, but put up with them. I can remember visiting one summer and watching one of a litter of kittens testing the brick Dad had just laid. He’d hopped up onto my Dad’s shoulder and walked out his arm and gently pushed the brick to see if it was set just right.