Suspicious beans, big girl beds, and my fear of falling for half a dozen roosters…
I’m wondering about my bush beans and if they’re actually bush beans at all. They all definitely said ‘bush’ on the package, and I’ve researched each variety… but they are sending out runners like they want to climb. Hm. I’m such a newbie.
These ones actually look pretty bushy still (they are either Provider or Tendergreen. I should have written it down! ALWAYS write it down!)
But it’s starting to send out long lanky things, and I’m getting suspicious…
Especially because these other two are definitely up to something! These are definitely the Royal Burgundy.
And then these ones are really doing something!
Crazy shooty business! I’ve grown bush beans for 3 years before, and they never did this stuff. Maybe it’s just these new varieties? I posted to the organic gardening community, so hopefully they’ll know. Also, you can see my garlic in the bed just behind this one being all brown and floppy. I have no idea what variety I planted, so maybe it’s just one that matured early. We’ll find out soon enough. I guess I’m a learn-as-you-go kind of gal.
Oh but yesterday Jeff got crazy motivated and went to get a load of mulch. It’s amazing how much of a difference it made! I couldn’t do much but help him spread it around. Tonight we’ll finish it and it’ll be so beautiful! Plus it’ll really reduce our need to weed. The little bit of mulch we put on last year in one section made a big difference.
Before and after (from different views, but whatever):
This was a couple of weeks ago I think, but it shows how grassy it was between the raised beds.
It looks so nice to me! One more load will probably do the job.
Trellises are almost all up. 🙂
It’s all coming together. BUT, I had this crazy realization that I’m almost full-term. Like, at the end of this week I could have a homebirth and have a whole healthy happily breathing nursing baby… you know, theoretically. That’s just intense. I’m not feeling like it’s that close, but it’s likely less than four weeks away- especially because Vera was a couple of days early and my mom and sister didn’t go late with any of their babies. Who knows, I’m not impatient about when baby comes. But I am feeling a strong urge to get everything seriously ready. I have work to do. Thankfully over the past couple of days I’ve felt some clarity about it all and been productive. Such a relief since I was dealing with foggy pregnant brain and nothing seemed to be getting done.
Today I’m clearing out Vera’s room and organizing her clothes by sizes and then putting them into storage. After we know if baby is a boy or a girl I’ll be able to pare it all down even further and donate a bunch. Then tonight I’m hanging up her art and curtains and fixing her lamp, and her room will be basically done! Jeff still has to put in some shelves in her closet, but that’s it. Oh, and we need to put together her real bed- it’s just this futon right now. But that can be done later. I’d like to stop by the thrift store to find her a rug and maybe some kind of tapestry for one of her walls, but those are optional. It’s not even that I expect her to sleep in there, but I just want it to feel nice and like it’s an option for her. Plus, two nights ago she actually asked to sleep in there. She did until 5:30 in the morning, when she cheerfully came back into our room whispering "I sleep in my big girl bed!" and then cuddled back to sleep in my arms. I was so glad to have her in those early hours… I missed her! My big girl… She hasn’t wanted it since, but it’s there if she does.
I’m going to start posting about my progress with baby prep- I’m hoping it’ll help me stay organized. It’s too easy to try to mentally conquer it all at once, so I’m trying not to do that. Vera’s room today. But otherwise I’ve got to harvest and lacto-ferment my radishes. Also,
Oh, and some chickens for good measure. But Jeff and I are actually talking about just going back and getting some older hens that are already laying. It occurred to us that we could potentially be feeding and getting attached to six roosters, when we’re only supposed to have four hens. Plus it could be months before they are laying… I’d just rather get some birds that we can stick with now. Plus, I think our friends will take these babies, so it’s not like we’ll just have to take them back to the auction (although if they don’t take them then I think we will). So next Saturday it’s back to get 4 actual ladies. This time we’ll know a little more about what we’re doing!
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the mulch looks great! I have two tomato plants growing on my balcony garden, and it’s so much fun to start seeing the veggies starting to come out. Your tiny beans remind me of the teeny first tomato I have.
How happy! Tomato plants are so beautiful- I love love love the way they smell. 🙂
I like the smell too! I brought them inside last night since it got so windy with the tornado (!) and my bathroom reeked of them this morning.
What a lovely and healthy garden:)
Yay for big girl beds! I really need to get one for Eilidh. Even if she’ll just start out each night there, that would be awesome.
Good luck with your baby prep, you must be so excited! Are you having a midwife, or an unassisted birth?
Thank you! I am excited, although it’s a little surreal because it’s gone by so fast this time. I have two midwives, actually, who share a homebirth practice. I love them both, so I would love to have either attend. It could actually be both, but who knows!
I had two midwives, as well. They were wonderful, and if I’d had a home birth, they would have both attended. As it was, we got the much older and more experienced of them, and she was so soothing and just chill. Our other midwife showed up mostly at the end, because it was quite a long labour. I really,really hope we can have them for baby #2, but since they’re the only midwives on the whole Sunshine Coast, sometimes they have to turn people away, depending on due dates.
Just wondering: what will Vera do while you are in labor? Is your mom or sister going to take her or watch her at your house?
Love the mulch idea: we have some to spread out just not enough time in the evenings to do it! It would help us with the weeds so much.
I was kinda wondering that too. I’m a little far away to offer to babysit 😛
Vera is going to be with either my friend or my little sister- whoever is available at the time. She’ll likely be taken out to the park or something if it’s during the day, or she’ll be upstairs set up for movies and play if it’s late. I want her to be able to come meet baby quickly, but I don’t think she will be around for the actual birth. I was thinking I’d want her around, but given her age and her reaction to me having emotions or being stressed at all (she kinda flips!), I think she’ll do better somewhere else with a buddy. 🙂
it looks so nice with the mulch!
this is probably a stupid question, but mulch prevents weeds from growing? does it not also prevent actual plants from growing? my flowerbeds are pretty much all just dirt, now, and there are so many weeds, and they grow so quickly… if i put down mulch, that would help stop them?
Mulch basically just creates a barrier between the earth and the sun, so nothing much should grow if you mulch well enough. But you can choose which areas to lay it down- if that’s what you’re asking? If you’ve got plants you want to grow then just mulch around them. It also helps the soil retain moisture, so often the plants that you mulch around will do better as a result. 🙂 I know that for vegetables you don’t want to use woodchips really, I’ve read it can affect the pH- so we use straw for inside the actual beds, we just haven’t gotten around it. But for flowers and herbs and bushes and walkways or things like that, woodchips should be great.
the mulch looks great. im guessing the key is to mulch heavily?? we used it once for pathways and it just got buried eventually and moved itself around and i have no idea where it is now but its not visible at all in our garden…
i can’t wait to meet your baby!!! wherer did you get the garlic from? we made sure to buy and use a local garlic so we knew it would grow in our climate and soil. have you dug a couple up yet to check em? we’ve started to harvest ours and the house smells awesome!
Yeah, the mulch that we put down last year was barely visible, but the difference in weeds was amazing (between the area we mulched and the one we didn’t). I think we’ll just lightly refresh it each year to keep the grass down. 🙂
I don’t remember where I got the garlic! I feel like they were someone’s leftovers that they gave to me… I don’t have a clue how to harvest or check them- I’ll be googling tonight, but any tips you have would be appreciated!
love the big girl bed!! I can’t wait to hear more about the baby prep! Not long now!
I just used my moby wrap today in church. It kept all the admirers at a good safe distance 🙂 It kept baby very happy and I just felt so good about it. I love it. *baby wearing* is one of my new favorite mommmy tricks!
I can’t believe your baby is already here. I kept watching your journal and then being surprised by how quickly I’d reach the same mark- I know this baby will be here before I know it.
Yay baby wearing! I’m a big fan, and I hope to learn more ways to carry a baby soon. It also makes it so much easier to not have to lug around a carseat/stroller everywhere! I’m sure you and baby in a wrap was a beautiful thing. 🙂