Category Archives: Green Middle Finger

Growing things

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At our old house, I didn’t have a place to plant so I just potted a bazillion things and crammed them onto our tiny patio.  It was something I really looked forward to doing every year but I always yearned for a real garden…

Luckily for us, our new apartment has these cute little plots on the property that the residents can plant in!

It’s been a beautiful spring, so last weekend Hubs and I decided it was time to give growing things a try.  We went to Home Depot with a plan and $70 later, we got to planting our very own garden!

We planted four different kinds of tomatoes (YUM), an eggplant, two pepper plants, marigolds and stock (purple flowers for our patio).  We also got some herbs from my MIL in our Easter basket, so we planted some of them in the garden and started the rest in pots at our house (those have already sprouted – yaaaay).  We picked the middle of the plot because one side looked like it was “reserved” with old rusty tomato cages and the other was so over-grown with mint that it would have taken centuries to weed it out with our wimpy garden tools.

After I carefully planted the marigolds evenly spaced around the perimeter of our veggies, Hubs decided to go ahead and plant the last two as a pair.  See, in the above right hand corner?  I may have to dig them up and move them for symmetry’s sake.

Anyway, we are giddy, seriously.  Growing things just feels good.  We’ve noticed a little visitor has been nibbling our eggplant this week (nooooo!) but I am hoping the rest survive!  Any of you planted a garden this year or just grabbed some flowers to pretty up your outside?

Spring Must-Haves

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So, we were kinda robbed of spring.  The pendulum keeps swinging from windy and miserable to a muggy almost-90-degrees back to crap weather again.  Totally not fair.   But, still, I’m going to post about what I need for Spring, even though it gave up waiting for us to enjoy it.

1. Sunscreen.  It’s only taken me 32 years but I think I might have this kinda figured out.  In the Spring, I am so excited to welcome the sun on my pale ruddy skin that I usually endure some sort of burn (not cool) before I snap back to reality.  And since I rock a perpetual Norwegian tan (you know what that means), I always seem to get burned when I least expect it.  Like when you grab coffee with a girlfriend and it happens to be kinda decent outside – so you just plop yourself down at the bistro out front underneath the shadow casting Caribou Coffee sign and start rehashing the latest Idol drama and before you know it – the tops of your feet are basically on fire (but not your toes because you’re wearing flats) and you have a pale (but jovial) caribou prancing along the very uncomfortably pink side of your forearm.

Now, I pack sunscreen in my purse.  That way, if a spontaneous coffee date happens – I am ready.  Any takers?  Hello?

2.  A few light weight cardigans (especially love those 3/4 sleeves).  They are perfect for layering and shielding those squishy arms from the horror of tank tops for just a little while longer.  A must-have!  I think I need a red clay-ish/coral-ly one but not your senior citizen coral, mind you.  I picked up a few blue ones after Christmas ($12 bucks each) and I’m excited to finally get more use out of them now that hypothermia isn’t a concern as much anymore.

3.  I know I already own it but dusting off the old bike and (accepting the consequential helmet hair) is another Spring must-have.  I hope I still remember how to ride it because it’s been an awfully long winter.

4.   I’ve been wanting to add some nautical to my life  – being that it’s ever so popular right now.  Bring on the navy striped boyfriend tanks – especially paired with some kelly green which is already a fav color of mine.  Ooor paired with that red clay-ish cardi from above??

Tank from ae.com

5. Big filigree earrings.  They are a goes-with-everything accessory for fancying up a sundress to blinging out your favorite t-shirt.  I’ve spotted the perfect (read: cheap) pair at Charlotte Ruesse.  They will be mine…!

Earrings link here.

6.  PLANTS.  For Easter, my MIL got us each a potted herb to take home (a great idea!) so those are happily sitting on our patio.  The greenery fills me with glee and really is the signature Spring must-have!


*Updated with a photo, just because

Tell me, what puts a Spring in your step?

How does your garden grow?

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Hopefully a lot better than mine because I don’t even have a garden.  But, I do have some serious garden envy.  In fact (stupid joke alert), you could say that I’m green with envy.  Anyway,  I thought I’d show the Internet the plants that are currently crowding up my patio and scaring off future home buyers.  Bring your mosquito netting and a GPS, the flora is thick in these parts.

The Patio, in all of its glory.

And now for the break down:

Bubba, the basil plant.


Rita, the rosemary (remember when you met her?).

Leo, the lime basil plant.

You’ll have to come over and taste Leo, he’s so lime-y.  I haven’t figured out what to make with him yet so instead I have been demanding that people “Eat this, you’ll like it!” whenever anyone stops by.  Oddly enough, people have stopped stopping by.

Our Terrifying Tomato Baby Jungle.

Some surprisingly happy Zinnias.

I had clipped a few earlier this summer for our open house (that no one showed up to).

Vinca Major (previously noted in the first Spotlife.) They are still alive, hooray!

Do you know what Vinca Major is?  Neither did I.  So I looked it up.  Let me educate you via a blurb from Wikipedia because learning is “fun”.

Two of the species, Vinca major and Vinca minor Candace’s patio plants in general, are extensively cultivated as an ornamental plant experiment to see if even I can grow things that can be eaten and or enjoyed.  Because the plants spread quickly, they are often used as a groundcover hiding place if I ever am running from the law.  Although attractive (like The Hubs), both are sometimes considered weeds (obviously, or I would have surely killed them by now), occasionally invasive in some regions (like getting a Spray Tan) where they are not native because of the rapid spreading and the possibility of choking out native species (or prospective home buyers) if they enter areas where they are not controlled (Candace’s patio).  Areas affected include parts of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States (Camellia Crib).[7][8]. In other cases, Vinca (and Candace’s awkwardness) has been recommended as a fire (friends and family) retardant ground cover.[9]

Tell me, how does your garden grow?