Reaching Out

Went to the Gardens Plant Sale today! Got:
- parsley
- St. John's wort
- English thyme
- curry plant
- Mexican oregano
- Syrian oregano
- English lavender
- penstemon
- 10 packets of wildflower seeds

Then Eric and I went to Home Depot and I bought dirt for the first time.

Instead of planting into the ground like I did last time, and wasting time amending the soil which is really poor and the future resident probably won't even appreciate anyway, I'm using the boxes JC used for moving. They're Lowe's boxes, and Large (I thought they were medium for some reason), so they stand pretty tall on the ground. I filled them up to three-quarters with dirt. I've also got a smaller box just for chives.

From Home Deport I also got two varieties of basil, and they're in the same box. Another large box has got some onions from Home Depot too (three varieties for $4).

The thyme, curry, and parley are in the same box, and the oreganos are also sharing a box. Apparently St. John's wort does okay with crappy soil and it's a groundcover, so I've stuck it in the ground, with the lavender and the penstemon. We'll see how well they do there.

I have two more boxes left. One I want to use for potatoes, and I just ordered some seed potatoes from Peaceful Valley. Another, I'm not sure if I want to use it for composting (my outdoor worm bin is falling apart; the cover has shattered) or for mints, because mints are awesome, and also they spread like mad so it's best to grow them in a planter.

I'm going back tomorrow to get a currant bush for the corner of the garden, and a maidenhair fern for my office. Might try some mini-roses too. But I'll be tossing the wildflower seeds after mixing them in between the boxes and we'll see what takes. Right now there's some sort of thing growing at the edges of my garden, which I THINK is mallow, but I'm not sure. They grew around the plastic sheeting on the ground (meant to hold down weeds) so they give a nice edge to the garden. I'm hoping they grow some flowers though.

I tried to harvest my worm bin tonight too, but it's giving me trouble for some reason... everything's clumping together despite having had a chance to dry out. The worms are also unhappy and I can't really find a good reason for it... there's no bad smell, there's enough moisture. IDK. I'm thinking of getting a Worm Factory to make things easier, but to be honest, I sort of don't generate enough garbage for that. Hmm.

Woke up SORE this morning! My arms, thighs and calves! From all that digging yesterday! (Have a little rant I made yesterday with pictures on the digging adventures.) I went to the plant sale again and bought two things of chives, another mini-rose (I've decided to perform a terrarium experiment with one mini-rose), more wildflower seeds, some bulbs, and a pot of what I think is a kind of penstemon. It's supposed to bloom throughout summer which will be good for the hummingbirds since I'm so freaking inconsistent with the feeder. I also got two more air plants for my own apartment; one's hanging right by my door and the other is on the fence, jammed between two branches of a root I found. I planted the penstemon by the currant and the bulbs by the aloe veras.

I repotted the mini-roses and the chives then began to clear my patio of all the junk that's prevented me from keeping it clear, namely the pieces of tape from boxes I've tried mulching. I also threw away some of the little pots. The basil has gone woody and I'm really impressed by how long it's lasted; the parsley is gone, and the oregano for covered by leaves before it could establish itself so it's gone now. I just took off one of its main three stems, just to see how it would react. The sprig is currently hanging from my kitchen light switch right now, drying.

My soil is still hydrophobic as fuck and I don't really know how to fix that. Apparently soapy water helps so I tried some, but I don't think it's helping. Apparently misting the ground, rather than watering with a watering can, is also good, because that means the water goes down gently. Water that just kind of unceremoniously pours on compacts the earth, preventing it from trickling down. Mixing in organic material is supposed to help but I think the composting process makes the whole thing clump together and it doesn't help. We shall see. I do think I'm done working the soil of this one particular patch and I'm ready to just give it a shot growing something on there. As soon as it gets cold enough, I think at the end of December, I'll strew the wildflower seeds across the patch and let them fight it out. It'll also rain around that time too so that will help.

Out of curiousity I decided to clear a little spot next to my standing lamp on the ground. There's a woven bottle holder there too.

I found... er, at least three live spiders, and around six or eight balls of spider silk, which I'm pretty sure held spider eggs. SIGH. This would account for the number of baby spiders I've been finding around my apartment since getting back in September. I also moved a thing that's been there since I first moved in and woo-ee I really do need to get my carpet floor shampoo'd at some point. I took the bottle holder out for washing and the spiders scuttled out and i had to flick them off me. Then I decided to wash off my patio and like two of three bugs, decided to scuttle out of the leaves TOWARDS MY DOOR and I was like UHM NOPE and flushed them back down again.

(There is, inexplicably, a rain spout next to my door and I kept thinking of the Eensy Weensy Spider Climbing Up The Spout song very unhappily.

But I have a clear patio now!

Ach. There's a fresh falling of dead leaves on my garden so I thought I'd dig up a new hole and bury them. Then out of curiousity, I thought I'd dig up a site I've used for trench composting before. To my surprise, where I'm digging is still extremely difficult to dig up... it feels like I'm hitting stone. The earth IS darker than before but there isn't really any sign of mulching. Chances are I just don't know how to recognize it (and my dad doesn't really do composting so much as he does "toss everything into a heap and leave it alone" kind of terra preta composting so I have no experience for reference) but I thought that it would be a lot less difficult to dig, and it shouldn't feel like I'm hitting stone or very hard clay.

In many ways I'm doing work that one might do in a long-term garden, which I feel I shouldn't be doing since I'm only going to be here a short while more. It is very frustrating, though, because I would like to see more flowers and the such in my garden throughout the year. So I am trying to prepare the ground for the impending sowing (which can't happen until late November, I think, because my god it is October but still 30'c out why??? I'm guessing a previous tenant also laid down some woodchippy stuff as a kind of mulch to keep weeds down or water in but frankly all it's doing is get in my way. I want to harvest them to grow orchids or something but I don't even know how to do that.

I've got to figure out a site to bury the incoming cattails which the tree outside my place is going to rain down in just a few weeks, too. I think I'll pick a corner this time, where the hibiscus used to grow.

I've yet to ask Dr. LR for a cutting of roses from her garden--she grows some big beautiful ones and apparently they're really low-maintenance and don't like a lot of water once they're established. Maybe next week when it's classtime. I'm also going to see if I can get some mini-roses at the Botanic Gardens plant sale too.

Gonna also start a new worm bin, but an indoor one this time, to keep the other bugs out. There're a few in the bin outside, and I thought there were more but I guess not. At least the tree stump of the palm I decimated back in 2012 is almost gone. I'm thinking of taking advantage of the fall sale at Uncle Jim's, and add half of it to the outdoor bin. OR I could just keep them all indoors and leave the outdoor bin alone, use it for planting veggies in the spring when everything's finally composted.

- Had a meeting with my committee chair yesterday, which went well! She really likes my new headnote and wants me to revise the last paragraph--I took my friend's advice a bit too seriously, she thought, and rather than look at the fields I'm studying, I should look at the fields I'm researching (which in this case is steampunk and Malaysian studies) (she really liked the parallel I drew between the formation of whiteness and the discourse of "bangsa Malaysia").

- Joe came over last night and I made fried pork chops and mashed potatoes. They were still bloody on the inside but Joe didn't mind and liked it anyway (said they were better than the fried pork he normally gets at our favourite cafe, even, whee). I'll have to nuke the pieces next time before frying, so they're cooked on the inside too.

We talked about professors, his potential committee (he's in first year) and the fact that he gets three years to work for his quals (compared to my two). Which sounds great at first? But then we compared funding packages and he has to pay NRT, which, uh, yikes. He has to pay $17/k per year! And this despite the fact that he receives less than $8k total than I do. Compared to him, I practically get a free ride! What on earth.

But then, I was told very early on, a school that gives you a great deal of funding is a school that clearly values you, and I guess I did the right thing in sticking to Comp Lit, rather than trying for English. There're a LOT of grads in English which could be a good thing in getting some things done, but I think there's something to be said about a smaller dept that thus has more money to spread around.

Then we talked a bit about where we want to move to. Preferrably, I'd like to stay close to the university, but he wants to move further away. Canyon Crest, which is kind of the next neighbourhood over, is kind of a good compromise. There's a "towne center" with quaint shops and cafes and restaurants, even a bar with the occasional concert which is cool. We also have similar tastes in apartment choices, and we'll probably go over there to check out potential places to live in a bit. We initially picked a place that seemed out of the way, but it is kind of... far from any bus stop and the grocery store.

Our priorities seem to have worked together really well. He's been warned that I bake at irregular hours, expect him to help me eat stuff, and I will most likely have earthworms. (Earthworms are a pretty important part of my life, these days. I'm thinking a small wastebasket lined with a mesh bag this time; food goes into the mesh bag, worm castings will fall out into the wastebasket proper, and at some point, I can temporarily lift the bag into a different basket and clear out the castings.) He's gone most of June and I'll be gone mid-July to mid-August, so... we'll have to figure out how to coordinate moving around. I'll probably start putting my stuff in storage after quals and move out when I go home, and then when I get back I can bum off living with someone else for a couple of weeks until the lease starts. But who knows? Maybe we'll find a landlord who will let us move in a bit earlier for no extra charge.

- As we ate, I said, "oh, if your parents ask, I'm the lesbian." And he laughed and laughed. But he's the one who's not out to his parents, whereas I think my parents have an inkling that I'm queer and they should therefore not be surprised if I shack up with a woman instead (as long as I get kids, anyway).

- I'm gonna finish reading a section of my Cultural Studies list and finish off the last of my PoCo readings, and write a reading report for Dr. G. Also revise the last paragraph of my headnote. Once I'm done the PoCo list, really, I can move onto the SF list, which I've read half of but need to re-read and also get started on the non-fiction. (In retrospect, I should have put the SF non-fiction reading onto my PoCo list in lieu of the queer and women's studies section, since they are far more relevant. I might still be able to do this.)

- I'm not too keen on moving but I would really like to save money. This will be the first time in almost ten years that I've lived with a roommate, and a roommate who's a friend, too. Fortunately we're not as close as MF and I were, and I think J has a lot fewer hangups about tidiness and clealiness. Probably helps that we're not both in our early 20's (I think he's a couple years younger). It'll probably be a lot of fun? It'll be like living with a younger brother, except I've never had a younger brother and I've never even lived just me and my own actual elder brother.

- I'm going to till the soil of my current patio a bit more and bury the organic material that's been dropping in and hopefully that will help the next occupant plant better. Maybe. It's a lot of clay soil. From the threads I've been reading it takes at least two years of amendment before results happen. I've definitely been working on and off on this patch for two years now so maybe it will help.

- Also, something is sprouting at the corner of my garden. I'm not sure what, but it looks suspiciously like the squash plant I planted last year, but in a different place. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa the squash has come back to liiiiiiiiiiife! (It grew to be a real monster last year, taking over half my patio! We'll see what this one does!!)

I bought a new small shovel yesterday to facilitate digging up a part of my garden, and my arms are noodle-y as a result. I think I have to do it again next week too--there're a lot more leaves. The problem is that there's a lot of little woodchip mulch so I have to sort them out because I don't want to accidentally bury them. Unfortunately I don't know where to put them for now.

The neat thing is, I figured out a way to harvest the worm castings in the corner of the garden! I bought a mesh pen holder. The holes are small enough that worms won't get sifted through (even the baby worms) (although certainly worms can push themselves through if they want to; one of them did.... since the hole is so small it was wiped clean of dirt, bringing to mind the image of a striving penis) and it also leaves behind other rocks and stuff that I don't really want... I managed to harvest half a bucket of very clean castings to use as soil amendment for the hole I dug.

I THINK my daffodils are growing back? I can't tell for sure--haven't looked to closely, but it would be nice if at least one bulb came back and gave me some daffodils!

I was going to take a walk this morning but I stayed up late to read Susan Forward's book on Toxic Parents. It was a good book, very helpful. I think I might send it along to my brother and dad just to see what happens.

Also, used my crockpot for the first time ever yesterday! Last night. I forgot that crockpots are used for food that take forever to cook. So I started at 5pm, and got impatient, started another thing of pork rib soup, and today I have more pork rib and beef stew. Nom! It's enough to last me for days, I think. And it didn't blow up despite my leaving it on all night! Which I guess is the point; I'm just so nervous around cooking things. Anyway... yay!

I haven't been posting because

- BLERGH WEATHER

- BLERGH WEATHER

- I've had to go out to get some chores done, which is fine, I now have cleaners, food, bills paid, office keys, cookies

- I've also been for a swim once this week, gonna do it again tomorrow

- BLERGH WEATHER

- I had a nightmare this afternoon--first my parents and I were attending a funeral of a relative, and inexplicably in the same neighbourhood there was a Halloween party, and people mistook our funeral for a Halloween thing, to the extent where I had to yell, "WHO'S HERE FOR [relative's Chinese title}?? YOU CAN STAY. WHO'S HERE FOR A HALLOWEEN PARTY? WELL GET OUT" and then suddenly I was a panel about cultural appropriation with Nisi and a couple others but they didn't even get to take their seats because the room was so small the panel seats were so close to the audience some audience members thought it would be OK to just sit there and some dude from the back just wanted to show off his video (HE BROUGHT HIS OWN PROJECTOR) and then people just kept filing out after that it was terrible and I hated it.

- I goofed and thought WisCon38 would be the first year to have two WOC guests when in fact it was WisCon34 and I'm still rolling around in shame.

- BLERGH WEATHER.

- met one of the new grads today, a guy from Szechuan. Cool guy. I showed him around to places he didn't know about despite having wandered the campus already. There are just some places which you got to be told about.

- There is a new kitty on the block that I'm trying to get to trust. It's super skittish, but I think it's definitely owner-less and gone feral as a result, because of the way it eats the food I set out for it.

- I also saw a baby possum! OK not like a baby but like it's definitely younger, half the size of the possum I normally see.

- BLERGH. JUST BLERGH.

- I have to put up some door mesh, I know it's a bit late in the season but I like having my door open at night and all these fucking bugs keep coming in.

- Bryan Thao came over with his partner the other day, and their two dogs, just to give me some company, and they got me to Home Depot where I could get some new plants!

- Of my old plants, the Spanish lavender and squash have survived my absence. The chives are uneven; I think because one of the was more in the shade than the other, so one bunch is more lush, while the other has just one stalk left, oops. The lemongrass, I think, lives, since it doesn't come up easily, but it has fallen over so I'm not sure how well rooted it is. The basil is definitely quite dead, as is the hibiscus, which I think is caused by the squash somehow having been blown over it, blocking it from getting sunlight?

- My new plants are: 4 different types of lavender, only one of which is differentiated from the others as English lavender, but I suspect one of them as a French lavender; I also have a new parsley, a new Greek basil, lemon thyme, AND oregano! I also have an ornamental grass that I want to use to line a corner of the patio where I notice everytime I water, some soil runs off since my patio is on a higher level. I figure the ornamental grass will help hold the soil from running off too much. But that involves unpotting and THEN separating the grass bunches and I can't be arsed to do that right now. But if done right, I will have grass framing a new hibiscus plant!

- Something grew in my compost pile, a lychee seed! I transplanted it but I don't think it like it much. I may put it back?

- I also got a mesh laundry bag to put all the leaves in. The idea is that since it's mesh it will aerate better. Also, it's got a drawstring and I can roll it around. It needs more green material, alas, which I am bad at generating since I don't consumer vegetables much.

- I fixed my luggage bag! The side handle gave way but I screwed it back on just fine. I think I might even be able to fix the other broken things on my bag but that can wait.

- My table and floor are still a terrible mess and I need to really clear them so I can feel alive. Also my kitchen. I'm going to wrap every goddamn thing on the stove with aluminium foil! Should have done that from the start; learned it from the Chinese girls upstairs.

- BLERGH WEATHER

- I bought myself a new floppy hat! it has white, beige and black stripes and I am pleased. I have yet to wear it out though.

- I kinda want to watch Sleepy Hollow and do the thing where I enjoy a season unfolding with other people but turns out the Fox website does not like it if you don't keep the tab active and go to another tab when adverts are on. Also, I can't pause because then some weird static ad comes up and the unpause button doesn't work anymore. Maybe it's my browser but I can't stand it. It's OK though, I guess I will simply watch the pertinent GIF sets come up on Tumblr.

- Uhm. I napped for like three and a half hours today and I think that was too long because I've been groggy all evening.

- BLERGH WEATHER

- Last few days have been intense online with the campaigning to help Roshini Muniam. Despite a heart-in-mouth scare, we somehow pulled through and Roshini won this part of the contest by like 30k votes. Hopefully that's enough to push her through to space camp in Florida!

- This just happened on OKCupid and I think you will find it amusing.

Got to campus early to help TX with her diss section which was due at noon. Then I went to the Botanic Gardens plant sale!! I brought a grocery bag because a) it would limit how many plants I'd buy since I was probably walking home with them and b) no awkward walking around with plant in hand.

Turns out many of the pots for the plants I wanted, herbs, were very tiny! It was bigger flowering bushes that would have REALLY limited my yield.

I bought:
- two kinds of chives: regular and garlic. One flowers in spring and the other in fall, and apparently the flowers are edible. I'm pretty sure once I transplant them I will have no idea what they are anymore. I'm thinking of not putting them in the ground, but in a new, larger pot. I'll set that on the wall so my neighbour can help herself to some if she wants.
- an little oregano, now right next to my parsley
- a curly-leaf parsley planted in the same plot as my Italian parsley. (The Italian Parsley is now flowering or something so I've got to do something about it.)
- a squash, because I couldn't resist it, even though one of my classmates said she's giving me one of her squash seedlings. I planted it next to the garlic, and the other one can go to the other side of the garlic since that's where it's sunniest;
- a Spanish lavender, which I've planted closer to the flower row. Once that starts thriving, I'll go get an English and a French one so I can have a variety of lavenders.

There were also delta maidenhair ferns available! And birds' nests!! I got super-nostalgic when I saw them.... my family had a delta maidenhair when I was growing up. Not that I knew what it was called, of course, but I recognized the leaves immediately. Am contemplating it, but it looks fussy. If I had a bigger bottle, I'd make a terrarium with it, which is an idea... I'm going back tomorrow for a talk on vegetable gardening, and may buy one if it's still there.

At this rate I'm going to need a planter or more for all the things I want!!

The daffodils are done blooming, I think but it looks like the freesia have decided to take a turn... about half the plants, despite being flattened, have flower buds! Can't wait to see how they turn out. The row of garlic is also coming along. The aloe vera is still.... I don't even know! It's splotchy and whatnot. Maybe sticking it into the ground wasn't the best idea... I should have a planter for succulents alone. F came over to cut some parsley the other day for herself, so yay! And the hibiscus has some tiny new leaves budding. I had a dead pomegranate so I thought I would try planting its seeds in an egg carton to see what happens. So far nothing. Gotta plant the carrots and spring onions soon. I'm just mad at the compost heap taking so long!!

The hummingbird seed mix is ready to go... once the freesia blooms, I'll spread it across the patch with the bulbs. Same with the desert flower and Californian seed mix. Might even try spreading it on the ground a little beyond my patio too, because I'm not a fan of the creeper stuff there.