Afraid of Bugs – Tales from the Homestead of Casa Chihuahua

Doing things the hard natural way….

Vinegar is my best pal around the house and the yard.  I mix it with water, with baking soda, with Dr.Bronner’s….it cleans tubs, toilets, mirrors, windows, counters and yes, as previously posted, even strips paint off antique hardware.  It’s a lifesaver in a city where our water is so hard it leaves mineral deposits on everything it touches.

But my new favorite thing to do with it is make Weed Vinaigrette! I’m not a fan of toxic yard chemicals of any kind and especially since our dogs like to nibble on the various plants that sprout up in our courtyard, I won’t use anything that might potentially end up in their mouths.  I experimented last summer with this and it worked surprisingly well -but i was using a little hand spray bottle, making it a time consuming, dull task.   Jesse suggested I pick up a basic pump sprayer and WOW, what a difference!  I got one at Home Depot for $9 and dropped in a $3 jug of vinegar and sprayed the patio down in under 10 minutes!

You need to treat the weeds in the morning, as the sun seems to help cook the weeds – and be careful not to spray the things you want to keep – but above is the courtyard a day after spraying.  Inbetween the bricks there were all sorts of weeds pushing through and the vinegar just dries them up and they turn to nothing.  Safe and simple.

Sure, it won’t work on every kind of weed, doesn’t kill the roots (usually), won’t kill crab grass – but the choice between a quick spray every other week or pouring poison on the ground – it’s an easy choice.

Just a quick garden update – one of the tomato plants has put up its first flower and i’ve managed not to kill any of the plants this week!

and some roasted chihuahuas

Forget the 30,000 foot view – here’s life from a 5’7″ view….

Over the past 4 months, I’ve spent a little too much time at work, in the air  and planning for 2012 (not the mayan end of the world,  just our next spring delivery) – but I’m SOOOOOO happy to have my feet (and brain) firmly planted on the ground again.

With the days getting longer, I’m actually getting house stuff done, kicking-off neglected projects and even getting out a few nights a week again and spending much needed time with friends!

On the home front it’s been a bit of nesting, dirt digging, long over-due unpacking.  I got our back kitchen deck all spiffy  – and ready for late spring/summer use.  The above shot is Inca roasting herself on the new deck mat.  It makes a cool crinkly sound and feel nice under the feet.

Snake immediately showed his appreciation for the deck pillows being put back out – Chihuahuas are just natural worshipers.  Other plans for the deck include a new umbrella (ordered) and outdoor lighting -all to be set up by this weekend – so we’re all ready for BBQ season.  Next year (or maybe at the end of this summer), I’m going to re-sand the deck and re-seal it.  The sun does such an intense job on the wood, I want to keep things in check.

Other April goodness included another visit to First Fridays at the Museum of Natural History.  This past event included a great talk by Dr.Tanya Atwater on the San Andreas Fault and the long-view of plate activity between the pacific plate and the north american plate.  After the lecture we took some time to explore the Ornithology department – but not before stopping by the Dino Lab to watch the team work on the latest bones.  I could sit there for hours watching, but I imagine it would make the people working there very uncomfortable…..

Too freakin’ cute – this was one of the dinos they were working on that night….

Toy Dinos  – i want them ALL!

A mini model of one of the current projects – can i have one as a pet?

Sadly, I didn’t stick my hand in the photo for some kind of scale – but imagine the Anna’s Hummingbird and then reduce the size by 40% – thats this little skeleton.  Some of the wing bones were missing as they were hair thin.

Managing Failure – one plant at a time

My Fantasy : I’m a natural born farmer with perfect instincts, a grand gardener – someone who has such a deep connection with nature that anything i put in the dirt, thrives.

My Reality : I garden like I cook – I read ALOT before hand and when it comes time to do it – I wing it.  Sometimes this works wonderfully and sometimes it turns really bad, fast.  I do not have a green thumb, I just sometimes get lucky and things survive.  Trial and lots of error….

Since we still need to get a fence and retaining wall built in the back – and will hopefully be starting this in the next month or so – I am hesitant to plant anything back there as I know it will be a disaster zone.  So, before going BIG in the backyard with my plans for lasagna mulching, raised veggie beds and an herb garden – I decided to start really small in the front courtyard.  It will allow me the opportunity to watch what is working or not working on a manageable level.

I got some wonderful heirloom tomato plants (5) at the end of March and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give the genius Self Watering Tomato Planters from Homegrown Evolutions book a chance.

Rob, my older brother, was visiting from Malaysia last week and gave me a hand with the cutting and assembly.  In a perfect world, I should have salvaged the buckets from restaurants – but instead got new ones from Home Depot.  At least I can use these year after year, if my tomato experiment works.

Some of types I have planted are Black and Brown Boars, Green Zebras and Berkeley Tie-dyes.

In addition to the tomatoes, I picked up a cucumber, zucchini and yellow squash plant.  I had done the lasagna mulching deal in the raised bed in the courtyard and the dirt seems better – but the proof will be if the plants survive or not, i suppose.

Here’s Snake inspecting the plants – he’s very fond of eating the Marigold leaves.  Maybe I should give them a try too.

Veggies in place – and putting in the bamboo poles to help them grow vertically.

Overcrowded but I couldn’t help myself….Dahlias, Snapdragons and Marigolds (to keep the bad bugs that want to eat the veggies at bay)

Inca and Snake exhausted from gardening.

More flowers…..

Baby yellow summer squash plant.

I’m such a sucker for hot pink…

Snapdragons…

saturdays plantings…

Rock on Little Man

While in Tokyo in March, I was on the hunt for great dog tees.  I hit the usual spots that I had been on prior trips and was disappointed to find mostly over the top girly stuff … I guess even dog fashion is affected by trends – and this spring – its all about dresses.

I did get lucky in a new little spot in Harajuku.  They had done an awesome series of graphics all playing off classic rock and metal album covers.  Prices were a bit high – so I had to limit myself to just one tee – so I went with KISS.  Looks good on the man, doesn’t it?

**added**

In case you need to get one for yourself – check out Parier0 – they even have a site in English.