It's Spring in the Growing Dome

It's almost spring at the Nickel and Dime: Trees and vines have buds, birds are chirping and building nests, little sprigs of green are popping up for the Angus Boys to eat, and my outer wear is a cotton hoodie that I can take off when it gets too warm. Warm here is the 70's and I'm happy with that.

The Growing Dome has been cranking out green stuff for the past couple months, and we are racing the heat, hoping the rest of the cool weather vegetables won't up and quit.

The Arctic lettuce is doing well, the leaves tender and buttery. 

The lettuce is being shaded by the broccoli, with some sugar snap peas, radishes, more lettuce, and beets in this bed, too.

We are having a little trouble with black gnats, so I used these bug catcher papers to trap a couple hundred of them. Unfortunately, they are still around, so I sprinkled some diatomacious earth around the affected plants. We shall see.

Across the dome was the raised bed The Angus Boys destroyed last fall. They turned the dome into a cattle cafeteria when they ventured through the open door and were trapped inside for a couple of days.

So far I have a couple tomato plants, radishes, green beans, Poona Kheera cucumbers, and oakleaf lettuce planted on this side.

The blue watering can was a congratulations present to me for getting the dome done (Tom and Z did most of the work). It's a Dramm 12455 5-Liter Premium High-Grade Plastic Watering Can. The red one is a Wal-Mart product, but it totally smashes the seedlings when I water them, so I use it for mature plants. Water comes from the dome's water tank.

 Below is the baby nursery where tomato, chard, crookneck squash, lettuce, flowers and cauliflower seeds are sprouting. The temps  above the water tank are moderate, not too hot or cold.

Back on our entry porch, it looks like someone is getting ready to decorate again.

How does your garden grow?

Quilty Pleasures Wednesday: A Finished Quilt, Finally!

For almost two years I have had this quilt, minus binding, folded in the cabinet. In a pinch, I would drag it out and use it for guests, the batting looking totally rattytatty peeking out the sides of the quilt sandwich. This photo isn't the best, so let me describe the fabrics used. They were from a Moda bundle I purchased at least a year before I even started making it, and I am sorry to say I don't know the name of the fabric line. This was pre-blogging, so didn't realize the importance of remembering stuff like fabric names.

The red center squares are two inches, finished, with a four inch border surrounding to end up with a ten inch block.  The Moda fabrics are a coordinated bunch of large chintz-looking florals, smaller florals, plaids and stripes. I had some pink fabric with white dots hanging around, which is what I used to bind the edges. It's very girly and shabby chic.

I have been making more and more pieced backings in order to use up fabric in my stash. (As you can see, my helper was tired of holding up the quilt.)

This quilt went to the Turkey Federation banquet last week for its silent auction, the proceeds going toward scholarship and community charity programs. I decided to pass it on because there are so many quilts in the pipeline, I might as well share.

We are getting some nice spring weather now, and the grass is starting to sprout up, keeping the Angus Boys busy mowing it down. I am glad we have just three steers left, so there should be enough for them to eat until June when they leave. We will still supplement with hay until the grass really gets going because when they are hungry, the steers stand outside the garage and moo until we pull out the Polaris and throw them some flakes of that good hay.

These photos were shot in the afternoon, the western sun hitting the tops of the cliff as it was going down.