Burlap and Balloons

Things have been crazy around our house for the past few weeks. I'm actually writing today from St. Louis, where I've been all week for work. I'm taking tomorrow off though, and have some big yard plans.

I was perusing some of my favorite blogs today, and found this great guide to what can be composted. (Thus the title). Quite a few of the items listed are pretty common sense, but there were a few surprises to me as well. Here's the list (via networx)

1. Dryer lint
2. “Dust bunnies”
3. The insides of a vacuum bag (just empty the bag into the compost bin)
4. The contents of your dustpan (just use discretion)
5. Coffee grounds
6. Coffee filters
7. Tea bags/loose leaf tea
8. Soy/rice/almond/etc milk
9. Nut shells (but not walnut, which may be toxic to plants)
10. Pumpkin/sunflower/sesame seeds (chop them to ensure they won’t grow)
11. Avocado pits (chop them up so they won’t sprout)
12. Pickles
13. Stale tortilla chips/potato chips
14. Stale crackers
15. Crumbs (bread or other baked goods)
16. Old breakfast cereal
17. Bran (wheat or oat, etc)
18. Seaweed/nori/kelp
19. Tofu/tempeh
20. Frozen fruits and vegetables
21. Expired jam or jelly
22. Egg shells
23. Old, moldy "soy dairy" and other dairy substitutes
24. Stale Halloween candy and old nutrition/protein bars
25. Popcorn kernels (post-popping, the ones that didn’t make it)
26. Old herbs and spices 
27. Cooked rice
28. Cooked Pasta
29. Oatmeal
30. Peanut shells
31. Booze (beer and wine)
32. Wine corks
33. Egg cartons (not Styrofoam)
34. Toothpicks
35. Q-tips (not the plastic ones)
36. Bamboo Skewers
37. Matches
38. Sawdust
39. Pencil shavings
40. Fireplace ash (fully extinguished and cooled)
41. Burlap sacks
42. Cotton or wool clothes, cut into strips
43. Paper towels
44. Paper napkins
45. Paper table cloths
46. Paper plates (non wax- or plastic-coated)
47. Crepe paper streamers
48. Holiday wreaths
49. Balloons (latex only)
50. Raffia fibers (wrapping or decoration)
51. Excelsior (wood wool) 
52. Old potpourri
53. Dried flowers
54. Fresh flowers
55. Dead houseplants (or their dropped leaves)
56. Human hair (from a home haircut or saved from the barber shop)
57. Toenail clippings
58. Trimmings from an electric razor
59. Pet hair
60. Domestic bird and bunny droppings
61. Feathers
62. Fish food
63. Aquatic plants (from aquariums)
64. Dog food
65. Rawhide dog chews
66. Ratty old rope
67. The dead flies on the windowsill
68. Pizza boxes and cereal boxes (shredded first)
69. Toilet paper and paper towel rolls (shredded first)
70. Paper muffin/cupcake cups
71. Cellophane bags (real cellophane, not regular clear plastic)
72. Kleenex (including used)
73. Latex
74. Old loofas (real, not synthetic)
75. Cotton balls
76. Newspaper 
77. Junk mail 
78. Old business cards (not the glossy ones)
79. Old masking tape
80. White glue/plain paste.

Garden Dreaming

Any of you in the midwest know as well as we do that this has been a weird winter, if you can even call it winter. Chris and I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and did yard work over the weekend, and it got me into my usual springtime garden fever. I'm ready to plant.

So I spent an afternoon preparing my planting list, and mapping out my beds, with much help from Burpee seeds and the Farmer's Almanac. Planting will officially begin in the Jones home on March 1 when lettuce seeds go down outside.

But before I get into my plans, here are some ghosts of garden past to help you get as excited as I am about this:

Grape and roma tomatoes

Peppers!

Mammoth sunflower before

And after. See the boxelder bug enjoying the view?

First year in our garden. I overplanted a little.

And the ever-growing rosemary.

This year's planting will look like this:

Bed 1: Strawberries. (as always)

Bed 2: Tomatoes, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions. Basically it's a salsa garden.

Bed 3: Lettuce, spinach and potatoes. The potatoes are new, but I hear they're easy to grow and extra delicious when fresh. I might try out a unique variety, like purple potatoes.

Bed 4: Beans, beats and carrots. Basically beets and friends, because wow do I love beets. I've even convinced Chris that they're worth eating. And I might throw in a few ears of corn, even though Chris told me I wasn't allowed. Just think, trying to keep this Iowa native from growing a few ears of sweet corn . . . . don't tell him.

In addition, we'll have a planter of mint, one of basil, one of rosemary (our rosemary plants from last year have actually survived the winter, so this one is good to go!), one of peas (this is new - I found a compact variety of pea plant that's perfect for small spaces) and one of parsley, oregano and sage. Each garden bed will hold marigolds to keep the critters away, and I'll have a few varieties of sunflowers - including the huge ones, of course - along the flower beds outside the garden retaining wall.

So that's it, we're on official countdown to seed day - only 10 days! I can't wait.