Last year was the first time I actually tried to do some serious gardening so I started small. A small garden in front, one bed in the back where I planted a raspberry cane (the fruit was awesome), grew a pepper plant which gave me beautiful peppers, and failed with the tomato plant because of some fungi. they are no fun guys…

This year I’m gonna be more of a daredevil! will broaden the scope and plant more stuff. I don’t expect to be 100% successful but I’ll take what I get. So I started to make a list… corn, watermelon, pepper again!, raspberries (hope the cane made it through winter), strawberries, tomatoes (I’ll have you!), iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, etc.

That’s a lot of work!… Well, yes. The thing that stopped me on my tracks for a few seconds was: how am I gonna keep track of all that? What if I forget that on X day I have to transplant? or thin, or when to start indoors or when to take outside? the list was getting longer. So i thought “hmm, maybe I should write all that stuff down in my calendar” but I needed more space to write more information. Why not just a calendar for gardening! even better, I should start a log for it. So I started my Gardening Ledger.

It’s easier to start it when you haven’t started your garden/veggie beds. But if you have already started, it’s still doable!

So, grab a binder (preferable a 2″) find a picture you like and put it in the front pocket for cover art. You can also use any other thing you can come up with to keep the sheets together, cardboard and twine if you are feeling green!

First thing I did was draw sketches of where were the existing plants and what they were, sketches of the layout of the different beds, really rough ones, even the scale was off. Something I found useful to keep in mind the scale was to take a picture of the house and print it out and draw on it what you are planning on planting.

Next thing was printing out a monthly calendar. Needless to say what it’s for! Write down when to sow what seeds, when to transplant what, when it’s time to harvest (if it’s not too obvious or you just wanna make sure you wait til it’s really ready), and you can even write down what the weather is like every day.

The seed packages give you some basic information in the back so you know when, what, and how much you need for anything, but you can admit you have lost your package or tossed it without a second thought after you sowed the seeds! (I know I have!) and then what? What I started doing was write down all that information in a separate sheet for the different flowers, veggies, etc. That way I know where it is at all times, and also if I find any more information, I can write it there, like a compilation.

I like taking pictures of what I create and do, really, who doesn’t?. So, on top of the information, another thing you can do is take pictures of your plants in their different stages. In this, it’s almost like a scrapbook, you can even take a leaf or flower, flatten it and dry it and glue it to the info sheet (Might make it too bulky though!).

For easy access to the information, you can get the tabbed separators and organize the info by type. Flowers, veggies, herbs, etc.

I think that’s a good start, anything else you would like to add or not do, that’s all up to you, after all its YOUR journal. Hope this sounds like a good idea (or at least a notion!) and works out for whoever is reading it.

Good luck and happy sowing

- Cyth

Also, for dying the paraffin, instead of buying blocks of dyes, I would use crayons. Yep… the Crayola ones work just fine. Unwrap them, break them in small pieces and drop them in the melted paraffin. Works just as the dyes, although you might need to make a few tests to get the right amount for the shade of color you’d like.

For the last few months I’ve been working on my bathroom. It’s in the basement, therefore, designing and getting it built was slightly  tricky. Had to get a special pump just for the bathroom, special system just for the toilet, raised floor, and little things here and there. When the builders finished, the bathroom didn’t look quite finished, but that was as far as their job went.

Needless to say, i had some work to do. I wanted to do the flooring asap but it had to wait. I started with the paint job. I wanted a sea theme; either shells, palm trees or lighthouses and figured, hey, why not all the above?!

We decided on painting the upper half blue and the bottom part sand color. After applying the “sand” color, it didn’t look quite sandy as expected. That was back in July 09, now in January I plan on getting the flooring done. I debated between ceramic tiles or vinyl and obviously I would choose ceramic tiles, but budget-wise, I chose the vinyl flooring. Instead of the sheet, i went with the self-adhesive tiles. I’m not a pro at installing ceramic tiles and didn’t want to waste too much money on it if i messed up. I will be doing the backsplash for the tub and sink with ceramic tiles. Considering the sink already has a small backsplash, I will just add 3″ or so.

I will be painting the walls again, this time a different shade of blue, matching the wall border, and a sandier… sand. The vinyl tiles even match the sand color of the wall border. If i can get everything to match, I’ll be set!

So. that’s the plan. I’ll be posting as I go, for now in my to-do list is:

• Seal really well the panels of the shower stall so it stops leaking. Need to avoid damage to the wooden sub-floor as much as possible.
• Get the paint and apply it
• Get the rest of the materials needed to install the vinyl tiles (moisture absorbent sheet, floor primer, tiles for backsplash)
• DO IT!

]]> http://mephette.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/bathroom-project/feed/ 1 mephette DSC01279 DSC01278 DSC01277 DSC01281 DSC01280 DSC01288 DSC01289 DSC01290 http://mephette.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/intro/ http://mephette.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/intro/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:55:33 +0000 Cyth http://mephette.wordpress.com/?p=98 ]]> Sooo i guess i can’t put this off any longer…

The last few days I’ve debated what i would like to write about in a blog. Every idea i thought of, met a mehhh by my other side of the brain… “why bother!”… “there are probably 100x blogs about the same thing out there”… well whatever!  It’s gonna be about stuff i like, enjoy and wish to share with others with similar interests. And so, this blog was born (or reborn, if i count the previous attempt at blogging).

Just like the About Me page says, I love crafts and home improvement projects. I will be posting here any crazy stuff I’m working on or trying my luck at. Or any weird stuff i come up with that might (or not) be related to crafts and home improvement!

Glad i got that out of my chest!… now readers, beware. I have joined the blogging world… there goes the neighborhood.