yay gardening! cheaper and more effective than therapy. so i say.

this year we are going to grow potatoes in containers. they need a lot of water and it doesn't rain at all here in the summer. when they are ready you just tip them over! no splitting the taytos with a spade, either.

I've looked at all the pictures and love it, how much fun. I got me a big ole green thumb and bought some grapes vines(and snapdragons (dragons, ooo scarey)) today. Homemade wine anyone?

Gonna read it now....

How is it possible that you are still single? You are just too cute for words - you knit, you garden, you write beautifully.

I think you belong in another era in time - and 21st century LA hipster-ville ain't it dahling...

I see you in Charleston or Savannah - with a fabulously awful hat on, a mint julip, and a Tara mansion behind you.
And even more cats, God help you.

so, what is the deal with Hot Driver? obviously you got close enough for a picture...

I have a home with 14 acres and I do not like gardening at all. I will usually buy 3 or so tomato plants and stick them in a container. Ha!

Laurie,
Being a Southern gal myself, I do love me some okra. But since I'm also a big-butted Southern gal, I needed to find a way to enjoy the green pods without frying. Oven roasted my friend! Just leave them whole, drizzle on a bit of olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes (or til tender). Deelightful!

Good luck with all your gardening!

P.S. I have that same ceramic cat face that is in the photo with Victor!

You make me smile and somehow I have a strange new desire to go home and attend to the debris in the corners of my patio.
oh, and to ride the bus in l.a. ;)

* Bus Driver = Gainfully emplyed = Not Jail Bait! Go for it!

* Your container garden looks delightful and promising. What's that Grinning Thing Next to The Thing That Grew in Your Pantry?

* If you and/or your RV-bound family are ever tooling up and down Interstate 35 or otherwise within 100 miles of Perry, Oklahoma, go to the Kumback Lunch (it's on the courthouse square, you can't miss it) for the most fantabulous fried okra. Their chicken-fried steak and just about everything else are also wonderful, but any of their fried vegetables (like summer squash) really are worth the detour.

Just wanted to tell you that as a Southern girl myself, the correct way to pronounce Okra is in fact "oh-kree". As a young girl the first time I tried to fry it myself, I washed it AFTER cutting it. The correct way to pronounce that kind of Okra is "fried snot".

Happy Gardening!
Holly

Oh, I love me some herbs! Thyme and oregano and rosemary and mint, and you can almost just ignore them (except the watering) and they just do great. I'm laughing about your hanging catnip: I tried catnip in the ground, once. It lasted 2 days before the entire plant was completely ripped to shreds by neighborhood cats (we're talking NOTHING left except a sad wet green root). Since then I'd rather grow spearmint for my mojitos and mint juleps; the cat can enjoy the store-bought catnip.

BigAlice: Last year I had a gorgeous catnip plant, it loved the heat. Then one day...poof. It was totally flat. and... chewed up. But mostly flattened. I did some CSI work and discovered a stray whisker. AHA!! Cat culprits were everywhere....

Re: Hot Bus Driver. He is so cute! He makes me laugh, because he is very friendly and all the ladies on the bus swoon over him and he knows it. But infortunately, I already went out with one hot bus driver last year and learned the hard way that if it doesn't work out, you're stuck with the subway until the driver schedule changes. Awkward!!

Thyme loves, loves, loves the heat. And mint, oy, we cannot get rid of it! Nothing kills that stuff. We put a pool in and it STILL grew back! Try some rosemary. It doesn't mind the heat or being neglected.

Wow.. that is one hot bus driver, indeed. Nice shot!

Nice garden too.

Oh Laurie, I am so excited to see your gardening efforts! Unfortunately I am not a knitter so I get completely lost when you talk your yarn talk, but I love gardening so this is a wonderful development. I, too, like to do a combination of containers and "real dirt"...mainly because the "dirt" in the South has a lot of clay and you can break your back getting the stuff plant/seed ready! Compare that to opening a bag of of super rich potting soil and pouring it in a pot...no contest! I am trying catnip for the first year and never even thought about neighbor cats having their way with it...hmmm, hanging pot = great solution. Anyway, best of luck with the veggies and please please post pictures all through the summer. Have a great day, Fellow Green Thumb.

melly... I have a really awesome smelling mint growing in a corner near the patio that was there before I moved in. Now it has grown and sent runners everywhere, and it even grows in the cracks of the sidewalk! It must be a perennial, mint? right? because it has gotten bigger and stronger every year. I love it, when I water or hose off the patio or walk on it accidentally, the whole backyard smells minty good!

Aileen, I put all my garden pics in one folder so that I could do compare/contrast images throughout the summer of how big stuff grows.

OH!! I forgot to mention I got a spaghetti squash plant, too!! It's in the corner.

This year I am really committed to making my little garden grow. For one thing, as someone on a budget, it is crazytalk to spend $100 on plants and dirt and then let anything die. I think the pots-on-wheels plan will help a lot this year.

Plus, this summer I should have a little more time than I did last summer, I was working around the clock then and now it seems to have calmed down a little.

So grow some okra, maybe some tomatos and give some to the hot bus driver. Bat your eyelashes, and hope for the best. He is a cutie. Bet he'd laugh to know an over 50 yr old was commenting on his hotness!

Reading all of the planting and gardening stuff has me wanting Summer to be here for a change. Right now, I'm looking out at a fairly heavy snowfall and -8c (16f) weather. Not exactly planting season in Calgary, yet.
Thanks again for posting the Fried Okra recipe, I made some up for my wife and I several weeks ago and it turned out pretty good. Maybe next time I'll try to find fresh pods and pass by the canned veggies (sorry if that offends your Southern sensibilities).
Here's hoping that your garden produces well.

Yes, we have discovered that mint is a perennial. Or it is possessed. I'm not sure. It is overtaking the gardenia and the pincushion plant so we have to "weed" it back. Or whatever you would call that! Does yours bloom? I have to cut back the blooms because they attract bees and my kids think that BEES. KILL. I also plant basil, but my basil does not like August in Texas. Neither do I, but I just can't wither up and die like it does every year! This year I am going to try and bring it inside. Cross your fingers.

The "expert" at Lowes almost sold me a fuschia plant. Beautiful plant, but native to the ANDES. So it would live here mmmmmmmmm, maybe a month! Good thing I asked.

Why can't my bus driver be hot?

I really want a little herb garden on my back deck. I like your square pots a lot. I have have to find me some of those. Good luck with your garden!

Auntie,
I have grown zuchinni and cucumbers on many occasions and I have found that they tend to grow maliciously and will take over your back yard. Try to pick the fruit when it is little because it grows very quickly and will soon look like baseball bats, and unfortunately when they get that big they taste like baseball bats, too.

Oh, and be on the look out for tomato worms. THEY ARE ICKY!!!!! And they can wipe out a tomato plant when you are not looking.

(Look at me handing out gardening advice when the 2 azalea's I bought at Home Depot a mere 3 weeks ago have already succumbed to the direct Huntington Beach sun light I've exposed them to!)

OMG Melly, I tried Fucshia three years in a row and it died as soon as I got it out of the car, literally. LOL.

So, um, just a question. This is not garden related. Please feel free to email me privately if you need to. Q: Did everyone just hate me yesterday and think I was stealing souls and selling astrological snake oil and had mated with the devil? Because I got a comment that really threw me for a loop, and I will not be doing horoscopes again, I am tired.

But I guess I was mostly shocked, because really? I thought astrorologer phyllis was awesome. Anyway, if you had strong issues about it, please feel free to email me and let me know why because I was really surprised and would love any insight. Maybe I live on another planet or something, I was just ... caught off guard. Thanks in advance for any (constructive) feedback (in private). LOL

Grow, Victor, grow! I'm rootin' for ya!!!

Haha, I crack myself up.

But seriously, I *heart* Victor.

Yahoo! I look forward to the compare and contrast photos! One last gardening comment and then I MUST return to work at hand...my dad and I were talking gardens since spring has sprung, and he told me this hilarious story about trying to grow tomatoes and all the effort and time and expense and pesticide and mulch and watering yada yada...at the end of the day he calculated that the tomatoes cost something like $12 each! That sounds about right, doesn't it??? Ha Ha. Oh and I meant to say the pots-on-wheels ideas was brilliant. GOOD LUCK!

I can't wait to get my hands dirty in the soil of my own backyard! Too cold to plant anything here in the Northeast.

That bus driver is very hot and yummy... Perhaps Al Gore should look into replacing all bus drivers with very attractive males or females as that may motivate more people to reduce their "carbon footprint". I know I would...

okay, it would help if I read other people's responses before doing my own... anyway, here's a hint my mom gave me on mint just yesterday. Mint is best in containers as it will definitely take over the whole garden. If you want the mint in a bed or garden, plant it in a pot and then plant the pot in the garden. Voila! Beautiful, fresh smalling mint that doesn't spread everywhere!

i'm sorry about the fires. when i was a little girl and we lived in CA i remember being afraid of the wildfires. and the earthquakes too. and being a tiny bit glad that we were moving to the east coast because it didn't have either.

the garden looks great. and i'm not mocking the okra. when i was little and my father traveled for work, he would stop at these highway shops called stucky's (i think) where they sold hot pickled okra. and i loved it.

I am in Boise, Idaho. I have to wait at least 6 more weeks to even consider a gardening binge. I am jealous. Southern Idaho has been in a drought most of my adult life. This year I am switching to xeroscaping!

Idaho almost burns off the map every year. We become the land of the red sun and orange day light way too often.

My next step with the mint might be to try an electric fence! Kidding!

Laurie . . . WTH??? Horoscopes are horoscopes! You take them with a grain of salt (or at least I do.) They aren't offensive. You seem to put alot of creative thought and energy into writing them and if someone does not like reading yours or someone elses, click on!

Don't worry about it. There are plenty of readers here that love you!

I was thinking this morning (as I took the pepper seedlings out of the tub to place on the patio table for fresh air) (because Lord have Mercy I am keeping my dad's peppers alive!!!) that we are so lucky out here, even with the wildfires, to be able to plant tomatoes in April! Even back in TN, it would be way too early for that.

I hope Faith reads the comments today ;) She planted her little mint right into the garden! I put mine in a pot because the other mint near the gate has already taken over the patio.

i just started loving okra...nice little garden there! i was in pasadena shopping with my mom when i noticed bits of ash flying through the air, turned around and went, OMG IS THAT BURBANK (hometown)...so glad no one seems to have been hurt but JEEZ.

Laurie, I went back and read the comment and although I didn't make it, I'm so sorry that gutless April fool made you feel bad. I don't understand why some people go out of their way to hurt others. You did nothing to deserve this and I personally love your hor-o-scopes because you seem to have that inner voice from the heavens. Sometimes I'm a little jealous of the ammount of comments you recieve but remember that most of us love your place here and we will be here to support you in times like this.

April Fool - Eff Off

Wow! I'm impressed with your garden. Very cool.

Fuchsia is bee-yoo-ti-ful but hates heat or wind (especially wind). I know from experience it looks terrible in Texas or in Minnesota and apparently LA too.

Thyme likes heat but also plenty of water -- perennial in Minnesota but not in Texas. So it's a maybe for LA.

I thought Astrologer Phyllis was fun and right on target. Laurie, it's your darn blog and if someone doesn't like what you posted, they should shut up and go back to work. It's not like we're paying you.

Well, I guess I felt kind of clueless and stupid, wondering if I had made some grave error of judgement or said something horribly offensive. My intentions are just to make people laugh, and give you something to do while you drink coffee! I like to write stuff down, and people seem to like reading it, and it all seemed to work out with this internet thing ... aside from the part where I sometimes don't get the pictures to work or can't get into my email.

I'm not perfect -- far from it -- I make mistakes and have parts of me that suck and sometimes I wear one blue sock and one black sock to work. OR SO I AM TOLD. hah. But I don't set out to be evil.

That is the Sobakowa's job.

Oh, I LURVE that Green Thumb! They have at least 5 or 6 or my paychecks.

BTW, there's one on Sepulveda, not far from Roscoe. *grin* They have the pretty pots there.

Actually, DING DING DING. I myslef have quit writing horoscopes, but I wonder if Evil Sobakowa could be persuaded to do May astrology?

Meow Mix May?

My Manifesto May?

Laurie,

I like the horoscopes, and I enjoyed the guest writer. I didn't think it was wierd or anything.

It's your blog. You can write what you want to on it. If people don't enjoy it, they will stop reading and if they do (which obviously they do) they will come back and read some more.

Love the garden, and I'm gonna try the container thing for some bean plants this summer. You've inspired me!

More pictures of the hot bus driver too, please.

Sachi, I miss you!

I took Mrs. Lee to the one on Sepulveda on Sunday ... that's where I found the spaghetti squash plant!!!!

I think snapdragons are scarey. Soba could probably make me cry.

Auntie,

I really like YOUR horrorscopes (because they are funny and my life is so sad I NEED funny), but I didn't think too hard about your guest horrorscopist because I only read horrorscopes in your blog anyway.

I think it's sad that someone said something to you about Phyllis, because really, that's just rude and it's your blog and you can do whatever you want to do, even make money on it (more power to ya if you can! and do!) But I really didn't think you got any money for it, if that's what you really wanted to know.

Good luck with your gardening this year. Everything looks lovely. If my arthritis didn't prevent me from doing stuff, I'd be digging dirt out from under my fingernails, too.

(My SO has a different kind of herb he would like to cultivate, but I told him it's not happening in MY lifetime. Heh.)

I hear ya on the wildfires, too. I lived in So. Calif. for 10 years, then Montana for 10. Wildfires in both places skeered the jebesus out of me!

Its scary how early wildfire season seems to come these days- I remember the last bad drought- which lasted over several years of my childhood. We couldn't water our grass, it all turned horribly brown and all my dad's roses died. Dad dug them up and planted cacti in place and would water our orange and fig trees with a bucket, at night so that the water police wouldn't catch him. (I remember they were called the 'Water watchers' and people would snitch on their neighbors and turn them over to the water authorities- and you would be a fine for watering too much- My dad was desperate to save his last two trees so he would stealth water late at night. Incedently, both trees made it.)

I love your garden, especially the marigolds! Not only are they beautiful, they keep out critters such as cute little bunnies who LOVE to eat yummy veggies growing in gardens. I guess they don't think the marigolds are so yummy. I'm really rooting for Victor!! Grow Victor!! I've always wanted to try growing tomatoes in a container. You've given me the encouragment I need!

I had a friend who used to grow catnip in a HUGE cauldron in her yard specifically so the neighborhood kitties could roll around in it and there would still be enough for her herd. It was so funny to look out her kitchen window to see the meanest tom in the neighborhood belly up in her cauldron!

I LOVED the horoscopes! I'm a Leo and I thought mine was awesome...and so was my fiance's (Aries). It's your blog and you should darn well do whatever you want with it! Please don't stop the horoscopes!!

Look at you with the extra-super-ambitious garden! Heck, I've already killed my little poinsettia, now I'm looking for an easter lily!

Oh and BTW, I am a piscean who has a fear of random-hugging. Apparently, I get a deer in the headlights look when someone comes in unexpectedly for a hug. Made my 8 years in The South a lot of fun.... for everyone else!

Psychomom, I lurve snapdragons. I'm afraid to try and grow them though. I love to make them talk. I was chaperoning a school trip to Disney World and I had to make all of the snapdragons talk. What can I say, I was delirious! But I discovered another mother did the same thing! We are both weird.

Hey, I have a question about the tomatoes:

I only have twoplants and the small one in the picture above already has a tiny flower. Should I pinch it off to let the plant keep growing? At this point my plant is barely 5 inches tall.

Thanks for the feedback on the other thing. I'm probably just being sensitive. WHAT? *me* ... sensitive? NAH!!!!!!!!

Ok, someone has GOT to explain the "make snapdragons talk" thing....

Oh, and PS. I LOVED Erik K's limericks!!! VERY funny!!!!!!!!!

I wonder if Faith will be reading, indeed.... I read as obsessively as anyone else!

I did plant my mint right into the garden but I'm thinking of potting it. I know it's a bad idea but I so love the idea of something growing completely out of control. On the other hand if it kills my pomegranate tree, I will keel over and die.

By the way, Other Ruth - My SO would also like me to plant that herb but I am not about to dirty up my pumpkin patch with some weed!!!

Laurie, if you take a snapdragon blossom and squeeze it at the sides of the opening between your fingers, it will open and you can make it "talk" by pressing the sides.

We did that as kids all the time. I love snapdragons. Especially the name.

pinch the early tomato blossoms for best results. otherwise, i do believe, the plant figures out it has done its thing (reproduces) and throws in the towel.

i had to go back through the comments to see what the hubbub was about. sorry you are feeling this pressure!

Your garden looks fantastic! And Victor looks so happy in the midst of his peers, out in the sun...

Sobakowa horoscopes! I can't wait! The Mistress of the Universe will direct us on how to conduct our miserable human selves!

Maybe someone in SNB can show you how to make snapdragons talk -- you squeeze the flower in a particular way and it makes the "dragon's mouth" open and shut -- but you kind of have to see it, it's hard to describe.

I can tell from the strong forearm and dimpled check that he is definitely a hottie!!

It's too cold here in MN for me to start planting my herbs so thanks for the sneak preview. I have to wait until May to do a lot of planting. However, my bulbs are doing quite well, as long as it doesn't snow his week (actually a concern I'm sad to say). Currently we have rain, which my plants are loving.

Love your raised bed. I'm sending good green thumb vibes your way and wish the best to your plants, even your okra. Sorry this northern gal just can't get too enthused for that particular plant, but I will take your word that fried okra is delish.

(I thought the horoscopes were fine and how nice to have a guest writer. I thought it was a real treat.)

Please do not catch fire.

I've just started reading your blog but I didn't think anything was weird or commercial about it. I've been having such a crappy month it was nice to see that things "may" get better.

This is your blog, you pay for it and you get to decide what to put in it. Anyone that doesn't want to read it, can move on.

Don't let 1 negative comment ruin something that a lot of people enjoy.

Most people understand this is all for fun.

Hopefully you know by now that we LOVE your hor-o-scopes! I mean last month you TOLD me I'd be sitting in the corner eating my hair and I SO AM. I think Phyllis is cool so don't sweat it Laurie! Plus she says my charm will come back to me. Dear Lord I hope it's soon cuz this crying in the corner thing SO DOES NOT WORK FOR ME.

As popular as your blog is you will get haters now and again...so gotta sick Soba on 'em and just feel sad that they are so bitter and have nothing better to do obviously.

MMMMM FRIED OKRA....gotta go call my Mama! hehe

Hah! The Sobakawa will probably tell us all that this is a good time to kill ourselves!

[But open a couple cans of cat food on our way out...]

I've been thinking about growing tomatoes in containers on my balcony. Actually, for years, just been too lazy to up and get it started. And I just today told my daughter that she could grow herbs inside and I would like to, also.

Malinda had a great idea about baking okra. I'll have to try it, although I do love me some FRIED okra! ;)

I was wondering about the marigolds. I didn't know they are planted to keep the critters away.

And Laurie, it's your blog, you post what you want to. If someone doesn't like a post, they don't have to read it. What's wrong with some people, anyway?

God I love Okra. Can you believe that last summer I went to the grocery store and asked in the produce section if they had any, or if they could order it. The produce manager said they could order it but it doesn't sell because it's so slimy when you cook it.

She must of seen the look of shock on my face and said she would order it if I wanted. DAMN RIGHT you will order it. I told her it's only slimy because she didn't know how to cook it. Damn Califorinan's!

Did I mention that my husband is the manager of this store????

AUTOWATERING SUGGESTION:

Take a milk jug or 3-liter bottle. Using a SMALL sewing needle, punch a hole in the bottom. You're going to have to play with this to get the right flow for the plants.

Fill jug/bottle with water and CAP. Cap is very important. Check drip. If it flows too slowly (or not at all - good cap!), put another hole near the top, where there is air. this should help. Add holes to top and bottom till you're satisfied with the drip flow, keeping in mind that the flow will decrease with the level in the container (static pressure of the water is what drives it out. less level = less pressure = less flow) So more flow initially is good. Or just keep the bottles topped off.

if you sit this container about three inches down in the soil, you'll avoid any evaporation from the top layer of the dirt and it will get to the roots instead of evapoating. Then fill container with water as necessary - great for going away on a long weekend trip and keeping plants watered. Its not sexy, I admit, but it works fantastically.

why, yes. I AM an engineer.

Here I sit watching snow falling onto my still frozen yard that is waiting for a roto-tiller (yay for parents who buy one of them things) and more sunflowers.

Please send sun and also warm!

Any grape experts with suggestions for growing grape vines? Are containers out of the question?

OOOOH, love the auto-watering idea! THANK YOU!!

I am also interested in hearing answers to psychomom's grape question. Grapes sound awesome.

L. Your yard is looking so good! Mint does take over, but that just means, MORE MINT JULEPS! I LOVE mint juleps!! I have some good pasta recipes which call for lots of mint; let me know if you need them.
Also, tomato tip: It may be too late for you, but for other's benefit: when planting in container, put the "guts" of a clean, disposable baby diaper into the whole before putting in plant. Note that this is a very absorbent material, so pulls the water in and keeps it damp down near the roots. I also then plant a section of PVC tube near the plant, so I can water straight down the tube into my "absorbent material". This really saves on evaporation, and makes it easy to water. Good Luck!

Laurie,

Happy Gardening!!

The HECK with that person that didn't EVEN have the courage to identify his/herself!!!!

You go ahead and continue writing what your heart desires - I love reading your online diary (I find we have alot in common except I don't knit and I don't have cats (geez, than what does that leave us with, GO FIGURE!) LOL ) Quite frankly I NEVER EVER read horoscopes as I think they are spooky and Hoaxy but I find myself anxiously awaiting yours every month. So there! don't let that April Fooler bring you down!!! Like we would say in my native NY tongue "Fu*@ them"!

I rarely comment but I had to come out of the woods today to defend you.

Go GIRL power!

I saw the news about the fires in LA and thought of you, and of Annika. You're both online today, so I'm going to stop worrying now.

I read the nasty comment, and your response. I think you handled it very well. This *is* your personal diary. You are kind enough to share it with us, and it is soooo appreciated. Since it is *your* diary you should be doing exactly what *you* want with it, and if people don't like it, they should just click away. This is the same thing that frustrates me about censorship in the media. If you don't like the tv show/radio host/subject of the movie, turn it off people! *sigh*

Don't let the haters get you down, Laurie. That said, don't feel pressured by people who beg you to do horoscopes because they love them if you're not feeling it. If those people want horoscopes so bad, they can write their own.

Keep on keepin' on.

Laurie your garden is getting me excited for spring! Here in PA things are just starting to warm up( except we're supposed to have snow by the end of the week.. what gives??) and I can't wait to get my fingers back in the dirt and plant some herbs! I'm glad I'm not the only one obsessed with them. I absolutely love your horroscopes and the guest writer was awesome. It'd be a shame to let negativity ruin such a fun and creative outlet. I do hope you'll reconsider picking them back up next month. I know I for one eagerly look forward to them at the beginning of each month and would sorely miss them. This is your show. Run with it as you wish :)

Yes, indeed! Even that bus driver's arms are H-O-T!

This blog is your space and if someone doesn't like it they have the freedom to move along. Don't you worry about anything. I've never seen anything offensive or hurtful on your site. You are very good with the humor. I never understood the negative comment thing on blogs anyway. I mean, why bother?

I know the smell of wildfires well. I was going to school at Pepperdine during the Calabasas fire. When I was driving home for Christmas I smelled the fire long before I saw it so I had my camera out and ready and sure enough, there it was alongside the 5. It is a truly distinctive smell.

I don't quite buy the playing with matches thing. Something else was up. Playing with matches while SMOKING!

Laurie, I just read what AprilFool commented and your response. I can't speak for anyone else, but as for me, and probably a lot of the others that read this on a daily basis, it's like connecting with with a good friend who is funny and sweet and did I mention funny? I know we all don't really know you, but on the other hand we all care about you and know you would never prey on the weak. I know that your typical hor-o-scopes are just for fun and I appreciate the time it must take you to do them. I know this sounds trite, but thanks for sharing your words with us. There are many people out in internetland that really care about you and your feelings. I don't mean to sound sappy. But it really bugs me that someone would be so hurtful to you when you were just having fun and entertaining us. Shame on AprilFool!

Gardening was my therapy, until I discovered knitting, and I got out of the gardening habit. That being said, I planted some stuff late last week, and am just not getting over the soreness. And I have more stuff to plant, if the temperature ever goes below 80F (not into the sweating anymore). Global warming is alive and well, so it seems.

It's been awhile since I've grown tomatoes, but I think I need at least one grape tomato plant this year. Love to eat me some "Sweet 100s" right off the plant.

Gardening and flowers... *swoon* Much better view than the snow flurries I've got currently out of my office window!

CAP, I thought that our guest-horoscoper was a fun treat for us all. It was a fun idea, and your horoscopes are also fun, I LOVE your writing. The (huge) majority of your loving readers get great enjoyment out of you sharing your diary, your life, your humor, your cats! Hope you don't get discouraged by the occasional negative visitor. We can't wait for what you have to say next, horoscopes or not! Guest poster or not! Square Watermelons or not! Thanks for opening yourself up to the not-niceness in order to share with us!

I'm not from the South (although Baltimore IS south of the Mason-Dixon line), but I loves me some okra! Fried, sauteed, smothered, in gumbo, etc. Some of my favorite okra dishes are from India, where it's know as bindi.

I am so impressed by your 'newly found' gardening prowess. I have a feeling that the growing gene is within you. Don't be afraid, unless you live in the dreadful "IVY ZONE". I have a city-sized old house (100yrs) on a small lot (33x100) and everything wants to grow here - the nuts that squirrels plant(black walnut, chestnut,oak), ivy, ferns, ivy, ivy's cousins, etc. I love your patio plants! Now, if only I had a magical process for eliminating the ivy before it engulfs my house while I sleep. It has already crept up on my ancient pear tree. Am I next? Who'll take care of my cat?
Tangled up in Green, in the Green Zone.

I'm so glad you're gardening! And fried okra is the BEST! I love to grow it, but 12 plants, yikes, I hope your neighbors like it too. Cantelope ought to do pretty well there too, if you don't wait too long to plant it. Maybe it won't be that hot this year. See my new rose-colored glasses?

I so enjoy reading your posts! AND I love reading the comments you get. People here are so supportive, kind and helpful.
Spring has sprung and I'm waiting for the rest of the ice n snow to melt. The amount of inspiration I get from reading your writing and the words of people who comment I might actually plant something this year. 21 acres and never plant/ed a darn thing! What's with that?

Thank you Laurie and everyone for the inspiration!

Making snapdragons talk: squeeze the sides of the flower, and the little mouth will open and close -- it "talks". I love them!

Pinching the tomato plant flower: if it is an indeterminate tomato (i.e., it keeps growing and blooming and fruiting forever), I think it's okay to leave the flower on it. It'll keep making tomatoes ad infinitum. If it is determinate, you might want to pinch it off and let it grow some more. (The tag might tell you which kind it is. If not, Google that variety and you should be able to find out that way).

Mmmmm. Warm tomatoes fresh from the garden. Mmmmm....

Insanely jealous about your garden being planted, we have at least 6 weeks before anything can go in the ground.
I have grown purple peppers and they a scrumptious.

i'm trying my own hand at planting, but right now i'm just trying to make my desolate looking-- winter neglected and now covered in pollen-- back porch look like hobos don't live at my apartment... and something that can survive the Texas Summer.

and i scrolled down through pictures, and actually said aloud "Yay! Victor!" and my boss looked at me funny.

by the way: regarding the HorrorScopes (hehe), it's your damn blog. please don't be upset. you remember in high school when that one asshole kid ruined everyone else's gym time by smoking behind the dumpster, and instead of a thoughtful game of dodgeball, Coach made everyone run laps? okay, so maybe it was just my gym class, and maybe i was that kid, but i... i mean THEY learned their lesson. the word "ungrateful" comes to mind by ruining everyone else's good time when someone tries to do something nice for the CAP Blogosphere. er... maybe mixed metaphors?

in other words: Thanks for being so thoughtful, Laurie. We all enjoy your writting (most of us wouldn't come back for Daily Blog Stalking if we didn't!). It was really neat that you had a guest blogger, and you think so highly of us to aim to please!

Laurie,
That "April fools" person is a wack job and is probably sitting in a dank room right now thinking that her neighbors cat is trying to mind control her.

We can all learn something from little miss crazy train... We should try(even funny brilliant Laurie)to not let one criticism out of hundreds of praises get under our skin.

I am choking with laughter..when I first looked at the title on your photo of the onion I read, "things that grew in my Panties"! snort, snort...I need new eyeglasses :-)

Here's a tip about tomatoes that I learned while growing them in the unique hell of Texas summers:

Before you plant the tomato plants, strip off all the leaves except the ones at the very tip of the plant. Dig a trench in the dirt long enough to lay the stripped-off part of the stalk (and the roots, of course), then cover over the stalk and roots with soil. You'll feel like you've just murdered your plants, leaving just those few tiny leaves above the surface. But the plant will grow roots at each place along the stalk where you stripped off the leaves. And more roots = better ability to suck up water which = stronger plants and more tomatoes!

Also, once the temperatures get into the 90s, the tomato plants won't set fruit. At that point, the flowers will just wilt and drop off--but it's just nature, not anything you've done.

Good luck!!

CAP...

As were move into our 7th month of Winter (the frozen North is a knitter's paradise) your gardening post is the highlight of my day...even better than the glass of shiraz i had with lunch. I value every one of our 90 (if we are lucky) frost free gardening days. The chives were sprounting, but are now buried under a foot of snow.

This Cancer NEEDS your horoscopes (assigning the task to one of your furry collegues and/or astrologer type is fine too).

cheers,
Jake

I've never eaten cooked okra, but I do love pickled okra. I get the Talk o' Texas brand...the HOT ones. Mmm, I just finished up a jar just now. And I love how the next day you pass the seeds. It's one of nature's miracles!

Aimee, you are so so so right.

You know, after I finished the work requests on my desk I went and had some lunch and did my little 30-minute walk around the building. I realized I was maybe (maybe? MAYBE?) putting too much energy into this. I know some folks are really REALLY good at deflecting and ignoring meanness -- I need to become better at that. I really do. I don't want to always be such a sniffly-a$$ girlygirl!! LOL

It truly is something I have had to work at my whole life, reminding myself over and over not to believe the one person who loudly informs me that I suck. Why is it so much easier to read one mean thing and believe it is TRUE than read 400 nice things?

I am working on it. It's a work in progress ;)

Ok, so I made some edits to my manifesto over there in the comments and feel better and from now on will just delete meanness and --poof-- it's like it never even happened. That is the awesome thing about the technology.

That, and being able to show ya'll my super hot bus driver :) LOOK AT THOSE ARMS.

I'm taking my first crack at gardening this year. It's still too cold in Minnesota to plant anything and not wanting to invest tons of money in cat-safe, heat-lamp growing apparatus - I will be ordering my early start plants (like tomatoes and peppers) from a seed company. Did I mention it's currently snowing?

Anyway, looking forward to more gardening tips from Laurie.

Hmmm. Taking stealth photos of the bus driver, but feel a little funny about taking shots at the market, huh? I guess a girl's got to know where to draw the line, though, right?

And, while we're in Southern Trash gardening mode (Really, though, who would wrinkle their nose up at fried okra? Yum! Please pass the ranch dip)...

you should just go all out and do the plastic bottle irrigation system. We've got a veterinarian friend who uses those saline solution bags with the drip dealies (surely that's the technical term) that they use at the vet's office to water his plants. Since you are single-handled keeping your vet in business (as well as fancy cars), maybe he'd give you a few. If not, check this out for instructions on the soda bottle method...

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/garden/dripsystem.php

Tada! No more thirsty plants. All you have to do is have a good barbecue party and serve lots of soda. Rum and Coke, anyone? Of course, the rum will have cost you about as much as the real drip system, but hey, the bottle method is way classier, and the party would be fun.

I'm just going to echo what the rest of the "regular CAP gang" are telling you: this is YOUR space to ruminate! We're just along for the ride. Don't let one negative voice bug ya, hon. The larger majority of us are just *waiting* to see what new adventures you're up to next! Bring on the monthly hor-o-scopes-- this months' were delicious!

And I love the gardening! You're inspirational, I tell ya! I've just got another 3-4 weeks to wait to do my planting here in Oregon.

BTW: Are the Korean market photos coming? Inquiring Minds can't wait to see what you found!

Add me to the list of people who love your horoscopes - don't let one mean person get you down, Laurie! People like that usually get a big thump in the head from the Karma fairy anyway, so don't pay her any mind.

darci, I felt kind of rude taking pics with Mrs. Lee at the market because I didn't want her thinking I was being judgy or finding it "weird" or something.. not sure how to explain it. Just got the feeling that taking pictures would be a rude move.

HOWEVER, oh wow! The Korean market was so much fun! Lots of interesting fish at the seafood counter, even a whole BIG BIG octopus!!

I hear ya on the photo taking -- it's good to know "when to say when", for sure. I'm glad you had fun, tho! It sounds verrrrry cool. ;)

Just read AprilFool's comments. Where does he/she/it get off telling you what you can and can't write about in your blog???

Oh bother. Now I'm all indignant on your behalf.

LOVE LOVE LOVE all the gardeny goodness. How are your father's peppers-in-the-bathtub going? Will they eventually move out to the garden with the okra and the other fabulous plants/produce?

I missed the "diss" about your horoscopes. Isn't it funny how invested people can be in what they see as "putting others right".
You make me happy every damn post, whether it is about knitting, not knitting, crashing into stuff, or cat poop. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I was, too - what other OtherLisa said. Then I went back and reread what Laurie had edited cuz I have to know the whole story. I'm very nosy, uh, thorough like that.

Love ya, Laurie!

I missed the "diss" about your horoscopes. Isn't it funny how invested people can be in what they see as "putting others right".
You make me happy every damn post, whether it is about knitting, not knitting, crashing into stuff, or cat poop. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

sorry, some how my comment posted twice.... and yes, it was THAT important! feel the love Laurie!

I love okra. I try to watch her whenever possible.
I am so jealous of anyone who can plant tomatoes in April. I live near Detroit, and they are calling for snow tomorrow! WTF! I'll be lucky to plant by the first week of June.
But then again, I have toms in November!
I am glad I don't have to deal with the draught though. We do get a few hothothot weeks, and I huddle all the plants together and group water them. Wheels are a nice addition.
Mint is evil. I love it, just not growing all over. Very good for mojitos though. :)

About that AprilFool person: I'm thinking s/he is an angry, unhappy person who cannot or will not take responsibility for his/her own failures or disappointments. You, Laurie, have apparently become her/his scapegoat du jour.
Probably this person travels the world sniping at cashiers at Trader Joe's, fuming in traffic jams, and complaining to his/her cube-mates about the pay/coffee/vacation time, what have you. Is this a person to be pitied? With his/her miserable life? Probably. But, geesh, it has nothing, NOTHING to do with you, CAP.
Today's entry is a perfect example of why we love your blog (and by extension, you, though we've never met you). Your funny, self-effacing and homey voice comes through like a letter from a good friend. And your pictures are always fun, too!
Sorry this is kind of a preachy comment, but, hells girl, you add sunshine to peoples' days! Thank you!

Great looking garden! It is about a month before we are supposed to start putting things in the ground here in DC but it is hard to tell that since the temperature yesterday was around 80. . . of course, the weatherman predicted SN*W yesterday for next week. I hope that he does not know what he is talking about. . .

I love the look of your containers and would like to suggest that you reconsider the drip system. At my last condo I had a crazy neighbor who decided that since we shared a balcony we were going to install a drip system. We got incredible results!!! It was not difficult to install and worked like a charm. We also installed a timer so that the system would come on at 6 am for 20 minutes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since we were on the top floor with unobstructed sun it kept our plants from looking like fried okra (not that fried okra is a bad thing. . . unless you are a pepper plant). It was much easier than trying to keep those poor plants watered in DC's insane summer heat. Last year I found a kit at Home Depot but I would highly recommend the container kit from dripworks.com. Just a suggestion. Happy Gardening!!!

I support okra. I am thinking of serving gumbo for Easter dinner. Sorry about the fire. The mountain behind us burned a couple of years ago because of an adult weirdo who wanted to see the fire helicopter dump water on his handiwork. I really think the best punishment would have been to make him work the fire line instead of putting him in a nice, air-conditioned jail.

My basil always dies! Well, dies is the wrong word for it. I think "eaten by ravenous snails" is better.

I heard it was two d-bags playing with fireworks.. I could see it from the top of Reseda. Geniuses, what people are breeding these days.

When you said, "Octopus" I thought about your octopus-armed lunch date, and it made me laugh. Robinv is right - your blog makes me happy (even when you make me sad). So you just go on with your bad self and catpoop to the naysayers.

OK, so I didn't read every single comment and you've undoubtedly had this pointed out to you already, but mint is what the garden center people and the seed-packet blurbs refer to as a "hardy perennial," which in normal American we call a WEED. I had two varieties back on the old homestead, and I took one tiny shoot of each, and now I have more than any human could use.

Hey Laurie - I had to go back and read the comments yesterday too. I agree with everyone else -it's your blog. I absolutely love readin' what's on your mind ... and it's a learnin' blog too! Sometimes there is that "blog lingo" thang going on ... and yes, I know I can be slow on the up-take but right at first ... I didn't know what LYS meant. (please don't laugh). But you know of the things I am talking about - how to post your pictures, what you have tried and why it worked for you. I love checking every single day to see what's on your mind Sunshine!! I absolutely love hearing about your wonderful city too (scary about the fires!!). See you tomorrow.

Sue

Just so you know, the marigold you planted next to you tomato will help it along. But you probably already knew that.

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

TOMATOES: Tomato allies are: asparagus, basil, bean, members of the cabbage family, carrots, celery, chive, cucumber, garlic, head lettuce, marigold, mint, nasturtium, onion, parsley, pepper, marigold, pot marigold and sow thistle. Basil repels flies and mosquitoes, improves growth and flavor. Bee balm, chives and mint improve health and flavor. Borage deters tomato worm, improves growth and flavor. Dill, until mature, improves growth and health, mature dill retards tomato growth. Enemies: corn and tomato are attacked by the same worm. Kohlrabi stunts tomato growth. Keep potatoes and tomatoes apart as they both can get early and late blight contaminating each other.

Fried okra is absolutely amazing, not gonna lie.

I watched that mountain fire from my office at Burbank (practically had a front row seat). It was crazy how fast it moved. It went from "Hey, is that a flame?" to Mount Saint Helens in about 15 minutes. Scary. Those two idiot teenagers need to be bonked on the head with a pillowcase full of DUH!

Oh, long time listener, first time caller. I don't know beans about knitting or gardening, but I like your writing.

Yeah plants!! and I want to grow okra. I need more sun (oh and some land!) though...

I'm thinking that April Fool joker (I just went back to April 1 and read it too) is getting suitable Southern retribution. If this isn't Getting Talked About, I don't know what is. *evil laugh* Laurie, your reply was EXCELLENT. Go, you!

I feel your pain with the fires - we have fires every summer. A couple of years ago they started in SEPTEMBER which is barely even SPRING. That was a bad year. Arsonists make me insane. I can't think of a punishment severe enough for them. Are the fires out yet ?

Great writing as always!

While I was a bit sad that you didn't write this month's horoscope, I gotta say, you picked a winner with Phyllis! Seriously. I'm a Cancer and she said I'd have opportunities on the 2nd. Yup. It's called Jury Duty. Ugh, but she totally nailed it.

I hope we'll be seeing pics from your Korean market excursion!

Yay! Lovely garden. You might pick up a packet of seeds for chives or garlic chives. You can just drop them in anyplace you're already growing things, and by and by they'll come up. Cut them, and you have food ingredients. Don't cut them, and you have flowers after a while. Either way, you win! And they don't care about silly things like heat.

Hey Laurie! First let me say that while I missed your own funny make-me-pee horror-scopes, I also enjoyed this month's! I usually read every one because your wit KILLS me and I'll take every bit I can. I don't ready horoscopes anywhere else but it was intriguing reading this one because it gave me a thing or two to think about (and I enjoy thinking, although I usually do too much). Personally, I don't get people who think it appropriate to call a blogger "on the carpet" in comments. I feel that if one TRULY has an issue with a blogger's post and finds it necessary to say something, it ought to be addressed privately. It's YOUR blog. You should be able to unapologetically tell the world to kiss your ass if you like! (Feel free to pass along thanks to Phyllis for guest 'scoping!)

I LOVE that you planted okra! I remember one summer in South Carolina that my mama dug up a chunk of our backyard & planted okra. I recall that it had such pretty flowers! Please, pretty please, with sugar on top, post a pic when it blossoms? Or if the flowers turn out to be hideous, just gently tell me that my memory is rather selective... *insert inappropriate hug*

Yours is the first blog I read faithfully every day. I used to have a Mrs. Lee, too (only her name was Lola Something Or Other & she was Italian not Korean but it's still the same thing - homemade minestrone, pizza as thick as a concrete slab and these amazing little fried delights called Struffoli that will just about kill you that's how good they are) and I miss her terribly. I used to keep a terrace garden back when I dwelled in the higher up & would get tomatoes as big as my head I swear from the thick grey city air.
One trick on the tomatoes - plant them in the same pot with a basil plant. The tomatoes will be sweeter & juicer and the basil will be huge.

Oh Laurie! on the "felt weird taking pictures" topic ....I thought about you while watching a tech show because the guy said that the Fuji Finepix camera is the best handy digital for taking pics in low-light situations. He used the example "taking pictures of people when you feel awkward using a flash" ~ I liked his insight.
I like to be as stealthy as possible too, hate to be the weirdo with the lens in your face (eventhough that's how I usually end up).

Re: that comment. What an a$$. Ditto what everyone else said about this being *your* blog and you getting to write what you want (or have a guest columnist, if you so choose). I don't understand why people feel the need to be so negative about something that's meant in fun.

On a happier note, I'm loving your garden!! And it's making me really want to get our move done so I can start planting.

And that bus driver is hot ;)

So pleased that you are growing things! We had a hail storm that nearly left enough to shovel yesterday. Spring weather in the Pacific Northwest. Happy okra and zucchini!

Please don't stop writing your horr-or-scopes cause that would make me sad. Your guest astrologer was right on the money with her reading for Cancer (me!)it was scare-y!!
Love your garden and the hottie too!

Was the octopus icky looking?

I love your blog!!!

You have a LOT of comments here, so I am afraid you won't have time to get to my comment. But, if you do, I have some gardening questions. I have never grown anything in my life, but I do know that I want one of those "raised beds." What kind of lumber did you use? Did you have to dig a spot for it, or did you just build the box and set it on the ground?

Thanks for letting me read about your life. I totally identify with you as a displaced Southerner (I was raised in TN, living in WA state now).
Leah

I love okra, have you had it as okra gumbo, yet? Yum yum. That mint plant loves water, the more you give it, the bigger it will get. I have my mint in the flower bed under my roses and it sure is happy. Plant your rosemary on a south western corner and it will be incredibly happy and grow like a weed. My rosemary plant is a 4th generation from my Dad's rosemary plant, I took a cutting of it and planted one in my old house and then took another cutting of the second plant, and got a third plant. From the third generation plant, I took a cutting and have the 4th generation plant. It's a beauty and makes the most incredible chicken! Stuff your chicken with rosemary and then slather that bad boy down with olive oil and spices, rotisserie it if you have one, if not, throw it in the oven and bake until golden brown and oozing with juice. Another great chicken recipe my hubby adores and begs me to cook is basil stuffed chicken, stuff that fresh basil in the cavity out of the garden, add some fresh mint and a little bit of the rosemary, slather it down with olive oil and bake. I notice you have planted your marigolds around your plants to keep the nematodes away from your young plants. Nice!

Lavender! Lots of Lavender! It completes the mental picture, when in the heat you can close your eyes and smell all of the herbs... instead of, well, Los Angeles.
LOVELY garden, with or without the lavender though. looks great!

Laura, you are making me HUNGRY!!!

Leah,
I just went to the hardware store and asked them to help me cut planks, each plank is the exact same length. (I made several of these last year in smaller sizes as prototypes, too, the okra one is the biggest.)

Then I got them home and joined them with wood screws, very unprofessionally. I added silver L-shaped brackets to keep it from coming apart when it got wet, but it hardly rains here so that's not such an issue for me. You may want to look into treated lumber or something?

Then I set the box (with no bottom or anything) right on the dirt in the yard, and filled that bad boy with TONS of soil. It cost more money than I expected to fill it up!

And that's it. I know there are books that explain really well how to make great raised beds with very perfect results, but I just wanted to try it and it seems to work fine by me. My backyard soil is hard clay so this will at least give the okra a fighting chance ... you can't grow anything but weeds and ants in the clay ;)

Hope that helps!!

Hi everyone, I'm supposed to be listening to the instructor in class but it is the last day of school and I'm being a bad student and reading blog comments. CAP has definitly inspired some spring fever here. psychomom

psychomom... a kind reader emailed me to say that grapes will NOT grow in containers! Says they need plenty of room to spread out... like bad students... LOL

Oh Laurie.. some people suck and that's all there is to it. YOu are fine.. don't worry about them.

As for your mint.. I planted mint once in my herb garden, and pulled it out the next year. And it's runners for 3 more years. Last year I planted regular mint and spearmint in the back yard by the dog's area near the fence. I am hoping it spreads like wildfire... even with the scooping in the hot of summer or the wet of fall it always kind of smells a little funny. I'd rather smell mint.

You want to pinch the early blooms off your tomatoes and your peppers. It will help yield bigger and better crops later on.

I just started seedlings yesterday. Two different types of sunflowers for out back by my vegetable garden. Inside in peat pellets of course (love those things.. add water and grow) as it is only April in New Hampshire and the only thing growing around here is the moss.

Thanks Laurie, I need to do some reading up on grapes and figure out all the requirements. I really want my grapes to grow so I can make some wine (or raisins). psychomom

I missed it in the read and the reread: Where did you get the okra seedlings? Did you start them yourself or find them at Green Thumb? I'm being held hostage in the wilds east of Temecula with only an Armstrong Center within 40 miles so resources are limited. They did offer a good store-bought tomato plant tip last year. Bury the potting soil wad they come in plus 1-2 inches of the stem in your planting soil. The delicate little hairs on the stem are actually root starts and this gives the plant more stability and vitality. Mine were potted tomato wonders last year until the heat wave hit. I was pollaxed by guilt thinking I'd done something wrong until I saw the central California farmers holding up plants that looked just like mine on the evening news.

Hooray for okra!!

I just HAVE to share this. My hometown of Irmo, SC, actually has a annual OKRA STRUT festival. Proof: www.irmookrastrut.com

Good times. If you haven't marched in the Okra Strut parade or riden on a float doing the shag with your middle school dance team, you haven't really lived. Oh, and when the parade is over, we all eat okra - fried, boiled, roasted, etc. I personally will only eat it fried.

Good luck with summer gardening! I want to see that square watermelon this year!!

Laurie-
He *is* hot. But, I just wanna warn ya of the perils of dating your bus driver. Trust me- Been There and Done That, and it's not a good idea ;)

OK, what everyone else said: Your blog is awesome. No one else can make me snort through the nose like you do. (That's a compliment! Really!) So who cares if one little person is an ignorant troll. Your audience of thousands adores you, thanks to your routine ability to make our day with your words.

On a totally different note, I have lurked for quite a while but now I Have Something to Add! Very Important Gardening Information! It would be a big help to your garden if you mixed in some compost with your soil (if you haven't already) and then added a nice thick layer of mulch to the top of the bed. Don't let the mulch touch your plants; make a little well around them. This will be a big help to your little plants in so many ways! You can direct the water just to your plants, not to the whole bed (why water the weed seeds?). Trust me, watering this way is very quick and efficient -- just shoot the water into each little well. The mulch will keep down the weeds, and most important for you, keep the soil cool and the moisture from evaporating.

You can even mulch your container plants. I use the used straw from my sheep barn, just because I have lots of it, it is free, and it comes with pre-distributed fertilizer. But any mulch that is not artificially colored should work, the less wood-chippy the better.

Good luck! Keep us posted on the progress of your garden. Being an Aries, I tend to adore the getting-started phase of the garden (Phyllis was so right!) and then I kind of let it fall apart when it gets all hot and humid out there. But the tomatoes, when I can find them, are divine.

Laurie, that bus driver who would still be hot if he closed all the windows on the bus and turned on the A/C!

I am PISSED OFF at APRIL FOOL (I went back and read it). Laurie, it is YOUR blog, the guest astrologer is YOUR friend, and she was kind enough to write a personal guest column for you, and being the well-mannered Southern lady that you most certainly are, you showed her the courtesy of giving her book a plug by way of return favor. That is all good manners, and polite conversation, and iced tea ... and pass the fried okra please.

Horoscopes are supposed to be FUN. And a little tongue in cheek. That way I can say, "whoops, I don't know WHAT happened to that memo about not losing memos, but Mercury is in retrograde, and well, ya know." And when I go to the mailbox with a grant proposal for an anesthesia machine for the vet clinic, I can say, "well, Saturn is in harmony with Jupiter today so maybe somebody is feeling practical about tax deductions and generous at the same time."

So I hope you don't really, truly give up writing your Horrorscopes over one single nasty little paragraph from this complete ass. You are too good at astrology and too fine a writer to censor yout talents because of one coward's Puritan opinion. Would Stephen King quit writing horror novels because somebody said they don't believe in ghosts? I don't think so.

You and I have never even met, but reading your blog is a good thing I do every day, and I want to kick April Fool's teeth in for hurting your feelings.

See, that's the over-ptotective Capricorn in me wanting justice and also wanting to beat the tar out of somebody who picked on my little sister. (What would your daddy do to somebody who hurt you, huh?)

Hey, April Fool, step up and be a man/woman. Identify yourself, whatever you are, and take your feedback. Only cowards leave scathing, anonymous comments.

Laurie, if you haven't found it already, c'mon over to the forums on the You Grow Girl site (http://www.yougrowgirl.com). I discovered them last year, and found they're a great bunch of people with lots of good garden sense. Beginners are welcome. Pictures are welcome, too.

Oooo. Lots of green goodness. I miss having a yard. And if I had been drinking something, I would have spit it out when I read "neighborhood alley cats who roll nekkid in planted catnip."

Laurie,

I liked your horoscopes this month, mine was really spot on. I always like them, also when you do them. I feel the same as others who've written on this: it's your blog with your stuff and you can do what you want and no one has to read it. But it looks like most of us just love it. Thanks very much.

There is nothing I miss more from Georgia than okra, for fried okra. Ok, tomatoes, too, but at least I can get tomatoes in Washington, can't even get okra here.

And, by the way, those are some mighty cute little red tables you got there.

Oh Laurie, I feel for you. I'm from Melbourne, Australia (Look up 'ar*e end of the world in an atlas and you'll find it) where we spent nearly two months watching the smoke from 'bushfires' (I think 'wildfires' is a MUCH more accurate term) hover over the city and wondered when the fire which covered an area larger than Spain was going to hit the city (through some miracle it didn't). The police had to secretly arrest two of the idiots who started one of the fires for fear that if word got out before they were 'safely' in jail that they may be lynched by neighbours who had had their homes destroyed.

I am in awe of your green thumb - the drought and water restrictions down here are so bad that even the weeds are dying. I am so waiting for the photo of your cats in the hanging basket with the catnip - don't they try and get it via the roof or something?

"I got one not-very-good picture of the backside of the mountain where the fire was mostly out, just smoldering:"

Oh, Honey.

"....of the mountain..."

You are as cah-yute as I was as an OHIO transplant (about as many years ago as I can count) in regarding FOOTHILLS as MOUNTAINS...
....we both being from FLAT STATES and all.

i'm just saying

Oh, the bus driver is indeed hot. And a man who can drive that big thing in LA? Very sexy. I think you need to make your own version of "Speed", Sherman Oaks style...wink, wink.

Where'd you get those cute little red stands the pepper plants are on?? I have to do all container gardening on my deck because of deer and other annoying critters. I need cute stuff to break up the rows of plants!

Gina-- tables are from Big Lots!! Only 8 bucks each!! I bought all three at once in what was apparently a spree of re-cluttering ;)

Anne-- I got the okra alreadythat size in seed flats of 6 at Green Thumb! They had a ton of them both at the Canoga Park store and the one on Sepulveda.

Thank you everyone for the atta-girl comments, I really do appreciate it. I was just being sensitive and so, you know how CANCERIANS can be. See how I throw the astrological lingo in there. LOL

I am grateful to know all ya'll and wish you'd come over for a glass of wine. Call before you come over, though, ya'll know ;)

They say you learn something new everyday.

I've been glued to CrazyAuntPurl for a good hour now when I should have been working. If you can believe it, I was Googling for a picture of watermelon for a workmate who hate's the stuff and stumbled across your square watermelon project.

I'm pretty sure I'd heard of square watermelons but I've NEVER heard of Okra. I've researched it now (go Google, go!) and still have NO clue what it is! By the descriptions everyones given it's GOT to be good though!

Awesome site! Love it, bookmarked it, will return!

You have an amazing green thumb! I'm quite jealous - the only thing I can grow is tomatoes; which i attribute to the fact that they know I won't eat them due to allergies. Crafty fellows.

having spent most of my life in Southern California, I can agree with you that there is no small quite like the one of california wildfire season, and the description you have is spot on. I can smell it easily miles away ("Do you smell that?" "Oh, just another fire, probably" is a common conversation amongst native friends, much to the confusion of visiting acquaintences); and believe it or not, now that i live in the bay area, i miss the smell. Fires here burn differently and fire season is notably different.

When I was in high school we had such a huge rash of wild fires that not once but seven times we had "fire days" where we were not allowed to go to school bevcause the air quality was so bad due to fire (rather than smog, being in San Diego). Everyone went promptly to the beach.

I can get crazy with the cukes; roll with the marigolds...and I'm a rosemary shrub-hugger myself - I'll even bite the okra, if it's in cornmeal and fried - but where Oh WHERE are the watermelon seedlings? Is this the end of the square watermelon dream??
Say it ain't so...

Grow, Laurie, Grow!!! :D

I just love this blog! Thanks for entertaining me everyday!

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only obsessive compulsive cat owner who names her plants. I have a little potted plant I keep in my window at work. When I first brought him in, I introduced all my co-workers to our new "officemate" Basil. You can guess what kind of plant I have.

LOVE those little red tables with the pots. Who knows, I may be inspired to try putting some plants in again. As when I first moved in and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of flowers and bulbs and everything died but the el-cheapo $5 for 50 daffodils that my Mom put in. I bet you'll be doing the mojitos, juleps, Moroccan-style tea (tons of mint leaves and sugar served SCALDING hot).

I really enjoy your writing, whatever the topic. This blog should be fun for you and if the horrorscopes are stressing you out, then don't do them. And why is it almost every single blog I read runs into some *&^*&^ troll??? they should take up knitting (or gardening), it would give them something productive to do.

WELL. I just read Erik K's limericks. Too funny! and isn't it odd how few clean limericks there are? Perhaps haiku are more *ahem* family-friendly.
But not as amusing.

Hi Laurie,
I'm so glad Victor has a new and supportive home in the garden :) I've been thinking of him, and you, and the kitties :D

I'm an Australian, and a horticulturalist by trade, so
1, love the gardening - top work!
2, know all about the evil burniness of eucalypts, everyone here knows someone who has lost their home to bushfires :(

Sorry you guys ended up with so many of our flammable trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Korean BBQ fixes everthing though, now for the okra!? Well, I think I'll have to come over to your country and coax someone into cooking it for me, or it could turn out like my corn bread disaster from my Tennessee'an friends recipe :) - good recipe, but buttermilk isn't the same thing here! (it's yoghurty here i think, and I ruined the recipe)

PS - marigolds are excellent companion plants for your zukes et al!! calendula spp tagetes both!

Cat :-)

Laurie - where did you get your little red tables?
So cute!

Laurie,
I don't read any other blogs, but I never miss yours. You're wonderful and we all love you. I'd love to come over for some wine, but unfortunately, I am in TN. Please don't let negative comments hurt you. So many of us count on you every day - when you miss a few days I get worried.
And yes, I am jealous of your tomatoes - it is still too early in TN to plant. But every year, my dad and I have a contest to see who can call each other first to say, "I'm eating a fresh tomato from my garden!" The only thing that beats gardening is some good ole competition!

Just thought I'd add: Marigolds are a great natural insect deterrent for your garden (at least that's what my gardener mom always says). So look at you being all garden savvy and environmentally friendly.

Bossy's heard of Okra! She has a talk show, right?

I've never met okra I didn't like.

Dusa -- the red tables are from Big Lots ... only eight bucks each!

I love the little stands that hold your pepper pots. Where did you ever find them?

I may be too late with my comment to save you -
Watch out for that patch of mint! If you are actually taking care of it (like giving it soil,air,and some occasional water, it WILL take over your back yard. "Runners" is not the correct word. It is sort of like that plant in Little Shop of Horrors....

However, you will also have loads of mint for those juleps!

I am so glad you are crazy. :)
Your writing so often brings me a much needed smile and laugh!
Victor is beautiful and I'm inspired by your spring-time actions.
I've only cleaned out the beds, no real planting yet. This too shall come.
(must agree, bus driver is steamy)

What a great weekend! What a great container garden! What a hot bus driver! But most of all, I love that Cheshire-Cat head in the last picture. :)

I promise not to giggle too much in - oh, say June? - at the fact that you planted 4 zucchini plants in your little raised bed. Hee hee!!

What wonderful blog entries you will have...

Also, try a recipe for fried zucchini blossoms. They're big in Italy.

Smart move with the catnip. Although we had a huge catnip bush, all the cats rolled and slept in it and it just kept growing. One day I noticed the dog peeing in it. And again the next day... and the next... it was his first stop in the backyard mark-a-thon. Apparently that which did not kill, made the catnip stronger.

maybe Hot Driver will be the beneficiary of CAP's zucchini overload.

SNORT

I do MISS okra, fried green tomatoes, catfish, good biscuits and being able to start a garden by Easter.
I am not a Southerner, but a million years ago we lived in the Atlanta area for a number of years before moving back to the Pacific N.W. You can't grow a decent tomato here and I haven't tried okra. We used to have so much that I would cut it up, dust it with cornmeal and then freeze it. Yummy.
The first month or so after we arrived I tried to make Southern beaten biscuits. Yes, you do beat the crap out of the dough. I couldn't raise my arms up for days they were so sore and to add to my indignities no one would eat them. My small boys used them like toys and threw them around the kitchen. Good luck with your garden.

I am so jealous of your plant growing prowess! I kill everything I try to grow. Forget about actual edible stuff. Unless weeds count, those I can grow real good.

Bah. look at all the comments from people who find horoscopes amusing, they far outweigh one indignant cheesy nitwit. I just saw it as you plugging a friend's site much as you do for Drew or other SnB bloggers. It's YOUR blog, post whatever the hell you want!

Okra has the most beautiful flowers! And the okra isn't so bad itself!

I had to laugh when I saw your zucchini because I first grew zucchini 3 years ago. The plants get HUGE. The UPS guy runs in the other direction when he sees me coming - a full bag of zucchini and cucumbers in my arms. I ran out of people to give them to and resorted to bringing them to the bowling alley and leaving them at the desk.

Good luck with your garden. It looks like you're going to have some great meals. And it's so peaceful gardening. ENJOY!

Hehehhhe. SIX cucumber plants????? Purl, you must be gearing up for Cucumber Martini's!!!! There are lots of recipes on the 'net but here is one of my favorites!!

Cucumber Martini
Mixologist Jose Zepeda of Fix at the Bellagio-Las Vegas, NV
Adapted by StarChefs
Yield: 1 Serving

Ingredients:

¼ cucumber
1½ ounces Skyy Melon
½ ounce lime juice
Method:
Peel the cucumber, slice into quarters, and remove the seeds. Using a grater with small-size holes, grate ¼ of the cucumber into a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients, shake vigorously with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a cucumber slice.

I also have one on my site from last summer, July 28, 2006 made with gin. Living in Las Vegas, we're right into the coooooooooooool stuff starting......now!!

love okra! yay for southern fried yumminess! ours was freakin 8 feet tall our first try...too much nitrogen...couldn't give the stuff away.

in case no one above me said this, the cilantro likes cold weather - mine survived outside in GA all winter long and regrew in the spring, but as soon as temps got into the 80s it bolted (went to seed).

peppers, cilantro, onion, japenos: SALSA GARDEN! just add lime juice, garlic, salt and some chips, and VOILA! a perfect margarita accompaniment!

Color me slightly jealous--I just had to pull in my container of just-sprouted poppy seeds as we are supposed to get snow the next couple of days. Ugh!

And I hate to disappoint, but I tried really hard to like southern fried okra, but I don't. Blech, blech, blech. All the more for you, right?!

You have plenty of comments, but I just wanted to add my little note: Your gardening is very impressive. I didn't have the energy to start anything this year. Just the herbs from last year, which can fend for themselves.

Mmm, fried okra. I lurve it!

The title of this post made me think of Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - "It's hot! Hot-hot-haaaaht! It's haaaaaht-in-Toooooo-peeeeee-kaaaaaaah!" (Yes, I do watch too many cartoons. Hee hee!)

Okra ROCKS! I live in Oklahoma, and think it's a state food or something. It grows like mad here, and bugs & critters leave it alone. Try grilling it (whole) - tiny bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, hot grill, let it get real brown & crispy. YUM - it tastes almost fried, but minimal calories - no guilt! Now I'm craving it!!! LOVE your blog!

Hi Laurie - I check your site everyday and everyday it makes me smile, laugh, think and even sometimes sniffle......I love your kindness and humor and love that you shared your friend and her wonderful Horoscopes for the month. The April Fools person must be an unhappy person to attack you. Please don't let their pettyness affect you - We all love and appreciate you and don't want you change one thing about yourself or your blog :-) Now I'm going to pour a glass of wine, lift my glass to you, your blog and only 2 days left of this week :-)

Oh! Mint! I'm so sorry...

OK, just kidding...think of all the Mojitos! WOOT!

The good thing is, mint doesn't die. Ever. Which is why they had to make drinks out of it.

I could go for a full frontal photo of that bus driver. Can you think of a good "story" as to why you would need such a thing? Hmmm...

What a lovely garden you have!

(I was thinking it was a bit early for wildfires, thanks for clarifying the source).

Yes! Okra! I hope it grows for you. :)

Purl,

A blog is like a book, a TV show or banging one's head against the wall. If one doesn't like it, one should stop.

I discovered your blog a few weeks ago, and I think you are a breath of fresh air. In fact, partly inspired by you, I now have my own blog. Nothing nearly as exciting or well-written, however.

And, I love just about anything fried, so I will try okra. If I can find it, way up here in Manitoba.

Oh, and I just went back and read the comment so I knew what the bother was about. Whoa! When I saw the guest-blogger, my thought was: great, CAP got some help, and that's cool, 'cuz hor-o-scoping is lotz of work!

It's a shame that one person spoiled all your fun.

And I think I will finish the glass of wine (whine) and go to bed. Because I rarely use apostrophes when I speak, never mind write.

Contractions are good for everyone else, just not me. Yes, my knickers are in a twist. Permanently.

Ok, Well I emailed you earlier after reading some of your older posts. I didn't realize how busy you would be with all your comments. You are such a great writer, I love your blog and will be back stalking you daily.

Back a few years ago when I did a mail order thing for 6 catnip plants (ordered during the cold, delivered during the warm) I kind of forgot I placed the order. Then, one day I got home and had a UPS package on the doorstep. I just picked it up on the way into the house and nearly killed myself on the cat on the way in. She had been glued to the door, meowing until she was hoarse, huffing the goodness that is catnip all day.

Slow as I am, I put the package on the table and went to make dinner. It didn't dawn on me to look at where the package came from until I found my cat laying on top of the package, trying to eat the packing tape.

Yeaaaah....a little slow.

Mint - My experience is that spiders really like mint. Hence, be careful of spider city in regard to the mint.

I'm a recent convert to your blog, & I just wanted to say thanks for the entertainment! I also read your profile & saw you wanted to go to Moscow. (I just got back from there, as a soon-to-be-divorced woman myself, I have the travel itch.)

CAA -- Spiders don;t like mint, but they really like the bugs who like mint. Spiders are your mint's friends. They eat mintovores.

Dez, thanks. I didn't realize why they were there, just that there were lots of spiders on the mint.

Ok, busdriver cute enough, but what's with the gloves? I don't trust men with gloves...
Happy easter from Norway!