keeping it simple

Today's meal was kept simple and made possible by a very generous coworker who happened to have too much roast pork shoulder and gave a large piece of it to everyone he works with (um, yes please!). Because Tom and I are strange (but mostly because we didn't have any bbq sauce), we decided to put the pork over some mixed greens and add caesar dressing.

Woo hoo for thoughtful coworkers!

Well, that was the quickest dinner I made all week, and while looking out the window pondering what to do with myself, I spied a lonely little friend who I once had very high hopes for.

When I bought this little Sugar Sweetie (don't you just love the names they come up with for vegetables?!) at the Oakhurst Community Garden spring plant sale a few months ago, I envisioned putting this little plant in a very large container. Peering now at the large container, this is what I saw:

Yuck, this standing water may have been breeding this year's crop of mosquitoes!

Feeling very inspired to tackle such a job and give my little plant new life, I pulled out the drill and put a few holes in the bottom to allow water to drain. Don't you think the drill bit on the right would be wonderful for putting large holes in my pot?

Au contraire mon frere! That large (1/2") bit would only make an indentation, not a full hole. But when I tried a smaller bit, it went through like a champ.

Now, I'm not sure if these smaller holes will actually drain successfully, but I think it will be ok and I know it's better than it was. Plus, doesn't this little guy look cute as a cucumber?

I even had time to pot this beauty

Marjoram

And I also found, to my delight......

From a tomato plant I put in the ground a couple months ago

But here's the deal.... I'm not much of a pesticide type of girl. And I know my soil quality is really low (sadly low). What can I do to prevent my plants from doing this:

Bug Paradise!

Or from being stunted like this:

Also planted 2 months ago and still playing Mini Me to the fruit-producer next door

Any ideas would be so welcome at this point, because even though I mixed in about three inches of compost over the whole garden before I planted, I'm still not seeing the lush greenery that I want to see. It also doesn't get too much sun, so I guess I've pretty much got a trifecta of forces working against me huh?

Anywho, this perfectly simple evening left me with a yummy and quick meal, and also with a much happier garden. This left plenty of time to persue my other ambitions in my new favorite part of the house.

Side note: Since I've started exploring this blogging world (a little late I know), I have been continually amazed, inspired, and thrilled by what I have found out there on the world wide internets. There are so many wonderful people doing what they love and sharing it with the rest of us. My daily dose of inspiration is now so often coming from the writing, the photographs, the creativity of all of you.

Case in point: please check this out the blog post below. I bet you'll never look at your ugly too-small-to-be-useful closet the same again. I actually told Tom that I wished our house had an ugly too-tiny closet so that I could whip up a masterpiece, and after rolling his eyes he kindly suggested that I convert my walk-in closet into my very own office. Tempting....... but nah.

http://graceandivy.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/closet-office-anyone/