Don't Be Afraid of the Dork: Saturday in the Garden - Slumpity Reading and the Planned Garden

OUTSIDE

I finally got myself organized and planned the garden.

Besides a bunch of large pots, I have three raised beds that I can plant in. A 2'X12' (at the top), a 3'X3' (on the left below) and a 3'X3' space in a 6'X3' bed (middle below). I lost my heirloom tomatoes to blight last year when they were planted in the 2'X12' bed so I am shifting them and the peppers into the other beds. Most of what I'll be planting are my standard favorites/successes though I am trying a couple new varieties of carrot and tomato. My experimental veggie will be lima beans. I love them and want to see if I can grow some. Here's my complete list:

Fukagawa Green Onions
Swiss Chard (Five Color Silverbeet)
Lacinato Kale
A selection of cut and come again salad greens
Radishes
Sugar Snap Peas
Basil
Parsley
Carrots: trying a new variety Red-cored Chanteney
Empress Green Beans
Tomatoes: Beam's Pear and Gold Medal (though I may change this variety)
Henderson Bush Limas
Peppers: Pimento and Healthy (a smallish sweet pepper)
Garlic, Music variety

I may throw in some beets or other seeds that come my way but the above are my primary plants. Most of them are Heirlooms which is a bit of a gamble as they don't always have the yield that hybrids do. They make up for it in flavor, though. Looking forward to planting season but right now my garden looks like this:

Spring still feels far away.... I'm going to start some seeds tomorrow and live in hope.

LIFE

That about sums it up, Richard Ayoade.

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching

I finished up my 4th or 5th re-watch of The IT Crowd and it still made me laugh like a loon. I noticed that there is an online movement to cast Richard Ayoade as The Doctor. Yes. Yes. and Yes. Yes. He'd be brilliant.

Reading

I am still in a really nasty reading slump and you can tell where my brain is because all I seem to be picking up is middle-grade novels and humorous memoirs. Work being demanding doesn't always cause this kind of slump, sometimes I actually read more, but it is definitely affecting how I want to spend my down time this go round. Basically, I wouldn't mind just staring at a wall for the next two months....

Finished Last Week:

Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson: A humorous memoir from the very popular blogger, The Bloggess.
The Unmapped Sea (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #5) by Maryrose Wood: My favorite Middle-Grade series currently going. It's delightful and charming and silly.

Currently Reading:

A World Without Princes (The School for Good and Evil #2) by Soman Chainani: This is a super fun middle-grade series and is one of the series I identified as one I'd like to put in the finished column. ON HOLD - HAD TO RETURN TO LIBRARY. DANG IT.
One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein: A gardening book about maximize food production in a small space. An ARC from Netgalley (though I think it's an older title).
Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson #2): This is the second book in this very popular middle-grade series about a modern day boy who happens to be the son of a Greek god.
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones: A stand alone novel I ran across at the local used book store knowing nothing about it except that it was by Diana Wynne Jones:0). It is taking its time to get going so I hope it picks up the pace soon, simply because that's what I'm in the mood for now. It has an awesome atmosphere, though, that is really sticking with me.
American Rose by Karen Abbott: A biography of Gypsy Rose Lee.

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week. It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

Still Life With Murder by P.B. Ryan (Nell Sweeney Mystery #1): This is historical mystery series set in mid nineteenth century Boston with a female protagonist. I picked it up because it was mentioned in a Book Riot list about favorite love declarations.
The Case of The Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence (The P.K. Pinkerton Mysteries #1): A middle-grade mystery series set in the Wild West that was recommended by Goodreads because I like The Incorrigible Children series.

Blogging

Even slower than last week on the blog because I'm in a bit of a blogging slump as well as a reading slump. Combination of a busy week and brain overloaded with work crap.