I spent some time just after the last post thinking about getting supplies for the garden, and then said “screw it” and went to get the shelves and casters at least.

And then, I just up and got a bunch of smaller containers and herb seedlings… and some kale, and some cabbage, and some lettuce.

Well, it took a bit of figuring on the shelves. I’d put them together before a bunch of times, so that wasn’t so worrying. It was the shelf-spacing.

I had just enough space under the bottom shelf to put one of the dog beds under there (she’s not been terribly interested in going under there–tried it just once). I have a feeling my heeler might like it better when I get my kitchen in order and get back to cooking more often. It’s just frustrating trying to get the shelves on just right around the tension collars and then if you have it at the wrong height, it’s a bitch to move them.

But it wasn’t just the shelves, I got several planters and was about to fill them up with all the dirt I had ready to go and the many seedlings I’d bought when I remembered: name tags.

I hate the little tags and popsicle sticks and plastic tab stakes to go in the pots because after enough moisture or sun (or both), the words bleed or fade away and I can’t tell what’s what.

That happened out in my big garden after a few months. Only my planner helped me remember which greens were in which places, and I thought for sure permanent marker wouldn’t fade on that plastic. Yup, learned the hard way, but pencil was impossible to read because it was so light, and that was the recommended option.

All I’m using those popsicle sticks for now is as date markers for the seeds I sowed directly myself, so I can figure out when they should be sprouting and when it’s been long enough and I should put a replacement plant in.

So, I decided instead to paint the name of the herb or veggie on the outside of the pots.

I was up til 3 a.m. the other night painting on the plastic planters, and I still had many more to go. I finished the last dozen earlier this afternoon.

Yeah, I’ll definitely have to get another set of shelves. At least I did a bit of cleaning last night when I took a break from painting and moved some things around for shelf-space in front of my dining room window. It gets the best sun in the main area of the house.

I’ve been a painting fool the past two days. I couldn’t help it. I’ve been burning to be creative for quite some time and it all came pouring out of me the past few days. I painted the names on the planters, and then added some more details to make them fun and colorful (because I just can’t let things alone and my handwriting’s not the best, let alone painted writing).

All told, it took quite a bit of time to do all that painting, but I like how it makes my kitchen and garden feel like a crazy cheerful place next to the birdcage.

Like I said, I went a bit overboard. And that’s not even all the plants.

I used one of my stepladders as a temporary shelf for the next window, and I’m going super early tomorrow to go get the next set of shelves. I could’ve gone today, but since it was Labor Day, I felt like “hells, no, I won’t go.”

Saturday was crazy enough, though not as bad as I thought crowd-wise. Probably because it was hot as hell out there. It’s pretty bad when it’s barely noon and after walking 30 feet from your car you can feel the sweat trickling down your back.

ANOTHER reason I’m glad I’m doing this garden thing indoors, because that dang summer sun fried most of my herbs. Since I moved the container in the shade, my Rosemary plant seems to be bouncing back a little. I hope if I trim the dead stuff off it’ll be good to go, because I had no luck finding Rosemary plants anywhere on Saturday.

But, that’s for later. Now, I’m gonna finally remove my paint-shirt, get some dinner, and clean up the kitchen because moving all that stuff around left things helter skelter, and my counters unusable for the time being.