I bought plain white roman blinds from Ikea. I never intended to keep them white, I had spray paint waiting for me at home.

I’ve been working on decorating my bedroom. I wanted a chair or loveseat in there, but the room is small and then we put a king bed in there, so I just didn’t have enough room. And then I found this at our local thrift store:

This small loveseat rocker was perfect. Small, but still big enough for two people and it fit in the space I had for it. The first thing I did was throw away the awful cushions that had too many reminders of cats. And the ruffle had to go.

After that was all gone, it had very nice bones. I thought of painting it (everyone paints furniture nowdays), but there was really no reason for it.

The cushions were a bit tricky to replace. The size was weird and didn’t fit anything ready made I could find. I didn’t want to get caught up trying to make them myself. I guess I could have saved the old ones and reupholstered them, but I think if it smells like cats, even a little bit, it should go into the garage. So I just didn’t get cushions that fit as well as before. Instead I found a lounge cushion in the as-is department of Ikea that was about the right size to use on the bottom, and put normal cushions on the top. Here is my rocker now:

It was a fun little find. Total cost (if you care, I always like to know how much stuff costs) was $25 for the rocker and $30 for the cushions. Time wise, a couple shopping trips and a few minutes just cleaning.

We sheet mulched the front yard over a year ago, and I thought it is about time for an update.

I haven’t done anything to it for a year. Added some plants, pulled just a few weeds. It still looks alright, although I do need to add some more mulch. Probably the lowest maintenance thing I’ve ever done.

I came across a bunch of post criticizing sheet mulching from the Garden Professor blog. (Here’s the links: one, two, three. and this one if you are really into a good read about mulches. And the Garden Professor blog is the best garden blog I’ve come across.) The post certainly made me think. I’ve been over-recommending sheet mulching a bit. I still think it is a viable technique, but only under certain situations.

Basically, sheet mulching doesn’t really improve the soil because you create a barrier for air and water on the top. (And I’ve noticed this in mine. I think the weeds gone wild are doing a better job of improving soil than my sheet mulch. It’s pretty sterile under there.) If it is ignored and ill-maintained, it can cause far more problems than benefits.

So when is it okay to use sheet mulching?

1)Temporary weed control such as when you have no idea what you are doing and don’t plan on doing something for a year or so. This was my situation and it worked great. I also don’t have any plans to plant plants that need good soil there (I’m thinking a stock tank pond, a few raised beds, open space), so I’m not too concerned about improving the soil.

2)Pathways (but not anywhere you don’t go frequently).

4)Vegetable gardens (but stick with newspaper not cardboard).

Around trees and shrubs, you’d be better off with a deep layer of course organic mulch like leaves and shredded bark. Unless you have some trees, shrubs, perennials that actually don’t like large amounts of organic matter, like many desert natives.

The interesting thing about the gardening world is recommendations can hardly ever be applies to all situations. The answer is more often than not “it depends.” You really have to know your site, plants and what you are trying to accomplish instead of just accepting whatever comes your way.

Some things are slowly coming along in the garden. In some ways it’s been neglected. We haven’t planted much this year besides the vegetable garden. It is turning into my kid’s domain, they spend lots of time out there.

I’m adoring the scarlet runner beans and sunflowers together. 

Lately we’ve harvested tomatoes, beets, summer squash, beans, eggplant a few potatoes, and cucumbers. Not a substantial harvest on anything, but enough that I don’t have any vegetables on my grocery list.

This looks better than last year. We did get the irrigation figured out better, using drain pipes. I also gave up on using the water turn in certain parts of the yard because it was too difficult and have used soaker hoses and the culinary water.