Garden Plan Paralysis

I am totally mentally paralyzed by my garden plan.

Since December I've been trying to read my Week by Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook (which is awesome by the way) and do what it says. So far its just been trying. I haven't actually done anything. When I'm lucky actually get the week's list of to-dos read. When I'm not, I don't even get that far. It makes me really frustrated because in theory it should be really easy. Just read this week and do what it says. It even tells you to buy stuff or check on your supplies the week before so you're prepared. I decided I would go easy this year and just buy transplants instead of even attempting to start seeds myself. Starting seeds just sounded like way too much effort at this point in my life so skipping lots of the early weeks wasn't a super big deal.

But then this week I'm supposed to actually plant things.

Outside.

In the garden.

In a place.

They will be.

Until they die.

Commitment like that terrifies me.

No really, I have three 4'x8' raised beds I made back in 2011 and I have yet to have a serious garden. Last year I was just way too pregnant to garden in the spring. And then way too newborn having to garden in the summer. And then way too still sleep and time deprived to think about a fall garden. So here I am, spring 2013 trying to figure out what to do with those raised beds.

The real problem is I know just enough to feel like I should have a plan and a rotation and pick good companion plants and have a succession plan to optimize the productivity of my garden, but not quite enough to just know what would be good companion plants or have a preordained mental model of the perfect succession for particular plants or rotation for three 4'x8' beds.

This is a recurrent problem in my life. My graduate adviser used to tell me, "Perfect is the enemy of done." He was right. Unfortunately, I never really embodied the idea. I still want things to be perfect and as a result I frequently just don't get them done.

Like this post. I had this great idea that I would cure my paralysis and I would post to tell you all about how I overcame.

I have not overcome.

I am still hemming and hawing and trying to make a decision as the week slips away Please, feel free to just tell me what to plant. For serious. Someone, please make a garden plan for me so I can move on with my life. I don't think I can take the stress much longer.

Flat Wall Book Holders

Here's another flashback project post. I really love these shelves so I'm not exactly sure why I never posted about them. They hold a ton of books, fill some wall space, and we made them out of scraps from the Dream Dollhouses.

We used these plans from Ana White to make two 24" shelves and one 36" shelf. Yes, Austin helped with this building project. Usually I'm way to controlling to get help, but I was pretty pregnant at the time and rational choices had to be made. If only I was that functional all the time I we would probably get more done.

To attach them to the wall we just screwed them into the studs (after pre-drilling with a counter sink bit).

The whole project took maybe an afternoon and most of that was spent waiting for the paint to dry.

And yes, I'm prepping for a full nursery reveal someday soon. I'm shooting for before Norie's first birthday. :)

Nursery Shadow Box Wall Art

Hopefully you're ready for a blast from the past. Now that Norie is nine months old I feel compelled to finish my pregnancy scrapbook (or at least finish the pregnancy part since she has been an independent life form for just as long as I was pregnant). In going through my pictures to figure out which ones were going in the scrapbook I found several projects I never posted about.

First up is this fun and easy little heirloom display.

When Austin's mom found out I was pregnant she gave us this box.

Inside was a handwritten note from the Desk of Joelline Stoller.

I thought such a precious heirloom needed to be displayed. I was also really pregnant at the time so I didn't get crazy. I just  the note so that it would stand out and from the background and attached both to a full sheet of acid free scrapbook paper inside a shadowbox frame from Target.

I probably spent half an hour deciding exactly where they should go.

I love it.

 Cute. Easy. Heirloom. Done. Yay!