Jen Fulkerson

I got a clumping bamboo on clearance a few years ago. Not only has it not taken over, it took quite a while to establish. I'm pretty sure I wasn't watering it enough. I haven't used any of the bamboo yet. I'm a little afraid to. It's finally growing well , so maybe I'll cut a pole or two.

Thanks everyone, your kind words are appreciated.
Ann the red, are actually a dark orange, it looks red in the light. are nasturtiums I think that one is Alaska. Normally they die back in the winter, and regrow come spring. This winter was so mild they didn't die, so I'm quite thrilled with how many blooms, and how tall they are. the blue are borage, self seeded, and colorful ones are Linaria Fairy bouquet from botanical interest seeds.
Thanks

Today was just one of those days. It wasn't bad, nothing happened, no one was rude, or angry. I was unhappy, and it was all on me. I just struggled through the day trying not to infect others with my mood. After work I was exhausted. ate food that wasn't really good for me, watched YouTube, and continued to be unhappy. I remembered I needed to pot up some tomato seedlings, and feed the chickens (they had food in the gravity feeder, but I didn't give them there fermented grains this morning) Out I went. I took care of the chickens first. Then I watered the veggies garden and I noticed lots of peas. I stood in the dusk, eating peas surrounded by peace and beauty. To some it may sound silly, but for me it was a little perfect moment. It wasn't hot, or cold, it was quite. I wasn't getting bit by mosquitoes ( that in itself is a miracle) just eating garden candy (peas) enjoying the beauty, finding joy in the moment. I found my balance.
To often especially nowadays it's easy to focus on the bad, and forget to enjoy the little moments. I just wanted to share my moment with people I know will understand.
You may think the permaculture forum was a strange place to post this, I often struggle with what forums to post in, but when I think of permaculture I think of finding balance, so that seem to be the perfect place.
I hope you you find joy in little moments.

this is year 2 for me. It did grow last year, but it wasn't very impressive. I thought I did something wrong, but maybe it's my climate, I live in zone 9B Northern California.

I love pansies partly for their adorable faces, and part because my grandmother loved and always grew them, so they bring lovely memories.
I grow them every year. I have had them reseed themselves a couple of times. I have tried to grow them from seed I got them to sprout and grow an inch or two and then they stall and don't do much. This year I'm going to start them in late July under shade cloth. I think I have been starting them to late? I'm determined to figure it out.

It's a hugel beet that I add good stuff to, and keep weeded, so that makes sense.

I removed the raspberries from my bed.  I managed to get a few with some nice roots, so I planted them in a pot. They may or may not grow, but I don't loose anything by trying.
When I pulled one of the little raspberry plants it had a long root with lots of shoots.  So I'm worried I may end up with this bed being taken over by raspberry . This is not what I intended, but we love raspberries, so what ever will be will be. Time will tell.

My daughter asked for 3 boxes so she can grow herbs for her tea. The first one is done. It's very basic. I used most of a pallet. There were some holes and gaps that would have washed away soil with each water. I used some very thin scrap from removing the rounded edge of a 2x4. I worked great. I'm sure they will rot pretty quickly, but my hope is by then the roots will keep most of the soil in the box. If I'm wrong, I'll fix it.

Thanks for the info it's appreciated.
I feel like I caused myself a lot of unproductive stress. In the end nothing died because of the stink bugs. After a while I stopped seeing them.
If they show up again this year ( we hardly had a frost at all, so I anticipate a lot of bugs, we are already thick with mosquitoes) I hope I handle it better. I will still pit them off if I see them, but I hope I've learned my lesson. Stop take a breath and remember  the more I intervene with mother nature the more I have to do to control the situation, pretty soon everything is out of balance.

I work for a Co-op, so I get a pretty good price on organic alfalfa pellets.  For the most part I use them when I'm filling a new hugel beet raised bed. My thinking was the wood will rob nitrogen, so  give it extra so the plants don't suffer.  This has worked very well for me. I don't know if I right or wrong, just that I have healthy productive plants.
I usually fertilize two times a year. I sprinkle a mix of what I have before spring and fall planting. Sometimes if I don't have other nitrogen source, I will add some alfalfa pellets to the mix. Again I keep doing it because of the healthy productive plants. Not to say I don't have a non productive plant now and then, or that nothing ever goes wrong, because of course I do.
Yesterday a long time gardener/pro told me to get old alfalfa from someone and mulch around my fruit trees, not only will it help with water retention, but it's a super at suppressing weeds.  He said farmers can't even grow it in the same place for more than 3 years in a row because nothing will grow. I was going to do just that, happy to have a great mulch.  
Then I started to think about all the time I put alfalfa in my raised bed.
My question is have I slowly been poisoning my veggie beds?