Gardening 2024

[cineater]

Shit, it's now looking like I may go over budget by $10.     That's not a lot but it's "one small point of pride" that I come in under budget.  This year I wanted to get as close as I could without going over since they cut my budget by a third.  I still have about $218 in play.  Phebe's hitting a black Friday sale.  Kevin's saying no more than $85 and I bet Ken will forget his $60 or turn in the bill too late to make this year's budget although I'm going to remind him.  We'll see.  Nobody gives a fuck but me.   

Talked to Deana.  She's going to call the grant people next week.  University to University.  I'm not so much concerned about the Herb Garden getting funding.  I want to know what that grant is all about.  Our vegetable beds are looking like shit.  I'm calling for a full renovation of the area.  And I want to do it next fall.  It's going to cost.  Fucking chicken wire.  We're just going to put a fence around the whole garden and we won't have to mess with that stuff again.  We're going to replace the landscape timbers that rot out every 4 years or so with the metal beds.  Get them some storage and some place I can sit my ass down when I'm weighing out all the produce.  Phebe's been out deer hunting so she hasn't thought about it yet.  It's okay I haven't moved it onto a burner yet just getting it ready to go.

Produce donations came in over 3000 pounds.  Phebe is pretty proud.  That's our number.  Hopefully next year we are going to start adding fruit to that number.  Apples and pears weigh a lot.  You did good Marsha.

[cineater]

I couldn't just let it die.     It only cost $2 to get another coleus in the spring.  Not sure it will get enough sun in that eastern window but that's all I got.  The geranium and begonias will bloom all winter.  Outdoor plants can't go in the grow room.  They have cooties.

[cineater]

The rosemary popped up!  

So Deana did contact the grant people.  They responded they needed our supply list.  Okay, you have that and Deana didn't understand to tell them we already submitted that.  They thought we were a new application.  But it sounds like they are ready to go shopping for us.  Cool but the list Jill gave me was her shopping list with estimated cost.  Her shopping list was missing the exact thing on a few items such as she wrote PVC pipe.  What size and how many feet?  Stuff like that.  I'm trying to get that from them asap.  I'm still wondering how the grant people gets all this stuff to me and when.  If it's coming soon, it's going to have to be stored in my garage.     I think we have the grant if we can get some understanding going on here.   

[cineater]

Don't be greedy was how I was raised.  I'm getting over it.     Might as well ask.  I asked if this grant would be available next year for another project.  If not, said the place I wanted to order from is having a sale and I could get an order ready for them real quick.  I'm obligated to ask, so I did.

[cineater]

That was weird.  She answered my email long after work hours.  They are trying to help as many gardens as they can and will let us know in January if they are helping us either with all of it or some.  So why were they telling me they would be going shopping soon?  They didn't answer any of my questions about how they get the supplies to us.  Didn't encourage me to apply for more stuff.  Their funding goes from October to September.

I'm going into our funding meeting next week.  I'm just going to ask for all the money with the possibility of maybe something from the grant.

[cineater]

This is not going well.  Our president is objecting to hearing about a special project at this meeting.  His concern and I agree, is we said we needed 15 in the bank to cover costs if the plant sale fails.  We have 8.  If there's extra money from this years income, he wants to hold up to 7 until we see if the 2025 plant sale happens.  That's a short explanation.  We have no clue how much extra we have until this budget meeting.  We won't be able to do it that way until June which puts the herb garden project off until next fall.

Deana feels "it sounds super positive" about the grant.  Yes, the same person who told me to apply for funds with the counsel and I got screamed at.   

"What you think about, comes about."  I'll just keep plugging away at this.  May not happen how I think it will or when I want it but eventually we'll get there.

[cineater]

Fuck!     Jim gave me the new revised supply list.  I'm not suppose to have to double check the amount of money people are asking for.  I control the spending of the money.  That's where I know if they figured it out right.  But I was interested in how much the new supply list changed things.  They originally or rather they finally settled on $4400.  I'm coming up with $2700.  That's a big difference.  I'm asking them to refigure everything, something they've been pissy about doing, but I'm also sitting here wondering where I fucked up in my figures.    

I hope Marsha is looking over my shoulder.  This was her job.  I'm not good at this so I got somebody, Marsha, who was to cover this aspect of the job.  I have no problem delegating duties to other people especially when I don't know how to do it.  Somehow that GNR quote about you wanted something else but you got this seems appropriate.  The gardens needed someone better at this but they are stuck with me.     It's a GNR world.

Half frozen, tall grass is like walking on a water bed.  It's not solid under your feet.  It gives, so you don't have solid footing.  Very weird to walk on.

[cineater]

Yeah, I fucked that up.  We're back to 4400.  They keep sending me the figures for one bed and then I'm suppose to double it on three different size beds.  And of course I forgot to double it.  I know, cut myself a break.  I'm working with cranky people who won't return my phone calls and want to communicate over email.  Jim and I were spot on with the pricing though.  No harm done.  It's all fixed and turned in.

I was talking with some of the other people who manage budgets in my group and telling them I might be going over by $10.  They didn't even flinch and think that's perfectly fine.  I can't get a grip on it.  Everyone was suppose to have their bills in by today.  Of the last 3 I'm waiting one, one is in foot surgery today, one never turns in receipts and the other is Kevin.  Kevin will do it eventually.  It will be for somewhere around what I'm expecting.  Fuck my pride, nobody cares but me and I no longer want to put up with the hassle.   

[cineater]

Kevin did turn in his receipt, under what he told me he would spend but some how I'm now $12.94 over budget.  I give up.  Who knew Kevin was a vodka man?  I mean there have been times I've wondered if he had been drinking but didn't smell anything.  You know it would explain a lot.     Like why he bid 10 and only has 5 on him.

Deana didn't come to the Christmas party.  Turns out she has a standing dinner date on Friday nights.  Oh yeah?  Turns out it's the old handyman, Jim.  Good looking man and he's handy!  Got my attention but I figured he was married.  Heard her talking about looking for an apartment for someone.  Maybe her brother who lives with her?  Oh please, let there be a wedding.  I need some celebrations next year.

Got some of the frost kill plants out today.  I thought morning glories were thin, little viney plants.  This one was huge and covered the whole bed.  On the pruning list for next year although it didn't starting blooming until September.  May not plant that next year.  Had to move the pile of rock off the parking lot.  Don't want the snow plow pushing it into the bed.  Looked over and there's one of our water stations.  Has a box around it and a medium size stone in it that is sinking.  It worked for the greenhouse.  I filled it with the crushed rock.  Left me with only half a pile to haul across the garden where I did another water station.  Hopefully Kevin is okay with that.  If he'd been out there on this workable day taking care of the compost bins, he could have expressed his opinion.

I'm done with outside gardening as of today.  Always something to do but nothing I need to do.  We seed up the pansies, onions and leeks on Wednesday.  It's plant sale time.  Formally, Marsha's project.

[cineater]

Damn I do not understand this accounting program we use.  It looks like we have an extra 10,000 at then end of this year but next year it looks like we'll be 6,000 short on the expected income.  I guess I'll find out Friday if that's what it means.  I'm good with dumpster diving and supporting my own gardens with my money.  I'm not good with trying to dig up money from grants and donations.  There's groups with more needs than us.  I don't even want to be in that line.

[cineater]

While I was gone today, the girls came over and loaded up my lights.  I'm full at 21 flats.  They did 72 flats.  Out of the garden and into plant sale.  Update:  They planted all the onions like regular seeds.  They were suppose to go into their sellable containers with no transplanting.  I'm thinking by the time they are at transplant stage, it's sell time.  The shit Marsha had in her head about growing.  We're going to miss her.

They are getting ready to put the Monarch Butterfly on the endangered list.

[cineater]

Email from Catherine this morning.  In the rush to get flats out to the growers, they forgot to keep track of who got what.  And they found a tag that fell out of a flat.  We always have flats we have no idea what we are growing until they flower because of missing tags.

And an annoying email from the president.  Our bookkeeper no longer keeps track of the demo garden budget by garden.  It's by one of five categories.  He wants the sheets on the breakdown by garden so he can reconcile my budget request.  Wants it today because the meeting is tomorrow.  I'm not required to do it that way but I do.  I'm not going to approve people's expenditures without knowing what they should be spending the money on and how much money they have left in their budget.  No problem, it's at my fingertips. But why is he asking?  He sat through the leads meeting when we went over all this.  He saw the spreadsheet on the screen and wrote down the total.  I turned in a total amount higher because it included the donated funds that the leads don't approve but has to be included per the treasure's request, it adds up.  I explained that to him in person and on an email.  But if he doesn't trust me enough to do it right, I hate this part of the job and I'm more than willing to have a treasure position on the leads team he could fill.   

[cineater]

Got all the money I asked for.    If we get the grant for the herb garden I have to give that amount back.  Fine but I'm probably going to turn around and ask for it back in the fall and try to push up the pantry garden renovation.   

End of the gardening topic unless somebody wants to start another one.  Hopefully you got some tips that you found useful.  If you want to follow the gardens, check them out on facebook.  You won't get the behind the scene info and we're still coming up with a plan.     :  https://www.facebook.com/p/St-Charles-County-Master-Gardener-100064615452884/