One week to go before we are in the clear of frost here in zone 7b, and we broke ground for my farm row. I’ve named this new flower bed Farm Row because it spans 60 feet and is straight-ish. The majority of my lawn is shaded except for the front yard. So I talked Husband into letting me do a trial farm row. The plan was to rent a sod cutter, cut the Bermuda hybrid grass, and move it to the north side yard. That didn’t quite work out. We cut the sod too short, making it impossible to roll and transplant, so we scuffed it off to handle later. I plan to work on soil prep before planting seedlings in the next few weeks.

We are still not done four months into our bathroom renovation. Each step is detailed and lengthy. This week we had a tile fiasco. Nothing is more annoying than placing a tile from a new box on the mortared floor to find out the color is a shade off the previous box. A SHADE OFF! And I literally mean a shade. I placed the new tile into my thin-set mortar and said, “wait is this a different color?” Sure enough, it was a brighter white, making the rest of my tile look slightly dirty. So we skimmed through the remaining boxes, which were all the more brilliant white. We pack them back up, scrape the thin-set off as much as possible and head back to the store for a return with our two samples, the correct color, meaning the one that is already down and the wrong color. We find 5 square feet when we need 36. We hit another store and found 15 more square feet of the correct color. Now the plan is to conquer and divide by hitting more locations all over the city.

Week 13 recap:

• Painted bathroom fixtures
• Started Farm Row seeds
• Cut sod on Farm Row
• Tiled shower floor
• Tiled 2/3 of bathroom floor

Week 14 plans:

• Find more tile
• Finish laying floor tile
• Tile shower walls
• Compost and till Farm Row
• Clean up sod debris
• Weed beds

It is go-time in the garden, and I’m starting the season already feeling behind. I have many weeds in my beds and numerous more seeds to start. I constantly remind myself to relax and enjoy the beauty rather than focus on what must be done.