the very best thing about being a tech writer...

...is that there's so much work you can do outside the office. today i shall lounge on the couch in my comfiest clothes, sipping tea with lavender honey and fresh peppermint from my garden, as i edit. because it's all foggy out, and that made me feel like staying home.

oooh, i think my favorite chenille socks are clean.

are you running Ad-aware yet?

because if you're not... well. i didn't run it on my desktop machine for a couple of months, and here's what i found.

useful info on tomatoes, and assorted garden nattering

here is a great reference on pruning tomatoes for optimum sweetness and plant health. i just spent a while outside with mine, taking off all the branches below the lowest blooms and removing "suckers" that were sprouting; both of these things apparently use up a lot of the plant's sugar, which in turn makes the fruit less sweet. (any that had already gotten big and produced blooms, though, i left where they were. i am told that if you remove them properly and stick them in the ground, they will grow into new plants!) another key thing i learned today is that once the tomato starts to produce fruit, it's critical to keep it well-watered -- but avoid getting the leaves wet.

( more on the garden... )

i can't believe how much i'm enjoying this garden. every year i get more excited about it. if only balcony gardening weren't such a solitary activity. i really do need to develop at least one interest that requires leaving my apartment more than once every couple of weeks.

does anyone who's gardened in a small space have suggestions for other vegetables and/or fruit i might be able to grow?

meme

( *snort* )

french fries, french toast, french dressing... and to drink, PERU!

i was poking around on the web looking for interesting chicken recipes when i found this monstrosity. i'm speechless with horror. i mean, isn't it bad enough that half of all chicken recipes involve condensed soup?