Veggies, Flowers, and Grass

I've got 9 tomatoes in 10 gallon containers.   Four Cherokee Purple and 2 Brandywine heirlooms (all about 2' high) and 3 cherry tomato hybrids.  My other 5 containers have bi-color corn and flat italian pole beans emerging.  It is a bit late for the corn and beans but they are "early" varieties, so I will hope.

Time to start some Fall crops.  Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts mostly.  Garlic cloves go in later.  Lettuces are growing in trays, but I need to plant more.  I recently read that scallion roots will regrow, so I am sneaking some in among the lettuce to see if that works.  

I also bought 3 dozen pollinator-friendly flower seedlings.  Three each of a dozen varieties.  It is late to put them in hard "normal" soil, so I am putting them in groups of "same 3" with the tomatoes (in exquisite container soil).  That way, I can transplant them together in "the real world come Fall.

I'm still staking and caging the tomatoes and haven't planted the flowers, so no pics yet.  But soon!

I have mentioned before that I had some tree-removal work done last Fall.  And a neighbor's tree was overhanging my roof and the roots were at the surface like railroad ties.  Annoying to bump over with the mower all the time.

So I had the tree company grind them down.  The neighbor came over and asked the tree guys to just take the whole tree down.  😂

But grinding out the roots left ruts low as bad as the roots were high.  So, same actual "bouncy" problem.  Well, I needed 50/50 topsoil/compost for the eleven 10 gallon containers anyway (and bought too much) so I filled in the ruts.

Finding a small amount of grass seed at a local DIY store in June is difficult and expensive.  They know they've got you desperate.  But Amazon always comes through, LOL!  Three pounds for $10 isn't the best deal, but I didn't want a 50# bag at DIY.  

Leveled the ruts with the good container mix, watered it to settle it, added some more to bring it all level again.  Sprinkled grass seed (I am in Fescue territory) all around.  Then added another 1/8" of soil to hide the seeds from The Birds.  

I am watering the ruts lightly each afternoon.  June sure isn't the best time of year to plant grass, but enough should survive to fill in.  And I bet that next Spring I won't even know where the ruts were!

So, doing a little of this and little of that, I'm keeping things going...

Damn hip...  😡   More about that some other day.

Unwanted Tree Saplings And Garden

I'm not as young as I used to be.  And parts of me don't work as well as they used to, either.  Between falling off the extension ladder and general aging problems with both knees, I get calf, thigh and rib cramps and finger clenches.  And sometimes lower back stiffness.  

Getting old isn't for sissies (as Mom often said).  So, these days I do what I can.  Aspercreme and Ibuprophen help.  As does sitting in the tub with hot shower water falling on me in the morning (to wake me up and get me more mobile).  I wish I was 60 again, LOL!

But I have gotten more active again lately.  I caught up on the veggie garden, though it has less than I used to grow.   Most of the crops I used to grow are now easy to find at the grocery store and at a decent price.  But there are still some things I can't get.  So I focus on growing them.

Heirloom tomatoes are still at the top of my list.  The grocery store does sell them (at $5 a pound) but the fools chill them for storage-life, and that kills the enzymes that produce the great flavor.  So buying those is pointless.  I have 14 heirloom tomatoes growing well.  They are behind schedule, but catching up rapidly in this warm weather and rain every few days.

Next is Italian flat beans.  I've never seen any in the grocery store or even a local farmer's market.  They have a better "deeper" taste than regular green beans.  I have 20 plants of those starting to climb the trellis.  I can find them canned sometimes, but they are very soft and usually highly-seasoned.

It is time to plant some Fall crops.  My favorite Spring and Fall crop is Snow Peas.  I've never seen those at the grocery store either.

I have trays of lettuces, celery, and bok choy on the deck.  You've never seen real red lettuce unless you grow it yourself.  And I grow red romaine lettuce too.  My green leaf lettuce is nearly lime-colored.  Makes an appealing salad.  

I grow bok choy and celery for the leaves (I don't get actual "stalks).  The bok choy leaves are great for making egg rolls.  They preventing the raw veggies inside from poking through the wrappers and add flavor.  Celery leaves are strong-tasting and add some "bite" to my salads.

But those are all planted now.

GOT to cut down all the unwanted saplings this weekend!  Job #1 now that the veggies (and flowers) are all planted.

Nothing much to see there yet, but "soon"...

The Veggies

 My Spring Garden didn't really happen this year.  Started late and got lazy.  But I found a list of what could be started later for Fall harvest and decided to give it a try.  And since things are warming up these years, my growing season is lasting 2 weeks later that when I first moved here.

So I have young veggies growing...

I usually hang cherry tomatoes in a pot off the deck.  They just hang down and I can pick a few as I walk by.  This year, I just put 2 of them in a pot on the deck floor, and let them drape over.  But 4 side-stems grew high, so I put stakes in the pot and attached the up-growing stems to them.

And, yes, you might notice the thermometer reads "100".  That was in the shade of late afternoon.  Temperatures are crazy everywhere!

The main tomato patch is doing well.  I hadn't planted heirloom tomatoes (more vulnerable to diseases than hybrids, but they taste way better) there for years , so the soil has less diseases to bother them.  

You can see some tomatoes maturing here...  They grew faster in Summer heat than Spring-planted ones.

The deck cherry tomatoes that were draped over the edge are starting to ripen.

These bell peppers will be transplanted into larger pots this week.  It is late for them outside, but I am going to experiment with growing them inside.  My idea is to place them at the unmovable side of the south-facing deck door and put a mirror behind them to reflect unabsorbed sunlight.  Well, it won't cost me anything to try.

I got a free packet of chives with a seed order, so I planted them.  Not quite sure what to do with them, though.  In salads, sprinkled on chicken or pork, added to eggrolls?

The purple scallions have been growing great.  They taste slightly different from the regular green ones.  I add the tops to salads and sauces.

I bought a packet of round carrots out of curiosity this year.  The first batch died, the leaves knocked over into the soil by watering.  The 2nd planting is doing much better.  I've been dribbling water onto the soil between them this time.  

My lettuces all wore out after many "cut and grow back" cycles, so I need to replant.  They will grow fast in Summer heat and then mature in cooler Fall weather.  I grow enough to always have a green and a red leaf lettuce mature enough to cut.  It is great to be able to just walk out on the deck and harvest a whole salad. 

Absent Last Week

Sorry I disappeared last week.  It wasn't planned.  I just didn't get on the computer much.  It was just one day at first, then a 2nd, then a third, etc.  Turned into a whole week.

Nothing wrong; I just got busy around the house and yard.  Catching up on things...  By the time I did lunch, reading the newspaper (lots of stuff to read when you get The Washington Post), doing yardwork, doing house cleanup (I've been slacking on that), recovering from the work, making dinner, some TV, etc. And all of a sudden it is time to get some sleep.

There is always something that has to be done before something else can be done.  I couldn't do much last year after falling off the extension ladder and it is amazing how fast flowerbeds can go "all to hell" in a single year.  

And one sad example was where I planned to plant the heirloom tomatoes.  Too many years in the same spot, and diseases build up in the soil.  So I decided to grow them this year in a new spot.  The last few years, black-eyed susans grew there.  Not my photo, but similar enough.  I have them growing in various places and I have goldfinches.

But I wanted to save them into my developing meadow bed, so I spent time digging them up and moving them.  They are hardy.  After a week, all seem to be re-establishing themselves in the new spots.  That job done, I dug the soil where I wanted to grow the tomatoes.  The spot has an annoying runner-grass, so I had to dig deeply.  I picked out all the runners I could find and then covered the area with black mesh landscaping fabric.

That should smother the runner grass.  But mostly it lets water through the fabric and prevents splash-up from the soil onto the tomato leaves (which could infect the tomatoes).  So, I laid down the fabric, set cages on top for spacing and poked a hole in the fabric to identify where the tomato seedlings would go. Set a small stake in each hole.  Lifted the fabric and dug out a shovelful of soil into a bucket.

Mixed low N (too much nitrogen and you get "all plant no fruit") and some P and K and calcium into the bucket.  Poured the mix back into the hole.  Did that 11 times.  With all the planting spots established, I laid the fabric back down and cut Xs in the planting spots (for setting the seedlings down in later).

Planting the seedling was easy, sort of.  My knees down bend like they used to, so it was (grunt) get down, make a hole in the loose soil, set a seedling in, backfill the hole, set in a label, set in a 2' stake for the seedling to hold on to as it strengthens outdoors, and put a cage over it.  My cages are 6" concrete remesh with a separate stake holding them up.  Storm winds can blow an unstaked cage over. 

11 times.  I was worn out...

Then it was time to clear the flowerbeds.  Too many overgrown shrubs!  Several I planted years ago were described 5' tall and 3' wide.  They were 8' tall and 6' wide.  And sending up shoots from the spreading roots.  They had to go.

It was like hacking a path through a jungle.  The hedge-trimmer worked on the small outer branches, the more larger trunks needed a saws-all with a landscaping blade.

That was a brutal job and it isn't finished yet.  But at least I got it down to where I can cut at the bottom. And pull the parts over the fence.  

Which led to a day of hauling shrub and tree debris to the front yard to fill the 5'x8' trailer as high as I can tie it down safely for delivery to the County mulching site.  They take yard debris and pile it up until it is compost and then give it away for free to any resident with a trailer.  And will fill my trailer with finished compost for free on Saturdays.  So what I bring to them, I get in return.

I filled some deck pots with cheap flowers from Walmart and Lowe's.  It is nice to see flowers on the deck.  I usually grow my own, but I was lazy.

And FINALLY, I topped the trailer with cut brush from several years ago that was sitting in the edge of the lawn in several places.  Pulling the old debris from the vines that grew over them was a real fight, but I think I got them all.  They are all kind of loose and high, but I I will tie them down side-to-side, front-to-back, and diagonally.  I have added eyebolts and clips all around the outside of the trailer, so that gives me good tie-downs.

I'll have them fill the trailer with compost in return.  That will go around the tomatoes and flowerbeds.

And then the fight with the spreading poison ivy and periwinkle will start!  It's always something.  Never mind the wild blackberries that are thriving in the far back yard.  That is next week's problem to attack.

And I have 40 perennial seedlings to plant in the meadow bed.  

I sometimes wonder that I get any sleep at all.  

But I made 

Garden

The garden was started late, but is catching up with the warm weather and sunny days. 

The Black-Eyed Susans are spreading and thriving.  I encourage them, as they are native plants and adapted to the weather patterns here. 

The flat italian beans are growing well up the curved trellis.  I made the trellis curved so the beans would hang down in plain sight.  Easier to find.

I planted a Fall crop of snow peas on a short trellis of leftover concrete mesh wire.  The corks are there so I don't scratch myself on rusty wire.

The melons are slow to climb a trellis at first, but when they start, they climb fast.  I have mesh onion bags to hold the developing melons.  THere are cukes growing in another bed.  But they are self-supporting.

Two cherry tomato plants from a couple of weeks ago.  One now has a fruit ripening.  They are double the size now.  When they start producing, they don't stop until late October. Or maybe November if the frost holds off.  Climate change has SOME benefits if you are in the right place.

The tadpole tub.  It wasn't intentional, but I saw tadpoles in it one day and have been nurturing them since.  The stick is for the ones that survive to develop legs to get a way out.  I don't know if they are toads or frogs.  I hope they are toads.  Both eat some pesky insects, but toads are quiet.  A toad in the garden is better than a frog in a pond.

I sprinkle some fish-flakes on the surface every couple days.

This is the bean patch a week later.  I'm harvesting!

I like them better than regular green beans.  Earthier, nuttier flavor.  Plus, you won't find them in the grocery store.

Garden Plantings

I don't know why I am so late this year (but the ladder fall, limping around, feeling tired, staying in bed late , and bad weather when I had the time to plant) all added up.  Things kind of got beyond me a bit this year...

Anyway, I have finally felt more active lately and got some useful work done.  Yay!  Well, better late than never.  At least they have time to produce SOME harvest.

The tomato seedlings are planted.  I had laid down permeable fabric beforehand and cut Xs where the seedling would go in; then stuck markers in the ground and pulled the cut-to-fit fabric aside.  Then I gave the soil some care.  I take a good few shovelfuls of soil into a bucket and mix organic fertilizer in as I add it back.  That way, there is basically a 5 gallon bucket of well-mixed loose fertilized soil for the seedlings to go into.  The tomato roots don't spread further than that.

So then I put the fabric back on and use a bulb-planter to make a hole for the seedlings.  Tomatoes grow roots from asny buried stem, so the deeper the better.  Early roots are better than early top growth!  [An exception is grafted plants.  The graft has to be above the soil line].

So I got them all planted this week.  I can fit 6 tomotes in a framed bed and there are 2 of them.  Here is one...

A close-up of one seedling. ..

The cage is made of concrete wire mesh.  22" in diameter and 5' tall.  I made them 25 years ago and they are as sturdy as when new.

This isn't new this year.  They are broccoli and purple cauliflower plants.  I planted them last year and they didn't do much.  But they survived the Winter and I' have hopes they will sprout.  There were more broccoli, but the ones that developed heads (and then smaller side-heads) were harvested and pulled.  One neat thing I've discovered is  that the green cabbage worms don't like purple leaves.  They are too easy for predators to find.

I'm trying an idea with the pole beans.  I made a frame of concrete rebar and bent some leftover wire mesh at an angle.  The idea is that the beans will hang down from among the leaves and will be easier to find and pick.

The beans are growing fast!  One month and they are 6' high!  I read a study once that suggested delaying planting of many crops.  The idea is the cool weather slows their growth and later-planted crops often surpass the early ones in total growth and productivity.  Well, I guess I am sure testing that this year (unintentionally).

I also planted small-seeded cucumbers, cantelopes, honeydews, and watermelon along the framed bed trellises (more concrete wire mesh).  Those may seem rather heavy fruits to grow on a trellis, but I have a bunch of plastic mesh bags to support the fruits.  Vertical space IS free, after all.

And after all that, I weeded the remaining areas of the beds.  If I have been late to the Spring-plantings, I am ready for the Fall plantings in late July.  Most people ignore Fall, but it has some advantages.  Summer warmth promotes fast growth, and Fall temperatures actually improve the flavor and extend the harvesting time for some crops.  I can have a second crop of snow peas, and most root crops turn starch into sugars, much as fruits do.

As farmers do, I fear the worst, but hope for the best.  Some years are better than others.  ;)

The Veggie Garden

Yeah, the Spring crops failed.  I was a slacker about watering.  Paid too little attention.  It SEEMED it was raining enough, but seedlings are so demanding.  And I was distracted by other concerns at critical times. 

So I focussed on the Mid-Summer plantings for Fall crops for once.  I normally don't, but when it is July and the veggie beds are mostly barren, why not?

The wide shot...

The first corn...

And a 2nd on the left

Cukes look healthy...

Flat Italian pole beans are growing up the trellis.  I actually have 2 trellisses of them.  You can't have too many beans!

This is a volunteer daisy.  I'm leaving it because it attracts good bugs.

The tomatoes are growing an inch a day in the warmth and sun.  I might get fruits in early September.  And for 2 more months after.  It stays warm here alost 2 weeks longer than when I moved here 34 years ago.

Leeks.  Good with cream of potato soup. I don't bother to grow potatoes anymore since my favorites (Yukon Gold) are in the grocery stores these days and taste the same.  Some crops are worth growing because they taste better fresh.  Potatoes are not one of them.

Yellow squash seedlings.  I'll select the best one and pull the other 2.  I have another close to there for cross-pollination.

One framed bed is currently dedicated to transplants.  This Knockout Rose has no smell but lovely flowers.  The insects don't bother it at all (because no smell, I assume).  I will take cuttings from it to multiply.

And I have discovered something odd about my camera.  It just won't focus well on solid red flowers.  I tried these on macro, normal and at a distance enlarged.  It all comes out the same bit fuzzy.  Same with the Maltese Cross flower - solid red and I can't get a sharp pic.

Resolved Issues

This past week...

1.  Planted the Fall veggie garden.
2.  Got new checks.
3.  Attached trailer ball on riding mower.
4.  Bought new car.
5.  Figured out new edging better than that plastic crap.
6.  Got non-subscription 2019 MS Office for Mac.
7.  Made a pizza from scratch.

Garden

I got the first seeds in the soil yesterday.    It was good to scratch up the dirt.  First was pre-germinated snow peas.  I soak then 24 hours and then let them sit 2 days.  I plant the obes tat send out a root.

This morning, I planted a 6' pattern of 35 spinach seeds.  I tapped out a handful and they were the exact amount.  Yay!

I also planted a sq ft each of radishes, beets, carrots, and kholrabi. 

The basement light stand is full of trays of tomatoes, peppers, cole crops, and flowers.  Most are emerging.  And I've started the dormant Venus Fly Traps in the cold garage; 4 hours of light this week and 1 more hour each week until it is warm outside.

Stared my war against the voles.  The voles eat plant roots.  And use mole tunnels o avoid predators.  So to rid the yard of voles, I have to chase the moles out.  Poor moles...  But they have to go to make the voles go.

Voles are like mice but eat plant roots.  And they love to hide.  They are the ones that eat your tulip and crocus bulbs.  They are also what the cats call "mousies" mostly.

I replanted my lettuce trays too.

Garden and Yard Plantings

I mentioned the tree saplings yesterday.  But there are also veggie and flower seedlings to start inside each week (for the past month).  I started the tomatoes and peppers and cole crops weeks ago in individually set-up flats of plastic cels.  But 4 weeks ago, knowing I needed numerous flats at 7 and 4 weeks before last frost date, I set up 8.

That meant filling the cels with my self-mixed potting soil mix in flats set into sturdy plastic holders (those planting flats are thin and bendy), adding rainwater I saved in jugs (seed-starters can get obsessive) to soak the potting soil, and stacking them up on my basement potting bench. 

Hey, when it gets to actual planting day, that can save a LOT of time.  And in spite of giving individual attention to planting, assembly-line procedures make it go faster.  But there is ALWAYS something that has to be done you don't expect.

The first surprise of growing plants indoors is lack of good light.  Well, I set up a light rack years ago.  But of course, some bulbs burn out and for some reason that escapes me, they do it over Winter when they aren't even turned on!  At the end of the indoor growing season, they all worked; at the beginning of the new one, about 25% are dead.  Which is why I buy tube bulbs by the case (somewhere between 5000-6500 Kelvin and 2900+ lumens.  They last about 2 years (on 16 hours per day for a couple months) and gradually get weaker over time. 

I'll be buying LED tubes in the future.  They are 2x the cost (but coming down), last 4-5x as long, and stay at full lumens until they suddenly stop.  So, anyway, I had to replace several of the old bulbs and it can get awkward.  I seem to be a bit inept and changing them.  I suppose I need to just use more force turning them into the connections, but I'm always afraid they will break.

So I had 3 requirements (not counting changing the tubes).  First, I replanted cels where the seeds didn't germinate.  If I think I need 12 marigolds and only get 8, I replant quickly.  Seed companies are weird.  If I order celery seeds, I get 1,000.  and what do I need with 1,000 celery plants?  Yet if I order zinnias for a mass planting of 60, they put 25 seeds in a package and I need to order several.  LOL!

Second, I had to move flats around on the light stand AND 6-pack cels from flat to flat.  Some plants grow faster than others.  You want the seedlings close to the lights, so taller ones have to be together.  I keep a label in every 6-pack cel for that reason.  A flat of all the same plants only needs one thankfully.  But mostly I have mixed seedlings in a flat so they need to be moved around.

Third, I built wooden stands of various heights the size of the flats.  That allows a lot of easy height adjustment to keep the seedling near the lights.  And for other adjustment, I cut a few 2"x4" boards the width of the stands so I can raise them 2" or 4" easily.

So I had a choice (this was Monday) to plant some seeds outside or plant a lot more inside.  It was chilly and windy out; guess which I chose to do?  Yes, inside.  I'm planting a LOT of self-sowing annuals for either "just" flower or butterfly/bee/hummingbirds.  I tried scattering butterfly/bee/hummingbird (BBH) flower seeds and covering them lightly per package directions 2 years and they didn't grow much.  This year, I am starting a lot inside and will transplant them into the BBH bed in hopes of better growth.

I'm not depending on the transplants except for first year growth (and hopefully "self-sowing").  But I HAVE to have enough to attract them and get them used to coming here.  The meadow flower bed did reasonably well the first year and "OK" the next.  But I think it needs more help getting started, too.  So about half the seeds I started are for there.  Its not like BBH don't like meadow flowers too, just that they aren't as dedicated to producing what BBH need.  Though I suspect some will be good plants for caterpillars to eat. 

Still, the meadow bed is mostly for ME to enjoy looking at.  And partially, the meadow bed is so that I have something to enjoy looking at while I renovate my 25 year old perennial bed along the fence.  It has slowly lost ground (literally, LOL) to invading fosythia, poison ivy, some vine I don't recognize, old age. and changes in sunlight.

Parts of it are undisturbed and thriving (hurray for Stoke's Aster and Autumn Joy Sedum and some individual plants like Brunerra Jack Frost), but it mostly need to be ripped up and started over.  Ans this time as a cottage garden, I think.  Tall flowers (that self-sow) so thickly-growing that they shade out the weeds.

I've change my flowerbed habits several times over the years.  It's always a decision with ups abd downs.  Annual flowers need transplanting every year, but they bloom all year.  Perennials last years (for most) and decades (for some) but flower briefly.  Self-sowing annuals might be an interesting combination.  The pictures I've seen of self-sowing cottage gardens suggest that they might flower like annuals bur last for years.  I know that in a house I rented for 4 years. Four O' Clocks (annuals) reliably filled the space all the time I was there.

I may be an interesting growing season...

Good Outside Day

I presoak my large seeds.  I think I get more emerging seedlings that way.  I put them in an old ice cube tray.  It isn't hard to tell some seeds apart (what else looks like corn or beans?) .  But I had 2 kinds of SE bi-color corn (early and late) so I drew a box on paper with names.

I planted the beans (yellow italian flat pole beans), english style seedless cucumbers, a couple yellow squash along the trellises at the back of the framed beds.

Planting the corns was more involved.  I chose to plant then where I had tomatoes near the house last year.  It was mostly still covered with red plastic so there weren't too many weeds, but there were some.  And I added 2" of compost to the top.  I have a nice little electric tiller good for small spaces and used that to mix the compost in.

I didn't think there was much above ground or below, but this little tiller really wraps up anything around the blades!  It took we 15 minutes to unwind all the grass and weed roots (and I was annoyed to find a poison ivy vine it pulled up. 

I was wearing gloves, so no real concern about a poison ivy rash, but I soaked the gloves in hot soapy water and washed my had up to the elbows carefully afterwards.  I'm careful around that stuff, as I pulled up unknown viny roots from my asparagus bed and had 2 weeks of poison ivy annoyance years ago.

But after the tilling, the ground was soft and mostly weed-free.  So I drew two 3'x3' blocks  and stuck stakes around them  to mark the planted area.  There is space for another succession planting of 2'x2' blocks of both corns in 3 weeks.  Stuck one germinated corn seed in each 1 square foot block.

Then it was time to fertilize.  I had some leftover 6-0-0 corn gluten meal liquid and some N-Lite 2-6-6 (which makes a good balance), but I can't use the corn gluten liquid where there are new seeds.  Then I remembered I had some organic 11-0-0 lawn fertilizer.

So I sprinkled a mix of the lawn fertilizer and the N-Lite that resulted in a 6-6-6 fertilizer for most of the garden.  I used the corn gluten liquid (that prevents seed from germinating) on the tomato and pepper seedling bed (since it won't disturb them but will suppress weeds).   And I spread mostly lawn fertilizer over the corn planting area since corn is a heavy Nitrogen user (like lawn grass).

And since I was in "fertilizing mode", I mixed more 6-6-6 to spread on the meadow flower bed and the hummer/bee/butterfly bed. 

The hummer/bee/butterfly bed really got my attention.  It is almost bare of growth!  I suspect the seed mix I sowed last year was almost all annuals. 

I need to find a better mix.  I got out the catolog I bought the last year's seeds from, but they do not say which are annuals and which are perennials.

But that is for next time.  I was tired.

Busy As Bees We Is, Part 1

This is one on the busiest times of year for me in the yard and garden (the "Yarden").  No matter how I try to organize things, the week around the average last frost day of the year has too much to do.  This year (someone hit me with a "stupid stick"), I added to it.  I bought more flowers to plant.

In the past few days, I did too much and every joint and muscle is sore (I Love Ibuprofen and non-smelly muscle rub).  But I think I've gotten over the hump for this year, so I have time to post about it. 

First, I should say that I am not a very efficient user of time these days.  Oh, in the office, I was great at it.  I could multi-task with the best.  Switching from scrolling through telephone call data to answering a telephone question from a regional office, to joining a quick meeting on some other subject, no problem.  I was at the office and that was all I was doing.  Office stuff.

Second, at home, forget it!  I'm in bed 10 hours to get 7 hours sleep, I spend a lot of time preparing fresh meals, I play with the cats, I watch some TV in the evening (political commentary, baseball, documentaries).  I have to fit all the yard and house work around those.

When I plant stuff outside, I am very detailed.  Take planting tomato seedlings, for example.  I don't just jam a trowel into the dirt and stick a rootball in there.  No...  I dig a hole a foot wide and deep.  I put a handful of compost in the hole, add a sprinkle of crushed eggshells I saved (to reduce blossom-end rot), add sprinkle of 2-6-6 fertilizer (for stem and root growth - the compost provides the nitrogen).  I add the lovingly-grown tomato seedling, add a mix of compost and topsoil, and repeat that 2x until the seedling is buried with only the top leaves showing (tomatoes will grow roots from all buried stem). 

Then I form a wall around the seedling to hold water and stick a metal label in the ground with the variety name on it.  Then I put in a 3' stake to hold the seedling as it grows, and go on to the next seedling.  When I finish a row of tomato seedlings (3, 4, 5 whatever fits in the space).  Then I cut holes in a red IRT plastic fabric that both suppresses weeds AND reflects red light upward into the tomato plants (increases yields about 10-20% - I need all the help I can get with my limited sunlight). 

Then I place heavy-duty wire cages over each seedling.  Forget those cheap flimsy tomato cages they sell in catalogs.  Mine are made of concrete reinforcement  wire mesh.  The openings are 6" square, and the cages are 24" diameter and 5' tall.  Each cafe is then anchored in place with a 6' metal stake pounded at least a foot deep to prevent summer storms from blowing the mature plants in the cages over. 

And I'm doing all that rather bent over perched on a piece of plywood to distribute my weight so I don't compact the lovely soil around them!  It takes about 20 minutes per seedling overall from start to finish and I'm in awkward positions most of the time. 

That's the difference between a hobby and a business, LOL!

So, over the past few days, I planted 12 tomato seedlings - 4 hours just for that.  But they are good to go for the season...

Part 2 tomorrow...

The Veggie Garden

Things are going well with the veggies this year.  The garden enclosure has made a real difference!  No squirrel or groundhog as gotten at the garden, and few insect pest.  Interestingly, bees and other good bugs have had no problem. 

This is a Kohlrabi.  It is a member of the cole family (broccoli, cabbage, etc).  But it grows a swollen part in the bottom of the plant.  Here, you can see the swelling that will grow.  It will become about the size of a tennis ball.  Cole crops were bred in various locations to produce large heads (cabbage, cauliflower), open heads (broccoli), small side heads (Brussels Sprouts), and middle swollen stems (kohlrabi). 

Sometimes I try to imagine why someone decided to grow a swollen stem plant.  I can't.  But it is both "broccolish" and a bit sweet, so I try it every few years. 

These are some of the heirloom tomatoes.   This year, I have Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Pruden's Purple, Ponderosa Pink, and Striped German.  I also have 2 hybrids of Brandywine (Garden Treasure and Garden Gem) and will see if they have the "heirloom flavor" they claim to have.  All the  plants are thriving; no signs of disease.

My first successful planting of Spinach.  I could have Spinach every night and as much as I like it, that's too much.  Next year, I will plant half the row.

The regular cole crops are doing well.  I found caterpillars on 2 plants and killed them all.  They are usually a BIG problem here, but with the garden enclosure, the cabbage moths don't find them as well.  Yay!

I have high hopes for the corn.  I'm growing 2 kinds of bi-color corn this year.  One early type and one late.  The further back 2 rows are the late ones and the 2 front are the early ones.  I will plant 2 more rows of early ones next week for succession harvesting.  At the very back are cucumbers.  They will grow faster than the corn, so they won't be shaded much.  And corn doesn't make much shade anyway.  You can't see, but there are cantaloupe melons at each end.  They will grow along the ground and shade out weeds around the corn. 

Here I have Italian flat pole beans.  The 1st planting only had 3 beans grow.  A 2nd planting got 100% germination.  I LOVE Italian flat beans.  And you can see carrots growing in the corner.

I took pictures of the Zucchini  and Bell Peppers and Honeydew melon seedlings, but they didn't come out well.  But they are there and growing.

Believe it or not, next week starts the Fall plantings!  I have left a few empty spaces for Brussels Sprouts and Garlic.  And I will continue to plant lettuces and radishes to the end of September as I harvest them in their squares. 

Other Complaints

Sort of continued from yesterday...

Aside from the heat pump problems, I've had damaged/loose tiles around the bathtub for almost a year.  At first, I couldn't get any highly-rated company on Angie's List to come out.  The job was too small.  Then it gradually got too big.  Them I couldn't get a bathroom remodeler to come out because the job was too small. 

I have a plastic trash bag duct-taped over the loose tiles.  Well, it FINALLY got big enough of a problem for one remodeler to come look Wed.  Quite frankly, I hadn't looked under the plastic covering lately, and it was worse than I thought. 

I expected bad news and I got it!  Now let me mention that this "starter house"  (where I have lived for 30 years) was not the best-built of houses.  The builder took shortcuts all over the place.  Apparently, one of those shortcuts was around the bathtub.  The seal around the tub faucet was leaky, the tile was poorly applied, the grout cracked, and the wall behind the tiles was truly waterproof. 

The remodeler popped one seemingly sound tile right off and pushed an awl right through the wall behind it.  Everything seem rotted...  So he came by yesterday with a basic proposal, subject to change after they remove the tiles and see behind the wall. 

They propose to remove all the tiles, replace the backer board wall, repair some damaged drywall, replace the tub faucet and showerhead (upper tile loosening suggests it is leaking inside the wall), and re-tile higher than it currently is  (which is below the showerhead).  And replace the bathtub itself.

I asked about why to replace the bathtub, and he said that, at 30 years old my cheap one won't last much longer and it would require pulling off the new tiles and some drywall to replace it then at twice the price.

I did some internet research and I know the routine for bathroom remodelers.  They get the initial job, then find all sorts of further problems (replace studs, scrape and spray mold, replace the floor, discover insect damage, etc).   I'm resigned to that.  There are some repairs you just HAVE to have done even when you know you are being taken advantage of.

At least I have some advantages myself.  I know wood, so they won't be able to lie about the condition of the studs.  I know the floor is solid; I can see it from the basement and there is no waterstain.  But also, I chose this company because their Angie's List rating is A+ for price and quality of work.  So they not only have a good rating, they care about their rating.  And if *I'm* not happy, they won't be happy!

At $5700 for the contracted work, they BETTER make me happy.  But it will be 3 weeks before they get to me on their schedule.  And they estimate 10 days of work (not every day, some parts have to sit a couple days to set). 

And then there is my right knee.  It has been a month since I first twisted it.  At first, it was pinful just getting it and out of bed.  And getting up and down stairs was an adventure in caution.  At least now I can walk almost normally.  Stairs are still annoying, but not actually painful.  Putting on my right sock and shoe are still awkward (but just an "err" and not a "GRRRR".  But it all means that I have not been able to do any gardening work in this extended mild temperature we have had all April and early May.  It will heal...

But then there is the weather.   After 3 weeks of drought late March and early April, we have had 10 days of daily off-and-on drizzle.  5" of drizzle and not any heavy rain but 1 hour.  So, good knee or bad, I wasn't going to get to do much work in the flower or vegetable gardens.  The vegetable garden is newly redone, so it doesn't need much work and the early crops were in and the warm weather crops will wait. 

But the flowerbeds are all gone to heck.  Weed grasses and regular weeds are nearly taking over.  This was going to be a Spring of renovation.  Too many of my perennial flowers have slowly died back (perennials don't live forever) and I was planning to dig up everything worth saving and rototill large areas to start over with some perennials that DO seem to live forever and add lots of annuals this year while I decide what to do in the future. 

I went big into perennials 15 years ago, but they are disappointing.  Most only flower a week or two.  Some flower longer, but are shorter-lived (3-5 years).  Some are very special in their short blooms (oriental lilies, tulips, daffodils, etc), and some have great foliage (Hostas, Brunella).  But I like the ones that flower all season or at least all Fall (Coneflowers, Goldenrod, Astilbe, Clatis, Asters).

I'm going back to annuals ( Zinnias, Salvia, Marigolds, Coleus, Impatiens).  More work each Spring to plant under lights inside and transplant, but I have time for that.  And growing seeds from scratch gives my better varieties than the local Walmart sells.

But if my knee doesn't heal soon, I won't be able to get down and scrape the weeds off the soil (and dig out the deep-rooted ones) and plant all those seedlings. 

Mom used to tell me that "getting old isn't for sissies".  I understood that theoretically a decade ago; now I know personally.  I'll turn 66 in 2 weeks.  LOL!

I've stayed young long.  You know how, in high school, there were those who matured fast?  Well, they aged fast too.  I always took some comfort in that.  Well, age is starting to catch up with me...  Small matters to be sure.  But I bet I need a knee transplant in 10 years.  My knees have always been a bit loose.

Most people fidget in some way.  They doodle, they hum, they tap their fingers.  I shake my ankles.  Sound weird?  Put your right ankle up on your left knee.  Now shake your ankle up and down constantly.  That's what I do at the computer.  I'll bet I loosened that knee badly over the decades...

"tempis fugit, momento mori".

 

Random Thoughts

My right knee is still bothering me.  As always, my complete understanding that many people have worse problems temporary or permanent, but this one is mine right now and it has been 3 weeks now.  It's getting better.  Walking straight forward on level ground is almost back to normal.  Any sideways pressure is annoying.  Stairs are hardest.  Hopefully, another week, and I will notice that I am NOT noticing my knee. 

Or not.  Stuff starts to get permanent after 65.  I expect one day soon it will just be normal again.  But that is apparently a weak part of me and someday it won't ever be "normal" again.  In fact, I suppose that if I could channel my 30 year old self, "none" of me would seem "normal".

Speaking of which, a lawn service salesman knocked on my door and (surprisingly) after I made it clear I was a D-I-Yer and we talked about the details of lawn maintenance.  He actually thought my lawn was the best in the neighborhood, and when I detailed my particular weed problems and what I was doing about them, he agreed I really didn't need his services.  But he seemed to want to talk and I wasn't busy so we talked (rare for me, I usually just politely tell door-to-door salesmen to leave).  He was about my age.

His son was a Top Gun pilot, he showed me a newspaper article.  He guessed my age 10 years younger (which wasn't just a sales trick; it's routine - "mature slow, age slow").  But when we compared ailments (it's an age thing), he recommended I drink diluted gelatin.  That seemed odd and I had to think about that for a moment.

Aha, gelatin is made from mammal sinews and tendons, and I had a "tendon" problem.  He is into homeopathy (using small amounts of a substance that causes the symptoms to be treated or using small amounts of supplementals with a similar nature to the problem)!  He suggested a book to read.  I ignored his idea out-of-hand, but I let him go on for a few minutes.  I was vaguely fascinated talking to a homeopathy adherent.  I finally begged off, as my lunch was waiting on the table, but I looked up the book. 

So, drinking gelatin made from tendons to strengthen tendons...  Pure nonsense.  Every respectable study I found in 15 minutes showed no results from it.  People believe the STRANGEST things.

I used my new Fiscar "Stand Up Weeder" today.

It's really cool.   You put the blades over the weed (really good for dandelions), step on the base, and when you lever the handle the blades close together and pull up 3" of roots, the plant comes up, and you slide the orange lever to open the blades and push the plant off the blades.  I bet I got out 100 dandelions in 15 minutes today.  Without bending over.  Not an ad, when *I* recommend a product, the manufacturer doesn't even know.  Think of me as a personal Consumer Reporter...

I watered the tulip/daffodil bed today.  We haven't had rain in 10 days, are forecast for MAYBE 1/4" tomorrow, and then none for another week.  But I mention that to mention that my sprinkler wasn't working right.  It would stick in one position.  So I took it apart a few days ago. 

Granted, that's not like taking apart a clock or a mixer.  But if you take some parts off something that isn't working right and clean and lubricate the parts and put them back together, it is amazing how often the thing starts working again. 

And the sprinkler worked just fine.  Yeah, I could have just bought a new sprinkler, but I really like this one.  It's called a "rain-dancer".  The spray not only moves back and forth, but it hesitates and reverses briefly, but ALSO fluctuates the force of the spray as it goes.  And even having taken it apart and put it back together, I have NO idea how it does it.  But it is working again and that is what really matters.

Not to say that everything went well.  There is a dial that aligns the spray to go full back and forth, only left, only right, and only 30 degrees in the center.  So... I was a bit careless when I turned it on and got a facefull of spray!  LOL!  I wiped off my face OK, but it took a while to get the water out of my ears...

The tulip/daffodil bed got a good hour of watering while I went around using the Fiscar thing to pull up dandelions.

Speaking of the flower bed, I planted 100 hyacinths in cages and not a single one as so much as broken the surface.  Either hyacinths are way fussier about when they are planted than tulips, or something was seriously wrong with the bulbs.  I'll bet that it was MY fault planting them late and that they needed more cold-time.  The bulbs seemed healthy and firm when planted.  Maybe their underground shoots are thicker than the 1/2" wire cages and they were choked.  I'm going to ask the bulb providers.  Or maybe they will just show up next week.  Or next year.

The garden is started outdoors.  Last week, I planted 4 broccoli seedlings, 2 purple cauliflower seedlings, and 2 dwarf cabbage seedlings.  And I planted seeds of radish, shallot, scallions, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, and spinach.  The snow peas are starting to reach the trellis and they will take off when they grab that.  The planted seeds are just starting to emerge.  I water those gently with a mister at first.  Some of those seeds are planted very shallowly (small seed - shallow planting).  When they have some roots developed, I can use the shower setting (which is about like a gentle rain) and that is a LOT faster watering!

It's good to see something planted and growing.

The flats of flowers are outdoors half a day now (to get them used to sunlight after the gentler artificial lights indoors).  Day temperatures are getting above 70F and the nighttime temperatures are at or above 50F, so they are getting  used to changes in temperatures.  A week of careful introduction to outdoor reality can really make a difference!

Started Planting Veggies

HURRAY!  Got some plants in the ground in the garden, and some seeds too.  The transplants were broccoli/cauliflower/cabbage.  The direct seeds were radishes, spinach, carrots, parsnips, scallions, kohlrabi, and

Finally.  It seems that 1st planting day will never come.   Since this year is the first for the new raised bed garden in full planting (I was late starting last year because the enclosure wasn't complete), I wasn't sure where to plant stuff.  So last week was planning.

Nothing fancy, but I tend to generally use "square foot gardening".  I don't do it precisely, and I have to say that 4' wide beds are a bit awkward to reach into, but I do it as a general rule.  Not being sure how much space I had, I scribbled on paper for a while.

Largest stuff first.  The 22" diameter tomato cages take 4 sq ft and I love heirloom tomatoes above all other garden crops.  I set space for 6 cages (I have a place for 6 other cages outside the enclosure).  And no, 12 tomato plants are not too many for me.  Heirlooms produce fewer fruits (but are worth it).

Then comes the trellises of cucumbers and flat Italian beans, that took 11 sq feet at the ends of the beds.  And a few sq ft each for 2 bush squashes (one green, one yellow).

Then I want space for melons.  I love honeydew and cantaloupe melons, and I have some dwarf watermelons started.  But the space they take is not for them alone.  They like to grow on the ground, so there is some space for upright plants that will die before the melons grow fully.  That means broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower can be inter-planted in 2 beds where the honeydew and cantaloupe melons will grow later.

And then there is the bi-color corn.  I love that stuff (sweet AND "corny").    I'm taking a chance on growing small watermelons and corn in the same bed.  The idea is that the corn will grow high and the watermelons will grow low (and the watermelon won't try to climb the corn stalks).

The American Indians (especially the Iriquois) used to grow The Three Sisters.  Squash on the ground to shade out the weeds, corn to grow high, and pole beans to climb the cornstalks.  I've tried that a couple times and it didn't work.  The bi-color corn I grow has smaller stalks and the beans overwhelm them.  So the beans are separate this year.  The melons want to spread out over my raised beds, but I am going to keeps the vines corralled in the raised bed with tent pegs.  I hope that works.

But what about all the small crops?  Well, after all the space for the stuff above was accounted for , I had about 40 sq ft left.  3 are going to radishes, 3 to carrots, 3 to parsnips, 3 to shallots, 3 to scallions, 8 to spinach, 2 to Chinese cabbage, 2 to leeks, 1 to basil, 2 to kohlrabi, 2 to beets, 5 to bell peppers, and a few flowers to attract pollinators.

And there are some places around the yard where I can plant some herbs.  And some of the crops are "succession" crops, meaning I can reuse the spaces as the season goes on.  Radishes can be harvested and replanted several times a year, for example, and the broccoli/cauliflower/cabbages are harvested in June and a new crop planted in July for Fall harvest.

Hoping for the best!

Bad Recipe

I like beef short ribs.  Tastey stuff, but I've never found a good recipe to keep them moist the next day.  So I tried one online for the slow cooker.  It sounded interesting.  Onions, brown sugar, ketchup, red wine vinegar...  And make a gravy after.

OMG, it was horrible!  I have certainly made stuff that I wouldn't serve to friends and eaten it myself just not to be wasteful, but THIS took some work to make palatable.  I had to remove the short ribs from the godawful concoction, rinse it all clean, and then remake a standard beef stew (potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato and add the ribs back in.  It is "OK".

Who makes these recipes and who on Earth rates them 5 stars of 5?  OK, tastes differ, but this had conflicting tastes only an orc could love... 

Busy Day Doing Boring Stuff

Not all days can be exciting.  Today was errand day... 

First, I needed some supplies.  And for cheap brand-name supplies, I go to Wal-Mart.  And when I shop at Wal-Mart, I go at mid-morning on a weekday.  So off I went at 10 am...  Some visits are better than others; I barely found half the stuff I was looking for.

So I went home, dropped off the few items, had a quick lunch, fed the Mews their 2nd meal, and went grocery-shopping.  I went to a store I usually don't shop at because the last time, they had the best peaches I have had in years and I was considering changing store loyalty.  The last visit was a fluke!  So I went to my regular store.  The produce was a bit better.

That doesn't mean "great".  I don't know why grocery stores put out peaches and plums etc that are hard as rocks, golden delicious apples and pineapples that are green, melons that you could pound nails with, and strawberries that are nearly white.  I guess most people don't know what "ripe" is for most fruits and just put up with it.  No wonder most people don't eat enough fruits; unripe fruit isn't worth eating.   Fortunately, I've grown enough stuff to know the difference, so I buy was is "tolerably" ripe, enjoy the truly ripe, and ignore the rest.

Sorry, I'm really gripey because the quality seems to be getting worse.  I love fresh fruits and veggies and wish I had the space, sun, and time to grow all my own.  But its not like I'm ever going to grow oranges and pineapples here in Maryland!

Fortunately, the veggies are easier.  Most can be eaten at any stage of growth (there is no such thing as "unripe" broccoli or mushrooms, for example).  That's why I try to grow crops that DO need ripening, like tomatoes and corn.

So I did my produce shopping and then went to Nick's (meat, deli, liquor).  I love that place.  They custom-cut meat and have great prices, discount liquor, and a great deli counter.  And they special-order my favorite inexpensive (under-appreciated) zinfandel wine.  I'll give an example:  They had Filet Mignon on sale at $10.69 per pound.  That sounds expensive, but it is all meat.  I end up with 7 small steaks at $4 each.  Doesn't a Filet Mignon steak at $4 sound good to you?  And large fresh-frozen shrimp (deveined) 2 lbs for $10. 

Beat THAT at any restaurant...  Well, it DOES help that I like to cook, and after 45 years I do it tolerably well.  I'm never going to be on any TV cooking show, but I haven't complained about my cooking lately.  When you start out adult life broke and doubling up on Hamburger Helper, a $4 Filet Mignon steak is pretty darn good.  Surrounded by sides of homegrown tomatoes, cucumber, and mesclun lettuce salad, corn on the cob, and italian flat beans...

Tonight's dinner was actually stir-fried red and green peppers, onion, celery, potato cubes, and pork I smoked on the offset grill.  And the same salad and grilled pineapple slices.

So today turned out to be the first non-yardwork day in 2 weeks.  I needed the day off.  The front yard grass is up and growing, the backyard grass is down and moistened for germination, and everything else can wait til tomorrow.

It was a good day!

The Garden Inside

I have been planting while I built.  I risked losing plants to the Evil Squirrels or Groundhogs, but I've managed to avoid them this year.  I may have reduced the local population down to where they don't like getting into my space.

Which is good, because there are still gaps between the rolls of chicken wire I need to patch. 

They great news is that my garden, while incomplete, is growing well.

First, I have my first main season tomato.  It is a Big Beef, which is a hybrid and not my favorite, but it is still better than the store-bought ones.  The heirlooms are just now fruiting and will take a couple weeks to ripen.

I'm trying somehing in one bed based of the Three Sisters of Native America plantings.  Thats growing corn, letting pole beans climb the cornstalks, and growing melons below to shade out weeds. 

I may have planted the corn late; the beans are growing faster.  But I'll see what happens for this year.  I can stick 8' posts in the ground between the corn plants to let the pole beans climb (and the pole beans are the flat italian kind which taste better than standard ones to my mind).  The melons are honeydew.

The heirloom tomatoes are growing unusually tall.  New soil with good compost, I guess.  But most have blossoms now.  Below them are 2 green squash and 1 yellow squash.

This bed has cantalope melons.  I'm planting Fall crops around it.  I'm off-schedule with most plantings this year because of the enclosure construction work.  I should be back on schedule next year.  But it is a rare opportunity for Fall crops that I usually don't get around to.

This cherry tomato was planted late.  It sat in a tiny 6-pack cell for months and I had about given it up for dead and/or stunted.  But after being in ground for only 2 weeks, it went from a 8" sprig to this.  Talk about GROWTH!  I may harvest cherry tomatoes yet...

This is more late plantings.  Broccoli, Leeks, Cabbage, and Celery.  All I can get from Celery around here is leaves, but they sure are strong-tasting!  Which is exactly what I want in my salads.

And I have Brussels Sprouts, Radishes, Carrots,