Went outside the back door of the plantation house and caught a squirrel muching on one of my peaches----little ***tards. I knew what time it was...

Rescued most of them and ended up with 23 peaches, from ping-pong ball to tennis ball-sized. Should be enough for a tasty pie.

Now to get some squirrel poison.....

 

The only thing I have accomplished all day was to send off for a 3 pound spool of .105" trimmer line. 32 bucks and change from amazon, free shipping.

I seem to have a few pulled muscles, so using the rest of the line I have is very unattractive just now

 

Sounds like a good deal on the trimmer line. Absorbine Junior for those muscle aches....

 

I used aspecreme, and a truckload of naproxen

 

If Sissy loves plants - I can point you at some fine suppliers of seed http://www.weeksseeds.com/ for one, http://www.excitinggardens.com is another, then there is http://www.ParkSeeds.com (That last should lead to a list, in fact)

I realised something today that I should have exploited long ago: Kitty Litter used in place of pearlite or vermiculite works very well especially because of how moisture absorbent and retentive the stuff is. So long as it is not scented, and has no funny chemicals added to reduce odors and such like baking soda. A fifteen pound bag of the plain old dollar store kind is around $3 and can be got from most anywhere, no garden center trips required!

It mixes well, and one part in four or five (vice three) looks like it will do perfectly. Got me thirty pounds of it for the price of a sixpack! I'da got more, but I didn't have a garden cart with me to drag it home with

*About the first of those seed links above, I have grown several of their giant varieties in recent years - and totally blew all of my neighbors minds!!! It was hilarious... I had a cucumber last year that got to be over four feet long
In fact, I still have a seed pack and a stretch of fence I wanted to do something cool with

I got out a little bit ago, and situated the one tomato plant I want for this year.. I'm not even going to set stakes around the cage for it - just let the weight of the plant hold it down. It's a Weeks Giant, so there won't be a problem. To ONE 33" Swamper Planter I added a single 15lb bag of cat litter, then buried it up to the first leaves on the stem- you can do that with a tomato, and it makes them shoot out a ton more roots.

~Gave one of the neighbors a fennel plant, I have so many I just dug one up, popped it into a peatpot, and there ya go... Mac? They're doing great! Thanks a lot, man!

Herbs can be difficult because they so much resemble weeds that you can mistakenly pluck the last thing on earth you wanted to when they first come up. I'm at a point where I have to wait until I know for sure what is growing in various spots. Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and several other trash plants pop up everywhere in this place. Doesn't bother me, I just don't want to weed out any of my "Prizes"

~Catnip is starting to flower, and I found several Cypress Vine sprouts, that are terrific humming bird attractors. I need to keep an eye for any others I can find, since all three colours (red, white, and pink) are here somewhere

BTW, I like to do 'post recycling'. Since nothing new was below, I just kept adding to this one. I hope that doesn't confuse anybody....

 

We haven't even moved yet and she is planning the gardens. First thing to be planted will be potato in barrels, then peas. Ihave build a greenhouse as soon as I can, then she will plant things in that, for late season stuff. I do the labour she does the planting and tending.

 

If you want something seriously TUFF that will outlast barrels - sawing the sidewall out of one side of a super swamper or tractor tire makes a great barrel planter, the price is nice, and the sidewall can be laid around a tree to keep the weeds off of it and protect from line trimmer or other damage.

The opposite sidewall stops a lot of weeds from coming up, so that it becomes a perfect little planter, with excellent drainage down through the middle

In fact, I'm about to collect an old tire from a front end loader someone abandoned at a friends place. Zero cash, frankly he's glad I'm taking it!

~And Sissy is right! 'Taters seem to do better in bins... You can control the soil consistency , without any hassle

NOT ONLY THAT - WHEN DIRT STARTS SPILLING OUT OF THE TOP, YOU GOT SPUDS IN THERE!!!

* I was also advised to be sure I had a pitchfork if I want to get into potato's, seems to be the preferred tool for digging them up

I actually have two barrels of potato's myself. One set is in a commercial tree planter, the other set is in a big rope-handled laundry bucket

I have been disappointed by a lot of plastic planters and buckets, the sun destroys them. Plastic becomes brittle from UV exposure, and then there's a mess to round up. Wood also rots to pieces...

But as we know - a thousand years from now if our society is gone, archeologists will be digging up big round rubber things, and wondering what a "BF GOODRICH" used to be

 

I will start looking for tires - I got six tires for the Mack last year - should have kept the take offs. One thing we found out about potatoes is you can grow them in a dark shed.. Haven't tried that yet, but probably will give it a go. I am kind of partial to a spud called a Russian Fingerling - it is denser than a normal one, deeper coloured than a Yukon gold, and tastes pretty good. I am looking for some to seed.

 

Are you talking about the "Russian BANANA Fingerling Potato's" ?

I found a lot of sources for them

I don't think you can grow any potato successfully in the dark - they have a lot of green bush that comes out of the ground which need light

~I suppose you can... But why would you if you don't have to?

It sounds like an interesting houseplant though - if that is true, they will tolerate the reduced light from "solarized" windows. And that means they can be better protected from weed intrusions...

Growing spuds indoors. Now that is a thing I had not considered. Potentially it means you can have an abundant supply of them, even in the worst climate, all year long - doesn't it?


*One of the options I was thinking about lately is turning one of my rooms into a greenhouse by installing 14 1/2 inch wide windows between the studs that make up the wall (!)
Standard studs are on 16 inch centers

~ I can do that installation myself.

I could also tile the room with plexi or other mirror tiles, so that no light is wasted. Be a great solarium...

"YOU can have a TAN - that nobody else can UNDERSTAND..."
*snikkkerrrezzz*


Seriously - the light could be controlled by venetian blinds


"Tan all over, in the privacy of your own home, yada, yada..."

I think it could work well

I HAVE ALSO LOOKED at artificial lighting, and the downfall of it is that it takes LOTS OF POWER!

It would be working backwards....


Energy of any kind is no longer cheap. I plan to work with what is THERE. The energy from the sun has a lot of components to it that I don't think you can get a light-bulb to produce anyway

**OH! -If you want a taller "BARREL", stack a cut or uncut tire under the other. Fill the bottom one first, then lay the other down on it

The plants you want will find their way around with their roots

 

Here are some photos from this past weekend. There are irises, Tiger Lillies, Sweet marjoram and several bushes blooming. THere are cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers blooming. There are also pics of my apricot tree ready for picking....in about a week or so, I'm guessing---maybe sooner. Just some random blooms of the estate.

 

Hmmm....the link to the album doesn't seem to be working. Let me try this again.

 

 

There's some Feverfew blooming along with other things....not really exciting, but I'm pleased with how things are growing this year.

 

The last time I tried to look at those pics - my PC locked up

I dunno if it is connect speed or what....

Today it is "Wetter than a model looking at a millionaire", and I have no idea how long it will take to dry out. The ground is so saturated that a smart man won't even cut hay - because the wet ground will rot it before it can dry to be bailed

~It's funny the things I have learned while being here

 

I found a great thing to do with my trellis material left over from last year - I have a neighbor who ran a board fence that faces away from me straight across my front yard.

At the top of the supporting posts (4x4) I screwed in potholder hooks, and from that hung the trellis wire. It runs in a continuous sweep right about twenty yards, and on it I will grow vines. I have cypress vines sprouting up everywhere, and they are a far nicer vine than morning glory - they form small trumpets that attract humming birds, and the leaves on them I can only describe as looking like a green feather boa....