Irrigation and More

I was up day break and turned the water down.  I prepared most of the pipes last night.  The watering really went well.  I cleaned the screens about every fifteen minutes.  Then about every thirty minutes and after that every once in awhile.  I was finished around 2:30.

As I was watching the water, I took several photos.  The one below is the peas.  The bottom row of twine is well reached by the pea vine tendrals.   There is a middle row and a top row.  They are growing quite rapidly. 

Before I watered Robert's tomato plants,  The first tomato plants that were planted in house one were to watered well enough.  They are really droopy.  When I dug down to the root level, the soil was dry.  I made a small well which would fill up when I watered them.  We will see if they improve in the next couple of days.

We have this beautiful Munro's Globe mallow,   Sphaeralcea munroana north of our yard.  It seems to look prettier each day, so I take a picture almost every day.

 Here is another Munro's Globe mallow,   Sphaeralcea munroana, which is white. I didn't notice it last year, but it was there the year before.

After my water turn was over, I got the weed whip went after the grasses and weeds at the west end of our garden. 

There was a small bunch under the grape vines.

West of house five I wacked down some grasses that I had killed earlier.

I got the work done and Carol wanted to walk through our yard.  She found a mess north of house two and three.  We folded the poly that was in house two and put it in the truck.  I drug the weed barrier from house two, to the truck and put it in.  I was done, but Carol wasn't so we took them to the dumpster.

Memorial Day

There was a spider in the sink and this is a frequent occurrence.  We work hard to eliminate spiders in the house, however there is a lot of places for them to hide.  I got this picture.  His head is facing up.

Our strawberry patch is suffering.  This morning I fixed.  Carol hose for the front lawn kinks all the time.  I found her another hose, which is a longer and is more resistant to kinks.  I took it to the strawberry patch, and put a sprinkler on it.  I hooked it to a new hose bib and turned on the water.  I started on the west end and every forty-five minutes, I pull the hose to the east.

I have had these sweet potato cutting for a long time.  They have been in the kitchen wind and finally began to grow roots.  I little later came the stems.  When the stems were about eight inches long, I cut them off and put them in another bottle and soon they began to grow roots.  Today we planted them in the garden.  In years past they have been hard to dig.  Today Robert and I built a raised bed.  I have a pile of lumber and in the pile were 2 by 12 board 88 inches long.  There was a 2 by 10 by 16 feet long.  We ended up with a raised bed eight feet long and about 44 inches wider.  We put it upside down and filled it with compost and recycles potting soil. 

We planted ten rooted cutting and then we planted the three mother plants.  They  were in quart bottles.  One was easy to pull out and we managed to pull the other one out.  The third one was so tight, we had to break the bottle. 

This is how it looked after we got it out.  We planted the whole thing with the leaves above ground.  

Below is the raised bed with the sweet potato vines.  The sprinkler has been running for nearly six hours.  Robert said that the soil was hydrophobia.  I will turn the sprinklers on again tomorrow.

Robert and I worked in house one.  The guys planted four more rows of tomatoes.  They were not watered well enough and were really droopy.   We put in place drip lines the two out rows on the left and the two outer rows on the right side.  They were hooked up to a clock.  The clock came on at eleven and was on for three hours.  Most had revived when I checked on it this evening.

The are fourteen #5 nursery cans with tomatoes growing in them.  They were started in December and they vines  were pretty large.  We used the tractor with posthole digger.  Robert helped with the first six.  He went home and I did the rest.  They are all watered.  I need to support them with tomato cages. 

I also planted six more delicious Tomatoes and two German Giant and two yellow lemon.  I started to clean the weeds form the bed west of house five.  We will plant our summer squash there.


Comments and questions are welcomed.

Sunday, the Day Before Memorial Day

We planned on a busy day.  I was up at day light, showered, shaved, and did the watering.  I watered houses one, two, three, and five.  Carol watered the pots and baskets in our front yard.  We had breakfast.  After breakfast we picked iris and Jupiter's beard. 

 After sacrament meeting we loaded the flowers and drove to the Sutherland cemetery.  We put flowers on the headstones shown below.

Our first bay, David Merrill, born 8 February 1964 and passed away the following day.  We were heartbroken.  The pain is eased knowing that we will be reunited with him in the millennium  where we can raise him to adulthood.

The headstone of my parents whom I dearly love.  It will be so good to meet them and other relatives in the hereafter.

We drove to Delta to flower my grandparents.

Then my great grandparents.

While in Sutherland we received a call from Eric and April.  They invited us to meet them in the Provo North Park.  It took us a little 1 1/2 hours to get there.  We missed the picnic. There was plenty left over.  We each mad a sandwich.  I had some watermelon and  we had some cookies.  Below is Paiten and Hanna.  They were in the car ready to go back home.

Quinten had finished his lunch and was taking a nap.

We then drove to the Provo cemetery where we put flowers on the headstone of Carol's parents.

It was nearly six when we got home.  I did the watering again.  Some of the new tomato plants in house one had really wilted.


Questions and comments are welcomed.
Lamium maculatum Purple Dragon, Dead Nettle 

Planting, Eye Guy, Mowing, & Planting

I watched most of the 7:00 news this morning then checked on conditions at the nursery.  Things looked good.  I did a little watering.  Robert and his friends cleaned house one.  The weed barrier was pulled out almost to the street and left there.  Carol has asked me several times to take care of it.  It looks quite untidy, as you see the picture below.

There were two large piece and several small pieces.  They were 12 feet wide and one was about 72 feet long and the other was about 60 feet long.  They were covered with dirt.  The wind was blowing some and they were hard keep in place.  I turned them upside down to dump off the dirt.  I cut the long one in half.  I eventually got them all folded and stored away.

 While by the road folding the weed barrier, they poppy below was blooming.  There are a lot of weeds around it that I need to cut out.

 I planted a large hibiscus plant that survived the winter, because it was in the green house.

It was time for lunch.  I ate a left over slice of pizza.  Also, I cut two stalks of red beats.  They almost look like rhubarb; the were so big.

 I cut the stalks into small pieces and cut the leave.  I boiled it for ten minutes, drained it and added butter and salt.  I thought the stalks would tough and stringy, but I was wrong.  They were tender and tasted good.  Picture is a little fuzzy.  The butter is on top and beginning to melt.

After lunch I did some watering.  We then went to Fillmore to see the Eye Guy.  Eyes were good.  We were gone from home for two hours.

After we got home I prepared a row in the garden for the Burpless cucumbers.  After supper we planted 18 plants.  It took most of the row.  We put cages on each plant.  The clarify:  I planted 3 seeds in each cup.  There were a couple where only one seed germinated.

Comments and questions welcomed.

Planted Geraniums and Others

We went to Fillmore

planted geraniums in front of the house and west of the drive way

Waited on a customer.

could not find the part for the sprayer.  Spent much time on the

watered the garden

Graduation

We drove to Salem this morning.  Sadie Johnson is graduating this morning.  We were there plenty early and had a good seat.  The sun was in our face and we got hotter and hotter.  Jeanne joined us. 

Holden, Megan, and Ezra showed up before the graduation ceremony began.  I got the picture of Ezra while we were in the shade under the bleachers.

We waited in the shade until Sadie and Jeanne were on the grass.  We joined them and exchanged hugs and gave our congratulations.  Sadie is between grandma and grandpa Johnson.

We were to meet Robert, Jeanne, Halley, Jared, and Sadie at Molly's restaurant south of the DI.  We were a little late getting there.  It was a buffet where we decided on the main dish and how many sides we wanted.  We then paid for our meal.  The picture was taken by Sadie's friend who was there.

We got some ice cream at the Red Barn.

I couldn't pass this iris by our back porch without taking a picture.  It has been blooming for weeks.

I have worked on the spray tank for quite a while now.  I finally remove the Double threaded bulk head fitting.  There is a lot of clean4-up to do.  

This is the Double threaded bulk head fitting.  All I need to do is order a new one and put it together and then I am back in business.

Planted Tomatoes

We were at the Manti temple most of the day.  As soon as we got home I changed clothes, checked out house two for watering, and then watered the baskets and pots in our front yard.  I then watered the houses one, two, and three.

This is the output fittings.  I went on line to find  one.  The photo on the left what I found on line.  The one below has been leaking badly.  I covered it with silicone which did not help.  The silicone is now preventing me from removing it.  I used a jig saw trying to take it off.  I cut from the hole to the outside trying not to cut in the tank.  It is a 1" Double threaded bulk head fitting.



Yesterday I made three rows and put three sheets of weed barrier made the rows.  This afternoon I dug holes about five feet apart down the rows.  I then put osmocote fertilizer in each hole.   I put a tomato in each hole.  On my knees I covered the root ball with soil.

For years I planted tomatoes, put a tag down next to the plant.  In the late summer and fall, I can't find the tag.  I have solved that problem writing the name of the plant with a sharpie, and then pound it into the ground in front of the plant.7

The I run the water down the row.  The water today was stored in a 1100 gallon tank. 

Tomato Preparation

First off I filled the sprayer tank with Round-up. It started to leak quite badly.  last week I plugged all the leaks with silicone.  The chemical was coming out  a different hole.  I hurried and began spraying weeds in the garden.  Some are now covered by weed barrier.   I sprayed other weeds before I ran out of the round-up mix.  The bottom photo shows the weed barrier.

The peas have been growing for some time now.  A trellis needs to be made before the get to tall.  I drove five, three foot conduit as posts.  One on each end, one in the middle, and one in the middle of the middle.  I placed three strings of twine from one end to the other end and wrapped them around the middle posts.

 The photo below shows how the twine is attached to the posts.  I put the  bottom twine on without wrapping it.  I didn't think about it soon enough.  I use a small piece of white twine to secure the bottom sting to the post.

Tomato preparation.  Below are three rows of weed barrier that are four feet wide.  There will be two rows of tomato plants.  I made a row which is about sixteen inches wide.  There will be a tomato about every five feet.  We will hoe out the weeds that grow between the weed barriers.  I have wire tree baskets which will serve as tomato cages.

sprayed weeds,

Cool Day

Our lawn was mowed about ten days ago and is now pretty tall.  I mowed it this afternoon.  I had to move the lawn furniture.  I will move it back when I mow next week.

I sprayed some weeds that were missed the last time I sprayed.  I filled the tank up twice.

The bathroom sink has been draining slowly.  It is partially plugged.  Carol has asked me several times to fix it.  I took trap apart and removed a few other parts and they were filled with yuck.  I put a pan under the drain to catch the water and the yuck.  I took some of the parts outside and sprayed them with the hose.  This remove all of the yuck.  I put it together.  That did not speed up the draining any.  I went to You Tube to find the solution.  The video showed how to remove the stopper.  I did that.   The lever that lifts the stopper is behind the drain pipe and can't be seen.  I pushed a wet old sock through it and pulled it out through the bottom.  I put it together and it drained perfectly. 

Several projects today.  Yesterday we bought a large clay pot and a base.  We have a plant, which I don't remember the name.  I been on the kitchen window and has been trained to clime a straight stick.  I put it in the larger clay pot.  I found a nice stick about six feet long.  I sharpened one end into a long point.  I could not remove the plant from the pot.  I had to break it.   I filled the new pot with potting soil and some compost.  I put the plant in the pot and pushed the trellis which is a single six foot stick.  Finally, I was able to plumb trellis.  It is sitting in front of the door to the patio.  The plant is rapped around the trellis and is difficult to see.

I repaired a small piece on the plant stand.

Chuck-O-Rama 2

This morning we drove to Orem for lunch with Carol's Brothers and sisters.  It was snowing  a little when we left and between Nephi and Scipio we drove through rain, hail, and snow.  The roads were dry north of Nephi.  We stopped at Sam's club for a few things.  We stopped at the hospital to see Carol Gager.   She looked much better than when we saw her in the Fillmore hospital.  She had an operation last night.  She was still sedated and could not say much.

We then stopped at the Orem Wall Mart and bought some pole bean seeds and a large clay pot.  We were a little early at the Chuch-O-Rama.  Carol's sibling soon came.

Anne and Fred Belhasen, Gary and O'leah Peay were not there because of health problems.  From left to right: Nyleen Batty, Miles Batty, Leslie Peay, Larry Peay, Carol Johnson, Merrill Johnson, and Marge Woolston.

Miles and Nyleen Batty

Larry and Leslie Peay

Merrill and Carol Johnson

Marge Woolston

We were home a little after five.  Robert and Frank had left.  They prepared house on for the planting of more tomato plants.