Untangled Grape Vines

The peonies have pretty much lost their petals and Carol wanted a new vase of flowers.

I picked some alliums and yellow and orange foxtail lilies.  I could carry three of the alliums at a time.  If the flowers touch each other the sometimes stick together and are hard to pull apart without damaging the flowers.

I had some 12 gage wire left over.  I used all the wire in making Toma Hooks.  After several years of making these I developed a way of making them pretty fast.  I can make one in a minute or less with just a little tweaking.  I don't know how many.

I didn't get all of the peas picked and had a bunch of peas that were to old for cooking.  I made some split pea soup.  I boiled the peas for thirty minutes.   The peas soaked up all of the water.  I added more water and then onions, carrots, some sliced ham,and one frozen tomato.  These simmered for about thirty more minutes.  I put them in a blender and mushed them all up.  The above picture, though not too pretty, tasted good.

 I took this picture.  The pea pods are starting fill out.  The trellis is completely hidden by the vines.

The photo above is of one grape vine which is growing in every direction.   I cleaned away all of the weeds to reveal the grape vines.  Further I cut away all of the alliums and weeds growing between the two rows of grapes.

Several of the grape vines died during the winter.  This spring a dozen or so branch started from the roots.  In the picture you can see the last year's stems which I cut off. and the new green stems or branches.  I cut all of them off except one which I tied to the trellis wire.

I started the water down the south row.

This is the first one in the row.

Second

Third

Fourth

And fifth

I tied the single branch to the trellis with a tie from a bread bag.

While I waited for the water to run down the north row of grape vines, I drug all of the old irrigation tubbing to the back lawn under the cherry tree.  I removed all of the fittings.  Tomorrow I hope to take them to the dumpster.  I forgot to get a picture.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Wires for the Grapes

The are a lot of things that I wanted to accomplish today.  I watched half of the news this morning and went to work.

Paula Warner might come tomorrow and get these Fern Bushes.  They were in the orchard and I brought them to the patio where I could give them some water.

Alisha wanted me to spray the weeds and grass around here shrubs.  I the truck has some stuff in the bed that I needed to empty.  I got the house garbage and one trash can for house two and took it to the dump.  I can now put the tank sprayer in the truck and spray Alisha's weeds.

I was pruning off the side shoots of a special tomato plant that I growing.  There it is doing well and has four side shoots.  I cut one of them off.  The above photo doesn't show it clearly.  It is one the right side bottom.

She wanted some seeds of the trees that are in our yard.  She got some seeds from the Red Bud that is in front of our house.  Right now it is in full bloom.  We also got some seeds from the Hawthorne tree and Almond tree.

I pulled her two large Red Beets.  She wanted to plant some.  We filled this twelve inch pot with soil and the she planted some small beet plants and put and onion plant in the middle.

She planted the seeds in three different small pots.  I instructed her to water from the bottom.  She took a small Styrofoam container that was in the greenhouse.  She was here for nearly two hours.

We drove to Fillmore where I made a deposit and we got a few groceries.  For a treat we stopped at the Ice Burg and I got Carol a chocolate soft ice cream and I got me a vanilla cone.

I picked asparagus a little before lunch and got a nice batch.

I strung the wires for the grapes.  It took quite awhile.  I made several trips back to the garage and the greenhouses for tools.  The bottom wire was stiff and I could not get it tight.  I cut a piece of barbwire that was on the west fence.  I called Raymond and he gave me permission to use the wire.  You can't see it in the picture.  You can only see the bottom wire.  I pulled the barbed wire tight and wrapped it around the tee posts.  I got the turnbuckle that was in house six.  I tightened it up and that pulled the post a little bit, but caused the barbwire to sag.

I am going the sell most of the geraniums.  I took several pictures to show them on Holden Face book page.  The retail price at the Beaver Nursery for a smaller plant sells for $1.96.  I should be able to get more.  At least $2.75.

I made slug bait with yeast, sugar, salt, and water.  The strawberry plants are being eaten by slugs.  There are eight small cups of bait in the strawberries.  I put a couple of other cups by the pole beans.

Carol spotted some humming birds in the Red Bud tree.  It took awhile to find the bird feeder.  Carol filled it and I hung it on the roof over the front porch.

Comments and questions are welcome