More Surprises

We had strong winds for the last couple of days.  Yesterday, most of the plants in the garden were stressed.  The wind caused leaf dehydration fast than the plants could pull up water out of the soil.  This morning I began to water the garden.  But for some reason there was no water pressure.  I immediately walked out to the hemp plants.  There was water running in pads two, three, and four.

 Pad two is in the photo above.  The dark areas is where the water accumulated.  The above photo was taken a couple of hours after I turned off the water.  It run most of yesterday and all night until I shut it off.

I removed this stump of a huge rose.  I hadn't planned to do it.  There were a lot of tall weeds in this area and it was hard to cut them with a shovel.  The stump was in the way. 

I dug under the stump some, and put a heavy pipe lever under it and tried to lift it up.   I wouldn't move.  I pounded it with a heavy slug hammer.  I was able to break off some pieces.  I pounded it several different direction.  I went into the garage and got a Sawzall.  I was able to cut off a little bit more.  Next I got my corded chain saw.  I should have used it first, but I was afraid that I would dull the chain.  I carefully cut off the rest of the stump without getting getting the chain in the dirt.

When finished cleaning up, I covered the stump with soil.

I should have taken this picture yesterday when the wind had the west end of the corn was leaning to the north.  Today it is standing upright.

We had three lemon trees in nursery cans.  One did not survive the winter in the garage.  I threw that one away a couple of weeks ago.  The wind blew over the two survivors.  Carol wanted me to bury them in the ground where they can stand up in a stiff wind.  I pruned all of the dead branches.  That took me over an hour.  I re-dug the two holes put them in. 

Here is a view looking west.  The nursery cans are about half way in the ground.

More tomatoes need to be hung on the above pipe.  The pipe isn't there yet.  I was able to do it faster than the last time.  I drilled the top hole in four pipes.  I then drilled the wholes in the eight foot 2x2's  I found some wood in the pile of wood by the west fence.  It is covered with shrubbery, and took me a whiile to get it out.  I was able to make five of them.

There were a lot of earwig where I dug out the rose stump.  I made three traps with vegetable oil and 

I put the mix in a small paper bowl.   The nursery can on top of it will keep the the cats from drinking it, I hope.

I made two more.  One was by the watermelon plants and this one by some cabbage plants that were siverly eaten.  I didn't bury it in the ground.  I put the cement block on it to keep the cats away.

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First Night of Frost

I get up around 5:30 most mornings and this morning was no different.  The temperature in the house was 66 degrees which is the coldest morning since early spring.  It starts getting light at seven.

The first frost of the fall.  The is the front lawn.  There is not frost under the trees.  I worked at the computer making a list of seeds that I am going to order now for next spring.  I order 300 geranium seeds.  They will be planted around the first of December

We picked beans.  This is most likely our last picking.  I'm expecting them to freeze tonight.  We didn't get a lot, but there is enough for dinner tonight.  We took some vegetable to the Masner's.  We left some hot peppers at the post office.  Most were gone this evening.  In the above picture, Carol is picking beans on the south side of the hoop trellis.

I pruned the lantana, removed the hanging baskets, and moved the purple fountain grass.  One on each side of the door.  We rearranged the other Halloween things.  It looks pretty good.

The lemon trees were buried in the ground.  I dug two up and the other one I pulled it right out of the ground.  The pots and trees were buried last spring to keep them from blowing over.  It worked.  The wind blew and blew and they stayed right were I put them.

I dug up the pomegranate tree, and loaded it on the cart, put it in house two.

A photo from the left side.

And one from the right side.  The photo doesn't show it but it is setting on a large round concrete donut.  The bottom of the nursery can is somewhat convex.  The donut is a stable base.

I turned of the power to the well.  I turned on all the hose bibs at the west end of the garden so the water would drain out of the buried pipes.

I remove the timer and put it away so it would not freeze and break.

The arrow is pointing to the ball valve.  I opened it to let the water drain out.

I dug up the dracaena that we have had for many years.  I drove in three half inch conduit pipes.  One in back and two, one on the left and the other one on the right.  They hold the dracaena straight up.  And every year it gets a little bigger.  To right you see the pomegranate tree on top of the concrete donut.

There may be a hard freeze tonight, so I picked a couple of watermelons.

 And three topaz melons.

And spaghetti squash.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Several Projects Today

1. Install hose bib timer to the pressure tank at the well.  Last year and previous years I had to turn the water on and remember to turn it off.  The water goes to pad one which holds large native shrubs and trees.
2. I have one sweet potato start the I put in a quart pot.
3. Prepare and invoice for the Holden ward for the Mother's Day geraniums.
4. Pot the rooted tomato plants.
5. Remove the lid from the wasp trap.
6. Call Steve at Duff Shelley's lawn mower repair shop.

  There are a lot of stinky weeds in the scallions.  They really stink. I started cutting the roots with a pair of scissors; that was too slow.  I pulled them up.  Looks much better now.

Yesterday I pruned the tomato plants in house one.  I stuffed them into this quart bottle. They should begin to root by the end of the month,

Yesterday, I made this salad with most everything coming from out gardens.  I ate half of it yesterday and the rest of it for lunch today.

Carol wanted her lemon trees brought out.  It has been hard to keep them standing.  I tried several different ways.  One year I tied them to conduit stakes.  That worked most of the time, but the wind blew them over.  I have put them in a pot in a pot.  I drove spikes through the bottom of the pot.  The wind still blew them over.  To day I dug holes and buried the pots.  They should not blow over now.  I will dig them up and bring the back to the greenhouse where they will spend the winter.

I took these vine plants outside yesterday afternoon to harden off or get accustom to the outdoor climate.  This afternoon they were pretty wilted.  I rook them back to house two and tonight they looking good.

 I put the rooted cuttings in the four inch square pots and watered them well.  They should be ready to plant in house six in a couple of weeks.

 I called Shelley's about my lawnmower.  I think that I will have a new engine put in.  I gave Steve the serial and model number.  He called later this evening.  It will cost nearly $3,000 for the engine, taxes, and shipping.  The above picture shows the location of the numbers.

I planted six more tomato Tasmanian Chocolate tomato.  Three are shown above.

Another look at the lemon tree.

This lawnmower has been in house five for a lot of years.  Richard is beginning to fix it.  Here it is in several pieces.


Comments and questions are welcome.