Surprised - Frank and Diane

Nyleen and Miles came this morning.  He brought his clippers and I got a haircut.  Also, they came for a dozen tomato plants.  We were visiting and relating temple experiences.

The surprise, Nyleen and Miles saw a man walk past our south door.  I thought maybe it was a custumor, but the surprise was Frank.  I walked out the nursery and began the work of transplanting the cucumber plants in house six.

I stared out this morning by working in house one.  It was much cooler and I had a lot to do.  I wanted to brace the posts.  I had used a 1x4 and drilled holes through each end and drove screws through the hole into the posts.  Today I ripped the 1x4's in half.  

these hog panels were being held up by two 6 1/2 tee posts.  I soaked the ground where the

This is where I will plant two rows of grrapes.  The photo above is taken from the west end of the garden looking east.  The two tee posts, one on the left and the other on the right, and a blue twine is tired to the ones on the east end.  I used and eight foot 2x2 to measure the distance between each post.  the rows are six feet apart.  I marked the location of the post by removing a shovel full of soil.  The grape plant will be planted between each post.

 Diane cleaned a row in house six for the cucumbers.  The cucumbers were planted eighteen inches apart. The drip tape was put down and the water turned on.

 We got a package from Maison, our grand daughter, containing two mother's days cookies.  One above and one below.  Eric and April ordered them to give to Carol for mother's day.

 Maison's business card is above.  She has a talent for decorating cookies and cupcakes.

At the end of the day, the cub scouts came and I explained the nursery business to them and named most of the plants that we have.  I gave each of them two shopping bags with a head of leaf lettuce in each bag.



Comments and questions are welcome.

Home at One

I had a good day at the temple and I was home little after one.  While I was at the temple Carol made a lot of phone calls trying to get the results of EKG.  She got the run around and finally was able to get an appointment with a cardiologist.

I turned on the pump at our well.  After awhile I turned the water for the chickens.  I put a short piece of PVC pipe over the end of the hose which allows water to run into the pan without splashing.

There are weeds between the peas and the onions.  I got some of them yesterday and the rest today.  I also dug the weeds on the south side of the onions.

I turned on the water to the flowers west of the driveway.  I planted the rest of dahlias.   I dug up a lot of phlox to make room for the dahlias.

 The above tomatoes have been growing well in the greenhouse.  I brought them out to harden them off.  These will be planted in the garden next week.

Our cat, Tiger, comes and goes.  Today, he come up to the house to eat.  He then spent a couple hours on the chair and he was on the garage roof for some time.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Tomahook and Good Neighbors

I worked most of the morning putting up the posts.  Some were very loose.  I braced all of the with a four foot board.  I drilled holes in both ends of the board.  I drove a screw the board into the posts near the ground.  That is on the left.  I then drove a screw throw the other end of the board about four feet above the ground.  That held them pretty good.   I will need help to put the other cross piece to be sure the post are parallel.  

I prepare the tomahooks by wrapping them with about sixteen feet of twine.  I hooked it to the high wire making sure that the bottom of string was touching the ground.  I attached the twine to the tomato plant with tomato clip.  I did that until I ran out of tomahooks.

Here the bottom end of the twine is attached to the tomato plant stem.

It was getting pretty hot in house one and I had run out of the tomahooks, so I went into the garage and made some more.  I tried several different ways to bend the wire.  I ended up drive two screws into the side of a piece of 2x4.  It was quite eeasy to bend the wire into a tomahook shape.

I drove to Fillmore to by a couple of large plastic boxes.  I want the boxes to make a wasp or yellow jacket trap.  There weren't any in the three stores that I checked.   Roper's will order one for me.  I will get it Thursday.

There was a car in front of house two.  I stopped.  There were a couple of ladies from the ward that had stopped for lettuce.  I helped pulled some for them. 

Our neighbors, Katie Lemon, and Madean Lemon were working in our yard.  They mowed, trimmed, and pulled weeds.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Larry and Leslie

One of the first things done this morning is  to take care of the Tri-Star strawberry plants.  They came yesterday.

This is the second batch that I got.  These were much healthier looking than the first ones.  I found these fourteen inch hanging baskets.  I filled each basket with a shovel full of compost.  The I finished filling the baskets with potting soil.  I soaked the strawberry plants in a bucket partially filled with water.  I   There are four plants in each basket.

Carol's brother, Larry and his wife Leslie, stopped for a short visit.  They were in Las Vagas and stopped here on their way home in south-west Salt lake county.

I made some toma-hooks.  I was able to make them pretty close to the same size.  I used some wire from a tree basket.

 There are several views of this piece of walnut wood.  The black line on the left is a dado cut in the end grain of the wood.  It is used horizontal rather than vertical.  A thirteen inch wire is inserted into the dado with equal lengths on both sides.  It is hard to describe.  I will be making a video.

The wire is put between the two bolts and bent either left or right or up or down to get it into the proper shape.

I planted Topaz melon seeds and Crimson sweet.  The seed is nearly ten years old.  I planted extra seeds.  If they all germinate, I will thin them to three or four.  

I have been pretty busy and didn't water when I should of watered.  I watered house two and three.  The last time I checked, all of the plants were hydrated.

Yesterday we planted and watered these tomato plants.  This afternoon, I used tomato clips and fasten them to some twine.  I will be doing more as they grow.

The tomahooks are hooked to the overhead wire. 

I made more Tomahooks.  Just before dark I took the conifer that is in the corner by the front door outside.  I drove three conduit stakes into the ground in a triangular pattern.  I tied the tree to the stakes with some white twine.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Tomatoes and House One

This morning I called Duff Shelley in American Fork telling him that Robert will pick up the lawnmower.  I also, mailed a check.

Robert came, but did not pick up the lawnmower. Frank's trailer was still being used by someone else.  But we did begin to work in house two on the grafted tomato plants.

He cut part way through the grafted stem which force most of the growth to develop at the cut.  Some of the grafts did not take and some tipped over at the cut. The red clamp is holding top part upright.

We then began transplanting the tomato plant in house one.  Those tomato plants in quart pots require a big hole.  Robert began by digging a hole and then putting the plant into the and back filling with the soil.  We put about a tablespoon of Osmocote in each hole.  The 2x2 eight foot redwood is marked every eighteen inches.  He began digging five or six holes, then put in the fertilizer, and then the plant.  After awhile, he dug the holes and I added the fertilizer, and did the back filling.  That went much faster.  We planted two beds each with two rows.   We planted on the east sides tomato plants that were in six packs.  With a smaller hole we planted much faster.

We planted the cherry tomatoes first. Some of those plants had fruit.  We laid down the drip tape and hooked it up to the timer.  Those on the west bed were watered earlier with  a hose.

The above picture shows the two beds with each having two rows.   There was a couple of holes in the drip tape.

 Robert fixed one of them.  I fixed one near the end of the line.  Then I found another small leak.  I cut it off and attached a new piece of drip tape with the coupler.  It is pictured above.   got a new piece of drip tape

Robert is picking some stir fry peas.

Robert transplanted all of the plants for his garden and most of them are sitting on the above bench.

He gathered up some lettuce, cabbage, kohlrabies, and

After super I took a tree basket that is not very good.  I was able to make  six toma-hooks.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Rain All Day

Rain all day.

Last year the hanging plants got so heavy that they leaned to the east of the west making it difficult to walk past them let alone pick the tomatoes.   I drove a PVC pipe into the ground by the posts and wired it to the posts.  Today, I used a pair of cross braces with the posts setting on a brick.  The post don't tip to the east or west.  The is no pressure in the north south direction

The above photo is another attempt to stabilize the posts.  It is a two foot piece of plywood screwed into the posts.  It is not quite as stable as the cross braces, but it is fast and easy to install.

The water master called and said, that I would have a water turn in the morning.  I got my trimmer and pitchfork, and drove up to the head ditch.  This is how it looks.  Weeds growing all over.  Mainly grass and mustard weed. I was able to make the weed whip go, but I had to have it on half choke.  I ran out of the string, whip, and had to put on some new.  I got it cleaned up.  Later I called the water master.  Because of the rain I didn't need to irrigate.  Someone else took my turn.

I got a new temple recommend from Kirk and then drove to Fillmore to have it signed by President Barber.


Comments and questions are welcome.

Geranium / Mother's Day

Back in December I should of planted geraniums for Mother's Day, but I completely forgot.  I should of ordered geranium liners a couple of months ago, but I didn't.  I ordered geraniums from the Beaver nursery.  160 plants were delivered to the nursery this morning while I was at the Manti temple.  Speaking of the Temple, my recommend expired at twelve midnight last night.

There were ten trays with sixteen plants in each tray.  They are quite nice.

It started to rain some and I  didn't want go back in the house.  I went out the south garden and dug up the weeds with a shove.  Most are the mustard weed.

Guess what I found.  I found the sledge hammer which was hidden by the tall weeds.  I have looked for that all winter long.  I needed it in house one, so that is where I took it.

The trunk of this tree in our back yard was completely covered with Black Medic or Yellow Trefoil Medicago lupulina  I dug it out and it is going to the compost pile.

This flower bed is just west of house five.  I dug out all the weeds.


Comments and questions are welcome.