Trip up North

we got a lot done on the trip to Utah County.

We bought a few things at Walmart in Payson.  East of the  Walmart is a payless shoe store.  I bought a pair of slip on shoes with out laces.  I also bought a never wet spray can and gave it three coat when we got home. It helped.

We bought a few things at Sam's Club.  From there we drove to Target where I wanted to look at some cell phones.  The sales rep was not to be there until one.  We waited thirty minutes until he came.  He wasn't much help.  We then drove to  to gas up and get some work gloves.

We then drove home.

This evening we planted some dahlias that Robert brought.  We planted them west of our driveway.

We also planted some Wave Petunias west of the driveway close to the garage.

Lastly I cleaned the air filters on the lawn mower.  It seemed to help the engine run better.

Temple and Sprayer

Each Tuesday morning we take the drive to Manti for the morning shift.  We are up at 3:25 and leave about 4:10.  We then leave for home about twelve.  Sometimes we stay for lunch.  I walked to the car in the back parking lot.  The tricycle in the photo below was parked by our car.

When we got home I watered house two and three.  I came back later and watered the plants in the isle.

I have trouble with this spray tank.  It leaked.  I fixed it and it leaked.  I bought new outlet parts and it leaked.  I tightened the big nut and it leaked somewhere else.  I put in five gallons of water and the outlet tube leaked and I tightened the ring and it stopped the leak.  I had the tank bolted above the two front wheels.  I ward to take it off for mowing the lawn.  I put the tank on the back of the deck.  I had to put my feet off to each side.

A couple of days ago I got the idea to have the tank on the deck wheels.  I put a strip of two by four under the mounting.  The picture below shows how it works.

Since the tank already had five gallons of water.  I put in a cup of Round-up and sprayed weeds. Did not leak any.  When the tank was empty, I came and easily lifted the tank off the mower dec,

Work From AM to PM

First thing after chores was to brace  the pea vines so the wind would not blow them over.   I tied three strings a month ago when they were about eight inches tall.  You see the blue and orange strings on the left.  The third one eight inches above the ground does not show.  This morning I added another string on the right side.  It is the blue string on the bottom right.  The wind was cold and blowing hard today.  It is about the fourth day of hard wind.

Pulling all of the pea vines out of house six and selecting the pods.  Most are to old and their tenderness has gone.  Photo shows some that have been pulled up and near the top of the photo shows those that haven't been pulled up.  The plants next to the bows are weeds.

 Here Carol is removing the pods.

 After we had removed the more tender pods we took them to the where they were washed.  We spent nearly three hours shelling them.  This bowl was nearly full.  Carol puts the peas on a cookie sheet and then puts the sheets in the freezer.

A couple of months ago I planted State Fair zinnias.  They are 6 to 7 inches tall.
 I pinched them, cut the top of each plant, to get them to branch.  They should be very pretty.

I began weeding in house six.  I started with a small dandelion digger.  That was really slow.  I then used the shovel.  That was faster, but a little messy.  I then used a small stirrup hoe which worked better than all the others.  I had be close to the ground and kneeling on the rocks was not much fun.  I tried sitting on a #5 nursery can.  It was too short and my knees were up under my chin.  I then got the sitting thing that had a swivel seat and rolled on four tires.  

 The row I weeded is on the right side of the sitting device.  Each how has two rows of tomato plants.  The plants were laying down in the rows.  I had to move them a little to get at the weeds. This show much of what I did.

 Saturday I planted five of Robert's plants.  I used tomato clip to hold the plant to the arch.

 Last of all I planted Crookneck summer squash and black zucchini squash. I run water down the row.  A week from now there should be some growth.

Comments and questions are welcomed.

A Lot Accomplished Today

Robert and Frank were here some after eight this morning and began to work.  They started in house six pictured below.  Joe came in the afternoon and helped in house one.

A lot of pictures indicating what was accomplished at the nursery today.  Many of the tomato plants had not been trellised and were laying in the isles.  The photo below show the plants in the isle.  We could not walk down the isle.  Most one the east end were trellised properly.  In addition to getting them hanging, we had to cut off all the sucker branches.

Here most are hanging.  We can walk down the isles.  Some plants are nearly six feet tall and have a lot of tomatoes.

Here is a cluster of salad tomatoes and there are many more.

There are many of these.  This tomato is about the size of a tennis ball.

Robert and Frank went to Fillmore for lunch.  I stayed home for lunch which was a frozen pizza.  A couple of days ago I bought two cattle panels.   I began to turn them into hoops.   I tied a heavy twine to the center of one end.  I cinched it to the other end of the panel.  I was able to pull one end to six feet of the other end.  I then turned it 90 degree so both ends were on the ground.  A little more maneuvering and had it oriented in a east west direction.

I did the same thing with the other panel and hooked them together with tie wire.  I drove some short pieces of half inch conduit to prevent them from moving north and south.

On the north side I planted six luffa sponge plants. and several pole bean plants between them.

On the south side I planted five summer type squash and a bunch of pole bean plants.  The vines will climb the sides and meat at the top.  The height is six feet.

Robert added more drip lines and planted egg plants and some wheat.  It is in the center row below.

The egg plants are below.

I braced the sweet corn to keep the wind from blowing it over.  I drove one half inch stakes at the front and end of each row.  There are four rows.  I tied twine to one end and pulled it tight and tied it to the stake on the other end.  I drove some stakes half way down the rows.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Planting, To the Dump and Mowing the Lawn

went to Fillmore to get some cattle panels
Last week I planted Armenian Cucumber, Topaz melon, and Crimson Sweet watermelon.  They are now germinating.

Below the cucumbers are on the left and watermelon on the right.  They are all in jumbo six packs.  There is a small six pack in the center.  Tomato and pepper plants are easy to transplant in the small six pack.  I am wondering how the small six pack with three watermelon seeds will do.  The three seeds should fill up the cell with roots pretty soon.  

 The wagon has been in the same place full of branches and some weeds all winter long.  the left rear tire has been flat.  I drug the compressor out and filled the tire with air.  After lunch we got the key and hauled it out to the dump.  I should have taken a picture at the dump, but for got.  Now it is ready to fill up again.

 Here is a picture of a Penstemon.

 I watered house two and three, removed the hose off the lawn, and began to mow.  There was a hard wind from the south west that kept things pretty dusty.   I dumped the grass south of the large tomato plants.  I spread last weeks grass and have yet to spread it out.  It helps retain moisture and has some weed control capabilities.

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Comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Slow Day

I applied lawn fertilizer to the strawberry plants after breakfast.  They haven't done well this spring.
watered three times

This morning we went to Fillmore.  I made a deposit and got the sprayer to spray the potato plants that infested with flea beetles.  I should have done that several weeks ago.  I found a two gallon spray tank that I used several years ago.  It was hard to build up the pressure.  It had a chemical in it, but I couldn't tell what it was.  I first thought that it was round-up.  I sprayed weeds, then I thought that it might be malathion.   I found in the shed some Neme oil that would kill flea beetles and leaf miners.  I mixed it one teaspoon per gallon of water.  I made two gallons twice.  It worked really well.  Much better than the old one.


With the 15 gallon sprayer fixed and the iris sample removed and replanted I will spray the iris patch and the weeds.   There are peonies there which I don't want to spray.  I cut them down to the ground and then with the weed whip I cut them down to ground level.  I will let them dry out a couple of days and then spray.  The photo doesn't show much but might give an idea of how it looks.


I planted more pole beans and put up some twine.  There now is a mix of two different varieties of pole beans.

Several weeks ago I spayed a lot of the weed next to the road north of the greenhouses.  This afternoon I had the weed whip out.  I cut down the dead weeds.

The Fox-tail lilies are really looking pretty this spring.  I couldn't resist getting a picture.

 Another flower that I have been watching is picture below.  I moved it from a place by the neighbors to the east of us on the road right away last fall.  I don't know its name, but hope to find out this summer.

House Six, Iris, and Watering

This has been a hot busy day

I pruned some of the tomato plants in house six.  I then made the trellis for a bunch more.  The fruits are getting larger.  We should be picking tomatoes by the end of the month.

We had a water turn last Wednesday.  I watered the garden.  It took all afternoon.  I was able to turn water down three or four rows and then come back in twenty minute to see if the water had gone to the end of the row.  I slow the water down to let it soak longer.

I dug weeds in house six.

Last week I dug up a sample of every of every iris that we have.  This afternoon I pruned the leaves and remove some of the soil.  I got a wheelbarrow full of them.

I dug a trench to heel them in.  Those at the top of the picture have been heeled in.  Those at the bottom of the picture are yet to be heeled in.

 A close-up have already been watered.

 I took a picture of the sweet potato starts that I planted two weeks ago.  The picture shows a new leaf emerging.