I tilled, hilled, seeded, and watered-in the pumpkin patch yesterday. I pla nted eight varieties of pumpkins and winter squash. I planted several varie ties that we planted for the first time last year and found very good, incl uding Red October and Butterscotch. Also a few new ones; Queensland Blue, D ill Atlantic Giant, and Georgia Candy Roaster. Will give you a review of th em this fall.
Paul
I'll do vines in a couple of days because it's supposed to rain tomorrow . Today I tilled and transplanted all my tomatoes and peppers . Also planted okra and three varieties of field peas - red rippers , skunk peas , and whippoorwill peas . I'm like a month behind my usual timetable , between house building and just plain feeling like crap . Probably not really a bad thing , we had a late freeze just a couple of weeks ago and the weather has been really weird here with unusual cold spells and a lot of rain .
I should get up enough ambition to go spread straw on the garden , but I'm just whupped for now . Hope to beat the rain tomorrow and get it down so the rain is slowed from running off . Not that I need the moisture right now , but my garden is on a slight slope and if I don't slow the runoff it washes the soil away . I've worked too hard to restore it from when I didn't realize the damage I was allowing .
Our small gardens are full of good stuff growing fast. We're harvesting tomatoes about every other day, the lettuce is gone now as the heat hits it. The cucumber plants are a display of yellow flowers but no cukes as yet. The beans are flowering and setting fruit. All of the other plants are doing well and, today, we got roughly 1.5 inches of rain and more to come.
The back gate had the latch board break off and I was going to put a new one on today but, it is raining. Hoping for a break in weather tomorrow I will put the new board in place. I have emailed at least five fencing companies in this area as we want to replace the back fence, which is deteriorating rapidly, but everyone seems to be busy. Lots of new homes going in Harris Cty, Texas so reckon the fencers are locked. I guess I will have to get the two eldest grandsons, in their early thirties over to help us get it done. This time I'm putting in galvanized steel posts and cedar fencing. The present fence was put in 2007 and should have lasted longer.
The fig tree has about six figs on it and the pear tree has one pear, plus the kumquat has not flowered yet, we still hope. Had two back to back days of 21F in January and that is rare in our area. Of course the !@#$% grass still grows fast. I need to get out and power wash the driveway and sidewalk as the fall rains left a light coating of black mold on them. It's always something with houses and land.
Day before yesterday my wife of 57 years hit her 77th birthday, she always catches up to me on May 20th, I will go up a year in September so she can still claim she's "a lot" younger than me.
George
George Shirley wrote: ...
a sprayed on bleach solution/dillution should do it and not require power washing. let it sit and the rains will rinse it off. i'd wonder if power washing would remove more concrete than you'd like.
hot days are fun to play in the water anyways... :) have fun!
songbird
Our fig tree has figs forming already but they generally don't ripen before the first frost puts it into dormant mode. We did get a batch of figs one year, they were very good. Hope for an edible crop this year.
We have what turned out to be a fig bush instead of a fig tree. It puts out a couple of dozen stalks each year; they get about four feet high, but no branching or solid trunk. I bought it at an Italian restaurant/deli a few y ears back and all they knew about it was that it was a fig plant.
Paul Maryland, North of Baltimore
Power washing, done properly with the proper level of power doesn't even take off paint. Living in a humid area of the USA you learn how to do cleaning with power washer's without destroying anything but the mold and mildew.
I've had this electric power washer for many years and have become somewhat expert with it. I can even wash the cars without needing soap and muscle. When we lived in Sulphur, LA power washing was a twice a year event due to the heavy rains and heavy dew nearly every week.
Last night and today have given us a blessing of light rains that soak in. The gardens and the grass are perking up. Saw a dozen wild pigeons on the power lines this morning, all huddled up close to each other. Also saw a large group of sparrows yesterday doing the same thing.
The kumquat tree has finally bloomed heavily after loosing it's leaves in January. The pear tree has one lonely fruit but I'm keeping an eye on it. We lost half the fig tree to the double freezes but the remainder has about a dozen figs on it. I found a mockingbird, aka Texas Pest Critter, eating a fig so I netted the remnants.
Being long time home canner's we don't like to share with birds.
George and Tilly, Dear Wife is off to teach a bunch of ladies in a retirement home how to draw and paint.
My wife was raised in St. Mary's County, Maryland. We met when I was in the flying Navy and have been together 59 years come June. She's headed that way this week to celebrate her eldest brother's eightieth birthday. She turned 77 on 5/20 and each year in May she catches up with me. I will be 78 in September and it doesn't even bother me anymore.
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