the little wild kingdom

[flowerbug]

finished up the North Garden weeding this morning, watered what i could get done, took a break and then we had three of us doing garden tours in three different gardens. bewteen the three of us we have all completely different gardens, climates, soils, settings so it is a really nicely balanced group of us with different areas of expertise.

everyone is hoping for some rains. we only had a few drops from the scattered thunderstorm prediction for today.

things inside the fenced gardens are doing good, gardens outside the fences are at risk. some plants are recovered from deer grazing but not much is growing with this lack of rains. watering does help but it isn't the same as some rain.

long day, sleepy, time to crash.

 

[flowerbug]

got started on fixing the end of the driveway. the excavator put the drain tube down and put the driveway mix and compacted it and then used chunks of concrete to line each end to prevent erosion, but even though i told him we get times when water is so high that it goes over the driveway he didn't think it mattered. well, yes it will... so today i got going on making sure it won't wash away.

removed the chunks of concrete and then put down two layers of weed barrier fabric which will prevent the driveway mix from getting moved around too much and then replaced the concrete chunks and then on top of that i'm putting down larger field stones to protect it all (will also help keep the chipmunks, groundhogs, etc from finding that interesting enough to use as a den site).

one side is now mostly done, but i have some finicky work up top to do with some bricks and will also have to replace some things i moved aside so that it looks decent again, but just getting this done to this point is good because just in case we get really heavy rains i don't have to worry about it getting washed out.

tomorrow i should be able to get the other side mostly done to a similar point and then i can do the finicky work up top some other times when i can get around to it.

a few hot days coming up so i can work few a hours in the morning and get things done. moving rocks, slabs of concrete, bricks and gravel isn't light work, but at least now i've got enough muscles built up that it's all good exercise for me. as long as i don't do it first thing in the morning. have to warm up first...

everywhere else watering and weeding are routine now - most gardens are under control. the lack of rains really keeps a lot of weeds from sprouting. also nice that we probably won't have to mow for a few more weeks as the grass is almost all brown and gone dormant. i'm alway happy if i don't have to mow.

 

[flowerbug]

so nice to have a few days off with some rains. a break in the routine and also to give my body a break from moving rocks and working on fixing up the messes.

i don't have the end of the driveway completely done, but done enough if there are any heavy rains that get actual flow going through the culvert or over the top of the driveway it won't wash out.

some beans and pea pods coming in and i pulled some onions to use and also some garlic. the garlic isn't quite ready yet, but i also pulled some of it out of a garden where i don't want it any more so at least that was a bit of possible progress on that (i've been gradually getting rid of it in that garden for 15 years or so ).

with the many thousands of Purple Dove beans i've planted over the past few years this year was the first i had an out-cross where the plant's habit was semi-runner or possibly a pole bean and the pods were a lighter color of purple and flatter instead of more rounded. that plant was culled and any beans on it were eaten, they were not as tender so that was yet another strike against this plant. i don't mind a bit of semi-runner showing up in the bush beans, but i don't want them to be pole beans and i sure don't want them to lose their tenderness.

the pea pods were good eating too and i set aside a few pods for seeds, i'm hoping to get more seeds to replace the ones i'd had raided last year so i can share a few around. i'm still not producing enough seeds to really distribute these as widely as i'd like.

 

[flowerbug]

was able to finally see the miscreants that have been grazing the North Garden and another garden. got up early about 5:30 and they were standing over in the grass near the North Garden. a momma deer and two little ones. i scared them away so i hope that will give me a few more days of them not coming back but not sure how that will go. any more days of growth i can get on the back garden beans the more likely i will get some kind of harvest from them. i'm not sure i'm going to get anything at all from the North Garden.

made some progress on the driveway culvert project. not doing too much as it is too hot too quick these days, but a few loads of rocks or messing around here or there does make a big difference. almost done with the culverts and i can then get back to putting the rest of the bricks and slabs back in place.

Mom said to not haul gravel from the back but to just have someone haul in some new gravel instead, but i don't want to spend $ i don't have to. anyways, then she said she wanted them to bring it to a certain spot which is currently full of things so i have to move them before i can have a spot to dump. maybe in a month at the rate i'm going i'll be ready for that...

gardens doing well inside the fence. need to water today and then too busy to pick beans and peas. hope i can get that done tomorrow along with lifting the garlic.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate! Be careful out there!

 

[flowerbug]

Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate! Be careful out there!

oh yes for sure. the other day i could tell i was starting to get overheated and came in. just not worth it to have a heat stroke or other problems.

same to you too down there where it is even hotter than here! hope some rains come along soon to help cool things off and give you some cooler breezes!

ran some errands todays and tried to find a replacement shovel for the one i have. not too happy with the ones i found so i may not replace it. don't need it a lot for now anyways - fall will be the time when i'll need it more. or i can just decide to use another one that i have which isn't the same. ah well... at least that is the most difficult thing i have to deal with recently. some other things have been resolved as well as they're ever going to be and so i have to just accept them and move on... you know, change the things you can and accept the things you can't...

 

[flowerbug]

i saved enough pea seeds so i can replant for next season (plus i do have others still). picked all the rest of the pods i could find and we've eaten most of them today. i think there might be four different varieties mixed together and they're all good enough to eat but one of them may be worth culling out as the flavor is really really grassy. whatever these peas do for now on i will either be using as seeds or eating pea shoots/leaves. after last season's disaster where the chipmunks raided and i lost almost all of my pea crop of these seeds i knew this year to pick them as soon as i could and so far the chipmunks have not even bothered them at all. not a single pod had damage. so yes i can learn something.

 

[flowerbug]

yesterday's garden club meeting was me only. i took some things to work on for show and tell and also just to make sure i had something to do if nobody else showed up. i knew that one of the regular members wasn't likely to be there due to family stuff that's come up and so it goes.

i had seed heads from the Tokyo green onions to get seeds from so i could replace and add to the seed library. with a large number of seed heads you can usually knock enough loose without getting too much chaff in the seeds, but it would have been nicer for me had i also brought my screen and a few other things to work with.

i also checked out the beans to see if any i'd put in there before had been taken. the last time i had looked hardly any of the beans had been adopted out but this time only one packet was left and so now i know that i can get some more ready. for our season a few earlier varieties could still be planted for a fresh eating crop (and if they are lucky they could also get some seeds if the frosts would hold off for an extra few weeks).

i also took my pea collection to work on.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

yesterday's garden club meeting was me only.

Hope participation picks back up!

 

[flowerbug]

Hope participation picks back up!

me too, but it is ok, it was really miserable out yesterday and also pop up storms all over so i can understand if nobody really wanted to go out in that. the library is AC and it was actually too cold in there.

i went about a half hour earlier than normal because i saw the lines of storms coming and i didn't want to be out hauling stuff into the library if it rained. i like being at the library (i used to work there) so to spend a extra half hour there isn't a bother at all to me.