Nad R wrote:
songbird wrote:

at last!

Nad, you might get some from this
one (if you are between Port Huron
and Detroit) . !!!

looks good for later tonight too
for more (but i won't believe it
until i hear it on the roof).

I see rain on the radar, it is raining north and south of me, I hope it
does not break up as usual when it gets to me. I could use a soaker, my
grass is like half brown half green. I have gotten enough rain so far to
fill my rain barrels and use that water between rains. But a bunch of
lights rains is ok, but I need a soaker for the corn and grass. Tomatoes
are growing nicely again as the temperatures have dropped to normal.

so far two rounds of rain and more
looking very possible tonight. yay!


I have to be vigilant now, the good thing about hand watering the plants
one tends keep a watch on them. The last three days I have found nine
infamous Tomato Horn Worms (Green like Caterpillars). I remove them and
smashed them with my shoe. so far they have done very little damage and my
plants look heathy. I have thirty tomato plants growing.

we have 26 tomato plants, only two cherry tomato
plants, oops, i forget we have three other
volunteer tomato plants growing in another patch,
but i have no idea if they will taste good. if
they provide fruit we'll give them a try and
if edible they'll be welcome in the jar or on
a sandwich.


....
The last two days was a picture perfect day. Low Eighties, nice breeze,
blue sky with white clouds floating by. I mowed and trimmed the lawn
yesterday.

i got more done today than i have in
weeks.


Today I took apart my forty year old rusted out gas grill apart
and got it ready for the scrap yard. I missed having a good steak this
summer. I am hoping for a good sale this fall on a new grill. Looking at a
small new infrared gas grills for my back deck. Some day I plan on a
building a small covered patio in the middle of the back yard garden with a
charcoal grill under it. Sorta like an outdoor kitchen, but will have to
piece it together over the years, money is tight.

i've always thought that separate kitchens
was the way to go. use all wood and
brick then when it gets too grungy just
set a match to it and start over when
the bricks cool. especially in the
south... having done too much restaurant
floors and seen what they look like after
a few years (and the smell, whew!) it's
bad enough to put you off ever eating
out again.

for cooking outside a fire pit and a
grate is good eating too. simple and
inexpensive if you have a wood supply.


took the hose out there and
gave the whole area a good soaking
as the clay was heavily cracked
and i wanted to get the dry stuff
wetted down to keep it from blowing.
then i went and rinsed out the bird
baths and got the bean patch watered.

Big cracks also in my new soon to be garden area. It will take time to
transform the soil like the rest of the yard. My main lawn has no cracks in
it. Last year that section of land was a hay field. The newly planted grass
has already made it look good from a distance. But I will add compost and
grass seed to the area each fall. In four years it should look good.

i'm confused, are you transforming hay field
into garden or hay field into lawn? or lawn
into garden?


now i can hear the tomatoes singing
in happiness from getting some real
rain for a change. the cherry tomatoes
are just now starting to turn.

I see my cherry tomatoes coming in also, about two more weeks. Two cherry
100s and one Sun Gold. I hope in two weeks I will have my first complete
salad from the garden: head lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots
and celery. My peppers seemed to really suffer during the heat and the leaf
lettuce bolted.

we had plenty of good results last year
from the sweet 100s we didn't put any
other cherry tomatoes in. someone gave
us some of theirs that they grew and the
were horrible (i can't believe i say that
about any tomato).

have you ever tried growing romaine lettuce?

the lettuce here did ok as far as growing
went, but it was a mix and most of the mix was
bitter (i don't mind some). next time we grow
the kind that wasn't bitter and leave the mix
for a much smaller amount just to add color and
variety. the spinach bolted almost immediately.
i picked some leaves here or there and even ate
some of the seed heads before they got hard.
those patches also had peas in them, now both
are being taken over by volunteer squash plants.
no idea if the squash will be good, but i sure
hope so. we love it.


songbird