On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:24:49 -0600, "cat daddy" opined:


I had hoped obsessive compost building had ended with the Mt. Everest of
heaps, until I happened upon another 75 bags of leaves. It took a while, but
I now have Vesuvius going in the backyard. Pretty cool on these cold
mornings....
The ground was frosty this morning for the first time, only the bananas
are damaged, and the wild iris and others are putting up new tips. I have
salvia blooming and butterflies...
I watered a couple of days ago, as well........... We're supposedly a
foot low for the year.

We were down in town at Half Price Books on Guadalupe (can't pass their 20%
sale) and I saw all those bags everywhere. Unfortunately, we were in my
husbands Accord. Drat. I'm going to go out next week hunting for leaves. Then
I will go to Zilker to get my tons and tone of pine tree shreds. I didn't see
them mention a day when the public can start taking the free mulch, have you?

V

animaux wrote:
Holy cow! My 'Baby Doll' lotus is starting to grow. The fish have not stopped
eating, and, well, I hope for the sake of the plants we don't get hit too badly.

After the water temperature drops below something (45F, I think?) you're
not supposed to feed fish anymore. Their metabolism slows too much to
digest food. We've never fed our fish during winter and they do just fine.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

"animaux" wrote in message
...
I don't think it's been this quiet in here in years! Where is everyone?


I'm converting a 60x60 area of sparse grass into a pond/garden. I've
transplanted three desert willows and a pomegranate from too shady locations
into the full sun with soaker hose buried under 6" of a 8/3/1 blend of
hardwood mulch/composted cow poop/decomposed granite. I also have mutabalis
and marilyn monroe roses, various salvias, lantanas, greg's blue mist,
yellow bells, plumbago, mexican flame vine and passion flower on trellises
and probably a few other things I can't remember.

All this is around the 15x30 hand dug hole that will become a pond in the
next month. It will also have a 6x6 raised veggie filter/waterfall in the
middle of the plantings so I can easily drain the sludge onto the flowers.
The excavated dirt has been used to raise the level of the surrounding yard,
which is good because 24" down there is one solid slab of bedrock over the
entire area of the pond, and presumably farther. The raised soil has been
planted with white clover and wildflower mix. Because of the bedrock, the
pond isn't as deep as I would like, but I have a small pond at that depth
that hasn't lost any fish due to cold, so I'll live with it and hopefully
the koi will too.

Other than that, I haven't been doing much gardening.


Happy New Year to all!

Whit wrote:
tomatoes off this little plant since! Is it possible to dry a tomato to
get the seed? I'd love another of these and it would be fun to try to
grow it from seed.

You don't need to dry them at all. We've had lots of tomato volunteers
from damaged tomatos we just toss to compost.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Victor Martinez wrote:

animaux wrote:
I don't think it's been this quiet in here in years! Where is everyone?

On vacation perhaps? A cold place with snow I hope...

Two weeks off, staying home this year. I've been busy doing other junk,
organized the garage, getting ready for yard sale, built shelves, found
the floor! )

I had to water my garden today. The bluebonnets are wanting to bloom, some
irises are blooming and my redbuds are budding and blooming. There were red

Ha! We have a water lilly with a brand new bloom in the pond, if you can
believe that.

I haven't done much to my garden except look at it and think about
what's next. Is this a good time to relocate natives like big muhly,
lantana etc? This'll be my 'xeriscaped' gardens 2nd full spring coming
up and as things are filling out I see that I could have placed things
better.

admirals at the mud puddle and on the lantana, which is all still blooming. I
don't think we've had a frost up here in NE Round Rock. Not on this hill,
anyway.

We've had our share of frosts, most things that freeze already have.

We had a touch of rime the other morning, a few of the tender plants
lost some leaves in the freeze a few weeks ago, but mostly doing well. I
have a cherry tomato plant that is *still* bearing fruit! It's a "Tiny
Tom" I got from the farmers market on S. Congress, I planted it last
March and prettymuch ignored it- I've picked well over 200 little
tomatoes off this little plant since! Is it possible to dry a tomato to
get the seed? I'd love another of these and it would be fun to try to
grow it from seed.

Thanks for asking )

animaux wrote:
Holy cow! My 'Baby Doll' lotus is starting to grow. The fish have not stopped
eating, and, well, I hope for the sake of the plants we don't get hit too badly.

After the water temperature drops below something (45F, I think?) you're
not supposed to feed fish anymore. Their metabolism slows too much to
digest food. We've never fed our fish during winter and they do just fine.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Whit wrote:
tomatoes off this little plant since! Is it possible to dry a tomato to
get the seed? I'd love another of these and it would be fun to try to
grow it from seed.

You don't need to dry them at all. We've had lots of tomato volunteers
from damaged tomatos we just toss to compost.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
...
| Whit wrote:
| tomatoes off this little plant since! Is it possible to dry a
tomato to
| get the seed? I'd love another of these and it would be fun to try
to
| grow it from seed.
|
| You don't need to dry them at all. We've had lots of tomato
volunteers
| from damaged tomatos we just toss to compost.
|
| --
| Victor Martinez
| Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
| Send your spam he
| Email me he
|

We always do, too, plus melons and squashes, but in the shady location
of our compost bin, the only crop that regularly succeeds to maturity
is potatoes. The first shoots are up now. The red boiling potatoes are
the ones that do best.

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
...
| Whit wrote:
| tomatoes off this little plant since! Is it possible to dry a
tomato to
| get the seed? I'd love another of these and it would be fun to try
to
| grow it from seed.
|
| You don't need to dry them at all. We've had lots of tomato
volunteers
| from damaged tomatos we just toss to compost.
|
| --
| Victor Martinez
| Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
| Send your spam he
| Email me he
|

We always do, too, plus melons and squashes, but in the shady location
of our compost bin, the only crop that regularly succeeds to maturity
is potatoes. The first shoots are up now. The red boiling potatoes are
the ones that do best.

Wow, how'd you get them to do that? No, no, don't tell me, please
no........ I actually drove past three bags of leaves this morning. I *will*
wash and wax my car and not carry leaves on the trunk 'til Spring..........
How are you using woodchips on the prairie?

"J Kolenovsky" wrote in message
...
I had Davey Tree dump a free load of wood chips by the prairie the City
is letting me establish. Had to take a hired hand and go spread it out.
It was charring on the inside night after it rained and got the green
stuff wet. Didn't want some uninformed person calling the fire dept not
knowing what's going on. (that HAS happened once before)

J


cat daddy wrote:

"animaux" wrote in message
...
I don't think it's been this quiet in here in years! Where is everyone?

I had hoped obsessive compost building had ended with the Mt. Everest
of
heaps, until I happened upon another 75 bags of leaves. It took a while,
but
I now have Vesuvius going in the backyard. Pretty cool on these cold
mornings....
The ground was frosty this morning for the first time, only the bananas
are damaged, and the wild iris and others are putting up new tips. I have
salvia blooming and butterflies...
I watered a couple of days ago, as well........... We're supposedly a
foot low for the year.

I had to water my garden today. The bluebonnets are wanting to bloom,
some
irises are blooming and my redbuds are budding and blooming. There were
red
admirals at the mud puddle and on the lantana, which is all still
blooming. I
don't think we've had a frost up here in NE Round Rock. Not on this
hill,
anyway.

"animaux" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:24:49 -0600, "cat daddy"
opined:


I had hoped obsessive compost building had ended with the Mt. Everest
of
heaps, until I happened upon another 75 bags of leaves. It took a while,
but
I now have Vesuvius going in the backyard. Pretty cool on these cold
mornings....
The ground was frosty this morning for the first time, only the
bananas
are damaged, and the wild iris and others are putting up new tips. I have
salvia blooming and butterflies...
I watered a couple of days ago, as well........... We're supposedly a
foot low for the year.

We were down in town at Half Price Books on Guadalupe (can't pass their
20%
sale) and I saw all those bags everywhere. Unfortunately, we were in my
husbands Accord. Drat. I'm going to go out next week hunting for leaves.
Then
I will go to Zilker to get my tons and tone of pine tree shreds. I didn't
see
them mention a day when the public can start taking the free mulch, have
you?

No, and I'm going to close my eyes now , so I won't find out......... I
think I have enough. It is tempting to see all the bags in the other
neighborhoods, though....

"grubber" wrote in message
gy.com...
"animaux" wrote in message
...
I don't think it's been this quiet in here in years! Where is everyone?


I'm converting a 60x60 area of sparse grass into a pond/garden. I've
transplanted three desert willows and a pomegranate from too shady
locations
into the full sun with soaker hose buried under 6" of a 8/3/1 blend of
hardwood mulch/composted cow poop/decomposed granite. I also have
mutabalis
and marilyn monroe roses, various salvias, lantanas, greg's blue mist,
yellow bells, plumbago, mexican flame vine and passion flower on trellises
and probably a few other things I can't remember.

All this is around the 15x30 hand dug hole that will become a pond in the
next month. It will also have a 6x6 raised veggie filter/waterfall in the
middle of the plantings so I can easily drain the sludge onto the flowers.
The excavated dirt has been used to raise the level of the surrounding
yard,
which is good because 24" down there is one solid slab of bedrock over the
entire area of the pond, and presumably farther. The raised soil has been
planted with white clover and wildflower mix. Because of the bedrock, the
pond isn't as deep as I would like, but I have a small pond at that depth
that hasn't lost any fish due to cold, so I'll live with it and hopefully
the koi will too.

Other than that, I haven't been doing much gardening.

Yeah, hardly a thing to do in the garden in Winter........ I have a pond
in my future, as well, and have slowly used dirt from the hole as fill
elsewhere. I really need rain to soften the sandy loam, though. The trailer
rental place that has baby backhoes relocated a couple of blocks away, so I
don't think I'll be hand digging any more...

"grubber" wrote in message
gy.com...
"animaux" wrote in message
...
I don't think it's been this quiet in here in years! Where is everyone?


I'm converting a 60x60 area of sparse grass into a pond/garden. I've
transplanted three desert willows and a pomegranate from too shady
locations
into the full sun with soaker hose buried under 6" of a 8/3/1 blend of
hardwood mulch/composted cow poop/decomposed granite. I also have
mutabalis
and marilyn monroe roses, various salvias, lantanas, greg's blue mist,
yellow bells, plumbago, mexican flame vine and passion flower on trellises
and probably a few other things I can't remember.

All this is around the 15x30 hand dug hole that will become a pond in the
next month. It will also have a 6x6 raised veggie filter/waterfall in the
middle of the plantings so I can easily drain the sludge onto the flowers.
The excavated dirt has been used to raise the level of the surrounding
yard,
which is good because 24" down there is one solid slab of bedrock over the
entire area of the pond, and presumably farther. The raised soil has been
planted with white clover and wildflower mix. Because of the bedrock, the
pond isn't as deep as I would like, but I have a small pond at that depth
that hasn't lost any fish due to cold, so I'll live with it and hopefully
the koi will too.

Other than that, I haven't been doing much gardening.

Yeah, hardly a thing to do in the garden in Winter........ I have a pond
in my future, as well, and have slowly used dirt from the hole as fill
elsewhere. I really need rain to soften the sandy loam, though. The trailer
rental place that has baby backhoes relocated a couple of blocks away, so I
don't think I'll be hand digging any more...

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 15:05:10 GMT, Victor Martinez opined:

animaux wrote:
Holy cow! My 'Baby Doll' lotus is starting to grow. The fish have not stopped
eating, and, well, I hope for the sake of the plants we don't get hit too badly.

After the water temperature drops below something (45F, I think?) you're
not supposed to feed fish anymore. Their metabolism slows too much to
digest food. We've never fed our fish during winter and they do just fine.

Yeah, but the water has been 60 during the day and we have a heater in there to
take that sharp cold off. It never gets below 50. When Mark does give them
pellets, he makes sure they are very active, physically, and before he gives
them the pellets, soaks them to make them expand before the fish eat.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 15:05:10 GMT, Victor Martinez opined:

animaux wrote:
Holy cow! My 'Baby Doll' lotus is starting to grow. The fish have not stopped
eating, and, well, I hope for the sake of the plants we don't get hit too badly.

After the water temperature drops below something (45F, I think?) you're
not supposed to feed fish anymore. Their metabolism slows too much to
digest food. We've never fed our fish during winter and they do just fine.

Yeah, but the water has been 60 during the day and we have a heater in there to
take that sharp cold off. It never gets below 50. When Mark does give them
pellets, he makes sure they are very active, physically, and before he gives
them the pellets, soaks them to make them expand before the fish eat.