This and That

Today I changed the deck around the way I mentioned in last post. Took about one and one half hours.

That's it.

Today I loaded up a bunch of tools and took them out to the back deck wanting to do some deck rearranging. On the east side of the deck I have two vertical 2x4s spaced about six feet apart with a  2x4 up about six feet horizontally connecting the two verticals. It was used last year by another family member for those hanging upside down growing containers. They have no current plans for it this year so I intend to move it to the south edge of the deck on the west end. I have six containers on the south end filling that side of the deck and three of the containers on the west end of that side does not get enough hours of sunlight so I am going to move those three containers onto the east side where I am taking down the previously mentioned. Got out there and started sprinkling rain. Loaded everything back up into  my mixing tub which I tote around with my cart.

I also intended to plant my seeds in the five ground boxes. I prepared about one quart or so of seed starting mix which consists of 1/3 garden sand, 1/3 compost and 1/3 vermiculite. Got my seeds out and went around to the back side of the fence where the ground boxes are. Opened up a small depression in each ground box and put some seed starting mix in the depressions. Planted my seeds in each box and covered over with the seed starting mix and watered them in. one box zucchini, two boxes yellow squash, one box soya cucumbers and one box of melons. Need another ground box as I would like two ground boxes of zucchini.

Went back to the deck and planted one container with bush cucumbers using the seed starting mix for that also. I will build a round chimney [cage] for the cukes. Then I messed around and made another small batch of seed starting mix for two three inch pots to plant some seed in just to see how efficient that mix formula is for starting seed I read online. Think I mentioned it before about a week or so ago.

Carted everything back to the garage and that was it for today. Got a few sprinkles during the time I was out there and an occasional light drizzle. No amount of rain that amounted to anything. Suppose to be nice tomorrow so I will do that deck rearranging.

The flower transplants I done last week are doing quite nicely. Did not look like they went into shock.

Did I really have fun today.

Rounded up the tools, lumber, fasteners and screening for the three remaining ground boxes. Worked off of a card table in front of the garage door opening. Sat in a chair to do the work as much as possible. Got the ground boxes all built like I explained in last post.

Carted those out back and threw over the back page fence. Done my calculations to see what capacity was need to fill the boxes. 27 gallons +- for all three. Had a part bag of garden additive mixture that was purchased last year. 7.5 gallons of that and took 2.5 gallons of the garden sand I purchased making ten gallons. Dumped that ten gallons on the deck and then made trips to the pile mixture I removed from the 4x6 foot bin toting 17 gallons to the deck and tossed it on the pile. Then I took my short handle shovel and tossed, turned and flipped that all together doing it in a sitting position. Then I loaded up two buckets at a time and setting the first two over the fence. Went around to the gate and entered behind the fence and arranged my three boxes where I wanted them next to the fence. Dumped those two pails in a box. Then went back around to the other side and loaded up two more pails and took them to the back fence. Grabbed a pail and lifted it over the fence not seeing a thorny vine growing up right where the ground box was set. Dumped the two pails in the box giving my right arm three scratches about one and one half inches long deep enough to draw blood. EEEOOOOOWWWW blood started running down my arm getting it all over my cane handle.Well I just kept trekking on and filled the remaining box. Got everything organized on the deck, loading up the cart to take back to the garage. Got the garden hose charged up with water and washed off the deck. Took everything back to the garage and dumped the trash in the dust bin.

Closed the garage door and was done with today's project. I am also finished making garden containers and filling them with the mixtures. For now unless I want more.

Might better plant the containers I have before I think about more for veggies.

Now I need to make some vegetable cages [chimneys].

Went out this morning to see if the flower transplants are surviving the trauma of the transplanting into the flower pails. When I removed them from their starter containers I took my fingers and loosened up the roots as they were compacted and root bound from being in the starter pots. Figured it would give them an advantage to expand their root growth into the new potting mix. I loosened them up pretty good. They are Oo'Ka right now.

Checked the soil temperature in the containers and the pile of mix I had stored from the removal from the 4x6 foot bin. Soil temperature around 62 & 65 degrees. Thought I would plant my seeds in the ground boxes next week, melons, cukes and squashes. But it is a little early yet. Wait until soil temperature goes up about another 10 degrees.

Off to another day of fun activity.

Kinds of Tomato Fertilizer

Effective tomato fertilizer, whether organic or not, provides nutrients tomatoes need at different stages of growth.

http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-fertilizer-kinds.html

Lots of useful articles on the side bar of the page.

Tomato Jokes and Riddles
Q: How do you fix a sliced tomato?
A: Use tomato paste.

Went to Home Depot this morning. Picked up one 2 cu ft bag of medium grade vermiculite. Then I moseyed on down to the 70% discount bin to see what they had to make three more ground containers out of wood. Got four 1x3x8 ft wood strips. All crooked and twisted but they will work for what I want them for. $7.84 worth of lumber for $2.35.  Tomorrow I will cut them 16 inches long giving me 24 pieces out of the four boards and make a 16 inch square box 8 inches deep. I have some of that 2x8x8 foot left I got earlier to cut 2x2x8 inch long corner nailers. Put one strip on the bottom and one strip on top leaving a space in between them. Then I will take that brand new aluminum screening I messed up, cut it to size and staple it over the space in between the strips. May prepare the soil for the three ground boxes tomorrow also and fill the ground boxes. 

After I got back from being out I carted the vermiculite out back to deck and finished the top portion of the last container. Then I redone three flower pails from last year that did not have vermiculite in them. Tossed two plants from last year that were not doing well and transplanted one Plant from last year after I prepared the new container mix with vermiculite. Then I put the new plants in the other two flower pails putting two and three plants in each flower pail seeing I have so many plants. Sprinkled some ferlizer around the plants and watered them down. See how they do with more than one plant in each flower pail. From there I organized things on the deck and washed it down.

Forgot to stop at the Dollar Tree to see if any more 10 quart pails come in.

Went and picked up another bag of perlite for the bottom portion of the container mix. Purchased a mess of flowers for the flower bin that holds the flower pails. Different colors and different varieties. Mostly flowers in six packs plus  two or three in three inch pots. Have more flowers than I know what to do with now with all those six packs I purchased. Then I had gone to the dollartree and picked up the seven remaining pails with handles they had. Need to get more when they come in.

From Tuesday until today I have been finishing the rest of the container mix for the containers like I explained earlier except for maybe two gallons of the top portion with the vermiculite mix in the final container. Ran out of vermiculite as I needed to mix up potting [container] mix with vermiculite first for the seven flower pails to transplant at least seven flowers.

Need to trek out to the garden center for another bag of vermiculite and check the dollartree to see if they have more 10 quart pails with handles come in.

Only seen some tomato plants at Home Depot that came in. Considering picking up a nice four inch tomato plant when I get the vermiculite. Think it was a Bonnie plant best boy or big boy plant. Said it grows tomatoes around one pound each.

Figure out what to do with all the extra flowers now as six pack flowers are a lot less than the three inch pot jobs that only have one flower plant. Something like a $1.89 for a six pack compared to $3.89 for a three inch potted plant with one plant.

This is the article I read about growing melons using compost.

__________________________________

Growing Cantaloupe and Honeydew Melons

https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-cantaloupe-and-honeydew-melons/

Dragged the tools out onto the back deck today and built two 16x16x5.5 inch deep ground boxes using all the left over lumber I had. All the sawing, nailing and screwing together lumber is done now. Threw the four sided boxes over the back fence and set them where I wanted them. Took the part of a bag of mushroom compost and set that over the fence. Filled two five gallon buckets with that mixture I took out of the 4x6 foot bin yesterday and set those over the fence. The texture of the bin mix felt like it was suitable for the ground boxes.

Went on the other side of the fence and put about one and one half inches of the mushroom compost on the bottom of each box. Then finished filling them with the bin mix I took out. I read an article the other day that melons like warmer soil temperature and the compost on the bottom of the ground boxes will generate heat.

The seed starting is coming along. Have some seedlings up to about an inch or so. Some have sprouted and just wee things right now. Some seeds have not sprouted yet. I had re seeded a couple weeks ago. Had a problem with heat source as I did not want to spend a lot on electrical cost for the back room I generally do not keep constant heat in. I generally in past years just turned the heater on when I was occupying the space.

If I start seeds next year for spring planting I may need to start them in December. May need to build a small box about three feet square and put a heat lamp in it. Plus maybe a grow light. I would like my seedlings up to about six or eight inches for spring transplanting to the outside.

I could buy my plants at the garden centers for what few I need but they may not have the plants I want. I will look this spring when their shipment of plants arrive. They are not in the stores yet on many plants. Only seen some flowers and spring vegetable plant like some cabbages, cauliflower and the like.

For the amount of transplants I want would probably cost around $30.00 tops. How much can about ten or twelve plants cost. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth the bother dealing with seeding and tending almost daily for about ten weeks for a few plants.

Went out this afternoon and removed the soil from the 4 x 6 elevated bin and set it aside in a pile. The stuff looks like it could be usable for my ground containers in the back fence area. I will think about that.

Moved the pail containers with the flowers in them that were sitting on the deck into my now new flower/herb bin. The bin is large enough to hold 20  2 1/2 gallon pail containers. I have blue pails but seen red at the Dollar store last year. Maybe some red pails mixed in for color.

Need more pail containers now.

While I was at the store yesterday I decided to get some ingredients for a stirabout to prepare ahead for my lunch menu.

Mosied on over to the fresh vegetable area and picked up a bunch of celery and a one pound bag of baby carrots [ for 10 cents a pound extra they are already peeled] plus two medium sized sweet onions totaling 1.01 lbs. Decided I wanted some meat in it this time and went to the meat section. Spotted a 1.85 lb chuck roast on big discount that normally sold for like $9.13 and got it for $3.83 [what a deal]. Then I picked up two 32 oz containers of beef stock plus a 32 oz can of diced tomatoes. All total the ingredients cost $11.28.

When I got home I got the big pot out, dumped in in the beef stock plus the can of diced tomatoes then turned the heat on to about medium to start heating it up. While that was warming I got out the cutting board and the sharp butcher knife and took that big hunk of meat and diced that up into small chunks and threw that in the pot. Then I cleaned up [washed] the whole bunch of celery and diced that up plus I diced up the carrots and threw those in the pot. Then I diced up the onions and threw those in.

Then I moved onto the seasoning. About a tablespoon each of oregano and parsley plus one or two others which I forgot what they were now. Just put in what suited my fancy. Then I got thinking about that lemon grass I was going to grow for seasoning [did not have that of course] so I decided to try lemon flavoring and just reached in the frig and pulled out the squeeze bottle of lemon juice and squirted in maybe a couple tablespoons of that. Then I grabbed the jar of chopped garlic out of the frig and put in a couple tbsp of that. Threw in a small amount of salt [beef stock is already salted]. Need to watch my salt level to keep my ankles from swelling.

I use to buy chili and canned soups for my lunches. Loaded with salt they are so I make my own now. Had a problem with ankles swelling and the doctor told me to cut down on the salt level. For table salt I now prefer to use Himalayan pink salt. Want a little extra salt on what is on my dinner plate I just give the Himalayan pink salt a couple cranks over it.

Looked like it needed more liquid after the ingredients were in so I put in maybe 2 cups or so of water. Set the stove on low simmer, covered and let that simmer for about two hours.

Taste tested it when done and it was delicious. Best stirabout I made yet and it was nice and thick with ingredients. I do not like watery soup.

Got 12  one and one half cup servings out of that pot. Got the containers out and filled those and stuck them in the freezer leaving one out for ready use. I put two serving in each container for frig space saving. Just use half one day and the other half another day from each container.

May decide to go out and empty that 4 feet x 6 foot bin this afternoon.

Yesterday and today I emptied out the four remaining containers keeping the upper and lower mix separate. Why keep it separate you may want to know. The lower bottom section of the container mix contains the water saving crystals. I did not want the water saving crystals in the top portion. The water saving crystals must work quite nicely. As I got to the top of the bottom portion of the container mix it was moister than the top portion of container mix. as I got down to the bottom of the container it was very moist.

Where was I? OHH, I emptied the four containers and completed the carpentry work on them. When I built those four containers last year I only used a 3/4 x 3/4 inch board 16 inches long to elevate the containers. I took those off and put a 2 x 4 16 inches long for elevation to keep them higher off of the deck. Better ventilation under the containers. Then I installed the 45 degree corners and the triangular cap on the four containers.

Now I need to pick up another bag of perlite and vermiculite to finish my mixes for the top and bottom of those four containers. Looks like I will have plenty of top and bottom container mix left when I am done. Probably use that left over container mix and probably have perlite and vermiculite left over for three or four more containers I am going to buy at the dollar store. The Dollar Store containers are pretty much square and hold about 10 gallons each.

Sure glad I finished those wooden containers. They turned out to be a long drawn out affair with cutting assembling and redoing the container mix with perlite and vermiculite. Still need to do my perlite and vermiculite mixing for the last four containers.

Have another container project I need to redo. I built an elevated container for my wife last spring about 4 feet x 6 feet 6 inches deep and filled it with the wrong mix. All packed hard and did not do the job properly. I had planned on taking out the wrong mix and building it up another 6 inches and putting in container mix. I have been informed she does not intend to do anything with  it this year, So I am just going to remove the wrong mix in the container and leave the box empty. I may use it to set my 10 quart container pails in it with the flowers in them. May buy more container pails for a more variety of flowers and use some of the container pails for herbs. Have a flower and herb bed using container pails.

While I was working out there I seen a squirrel rummaging around the tree and up and down the tree about 15 feet from where I was working. If that squirrel thinks I am going to be his protector from that hawk  the squirrel can just fuggetaboutit. That Hawks could do serious damage to my hide.

I was thinking about that hawk that has been in the neighborhood the last week or so. The thought occurred to me that I have not seen any gray squirrels in the backyard recently. Usually they are back there on a daily basis rooting around the lawn for food or in the bird feeder. They also chase each other around for some reason I can not comprehend.

I mentioned last year about spotting the big snake [speed racer] in my back yard last year and the baby snake I seen under one of the containers when I moved it. I was just looking outside and seen a hawk about one foot tall land in the tree in the backyard. I have seen it around the neighborhood the past week or so cruising around and perching in trees. Looks like the hawk has taken up residence in the woods across the main highway from me as I have seen it over there a couple times.

I kicked my thoughts around last year about fertlizer and compost for the containers. I also kicked around about making compost tea.

I came across this article this morning in a search for liquid manure. I like this idea as the ferlizer gets to the plant quicker.

http://www.survivopedia.com/how-to-make-and-use-liquid-manure-compost/

Sit it out a little while until I see what the weather is going to be. Have overcast skies and not a smidgen of the sun showing. I do not want to cart out the work supplies from the garage and get them spread out. Starts to sprinkle with rain coming I am not as fast as I use to be gathering things up and carting them back to the garage. The bum hip joint and arthritis has slowed me down some.

You want to hear a story of a real screw up with the screening project. I purchased a 36 inch wide roll of screening 24 feet long to do one back window and two front windows. You have already read about the back window screening chaos. Today I went out to do some work thinking about the violas that needed transplanting and the two front window screens. I got my ruler out to check the front screens for length figuring if I had enough screening for both windows. Are you ready for this. Oo'Ka, here it is. I took my tape to measure the width of the screen. Guess what I discovered? The window screen is 39 inches wide.Looks like I got some screening for the storage area.

I moved on to the back yard to transplant the violas out of the big containers I am re-doing with perlite and vermiculite. Mixed up enough container mix with 20% vermiculite for 5 hanging flower pails. Transplanted the five viola plants in the pails. Sprinkled them with ferlizer plus put ferlizer on the other flowers in pails and watered them down.

When I was removing the violas from the three containers I discovered that the violas had self seeded themselves. Little itty bitty plants all over the containers starting to grow. I need the containers for my vegetables after I re-do the container mix. I had put the violas in the box containers last fall for an easy and quick place to put them.

Spotted signs of growing season starting. The clover is turning green on the front lawn, the bird seeds under the bird feeder are growing and the tree in the yard has sprouted its spring buds.

One thing about the seasons in SC is that it flips like a coin from one season to the next. Real quick sometimes. You can turn the heat on in the car in the morning and turn on the AC in the afternoon.

May work on the container boxes I took the violas out of tomorrow. I could get my ground boxes made and ready also. Guess they call them raised beds. I will be planting my squashes, cukes and melons in the ground boxes.

Radishes have sprouted.

While I was outside doing the screening installation while in the window frame I stopped for awhile while family members went after groceries. Did not want to fall off the ladder and have to lay there with no help right away. Might fall off only two steps up and break my hip or something.

While they were gone I drove to the store and got my one number for tonight. Do not want to spend all my garden money gamblin.

When I got back from store I emptied out another container into my bins.  That would be the container that does not have flowers in in. I have violas in three of my garden containers I will need to transplant into my 10 quart round plastic buckets that has a nice rope for hanging. They work quite nicely for potting buckets after you drill some drain holes.

https://www.dollartree.com/Multipurpose-Rope-Handle-Bucket-2-5-Gal-/p350749/index.pro

Redone the screen frame I messed up yesterday installing the screen while in the window frame to keep the frame to the shape of the window.

This vid will help with those who attempt a re-screening project.

Went out yesterday [Sat]  afternoon to install the screening in the screening frames. I had purchased 36 inch wide screening to fit 35 inch wide screen frame. [big mistake] I cut the screening to allow a couple inches extra on top and bottom. I rolled in a short piece of spline on one end of the long rail of the screen allowing about 1/2 inch extra screening. I started at the other end and rolled in the spline  working to the other end. By the time I got half way down the rail I noticed too much extra screening exposed. Went to the other side to see if I had enough screening to roll in the spline in the groove. No go on that. Removed the spline I had rolled in and now I have a nice looking groove in the screen where it will be exposed if I try it again. Must be the screen rail was not perfectly straight.

What I may do is take a wallpaper roller and roll out the kink in the screen. To maintain the shape of the screen frame I will install the frame in the window locking it in place with the frame guide on each side at the top and connect the screen hooks on the bottom. Then line up the screening properly in the frame and roll in the spline on each long side starting at the bottom and work up to the frame guides at the top.  I will place the screening behind the frame guides on each side to help hold the top in place.

If it works that will be fine. May have a visual blemish in the screening where I straightened it but the bugs will not know the difference.

Other wise I will need to buy wider screening. Have some nice new screening for the garden containers.

To really properly install screening in a screening frame is to have a large enough work table where you can lock in your screening frame keeping it square. I am installing screening in a frame about 65 inches long.

While I was at Home Depot today I was grubbing through the 70% discount bin and found a 1 x 5 x 6 foot finish grade piece of untreated lumber with flaws on the edges. Paid $3.10 for a $10.33 piece of lumber. Need a three foot portion to replace a side rail about three feet long on the pull down ladder section  that split where the hinge part is on the attic pull down ladder.

Work on that when I feel like it. Right now we just pull it down and lay a step ladder over the bottom section.

Yesterday I finished the triangle corners on the two empty boxes. Mixed up the bottom portion mix for both containers and put that in. I dragged out the 15 lb bag of Charcoal I crushed up by driving over the bag with an old sheet wrapped around the bag. That was a fun thing to do. RUUUM, RUUUUM, back and forth, crunch, crunch I went. I dumped that bag of charcoal into one of my masonry mixing trays. Got crushed up pretty decent. Has a few large chunks I sort out to crush again. So I took about one quart of the charcoal and spread it over the top of the bottom layer of mix. Then I mixed up the top container mix with vermiculite and about one half quart of charcoal. The containers hold about 11 gallons each.

Planted the rest of the radish seeds in the elevated bin filling the bin up.

Went to Home Depot today and picked up screen hooks for three screens that were missing the latch hooks. Got lost over the years. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Screen-Tight-Window-Screen-Hardware-Kit-SCHDWKIT/206145995

May go out tomorrow and install the screening in the three screen frames.

Monday in the afternoon I went out and emptied the  3 ft x 4 ft elevated container that is 8 inches deep. I put the top layer down to the charcoal separation point including the charcoal in one 20 gallon storage bin I had. Then I put the bottom layer into another 20 gallon storage bin. Washed out the container and then cut my 1 x 6 inch boards to make the octagon corner. Installed those with screws and then cut the four triangle caps for each corner and installed those. That was it for Monday.

Tuesday I went out and installed the aluminum screening in the bottom of the container. Then I mixed my bottom layer I had in the storage bin with a 40% perlite to 60% container mix. I dumped that into the container to the half way point. I mixed the top portion containing the charcoal with a 20% vermiculite and 80% container mix with the charcoal. Filled the bin to about one inch from the top. Now I have left over top and bottom container mix I will use on the two empty 16 x 16 inch containers I made last year which I never filled. When I am done I should have a quantity of container mix left over for the additional containers I was going to get at the dollar store I mentioned in an earlier post. Tired of making wood containers.

Today I went out and put on low nitrogen ferlizer using about 3/4 of the bin. Then I spaced out my 2 inch grid pattern and planted the radish seeds 1/4 inch deep. Should give me my spring crop of radishes before it gets hot. Checked the soil temperature in the 16 x 16 inch containers which is only 60 degrees right now. Checked the temperature of the lawn soil which is only 60 degrees. A little early yet.

Tomorrow I plan on working on the 16 x 16 inch containers. Need to do some lumber work on those, then put screening in the bottom where the burlap rotted. I decided not to put screening on the sides of the containers. I figure the container mix should not wash out the side gaps that much until the container mix gets settled in.

The violas are still blooming well. The pansies and hyacinth are starting to bloom again. The aster plant is still alive sprouting new green. The aster took some winter kill on the foliage it had from last year.

Deciding what I want to put in the balance of the elevated container along side the radishes. Maybe I will just finish the container with radishes and pickle the extras for summer use. There are different ways of preserving radishes. https://www.bing.com/search?q=pickling%20radishes%20raw&pc=cosp&ptag=C1AF44D29E0DB&form=CONBDF&conlogo=CT3210127

Do not do much every day as I have severe arthritis in my hips and legs and use a cane to get around on my bad leg. I will be glad when this prep work is done on these containers. Get that done all I will need to do is plant, tend and harvest anything that grows. Plus have some flowers to look at.

Went out and reseeded the ones that did not come up. Checked soil temperature and it was 70 degrees. I put two seeds in each pot. If both come up I will just keep the best plant.

That light bulb is working quite well for heat source. Might decide to put an aluminum reflector above the lamp.

Reminds me back on the farm with a piston type well pump with a tank that was in an unheated area. We built a box around it and put a light bulb inside for heat. Covered the box with blankets to hold in the heat. We done something or other similar for the piping until it got in a heated area. I remember using heat tape for piping back then.

I have not been in the yard working on the container redo thing yet. Has been too chilly out there. Also decided not to bother with steaming the container mix. The violas and pansies are still flowering nicely.

The seeds I planted have only sprouted about four plants out of 11 so far since Jan 13th. I think the soil has not been warm enough to encourage sprouting. The soil temp has only been between 60 and 65 degrees. So a couple days ago I took a table lamp with about an 18 inch goose neck with a 60 watt bulb and placed it about eight to ten inches from the pots. That brought the soil temp up about to between 65 to 70 degrees. May need to reseed those that have not come up in a couple days. I will just take a pencil and put a hole in the pots that have not sprouted and drop the seed in.

Went to store this past couple days and picked up a 2 cu ft bag each of perlite and vermiculite to redo the containers. Use that up and see what I need from there. I want to redo my 3x4 foot bin first as I want to plant some radish and lettuce seeds maybe this coming week. Warm enough temperature outside now for those to be planted.

I also picked up a 25 foot roll of aluminum screening to redo 3 house screens that need repairing. Will use the old screen to reline the containers I put burlap in that rotted. Also picked up enough 1x6 lumber to finish the square boxes that I want to put into octagon shape. Got the 1x6 out of the 70% discount bin at Home depot. Going to cut it up into small pieces any how. The split portion I will use for my ground containers I am going to make. Paid $4.03 cents for $13.44 cents worth of lumber. What a deal    A couple weeks ago I pulled out a 2x8x8 ft out of the 70% discount bin for something like $1.80 cents.  will use that for my ground container bins also.

All the stinkin lumber I threw away over the years doing construction that was usable and now I am out there buying the crap.