Category Archives: Gardening

November 6, 2018 · 4:12 pm

1st Harvest from the Greenhouse!

It’s the 6th of November and I gathered the first harvest of lettuce from my fall plantings.  We’ll enjoy some of it in our salad for dinner tonight! This is Iceberg Head Lettuce. Left in the garden in the early spring, it eventually forms a head in the center of the plant, but I love eating the loose outer leaves until the head forms. I have no idea if these plants will form a head in the greenhouse or not.

 

Here’s another view of the harvest for today.

Since we’re having wave after wave of cold fronts moving through, with rain and significantly cooler weather each time, I coiled up the long extension cord that runs from the back of the house out to the greenhouse to power the exhaust fan that is on automatic to turn on when the temperature reaches 80 inside the greenhouse, and the second fan I usually keep running. We can also run lights out there, but usually don’t. The cord is now inside the greenhouse until early spring.

Besides the lettuce, I still have some celery that isn’t making stalks yet, but is still looking good (more on the window sill that will either come out to the greenhouse or stay in the house, depending on whether it’s starting to freeze on a regular basis or not, plus tomato suckers I planted. I still have several that are alive. I’m hoping to bring the healthiest looking ones inside for the winter.

I have no clue what I’m doing, but I’m having a blast with this experiment. :0)

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October 30, 2018 · 11:00 am

Lewis Greenhouse

Today when I went out to the greenhouse, I got everything watered and then concentrated on cleaning things up a bit. One thing led to another and the time flew. I spent over an hour puttering around.

It’s amazing how much there is to do out there! The 6mm black stuff we spread on the floor is deteriorating quickly because of sun and water. I’ve been moving old welcome mats out there to cover up the tears as much as possible to prevent me inadvertently catching a toe and tearing it more. There was a bunch of SAND in there, though. How does that happen? Anyway I swept up a BUNCH of ‘stuff’ from the floor and spread out the mats again. I neatened up the supplies and then brought a large trash can full of trash to the garage. I took the 2-gallon spray container of EIGHT out to spray ants INSIDE my greenhouse. I hosed them down well, and then hit other areas between the greenhouse and the house on the way back.

I’ve had to get rid of tomato suckers that didn’t make it, but a surprising number are still alive! I have four celery plants that seem to be doing well, and the iceberg head lettuce is looking good. I haven’t started harvesting yet, but will soon.

We supposed to get rain tonight and all day tomorrow with cooler temperatures, so I wanted to get the greenhouse in reasonable shape before we get it. The way the wind is blowing, with dark clouds above, we may get it before this evening.

I hope you’re getting to enjoy the weather, too.

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October 28, 2018 · 2:51 pm

A Beautiful Day

I was out working in the yard and took some pics of our remaining flowers.  This is the black elephant ear my friend, Kay, gave me.

 

The Rio Samba rose only has one bloom on it now, but the impatiens around the bottom is still happy.

 

And these are on the left side of the front door.

 

And the right side. (You can tell that we have mainly shade around the front door on the north side of the house.)

 

 

A sweet hydrangea bloom.

Otherwise, I lopped off a BUNCH of branches between the house and the shop. We had to add air to a tire in the Vette this morning before going grocery shopping, and some branches were reaching out, trying to scratch the car. They’re gone now. :0)

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October 27, 2018 · 12:06 pm

Fun in the Greenhouse – October 27, 2018

This is my greenhouse. I’m a bit embarrassed to tell you that I haven’t done much with it until recently. We run electricity out there with two super-long extension cords so that we can run the exhaust fan and a secondary fan, plus a light, if needed, but we don’t have cooling or heat, due to the expense.

I’ve been trying to get it set up all summer long, but we actually lost a regular, bulb-type thermometer out there due to excess heat, even with both fans on and the door open. The thing simply blew its top – spewing the red stuff all over the place, as if someone with super colorful blood had died out there. The thermometer stopped at 120 degrees F., so I assume it was hotter than that. Needless to say, the heat in there was not conducive to me spending time out there, or even thinking about trying to grow anything.

Now that our temperatures have cooled off, I’m having so much fun trying to see what I can do!  I have iceberg head lettuce growing (one set of plants bought when they were very small, and the other set bought when they were really leggy – almost too much to get planted.) I was very lucky to get those, so I’m doing what I can with them.

The three large pots hold the leggy lettuce plants. The 4 smaller pots have celery I started indoors.

 

The two pots on the right at the top of the picture are what remains of the small lettuce plants. The rest are tomato suckers I gathered and planted.

These are also tomato sucker plants. I have no clue what I’m doing, but I’m having a blast.

I could go ahead and start cutting the outer lettuce leaves for our dinner salads, but the plants are looking so pretty I want to give them more time before I start harvesting. I’m thinking about starting some radish seeds, too.

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October 20, 2018 · 12:45 pm

Fun in the Greenhouse

I had a lot of fun working in the greenhouse this morning. I’m reading a book, Greenhouse Gardening – A Beginner’s Guide by Jason Johns to try to figure out what I’m doing. :0)

It FINALLY quit raining today, so I’ve been out there and back again several times. It was 90 degrees in there this morning, so I’ve propped open the door, hooked up the electricity so the exhaust fan turns on automatically, and turned on the 2nd fan.

On the left side of this picture, are new tomato suckers I planted today. A couple of them were large, so they’re in the larger pots. To the right you can see the two smaller lettuce plants I planted a couple of weeks ago. They’re not thriving, but they are still alive. In front of them are more tomato suckers I started today.

I moved the six leggy lettuce plants into much larger pots to give them room to spread out. They’re looking really healthy. I’ll start cutting outer leaves from each of the plants for dinner salads soon. In front of the two big pots on the left, You can see the celery plants I started in the house from cuttings from celery I bought at the store.  In front of the pot on the right are more tomato sucker plants.

I just read about tomato plants in my greenhouse book. He suggests they need a LOT of air circulation around each plant, so I think I’ll go back out and move them from the 4 and six-pack planters to each in a 3-4″ pot to give them the best chance possible.

 

I’m like a kid at Christmas with the lettuce plants. I can’t wait to be able to bring leaves in and bite them!

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October 15, 2018 · 11:04 am

Fall Greenhouse Project Report 10-15-2018

The two plants on the left are the small iceberg head lettuce plants I bought recently. They’re still alive, but I can’t say they’re thriving. The plants on the right are the tomato suckers I gathered and planted last week. As you can see, they’re still alive, too. :0)

These are the longer, leggy-looking iceberg head lettuce plants I found several days later. I planted them as deeply as I could, trying to have the soil support the plants as much as possible. They seem to be doing really well. I’m watering the saucers under the plants, rather than the plants themselves, thinking the plants will draw the water up if they’re thirsty.

 

This is looking down at one of the lettuce plants. I’m so pleased so see lots of activity.

The outside temperature this morning is 45 degrees F.  The temp in the greenhouse was between 55 and 60. I still have the electricity hooked up, so the exhaust fan can turn on if it wants to, but I’m not expecting that any time soon. If we’re having anything beyond a temporary cold snap, I’ll probably disconnect the extension cord that runs all the way across the yard from the greenhouse to the back of our home.

In another day or two, if things still look good, I’ll harvest a few leaves of lettuce for our dinner salad!

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October 13, 2018 · 11:56 am

Progress in the Greenhouse!

I found these suckers on a tomato plant and replanted them in the greenhouse. I’ll be trying to get lots of others started, as it’s too cool outside now for the tomato plants to create ripe tomatoes. I’m HOPING that I can either have tomato plants ready to replant in the planters in the spring, or even have a ripe tomato or two to enjoy! So far, these seem to be doing well.

Yesterday I turned off the second fan and closed the greenhouse door. The exhaust fan is still hooked up and will turn on if the temp gets over 80 degrees in there.

 

These are the really small lettuce plants I planted about a week ago. They’re still alive, but aren’t having an explosive growth.

 

I took TWO shots of the ‘leggy lettuce’ I planted several days after the small ones. Here you can see how large they are compared to the smaller one on the right.

 

If they continue to do this well, I’ll start carefully cutting larger leaves to include in our dinner salads!

I also have several celery plants I’ll bring out to see how they do. :0)

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October 11, 2018 · 5:16 pm

It’s Said That a Sucker is Born Every Minute…

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Since our weather is cooling off – finally – here in Greenwood, Arkansas – I’m getting more serious about starting things in the greenhouse.

I told you recently I started some iceberg head lettuce plants. My plants are doing well so far. I just went out and watered the saucers under the plants this afternoon, and the plants seem happy with this procedure. The exhaust fan was on – signaling that cooling was needed in the greenhouse. I still have the secondary fan on and the door on the opposite end of the greenhouse open to encourage as much air flow as possible.

Today while watering, I noticed that fire ants were swarming again on the floor of the greenhouse, so I went back to the garage and mixed up more EIGHT bug spray. I really love this stuff! It kills the bugs while being safe for plants and animals, so I don’t have to worry that our pets will come sniff or come in contact with the wet spray. I also can spray the plants in our raised bed planters in the square foot garden when needed without worrying about the residue on the edible plants.

I sprayed ants, which had shown new ‘homes’ in several places, and then found and planted one six-pack of tomato suckers. The picture above shows what a sucker is. You can plant these and a whole new tomato plant is possible. I’m going to plant a whole bunch of these because I have no clue what I’m doing and expect to lose a lot of the plants. If I can get SOME to survive, though, I may actually get some ripe tomatoes before we have a hard freeze!

I’ll try to accomplish something outside daily now that the weather is ‘my kind of weather.’ Maybe it’ll last long enough I can get things under good control for the winter! :0)

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October 9, 2018 · 12:39 pm

Greenhouse Lettuce Experiment

 

 

I’m a newbie at growing things in my greenhouse. My husband and I built this last spring. By the time we finished, it was already time to plant things in our raised bed square foot garden, so I didn’t do anything but try to get things into the greenhouse in preparation for planting later. As the spring went into summer, I found that the temperature inside the greenhouse was WAAAAAY too hot – no matter how many fans I ran – to grow anything then.

Now that our temperatures are finally cooling down some, I got the last of the available lettuce plants for sale in town in order to TRY to get them to grow in the greenhouse. I’m hoping that I can keep them alive and we can enjoy fresh iceberg head lettuce and maybe a tomato or two before we get hard freezes. (Today it’s raining, but I’m trying to gather some suckers from our remaining tomato plants to start out there.

The main purpose of the greenhouse is to extend the growing season as much as I can, mainly by starting seeds in there at the first of March, plus maybe getting some plants from the local stores before it’s technically warm enough to start them in the garden. If I can do that, I’ll be a very happy camper, indeed.

I’m trying to give the plants all the water they need by filling the terra cotta and/or faux terra cotta saucers under the pots, rather than watering the pots directly, hoping that the plants will draw up what they need and be happy. So far, so good.

As soon as I can find and get the tomato suckers planted, I’ll give you a progress report.

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October 7, 2018 · 12:27 pm

Greenhouse News

These are the smaller iceberg head lettuce plants from several days ago. I lost one overnight, but these two still seem to be viable.

The are the larger, leggy plants I planted yesterday. I’m pleased to see these are still alive. I’ve decided to pour water in the bottom of the saucers and let the plants draw the water up, rather than watering from the top down.

 

This is one side of the greenhouse.

This is the opposite side.

The far end.

The door end.


The side from outside.

Amber, my greenhouse helper.

Later, I’ll try to find tomato sucker plants.

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October 5, 2018 · 1:50 pm

Lettuce Plants!

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I told you I planted 5 iceberg head lettuce plants recently. Three of them are still alive. They’re really small, but they’re better than NO lettuce plants. Today I found a six-pack of some really leggy iceberg lettuce plants and snapped them up. I just came in from planting them in the greenhouse.

I still have everything open out there, with the exhaust fan coming on when it gets too hot and a 2nd fan on all the time. The door on the opposite end of the greenhouse is propped open with a metal chair. The thermometer said between 95 and 100 degrees when I planted the lettuce. I’m not sure if the sweet plants will live with it that hot out there, but the evenings are cool and some cooler weather is on the way.

Tomorrow, if it isn’t raining, I’ll try to find suckers on my tomato plants and get them started in the greenhouse too.

This is a grand ‘fall’ experiment. I would really love to have lettuce and tomatoes until it freezes really hard here. That MIGHT be as late as February, if we’re lucky. Then around the first of March, I’ll start some plants for the spring garden!

I’m reading everything I can find on how to start and grow plants in my greenhouse. Frustratingly, most are written for people who are trying to keep their plants WARM, rather than having them boil to death, as mine have. I’ll keep reading, because I would really like to extend our growing seasons as long as possible.

When I get the tomato sucker plants going, I’ll try to get some pics for you.

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September 30, 2018 · 4:53 pm

3rd (and Last) Session in the Yard Today

For my third session in the yard today, I pruned our rose bushes. I weeded around them, too, and GUESS WHAT! – encountered more swarming ants! I went and got the sprayer and hosed them down well. I only got bitten in one session today, on my left calf, and that’s GREAT with all the hostiles I encountered.

 

I then got the leaf blower and cleaned off the front porch, pad, sidewalk, and then the back sidewalk, and finally the garage pad before declaring and end to the outside work today.

I rested a bit, drank more water, then we had lunch – on the nice, clean porch! :0)

Finally, I just did a session of yoga.

Arlindo Martins

I have a back ache after all the work in the yard. I was able to lessen it a lot with all the stretching. I’ll take some Advil to finish things off and then rest again before dinner.

I got a good amount of exercise done today (for me) and the yard and greenhouse are under better control now.

I’m looking forward to relaxing a bunch and enjoying taped TV or a movie tonight – and definitely a good night’s sleep.

I hope you had a good Sunday, too.

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September 30, 2018 · 2:26 pm

2nd Session in the Yard

I started out to the deck, going out the back door. I noticed that there was Amber hair and dirt all over the floor on the porch, so I swept that out. I still need to clean the table so that we can eat out there, now that things are cooling off some.  The plywood across the back is to keep Amber from getting too enthusiastic in wanting to chase something in the yard. She stands up and props her front feet up on the upper edge of the plywood and barks.

 

There is a very short period of time when it’s glorious on our porch to sit and share a meal. Right now is one of them, so I’m planning to serve our lunch out there today. :0)

 

We’re enjoying the last flowers of the year. These are on the deck, and they just fill you up as you walk out there!

 

Amber and Abby supervised my sweeping off of the deck and spraying the planters for ants again. We cooked out last night, enjoying a super delicious “flex” meal of grilled steak and baked potatoes.

 

 

Then I did another session in the greenhouse. I swept the floor as well as I could. The top level of weed barrier is decaying and breaking up in the sun, so it’s kind of a mess out there right now. I’m going to do this in stages, since I’m still having to stop and spray for ants over and over.

 

I sprayed for ants again inside the greenhouse, cleaned up a few areas, and will do another session later.

 

This is the other side of the greenhouse.

 

And these are the head iceberg lettuce plants I planted today. It would be truly wonderful if these are happy and we can harvest fresh lettuce during the fall and early winter.  The exhaust fan is coming on and going off as it is happy with the temperature in there. I left the door opposite propped open and left the second fan on.

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September 30, 2018 · 11:33 am

First Session in the Yard

First thing this morning I was thankful the greenhouse was still up and functional. We’ve had a LOT of wind and rain the past few weeks, so the whole thing could have simple blown over the barbed wire fence and into the next acreage. The top could have torn or blown off, etc. I walked around the outside checking for needed repair and found, to my delight, none was needed!

I cleaned off the tables a bit, throwing out curled and brittle six-pack planters I tried to save, buckled and discolored plastic sheet lids designed to go over young plants, and more.

I hooked up the at least 200 foot extension cord so that the exhaust and second fans would run and propped the door on the opposite side open with a metal chair. The thermostat was down to 90 before I started this. I’m hoping the air circulation will bring that down more.

 

I planted five head iceberg lettuce plants and watered them thoroughly. They’re in a good spot of sun on the table. I wanted to make sure I got those planted, so essentially did that first.

I found a weed growing up through the black weed barrier on the floor, so I pulled it out. When I did, a gazillion little black ants swarmed out. I hurried out of the greenhouse and got the EIGHT spray and 2 gallon sprayer and mixed up a batch. I thoroughly hosed down that spot where the weed was and another spot I found.

I was starting to get hot and tired, so I sprayed my way across the back yard, treating various ant hills with a thorough hosing down with the EIGHT making my way back to the deck. I hosed down all the plants, including the one holding the one weed my husband pulled out. They swarmed out pretty ferociously,  but I kept the spray coming.

The next step on the greenhouse is finding a small broom that can live out there and trying to clean things up as much as possible. Eventually, I want to try to re-purpose bricks from the planters in the front yard that we are going to tear down as soon as the weather gets cooler. I would like to try to make some paths inside the greenhouse – one in front of each line of tables and one going down the middle.  Fingers crossed I can do this.

In the meantime, I’m going to sweep the floor as well as I can, and then prune the rose bushes (an important thing my husband thought had priority.)

I’m glad I can come inside, drink a bottle of water, cool down and relax in-between sessions easily.

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September 30, 2018 · 10:15 am

Yard

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I am devoting the day to working in the yard. Since I’ve been home from seeing Murray, I’ve been getting laundry and the house cleaning under better control. Today it’s time to shift my focus to the yard. My husband mowed recently, so I can concentrate on the smaller things that need doing.

I’ll be out there in several shifts today, resting and hydrating in-between –

  • pruning rose bushes
  • spraying EIGHT bug spray on the ant piles and hostile ants my husband found while mowing, and then while pulling a weed out of a planter on the deck while we were grilling steaks last night
  • planting the head iceberg lettuce six-pack I bought in town yesterday in the greenhouse
  • weeding flower planters
  • finding, cutting and planting tomato suckers in the greenhouse from the plants still alive
  • cleaning up the greenhouse
  • spraying and weeding the planters on the deck
  • using the leaf blower to clean up porch, sidewalks, and garage pad from the grass cutting my husband did
  • weeding and preparing the raised bed planters in the garden for the winter

The list is never-ending, but our weather is cooler, so it’s nicer to tackle some of the issues.

If I actually accomplish something significant, I’ll share some pics later.

One wonderful thing happened in the front yard this morning! I went out to call Amber after Molly had barked to come in. She and Smoke (the gray cat) were together messing with ‘something’ in the yard. I went out to find they had unearthed a mole! I stomped on it a couple of times, but that didn’t kill it. I called to Amber to follow me inside, which she did, reluctantly. She really wanted to continue picking the mole up, biting it, and spitting it out again. I got Amber inside, grabbed the hemostat clamp we have hanging up for when we need to grab bad things securely, and picked up the mole and threw him as far as I could into the woods in front of the civilized part of our yard. I’m hoping that he will either die (yeah, I’m cruel) or if not, satisfy himself tunneling through the 7 acres we’re NOT trying to fashion into some form of a lawn around the house.

Have a great Sunday!

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September 29, 2018 · 4:21 pm

New Greenhouse Experiment

This is the greenhouse my husband and I built last year. I haven’t done anything with it during the summer because no matter what I did, as far as leaving the door open, running the exhaust fan on the other end, running a second fan on the table, it was over 120 degrees F. in there.

 

Now that it’s finally much cooler, I’m going to see if I can get some plants going and see if I can grow them through the winter!

I got a six-pack of Iceberg head lettuce today. I have some tomato plants still in various stages. I’m going to see if I can get some good suckers from them, and get both things started in the greenhouse.

I need to clean things out in there first. The rain comes in underneath, so the floor is pretty awful right now. I want to extend the heavy extension cord from the house to the greenhouse and get the exhaust and extra fan going, and get some pots set up with Mel’s Mix. I need to find my rooting medium and make sure I have plenty of water out there.

THEN I’ll plant the lettuce, and THEN I’ll see if I can find good suckers on the tomato plants. I haven’t a clue what I’m doing, but if reading and enthusiasm will do it, I’m in.

I’ll post progress (?) reports to let you know how things are going. Fingers, and all other appendages crossed!

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August 9, 2018 · 1:51 pm

Good Afternoon!

I’m late getting to my blog today because I enjoyed a glorious massage!

If you live in the Greenwood/Fort Smith/Hackett and more area in Arkansas you should contact Lynn Moody at lynnmoody42@yahoo.com and schedule an appointment. Time with Lynn will be the very best present you can give yourself.

Dribs and Drabs and Details Updates:

  • The pulled pork recipe last night was a success and it couldn’t be simpler.

I bought a pork loin the day before yesterday. Yesterday morning I browned it on all sides and then put it in my slow cooker. I didn’t go by a recipe, but added tomato soup plus a can of water, a chicken ‘booster’ packet, a bit of seasoned salt and pepper, onion bits, and garlic. I set it to low for 10 hours. When we were ready to have dinner, I turned off the slow cooker and put the pork loin on a platter. My husband and I grabbed a handful of forks and had great fun pulling it to shreds. We then got out our scales and divided it into 4 oz portions in freezable and microwaveable portions, putting a tablespoon of the remaining liquid from the slow cooker in each.

My husband deemed it ‘very good!’ I was relieved because this can take the place of the pulled pork item that Nutrisystem discontinued recently and probably won’t have again. This was my husband’s favorite item, so this is a big deal for us. It was also quick and easy to prep for cooking. This meant a lot to me because I’ve never tried pulled pork before.

He did ask that we find another BBQ sauce because it would add more flavor, so I found one today, with the help of a good friend, that has 5 grams of sugar per serving. A serving is 2 tablespoons, and we’ll only use ONE, so this is good going forward. We’ll probably have the pulled pork as a staple of his/our new eating plan going forward.  He can eat some whenever he wants for dinner or lunch, since he is near his weight goal now. I’ll probably use it as a flex dinner because we’re eating it on a hamburger bun.

  •  I’m almost ready to start adding some fur or feathers to the drawings I traced recently using my new 4 LED Tracing Board (light box). I did find another drawing I want to try (a fawn) , so will try to get that one added today.
  • I managed to do some yard work last night WITHOUT getting stung by red wasps or ants! I did find that the red wasps had built a nest INSIDE the mouth of the metal peacock critter we built who sits in the planter. My husband squirted the wasps and we ran for the house just before we finished our yard work. Hopefully, with relocating the peacock, the wasps will decide to live elsewhere.
  • I’ll do a final tweak on my closet clean out and reorganization project today and call it finished until I move things in the fall.
  • My husband’s blood test numbers were SO much better that I sent them to a friend who has been trying to get term life insurance for him. (He was turned down 2 years ago, and the policy premium we have now will skyrocket on his birthday.) She submitted the numbers to the underwriters who were super impressed with the improvement and agreed to consider him for a policy! We’ll apply next week. Fingers crossed.

That catches you up on the exciting lives of the Arkansas Lewises. I hope things are going well with you, too.

 

 

 

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July 28, 2018 · 11:01 am

Armoring Up

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I WISH our flower planters look like this. I’ve been trying to weed the three 8-foot brick flower planters that follow the slope of our front yard between our grass and the driveway. My rewards for my efforts a couple of days ago was another red wasp sting and an ugly bruise on the back of my hand I received while flailing around trying to get the wasp off me.

I’ve been resting and avoiding the yard since then, trying to get the swelling in my arm to go down and the pain to subside. After two days of feeling sorry for myself, I’m finally over the hump on pain and swelling, both on the back of my hand and my arm. I think in another day or two I’ll be back in fighting form.

When I do go back out there, I’m going to armor up. I’m going to start wearing an old long-sleeved dress shirt of my husband’s that I’ll designate as my ‘gardening shirt.’ I’ll wear my jeans, long socks, and my gardening gloves. It it’s really sunny and hot, I’ll wear my funny-looking hat. Needless to say, I’ll be quite a sight, but MAYBE I can do what I’d like to do without getting injured.

The first thing I’ll do is arm myself with a can of the spray that knocks wasps out of the air and kills them on contact, or at least knocks them down where I can squash them. No more Mr. Nice Guy around here. I realize that wasps serve a good purpose or two, but they are hereby on notice to do their good work somewhere else! I’ll also have my canister of EIGHT bug killer and will hose down the area again before I get close. I’ll take our metal yard art peacock out of the planter (maybe even ripping it out and throwing it into the yard) – in case the wasps have built a nest in it. I’ll also hose down the palette of bricks stacked next to the brick planter because the wasps may have built a nest in there, as well.

Thankfully, we’re getting some rain on and off this weekend, so I can heal up a bit more before I tackle this.  Once I feel a bit safer – armed and armored –  I’ll start trying to weed again….

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July 27, 2018 · 9:38 am

Whining Zone

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One red wasp and I’m a mess – AGAIN. Last year I could say I had never been stung by anything – ever. Since then I’ve been stung by red wasps three times and a scorpion once. I can tell you I’m a very unhappy camper right now.

I have two small, deep circular bruises on the back of my hand where I bashed it against a palette of bricks flailing around trying to get the wasp off me. Surrounding those two and encompassing about half of the back of my hand is a lighter, swollen bruise. My arm is swollen all around the inside of my right elbow and very pink. In the center is a ‘head’ where the stinger went in.

The pain was such yesterday that I tried a bit of everything last night trying to get it to stop. I finally rolled on PainStop because that kind of deadens the nerve endings – I think – and makes other hurts hurt less. I had already put ice on it. I had also held a tissue with bleach on it. I took two Benedryl. I finally put Cortisone 10 on it, and that allowed me to get a bit of sleep, though I was awake several times last night. It’s still quite pink and sore to the touch, but just a bit itchy, so I guess that’s a good sign.

The weeds in the flower planters will have free rein until the swelling goes down. They’ll probably thumb their noses at me – with the remaining wasps in the area joining the chorus – as we drive by to go to Brunch Bunch this morning.

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July 26, 2018 · 5:13 pm

No Good Deed

Goes Unpunished.

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Since it was overcast all of a sudden, I decided to add to my “keep moving” list for the day and went out to do as much weeding as I could in the flower planters.

I saw some ants on the side of the planters (there are three planters – each 8 feet long – in a line separating our front yard from the driveway) I went back in the garage and got the EIGHT bug killer spray and hosed everything down.

I got one side of one planter weeded and pruned. I emptied the basket of weeds and was setting up on the other side of that planter when I felt a really sharp pain on the inner part of my right upper arm. A large red wasp was unhappy with me and was stinging me as if his life depended on it.

Moving quite rapidly for an old broad, I leaped up, yelling and swatting at the wasp. I got him off me, but he was coming in, ready to sting me again. I ran to the house and got an ice pack from the freezer. I held it on my arm until the pain subsided a bit, and then got up and took some Benadryl tablets, since my arm is pink and pretty swollen. I then got a tissue and dipped it in bleach, because I THINK my friend Laufrain said that would take the pain away.

Since I’ve calmed down a bit, I looked at the back of my right hand. When I leaped up, throwing things in all directions, I hit the back of my hand on the palette of bricks we bought a while back to rebuild two of our planters. Apparently I rapped it quite smartly because I have two small bruises plus a pretty big lump.

I guess I should have quit while I was ahead earlier, rather than trying to add one more activity to my day.

Maybe I can enjoy reading my book without hurting myself….

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July 21, 2018 · 2:21 pm

“Earth laughs in flowers.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I walked around the yard this morning, taking pictures of what is surviving in our awful heat here in Arkansas. We usually have weather like this in AUGUST – not from May through now – in un-ending record heat.  Even with daily irrigation some of the plants are simply giving up. The trees are shedding their leaves in an effort to sustain life.  As I look at these, I see all the weeds and pruning that are needed – when “I” can survive long enough to work longer outside….

 

Wave Petunias

 

 

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

 

Wisteria

“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” – Gerard De Nerval

 

Phlox

 

Phlox and Elephant Ear

“Earth is a flower and it’s pollinating.” – Neil Young

 

Lily

“When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.” ~Chinese Proverb

 

Mandevilla

“Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.” ~The Koran

Hydrangea

 

 

Impatiens

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.” – Miguel Angel Ruiz


Salvia

“Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.” ~Lydia M. Child

 

Rio Samba Roses

“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.” ~Jim Carrey

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July 19, 2018 · 10:51 am

Heat Index Square Foot Gardening

Our actual temperature is forecast for 102 this afternoon. (Heat index will be “105-110+”. ) In the southwest, the denizens say things like, “But it’s a DRY heat” – as if you don’t fry in that. In Arkansas, right now it’s NOT a dry heat, and it’s pretty awful. Even with our irrigation system, flowers and the remaining tomato plants are just barely hanging on.

I cleaned out my square foot garden last week, and am now spraying weed killer on the floor of the garden under the chest-high raised wooden boxes of our garden, as well as around the perimeter of the garden, around the trash cans of the components of Mel’s Mix (the alternative to native soil), etc.

I’m getting good exercise from weed whacking and cleaning up our concrete areas with a leaf blower, toting a 2 gallon container of weed or bug spray, and trying to weed my flower planters without croaking in the heat.

I’ve given up trying to work outside ‘in the morning’ or ‘in the evening’  like sane people do. Something seems to always come up, making it impossible, so I divide my day into

  • ERRANDS – trying to be clean and reasonable presentable
  • HOME – where I just try to stay alive, doing as many sessions as my energy will allow outside (taking breaks and drinking lots of water), and then going up for a shower, clean clothes, and lots of rest the remainder of the day.

I used to be like the picture above, loving to bake in the heat of the summer, preferably beside a swimming pool, but not a necessary thing. Now I barely step outside and I’m wet from head to toe and avoiding the heat as much as I’m able.  I love working in my garden and with my flowers, but NOT when I’m frying like an egg.

“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ” ~ Charles Dudley Warner

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July 15, 2018 · 1:51 pm

The Wicked Witch is Dead

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I just came in gasping and weaving, from getting the garden cleaned up – making a check to make sure I harvested all the onions yesterday – pulling off the demarking strings (most of them snapped the minute I touched them) and re-spraying the bug killer in the boxes again.

The last step will be when I can get my breath back and my temperature down below ‘WAAAAAY – too – hot.’  I’m going to mix up weed killer and spray it on the floor of the garden, and all around. At another time I’ll do the weed eating of what I hope will be dead weeds around everything and then I’ll be ready for fall, hoping that we don’t go directly from lethally hot summer into way-too-cold fall.

We have GOOD air conditioning in our home and in our vehicles, so we can insulate ourselves from it, unless we’re determined to get yard work done.  I’m counting the sessions working in the garden as most of my exercise for the day. Once I’m finished with that, I’ll do my yoga and then head for the showers.

I hope that if it’s hot where you are, you have somewhere to go to give you some relief.

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July 15, 2018 · 9:19 am

The Heat Index is WHAT?

Our heat index this afternoon is forecast to be 105. Our hottest month here in Arkansas is August. I can’t wait.

Yesterday I started a weekend project of cleaning out our raised bed square foot garden, since Mother Nature has cooked it despite daily irrigation. The first thing I did was spray the six 4′ x 4′ chest high wooden boxes with EIGHT, a spray that kills bugs, but doesn’t harm plants, animals, or people. Then I started pulling out dying plants. This took several sessions, but I got it done. I had to re-spray one of the boxes because when I pulled out some bolted lettuce, the ants came spewing up. They didn’t bite/sting me this time, though, thank goodness. I dug onions out and spread them on the screen part of our trailer to dry in the sun for several days.

Today I’ll do a bunch of clean up. I need to empty the two or three trashcan-fuls of plants I pulled and take them over to the barrel composter. I’ll take the strings off that mark the planting squares, since several broke when I was taking plants out. I still haven’t been able to find a string that doesn’t degrade rapidly in the sun, but I’ll continue looking. I’ll make  sure I got all the onions and then re-spray the soil in the boxes with the bug killer.

I want to mix up some weed killer and spray it on the wood chipped floor of the garden area, and then around the perimeter of the garden, plus around the propane tank, trashcans of Mel’s Mix, etc.

I’ll feel happy if I can finish the “Cleanup of the Garden” finished by the end of the day.

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July 14, 2018 · 1:18 pm

Progress on the Garden

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I’m making reasonable progress, even though I’m melting into a puddle.

I sprayed everything in the yard with the EIGHT bug killer. I have two of the six 4’x4′ raised garden boxes cleaned out. (I had to stop, go into the house and wash my arms and hands because I ran into another bunch of fire ants in the garden when I pulled out a plant.) I didn’t get stung or bitten, and went out and hosed that box down again with the bug killer. I’ve put in three sessions so far today and am about to go out again. Getting lots of exercise, a reasonable number of steps on my pedometer, and am still alive. :0)

 

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July 14, 2018 · 10:50 am

I’m Getting My Exercise Today – Cleaning Out My Garden

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I’m inside, trying to catch my breath, drink a bottle of water, and relax a bit before going outside again for another session on my weekend project – cleaning out my raised bed square foot garden boxes.

The heat index is now 97 degrees (90 degrees with 55% humidity). Our forecast temperature is 98 today. Unless the humidity drops drastically, that will be a heat index of 117 this afternoon. UGH.

Mother Nature has pretty well killed off my spring garden. The plants are no match for her, even with daily irrigation, so I’m throwing in the towel and cleaning things up for next time.

I’m going to do this in SEVERAL sessions during the weekend, trying to stay hydrated and not get heat or sun stroke.

(My husband is smarter – tackling a project where he can work inside our shop. He turned on the A/C this morning and has just gone out there soon to start work, refurbishing a roll-around chair for our wonderful hair stylist and friend, Michael.)

Since the outside work needs to be done, the garden and flower planters are my domain around here, and it’s not getting any cooler for the foreseeable future, I’m just going to be careful and get it done.

  • I’m half way through the first part – spraying the garden, tomato planters, and flower planters with bug spray so I hopefully don’t get stung/bitten/ or otherwise assaulted by our hostile insect population. (My ankle is still puffy from the last fire ant attack.)  I’m using EIGHT, a spray that isn’t supposed to affect the plants at all, won’t hurt our pets, and will JUST give me some relief.
  • The second part of the project will be pulling out the dying plants in the garden and harvesting the onions, spreading them on a screen we have on a trailer out by the shop to dry in the sun.
  • The third part of the project will be mixing some weed killer and spraying the ground under the raised bed planter boxes in the garden, around the perimeter of the garden, and around the trash cans of the components of Mel’s Mix along the back of the shop.

If I can finish this by the end of the weekend, anything ELSE I do will be gravy.

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July 12, 2018 · 1:51 pm

You Know It’s Hot

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The heat index is 105 degrees right now. Not fit for man nor beast.

Thankfully, my husband mowed the yard last night right before dark, so the Lewises are lookin’ pretty good (for the Lewises). One of the many reasons we don’t live in the city limits is that we didn’t care for trimming our lawn to a required height and in the proper frequency, agonizing over brown spots, moles, voles, or other ‘ole’s, etc. We usually mow once a week, weather permitting, and my husband is delighted when we get to the stage in the summer where we aren’t getting any rain to keep the grass growing before our eyes. “Brown and crunchy’ is his favorite grass.

I never got back outside yesterday after gathering tomatoes and getting into the hostile ant pile. My ankle is FINALLY only a bit puffy today. The swelling is such that you can actually SEE the bites/stings rather than my ankle being one pink puffy area all the way around.  I’m planning to try to get the garden cleared tonight, but I’ll mix up more EIGHT to spray all the plants, all the raised bed planters, and the ground around them before I try to start clearing things out right before dark this evening.

I’m going to pull out all the plants, including the onions. I’ll put the onions on a screen we have on the side of a trailer so that they can start drying. They’ll need to do that for several days and then I can store them in mesh bags in the pantry. I’m hoping we got a good crop this year. Last year we had home-grown sweet onions throughout the winter and into the start of April!

If you’re having similar weather, don’t forget to take frequent breaks and drink lots and lots of water.

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July 11, 2018 · 9:53 am

I Picked the Tomatoes, But…

 

Our heat index is supposed to be over 100 today, so I decided I would get out and see if we had any tomatoes I could bring in. As you can see, we had several nice looking ones.

The problem is that an ant nest was nearby and I apparently disturbed the sweet little things as I walked to the tomato planter. All of a sudden, my left ankle was stinging. I looked down to find a gazillion (give or take) ants on my shoe and ankle. I slapped them off as best I could and came in with the tomatoes I had gathered.

I immediately took off shoe and sock and put Benedryl cream all over my ankle. Now I’m watching my ankle get pink and puffy while it continues to sting and itch. There isn’t enough spray in the world to spray our whole yard (8+acres), but I’m going to make a concerted effort to spray all around the civilized part of the yard around the house and garden as soon as this subsides….

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July 10, 2018 · 1:08 pm

Bummed

I just went out to the garden to see what’s what. Our weather has been so bleeping hot that I haven’t spent as much time as I normally would.

My husband and I built a really nice raised bed square foot garden so that I could grow some of our veggies. We spent a lot of time on it, building 4 foot x 4 foot, 8 inches deep wooden boxes, lining the bottoms with plastic and mounting them on ‘tables’ of metal about my chest height so I wouldn’t have to bend over double or get up and down on my knees. We ran irrigation so that we can control the watering. We used Mel’s Mix, a combination of peat moss, vermiculite and as many different kinds of compost as we can find to create a really nice medium that plants love. It’s easy to plant, water, weed, and harvest.

Yet it was mostly wasted effort this year, due to our much cooler and wetter than normal spring followed by August weather in May. There is just no way that lettuce, broccoli and spinach can thrive in this heat. The plants practically boil in the ground.

 

As you can see, everything is bolting, wilting, or dying. Even the cantaloupe can’t handle this weather.

Today’s project is several sessions in order to clean everything out, harvesting the onions and leaving things ready to plant, hopefully if we have good fall weather. My greenhouse is 120 degrees inside, even with the automatic exhaust fan running continually, so I turned that off. I’ll concentrate on cleaning things up and trying to be ready for my next chance.

Meanwhile, we’ve been enjoying truly incredibly tasty tomatoes from the one planter in the nook created by the back of the house and our screened porch. They are YUMMY. If that’s all we’re going to get now, I’m still smiling.

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July 6, 2018 · 1:16 pm

1st Tomato Harvest of 2018

These aren’t perfect, but they’re delicious! I harvested one small one the other day, got two of these last night, and two more just a few minutes ago. I can’t wait to slice one up and bite it!

One of our tomato planters isn’t doing well. The plants have blossom end rot. Though I’ve treated them with bone meal and Blossom End Rot spray, I’m not sure I can solve the problem. The nook planter in the spot behind our house and next to our screened porch is doing much better. We have lots of green tomatoes that I’m hoping will ripen.

This has been a hard year for gardens here in Arkansas. I was comparing notes with my friend, ‘gardening expert’ Kay, at Breakfast Bunch this morning. She says her garden is basically a bust this year, too. We had a cool, wet spring followed abruptly by August temperatures and strong sun starting in May. This has pretty much done everything in. I still have some cantaloupe plants that are healthy with lots of blossoms, but no actual melons yet. I also have onions, and I may start to harvest them soon. Other than that, a few radishes and the one good planter of tomatoes.

I may just cut my losses and clean most everything up soon.

We continued the clean up after the dismantling of the hummingbird bird bath when we got home today. The good hose is now on the holder. The ratty hose is in the burn barrel. The potting soil is in the large, low, round planter and saucer, ready for me to get out there and plant the Impatiens we found at Wal-Mart. They’re a little bit worse for wear, but then, so are we!  :0) I’ll take pics when they’re planted.

I don’t plan to do a lot more outside today unless things cool off a lot.  I’m still stiff and sore from cutting down and hauling tree parts yesterday.

The ‘inside list’ is off the page, so I’ll tackle it this afternoon.

Have a great day!

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July 4, 2018 · 3:16 pm

Insane

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My husband and I are insane. It’s 92 degrees, strong sun, heat index of 101 so far. And what have we been doing? Mowing and weed whacking! I KNOW!

I did take a sweatband and hat to my husband as he rolled by on the mower. (He said he had leveled the new blades and wanted to see how he did). Since he was mowing, I felt I HAD to be doing something to help, so I got out the weed whacker and the bug spray.

I handled a couple of new ant hills. We have these little tiny black fire ants this year for the first time. They’re ferocious, mean-tempered, and don’t want to share even if it IS supposedly your land, planter, or garden. I found out the hard way that I seem to be allergic to them. I don’t do anything really dramatic, but I DO blow up like a toad and the bites take forever to go down, quit hurting and itching, and finally go away. I hosed them down, smiling as chaos ensued in the ant hill. :0)

I weed whacked all around the front, all around the back, and MOST of the side before pooping out. I changed the battery on the wireless weed whacker without help, PLUS was able to pull out another length of the cord when needed, also by myself. :0)

Now we’re wringing wet, pooped, and drinking water like mad, getting ready to take a break for lunch.

I’m not sure if I’ll do another session today or not, but I feel that we made good progress today on something that is NEVER completely done.

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