We had a ‘cold front’ come through overnight, giving us an overcast sky, and a temperature of 100 this afternoon, with a heat index of only 106. RELIEF! :0)
We’re supposed to have the new riding lawn mower delivered. I finally got a text this morning that the delivery window is 9am-1pm today. (We’re delivery #4). Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that the delivery truck can get up our driveway.
I had fun in my art room yesterday, making another wood-burned sign –
No ripe tomatoes this morning; one tomato sucker plant doing well, two others are still alive at this point.
Monster Cat (aka Jet) is feeling her oats lately. She is trying to chew on cords, jumps up and tries to ‘snag’ my jeans if I’m walking, or my arm if I’m in my chair. I’m keeping my spray water bottles as handy as possible to discourage this.
I hope you’re doing well and are able to stay comfortable.
We missed the hoped-for rain yesterday, and then next 10 days are supposed to be a ‘return-to-the-heat’ and dry. UGH.
Yesterday I checked for ripe tomatoes, but found none. I did find and replant some tomato suckers, though. As you can see here, only ONE of the suckers is doing really well. The rest are just hanging on. I’ll keep trying, though. I keep reminding myself that these are all ‘free’ tomato plants, and if just a couple do well, our chance for ripe tomatoes in an extended season increases.
The experiment of planting the elephant ear bulbs has been really interesting. I planted one large bulb in each of three brick planters. One planter in front of the garage has been a good place for several years. I planted the second bulb in a tall, shaded planter to one side of our front porch, hoping it would really spread out and take over the area. The third I planted in a planter at one end of the front yard, in a shaded, fairly protected place.
This is where I’ve planted elephant ears for several years. Usually I have three bulbs in this planter, but the ones I bought are huge, so I decided to see what one bulb in the middle would do. It seems to be happy here and very healthy.
The bulb in the planter to the side of the front porch is doing well, too, although the plant is not nearly as large as the other.
This is the bulb in the protected, shaded planter at one end of the front yard. It has struggled, but is finally gaining a foot hold. The plant is still very small.
Time got away from me yesterday, but I’ll try to get upstairs to my art room today and get started on a new wood burned sign. I’m really enjoying trying to do this. My dreams are full of what I’d like to do in the future, and all I’m learning daily, as far as techniques, what each of the different tips does, and more. Really FUN. :0)
I hope your Sunday is bright, shiny, and full of pleasure.
Good morning. We are back into some super-hot weather today with a heat index this afternoon and evening, starting around noon and tapering off around 8pm, of 106-109. Three of my poor transplanted tomato suckers are still alive, but I don’t know if they can survive this. If they can’t and don’t, I’ll start snipping suckers and putting them directly into the planter to see if I can get something going. It’s a fun experiment. Meanwhile, I gathered a few ripe tomatoes from the main plants. They seem to be in kind of a holding pattern right now. Lots of green tomatoes, but very few ripe ones, showing the stress of different amounts of water, rather than the steady watering they prefer.
Our excitement for the day is gathering trash and driving it down to the bottom of the driveway. We’ll also get mail and go to Walmart for a couple of things. AND, speaking of ‘exciting,’ my new coffee thermos came with a bottle brush to clean it, but didn’t have a brush to clean the straw that it uses. I just ordered several so hopefully I can keep residue to a minimum. We discovered we needed a new oil filter for the generator while my husband was changing the oil, so we’ll stop and get one of those, as well, while we’re out.
Hopefully, more work on the two wood-burning projects I have going right now. Not sure what the rest of the day holds.
Our heat index is supposed to be up to 115 today. UGH. I’m going to attempt to get the equipment I need outside today by the planter I’m going to use to try to get tomato suckers to grow, but probably won’t try to actually find and replant the suckers until tomorrow. I really don’t know how people survived heat like this (if they actually did) before air conditioning. I find I whine a lot about the weather, but a little more moderation would be greatly appreciated…
Pinterest
I hate to brag, but I’m getting really good at ignoring my ‘to-do’ list lately. I’ve had the same stuff on it for several days now (some have even been on it for longer!) I only feel guilty for short periods, then I read, listen to music, play on my computer, or take a nap instead of accomplishing any of it.
Independent Living Aids
I smiled when I realized that my watch was more messed up than I am this morning. For some unknown reason, my watch said it was ‘1’ for the date. Looking further, I found that my watch thought it was March 1st. It’s been correct until this morning, so I have no clue. I reset it, but it’s a mystery why it went bonkers all of a sudden.
We lost power for just a few seconds yesterday. The public power came right back on, thankfully, but it keeps the fact that we have called for a technician to come look at our generator and the electrical hookups that cause it to turn on automatically when we lose power, and then turn off again when the public power comes back on. He was supposed to come Thursday. When I finally texted him Friday, he apologized and said he got hung up on a big project and would get to us next week. That’ll have to be good enough.
We have finally been without significant rain for long enough that my husband is grinning that he doesn’t have to mow. We have the irrigation system going now (we’re still trying to make sure all the planters are getting water) – but the systems only cover the planters – not the grass. My husband lives for “brown and crunchy grass” so it isn’t growing a foot as you watch.
Ontario Science Centre
We have a CHANCE for some rain tomorrow. I’m not sure what to hope for as far as rain goes with the 4th of July coming up. I love fireworks, and we enjoy the neighbors’ displays each year, but the fire danger is high right now. Hoping we can all celebrate and stay safe.
WEATHER – Heat index of 106 today, starting at around lunch time. That may be our normal forecast this summer. I can tell you I’m NOT a fan! hahahahaha – (pun inadvertent, but enjoyed.) :0)
HELP NEEDED – The man who had us on his schedule to come yesterday to look at our generator and the electricity associated with it didn’t come or call. I’m hoping we’re still on his schedule – hopefully today.
LAZIES – I’m trying to fight the lazies. I’m hoping that I’ll adapt to the weather, having to get chores done outside in the early (for me) morning or right before dark, and actually getting things done inside when it’s too hot outside. It’s definitely going to be a work in progress.
Wolff’s Apple House
GARDEN – The first thing on the list (other than ‘have-to’s,’) is gathering and planting suckers from my tomato plants in an attempt to lengthen our ripe tomatoes season. We’ve had a really nice crop this year. The plants themselves don’t look that great, but they’re producing really delicious tomatoes we’ve been devouring for lunch and dinner daily. I want to get the planting done by the end of the weekend. I’ll also set my alarm for 3pm today so I remember to get out and check the irrigation watering of the planters.
Unknown
ART ROOM – The second thing on my ‘stop-procrastinating-list’ is to clear off my drafting table in my art room so I can start experimenting with the new wood burning kit. So far, I start into the room and am immediately overwhelmed by all the STUFF on my drafting table that has to be moved before I can even THINK about working in there. I am trying to promise myself to at least spend 15 minutes each day in the attempt to move the mountain…
DEBATE – Kudos to CNN for the debate last night. It was the best handled presidential debate I personally have ever seen. Whoever came up with the idea of the microphone turn -off when it wasn’t one of the candidate’s turn to speak was inspired. Also, the lack of an audience. It was professionally done, with what I thought were good, fair questions and follow-up. The listener was able to see and hear the difference in policies and plans for the future, even though there was the regular blame game that is always a part of things. People have a clear choice in who they would like to lead them now. Kudos, CNN, and moderators.
I hope you have a nice Friday and an even better weekend ahead.
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)
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.
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!
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)
My friend, Laufrain, showed me how to find tomato suckers.
I had just scrubbed out Amber’s kiddie pool and was waiting for it to fill with the hose. I decided to look for some suckers I could plant indoors. I found four, put the stems in rooting hormone and then put the little suckers in water on my dining area table. Tonight, while we’re cooking out, I’ll see if I can find more on the remaining two tomato plants.
It’ll probably take several tries before I get this right, but if I can get the suckers to grow and keep them alive until it’s time to put them in the greenhouse, I MAY have some healthy tomato plants ready to transplant into the garden next spring! I’m planning to do this with some other things too, some of which can go into a fall garden. I’ll get more serious about starting some seeds in the next few days, when we’re supposed to have a lot of rain.
creativeartworksblog 