How's that? :) We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/998262
Here's a picture of my four homemade earthboxes (HEB's). I'll let you know what I decide for staking the tomatoes. I have a couple of ideas swimming around in my noggin.
Looking good, Kimberly... shouldn't be much of a problem!
Don't think you can get away that easy.....I found you right away!
OK Who dropped the Cookie Crumbs?
Those look good Kimberly.
I'd cage them myself but.......
Well here today's project.
It was a still a bit drizzley but we've almost got it done.
The section from the deck to the patio is next.
Ric
GW - I use wire fence. I went to a place in Newark and asked to buy some fence. They ended up giving me several scrap ends. I took a large basket of tomatoes to them later that summer. I like the four foot livestock fence. My old cages were from fence that must have been 40 years old. They were laying in the edge of the woods over winter and the guy re-doing my pond ran his bobcat over them. They were really mangled!! But, we salvaged them!!! When I went from 4 to 16 plants had to make more cages. They are 2 to 2-1/2 feet across. I also us them to grow cukes and sugar pod peas. If you are interested I will look in the phone book and find the name of the fencing company for you. I think they were off Cedar or Buena Vista.
I grow indeterminate types and they grow up to the top of the cages and hang over the edge and sometimes grow down almost to the ground again. When they are small, I use 3' bamboo cheap stakes to hold them up till they are big enough to reach the cage wire. I use long rebar stakes to anchor the cages.
I think you could use fencing with your boxes. It would need to be smaller diameter than I use so the box could support it. It would have to go up on the box not down on the ground or you would need 6 foot fence.
The fence has big enough openings to be able to easily put your hand in and pull out those lusious 'maters!
Please do let me know the fence company, Jules. That might be just the ticket. If I drive what wooden stakes I have down in around the boxes and attach the fencing up above them, maybe that'll do it. I worked today, so haven't had any chance to look at the container forum.
I got to work today and found out my boss has been let go. You could have knocked me over with a feather. :( I don't know the details, just that she is okay with it. *Sigh* The person the company has managing our store right now is someone my boss trained, and I've always liked her. I hope she ends up being the permanent manager. This gal's boyfriend was a manager and was also let go by the company. This gal is a close friend of my boss - she's in her upcoming wedding, actually - so this is really hard for her.
Today was busy, no chance to sit, so I'm pooped. A friend's coming over and we're going to hang out on the patio tonight. Pizza and margaritas is the order of the evening. :)
Good evening folks... it's been a long and most unpleasant day, and I have just spent the last hour reading housing rental ads.
Of course, there's no way I can pay rent and utilities in a house just by myself, and sharing a house with a stranger never works. Sigh. BUT, at least I have put it out to the Universe!
The biggest hesitation on my part (besides money) is.... my garden.
We had a few sprinkles but no real rain today. Hopefully in another day it will dry up enough to do some planting of the rest of the RU stuff. The yard is a mess from all the high winds in the storm last night... the 4' tall monarda is flat to the ground, as are my tomatoes.
I have a cattle panel behind the tomatoes, so I just tied them up. I'll have more tomato seedlings soon to plant somewhere (?) and I'll have to think about support. I'm outta room on the cattle panel trellis; it's 32 feet long, and planted on each side. I obviously have more planted there than last year when I also had pole beans on it!
GW... sorry about your boss; hang tight to your job if you can. Pizza and margaritas sound like a well-deserved treat!
Nice deck, Ric... it goes well in your enclave.
Ta, ta...
Pizza and Margarits does sound good GW. Hope it goes well at work , that does sound like a hard situation .
darius sorry to hear you are having trouble iwth the home situation. Things are so tough in this economy.
Love the deck are Ric ! nice tub too .
Well 2 doz half pint jars of strawberry preserves done " whew". I wish i added more sugar :( it is a bit bland. I was thinking of using some of my mints with i got a bit lazy LOL so i will add honey at we use it on toast , ice cream, waffles ect.... it is a lower sugar formula i did .
good night
Our strawberries are slowing down quite a bit. I can only pick every third day or so and not get that many now.
I've been battling the seedlings and weeds in the garden and as soon as I get finished with one of the areas, it's time to start over again! I got a big container of Preen and I will be using it now. I used to only use it in the paths cause I liked to see what would pop up in the garden from the self sowers, but I'm not enjoying my garden because of the weeds and that's not a good thing. I have several little seedlings I left and I'm watching cause I'm hoping they're Japanese Maples. Only time will tell!
Found out my SIL will be staying at FIL and MIL's house when she comes to town, so that takes a big responsibility off my shoulders. I'll only have to come up with a few things for her to eat instead of all the stuff for her to eat. I hope I can get her to go to Jungle Jim's with me. I just know she would enjoy it. She's usually just here for a quick weekend trip and never wants to take that much time to go there. Her daughter will be staying with us one night with her baby. Can't wait to see her. The baby isn't quite a year old yet and he's just as cute as can be....Lord knows I have lots of experience with baby boys!!!
Darius, sorry about the problems at home. That always sucks...I thought it was your house...no way to politely show them the door? Well, good luck, prayers are coming your way.
Ric, the deck looks great! What a difference that makes in that area. Good job!
Sorry about your boss, Kim...my son had to take a second 10% pay cut as they have let another 20 go at his work. He's just glad to have a job still. It's time for them to redo their insurance, too, and I guess the new packages are just AWFUL....since my Cobra is through them, I'm sure I'm not going to be happy either....
Hope you all have a great weekend..
Good Morning!
Right now it's bright, sunny, and starting to warm up. Looks like we stand a chance of drying out today, although there's always a possibility of afternoon T'storms. Too wet to do any digging today, though...
Hi everyone
well no good news on our front. T says his boss told him that " the american golf course construction is dead " Nothing on the horizon for us :( he may be home in July 1st .
Cookie i was thinking of a Jungle Jims trip would you like to do that together ?
well i m off and running
sue
Sure Sue! I'm always up for a trip to JJ's!!!
Good morning!
Darius, are you considering moving? That would be such a shame with all the work you've done lately there. I wish there was a vacant house on this farm for you! You would be such a good influence on me- help keep me balanced between flowers and food- on my own, flowers get most of my attention, LOL!
Ric, your outdoor living space looks wonderful!
Kimberly, A couple of people have recommended to me lately a method of "tomato control" I'm considering. One grows her tomatoes against a structure, where she has chains hanging from the eves. She attaches them as they grow. Another uses what looks like a clothes line, with wires hanging from it to attach the tomatoes to. I'm kinda liking the idea of suspended support.
Joyce, I hear ya on the weeds. A couple of rainy days and they're back again!
The forecast looks like chances of storms every day. The humidity has had me spending shorter chunks of time in the garden- sweating profusely and needing to hydrate more often. At least plants seem happy with the weather :-)
Neal, no I'm not choosing to move but the situation here with my half-sister and her daughter is getting worse, and when Jessica gets married in January and Scott moves in too, it will be terrible. My sister owns the house... I only "own" the garden, at least as the "handy(wo)man".
I guess I'm with Joyce on the weeds too. Sigh. If by some chance I don't find a place to live by next year, maybe I'll just till under the veggie garden area and let the grass grow... even in the yard. Right now I don't care if it gets chest-high in weeds. Pitiful attitude ain't it? LOL.
(((((Darius)))))
darius big ((()))) for you . I hope the bunch of you can work it all out. Oh my a married young couple ? !!! that would scare me !
taking a break
got just about all my plants in from teh RU , just waiting for it to cool down and take kids swimming , I am not in the energy mood but they are bouncing of the walls grrrr when does school s tart ?
later
sue
Too dark to work outside anymore, so I'm in for the night-- just me & my computer. It's been slow going in the yard the last couple days. Most of the soil is so waterlogged I'm worried that the plants will rot. The 2 other difficulty factors are the incredible proliferation of those huge sticker weeds and a booming population of little bugs that want ME for dinner. I may have to get a beekeeping suit! I'va had them in my eyes, ears, my mouth a couple of times (yuck), and biting all over any skin they can get to. I think I'd be whistling the tune from "Bridge on the River Kwai" except that I'd undoubtedly get MORE bugs in my mouth, EEEUUUWWW.
Maybe we should declare gardening an Olympic sport, like gymnastics. You get so many points for growing certain plants, you get scores for new planting, bed maintenance, harvest, etc Darius, you & I could get extra "degree of difficulty" points as adults living with a sister! Actually, we should have that as a separate event, akin to the balance beam (no apologies for the pun or the concept!).
OK, off to check some other threads & start training for my bronze medal in--something!
Pat
Pat, mix some peroxide with water and water those soggy plants... trust me, it will give them enough extra oxygen to their roots to keep them from rotting! (Root rot is almost always caused by roots starved for oxygen.)
Really? What proportions should I mix it in?
Pat
Got my new Dawn Redwood....isn't she pretty?
Gorgeous!
Pat... 2-1/2 teaspoons of drugstore hydrogen peroxide to a gallon of water. It's commonly used on over-watered container plants. H202 comes in 3%, 5%, and 35% Food Grade and usually the cheap drugstore peroxide is 3%. If yours is something other than 3%, doa google search for peroxide and plants...
Good lookin' tree, Cookie!
Darius is right, that works like a charm!
Cool! That's really good to know...thanks for the info here, too.
H2O2 is used in soaking seeds for better germination, too, but I don't remember the dilution off hand... In fact, it's good for so many things that I'm going to write about it on my blog.
Thanks for posting that about the hydrogen peroxide. Don't brug growers use that on dormant brugs they bring in over the winter?
For what it's worth, H202 can be used to induce vomiting in the case of some poisonings in dogs. You always, always want to call a vet to ask first, because inducing vomiting will sometimes make an ingestion emergency worse and not better, in that very life-threatening way. Call. First. Every. Time. But, good to have on hand, just in case.
My mother used to put it in my ears for earache too. It worked. I could hear it bubbling in my ears...but it was ohh so soothing!
Read the lables always before inducing vomiting.
If it hurt going down it will do more damage coming back up basically.
Lye, acids, bleach etc...... Tequila it's 50/50......
Ric
Tequila it's 50/50...
Oh, Ric!!!!
ROTHFLMAO
But thanks for all the OTHER info on H202. I use it on scrapes, minor infections, etc. The guy that cuts my hair says it's great for cleaning stainless steel sinks & appliances--- I guess he figured this out by dumping someone'd hair dye down the sink!
BTW, Joyce, I love your new tree, but the dog is really gorgeous!
Pat
I know, I was gonna say, pretty dog! I love dawn redwoods, too. There are some nice ones out at Dawes Arboretum.
Did I get this plant from any of you? Even if I didn't, does anyone know what it is? Is it a type of salvia??
hey all
i tried canning swiss chard , didn't turn out so good :(
canned up some frozen tom sauce that was sitting in the freezer . Got 4 new jars yumooo
or a nice bloody mary mix yumo
thunder and rain here
sure could use some .
kids are having their first sleep over , this should be fun ?
well that is pretty much it over here
later
sue
Somebody ate my brownie crumbs, and I got lost!!
Darius, I am sorry to hear all is not well on the home front. Sure hope that something gets sorted out.
We left early Saturday morning on vacation, and we are at Tybee Island, GA. It is hot and humid, and the beach is crowded. Good thing there is a pool here at the condo. We will be doing some tourning in Savannah, and I am looking forward to that. This city is steeped in history.
Sue, I am not surprised that the swiss chard did not can well. However, there has to be a way to do it, otherwise, how do they get all the canned greens on the grocery shelves?
Well, supper is over, and the sun is down, so am going to go see if it will be possible for a walk. Earlier it is just too hotl.
Savannah is beautiful, defoecat. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time there!
Sue, I do better blanching and freezing Swiss chard.
Ric: I have residual tequila trauma. Turns out, I need to learn more Spanish than "mas tequila, per favore" when I visited Tijuana.
ROFLOL, Celene!
LOL!
I found "Mas Cerveza, Por Favor!" to be FAR easier on all parts of the anatomy.
Kimberley we have that plant also or one very close so I'd say it's from the RU last year.
Our's has dozens of stalks and is in full sun.
Also getting ready to bloom. A little purple/red coloration on the stems. Maybe red blooms.
Leaves are aromatic but funkie smelling.
Well except for the trim the decking project is done.
Rain even hit just as we were finishing and washed off the mud we've been tracking all over it.
Ric
This was the most mentally challenging job we've done.
The 'steps' went thru 4 design changes.
When we finished the 'boxes' and attached them to the deck we were off by 1/8" over a 12' span.
Now it's lights, trim and dressing.
Ric
