Saturday morning the fountain was set back into the birdbath and hooked up. After a few minutes it started working. It was not shooting a great jet of water or anything, but it did work. It was put in the greenhouse before I went to the office because a freeze was projected for Sunday morning.
The greenhouse is almost ready for the bedding plants to be started. All that is missing is the seeds. An attempt was made to place an order with Park Seed, but their webpage did not seem to be working properly. The order was submitted several times but there was some type of endless loop that prevented the order going through. There has not been time to re-place the order.
Sunday morning a new planting of onions and radishes was set out. The weather will likely be too cold for them to grow as fast as the earlier plantings but the freezes don’t really hurt them and the sunny days will produce some growth. The radishes that were planted earlier are so big that they look like turnips.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Fountain Won’t Squirt
Michael was ordering a birdbath with a solar fountain for his wife Winter’s Christmas present. I asked him to order a birdbath fountain for me to fit in the birdbath at home. The thing did not have directions and I am not very mechanically inclined. I put it together wrong once for sure.
The second assembly appears to be correct, but there may just not have been enough sun. There is a pine tree that is blocking some of the sun and since it also could fall on the house or a power line, there is a good reason to remove it. There are quite a few pine trees that meet that same criteria, so when the 1st of the year comes maybe some of those trees and a Poplar and a Mimosa will be cut down.
The poor sunlight may not be the reason the fountain did not work. There is a phone # for the company that made the fountain in the box. Perhaps a phone call will get better instructions.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The second assembly appears to be correct, but there may just not have been enough sun. There is a pine tree that is blocking some of the sun and since it also could fall on the house or a power line, there is a good reason to remove it. There are quite a few pine trees that meet that same criteria, so when the 1st of the year comes maybe some of those trees and a Poplar and a Mimosa will be cut down.
The poor sunlight may not be the reason the fountain did not work. There is a phone # for the company that made the fountain in the box. Perhaps a phone call will get better instructions.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Garden Cleanup Proceeds
Putting the garden to sleep for winter is a seemingly never-ending task. Each bed needs to be renewed and mulched. The first step is pulling out all the old plants and weeds and taking down the structures that were built to support the plants. Anything that will be re-used has to be disinfected and stored. Anything that is being thrown away needs to be disposed of in such a manner as not to spread pests or disease.
The greenhouse needs to be prepared for starting the bedding plants too. That job is almost complete. 2 new 4’ shop lights were purchased to start a new shelf. 4-flat bottom heaters were not available locally so they had to be ordered. The old pads and shelves have been sanitized with chlorine bleach as have the containers and flats.
The old plants from the garden have been disposed of. The ties have been saved but not sanitized. The bamboo poles need to be sorted and cleaned and the ones that are no longer good will go on the street. The weeds will be the next project. There are not many because of the heavy mulch. The beds will then be reworked and the two rows that are not in raised beds will be tilled and re-mulched.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The greenhouse needs to be prepared for starting the bedding plants too. That job is almost complete. 2 new 4’ shop lights were purchased to start a new shelf. 4-flat bottom heaters were not available locally so they had to be ordered. The old pads and shelves have been sanitized with chlorine bleach as have the containers and flats.
The old plants from the garden have been disposed of. The ties have been saved but not sanitized. The bamboo poles need to be sorted and cleaned and the ones that are no longer good will go on the street. The weeds will be the next project. There are not many because of the heavy mulch. The beds will then be reworked and the two rows that are not in raised beds will be tilled and re-mulched.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Salvaged Eggplants
The frost a week or so ago killed all the eggplant and pepper plants. The peppers that were on the plants were soggy. The eggplants were planted elsewhere and did not receive any attention. When the plants were pulled off Saturday, there were a lot of eggplants still on them. They appeared to be firm, so they were picked and taken inside. They wound up in eggplant parmesan Monday night and were delicious.
The eggplant parmesan was served on a bed of arugula, which was wonderful and accompanied by a side salad featuring mesclun, arugula, radishes and onions from the garden. Just because the winter comes does not mean the garden won’t feed the gardener.
Once again the perfect garden is being planted in my head. Learning the lessons from the summer, most of which are positive this year is important in planning the garden and the choice of plants to start in the greenhouse.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The eggplant parmesan was served on a bed of arugula, which was wonderful and accompanied by a side salad featuring mesclun, arugula, radishes and onions from the garden. Just because the winter comes does not mean the garden won’t feed the gardener.
Once again the perfect garden is being planted in my head. Learning the lessons from the summer, most of which are positive this year is important in planning the garden and the choice of plants to start in the greenhouse.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sweet Greens
The freezing weather has really improved the taste of the greens from the garden. The leaves are limp in the early morning until things warm up, but in the afternoon they perk up. They are still a darker green and they are really tender. There does not seem to be a change at all in the collards, but they are not big enough to pick yet anyway.
The pansies seem to enjoy the cold weather. They are smiling all the time now and producing a riot of color. The camellias too are doing well. It is doubtful that the artichokes can take much more cold. It really doesn’t matter. They were planted in the front yard to provide interest while the other winter plantings were getting started. Hopefully their roots will survive and prosper and next spring new artichokes will come up.
The backyard artichokes in the garden produced 1 artichoke this year and then seemed to die back. Hopefully the front yard “chokes” will do better.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The pansies seem to enjoy the cold weather. They are smiling all the time now and producing a riot of color. The camellias too are doing well. It is doubtful that the artichokes can take much more cold. It really doesn’t matter. They were planted in the front yard to provide interest while the other winter plantings were getting started. Hopefully their roots will survive and prosper and next spring new artichokes will come up.
The backyard artichokes in the garden produced 1 artichoke this year and then seemed to die back. Hopefully the front yard “chokes” will do better.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
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