That’s what the little tree that I cut down on Sunday said to me. The tree was tied up with grapevines. I cut the grapevine and the tree. The tree was only about 2” in diameter. It bound when the saw was almost all the way through. I thought the grapevines were holding the tree so I just cut from the side. When the stump let go the tree flew up and hit me in the face like the kick of a mule. No treat.
Sunday’s plan was to build another raised bed. Instead I lay around with a bag of ice on my eye.
October is gone. The lowest temperature was about 39 degrees. There were frost warnings for Saturday that chased the topsy-turvy tomatoes into the greenhouse. The frost didn’t happen. Saturday was dedicated to splitting wood and filling the wood ring and the kindling box in the garage. The wood in the yard is stored in a beehive.
A beehive is a vertical wood pile. A post is planted in the ground. The pieces of wood are stood up around the post. As the bottom expands a second, third and fourth layer of wood is added, all standing up. This helps green wood dry faster and causes rain to run off rather than soaking the firewood. The whole thing could be covered with a tarp, but that just adds a couple of steps to the task of bringing in firewood. The name beehive comes from the shape and appearance of the finished stack.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label hanging tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hanging tomatoes. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Last Day of Summer
…Or so they say. The high for today is supposed to be 94 degrees. The lowest high in the 10 day forecast is 83 degrees. No rain is predicted. The humidity is so low that there is no dew on the grass in the morning. The grass is turning a nice even shade of brown. At least it doesn’t need to be cut.
The topsy-turvy tomatoes seem to be suffering more than anything else in the garden. They get watered every day, but they still have a sad look to them. The peppers and eggplants seem to be thriving. The three cucumber plants that survived the beetles are green and bright, but they are not growing much. Two of them have put out the little runners that they use to hold on to the trellis, but only one is tall enough to reach the trellis.
The soil is still too warm for planting lettuce and spinach. None of the fall carrots or beets has germinated. The kale and turnips were spotty. The mustard and radishes are growing well. The onion sets were put out last weekend. They have done nothing. The mustard should be large enough to pick next weekend. Everything requires daily water.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The topsy-turvy tomatoes seem to be suffering more than anything else in the garden. They get watered every day, but they still have a sad look to them. The peppers and eggplants seem to be thriving. The three cucumber plants that survived the beetles are green and bright, but they are not growing much. Two of them have put out the little runners that they use to hold on to the trellis, but only one is tall enough to reach the trellis.
The soil is still too warm for planting lettuce and spinach. None of the fall carrots or beets has germinated. The kale and turnips were spotty. The mustard and radishes are growing well. The onion sets were put out last weekend. They have done nothing. The mustard should be large enough to pick next weekend. Everything requires daily water.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Perfect Garden
The Perfect Garden
This is the time of year when the successes and disappointments of the garden become reality. I am a little disappointed with the garden this year. There are some successes; but the failures are more glaring. The perfect garden like the perfect lover is mostly in the mind. That is why this is the best time to start planning next years garden. It is still perfect.
It is wonderful to live in the city and still have deer and rabbits and other wildlife in the yard. They are great to watch. It has never been a problem if they eat a little bit from the garden. It is fun to play little tricks on them, like spraying everything with habanero spray. This year they have taken more than a little bit.
Deer must be excluded from “the perfect garden”. Stuff will be planted outside the garden for them to munch. An 8’ fence will go around the garden. Deer can jump 18’; but maybe they won’t if there is something good to eat outside. Bugs must be excluded as well. Companion planting and organic sprays will be used for that. The habanero pepper spray worked well. It was a little too strong at the bottom of the sprayer. It actually burned the grape leaves. There are some really simple cheap sprayers at Lowes. I will buy a couple extra and label them so the sprays can be separated. BT, sulfur and pepper-garlic will be used.
It would be wonderful to have everything in raised beds. The work to do that is massive; but a couple of new raised beds can be added each year. The plans in my mind included a row of hanging tomato plants. The one hanging plant is not doing as well as the planted ones; so maybe 3 or 4 hanging plants will be used as a comparison. The design on the raised beds will be made to accommodate some chicken wire panels that can be added or removed easily to let me in and keep rabbits, squirrels, raccoons and birds out. Bird net can be draped over the top.
Summer squash plants are so greedy. They want to take over the whole garden. (See Picture.) They were given a 4’ row this year. It is still not enough. Next year they will get panels on the side of the rows to keep them in their place.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Monday, July 6, 2009
The 4th of July is for Tomatoes
The 4th of July is for Tomatoes
Last year my 1st homegrown tomato came off the vine on the 3rd of July. This year the deer pruned my tomatoes so severely that there are no 4th of July tomatoes. There are two very tiny green tomatoes on 1 vine. Fortunately Michael Swol felt sorry for me and brought me an extremely ripe and very tiny cherry tomato from one of his plants. It was, of course, anticlimactic as my friend Stephanie has been blessing me with homegrown tomatoes for a week.
At least the cucumbers and squash are doing well. Even the new cucumbers that were planted early last week have come up. The Hydroponics store on Monroe Rd. in Charlotte has BT. This is supposed to murder pickle worms. Michael and I each bought a very tiny bottle for $16. I sprayed mine yesterday (the 4th of July). I hope it will give me independence from pickle worms and other caterpillars.
BT (Bacillus Thuringienses) is a disease that kills insects in the larval stage. Supposedly they take a bite or two, get sick and fall off the plant and die. I hope it ruins their whole day.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Last year my 1st homegrown tomato came off the vine on the 3rd of July. This year the deer pruned my tomatoes so severely that there are no 4th of July tomatoes. There are two very tiny green tomatoes on 1 vine. Fortunately Michael Swol felt sorry for me and brought me an extremely ripe and very tiny cherry tomato from one of his plants. It was, of course, anticlimactic as my friend Stephanie has been blessing me with homegrown tomatoes for a week.
At least the cucumbers and squash are doing well. Even the new cucumbers that were planted early last week have come up. The Hydroponics store on Monroe Rd. in Charlotte has BT. This is supposed to murder pickle worms. Michael and I each bought a very tiny bottle for $16. I sprayed mine yesterday (the 4th of July). I hope it will give me independence from pickle worms and other caterpillars.
BT (Bacillus Thuringienses) is a disease that kills insects in the larval stage. Supposedly they take a bite or two, get sick and fall off the plant and die. I hope it ruins their whole day.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Hanging Tomatoes
Hanging Tomatoes
I suppose by now that every gardener has heard of the hanging tomato vines. It really seemed like a great idea; but I have been just a little skeptical. Yesterday I had lunch with my mother at Plantation Estates. She told me about one of the residents that had a hanging tomato vine. We walked down to take a look. This vine is huge and has large tomatoes on it. I am sold and will have 1 (or 2) on my patio by the time the weekend is over. It will be easy to take into the greenhouse when the weather gets cool.
We got a few more squash yesterday, 2 zucchinis and a yellow crookneck. They were very small. My policy is to pull the squash when the blossom falls. I may need to start waiting one more day. Every variety of summer squash has at least 1 fruit on the plant. The spaghetti squash has blossoms. I really hope the pepper and garlic spray will keep the pickle worms away this year.
A short thunder storm boomed through last night; so watering will not be necessary before Sunday. Thunderstorms have been predicted for every night since Monday; but that is the 1st one that materialized.
I lost 4 tomato plants this past week. I bought 3 yesterday at Renfrow’s and have 2 left in the greenhouse. I also bought some cayenne pepper plants. We don’t eat them; but they make good bug spray. I would have bought habanero’s if they had had them. Also had to get more cucumber seeds.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
I suppose by now that every gardener has heard of the hanging tomato vines. It really seemed like a great idea; but I have been just a little skeptical. Yesterday I had lunch with my mother at Plantation Estates. She told me about one of the residents that had a hanging tomato vine. We walked down to take a look. This vine is huge and has large tomatoes on it. I am sold and will have 1 (or 2) on my patio by the time the weekend is over. It will be easy to take into the greenhouse when the weather gets cool.
We got a few more squash yesterday, 2 zucchinis and a yellow crookneck. They were very small. My policy is to pull the squash when the blossom falls. I may need to start waiting one more day. Every variety of summer squash has at least 1 fruit on the plant. The spaghetti squash has blossoms. I really hope the pepper and garlic spray will keep the pickle worms away this year.
A short thunder storm boomed through last night; so watering will not be necessary before Sunday. Thunderstorms have been predicted for every night since Monday; but that is the 1st one that materialized.
I lost 4 tomato plants this past week. I bought 3 yesterday at Renfrow’s and have 2 left in the greenhouse. I also bought some cayenne pepper plants. We don’t eat them; but they make good bug spray. I would have bought habanero’s if they had had them. Also had to get more cucumber seeds.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
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