A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Garden Chores (part 3)

I had totally forgotten that the avocados came in two sexes but your right. I guess I'm going to have to eat a bunch more avocados to make sure I get a female sooner or later lol. Thanks for the reminder. At least I'll feel better if it doesn't sprout. I can blame it on it being a guy. lol

Well I managed to get out there and gather up most of the leaves to add to the compost bin and compost pile. The next bunch I should be able to put in the storage bin for next summer. Or at least that is the plan lol.

I've been looking at all the leaves around in the yard, and the first day that the wind is not blowing to much, I will try to get out there and get some of them into my compost pile...I have tons of them, but not that much energy to get them all, plus I have to leave some of them to burn, I love to go out when it is cool and burn a pile of leaves...I just love the smell and it is warm and you can still be outdoors when it is chilly.

OK - more on this thing about the avocado - no, it's not as we'd like it to be - the one's that are female aren't released in regular food import - natch, they would keep them back to plant more trees/plants - whatever ya' call 'em.

It's highly unlikely we'd get one in regular fruit store shopping - doesn't mean you can't keep trying, I guess.

That's what this speaker said, anyway. I'd like to think he's wrong - I had four of them going last year - they did absolutely nothing plus 10%.

I've heard they come out different for everybody -still, I'd like to try it again - not for the fruit - I can get fruit at the fruit store - but for the scientific curiosity of it all.

So what did I do today? OUtdoor gardening-wise - well pretty well the same as I did yesterday - not much.

Not as rainy here today but the wind was still strong.

Jeff found a perfectly healthy looking spider plant - it was discarded. So I transplanted that (just in case it's been outside long enough to collect bugs). I'll see how it does - I don't really care for spider plants much. If it grows well, maybe I'll learn to like them.

I figure if it takes nicely in the office, about 10 days later I might put a pot of soil beside it and put one of the offshoots in it, still attached to the mother plant and see if I can do another one.

I figure if something falls into my path, I'm meant to pick it up and see what I can do for it.

Now about a few thousand dollar bills? I'm sure I'd find something constructive to do with them - I don't care if it's American money or Canadian bucks either.

Today is our Remembrance Day - when we honour our war veterans - geesh! Why in the hell do we celebrate war? Because that's how we kept our freedom - that's why.

It's just that today's scenario? Good gawd it's getting awful.

I'm rambling - tell me to shaddup!

Shaddup, Carly . . .

Ok, I will - see if I care.

I got a hold of one avocado that sprouted years ago and maybe I'll get lucky and find another. I guess it just keeps me going throughout the year to plant something regardless of if it will grow. So far all I've done for the garden is walk around with a warm drink in hand but I plan to turn some compost unless a friend rescues me by taking me shopping. lol. My elbow doesn't seem to want to heal from whatever is ailing it so turning the compost isn't as fun as it was.

Well I didn't do much today except harvest a bunch of the yellow miniature mums for the seeds. The rest of the mums are still showing beautiful blooms so I don't know when I'll be harvesting them. It sure has been a warm fall.

I checked my grape tomato seeds and was so suprised to find that they had sprouted in the water lol. I had to 911 a post to find out what to do with them. I hope they grow. I planted them and gave them to my landlord because I didn't have space for them in my apartment. Fortunately I have more that I started about a week later and I strained them and have them drying so I'll have some to plant next season.

And that is about all for me today.

I still don't have the strength to go outside and do any work. The yard man came and hopefully will turn the compost pile. I noticed I've got some cleome blooming. Maybe I'll be able to get some seeds for the BIG trade.

I have some seeds for cleome hopefully I'll find a place for it in the garden. You take it real easy and if you can't get out there I'll share some of what I get with you and you can pass it on when you are able to harvest next year. Does that sound like a deal? I know I have way more than I could possible find space for already this year.

tk, you are too sweet. I thought I was on the mend but I had a terrible night - may have been what I ate. It's been almost 3 weeks and this is getting old. It's time to either get better or die. It's not like I had major surgery - no muscles were cut - only the skin on my midchest -a tiny spot. I wish I had NEVER done it.

I've been an enthusiastic seed trader this year and everyone has been very generous so I'm happy to share the bounty. And the mums are giving me enough seeds that I should be able to send a second packet of seed packs for the trade. That being the case we will have you well taken care of. I just don't want you to fret because that isn't good when you are trying to recover.

Today I got to show off my garden to a new friend I have made. She likes daisies and I have given her some of the wild daisies that grow around my building. Now I am making up a box of seeds for her to take with her when she moves in May of next year. Hopefully she will join us her on the website. I am giving her it's addy so that she can trade any of the seeds I give her that she doesn't want to plant.

I am so excited to have someone I can drag on back into the garden and show everything. I am so silly. Well tomorrow is another day and this cold/flu/allergies are driving me crazy so I think I will call it a night.

That is wonderful you have a new gardening buddy! Its always nice to have someone to talk to and show off things in your garden to that is interested. Sorry to hear you are not feeling well, its that time of year I suppose.

nah, not silly. we all need someone to share with, that's part of what makes here so great, but a real in person friend is almost better

I'll second the feeling better. I am so tired of runny eyes and nose and blocked ears grrrrrh. I'm suppose to go to dinner tomorrow but I just don't feel well enough. Oh well, I won't stay long and I'll sit in a corner lol. Today I harvested a bunch more mums, made a pile of seed packets, got one seed pod from the portulaca and fertilized the snapdragons again hoping for at least one red flower before the freeze kills it. Oh and I harvested one yellow snapdragon seed pod. It was a nice full one too so that's a good thing. Hopefully the roses will all yield seeds since I only have 4 flowers left on the bush. This morning I pruned it of all of it's yellowing leaves. I hope the soil isn't to acid. I want it to return next year.

Well I guess that's it for me today.

Well one of the rose flowers disappeared overnight so no seeds from that one. Hopefully I'll have better luck getting the other three. One is almost ready to harvest. I did get one more yellow snapdragon seed pod that yielded it's normal amount of seeds so that was a good thing. I also harvested 2 pink zinnia they may have died from the cold or something else rather than having maturing seeds but we'll see after they dry for a bit. And I harvested a bunch of the yellow miniature mums. It's funny but they all get done about the same time so it gets interesting. I also got 3 more portulaca seed pods so that makes one full packet of those of course I'll leave it open just incase I get another one. It has decided to really put on the blooms during this late fall time so I'm enjoying every minute of it and wating for any pods that manage to mature before it dies.

While I was out there I also raked up a big load of leaves and deposited them where I want the walkway to be next year. I hope I get enough leaves and grass to build up that area to where I want it. That is much easier than digging the slope out until I have a 3 foot wide walkway lol.

Then it was indoors to give the caladium one more covering of peat moss to pretty up their area. I know they are almost done for the year but I hate it when the soil looks all wornout and lumpy. Then the far left tomato plant got a stake of it's very own today lol. It was trying to grow behind the refrigerator and I just don't think that would have worked. I have about 9 blooms on it at that moment. And I've been faithfully shaking them each day lol. I can just imagine what this must look like from the street lol. The portulaca inside have decided to have another growing spurt so they will have to be trimmed in a day or too. So that's it for me.

Well everyone have a good day.

Well today was planing out the walkway and the next tier for next year. I layed out about a 1/4 of the length of the tier with the bricks I got from accross the street. Knocking off the old mortar is as easy as I thought it would be so no problem there. Of course it doesn't take long to wear me out tossing bricks around but I have plenty of time. It's to cold to work with mortar now so I can't actually make the brick edging until spring. So I'll lay it out now and get the tier as dug up as possible until the ground freezes and then start back at it next year. It is going to be so great.

TK, I've been planning a walkway for my garden for years. I've collected a bunch of bricks but haven't gotten any further. I'm going to have to dig out to make sure the water will not run toward the house. Just can't get motivated to do that.

Johnny went out last night and cut my 2 gourds - cause it was 29 degrees this am. I've got them hanging up to dry.

I'm not sure what to do with your homepage. When I went to what I thought was the next page it was Carmen Electra.

I just love anglefires since of humor. I don't have anything on my homepage yet so they fill in the blanks lol.

I know what you mean about getting motivated. I am definitely taking it in steps. I've been adding filler to the third tier so I didn't have to dig it out. And the concern with that is if the bentwood edging will keep the extra dirt in place.

Then come spring the question is going to be if the filler is going to be firm enough to support the brick edging that will form the boundary for the forth tier.

And then it's back to trying to make enough compost to fill the forth tier so that I can put out the seedlings that I start indoors. Needless to say there is a whole lot of faith being exercised here.

What is actually yesterday now, I was out taking off the mortar on some of the used bricks and moving them up closer to where they will go. I take it in stages because my elbow still has not healed and handling the bricks hurts. But I really want the additional flower beds next year so I do alittle bit each day.

At least you have a plan. I don't have a plan right now. I've been sick too long and I can't seem to get a plan together.

What type of website are you planning to do? Carmen's looking pretty good there. Maybe name one of your plants after her.

lol once the garden is finished up for the year I will begin learning my website program and then what I hope to create is a series of pages that take the viewer through the garden in monthly increments. So you'll see what is blooming at each stage and what is starting and what is dying back. It's an ambious plan and will probably take years but that's what I hope for. And then maybe some of the more interesting journal enties at appropriate points.

As far as today goes, I lifted the canna and boy are their alot of them lol. Then I had to put the marigolds in the compost pile. I told the landlord to stop forcing them but I don't think he listened and they all died grrrrrrrh.

But I have seeds so it should be ok. So then I headed for the back garden and pruned the white, yellow, and burgancy mums for the winter. I'll mulch them with leaves tomorrow after I rake up a bunch.

I also pulled up the tomatoes that finally gave in to the weather. The zinnia also died with this last frost. They had a couple of blooms on them that were pretty close to producing seeds so later I'm going to check out how it looks. I have my fingers crossed.

The portulaca are still trying to hold on but they will be gone in a day or two no doubt. After that it's just getting the last seed pods from the miniature snapdragon and rose and then the garden is asleep for the winter.

Then it's time to work on christmas...ok I confess I'm already working on christmas. lol.

That's a great plan for your website. You could start with areas that are cleaned up for the winter and take us through an entire year. I can't wait to see it. Your so industrious.

Your enthusiasm is wonderful. I will try not to disappoint but remember I haven't even learned the software yet lol. Mary D was kind enough to put my opening page up for me. Angelfire had taken down my old stuff and put something up about that actor that used to play on C.H.I.Ps. I will try to get to it this year but It could be a while so be patient with me please.

Today I got a load of grass clipping the last of the year the landlord says.

So the compost pile got the lions share and then I turned the pile good to mix it all up. The I put as many in the compost bin as would fit. Not all that many lol. And the rest went on tier three to help increase the height. It's a waste I know but I don't have any fill dirt to put their and I have to have something so there it went.

It decided to rain so I'll have to rake another day. Today I grabbed a pile of leaves to put over the mums that have gotten frost bit but the rest are still going strong so I haven't even pruned them yet. The calendrum are doing great now so I guess the reason for them not blooming earlier was the heat so no more of those for me. But I have plenty to take their place so no problem.

TK, I would like to ask you a few questions.
So you are building the tiers on the slope by filling it with leaves? Do you mulch the leaves? How do you keep the leaves in their place without being blown by the wind?
Today I try to find some seed from the mums but I don't find anything that look like small wood chips. Could it be they all fall to the ground?

well of course first I had to put up some kind of edging to keep the soil in place. Then I have a clay slope and I dig out the back of the tier area and that's where I put the leaves and grass clippings and half decomposed compost. What happened with the third tier is that it is very steep in that area of the slope and I need to have a walkway there so I can take care of plants on the second and forth tier. So rather than digging it out I am building up. I'm alittle unsure whether it will work. But that's what I am trying. Come spring I'll put up the brick edging around tier 4 and fill it in with compost.

I use leaf mulch on the mums and my dwarf evergreens. I used hay for the gladiolas, decorative onions, crocus, and daffodils.

It's a seed head. You have to wait until all the petals turn brown and the seed head bends over. Then near the edge of the seed head you will see the mature seeds. They have a stripe on them.