In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 486 of 1154
Quote:Hmmm... about that fire danger they were predicting.
Originally posted by Brenda:
A good portion of the middle of my province has been on flood alert for the last week. Even down to where I am the mighty Fraser River has been on a rampage. Part of a boardwalk has been closed since last Friday because of water levels. People who live in Condos along this walkway were warned not to walk their pets there and if they did not to let them off their leashes.
Cancelled?
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Quote:Thanks SIX.
SIGNYM:
Well. Here it is July 7th and I still haven't gotten my rear in gear. All I've managed to do was little piddly stuff: We always do "safe and sane" fireworks for the 4th, which we did again this year. Went with hubby and dd while they went to see the doctor. As I mentioned, replaced a couple of thermostats and put up and indoor/outdoor bluetooth weather station. Repaired a couple of hose ends so I could insert trigger grip nozzles, helped sort wire and screws, walked the dog and yada yada. Small stuff.
But I have plans for tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, so I think I just needed a break. I feel like my energy might be coming back, and after a nice rest most of my aches and pains have throttled back.
So here's hoping I get a good night's sleep and wake up ready to roll tomorrow.
SIX: It's hot by you, ain't it?
Don't hurt yourself.
Managed to get out early enough to walk the dog, do yardwork yesterday and have a righteous bin of yardwaste to show for it. Also helped hubby sort out more stuff in the garage.
DIDN'T manage to get out early this AM, so contented myself with walking the dog, watering the flower garden and watering and harvesting the veggie garden (cucumbers, zucchini, and avocados galore), and tracking down the fuckups that hubby's retirement plan managed to create, as well as grocery shopping (yet to do).
But tonight I'm going to irrigate the whole property in prep for weeding over the next few days.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:Hmmm... about that fire danger they were predicting.
Originally posted by Brenda:
A good portion of the middle of my province has been on flood alert for the last week. Even down to where I am the mighty Fraser River has been on a rampage. Part of a boardwalk has been closed since last Friday because of water levels. People who live in Condos along this walkway were warned not to walk their pets there and if they did not to let them off their leashes.
Cancelled?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
What with all this rain. Pretty much.
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Think I've finally figured out my story.
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Good news for both!
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Reckon so.
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Looks like more rain today and Windows 10 is a PITA.
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Well dang but the Argentinian ants came back a couple of months ago. At first they were at very low levels and tolerable, but since then their numbers have increased and they've created significant ant trails to the kitchen sink and trash (they haven't found the cat food yet).
For years - YEARS - I would try different things to block or clean away their chemical trails. I've tried cinnamon and cloves, dish detergent and carpet cleaner, aspirin and diatomaceous earth - I've probably tried 50 things by now if not more, and every single one has failed.
But I recently tried something that works! HAND SANITIZER! They sort of flinch away from following their trail when the hand sanitizer is wet, and after it dries, they just won't cross that line.
AHA!!! Take THAT! Argentinian ants. 
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, this has been a hard, hard year for gardening. Last rainy season started out early and promising; October 2013 we got a couple of good rainstorms and then .... nothing. Nothing. More nothing. Which dragged on to the historic drought.
Usually my water usage goes down during winter, but not last winter. I had to water the garden areas every week, and the lawns twice a week (one of the reasons I'm xeriscaping) just to keep them alive. I took special pains with the two avocados and the camellias because they're the grandparents of the backyard, planted by the previous owners sixty years ago. I soaked them deeply at least once a month. But despite my best efforts, the plants still suffered - not from lack of water, but possibly from high salt buildup or basic soil ... the older avocado and camellia leaves took on a pale bronzy color, and needles on my canary island pines were just beginning to turn yellow.
In addition, the tomatoes were crippled and the eggplant killed by a horrible infestation of spider mites. Last year, I gave away almost thirty pounds of homegrown tomatoes and had all of the eggplant I wanted. This year, I was lucky to have enough fresh tomatoes for a weekly salad, and just a few eggplant before they gave up the ghost. The spider mites went on to attack a few more plants (which fortunately I didn't care so much for). My Italian flat beans- which I've never grown before - and my sunflowers (which I HAVE grown before) were spindly and unproductive. Same seed source. I wonder if the seed was good. At least the corn came up OK.
Two of my recently-planted sundrops died, I only have one left. This is a good representation of what the survivor looks like in my garden
and one of my verbena lilacena died, I only have two left ... another good representation
For no reason that I can see except they really, really didn't appreciate such hard wellwater. And then, the summer was hot and humid - tropical, even - and some native plants which are adapted to cool wet winters and hot DRY summers responded with a fantastic case of mildew. I broke down and got some Neem oil so that next year I'll be prepared for the onslaught.
I have NEVER failed with so many plants all in one season! This was a gardening year I was happy to close the book on, and I now have a much MUCH greater appreciation for the commercial farmer, who lives or dies by whether plants produce or not.
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But in order to be a gardener or a farmer, one must be an optimist, I guess. I've been buying my xeriscape plants mostly in onesies and twosies because I really don't know how they'll grow, or what they'll look like ... or what I want ... and the reality is that I'll still have a surprising amount of bare space, even when the plants mature.
So I took out several of my CA native/ xeriscape gardening books, and just looked at the pictures and figured out what I respond to, and what I hate, and the principles behind both. And I just ordered a crap-ton of plants: Spanish lavender (because it looks most like the Great Basin sagebrush that I like, which won't grow here because the winters are too warm),
penstemon BOP which looks like a micro boxwood when not in bloom
white monkeyflower
blue-eyed grass
and Indian rice grass
to go with the germander sage, Dusty Miller, red autumn sage, and the creeping Oregon grapNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I take it you find the complete reality to be too much for you, and consider a complete set of actual facts to be trolling.
Do you prefer 5-word fantasy snippets that tell you want you want to hear instead?
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