Gardening

[cineater]

No the fence is right on the property line.  I don't know if we are responsible for what grows through the fence but to try to stop the complains, I'm clearing the fence line.  I bought a new battery operated bush trimmer.  Cuts through it like butter.  It's not that hard to do and I enjoy it despite it being hot.  I'm pretty sure this is going to bite me in the butt.

[cineater]

And it did.  While I'm doing the finishing work, I discover the corner property marker.  That fence for most of it is one foot into their property if not more in spots.  I don't think we are responsible for taking care of that.  I'm going to finish what I said I would do but I think they owe me lunch.

[cineater]

Heat indices well into the triple digits for the next few days.  Fortunately we got a good rain on Saturday.  I don't tolerate high heat and humidity well so I'm in the house.  I'll be watering all the containers at the crack of dawn.     Time of year when I cuss how many containers I potted up.

[cineater]

Won that one.  The city is telling the other subdivision they are responsible for maintaining both sides of the fence.  We are getting a letter telling us it's each individual home owners responsibility to maintain the basin.  It's going to be a whole other thing organizing the home owners to take care of it without an HOA.

[cineater]

The massage lady says, you have really good muscle tone. 

Gardening, it ain't for pansies.   

[cineater]

The blackberries are ripe.  From the bush to my mouth.  Sharon comes over, picks a few and examines them closely.  "Didn't you watch that show?  You have to carefully check them for bugs."    Fuck  

[cineater]

I gave away my center piece garden today.  I'm down sizing in what I'm responsible for next year.  The kids did their reveal and they are having a boy. 

My lead over the veggies told me he's probably dropping leadership too next year.  I haven't decided if I'm giving up leadership of the whole garden just yet.  Losing him is a big loss.  Watching the baby is going to put me back to like I'm working with only the evenings and weekends to be at the garden.

[cineater]

Since we don't have an HOA in the subdivision there's no insurance on the retention basin if somebody gets hurt out there and sues.  It doesn't touch my property but I checked with my home owners and I would be covered under my policy if somebody sues of negligence.

[cineater]

I've pretty much decided to let the black locust live.  They seem to have stopped their takeover and are staying on top of the bowl.  We want that tree line back up there so the subdivisions don't have to look at each other.  The city may not like it but that's not really part of the retention area and they aren't taking up mass for the water.  In my opinion, they aren't invasive for what we are doing.  They are a good little grower.  Will give us all the benefits of a tree line, strong tree and the wildlife likes it.  No biodiversity within the group but as part of the bigger picture, it works.  Anything that spreads down into the bowl will get mowed over once a year and won't get very tall.

[cineater]

The poor monarch.  No matter how much milk weed I plant, if we can't get people to stop spraying pesticides, they're goners.  The caterpillars go and so do the birds.  They need about 600 caterpillars a day to feed a nest of baby birds.

[cineater]

I should have just bought the potted plants in the house.  This heat is brutal.  The soil is wet but the tops are drooping in full sun.  I don't think it helps to keep watering them.  The plant can't use that, it needs shade.

[cineater]

We had almost a foot of rain in a few hours.  Probably our 2nd or 3rd worst flood.  The gardens are flooded and it's onto the parking lot.  A few completely under water.  It got into the raised vegetable beds which means we can't donate any of that food.  We'll have to have the soil tested but we may not be able to grow in there for two years unless we replace all the soil.  The food pantry is going to be hurting without us.

The bee hives were strapped down so they stayed put and all the bees are in a swarm at the top of the hives.  The bottom half is under water.  One of our bridges is on the parking lot.  

Surprisingly, this won't hurt us too much.  We are always flood prepared although we get caught being off guard.  Didn't see this coming.  We get back fill flood waters so there isn't a raging river running through there and it goes down within 24 hours.  The plants can take a little bit of being under water.  Anything that floats around generally stays on property.  But FUCK!

The retention basin, I couldn't even tell it filled up except by where the trash had come almost up to the top.  The plants are all standing up straight and tall.

[cineater]

Cool, one of the news stations came by and we are making the 10:00 news. 

Our third worst flood.  Really we came through it in pretty good shape.  We have to stop donations to the food pantry until the soil tests come back but our members will bring us stuff from their gardens to take over.  Good group of people, gardeners.

[cineater]

When I'm trying to clear my head at night so I can sleep, I mentally walk around the gardens.  Walk myself to sleep.  But now all I see is the flood waters.  It's not disturbing but it gets my mind racing to all the things I need to do.   

[cineater]

The bee keepers were there working on the hives.  There were no dead bees so the means they all made it out before the flood waters came up.    And they haven't left for a new home.  We like our bees.  They know us and we know them.  We have a working together understanding.  Ours is more of a plea, as in please don't sting me, and theirs' is more of a threat, as in don't make me.  

[cineater]

Okay, not a threat but a promise.  Got me right in the head and chased me to the car twice.  The bees must be more agitated then normal about people coming around the hives.  I wasn't even that close.  They did just have their hives flooded and the bee keepers were out there messing with them but keep this up and they are going to be on my shit list.  I'll get in there at night with my headlamp and see if I can work the area.

[cineater]

Well shit, the decision was made to terminate our vegetable garden due to the flood.  There goes about 2000 pounds to the food pantry.  I'm suggesting we donate some money.  We've got some.  We're going to consider switching over to the Boys and Girls club to plant a fall crop.  They have beds over there we do a summer program with the kids.

Good news, we are ahead of schedule on flood clean up.  We only have two areas that need wood chips on the paths.  Still waiting to see if plants die from the flood but they look like they all made it.  Good thing because I've hit the wall.  Days of working in high heat and humidity have caught up with me.  I'm down five pounds and I'm pretty sure it was all water weight.     But it's been a week since the flood and I hate to ask but we need rain.

[cineater]

Fortunately the door held.  More heavy rain and my mother's basement flooded with muddy creek water.  One of her sump pumps got clogged and she got about 4 inches in her basement.  It was up 4 feet on that door.  Not bad considering the subdivision next to her looks like a war zone.  She's got a pile of rock in her yard.  She's 40th on the list for professional clean up.

The garden got missed this round, at least from flash flooding.  Weird year.

[cineater]

I was at the garden at 6:15 this morning.     I weed my beds starting on the first of each month and I haven't been able to get to them because of flood clean up.  Good news, we finished flood clean up Saturday.  I was on it all week, my work crew started at 8 and finished at 9:30.  The bad news is, it is so buggy now I was chased back to the car this morning to take a shower in bug spray.

Couldn't leave mom's house to wait for the professionals to clean it and mom was pretty overwhelmed.  When she stops talking and is holding back tears, it's too much for an old woman.  I was hoping we could open up a conversation about downsizing but I see now, it would be too disorientating to move her.  Her basement is unfinished and they are use to the occasional rain water flood when one of the sump pumps stop working so clean up is pretty easy but it's a huge house.  We finished up today at 3.  Just needs to dry out after I sprayed it with a light layer of bleach water.  Hope we know what we are doing.     Go in the stores around here and the shelves are empty of bleach.

We don't put enough value on the daily rut, normalcy. 

[cineater]

I am cut out to be a gardener.  I am not cut out to be a maid.   

The words "torrential" and "flash flood" are back in the forecast.  Stop that and stop it now!