Gardening 2024

[cineater]

They ordered way too much rock and no Jim, that isn't 1000 wheelbarrows.     First move went well.  It only took 3 hours to fill the greenhouse and the hoop house.  Watered it down so it would get in between the bigger rocks and we'll go at it again tomorrow.  What's left we need in other places in the garden and we can offer up some to the Master Naturalist to do their greenhouse floors.  It's all good.

[cineater]

Can't be more happier to be associated with this group.  Had enough people show up to help we were tripping over each other.  Kristine showed up with three loads of edging stones and people came over to unload her each time.  We were done before noon and off tomorrow.

So the leftover rock.  Extension Counsel is doing a brick fundraiser.  They could use a lot of that rock to install those bricks.  We're offering it up to them and before we can say free, they offer to pay for their share.  Yeah we're going to take that.  They are the ones defining our relationship.  We've given them $5,000, made property improvements and even repaired their building.  And one of them is going to yell at us when we hear they have extra they need to spend but don't want to give it to us.  Yeah, I'm still pissed.     It's that guy's wife who fueled his fire and she's in charge of the brick fundraiser.  Do I think she would feel bad about taking from us and giving nothing back?  No but it makes me feel good when it's so one sided.  And now that the relationship has been defined.  We're going to play their game.  Careful what you ask for, you may get it.

[cineater]

Okay this time I did probably upset one of my leads.  I emailed her and now I'm calling to make sure we are okay.  She has two gardens and wants to give up the bigger garden.  I don't want that.  She's a good lead and knows her stuff.  The littler garden can just go away if you ask me but I shouldn't have said that. 

Redid one of my beds with some Rattlesnake Master and Agave.  Divided the Russian Sage into three plants.  Moved a few of the coneflowers to the other side of the bed.  Got a pattern going on.  I think I'll fill in the open areas with zinnias next year.  Should be low maintenance.  Was going to put a grass in my clay bed but there's no getting a shovel through that.     Put it into the other bed where I can basically dig with my hands.  The clay soil bed, native seeds blow in there and grow on their own.  I'm good with that.   

Busy week ahead of us.  While I'm out getting the cinder blocks, Catherine's team is going to start removing the edgers.  We'll probably go at that on Saturday.  We still have to get all the stuff back in the greenhouse.  We're digging up the perennials we sell next spring and putting them in pots.  I need to get the stone bed cut down so they can store them in there.  I am not digging all those canna bulbs out this year.  If they die over the winter, okay.  I'm tired of the design in that bed anyway.  Then again, if they live, I won't have to do anything but get the plants we are selling off them.

I may have hit the brick wall for my age.  I have never recovered this year to my go, go, go state.  I am dragging.  It feels good to be out there but my drive is gone.  I didn't take this on to be somebody but the status kind of grows on you.  Now that I'm backing away, it just feels a little weird.  Decisions are being made without me.  Other names are taking the place mine once had.  I remind myself, I've done this sort of thing many times.  Go into something a nobody and rise to the top only to walk away at some point, back down to a nobody again.  Might not do it again, I might be "old" but it is my nature.

[cineater]

Phebe is bow hunting Bambi this week.  We're supposed to go get the cinder blocks tomorrow.  She texts me:  "If I shoot one, it's anyone's guess.  Could be as early as 10:30 or as late as 2.  Oh, and I hope you don't mind that there is some dried deer blood in my pickup from the one I shot Friday.  The truck doesn't get washed until we are done with this managed hunt."  Knew I should have just spent my money and brought these blocks.     She processes it herself too.

[cineater]

41 cinder blocks, 30 pounds a piece.  Load them up and load them out.  We just set them at the entrance to the garden.  Phebe and I had to join Eleanor to get in the harvest.  We're getting our first frost tonight.  Only 40 cinder blocks to go.  

Good news, in under 127.  I'll go as low as 124 but my pants fall down after that.  

Beka is so good.  She is presenting the Herb garden with two other options for building the beds.  Bring them in around $2000 instead of the $3400 they had making them out of wood.  We meet with them tomorrow.

[cineater]

The frost wasn't that bad last night.  We might be in a little protected area.  At least I don't have to start cleaning up right away.

Greenhouse is all put back together.  I got stuck in a 3 hour meeting.  The herb girls agreed to a design change to the metal raised beds kits.  Really not that much cheaper.  And that is about as far as we got in the decision process.  They don't want to do the labor but they don't want anybody else to do it.  They don't care what we do but they won't let us do it.  And they want to add extra support because they don't trust the engineer's design, and bed liners, and they don't want to order supplies and pick them up.  Beka is going to work with them to see if she can nail some of this down.  We did establish she would be the project manager and it would be a trainee project next year.  Actually, it was just one person dragging their feet and throwing in obstacles.  She can only do one thing at a time, not a multitasker.  I don't think she's going to be able to handle 20 people showing up to tear it down and put it back up.     Hopefully, she doesn't show up on those days.

Serviceberry tree planted.  I got enough soil out of the hole to finish filling in the hole that makes me almost fall into the greenhouse everytime I mow.     That's been on my hit list.  All the tomatoes came out.  Kevin is going to run the zero turn through the compost pile, taller than I am.  Everybody is ready to wrap this up.

My back did okay once it got warmed up.  Phebe offered to go get more cinder blocks.     Actually, we don't have any more room to store them until they move some.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

[cineater]

I'm down three leads.  I probably have the perennial garden covered.  Need people on compost and the lasagna garden.  I'm wondering if we can build compost bins out of cinder blocks.     Bekah is still leaning towards cinder blocks on the herb garden.     Free materials and we're on it.

I'm still liking these steel raised beds.  Easy install and they last so much longer than wood.  With the price of wood up, I'm thinking we need get away from that and go with structures that last longer.