Rainy Days and Mondays…
Started on Sunday night and hasn’t stopped yet; we’ve had a lovely little storm system move through, and we sorely needed the rain. Monday it rained almost all day; yesterday, there was some space between showers. Today, too. Yesterday was my future DIL’s birthday, so spent most of the day cooking and stuff, but been out between showers putzing a bit today.
Decided it was time to put up bird netting; was looking out the kitchen window and watched one of those brassy mockingbirds fly right down and take a chunk out of a cucumber leaf. Those buggers think that just because they are the state bird, they can get away with anything. I went out to chase it; bugger kept flying just far enough away, until I ran at it with my arms waving and shouting at it. Can’t (don’t want to, really) imagine what the neighbors must have thought.
I’m glad I had the sense to put up a small bird netting cover over the pot with the green beans, or they’d probably have eaten them all by now. But, what with all the rain, the beans are growing like crazy, so I have to put up a permanent one ASAP. Put up a piece of it along the back of the trellis, and have to go out when it stops raining again to measure the circumference of the pot and height, so I can make the rest of it. Problem is, I can’t figure out a way to keep the net off the plants far enough to allow them to grow without getting all tangled in it. Doesn’t do much good if the beans grow through the net and let the birds eat them anyway. The peas did that; was a pain to take down; the net will probably have pea tendrils in it forever! Anybody’s got any ideas, I’m all ears. Still have to do the second cucumber container, too.
What else? Oh, yeah, The little pieces of herbs I planted the other day are doing well, thanks, no doubt, to the rain. I even cut off a small stem of the lavender I bought and stuck it in there, just to see what would happen. So far, it looks good. hasn’t wilted at all. I planted some common thyme seeds in there today; I hope it grows.
Here’s a pic of the “BBQ container”:
Herbs planted in a BBQ cover
Also wanted to show you how much the volunteer tomatoes have grown since the first pic I posted. Rain does some amazing things. No matter how much you water…
If you remember when I divided the mums and gazania, you’ll notice that they are looking great so far. Guess I didn’t kill them (yet!).
I planted a pot of Unwin’s dwarf dahlias a while ago; planted a few seeds in each spot, not knowing how well they would germinate. I think they all came up, so I had to move 5 baby dahlias to individual pots (for now) as the container’s only big enough for three. I may use them, may try to sell them on craigslist. We’ll see.
Went out after dinner and between rain showers and got the bird netting on the beans enough, I think, to keep the birds off. Still need to do some adjusting and fine-tuning, but, for tonight, at least, I think they are okay. Would’ve finished, but it started raining again, and got dark…
Is that seriously a laundry basket with tomatoes in it!? What far better use of a laundry basket…lol! How does it do?
Yea, it is several tomatoes in a laundry basket, actually…I live on a small lot with close neighbors, and a traditional compost pile is out of the question. I used 2 laundry baskets last summer, which actually work quite well as compost makers-and are small enough to hide. The da*m mockingbirds poked holes in any number of my tomatoes last year, so into the compost pile they went.
Since my arthritis was real bad this past winter, I pretty much left things go till I finally found something that works well. By the time I was ready to see about dumping some compost, the laundry basket had several baby tomatoes growing in about a foot of leftover compost. I moved the basket out into the sun, and kept removing leaves and adding soil as the tomatoes grew. Buried a gallon jug and a soda bottle in there for watering as I was adding dirt. The tomatoes seem to love it, so far. I’ve already gotten two ripe tomatoes, with lots more on the vine and ripening. I keep them fed and watered, as there are alot of them in a small space, but really, I’m amazed at how well they are doing. Of course, heaven only knows what you’re going to get, and it wouldn’t be the way to try to grow any specific varieties, but the tomatoes I’ve eaten so far taste great, so, hey, whatever works, right? Oh, and this year, I covered them with bird netting and that stupid bird hasn’t gotten any yet…