Another weekend day!
Mar. 6th, 2009 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpAnd that, on the eve of a real, actual, walking-around weekend!
I'm not going to complain, even if I get no work until Monday, because I'm worth it. (How lame an line is that?)
I apparently managed to survive into the next round of LJ Idol against some pretty fierce competition. I am apparently now one of the "Top 11."
I planted some cucumber seeds in some peat pellets this morning. Later in the day, I went to the hardware store to get a slight color correction to some remaindered paint Galina picked up yesterday in Durango, and while I was there, I picked up some more peat pellets (for some tomato seeds I picked up a little while ago) and a small hydroponic set that was one of several on special sale (I assume) to get them out of the store.
Much of the day was spent listening to Mike do a brain dump on the various factors to consider when installing a floor. It's interesting to be exposed to this exhaustive knowledge, but frankly, I'm more interested in the end product (having a floor) than in all of this stuff that presumably I ought to take an interest in in the runup to installation.
It's been a fairly long day, with a lot of running around. Time to relax.
Cheers...
I'm not going to complain, even if I get no work until Monday, because I'm worth it. (How lame an line is that?)
I apparently managed to survive into the next round of LJ Idol against some pretty fierce competition. I am apparently now one of the "Top 11."
I planted some cucumber seeds in some peat pellets this morning. Later in the day, I went to the hardware store to get a slight color correction to some remaindered paint Galina picked up yesterday in Durango, and while I was there, I picked up some more peat pellets (for some tomato seeds I picked up a little while ago) and a small hydroponic set that was one of several on special sale (I assume) to get them out of the store.
Much of the day was spent listening to Mike do a brain dump on the various factors to consider when installing a floor. It's interesting to be exposed to this exhaustive knowledge, but frankly, I'm more interested in the end product (having a floor) than in all of this stuff that presumably I ought to take an interest in in the runup to installation.
It's been a fairly long day, with a lot of running around. Time to relax.
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-07 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 05:10 pm (UTC)Думаю серезно приняться за гидропонике.
Cheers...
P.S. Any and all corrections welcomed (should you be so inclined) by email.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 09:48 am (UTC)Cucumbers? Already?? I thought you guys were still under snow? On the other hand, my cucumbers are attempting to spread to China, despite being curled all over a largish trellis. The annoying things are still growing in length, no signs of flowers...
no subject
Date: 2009-03-08 05:12 pm (UTC)However, given that gardening here is difficult without a greenhouse, I plan to explore some DIY hydroponic alternatives.
Cheers..
P.S. Thanks for the congrats!
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 04:52 am (UTC)We live at an altitude of 2200 m (about a half mile higher than those lowlanders in "mile-high" Denver), which makes for more intense sunlight and lower humidity.
If that's not enough, while the soil on the property is good enough for scrub oak and other species that hang on like grim Death in the face of high winds, vegetables don't do very well in such winds or in soil that amounts to eroded shale (i.e., clay), which aerates poorly and doesn't hold water very well.
Assuming, for the moment, that you could grow a nice garden, there remains the challenge of keeping some goodies for yourself and not having them completely devoured by local wildlife, especially deer. Our first year in Pagosa, I spied a huge elk one morning, calmly consuming flowers we had planted not one meter from our front door!
This is not to say that some dedicated souls haven't experienced success gardening around here, just that I'm not that dedicated. <grin>
Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 05:23 am (UTC)About that elk - what a cheeky sod! Did you have any flowers left after that? I would imagine trying to shoo a massive animal like that out of your flower bed is much harder than possum-proofing the garden, like I have to do. We have a family of three fat possums living in our roof, unfortunately they have discovered the bean bed at the back of the house... and I can't shoot them (even if I had a gun), they are protected as Australian natives. The bean bed now resembles a very wobbly fort, made out of chicken wire. I am not looking forward to having to defend the ripe vegetables from these possums and the flying foxes... Thankfully, we don't have scrub turkeys (yet!), they are unstoppable. For the record, we DO live in the inner city! ;-)
You could probably grow things in a green house, in raised beds, they don't need any soil. Do you know how to build them? They are also very good if you get sore back. I have corn, beans, cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins growing in them, couldn't be bothered digging up a proper garden bed. The plants are very happy, so far. And potatoes - do you know you can grow them in just straw? Very easy to gather, no digging involved.
P.S. Speaking of low-landers, Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak in Australia, is 2280 metres above sea level. (That's "kozzy-OS-ko", named after a Polish explorer "Kosh-CHOOSH-ko". Go figure.)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 03:08 am (UTC)Shooing elk is pretty easy if you're a human; less so if you're a dog. All a human has to do is show his or her face, and poof! Instant disappearing elk!
I'd be interested in hearing about raising potatoes in straw. For sure.
Cheers...
P.S. Back in New York City, there's a Kosciuszko Bridge that links Brooklyn and Queens. I seem to recall it was pronounced koz-key-OSS-ko all during my childhood, until some wag figured out it was kos-QUEUE-sko, or something like what you have.
Small world. :^)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 04:57 am (UTC)Your elk story reminded me about my grandfathers dog, who hated all cattle and sheep with a passion. He was very useful because of this emotion - whenever we were going on a weekend or camping trip and had to get through a herd of cattle snoozing on the road, all we had to do is stick the dog's head out of the window and he would go off like a siren. Very effective, though being charged by a bull while driving is also quite... effective.
Potatoes in straw - find a sunny patch of lawn the size of a good vege bed. Put down about 2 inch thick layer of newspapers, to kill the grass. Then pile up straw, about a foot high. Sprinkle with a thickish layer of fertilisers - blood & bone, ready manure, mushroom compost, any sort of compost, perhaps a little dolomite lime. Then a little more straw and a little more blood & bone. Then lay out the seed potatoes, and cover with another 1/2 foot of loose straw. And voila! Water as needed, don't ever dig it though, there is no need for that. To check on the spuds, just lift the straw a little, you will see them.
When the potatoes are dug out, you can either pad & fertilise the bed a bit more and use it for other vegies, or compost the lot. Probably shouldn't plant the potatoes in there for a couple of years, to keep the rotation, but if you pile up more compost on top (4-5 inches), you will be able to grow anything in there, even corn.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 05:07 am (UTC)