Catching You Up!

Wow, it's been a while and so much has been happening.  I really need to program a reminder to post something at least every other day.  I may break this into several posts.

Ok, first, the trellises.  They were wobbly because the PVC connectors did not connect snugly to the pipes I had.  And I don't have the budget to afford special sized connectors.  In addition, the trellises needed to be able to be disassembled at the end of their use.  They also needed to be able to be reassembled in whatever configuration I needed them in next.  This meant no screwing into the pipes and no welding.  So the final solution was to put threaded holes in the PVC connectors where necessary.  I borrowed one of Dad's taps to test this out.  I tore my fingers up some doing it because Dad didn't know where the handle for the taps was.  But the end result has been worth it.  The trellises are much more stable.  I will be buying a simple tap and die kit so that I can do this as needed in the future.  The tap and die kit that I currently own is missing in action and no amount of searching has turned it up.  (Of course it will appear out of nowhere as soon as I can no longer return the new kit.)

Plantings.  Everything I had already bought and listed here is already in the ground.  In addition, quite a few new herbs are in the ground.  One of the plants that I thought was raspberries is actually blackberries.  And they are yummy, yummy, yummy!

The back herb bed which was a mess has been completely cleaned out.  The french drain was redug.  It was filled completely this time.  And the weed cloth and rock mulch were applied.  All of this was done by hand.  This project jumped up on my to do list when someone offered free river rock if you came and got it.  Having learned from getting lava rock, I filled the totes in the back of the van since there would be no lifting them once they were filled.  End result is - that project is done and all I need to do is replace the herbs.  Four new herb plants are in and seeds for nasturtiums are planted.  The rest of the bed will be heavily mulched with shredded paper until I get plants in.  Oh, and the main walkway from the front to back of this bed was laid in rock.  Now I don't have to worry about plants when I put up the clothesline.

The Pampas Grass is coming out slowly.  I was unable to take a chain saw to it so I go out each morning and dig out a bit more.  I used the mower to "mulch" all the parts I cut off that didn't have roots attached.  That mulch went down around the blueberries.

There were many other little things in the midst of these.  They got done.  The cucumbers are now very big and flowering.  The tomatoes are getting there.  There are watermelon and cantaloupe plants in the ground.  I've harvested peas and beans.  One pear tree lost two limbs due to the weight of the pears.  I installed storm door on the back door.  Everything gets watered now because the severe summer heat is hitting two weeks earlier than normal.  And in addition the summer "drought" is hitting two weeks early.  So I will be watering things from now until mid September unless we get some type of break in the weather.  And I don't expect any tomatoes until then because the heat will be too high for the fruit to set.  Despite having it set high, my air conditioning is running frequently to keep the house cool.

All in all, it's just been busy, busy, busy.  And there's one more project that got done but I'll post that separately.