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Post by whollygoats on Jul 1, 2018 15:48:32 GMT
Surely the idea is the same: you shouldn't use drinking water, which is scarce, for the garden. Um...not to put too fine a point on it, we don't have any nearby canals from which to draw 'non-drinking water' from. We are encouraged to put grey water down the drain, rather than divert to the garden. Some here are actively dissuaded from capturing rainwater. And, we have water predators like Nestle nosing around neighboring communities trying to buy up natural water supplies so they can put it in plastic bottles and sell it for outrageous sums to complete idiots. At this point, there is little to distinguish tap water from any other water used to irrigate plants.
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Post by Mari on Jul 1, 2018 16:37:36 GMT
Our tap water is of quite good quality. It's actually healthier than bottled water (and tastier). However, since it's drawn from the ground, during droughts it takes more effort to pump up. To maintain the equilibrium, people are asked to use less, for example by not using it to water their gardens. Using a hose or a watering can doesn't change the intention of the ban.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 1, 2018 16:58:57 GMT
Our tap water is of quite good quality. It's actually healthier than bottled water (and tastier). However, since it's drawn from the ground, during droughts it takes more effort to pump up. To maintain the equilibrium, people are asked to use less, for example by not using it to water their gardens. Using a hose or a watering can doesn't change the intention of the ban. Ah...Your drinking water is ground water. Here, it is basically snowmelt. It is stored in a large lake (reservoir) on the slopes of nearby Mount Hood, and provided via gravity feed (except for the western, high-rent district on the other side of the river, which requires pumping to cross the 400 foot increase in elevation). It, too, is tested as being more pure than any bottled sources of water, even considering that chlorine is added in minute amounts in the local reservoirs before dispensing to users. (Yet, we are being pressed by national interests to 'cover' our local reservoirs, due to something which might happen, a microbe, but does not tend to happen in water systems such as ours.) Other than rain water, urban dwellers have no other nearby water sources.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 10, 2018 20:55:08 GMT
Weeding continues unabated.
In the process, it was noted that the powdery mildew had pretty much disappeared, but a new fungal infection, black spot, has been attacking the roses in the balcony rosebed. I removed as many infected leaves as I could easily, and some not so easily, reach, and then doused the remnants with my homebrew fungicide. The enemy has been met and assaulted.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 11, 2018 3:51:42 GMT
I am gratified to see repeated visits from dragonflies, honey bees, and bumblebees. I also see a goodly number of what I assume are mason bees.
I also am gratified that I seem to be a feeding ground for a population of hummingbirds. The honeysuckle, jasmine, and rose of sharon are all favorites.
I have been graced with the return of bushtits, vireos, and house wrens. When they come, it is always the whole clan and it is a huge twittering party. They are such a delight to watch. I also think that my little piece of garden was on the edge of some territorial claims by dueling chickadees. For a week, I had some pretty fierce sounding calls being exchanged in my back garden. Then, as suddenly as it began, it was gone.
The pileated woodpecker made his appearance again this year and started working on a different utility pole, because they removed the one on the corner that he used to hammer on every spring. The new site is actually easier for me to watch him work, because I can see him from the balcony. He also made his seemingly obligatory visit to hammer on the neighbor's sheetmetal chimney vent.
I have yet to see the sapsucker this year.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 11, 2018 3:52:47 GMT
The bumblebees love the catnip, which is now in bloom.
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Post by Mari on Jul 11, 2018 7:39:35 GMT
We have lots of butterflies.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 11, 2018 13:49:01 GMT
Likewise....More butterflies than I've seen in years.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 12, 2018 17:07:55 GMT
Got out early, specifically to water the potted plantings. It gonna be warm today (predicted high to be ~ 35 C).
It takes over an hour to water all the pots....I now know that.
I was driven indoors by the relentless sun at 9:30 am.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 13, 2018 17:18:25 GMT
Yowch! I scorched my little recovering red rose, 'Black Cherry', yesterday.
Too much hot and I hadn't watered it deeply enough recently enough. I'm rectifying that now.
We're headed to 32 C today.
The 'maters are loving it, but I have to keep an eye on all my babies, 'cause they're in pots.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 13, 2018 17:19:13 GMT
Everything is direct sun in my garden at the moment and I have taken refuge indoors.
After noon, I can set up for watering under the dogwood out front, which will also help cool down even more.
I will probably walk through the sprinklers a couple of times, adjusting the placement and all, y'know.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 14, 2018 5:22:31 GMT
Ooo...ooo....
My melons are blooming. Well, at least the 'Minnesota Midget' is blooming. The French one has only put on one new set of leaves since planting. I cleared some obscuring catnip and hopefully it will now receive enough sunlight to flourish.
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Post by Mari on Jul 16, 2018 7:00:25 GMT
How do you know radishes are ready to be picked? It's blooming, but I'm not sure if it should.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 16, 2018 13:59:46 GMT
How do you know radishes are ready to be picked? It's blooming, but I'm not sure if it should. Um...before it blooms, as I remember. Most radishes I've grown, you can see the top just breaking the soil below the top and when it looked big enough to be tasted, it was pulled, washed and eaten. If it blooms, the roots (the edible portion) tend to get pithy, soft and a bit bitter.
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Post by Kye on Jul 16, 2018 16:27:56 GMT
I've never actually seen a blooming radish...
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 16, 2018 17:11:09 GMT
Oh, I have.
Radishes are one of those crops which the adept can get three separate harvests in one season. Lettuces are much the same. Fast.
They are subject of lots of pests, as I remember. They got 'wormy' quite easily.
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Post by JoeP on Jul 16, 2018 19:16:35 GMT
The blooming radishes are in the blooming fruit an' veg market, ain't they?
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Post by Kye on Jul 16, 2018 19:24:05 GMT
Oh, I knew someone was going to go there... and of course it was Joe.
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Post by JoeP on Jul 16, 2018 19:28:28 GMT
Bloomin' right.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 16, 2018 20:31:44 GMT
Oh, and some bolt.
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Post by Mari on Jul 17, 2018 8:59:52 GMT
So I should pull them up and start over? I've been watching for bulbs to show up at the roots, I just never saw them. Internet wasn't much use. It just kept telling me I should harvest them when they're ripe, but nowhere it tells me when exactly it's ripe and how I should know. Bloomin' annoyinng.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 17, 2018 17:50:37 GMT
If they are bolting and no bulb, yes. Start over.
I dunno....I can't explain why they don't, but sometimes it happens. I'm assuming that you thinned your rows after you got tops....
What kind are you growing? Standard reds, or some kind of variant....like the big, all-white Japanese radishes?
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 17, 2018 17:51:40 GMT
At Ravenswood, the miniature hollyhock mallow has shot its bolt. There are pretty much nothing but bloomed out stalks, other than a few 'outlier' late blooms. Bottom leaves are starting to go yellow. I shall be topping them as temperatures allow....I just finished my morning watering routine and, although sunny, it is not yet 'too hot'.
I have a successful trial in a full-sized hollyhock. I planted this thinking they'd look decent against a 6' fence, or the side of the house. I thought that 'black' flowers would be kewl. So, one took root and grew to about 6' and is now blooming. From a distance, the blossoms look very dark, almost black. But, up close, it is clear they are a very deep burgundy red. I like the effect, but I think I need to add a white double or two in to the mix. There needs to be a 'stand' of them and they need some contrasting color for impact. Right now, it looks like the tall, skinny, gawky kid who was so uncoordinated they always got picked last for the teams.
The second bloom on the roses is now confirmed. Although I noted a couple days back as I cleared away the last of the first bloom from 'Touch Of Class' that both 'Summer Fashion' and 'Black Cherry' had started their second bloom, now 'Baby Talk', 'Sweet Surrender', 'Sunflare', 'Olympiad', and 'French Lace' have all joined in with at least one open bloom. There are buds galore (but never as many as first bloom) and more forming. Even 'Cecile Brunner' is prepping an entire new branch of blossoms.
The clematis is distinctly done, but the honeysuckle in which it is entangled is producing a half-hearted second bloom of maybe thirty total blossoms. The star jasmine is presently at what I think will be full bloom for this year.
I got a box full of daylily fans a few weeks back. I got them all in the ground and felt pretty smug about it....eager to see how they would produce next year. But wait! The little buggers are producing tiny flower buds! I'm going to get blooms off these newbies! Unheard of!
My grapes not only bloomed well, it looks like the busy bees around my place were on the job, as I have quite a robust collection of bunches of developing fruit all along the vines, around the shed and along the western fence on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
When it comes to the 'maters, it's 'Fruit on!' Although only four of the six have topped their cages, and all are still spindly, they are all blooming. The shortest of the plants has produced the largest of the existing proto-fruit, so there are trade-offs. Curiously, the plant in the pot (5 in the ground, 1 in a pot) is doing better than those planted in the ground. The flipside is that it is far more dependent upon me watering than are those in the ground.
Of course, all cannabis are in pots and all are doing reasonably well. A couple are exceeding expectations. All surpassed the 'knee high by the Fourth of July' goal.
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Post by Mari on Jul 18, 2018 9:54:01 GMT
If they are bolting and no bulb, yes. Start over. I dunno....I can't explain why they don't, but sometimes it happens. I'm assuming that you thinned your rows after you got tops.... What kind are you growing? Standard reds, or some kind of variant....like the big, all-white Japanese radishes? I can't say I thinned anything. I was just glad it did something It ought to be a normal kind.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 18, 2018 21:06:11 GMT
Well...not thinning is one of my big sins.
I go through all the prep and planting and watering, and then, when there is an excess of starts, I somehow get my interests diverted, I get lazy, and fail to thin. Then, when the radishes (carrots, lettuces, turnips, etc.) don't have enough room to bulk out their bulbous bases (the meat of the matter, as it were), one gets a lot of top and not much meat for one's efforts.
I must admit that I always had appalling luck with radishes. Mostly, it was worms what got 'em, but a lot were just unthinned tops, and the ones which finally made it to an appearance of rootfruit were....meh. I gave up on radishes. I also understand that for root crops, having a somewhat 'sandy' soil helps. I don't know as that's possible on top of the ever-present heavy clay soil which covers the valley floor.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 19, 2018 5:59:28 GMT
Deadheading and mulching.
The miniature hollyhock mallow was mostly a stand of blown bolts, so I took the spires down to iris leaf or lower level. The tomato in the pot now stands out.
I broke another bag of composted farmyard manure and mulched around the recently reset recycled concrete 'stepping stones' in the path to the mosaic pad (where the chook chalet is located).
Then, I plugged in the most recent pair of clumps of Irish moss in between the stones; one full, the other divided in to about six smaller plugs.
I think I need to pick up a Scottish moss....lighter and more yellow than Irish moss...to shoot for patchwork variety. I've already got Sicilian mint doing fairly well. All walkables.
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Post by JoeP on Jul 19, 2018 7:12:32 GMT
to bulk out their bulbous bases
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 20, 2018 17:20:45 GMT
to bulk out their bulbous bases Yeah....I suppose it will be renamed "The Kardashian Process".
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Post by Mari on Jul 22, 2018 4:24:18 GMT
*snortts*
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 28, 2018 16:22:32 GMT
Of late, I've been focused upon watering potted plants each morning to prevent desiccation in the hot sun and low humidity. And then running for indoor A/C cover.
This morning, I noted that my all-white oriental lilies, 'Casablanca', had their first bloom open. Heady stuff. I used to have a dozen bulbs in a pot with an iris, but I think I've lost a couple of bulbs to crowding. Still, they are producing reasonably well. Up close, the fragrance overwhelms.
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