Well here we are again. Us vs. the 3 C's of AZ dirt (i.e. caliche, concrete, clay) Now I know we've all broken our shovels, hoes and (husband's) backs on this dirt, but we're nothing if not consistent. Well, I was in the Ace Hardware the other day looking for a new hoe to do some weeding with and got Ye Olde generic style hoe for around $10. I went home and promptly hurt myself trying to scratch the surface of my dirt patch.
Enough of this I said. I got out my grinder and noisly put a mean edge on the hoe (Q: Why don't they ship them sharpened? A: Lawyers). I went out and hurt myself again. By this time, I was hot and sweaty and I had 2 scratches in the dirt to show for it.
Now I was righteously indignant. For my $10 I should have SOMETHING to show for it. So, I cut the hoe handle in half and presented the shortened tool to my 5-year-old son. "Here son, a new hoe for you to dig in the dirt with!" Eeks of glee erupted and he beelined for the dirt patch. All is solved I said to myself, I get a tilled up garden and a nice tired 5-year old who will sleep tonight. Alas, the youngster came in all breathless and said, "Dad, the dirt is too old, it won't dig well."
Enough of this I said. I got out my grinder and noisly put a mean edge on the hoe (Q: Why don't they ship them sharpened? A: Lawyers). I went out and hurt myself again. By this time, I was hot and sweaty and I had 2 scratches in the dirt to show for it.
Now I was righteously indignant. For my $10 I should have SOMETHING to show for it. So, I cut the hoe handle in half and presented the shortened tool to my 5-year-old son. "Here son, a new hoe for you to dig in the dirt with!" Eeks of glee erupted and he beelined for the dirt patch. All is solved I said to myself, I get a tilled up garden and a nice tired 5-year old who will sleep tonight. Alas, the youngster came in all breathless and said, "Dad, the dirt is too old, it won't dig well."
Well, at least you did get a tired youngster out of it. :)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, me gusta mucho para vi el blog nuevo de Cabeza Fosforo, pero yo quiero para mirar un foto de el cabeza con pelo rojo en el profile de tu.
(Well, I tried anyway. Spanish was LAST semester.)
Yesterday, Matthew and I were putting some seeds into our garden, (Thanks, Tara for the seeds!) as well as some seedling pepper plants. When Matt saw that I was actually transplanting the seedlings, he accused me of cheating.
ReplyDelete"How?" I asked.
"Dad, you can't just buy plants and put them in the ground, you have to use seeds. Otherwise, that's cheating."
I was then admonished to not buy seedlings any more.
That's hilarious! So you had 3 scratches to show for it in the end, eh? And now seedlings are cheeting?? Well that's good to know. I was about to go buy some.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tiff Girl, no hablo Espanol except yo quierro Taco Bell. How'd I do?
I've been asking him for the last 2 days, and I still can't follow his logic as to why using seedlings is cheating, but to a 5-year-old it just is.
ReplyDeletewell, more gardening stuff going on. I've got a compost pile in my back yard that DOES NOT STINK! Yea! (a non-stinky pile is good for growing your marriage, hee-hee!)
ReplyDeleteI got one of those black city garbage barrels from the solid waste department that had holes pre-drilled and the wheels cut off to use as a container. It works well, and was already used for garbage, so I'm not squeamish about getting it dirty.
the guy @ the city told me they take the cans that are too beat up to be used for regular trash pickup and turn them into compost barrels. Here's the fun part (if there can BE fun in such stuff). I got the barrel for $5. It's big, it's black (retains heat so compost breaks down faster), and it's tough enough to handle food scraps, leaves, dead weeds, etc.
Jill has planted canteloupes in her spot, Adom has got 2 watermelon hills going. Jessica is finishing her marble-sized radishes this week, and Natalie has Nastirtium and swiss chard in her plot. Matthew has marigolds, hot peppers and canteloupes.
And me, I'm in charge of the tomatoes. I decided to experiment with a few new techniques this year to see what worked.
I read about things called "Cloches". I think it's a French word. they are used to shelter seeds and seedlings during the colder parts of the year. Originally made of hand-blown glass, I decided to make mine from plastic 3-liter soda bottles and some plastic gallon-sized juice bottles. I used a wood burning iron to cut the bottoms off (Kaff! Kaff! Wheeze! Choke! Retch!). After the smoke cleared I found I'd done a pretty good job at making a clean cut.
I set them out over some pumpkin seeds that we'd planted in early Feburary, but weren't sprouted. Pumpkin seed goes in the ground around mid-march. With the cloches, I turned the small area they covered into a mini-greenhouse complete with high humidity, warmth and sunlight. In addition, the seed(ling)s get accustomed to the outside weather. Ta-Da! Within a week, the seeds had sprouted and grew. Once the seedlings were touching the sides of the bottles, I took them off as the plants were now big enough to handle the weather themselves. I found that you can extend the growing season by 2-3 weeks on the front end using them.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! our pumpkin vines have taken over the area where we had basil, marigolds, alyssum, and peppers. it sounds like a lot, but covers only an area about4'x2'. i staked down an old bed frame and have trained some of the vines to start growing up the frame. the blossoms started opening today, 3-4 of them so far.
ReplyDeleteAdom's sunflowers are getting taller, they're about 2 ft tall now. the package said they get to an average height of 10-12 ft. I hope they make it!
I've had a neighbor weld me a new hoe out of old broken shovel pieces. I love it! it may look Red-Neck, but with it i'm able to get ENTIRE ROOT SYSTEMS of bermuda grass out with 1-2 good swings of the shovel...even in hard caliche. and the only parts I had to buy cost me about $10 total.
However, since I've started using hay and compost for a thick mulch layer, I've had to weed less and less. I'm of the opinion that the more good things you consciously put in your garden, the harder it is for weeds to get in and take hold. It's like Dad says,"If you fill your life with good things, you've got no time for the bad things."
forgot to add that Bermuda is not growing as much were the hay and compost have been.
ReplyDelete