What Did You Do In The Garden?

flowerbug

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we have had some tree trimming activity going on by the power company in the past few weeks. i was hoping they'd take out the maple tree, but no luck so far.

today they were out trimming back some brush and fast growing trees below the wires so after them being out there and wondering what they were doing (because there really isn't all that much to do over there) i wandered over to say hi.

maybe i could talk them into dumping wood chips for me?

i told them that they could dump them out back and also that we could use a load dumped out front. it saves them a lot of time if they don't have to haul them to a place to dump it which isn't close.

no luck on that today, but we'll see how it goes... there are some cut pieces of wood back there that we could probably use for something.

anyways, this afternoon later another crew stopped in. they are working the same power line from another direction and there was a note from someone about one of the pine trees out front. walked out to look at it. i said fine with me trim it all you want. Mom is unlikely to even notice it if they don't do it when she is here. they're not sure when they'll do it.
 

Shades-of-Oregon

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I met a woman with a property adjacent to a farmer's field. She brought it heavy landscaping rocks and "Planted" them where the farmer's machinery would get damaged if run too close.

I have let saplings grow up against the farm field behind me, same reason.
I have been thinking about putting a gate across our entryway.
 

Shades-of-Oregon

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we have had some tree trimming activity going on by the power company in the past few weeks. i was hoping they'd take out the maple tree, but no luck so far.

today they were out trimming back some brush and fast growing trees below the wires so after them being out there and wondering what they were doing (because there really isn't all that much to do over there) i wandered over to say hi.

maybe i could talk them into dumping wood chips for me?

i told them that they could dump them out back and also that we could use a load dumped out front. it saves them a lot of time if they don't have to haul them to a place to dump it which isn't close.

no luck on that today, but we'll see how it goes... there are some cut pieces of wood back there that we could probably use for something.

anyways, this afternoon later another crew stopped in. they are working the same power line from another direction and there was a note from someone about one of the pine trees out front. walked out to look at it. i said fine with me trim it all you want. Mom is unlikely to even notice it if they don't do it when she is here. they're not sure when they'll do it.


@flowerbug the power company hires these companies to clear trees that need to be trimmed in preparation for winter weather that feed entire communities. If tree branches or trees fall on power lines by roadsides that could cause outage for several hundred to thousands of homes.

In my case one service line to my home not even 15’ close to my tree collection and my trees were scalped by those horrible tree trimmers that drove up my driveway 500 yards on my property when I was not home and literally trimmed whole sides of my understory rare trees that I have trimmed, groomed protected from invading insects, watered and grew from seedlings for 25 years. So why all of a sudden the overzealous interest in my trees. They had no idea what they did and they do give a hoot.

The trees along my property I grew from seedlings is a big difference from roadside trees .
 
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Branching Out

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We were able to pick up a yard of compost from a facility that stores it under cover, and out of the rain. Part went on top of the asparagus patch in the communal garden, and some in a raised bed where early garlic varieties will be planted. Once we were done everything got a nice thick layer of maple leaves, for mulch. It only took an hour for three of us to get this task done, and it felt very satisfying!
 

digitS'

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My hour wasn't expected :).

Wind gusts over 30mph so I walked the Indoor Mile instead of the garden task I had intended after a morning errand. Arm sore on Wednesday from flu shot Tuesday PM kept me from more difficult arm exercises thatday; didn't even think about the arm yesterday just happy to only be looking out the South Window, again and again and again ...

Then, things turned around. Wind died during the final hour of daylight so I could move that heavy deck off one  stealth compost bin, pull out 2 buckets of compost, empty 3 buckets of compostables, consolodate 2/3rd of the in-process compost emptying another area for whatever I can get in there before the compostables freeze and I have to store them for the Winter. One hour and I had the deck back in place and the shovel back in the carport with some good quality compost stored for Spring.

Steve
 

Branching Out

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Today in the garden was all about harvesting. I picked a gorgeous red Beaver Dam pepper and an immature green Chervena Chushka pepper from the hoop house. The plan is to save seeds from each of them; several more peppers are still maturing on the plants. I also picked the first of the Grandma Rivera's Lima beans, so they can finish drying down indoors. That may not have been the right thing to do-- but I was concerned that I could lose all of the pods to mold if I left them on the vine. I picked only pods that were starting to feel thin and paper-like. In a perfect world they would dry to a straw colour before harvest-- but that may not ever happen in our wet Pacific Northwest climate.

Seeing the beautiful colours really makes me appreciate the wonderful vegetables that we are able to grow in our gardens. We are so very fortunate. Wishing all of my fellow gardeners a Happy Thanksgiving!
 

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digitS'

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;) It wasn't really in the garden ... we did harvest some mustard greens out of the greenhouse 2 days ago and had those for meals twice :).

I almost wish that this was related to growing new starts for the 2025 season. Lazy, procrastinating me – I waited until today to cover the one window with an additional layer insulation. All the other windows are double pane except for this little 24" x 28" window that is covered by 2 curtains. The warm Winter is my excuse; we are forecast to have a drop into the "teens" to finish the week. Oh My ;)!

That shrink-to-fit plastic is kinda special, don't you think? It took me awhile to have things ready to go; then the hair dryer just smoothed it out nicely. That is until I was being a little awkward and touched the blower to the top part of the film and melted a hole in it. Ack! Well, I knew a quick solution. I went out to the garage and brought back the film repairing tape that I have used now & then on the greenhouse film. Finished before DW even knew what I was up to and who's gonna see it anyway, covered by 2 curtains?

One year, I put double hoop frames up over the 2 beds in the garden that are under the plastic film for a few weeks every Spring. I thought better of that in subsequent years. Oh yeah, it conserved heat but we have that "June Gloom" the PNW coast people complain about. Well, it's mostly in April & May, here. Anyway, 2 pieces of film really slowed growth in the hoop house that Spring. What a trade-off – loss of sunlight for a little preserving of heat. Can't get much solar heating if 20% of the limited light is reflected away ... And, that is what I have read that it amounts to – about 10% loss whether plastic or glass per layer. So, 2 sheets of plastic amounts to a 20% loss of precious Spring light!

There are obvious problems with depleted light reaching the table for plant starts in the South Window during the weeks the starts are in that window before they migrate to the greenhouse. Not only are there 2 layers of glass but it is at a 90° angle from the ground not the proper angle for any of those critical weeks during Spring to best admit sunlight. It works, I'm not gonna hang a light in there but, you know, if I could boost the sunlight by 10% by taking of a pane of glass, I would ... can't do it tho and the one window where I could go to a single layer of glass is tiny and on the wrong side of the house.

Starts soon here with onion seed going in the soil mix!
 

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