Posted on 03/27/2015 1:25:20 PM PDT by greeneyes
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I am trying to psych myself up into getting into my garden and remove the old ground cover I put down last year and then till the garden area. The weather has been nice temp wise but rains have kept me from starting. I bought 8 bales of wheat straw, from Lowes, to use for a ground cover and a weed block. Tomorrow and Sunday may be perfect days to get started.
Two weeks ago my wife bought us a new lawn tractor (John Deere D130) to mow our yard. Our 15+ year old lawn tractor has seen better days.
Now I'm lucky if I can remember something clearly 30 minutes after reading it. Search engines are what keeps me going along with a yellow legal pad to jot down bullet points.
I doubt if I could take a class even on just a pass/fail today. My primary doc sent me to a neurologist who told me that he knew there wasn't anything wrong with my brain, because I didn't bring anyone with me to help me remember and I had a notebook of computer notes that I was able to put together as if that was some amazing feat.
The book was just filings of stuff that docs always ask about that I can't remember anymore, so have to have it where I can get to it. Most of it was put together before I started having the really bad memory issues.
He also told me that because I was obviously above average in intelligence, I just noticed “it” more. Still he ordered an MRI just in case. Turns out that I do have a bit of an issue going on with a couple of small blood vessels, but he told me that was unremarkable - whatever that means.
You lucky dog. That makes my green eyes greener still. LOL
I can take the lower temps, as long as the sun shines in the patio door during the afternoon. Otherwise, I get grumpy. LOL
I already ate spinach and lettuce from the garden.
I bought some artichokes once, and did not enjoy trying to prepare them at all. So I have never planted them. I just buy them canned or frozen when I make artichoke dip, which is not often due to the salt content.
Have you ever considered Rosa Rugosa roses? They are an old fashioned rose, but the big bonus is they have marble size rose hips that are a great source of Vitamin C.
Also, if you plant several close together along your property line you will have an almost impenetrable living fence.
Never had a problem with squash or cucumbers when I lived in RI. When I moved to Illinois my squash was just wilted and died one day. Thought I was being heavy handed with watering. Four years ago I moved to Texas and the same thing happened. Someone on this thread mentioned moths that lay their eggs on the underside of the squash and cucumber leaves and then the lava burrow into the stem of the plants. One day the plant “appears” perfect then the next day it wilts and dies. Evidently the moth will winter over in the soil so I emptied the raise bed completely and will refill with Miracle Grow. I bought row covers to keep out insects and someone suggested covering the stems with aluminum foil. We’ll see if that works.
Even growing a couple of pots of tomatoes would be better than nothing. Glad you are feeling up to it. Just don’t overdo it ok?
Thanks for the pic. That is certainly interesting looking mask.
I put my stuff in the ground in late fall, then cover it up for the winter. Harvest a bit now and then if there’s a warm day, and they have grown enough.
Most of it(lettuce, spinach, carrots, garlic is harvested in April - June. Potatoes go in in April, and nothing else till the end of May or Beginning of June here.
Yes, well, that’s the good news.
The bad news is that the soil is like dried cement.
Is that because of the cold or something else?
Anyway, just stick a pot on it with potting mix - I do that on the concrete patio all the time. LOL
I am thinking we have cucumber beetles and/or some sort of soil borne fungus/bacterial disease.
Here is the area I intend to garden mostly by myself this year. It's small. Inside the buckets and to the fence. You can see I've got weeding to do. I have asparagus and some walking onions there near the fence.
I also had some volunteer lettuce come up this year, so I'll make sure I don't 'weed' that.
I can't overdo it. I've got a built-in stop for that. ;)
/johnny
If I was there, I would help you weed it and get it ready. Thanks for the pic.
Congrats on being done with your radiation. That mask is a little scary. Maybe you could make a planter out of it.
Here are some of the walking onions and asparagus as of today. 
We are having great weather for the end of March.
/johnny
That’s a good size plot. Some hanging plastic planter bags would go great on the fence. For things like lettuce. Too dang cold here to do anything.
I'm sure I'll do something with every piece of junk, including the mask.
/johnny
Glad you are having good weather.
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