Posted on 05/01/2025 6:15:12 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Basil problem “solved” ....
I bought a 12” beautiful organic basil plant at Walmart. It was in their produce section - only other herb they had was mint although they had chives & rosemary previously.
I will repot it to something larger & keep it on my potting bench in the shop garage - the southern side is all windows - my other herbs (now in a raised bed) loved it there & did well. Being in the garage should cut down on whatever is munching holes in the raised bed basil.
Congrats!
I decided to plant green onions near my herbs. I’m hoping that deters some of the insects. So far so good, but the season is early.
Basil...Could it be pill bugs or sow bugs? Good luck with the 12 inch plant!
I haven’t seen anything ... I went through the plant leaf by leaf with no luck finding the culprit(s).
For me, they may disappear for a few days, but the only time they move on for good is when I either shoot them (do they then go to a raccoon heaven?) or trap them and move them all right - about 10 miles to a local refuge area by a river.
Hopefully you're not in real luck ( /s ): a female who has paused to have her kits!
Disclaimer: I am not an expert on small gasoline engines.
A 5/16” I.D. vacuum line, or at least that’s what I think it likely is, on my push mower, has split where it connects to the carburetor. The other end, still good, connects to the engine itself. The fit(s) are just snug push-on - makes sense for a negative pressure line.
Menards has 5/16” fuel line, and I had wifey pick up 5 feet (the std. roll Menards sells). BUT, this stuff is PVC, and not surprisingly, it has a maximum working temperature rating of 175 deg. F.
For a hose that connects to the engine, and up under the engine cover as well, that seems dicey. Reading online, the external temperature of a mower engine can easily reach 175 deg. F, and oil temps can definitely reach 250 deg. F., perhaps more.
The Menards’ line (and many others) are also rather stiff, and, this line has to bend a couple right angle corners. :-(I can make somewhat more gradual bends than the original, but, only so much...)
NBR lines are common (esp. on Amazon) and better on the temperature rating, but still only ~ 250 deg. F. They are also suspect with regards to resistance to ethanol and sunlight (UV), over the long haul. NBR with a Neoprene outer layer is better about UV exposure.
Best may be soft nylon tubing (harder to find), or, silicone rubber tubing like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R9J53MB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&psc=1
...although I can’t go TOO thin on wall thickness / strength, if there is negative pressure on the line.
Do “y’all” with experience in this (or with friends or spouses who do) concur?
Geez, another inch (approx.) of rain here overnight. More, it would seem from radar, north of us and esp. up toward St. Louis, where it rained yesterday afternoon too. For a good while the Cape Girardeau - Vienna, IL - Sturgis, KY “corridor” was really “getting it” too.
My plants in pots are almost all doing well, the ones not in pots, not so much, and some are dying. We are supposed to dry out a bit now (and get warmer), so once the water table is 12” below the surface of the garden areas (each varies a bit) I may hit some plants’ bases with root treatment or a combo of thinned milk, Tumeric, and Neem oil (saw that one on You Tube, IIRC.)
This source is more conservative and indicates just 140 deg. F maximum for PVC! (This site is an excellent resource, BTW):
https://www.calpaclab.com/pvc-polyvinyl-chloride-chemical-compatibility-chart/
(They have compatibility charts for many materials.)
I just dumped 1.5 inches out of our rain gauge (2 days worth).... this after 6” two weeks before and more storms coming in this afternoon/evening. There is a “Severe/Flood Potential” with strong winds, large hail & low tornado risk. Fun times ... not.
It’s been in the 50’s all week & soggy. Next week should be dry & get into the 80’s. I have a trailer load of mulch under the pole shed, but can’t get it out without making muddy tracks, so maybe it will dry out enough next week to pull the trailer where I need it.
My herb & jalapeño beds are doing great. Zinnia seeds are up about an inch. Dahlia seedlings aren’t making much progress and are not a dark, healthy green - definitely a bit yellow. I hit them with Miracle-Gro yesterday & maybe it’s my imagination, but they look better today. Some sun & warmth will hopefully help all of my plants.
The next couple days we are forecast to have dewpoints in the mid-to-upper 50’s, a pretty good breeze (20 mph gusts) and the clouds mostly gone by this afternoon, with temps in afternoons in the 70’s, so, at least things should dry out some. :-)
Five days and no raids, so fingers crossed. Trust me, neither of us are squeamish about, ‘the final solution’ should it come to that.
We love our birds and we love our veggies! ;)
Lots of activity this morning at the hummingbird feeder just outside our kitchen window...
Last year the lady upstairs (the LL sister) called in a panic, that an animal was in her apartment. I went up and in a room near the kitchen were 2 raccoons, up in the remnants of the suspended ceiling. Shined the light on them and told them they had to leave. Called the LL, and he had me take a video of their B+E, which I did, climbing up onto the roof using stools I screw together, plus left a paper bag with about 4 blocks of the best and economical rat poison I could legally buy (JT Eaton 750 Top Gun All Weather Bromethalin Rodenticide Bait Block, 4 lbs, 128 blocks, N/A now, comparable to Tomcat Bromethalin. 4 lbs, now $30) on the roof entrance they made. rolling a large black of tar roofing off the edge and making a bull eye into one of my water barrels 3 floor below.
They ate all the poison in one night, with no deterrent effects as they came back.
LL said he was going to put a new roof on, meanwhile, during the evening (they go out at about dusk) I blocked the entrance, and the next day sealed it better.
New roof was put on last Fall, but since the roof does not all drain to the middle drain pipe, then much water drains off the back, and onto my tarp shuttle and into the barrels. However, it also drains off the front and side and the inundates the front of the garden. And when you have 4'' of rain in two days, and into soil that already had lots of rain (we’ve had more wet days this month than dry, and our and 's rainfall amounts are more than 4″ above average, with more on the way), then it largely decimated most of the 50 or so tomato plants that went in 3 weeks previously.
Images forth-coming
This was one month that I should have planted at the end of March. Which i neglected to seek the Lord about.
meeting my BFFs for lunch
What are BFFs?
I reset my groundhog trap with cabbage yesterday afternoon. The trap door was down this morning - from a distance, larger than a bunny. Not a groundhog, but a raccoon. It was the ‘coon’s “lucky day” .... I released it. I only have flowers & jalapeños, no corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc. Hopefully, raccoons won’t be raiding. The groundhogs not only raid, but undermine the buildings with their burrowing & they damaged my pole shed after I had it cleaned out & graveled last summer, so that’s a more serious offense.
Best Friends Forever, or Best Forever Friends. We four have been friends (Army) for 45 years, now.
We all used to work together at The Adjutant General's Office in Madison, WI. We get together 4-6 times a year. We drag our husbands along (who have all also known one another for 45 years) for Christmas or other Milestone Birthday Celebrations.
I am VERY blessed to have these awesome ladies in my life.
Now under a tornado watch until 8 pm & rain coming in.
I managed to get a Lantana, 4 African Marigolds & a Calibrachoa planted, finished in a light rain. First time having a Calibrachoa in one of my gardens. I won’t get the lavenders planted today.
The raised beds are very wet - topsoil had a good deal of fine clay in it so it’s a bit ‘sticky’ where it’s really wet. I mixed dry topsoil half & half with the soil I excavated making the planting holes - I had one bag left & it’s coming in handy.
Came across lots of earthworms while excavating, so that’s a definite positive.
Qiviut. In my garden they do a lot of damage at night. They also like to chew up the marigolds.
A couple of years ago, a large boar raccoon was getting on the bird feeders. He was big & heavy enough to bend a metal shepherds hook pole over almost to the ground! I thought we had a bear problem until I caught sight of the ‘coon when a motion light came on as he was raiding the feeders again. I caught him shortly thereafter and there was a big difference between that situation & what happened this morning. I won’t tolerate my flower garden getting chewed up, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Learn something new...
I have 3 friends from grade school that we still get together every year, although now and then we miss. None of us are in Florida where we grew up. One is in Minnesota, one in NYC, one in Connecticut, and I’m in Indiana. The distance hasn’t stopped us.
Two of them have known each other since 1st grade. The third came in third grade and I arrived in fifth grade. Somehow or another we managed to stay in touch through high school, college, weddings, kids, one divorce, and then a second marriage. We’ve been through thick and thin, and sometimes I think we’re closer now than when we’re back then. I guess we understand human nature better now.
I cherish my BFFs. Yes, our husbands get dragged along sometimes. Luckily, even the boys get along with each other, too. I guess they all know they have amazing women as wives.
Like you said, Diana, very BLESSED to have these awesome ladies in my life.
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