Weather in SoCal is still a bit hot - mid 80s to even low 90s.
Harvesting pomegranates:
Angel's Trump decided to explode in blooms - had to tell my guests to stay away because it's covered with bees - more bees than my dedicated bee garden.
We've cut it back to the ground for years and it comes back stronger than ever:
Native Guara:
And, the roses are putting on a final show before I cut them back in about a month:
"Pinata":
Happy gardening, and as usual, we are praying - hard - for rain.
We might have some rain tomorrow then the rest of the week looks pretty good, so I'll have time to work outside then if I can't do much today.
Two questions.
First, I have an abundance of Ghost and Carolina Reaper Super Hot peppers.
Can I make a liquid spray to repel animals and/or insects with them?
Secondly, I slipped by with a very light frost 2 nights ago and need to plant some herbs in buckets to bring inside. I know lemon grass and ginger come in. I brought in the patchouli, basil, and curry plants already.
What other herbs are best moved indoors for the winter?
I want to plant alpine strawberries. Bare root plants are pricey, seeds less so.
Anyone grow alpine strawberries from seed? Slow germination? Growth?
Back home in Washington State from my short Texas trip.
Thanks going out to you 4 and anyone else who threw up the prayers for my job interview.
I was able to score something between 96 and 98 on the test (don’t remember what they said because I knew I have no problems with those sorts of reading and math tests & wasn’t really paying attention when they told me my score.)
I know I absolutely nailed the interview and if they have another ca dilate who is better qualified for the job I think they should hire that person.
It is obvious they are hot for me based upon their statements and the fact that they called me at 8 a.m. the next day to say I was moving along in the hiring process.
They also, during the oral board interview suggested that I challenge the Texas Law Enforcement test and they would “carry” my commission meaning of they hired me I could maintain my poloce authority and still carry a gun and badge at work with the promise that they would not send me out on patrol.
The stated reason was “after carrying a gun at work for so long we assume you would prefer to keep carrying one if you worked alongside a bunch of cops.”
But I also think they have an eye to the future angle going in there as well. I know they want the person who gets this job to eventually go out to crime scenes and process evidence in person...not just manage the storage of evidence.
I also know they want that person to eventually be the tech guy who collects data/info from electronic devices after search warrants have been granted by the court.
I could see where having that person being a sworn law enforcement officer would be advantageous as they could actually have that person write search warrants.
The city is small but that doesn’t mean the agency is not forward thinking.
Next for me, compiling and sending off all the additional information and documents they require.
The door to the dining area of the Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal was made so narrow that monks who got too fat were forced into fasting
Diamonds Hallucination by Graff, the most expensive watch in the world ($55 million)
My 13ish year old black beans experiment continues; Success.
A few weeks ago, I tried cooking some black beans that I had put up in a frosting bucket over 10 years ago. No 02 absorbers, no mylar bags, no desiccant.
I cooked them for 50 minutes in the instant pot and they were still pretty firm.
Last night, I did a pre-soak of two pounds of beans and put a couple of Tbsp of Baking Soda in the bean soak water. Drained them this morning, added some fresh water and did the same 50 minutes in the instant pot. Nice and tender.
Cooked them with a smoked shank, onion/garlic powders, cumin, cayenne powder, salt & pepper. Gonna have to make a batch of yellow rice to go with the beans.
Dry and cool this past week here in Central Missouri. Cool enough that all of the tender plants were killed off. That saved me a ton of weeding in the victory garden.
I spent several hours yesterday doing clean-up. Pulled the dead dwarf okra and all of the pepper plants. Filled a five gallon bucket with peppers that we’ll chop and freeze for later use. Took the cucumber fence down and pulled the posts. That gives me plenty of room to plant garlic. I hit the dry stuff with the weed burner. Still need to pull the tomato cages and move the panel arbor to the opposite fence.
The late-planted greens are thriving. Collards are knee-high and lush. Turnips and rutabaga are rocking. I’m a bit disappointed in the beets. Nice tops but not a lot of root, but there’s still some time before winter sets in so I’m letting them go for now.
Couple weeks ago I picked up a nice sack of acorns from an overcup oak that lives in one of the parking lot islands where I work. I have 96 of them in starter cells sitting on the ground in the garden. I noticed yesterday that a good number of them are already starting to split. If even a dozen of them germinate and survive until spring that will be a good start on my next tree planting project.