The Garden Thread - August, 2025

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Hello! Lots going on here the last few days. Most of it has had nothing to do with gardening in any fashion.

Number 2 son and his wonderful girlfriend returned from their trip to a few places in Europe. We kept their cat here, although she really didn’t like being here. Or maybe she doesn’t like me. Anyway, we all have survived the ordeal with few scratches (ok, I endured 3 of those over the days).

We rarely get to see our kids for long. That proved the case this time, too, BUT we did spend about 10 meaningful hours together, hearing about their trip and whatever adventures they took on. We are so glad that they had a wonderful time! They learned a lot about history of the places they went, and the art and architecture, the foods, and the culture of the peoples. They had a really good time. It made it worth whatever we did back here in their absence.

As a treat, I took their car to the car wash yesterday, in part because one of the pine trees that he parked under produced sap that smeared in their front and back windows. Then I felt compelled to vacuum the mats and seats. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if I could get the dashboard a bit cleaner? It was very dusty. Before I realized it, I had detailed their interior completely! I guess I was in the groove, and didn’t want to stop until I would’ve been comfortable in it. It didn’t feel like work. I was a little worried that they would feel I overstepped my bounds, but they were actually TRULY surprised and very grateful!

They bought us lunch! That was a lovely thank you, BESIDES all the gifts they brought for us from their travels.

The weather today was exceptionally beautiful. Temps were lovely with a steady breeze.

After the kids left (with some shishitos as a parting gift), I noticed that another one of my potato planters looked ready to harvest. 5 baby red potatoes were planted around Mother’s Day, and today I dug up 25. Score!

I mentioned it mentally feels like Fall ... today is another one of those days. It’s currently 68, breezy, and we have a light rain going on. The humidity is supposed to be “lowering” through the night. The next week looks like the temps will be in the 70’s all week! The roofer won’t commit to exact dates, but it’s likely he’ll be doing our roof next week - he’ll have great weather for our project.

Yesterday, I finished cutting the grass and then tackled the trimming. I like my battery operated string trimmer, but the darn battery is really heavy. We have a ditch that is along the entire front of the property with deep culverts on each side of the driveway. On Little Red, I can get one wheel up on the road & the other in the ditch & cut the road side for most of the ditch length, but it finally gets too deep & I have to pull out - the rest has to be trimmed with the weed eater. I’m actually in the ditch - the edge of the road is about chest high. There is heavy traffic on the road so getting up on the road for the very top edge is tricky and I try to cut it from the ditch, which is safer. Anyway, my arms & especially my back get really tired and it’s probably my least favorite thing to do around here. When I’m done trimming, I’m usually DONE for the rest of the day as far as any heavy work is concerned.

Where are the deer? Last year, there were 3 does with fawns that I saw all the time. One in particular was very curious & would come on our side of the fence behind the shop. I was building raised beds .... she was probably thinking “oh goody, she’s making a salad bar for next year!” This year, I have seen (only once) a doe & fawn in the field behind our place. I have seen several does eating along the road - scary, because you never know when they will dash out in front of vehicles. There are coyotes around here - hopefully, they haven’t gotten all the fawns this year. I did see a doe in our yard this morning, but she was by herself & dashed off as soon as she saw me open the door.

Dodger was spotted in the last couple of days - a good thing because I found tufts of what looked like bunny fur in the side yard and I figured a hawk might have gotten Dodger. I didn’t see any spots where Dodger was missing fur, so maybe there was another rabbit I didn’t know about.

Groundhog spotted day before yesterday - trap baited yesterday with cabbage ... I’ve caught the previous 3 with cabbage .... fingers crossed this one does, too.

Since we live near woods, we often see a doe and two fawns nearly every year. This year, I haven’t, until the other day when we took our usual walk through the neighborhood. At the end of our street, we saw two spotted fawns, no mama nearby though. We figured she was around somewhere and out of sight.

Then a neighbor saw us, and told us that the two fawns have apparently lost their mama. Probably a car hit it or something. There’s a retention pond on that side of the neighborhood and beyond that another set of woods. The neighbor told us they were glad to see the fawns because they thought maybe they wouldn’t survive, but here they were, managing to make it anyway!

They are so cute, and now I see why one neighbor’s hostas don’t look so spectacular this year!

I'm a bit grumpy this morning. Nice cool weather. Went out to get a bunch of stuff done yesterday but even after resting Tuesday, I was still sore from work. I was lifting 1/4" aluminum plates 2'x4' in and out of the mill all day Sunday and Monday morning. Then I ran a cabinet blaster for five hours which is basically, hold your arms out, for five hours. Neck, shoulder and back muscles work out.

Got some sheet lumber moved out of the shed and into the camper trailer. Put shelf brackets up for seed trays. One board needs cut to length and all boards screwed to brackets. Shoulder height work and all of it hurt so it didn't get done. Figured out I need better grow lights. They got dim in a few years. I would need 3 side by side to light one tray. Regular 4 foot shop lights will do and I have a place in the house I can stick those six 2 foot "grow lights" for indirect lighting a room.

Got the smoker moved back up to the house. That spot had become a parking spot for the tractor due to leaky tires and the compressor being up here. Need to build a roof sticking off the house over the smoker but not today. There was already one there but I took it down for reasons I can't remember. Still need to clean up and organize the smoker area. Need work surfaces. I've got a dead chest freezer I could use. It's a big one so it's counter height already.

Got into some seed ticks yesterday.

Mower for tractor shook like crazy when I used it last week. Peaked under it and remembered half a blade broke off last year so I need to steal another one from a riding mower I have here. Will do that this morning so I can do some mowing. Need to run the push mower down the paths in the tunnel. The only place I stood long enough to get a load of seed ticks was when picking shishito peppers. I have two spreaders including one I got from that barn clean out that I think just lays it down without throwing it outwards. If so, perfect for Sevin granules down the paths. That and I need to use the other that throws to do the driveway, walking paths and area in front of shop and shed. The ground is still nice and wet from the rain we got.

Might tackle narrowing those front tractor rims for the new tires. Would be nice to not have to put air in the tires every time I want to use it.

Thought I might take the truck apart so it's ready for the new hub to be put in but that's kind of heavy work, that and I hate taking apart a vehicle before I have the part for it. Technically, it's still drive-able and would probably make it to town in an emergency. Highs in the 70s this weekend so I can chip away at the truck after work.

Times like these make me loathe work because it feels like I'm just working to work when it prevents me from getting certain things done around here. Oh well, tomorrow's payday. Might just have to buy myself something pretty to make me feel better, like a cordless chain saw. I'd probably be able to use it by the time it gets here. LOL

I would really like some new grates for the smoker. The rectangular one for the horizontal tank is made from some scrap steel expanded metal I had laying around and the round grates are from an old Brinkmann smoker, were cheap chrome plated things, and have surface rust on them. The round ones are easy to find but three decent stainless steel ones would be $114. I was surprised to find something that will fit the rectangle but they’re sold in pairs for a Weber Spirit 300 grill and I would need three of them so I’d have to buy two pair. Another $100+.

I might have to make my own. I can get 304 stainless steel rod in 1/8” or 3/16” for the round ones and 1/4” for the rectangle for about the same cost and could make the rectangle in two pieces instead of buying four and using three. I would have to buy some stainless steel mig welding wire but a roll of that would last forever. The 304 SS is used for cookware and keeps it’s corrosion resistance up to 1,500 degrees. Who knows what the amazon sellers are using for SS alloy.

I can get by with what I’ve got. The rusty round grates have been sitting in the smoker and are coated black now LOL. Salmon always goes on foil. Dutch Oven doesn’t matter. Hanging sausage, doesn’t matter. Guess I’ll put it on my to do list — for Spring 2026.

Measured the old chest freezer. It’s 35” tall which is kitchen counter height x 28” deep x 62” long. I just stuck it out in the woods a week ago but it’s coming back today but not going in the driveway. It’s big enough that I could cut most of the front out and stick the old compressor in there. If you have an old chest freezer outside that doubles as a countertop and compressor shed, you might be a redneck.

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