Intrigue


Chrysler Imperial



Have a good weekend.

Lola, congrats on your wins! Whooo Hooooo! I knew you would win with the wonderful coat hanger and I love your flower arrangement. Fantastic!

Zuzu, that is too funny!

Beautiful flowers J. Have a good weekend yourself. I am off to learn more about weeds in the garden.

I have to tell you about my Master Gardener classes. Did I tell you this one? The lady who taught us vermiculture was great. Really very thorough. Had little baggies of half worm eaten food, worm eggs, etc., for us to examine. This is a woman who loves her worms. She told us that when it is too cold outside, she brings her worm condo indoors and puts it in the bathtub so her worms won't freeze. Now that is someone dedicated to worms!

This last week we have been reading and studying weeds. I was watching a movie the other day and these men were chasing an escaped slave and trying to capture her. She ran into the "woods" and eventually climbed a tree to get away from them. As she was running, I saw that she was trying to get through a bunch of horseweed. I said, "that is Horseweed!" I learned in class what that weed was! I was thrilled that I recognized it!

I was also watching a sappy Hallmark movie the other day (I just love those!) and the stars of the movie were walking through a vineyard and supposedly pruning the grape vines. The vineyard had bilateral shoots (one on each side of the trunk). The two stars were just pruning the tips of last year's vines. I said to myself, that is not how you do it! Then the two stars walked through the rows of grapes (not leafed out yet) each with a sprayer on their backs and they were randomly spraying a grape vine, here and there with no protective gear on at all. I think they follow the "spray and pray" method of getting rid of unwanted things on their grapevines. They could have asked someone about how to prune a grapevine to make it a bit more realistic. Plus you never spray anything without protective gear, especially since a grower would not use something that was available for "household use" (and even then you should protect yourself). What a grower uses is something much stronger (at least here in California). So, yes, I am learning things in class and the movie folks should do a bit more research on things or have an adviser for the film, and I guess, yes, I am "ruined" for life! Am not going to be looking at things the same way ever again.

This is fascinating, Mustbnuts! I hope you continue to tell us about your Master Gardener classes.

Congratulations, Lola! Your entries were beautiful and clever.

The worms in their igloo at my house are up in arms ( ? ) at my lack of appreciation, and want directions to the worm lady's bathtub- it's a long crawl that might be through horseweed. I have to look that up.

Fisherwoman, she was the sweetest thing! She had prepared for the class so well. So gentle with everyone, especially her worms. She did indicate that the worms travel fast, so yours might get here before you know it! Tell them to look for the worm crossing signs so they don't get squished by traffic!

She also told us that the red wigglers do not get along with earthworms and white worms. If you mix them together, they will move away from each other and try to escape. They won't mate or do anything until they are separated again.

I would love to have worms but it is so hot and so cold here (no, I am not bringing them into the house!) plus I have no permanent shade in my yard. So I don't think they would like it that well. I could cover them up when it gets cold like I do my citrus but in the summer when it is 115 degrees F, they are not coming inside! I do put down worm castings from time to time and my understanding there are some eggs in that worm poop. My yard has lots of earth worms so I am not worried about adding any more, but the compost from the red wigglers would be lovely.

Speaking of covering up, we are going to be below freezing again for the next two nights. Sigh! Out comes the covers again for my citrus. I need to go and do that. I just hope it doesn't rain as the tarps that I cover them with will get very heavy from the water. I will see if I can put some stakes into the ground to help with the weight. Ugh! I am growing tired of covering and uncovering them every two days.

Mustbenuts, do keep us posted on your classes. They sound fascinating! Who knew so much about worm life before? I just knew they were good for the garden.

I feel cheated. My master gardener class didn't have a worm lady!

Oh, so sorry, Pork! She lectured that day along with the Compost Man. We were out in the Master Gardener garden of the sun and it was freezing! They treat us so well. There is always hot coffee, tea, water and something to eat at any of our classes.

One of the women in our group asked the Compost Man about cockroaches in her compost pile. His eyes totally lit up! He said, "That's GOOD !" We all looked at him like he was nuts! He stated they will help to break down the components of the compost and when it is done, they will leave. I stated, "I hope not to my house!"

He showed us how to build our compost bins for a few dollars and then stated he got his components for his compost bins at Orchard Supply. I do have to say that every time we talk about Orchard Supply Hardware--that just went out of business (bought by Lowe's and then Lowe's closed them--didn't like the competition), they all say, "Oh, I used to get that at Orchard Supply (or OSH) and then they all state, "Let's all have a moment of silence for OSH." We wait a few seconds, say a silent prayer and then continue with the lecture. We all miss OSH something fierce! I find it interesting that we were all at OSH weekly and none of us like Home Depot or Lowe's. I can't believe I never ran into folks there who are now in the program.

This week half of our class had to bring the food for the lecture (they always feed us so well!). One of the members of our group brought homemade ice cream he made from cream from his cows. Fresh butter-brickle and fresh strawberry with all the hot fudge sauce and trimmings! Can you tell I am enjoying my classes? Everyone said it was delicious. I wouldn't know--not eating sugar at the moment and am lactose intolerant.

We didn't get homemade ice cream either - chiz!

Ah, so sorry Pork!

No wonder the competition for your Master Gardener program is so stiff!

Buds and blooms today.
Mme Alfred Carriere
Belle Story
Ambridge
Windermere

Thank you, Lola. It's great that you included buds in each photo.

Lola, love seeing your beautiful roses. So nice to see blooms.

Today since it was a holiday, my sweetie and I went up into the foothills a bit. The amount of snow in the mountains is amazing! All of the grasses were green. No wildflowers yet unless you consider the mustard to be a wild flower (I consider it to be good eats!). Looking forward to the lupins and poppies. It is still cold (by our standards) and my bird baths and fountains continue to be frozen in the morning and they are not melted and flowing until after 10 am. I don't think I have ever seen the granite in the hills next to the road, so clean! Beautiful granite! Almonds, peaches and plums are in bloom. Blossom time is just gorgeous around here. Nice outing!

Oh, Lola, I ordered something from your part of the world that I have not eaten before. Kakadu plum powder, lemon myrtle powder and some wattle seed. Looking forward to making some Lemon myrtle chicken wings with it. The recipe sounded delicious!

Hey Mustbnuts - I am sooo happy that you are enjoying your Master Gardener class!! It sounds like you good a great group with you! And I love Hallmark movies too! I discovered them around Christmas and have been watching them ever since. I love that you're bringing your new knowledge to your world outside the classroom. So cool!! I had a vermiculture set-up here until our city started doing a green garbage collection. Here in zone 3, I would bring them into our insulated garage (water doesn't freeze in the garage) and I would put a sleeping bag over the top. They survived every year. I didn't like separating them from the soil when it was time to harvest. I'm glad it's done with. And every time I would open the bin, about a trillion fruit flies would escape into the yard. They would then follow me into the house if I went in right away. I did like feeding them though. You could put them in your garage in the summer. That would probably be cool enough. No...don't bring them into your house...it took me forever to get rid of the fruit flies....and I had them my the hundreds on my ceiling. Yuck!! Your

J - thanks for the pics!! I especially love your Intrigue with its healthy bud!

Lola - love the peachy colors!! Swoon!

The best I can come up with for a rose photo is this one I took this afternoon.



If you look very closely at the small green cane on the bottom right you can see a tiny, red leaf bud starting. No Idea of whether it will survive but it's trying! I'll take any signs of life I can get at this point.
This is in my leaf and burlap protected pot ghetto on the back of the house. South facing so it gets what ever sun there is and against the house where it does stay a little warmer. Other life signs in the garden today.

Yea, Seil! I see more than one bud on your roses. It is hard to remember in the throes of February that spring is around the corner. What are the bulbs that are coming up? Daffodils?

Carol, yes, I am enjoying my class immensely. I keep thinking about getting worms. Even in my garage, it is 104--105 degrees in there during the summer. Many people have ceiling fans in their garages here and I never understood why until my first summer here. Yikes! It is hot, hot, hot! Plus it just does not cool off that much at night.

I have been thinking about getting rid of my fig tree. I didn't get any figs on it last summer (the wild beasties here took care of that) and I cut it so far back this year, I know I won't get any figs on it again. When the arborist was here last week to give me an estimate on pruning my trees, he stated the space I have it in is really not big enough for a fig tree. I have been contemplating having them take it out (although the figs on it are absolutely delicious!) when they come next week to prune. I could build a little shelter there and have a worm condo in that area. Don't know if the local rats and squirrels might get into it and would have to check that out. Of course, I could cover the shelter with a climbing rose.......The possibilities are endless. Nothing like a fancy shelter for the worms! Now I am starting to sound like my instructor! I am trying to remember what our compost man said about the fruit flies--I think it needs more brown matter to get rid of them. I know he spoke of how to correct things if there were problems. Still putting on my thinking cap about this...

OK, double checked. It is vinegar flies that inhabit compost and vermiculture bins from time to time. Yes, brown material (shredded newspaper for example) can be used along with cutting the produce placed in the bin in smaller pieces as well as not keeping the compost super wet. It is good for me to double check on these things so when I work the hotline or the farmer's market or other events, and I am asked a question, I will know the answer.

I guess I have to go back to my reading on evaportranspiration (ET for short) and the correct depth for watering in the landscape. It is interesting how much water is lost from big trees due to evaportranspiration. I have procrastinated long enough.