Muchacho Polaco

prior to flooding the garden, the lettuce, like most of the vegetables, was brown and dead looking. Today, things are looking much healthier. I don’t know what the proper watering rate is, but it seems the more I water the plants, the better they do. I sprayed weed killer on the weeds this week under the promise that they would be eradicated in 24hours – well, 48 hours later and the yard looks no different. What’s up with that?

The starter on my truck is still dead – so I will probably take it to Mexico this weekend for a fix. The OEM starter goes for $240 at the dealership, but I found one on ebay for $54. I’m hoping I can find someone to install it for around $30 as Im unable to do it myself. It appears the exhaust manifold needs to be removed to get the starter out, but the bolts on the manifold are on so tight that it will take an air gun to loosen them (all the more reason why we should have one of these). We’re still hoping Yunuen’s uncle will be able to tile our house sometime soon.

Below are pictures of 1. the romaine, 2. lemon tree flower, 3. golden boy tomato coming in, 4. garden

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Despite my attempts to destroy my garden, the tomatoes continue to grow. Perhaps I have stumbled upon a horticultural secret: mass flooding for optimal growth. I suppose we’ll know soon enough the severity of the damage, but for the time being, it appears all is normal. The beans are not doing as well as I had hoped and it appears I need to find something for them to grow on. I was considering using one of the metal cages I’ve used for the tomatoes, though I’ll wait another week to determine if the beans will make it. One of the lettuce plants is clearly dead, but the other two actually appear to be doing better today than they have the last week. The back yard is full of weeds, so I will probably spend some time working on that today. Weed killer isn’t that cheap and I wonder how effective it would be. Yunuen purchased some total vegetation killer last week, but I suspect this would be less than ideal for the grass. I’ve throttled my irrigation ambitions as a trip to Lowes today only complicated matters. I suspect it will probably be best to leave it to the professionals when it comes to installing a sprinkler system in the yard, though I may continue on with the underground system to the garden and plants in the backyard. Experimentation can be so costly. Other good news is that the guava tree is starting to grow green leaves again. I was pretty sure I had killed it earlier this year when I wrapped it in black plastic overnight to protect it from the cold. Apparently that’s not the appropriate manner to protect young trees and all the leaves that had formed to that point turned brown and fell off. Additionally, the lemon tree has it’s first blossom! We may very well have some lemonaid from the backyard this year! I have yet to plant the 3rd citrus and we’re not sure if it will be an orange or a grapefruit.

as I was watering the yard today, I accidentally turned on the hose to the garden and then moved on to read a book. About an hour later I noticed what I had done, possible vegicide. I’m hoping the water will drain, especially in light of the tomato plants beginning to produce tomatoes.

On a better note, I have a roast in the oven that had been cooking all day. Dinner will rock tonight. Weekend plans include; installing new lights in the entry way, office, and living room. I have yet to complete the irrigation system in the back yard. I installed a new thermostat last weekend, but have yet to get it to work. And then of course we have some touch up painting to complete in the bedroom. When two perpendicular walls are different colors, it’s hard to get a straight line.

I installed a watering system in the garden after work this afternoon. I spoke with a neighbor that does underground irrigation and claims we could have a complete system in the backyard for around $700. That, coupled with a timer, would make the backyard fairly low maitenance. The grass is turning fairly green, but their are a lot of weeds and dry spots that need work. The tomatos are coming along just nicely, I have 4 plants thus far – sweet 100 cherry, yellow pear, early girl, and husky cherry. I also have two bell peppers, a yellow and a green. Yunuen and I will go to Lowe’s tomorrow to find some more things to add. I also purchased a blower today which is very exciting. Now our yard will look a lot cleaner.