The garden is growing out of control – I’ve obviously planted things a little too close. Next year I will definately have to increase the size – perhaps twice as wide and twice as long. I’ve been getting a number of seed catalogs in the mail so I will be looking forward to ordering exotic vegetables.
I tasted the firstfruits of my garden this week with a couple salads. It was quite tasty. Jane and Mark came over for dinner last night and we had carne asada. We’re going to Ben and Lis’ house tonight for some Brazilian food. We bought a new trash can today which was very exciting. We also bought a ladder in order to make our way into the attic. We’re having issues with the air conditioning these days which isn’t exactly ideal given the hot weather (only to be hotter in the near future). Hopefull we’ll be able to resolve this on our own.
We went to look at some landscaping rock today. It amounts to about $25 a ton and we’re looking to put about 4 ton in the back yard to border the grass. Yunuen re-painted the bedroom today.
Today was spent mostly outside sipping the cerveza in the hot sun while reading a book by John Owen. I did have a chance to weed the yard some, but the sun was pretty intense. Then I fell asleep on the couch for about 3 hours, so the day was well spent.
We made roast for dinner Thursday night. It was so good that I took a photo. Yunuen spent the day in Mexico and when she got home tonight we noticed the gardenias by the front door have blossomed pretty thoroughly.
Below is a picture of me and Warren Buffet (the legendary second richest man on the planet) at a work function a few months back.
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
–
We returned yesterday from Morelia in Michoacan – roughly a 27 hour drive each way. We went to visit Yunuen’s grandmother as she’s very sick. We left last Monday at midnight and drove it pretty much non-stop, though we did stop in Mazatlan for a break. The weather was very nice – probably in the high 90s the entire week with little humidity. We had a nice chance to spend time with Yun’s family and spent some time shopping in Patzcuaro a couple days where we got some nice dishes and various other things (like a very cool sombrero).
The garden was looking excellent when we returned and I was very excited about that. It appears that all of the vegetables have stabilized in their new environment. The lemon tree has about 40-50 buds on it now, so this is very promising. The guava tree too has grown over the weak and is looking really good with it’s new leaf.
Check out this video of a dog riding a bike:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6742988194956129075
The pictures at the bottom are from our trip. One is of the aqueduct in Morelia and the other is of a corn field in Sinaloa at 2:00 in the morning.
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.
my mom has given me a number of recipes of meals that I loved growing up and still love, despite my culinary ineptness. Tonight I am making mac and cheese which is super yummy. This is my 3rd time making it within the last few months and it’s better every time.
Yunuen and I just spent the last 6 hours digging up a nice hole in the backyard. We intend to fill this hole with compost mulch and steer manure (yum) and then plant 10-12 tomato plants. I have about 50 tomato plants started (3 varieties: early bird, roma, and cherry) from the seeds, so I’ll have to pick 10 lucky winners. I’ve also got about 20 zucchini plants started and intend to work on their space in the backyard as well. We have a really nice area with a brick enclosure for a flower garden too. I’m very excited about the free food.
