Garden – Marked Up

First Strawberry

Of course it’s the first blossom, not the first strawberry. It’s still mid-April. That’s one that escaped the original bed. I hope to have this bed filled with them by fall, but for now it’s mostly peas.

Predator in the Garden

It’s not my first rodeo. The plastic containers on the left don’t have anything planted in them. They are there to give the cat something to knock over. The rightmost two columns are both peppers (Thai Hot and Poblano). I’m hoping they just have a longer germination time. The seed is quite old (at leastContinue reading “Predator in the Garden”

Garden Started

I planted seeds, yesterday/Sunday. Inside, of course. It’s 20 degrees with snow on the ground, outside. Adventure Cat refuses to go out. I’m surprised at how little I start inside. Peppers, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, and broccoli are pretty much it. Everything else (squash, melons, cucumbers, corn, peas, and beans) starts outside. I have herbs growingContinue reading “Garden Started”

The Cactus of Theseus

The picture is of the Christmas Cactus that was abandoned here when we bought the house. It’s obviously doing well. One could say “in the pink of health” even, if one were Dad-Joke inclined. That’s the Cactus of Theseus. It’s a clone of a Christmas Cactus that goes back at least to my grandmother, ifContinue reading “The Cactus of Theseus”

I Can Has Grasses!

I gave up waiting for the second floor deck and had the back yard regraded and sodded. The brownish patches are all weeds. So are most of the green patches. The tree died this year. I liked it (it looked like the Kindle tree), but dead, so gone. The area is a bit sloped. TheContinue reading “I Can Has Grasses!”

Brassicacearum Papilionoideae

Normal people call them cabbage butterflies. I don’t know if that’s their Latin name, but “brassicaceae” is right because they don’t just attack cabbage but also cabbage relatives (broccoli and brussel sprouts, in my case). In Denver, I threw in the towel and just didn’t plant any after two summers of hosting larvae farms. Here,Continue reading “Brassicacearum Papilionoideae”

Learning 2 Bake from Scratch LXVII

Strawberry Pound Cake I don’t really like shortcake and I wanted something with the new strawberries. Pound cake is fairly simple. I chose the Preppy Kitchen The Best Pound Cake recipe because it has sour cream in it, which seemed novel. It’s not bad. It’s a bit grainy and dry – for pound cake. ForContinue reading “Learning 2 Bake from Scratch LXVII”

Plant Me!

The bare root asparagus plants (asparagi?) looked sad and I’ve had bad luck planting asparagus in the past. So, I thought to myself, I thought, “why not put them in water?”. This is the result. Apparently, one can grow asparagus inside, but it feels as if it really wants to be planted. I just needContinue reading “Plant Me!”

I’m Sure It’s Fine

Clearly, I am not the first to walk around this gate, which is obviously there to stop vehicular, not pedestrian, traffic. I’m sure it’s fine. Why am I walking around this gate? To get pine needles from under the trees down the path. Why do I want pine needles? Because they make great mulch forContinue reading “I’m Sure It’s Fine”

Order Size and Contract Size

When one places an order on a futures contract, one must specify how many are desired. For example, I would like to buy two September Corn contracts. Each contract has a size. For corn, that is 5,000 bushels (which are now units of weight, not volume, btw). The local greenhouse had single, large strawberry plantsContinue reading “Order Size and Contract Size”