BrownThumb's Blog

BACK IN BLACK... and blue
Apr 29, 2008 | 12:41 AM PST
Tags: water barrel , rain chain , projects , procrastination

Holy cow, 21 days since last post?! That is crazy. I can't begin to name all the things I have worked on, started, worked at, planned, worked over, thought about, designed and piddled with. Notice how the word "finish" isn't really in that sentence?

Yes, I admit it. I am a starter, not a finisher. However, all phases of all of my projects are currently nearing various stages of being closer to being finished. Whew! That's a relief!

I have turned the compost heap 3 or 4 times, added manure, blended stinky veggies and fruit in my VitaMix, dumped coffee grounds, smasherated old oranges with a shovel, twisted it all in place with my $9 Tiller of Torquemada, soaked in many a hot tub, and eaten many an Ibuprofen (as if it were an M&M).

I have weeded, sweated, yanked, hacked, slashed, and resorted (in limited circumstance) to scorched earth policies! I have cajoled, scolded, deadheaded, laughed with - and laughed at - plants that have come under my care (the poor souls). I have apprehended chickweed with extreme prejudice, and scraped up old wood that gifted me some gooey stuff on my thumb that may, in fact, be extra-terrestrial in origin.

In short, I've been a little busy. But I've still been reading everyone's material and learning as I go. Pictures and writings will follow as soon as my hands resume their natural shape. Currently, they appear to be gripping an imaginary shovel.

Thanks goodness y'all continue to write and inform me. But do NOT - under any circumstance - give me any new ideas! I simply can't be trusted.

Although, as I think about it, water barrels and rain chains have captured my imagination all day... ruh roh.

Trowel on,

BT

Going Compost-al
Apr 7, 2008 | 6:17 PM PST
Tags: compost , Compost pile , garden tools/plants/seeds , knucklehead

Thanks to some help from the forums I am running two compost beds. I feel like I am well on my way to healthy dirt - Hopefully eating 30 bags of leaves per year instead of bagging and sending them to the landfill.

I can tell it is composting as I try to turn it with all the wrong tools. I have a sharpshooter shovel, a traditional shovel, and a right angle pitchfork. The sharpshooter is made for trenching. It turns out to be quite handy for digging a deep, narrow hole to dump more wets/greens down lower so that they don't smell. The right angle fork is semi-handy for rolling stuff around. But today I got a novel idea while in a Big Lots surplus/cheap-crap store. I was looking for a real pitchfork on the cheap. Alas, they had none.

Instead, I bought a $9 hand tiller which looks like a 4 ft tall T-handle (about 16 inches across the "T") with 5 spikes on the end in a semi-square pattern (picture the "5" side on a single dice (die?)). I jab that sucker as low as I can get and start twisting back and forth while applying pressure to sink it to the bottom. It rolls in oxygen and makes for a handy turn-in-place tool if you let it roll up 30 degrees - or even to the top of the pile as you keep twisting. This rolls more lateral material around instead of a straight vertical chute.

Disclaimer: This is not as easy as falling off a ladder. I've apparently got some masochistic tendencies as I opt for hand tools many times and I do not shy away from elbow grease. I'm one part stubborn, one part cheap, and 2 parts lazy desk marshmallow. I determined that extra sweat will probably be the only thing between me and a Cheetoh-lined early grave. At least that is how I enable my inner cheapskate. We're codependent in the same body.

I will post pictures at some point of the tool in action.

Trowel on,

BrownThumb

Babies on the way! (photo finally)
Apr 4, 2008 | 2:42 PM PST
Tags: pomegranate , bloom , spring

I just got some manure top dressing down before last nights gentle rain! Gentle rain is really cool, because here in Texas it usually is either bone dry or knee deep.
I went out this morning to pull a few weeds and inspect the manure soaking (yes, that is what I call excitement these days). I was all hunched down there yanking out tiny weeds, and stood up too close to the tree. I bumped a limb and received a nice dose of raindrops down the back of my shirt. After doing a little jig and sneaking a peek to see if any of my neighbors saw that ( Whew!),  I turned my gaze towards the limb all prepared to give it a stern talking to. But I stopped in my tracks...

Well, lookie here!

I have counted about 10 blooms so far. They turn into fruits as the flower is pushed off. They will be ripe in late October.

 

and the mama tree (My 4th season with this pom - I am guessing it is 6 yrs total(?)):