General Discussions - 2012 - Chapter 38

That's Braveheart. I couldn't resist capturing that moment. I added the cans, milk carton, and shelves (with Corel) to the original with him just on the bed. He's a sweet kitty.

Wish I could do things like that with my puter .

We could learn Sally if we had the patience. :0)

Yes, it does take patience. All you do is place the picture on top of the original, wherever you want it to be, and use a transparency tool on the edges.

My major gardening project for today (still don't have the u bolts for the greenhouse. Manana, perhaps) is the Three Sisters bale. It was pretty heavy so I put it on an old bedspread that I use to haul stuff around the yard, and dragged the cooked bale over to the driveway. I'm hoping the corn, squash, and pole beans will provide not only food, but some privacy in the front yard area. The lilac bush hedge behind the bale is about 12' tall now, so that side's pretty private, but needed something on the north side of the yard. I'm assuming a lot, lol, that it will grow like gangbusters. I hope so. I stuck a spindly watermelon I had in the hothouse, in hopes that it will do better in the bale. If not, oh well... It was a wrestling match to get that heavy little bugger up onto a gravel filled metal box. I put some of those beans in another bale and it took quite a while for them to germinate (probably the cool nights here), so hope they come up. The corn is the Smoke Signals multicolored kernels. Hope it makes... so much GMO corn out there that I don't eat corn anymore, so I'm sure hoping to get some of the heirloom to produce. (Mind wandering to boiled corn slathered in butter).

I love sweet corn out in the field right off the cob , raw . So sweet !

One of our legislators introduced a bill to make the vendors that sell the seeds put on the packets if they are GMO seeds. I don't know if it passed.

I am not going to mention any names but one of us asked Totally Tomatoes if their seeds were GMOs and they said "NO" that none of theirs were. OK, but if you google the company, TT is owned by Monsanto????

How big a community do you live in Solace? I think if I wanted privacy I would plant something more permanent than a bale of vegetables. Do you have a problem with your neighbors?

I have had to replant my cukes 3 times now. First the hail killed them, then the cat used it, they are in 3 gallon buckets, for a litter box. It may be too late to get any cucumbers from them. Others I have talked to replanted their corn, and someone else had to replant their beans. Oh well. I found a way I think to keep the cat out of my plants.

She was using my houseplants for a litter box so I got some cotton balls and put hand lotion on them and put several in the plants. No problem since. The reason I did that is because when the cat wanted to sit on my lap and she smelled the lotion on me, she turned up her nose and left. I just put a dab on each cotton ball. Seems to work so far. I am wondering if it would work for those moles out there that took all my garlic. Cleaned them out.

This is a small community 2200 +/- and I plan to plant fruit trees near the property line this fall, Lord willing. They're not bad neighbors, but they are a little nosy. They're renting the house next door and I'd just like a little more privacy, even if it's temporary, especially in the summer when I'm outside more. Winter's not a big problem, I stay inside most of the time, since it's so cold here.

Cats hate Vick's vaporub, too. :)

I spent a month camped out on the Arkansas river around Salida , and up at Fairplay last year . Came through Monte Vista on way back to Texas ,actually I was through there a year ago today. Wish I had known you then , we could have had a cup of coffee together .A couple of D G ers from Iowa joined us for a coupla weeks with their camper. Speaking of cold , it sleeted on us up in Fairplay , in July .
You have some serious ranches north of you up 285 . Are you in the apple growing area ? Seems like when I was through there years ago that some nice apple orchards were to the east and north a bit of you . Colorado is my favorite state , my son bow hunts elk on private property in the San Juan N F a little north of Durango and his F in law has a condo in Pagosa Springs . They just got back from a visit with him a few weeks ago .
Maybe your neighbors just like you .

Solace: welcome Aboard! Keep up the good work.

All: been on vacation. Very limited computer time. Everyone's doing a great job it appears!

Kent

How did your garden look when you got back from vacation Kent? Do you have someone to water?

Good you can get away.

Kent , Where did you go and what did you see ? Post pictures , share with us that didn't get away this year .

Digger, wow, wish we could have met then. Salida area is beautiful. Did you do any rafting on the Arkansas? I'm not sure where those apple orchards you remember are, though there are some in the southeastern part of the Valley. Saguache county farms/ranches are beautiful. Nice alfalfa/hay farms, potatoes, barley, up there. There's lots of artesian water, too, but gov regulations made everyone cap the artesian wells because one of the former governors sold much of our water rights. The artesian wells used to gush up in the air all the time, and in the winter time the water would freeze into various shapes, it was beautiful. I cannot help but wonder how capping those is doing harm, substrata-wise, since this was a natural God-made occurrence, nor how it affects the wetlands area. I guess time will tell. I think common sense is becoming a valuable commodity, since it's so rare in some circles. I moved up here when I was a teenager, to the eastern side of the Valley. My folks met a guy that painted the San Luis Valley as a heaven on earth so they sold their business in southern New Mexico, and moved up here, sight unseen. They found an old adobe that had been built by a Japanese family years before, but the house was in shambles and unlivable. Undeterred, my parents, instead of seeing what it was, saw what it could be. We lived that first winter, without a bathroom (we had an outhouse in an age where virtually nobody had outhouses). The house had a hand pump on the well, but it had electricity, so we'd haul water inside in 5 gallon buckets. My dad was a plumber, so the next summer, we built a bathroom and had running water in the house. The place was on a creek, and the overflow wash made a great garden area, we had chickens, turkeys, goats, and even pigs. My mom was a seamstress, and so was I at sixteen, and she opened an upholstery shop and we stayed busy virtually all year. I learned a lot on that little farm. I left home to go to school, and came back to the Valley after about 22 years.
Next time you're up this way just let me know, and we'll do something!

Kent: Thank you, it's nice to be among friends. Glad you're back.

Jnette, what a great idea with the cotton balls. I have cats, and would like to let one or more go to the greenhouse, once it's built, but worried that they would mess up the beds. Thank you for that tip! I have some raunchy smelling muscle linament that might work, too. Heck, it might even chase some bugs away, lol.

Last night I watched several of these videos from Colorado State University Extension, regarding commercial greenhouse production, just to see how the big boys do it. Some very interesting information, here. http://campus.extension.org/course/view.php?id=424 - I felt like I was back in college :)

Solace, another DGer suggested Vicks. Yuck!! Even I would stay away from that. :0)

I think I would go with the hand lotion if it worked.

I had saved some Hollyhock seeds from a flower bed back in 2004 or 2005 as well as some tall purple bell shaped flower seeds, and tried germinating some of the Hollyhock. Lo and behold they came up. This morning I got the paper bags of seed pods of both plants and broke the seeds out. I think I have enough seeds to cover the whole county! (Well, not quite that many but probably over 2,000). I figure if only 30% come up that will still be a lot of flowers next spring. I'm trying to decide whether to go ahead and start them, to give them a head start (since the Hollyhocks are bi-ennials and the purple ones are perrenials) or either wait until next May or June to plant them in the ground or start them in the greenhouse and transplant next year. They would take up a lot of room, though, which I hope to fill with vegetables. I welcome your thoughts on this, or experience and suggestions. The photo is the purple bell shaped flowers, not sure what they are. They came up volunteers and filled the bed.

Solace , I fell in love with Colorado on my first trip over Monarch Pass when they had the snow sheds . D H was transporting a mobile home to California and I went on all trips as sightseer and bookkeeper . I've seen all the states except three and Colorado has everything somewhere within it's boundaries that I feel close to . At one time , I wanted to be buried on the hillside above the snow sheds . Then I discovered the mountains into Estes park and on to Steamboat Springs. Hwy 14 was as close to God as I have ever been . Been both ways and it took my breath , the beauty .
Those farms and ranches area above you would have suited me when I was a young , new wife .
Didn't do any rafting , we went to dredge the Arkansas for gold . Water was too high , but enjoyed good friends and just being outside anyway . The Arkansas has very small gold , but lots of it, and the whole state has some good areas . That reminds me , I have to renew the membership to Gold Prospectors of Colorado , a very upstanding club .

Digger: actually it was a "staycation"! :-)

I stayed home while missus and 17 yr old daughter took trip to PA and NY.

Got 1,247 items done on the "honey-do" list!!

Kent

Solace have you googled Hollyhocks? Without really being that knowledgeable about them, I think you should winter sow them. i.e. sow them in late fall for next summer. And you might go ahead and start some in the spring in case they don't come up. That way you should have a nice bed of them. And, probably do the same with the others. Blue bell type.

Yes , Kent , buuut, did it all pass inspection ? Just teasing .

-Digger, gold prospecting sounds fun.
-Jnette, thanks, I may just sow them this fall and see what happens.

Okay, friends, I took a stroll through the garden this afternoon, and there's green-bean-lift-off in the (Reid's Yellow Dent) corn bales! Yay! Just barely, but Yay! I have a feeling, as late in the season as it is, those bales are gonna get dragged into the greenhouse. :) It obviously doesn't take much to make me happy, does it? LOL

digger: everything passed!! I cleaned up the whole house, ate over the sink! LOL

Kent , your folks did a good job on you . Consideration of others is a great asset . But I should have known that .

I have green chile (Anaheim) LIFTOFF in the south row of bales. Hot diggity chiles. I think there's a green chile smothered burrito in my future! Well, after I share the "first fruits" with others. So excited about my baby chiles. :)

Tried to find roasted chilies last year when we went on down through N. M.late July . They weren't anywhere on the side of the road . Found out I could have gotten them in Santa Fe. We didn't drive around and look cuz we was pulling a popup trailer .
It's hard to cook anything with out them and I hate to buy the canned ones .

digger, I got mine from Hatch on line. If you are interested, I might have their website addy in my bookmarks. Think the least you can buy is 10 lbs, possibly 5.

Thanks , Jnette , but not the same as buying hot off the roaster . I've looked at some of the sites including Hatch and they cost ten times as much .I found four packages in the freezer . I'll just be stingy with them .

digger: I saw you mentioned rooting suckers? I was always told to pinch them off.. I let a couple grow this year & got some decent tomatoes off them.. not quite as good as the ones on the main plant but ok.. What am I missing? Always looking for ways to use instead of throwing away or composting...

Kent, you were right.. the tomatoes are growing up over the 6ft fencing! LOL!! All the rain we have gotten and it goes right around us here in Warrenton.. Only rains maybe once or twice a month but I have hardly ever had to water, these bales hold moisture so well!! Fighting squash bugs but still getting lots of squash.. Tomatoes are big, beautiful and plentiful.. Cucumbers are doing good, beans.. eh.. not sure what's going on there.. got lots of plants and they look pretty but no beans.. I mistakenly planted a vine bean I guess cuz they are everywhere...lol.. Averaging about 3 eggs a day now.. :-)

Sounds like you are doing alright Gmjax. Actually, real good. Have you fertilized your beans? I have never grown them, but you might check into that. Wonder about a high P as in NPK. Maybe that would produce something. I think you said you are getting vines but no beans?

Maybe someone who has grown them will get on here and tell you. Do you have rabbits? I always swore by rabbit manure. Best fertilizer ever. I just don't have any.

Jax , all suckers will make another plant .
To prune or not ? Prune , bigger toms , and not to prune , more toms, but smaller . Personally , I like to prune , If early enough , more plants , free .
Next year , don't prune one plant and see what I'm talking about .Just make sure you compare it to like varieties .

I agree with the rabbit manure being great for beans. I think pole bean takes a little longer to mature, but that has just been my own experience. But this year with our drought here, my bush beans didn't do well either. I wasn't able to get any bales this year though so that is probably a big factor, I had a health problem to deal with as well and was practicly house bound from March to June. so didn't take very good care of my garden either. Had big plans, but ! Oh well maybe next year.
Was also going to raise chickens and sell eggs this winter but raccoons hit my flock just when they were starting to lay and all in all they got 16. It's not like I can just order more and replace them as the replacements would be months behind and new chicks with older pullets might not mix well either. I did go to war with the raccoons. Found that regular traps didn't work. They would snap the traps and go about their business. A light weight live trap was in-effective as they got back out. So I splurged and got a heavier live trap. It took a couple different nights but I caught the coons, They will not steal anymore chickens. I'm getting 7 to 12 eggs per day now and they are starting to get good size to them.
But with only about half enough laying hens. I might as well make a bunch of chicken dinners. and just keep enough to supply our house.
I am hoping for a better time next year, for gardening and everything in general.
An hey Sally; I wouldn't mind going prospecting again but I don't think Barb is up to it. But who knows what next year will bring.

That's us Russ , don't know what next year will be . Haven't even gotten my feet wet this year . Love to all , hug Barb .

I have an 8-inch Okra plant that has its first bloom. Hey, I reserve the right to be proud, lol. I'll try to get a pic if the spider mites don't do it in, first. I love Okra blossoms, they're so beautiful. This one is tiny like the plant.

Solace, I have tried red okras just for the blossoms and have never gotten any to that stage so you are doing great.

Russ, You know you and Barb will not use a dozen eggs a day, can you sell a couple or 3 dozen to Gary each week? Might pay for the food they eat. But, may not be worth your trouble. Is Jenny laying? If so, you better keep her. She looked like a good layer or maybe even a hefty dinner. OHHHHHH did I say that? Do what you need to.

Oh, Jnette, I bought 24 hens last April, gave six to my daughter and her husband. I noticed that three of the barred rocks that I kept were getting unusually large combs. Well, now two of the "hens" are crowing in the morning. I've named the best crower Winchester, the one with the broken crow I think's going to be Don Knotts, and the third one just preens himself while the other roosters...ahem...hens are crowing. I don't think I can give them up, I've already gotten attached. Sigh. When they look at me with that one eye...

Well Solace, everyone has different issues. Russ has been around a lot longer than you have and he does not become attached to all the birds like you are doing. I guess, when you get older you are "more practical"? LOL, sorry Russ,

It is tough when you have to make a choice between a few chickens to winter over when they aren't producing and all they are doing is eating expensive food, and you have to go out in the snow when you really shouldn't be, to take care of them. Water iced over, fighting the raccoons off, etc.

You don't have to make any big decisions now do you Russ, you have the rest of the summer, or at least until the food runs out. :0)

Jeanette; I don't know which ones of the red sex-links ie' comets are laying, so I can't say that jenny is laying or not. but she did manage to survive all the attacks of the raccoons. I have now been getting 2 eggs a day from the 11 of those red chickens. The Barred rocks is anywhere from 7 to 10 eggs per day and there are only 10 of those.
I can't say I'm not attached 100% anyway as I would miss " their attachment" When I take old bread out to them. I usually sit on the feeder and they eat out of my hand. some of them jump up on my lap while eating, so they are pretty much pets too. If they weren't in the chicken tractor, they would probably follow me around.
Solace; If it weren't so far I would almost try trade you out of one of the roosters. But as Jeanette said, I don't need that many eggs and I should probably just cut back. I do like to get away once in a while. and that trip to Colorado, most probably would not have happened if we had, had the chickens at that time. I am giving some serious thought to getting a part time job, to help make ends meet and cut out some of the gardening and the chickens.

I am happy that those 2 raccoons will no longer be a problem but they already had cut my flock, nearly in half, so that has given me much discouragement.

That's very sad about the loss of your chickens. Predators here are owls, eagles, hawks, stray dogs and cats, and coyotes. So far, I've not had a problem. They're pretty caged in a pen, but I'd like to let them roam all over the yard. An Owl got my cat a couple of years ago, so I'd have to put some kind of covering out there. Chicken wire or something. Right now they're in an 8 x 16 covered area, but they're eyeballing the top rails and spreading their wings. They get lots of greenery thrown in the pen along with scratch and pellets. I'm sure there are racoons nearer the river (Rio Grande) but that's a couple of miles away. The third rooster (no name as yet) I think crowed for the first time, today. That would sure hurt to get them killed by something. So sorry for your loss.