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May, 12th - 20th 2019





I got a few apples on my Columnar apple trees. The aphids destroyed the top 4" of this branch so I just cut it off.

Worked on the lighting, added a few more pathway lights and installed 20 watt (2.4 watt) Led bulbs on all the pathway lights and one of the hugelkultur beds.



Since all my cantaloupe and all but one of my Butternut squash died, I planted some seeds a few weeks ago, still nothing. So I picked up some more seeds and planted again...heavily!


Planted the rest of my Marigolds all over the place.



The peppers finally started growing a bit, the tomato plants are doing great and eggplants are holding their own.
I installed my Bug Hotel on the back fence it was a Christmas Gift from Amanda and had to laugh because there was already a mason bee visiting the hotel.

Changed up a few things this weekend, Laura and Amanda really wanted some Hydrangeas they saw at Sams club, three to be exact, so I compromised on two, However there were none to be found, then I remember seeing hydrangeas in Lowes earlier in the morning, so we headed to Lowes and picked up two hydrangeas. I moved my leeks out of the leek pot, replaced the planter then I removed the peppers and okra out of the other planter. Whats sad is these plants are sterile and not good for beneficial insects.

Chopped down my Kale tree in the Hugelkultur bed by the pond.

We stopped at Lecks nursery and picked up our usual sunpatients some Gerber Daisies and I grabbed some Lemon Thyme for the herb garden and a few cucumber plants for my mom, we also picked up a few sunpatients for the next door neighbor and we got them all in Saturday.

We put a sunpatient in the upper veggie filter, I usually put in three sunpatients in clay pots, this year I decided on Cali lilies that I pulled from out front, some marigolds and the one sunpatient, I'm also testing out Grow Bags as opposed to the clay pots, they're easier to store and don't break, lol. All of the potted plants in the veggie filters have a heavy mix of Bi-char mixed in them.

After all the flowers were in I added a bit of Osmocote to the flowers and planters.

I was preparing to spray some of the plants with an insecticidal soap because the Aphids are out of control.
After closer inspection I noticed a lot of Hover flies, a parisitized aphid and a lady bug so I opted for a manual removal and will try to wait it out.

My King Stropharia spawn exploded.

Of course I had to eat one!

My choke berry, Pomegranate and Gogi berry plants arrived, I potted them up and will give them a week or two before planting.

The red maple to the left is about 3 years old, it was a start from my now gone red maple out front. I have been keeping it for my neighbor, but I don't think he will ever pick it up.

May, 21st, 2019

Cleaned the pond filter and skimmer and replaced a pump that feeds the upper veggie filter.


I finally turned on the drip lines, I have them on for 3 hours every 3 days, I'll be bumping that up to 4 days once my pepper plants take hold. The drip lines are 1/2 GPH @ 12" spacing.
The watering needs of the the entire garden using just the rain barrel got to be too time consuming, I'll still supplement the watering with the rain barrel, I have a few areas that dry out quicker than my beds.



I was going a bit nuts trying to figure out why most of the drip lines weren't working, I forgot that I had installed a union in the center low point of the main line for winterizing and neglected to reconnect it, also the feed for the planters on the deck weren't working, I must have plugged that line up last year, DOH!



I have the front yard drip lines on for 30 minutes each day and will bump that up to an hour every other day once the flowers get established, then hopefully an hour every third day.