Tag: garden

The plant experiment

I took two cuttings from the same branch, put them in identical soil and pots, each with a copper antenna. The only difference was that one antenna was wound clockwise, and one counterclockwise.

Several days later, nothing but the stalk remains of one. No signs of the leaves, snail trails — nothing.

Why would something eat one cutting but not the other?

Nor touch the three cuttings from the same bush right next to it?

I will definitely have to repeat this experiment.

Old seeds

Those white envelopes contained save seeds from before the plandemic, for a cancelled seed exchange. Last spring I got a germination rate of about zero. So into a big glass they went, down to the corner lot, and scattered there. Bird food, I guess.

Debugging

No, not tech. Clearing out the under-counter corner cabinet, we found all sorts of critters infesting bags put away with just a rubber band, plus an unopened infested bag of Quaker Oats and bulgur wheat from (not the first time!) La Abundancia.

Hot hot hot

Yes, they actually sell a container for freezing lemon wedges. Perfect for my first harvest of hot chili peppers, segregated pending an expert opinion regarding the heat of each. One “wedge” of yellow is probably about right for one batch of salsa méxicana, but red and green/black? Ya veremos.

Re-purposing gutters

Long ago, somebody gave me a couple of pieces of plastic gutter. Then at a job I supervised, a delivery included excess downspout. So I bought a few more pieces and put a gutter on our barbacoa.

The problem is, I didn’t do a very good job and the fascia board was not in good shape.

As you can see.

I had another long, narrow board left over from a remodel, so I installed it. I have enough of the originals to rip a piece to fit the gap. The fascia boards should cover the rafter ends, but hey: not perfect, but not bad.

One of today’s projects was reinstalling the cutter as a planter. The 2% grade is probably overkill, but the way I’ve installed it with wire, that is easily adjustable. Note how the downspout is cut perfectly to rest on the tile zócalo. I did not cut any pipe. That just happened.

My gardening

The patio where I try to grow things in containers.

The side of the house, which an amazing squash plant has made impassible.

One of the avocado trees I planted 12 years ago. The other is on track to produce only a handful this year.

It is the other tree that has produced monsters in years past.

Palta harvesting

Our avocado harvests are always a crapshoot. One year, both trees producing; one year nothing; and this year one producing and one not. This year’s relative paucity has not diminished the appetite of the birds. Before mowing the lawn, I picked up the remains of 19 paltas, probably 10 kilos worth originally.

Two days later, there’s this on the ground. It would have weighed 600-800 grams before the critters.