Wait, Project Started AND Finished

Well with the trailer, various house projects, garden, and a baby, we have more than a few unfinished projects around the house. One of the projects is to get the side deck usable for coffee, reading, etc. Earlier this spring I planted some night blooming Jasmine (don't ask me why), and it was really in need of transplanting. That was motivation to build a screen/trellis to provide some privacy. The back planter will get one as well to block the air conditioner. Sam is refinishing the chairs and sewing some covers. The table will also get a new top.

The boards are offset opposite front to back so we can thread the Jasmine up as needed. I'm surprised, these were only in 4 inch pots to begin with and they got quite large. Given some space, they should cover the screen by the end of the season.  

Shastoration Thursday - Mood Lighting

The electrical wiring on the trailer is in full swing. Most of it is probably pretty boring unless you are an electrical engineer or need to ride out the zombie apocalypse. One thing important in the apocalypse is to have low draw, dimming lights. I mounted remote controlled LEDs at the very bottom of the benches. When they are off you can hardly tell anything is there. There are pretty cool and can do a full range of colors and brightness. At night it will be nice to turn the lights down and relax.

 

 Or you can do a disco dance party with flashing lights.

 

The benches have been trimmed in 1/2 inch aluminum angle.

And wiring continues.

Wednesday

A not-so wordless Wednesday post.

Trailer is moving towards the finish. Electrical has started in earnest.

 The garden is in full swing. The tomatoes and peppers are loaded.

 Winston is getting big and mobile.



Mid-Summer Updates

Hard to believe that next week is fourth of July and the summer is half over. It has been a busy summer so far and seems like we haven't spent any time at home.

We took at trip to Alaska and spent some time at Denali national park. The snow was just melting and temperatures were mild.

This is a view from the cabin we stayed at.

Winston went for his first snowmobile ride. 

 

He was a pretty good sport and just hung out for hiking. Everything was brown when we got there and green when we left a week later.

 

We took nature cruise to Kenai Fjords national park, saw a glacier, and lots of humpback whales.

The tiki party was a big hit with Park Ranger playing the back patio. 

 We also attended a 60th anniversary party for Sam's grandparents in Wisconsin. Winston got to play with all the cousins.

The garden is is full swing. With the rather cool and wet spring moving into hot weather, the tomatoes and peppers are very happy. 

 

I harvested some of the garlic this weekend. If there is one thing we can grow it is garlic. This is a new type called Spanish Rojas that produced some giant heads with just regular looking leaves.

 

The wildflowers are in full bloom. Last year we had lots of bees, although about a month later, but I haven't seen many so far. 

Father's day consisted of bacon, the zoo, and gin and tonics. I would say it was very successful. The KC zoo has two baby orangutans. Winston pretty much just watched the other kids and ignored the animals. 

 Oh yeah, we still have a trailer. It is finally into the wiring stage. The revised plan is to try and get it skinned before snow.

Early May Garden Tour

This week we have hit 80 degrees a few times. The garden is in small but full swing. I ran out this evening to get some pictures, oh yeah it is snowing. Well as you can see the tomatoes are growing big under their buckets. Thank god the cucumbers are still inside.

Garlic is looking healthy. If we can grow anything it is garlic. I planted these in October and even with the cold snowy winter, they look great. 

We also have lettuce dialed in. Lettuce has been producing for about a month. Here is a shot of the lettuce under the hoop house in the snow. I cut everything completely back on Sunday. Four days later we are back in business. I have three lettuce varieties that really work, parris island cos which is an heirloom romaine, rouge d'hiver which is a red romaine lettuce, and black seeded simpson which is a good general purpose lettuce. I also started spinach inside and those add nicely to the flavor. 

Anybody There?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, not much going on here. Spring has sprung and the yard is starting to look green. Garden preparations are well underway and the garage and hoop houses are full of seedlings. It has been cold and snowy so not much has happened with house projects. It also seems that any intention I have of working on the trailer is foiled by a growing little boy and his refusal to sleep or let mom have any sleep. Even so, there has been a tiny bit of progress lately.

The upper cabinets are hung. I took the afternoon off on my birthday and hung cabinets. Funny what passes for relaxing activities these days. This cabinet over the kitchen counter will have sliding doors.

 

The other cabinet over the curb side bench will have a top hinged door. This upper cabinet will hold the stereo.

The bench framing has been completed. These will have hinged tops for storage and be skinned with walnut plywood too. The other recentish activities have included installing the shelf framing in the closet.  

As I have been saying for months now, I'm a few hours of work away from starting electrical. 

Spring is Here, Let's Get Planting

After the big snows last week, we finally have gotten a break. Yesterday we hit 60s with some decent rain and it really smelled like spring. The vast majority of the snow is gone and with all the rain and upcoming warm weather, I'm sure the trees will start budding out soon.

I have been diligent in seed starting with lots of lettuce and spinach planted in early February. Fortunately, first of March meant the bulk of the seed starting. I have all the tried and true varieties and a whole bunch of new things to try. I have started far more tomato types than we even have space for, oh well. If they take, I will be a good person to know come the first part of May. Everything this year is being first sprouted in a damp paper towel in the furnace room and transplanted into soil blocks in the garage. The majority of my seeds come from Baker Creek seeds in Mansfield, MO. They are close to us and their seeds do very well in Kansas City. The other seed houses I have are Jung and Pinetree seeds. I really, really like the Jung little leaf cucumber and Pinetree's spinach has germination rates much higher than anything else I have tried.

 

 This is the improved seed starting setup. I bought the taller covers so I can keep the humidity up much longer than the old short versions, as the plants get bigger. Previously when the seeds outgrew the short covers, they got cold, dried out, and really didn't do well. The tall covers are the way to go. Last year I cut an old blanket to hang around them to keep the temperature up. It gets held up with Velcro on the underside of the cabinets. This year I glued aluminum foil to the inside for improved reflectivity. Maybe it is the placebo effect, but the plants really took off after the foil installation. A couple of these have seed heating mats underneath. I moved offices recently from one with southern exposure to one with eastern exposure. To compensate I bought a 2ft 4 tube t5 grow light. It just got installed and is really bright. I moved all of the citrus, bonsais, and random vegetables to my office. If they take off I can see getting a 4ft T5 setup for the garage next year. Yeah, I'm the weirdo with a grow light in my office.

 

Saturday I spent a good portion of the morning working in the garden. The worms were up at the top and the robins weren't far behind. The far hoop house has some left over lettuce and kale from last fall. It will shortly be planted with peas. I had a research project with the lightweight aggregate association send some wrong material recently. I can't use that material for research so I am amending all the beds with expanded shale aggregate. It holds moisture well and keeps the soil loose. Sometimes it is handy to work with the aggregate companies on research.

 

This bed will the the lettuce bed for the year, or at least until it gets hot. I planted month old starts of spinach (space F1), leaf lettuce (rocky top), and head lettuce (parris island cos romaine) this weekend. There are more started in the garage for staggered planting in a month. The black milk jugs are filled with water to help store some heat. Afterward it was buttoned up with six mil poly and spring clamps. I have to say the cheap PVC hoop houses with plastic and clamps really do a nice job. They don't cost anything to build and the plastic lasts a couple years. I just stick the PVC into the ground so it is easily moved.

For dinner tonight we had 50 clove mushrooms and pork tenderloin in the slow cooker with kale from the garden. The young, early growth kale was wonderful. It was probably the best kale I have ever eaten and would be on the menu 3 times a week if it stayed that good. Next fall/winter I will probably plant an entire kale bed just for a couple meals through the winter.