Good morning, and may it not be fried! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Well, Memorial Day, the "start of summer", was far from summer-like this year. Although I did struggle through with grilling the traditional first batch of ribs of the year, it was so chilly I had to wear socks fer christsake! The official high was only 58° and Tuesday was more of the same. Damn. I had taken the week off work, and it was too cold and damp to work outside.
On Wednesday, however, prospects were much, much better, with sunny skies and a high of 80°. I desperately needed to mow the lawn but needed to let it dry out a bit. While I was waiting, I spotted this little fellow — a nessus sphinx hawkmoth (identification provided by The Bugman) buzzing around a white jupiter's beard in the front yard.
And then I tried to kill the puppy.
Cross-posted at SquareState.net
When the grass had dried to damp, rather than soaked, I pulled our little Lawn Pup mower out of the shed and set to mowing. I was about half-way through — had just re-started after emptying the grass catcher and mixing its contents into the compost bin — when the Pup stopped running. I thought I'd dislodged the cord, but when I looked down I saw a little wisp of smoke. And one of the prongs on the Pup's electrical plug was warped where a lump of molten metal had solidified. And one of the socket holes in the extension cord was burned.
Oooooh, shit! Had I screwed the pooch? I surely didn't want to replace the mower — we only paid $80 for it a couple of years back, and now they cost $170. I didn't think it had over-heated: it had had a substantial resting period and I didn't smell cooked electronics. The only smoke was that little waft from the extension cord socket.
Luck was with me: the puppy lives. What was fried was the socket to the extension cord. The Mister ground down the nub of metal on the prong, plugged it into a new cord, and it was good to go.
Phew.
Last weekend the Mister did assist me with my hardware needs. There now are eye-bolts screwed into the outside frame of the rose trellis and, armed with a supply of 24" bungee cords, attaching that wild-ass rose bush to the trellis is much, much easier. He also put up a couple of very stout brackets to support the living wreath hanging on the fence. By next week or the week after, the wreath should be filled in enough to be photo-worthy and you'll be able to see the fruits of my labors. It's starting to look pretty good, but still needs more time.
I went to the nursery on Tuesday because I was craving some pansies; unlike most years, I've actually gotten every single plant I've bought either in a planter, or in the ground, before killing some. I found some of the available pansies to be just fucking unbelievable: some have beautifully frilly petals. Others are tiny and of such a deep purple they appear black, which are paired with others which are yellow with deep purple/black tiger-stripes. I decided to fill in the dahlia pots with pansies, lobelia and petunias to provide some interest until the dahlias bloom, and to fill in at the base of the dahlias once they are blooming. Every plant is planted, except the winter squash I started inside; they're currently hardening off. But I lost a dianthus plant — no, it didn't die, I just can't remember what I did with it. I know I had two, ordered from Logees. When I went to plant them, only one pot was on the counter. So, did I carry it outside and plant it and forget? Or did I pick it up, carry it off, not plant it, and just can't find it?
Oh, and I forgot — as usual — to buy basil plants. I always do that: it will take me two or three trips to the nursery before I finally remember the basil.
The corn is planted and, as soon as it breaks the surface, I'll finish covering the veggie patch with a thick layer of straw mulch. The pooties will not be happy — they just love rolling about in the dirt (and then coming inside coated with dust, which they generously share by napping on my pillow). Here, Zasu is most miffed because she missed grabbing the hawkmoth as I was trying to take pictures of it. And I was most miffed because I had just maneuvered to where I could get macro shots when she made her missing leap. Instead, I had to resort to cropping larger high-resolution photos to get a decent picture.
I've even managed to do most of the outdoor housework! I'm so goddamned proud of myself. I cleaned out the shed, setting planters I haven't used in years, plant supports I'd bought, but didn't like, and various and sundry other items out in the alley, where they were promptly snatched up by others who may be able to find a use for them. The front porch is almost cleaned off, too — well, except the Mister has some sort of large, heavy shop-tool someone at work gave to him sitting out there. But I can't move that — it will take testicular fortitude, and the upper-body strength that comes with it, to carry that bad boy down to the basement — it's a job for the Mister and Elder Son.
And while I'm on the subject of housework, here's a bit of blogland housework: Land of Enchantment is working hard on getting the Netroot Nations scholarships together. The scholarships were started last year through the efforts of kid oakland. With the help of DFA, the program is being expanded this year. DFA has put up the money for 9, covering registration and hotel. Here's a link to the application for a scholarship.
Other information from LoE's e-mail to me:
*To add more, donations can be made. A good thing, since there's already over 60 applicants.
*If you registered, but it turns out you can't go, you can donate that registration and it will be used for one of the scholarship awardees. Some of these have been donated so far, upping the total number of scholarships to at least 12 already. Way to go, folks! (Even though we're sorry that means someone else has had to cancel their plans to attend.)
*Scholarship recipients will have to raise some money on their own, or come up with part of the cost themselves. Particularly: transportation, meals and misc.
*There is a supplemental effort, to coordinate frequent flyer miles. Contact Land of Enchantment.
*It's OK to apply with a screen name, rather than your own name. (At least Carnacki did it that way.)
*Applicants can be voted on, but other criteria will come into play: Demographics (age, gender, geography, ethnicity, urban/rural, etc.), quality of work done
*Things to do if you aren't going to apply yourself - vote for applicants. Encourage others to apply. Nominate someone. Donate money to DFA for the program. Donate frequent flyer miles.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?