Topic: Ah, retirement! (Read 11832 times)

Stormbringer · « **on:** March 30, 2004, 11:31:52 am »

For the first time in twenty years I have a garden. There are plenty of squash already on my vines. I've grown roma mini tomatoes; the plants are strong. Pie pumpkins I've grown from last thanksgiving's seeds are coming up in abundance. It's a small plot but it's a great start. Life is fine.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:51:31 pm »

I went out this morning to check my plants and was surprised to see tiny squash already forming under flowers that actually have yet to open on four of my vines. I counted about 10 per plant and these are small plants yet. These plants have a 75 to 90 day maturity. The other plants have a similar maturity except the Roma tomatoes but I've got them in planter boxes. I have examined my potted trees and the one of the Paw Paw trees is showing leaves. The other is alive and has immature buds but is not doing well. The fig OTOH is leaving out already. The banana tree is approaching fruiting age and has a three foot offspring. The oranges and grapefruit trees lost quite a few leaves going out doors but are recovering. They are a few years away from producing fruits. And I may have to build a sunroom for them when my home comes through.

Toasty0 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:56:22 pm »

Home ownership...nothing like it in the world. I just spent an hour trimming my 6 foot tall rose bush and loved the feel of the warm Sun shine on my back as I walked the yard.

Best,
Jerry

Stormbringer · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:00:15 pm »

Yes. I believe you are right. Mine is still a couple of months off, but I'll be out there too and loving every minute of it. 6' rose eh? You know roses have a way of extracting revenge on those that trim them.

762 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:08:50 pm »

"Yours must be a great realm if gardeners are held in such high esteem." - Faramir, The Two Towers

Stormbringer · « **Reply #5 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:19:33 pm »

Gardeners and farmers are the lifeblood of the world.

Plus gardening renews a connection with nature in a way more solid than an occasional leisure outing into the wilderness can. When I get around to building my own home several years down the line it will likely be out of town in a wooded area. Close enough I can commute for work but away from the city enough to be able to do whatever I want on my property.

Sirgod · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:08:32 pm »

That is truely great news Storm. I'm very happy for you My friend.

Stephen

TB613 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:17:41 pm »

Your plants are blooming while gardeners around here have at least another month to wait before working the ground and a month to two months before killer frosts are not an issue depending on how close to the big lake that they live. Congratulations on your gardening enjoyment.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #8 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:25:37 pm »

On very rare occasions we can get a frost this late but normally not but every 5 to ten years or so. I think i'm safe here. Still up where you are at people use cold frames to start some crops early don't they?

I should add that the squash are so far along because I brought some that had been started in a green house and set them out. That is why they are so far advanced. It is a little early even here for them to be that big this soon, otherwise.Tthe pumpkins are just emerging though vigorously and faster than I expected. I planted the squash and pumkins along with some corn which has also emeged from all but one hill.

I will plant cukes, beans and melons in the same rows later. the climbers use the corn stalks as a trellis and the plants use different nutrients and generally support each other. Particularly, the legumes fix nitrogen in the soil that helps the corn along and the corn "trellis"supports more beans.

TB613 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:55:19 pm »

Yes we use cold frames however, you still need to let the frost come out of the ground and you are limited to how large an area you can cover. Right now you would be working with mud on top of a layer of ice. We can an do get a head start by starting our plants inside though.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #10 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:29:22 pm »

It's been 10 years, 1 month and 30 days since I retired from the USAF...got my 30 out of the way, and have enjoyed nearly every minute.

Good luck Storm, it's fun when the check hits the bank, and all you did was hang out at home

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #11 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:36:11 pm »

Coming from your neck ofthe woods, you are probably one of the few people on the board that knows what a paw paw tree is. Can you tell me anything about thier growth rate, robustness, disease resistance?

hey are not native to my area being an eastern native fruit tree and all. Of four that I bought through mail order; two are alive, one producing leaves, another with one live branch and immature buds; barely alive. They are several years old and not doing well at all. There may be a third coming up from the root of one of the "dead" ones. I cannot tell because my mother plants stuff in containers that already have plants in them making identification hard.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #12 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:38:13 pm »

Yeah, but I'm a greeeeeedy right winger so I must get another job to support my evil life style.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:50:54 pm »

Yep, me too...I let them hire me as a contractor doing my same job (PMEL), and let them double my pay, put the benefit moneys (because of Tricare, etc) that I don't use into my 401K, I can fiddle in the market. I hope to retire totally in 7 years, when I 55.

I did remind my wife that I promised to work the first 20, and she'd work the second 20...but she's gone and gotten a job as the Asst. Director of Omaha's largest food back...great work, but charities never pay well..

Ah well, still the retirement chack covers the house payment..

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:17:08 pm »

Around here it pays the house note and utilities and food with some change left over. Nice houses, they just cost a lot less here than the east or west coasts. But in order to have money for leisure and luxury I need another job. Even a "you want fries with that?" type job would be enough but I'm going for bigger game, of course.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:27:28 pm »

In fact I might get a "you want fries with that?" type job just so one day I can go off on the boss and tell him where to put that job. And then go on to complete my training for electrician.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #16 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:42:26 pm »

Well, you can always check the fuses the way a Phillipino electrician did when I was @ Clark AB...run your fingers down the fuses until you feel "something"

That's the bad fuse....get clip leads..pokey ones are fin for circuit cards, but grabbing bare wires can give you a lesson in humility

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #17 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:48:37 pm »

Yeah not good high voltage cominginto the power distribution box. High amperage too. Still if the conductors are not exposed a good fuse would be warmer and an open burnt fuse would be cold ...with power applied. (the filament/buss would warm due to resistance. A fuse with a burned out filiment would not warm up.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #18 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:01:47 pm »

If you're gonna check temp on components..get a decent Fluke DMM amd the temp probe designed for it...get the one with a fast reaction time...Fluke skimped on some models and it can take 3-5 minutes to read the actual temperature..know this 'cause I've calibrated them

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #19 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:10:35 pm »

Kinda easier to take the fuse out and check for continuity isn't it?

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #20 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:28:25 pm »

There's 2 ways to do it....if you set it on AC Volts and don't read anything, the fuse is good (input impedance being 20K ohms or better on the DMM)...or put it on ohms and if the DMM starts smoking, the fuse is bad, since you just created a path...

Use your own judgement...but I prefer using AC

so many sotries, so little time

Like when our Physical Dimensional guy in MI wanted to help out in electronics, and he plugged the 400 cycle generator into a 60 cycle outlet...he got to replace the transformer...you can go from 60 to 400, but not 400 to 60 (AC impedance and vector analysis)...

Or my buddy who was wiring a house, and the carpenter came in and plugged his saw into the wall he's just wired, and it worked..someone had turned the electricity on to speed things up

Just take care, and know who you're working with.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #21 on:** March 30, 2004, 10:32:00 pm »

East coast bump for info.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #22 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:39:23 pm »

I just planted an unusual type of cabbage that produces heads that are only the size of softballs and a few black beauty egplants. The squash are already two inches long and the blooms are unfurled. The tomatoes have trippled in hieght and have blooms. the pumpkins have developedthier first true leaves. The ornamental corn is 3 to 4 inches high.

I bought a mexican fan palm from walmart for 5 bucks that almost immediately started to die. I thought it was fungus due to spotting on the blades but that turned out not to be the case. I repotted it today and when I tapped it out of the pot the soil was not visible. The whole thing was a root bound mass of roots. No wonder it was dying. I scored the rootball and loosened the roots up and swabbed them with a diluted transplant starting solution before moving it into a much bigger pot and trimming the dead fronds.

All of walmart's mexican fan palms are in too small of a container and are apt to desease and then to decease. If you buy one transplant it immediately. But the altenative is 40 dollars for a small one and 250 for a ten foot one at the home improvement stoors. Get a small one and transplant it.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #23 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:40:19 pm »

Any of you durned Easterners got Paw Paw trees? Mine need help.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #24 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:47:52 pm »

Try www.fred.net/kathy/pawpaws.html I don't recall ever seeing them while growing up in western NY, but apparently they grow up into Canada.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #25 on:** April 07, 2004, 05:28:14 pm »

Thanks. I'll check it out.

I've got two remaining of four bare root plants I got a couple of years ago. One is showing signs of life, the other is hanging on by a branch and has two buds one of which may actually make a leaf. the other two died but one may have only died back to the root as there is an unacounted for tree popping up in it's place that may just be a paw paw. I don't know yet. however if it is it is growing too fast to match the profile thus far but the leaves look about right from what I can tell (and it is hard to tell by leaves on a fresh sprouted tree what they are). Fortunately, I've got two more (this time potted rather than bare root) on the way through express mail. I get a lot of wierd trees and plants that way. Ginkos, Rowans, almonds, sasafras, redwoods, quinces, bananas etc.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #26 on:** April 08, 2004, 05:30:44 am »

Are you trying to create a forest? All the luck to you. I'm looking forward to moveing back to WNY in a few years and getting enough property to do something like that. The city I live in requires permits for nearly everything (and that included the sugar Maple I planted in my backyard)....NE is always after a $

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #27 on:** April 08, 2004, 11:45:31 am »

land is cheap in Oklahoma except in the very heart of the cities. i'm making at least three forests.

deciduous, conifer and cycad. With all the wierd trees and normal ones I can get my hands on.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #28 on:** April 09, 2004, 04:31:16 pm »

Some of the squash are now nearly four inches long!

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #29 on:** April 10, 2004, 06:14:56 am »

Just a reminder to anyone who visits Storm, don't leave your car doors unlocked, or you will get the revenge of the squash grower...i.e. a back seat full of zuccinis, summer squash, and anything else prolific

Have fun in the garden...I just take care of the wife's roses for now..but she wants me to plant some forsythia's (sp?)

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #30 on:** April 11, 2004, 07:07:54 pm »

Unbelievable! We are at 82 degrees one day and get a frost warning the next! I just buried all my plants in mulch and covered them with pots. I get 4 inch long vegies and then a rare april frost? Aaaaargh!

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #31 on:** April 12, 2004, 02:52:18 pm »

It was 30 degrees here on Easter morning...had to warm the car before going to church...but I still grilled the ham outside

I hope all comes out well..they still get snow where I grew up, it's only April.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #32 on:** April 12, 2004, 02:54:56 pm »

Got a frost warning again for the night. Again its just "frost possible" type of thing; but friday it will be 85 degrees again.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #33 on:** April 13, 2004, 07:53:57 pm »

hope your plants survived...the wife's roses are pretty hardy, but we are a bit farther north, and of course plant for the weather.

Mike

14 days 'til my son's home from Korea

Stormbringer · « **Reply #34 on:** April 28, 2004, 06:20:41 pm »

Sorry I did not see this in a timely manner. Yeah, they all survived. The weatherman was talkin' out his ass as usual. No frost. but had to battle down aphids on the tomatoes. And today got a surprise. A hatchling box turtle in my tomato planter box. Physically impossible for hi to get in there himself. And a herd of them in the main garden, too. I got two of them in a tub now. about an inch in diameter.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #35 on:** May 06, 2004, 12:56:19 pm »

Garden Update: Squash are harvest sized. Tomatoes are ripening. All (4) varieties of peppers are now blooming. Today I checked for blooms on my pumpkins and there are tiny pumpkins under the bloom pods. one day they are not there the next they magically appear. My eggplants are coming along but My fast ball cabages are not doing very well.

All my trees are thriving. Two grapefruit seed I planted popped up over night, it seems. Apple and Quince are in bloom. bush cherries are almost ripe. Grape clusters are forming. I've planted three varieties of watermelon a little late but they should catch up.

* turtle hatchlings removed from garden. They seem to be happy. One likes bananas; the other does not.

Puddleoguts · « **Reply #36 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:37:10 pm »

Good thread.....very relaxing read.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #37 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:49:05 pm »

A change of pace at the very least. Glad you like it.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #38 on:** May 28, 2004, 02:35:57 pm »

I found it! I thought it was gone. So BUMP!

Stormbringer · « **Reply #39 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:31:52 am »

For the first time in twenty years I have a garden. There are plenty of squash already on my vines. I've grown roma mini tomatoes; the plants are strong. Pie pumpkins I've grown from last thanksgiving's seeds are coming up in abundance. It's a small plot but it's a great start. Life is fine.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #40 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:51:31 pm »

I went out this morning to check my plants and was surprised to see tiny squash already forming under flowers that actually have yet to open on four of my vines. I counted about 10 per plant and these are small plants yet. These plants have a 75 to 90 day maturity. The other plants have a similar maturity except the Roma tomatoes but I've got them in planter boxes. I have examined my potted trees and the one of the Paw Paw trees is showing leaves. The other is alive and has immature buds but is not doing well. The fig OTOH is leaving out already. The banana tree is approaching fruiting age and has a three foot offspring. The oranges and grapefruit trees lost quite a few leaves going out doors but are recovering. They are a few years away from producing fruits. And I may have to build a sunroom for them when my home comes through.

Toasty0 · « **Reply #41 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:56:22 pm »

Home ownership...nothing like it in the world. I just spent an hour trimming my 6 foot tall rose bush and loved the feel of the warm Sun shine on my back as I walked the yard.

Best,
Jerry

Stormbringer · « **Reply #42 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:00:15 pm »

Yes. I believe you are right. Mine is still a couple of months off, but I'll be out there too and loving every minute of it. 6' rose eh? You know roses have a way of extracting revenge on those that trim them.

762 · « **Reply #43 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:08:50 pm »

"Yours must be a great realm if gardeners are held in such high esteem." - Faramir, The Two Towers

Stormbringer · « **Reply #44 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:19:33 pm »

Gardeners and farmers are the lifeblood of the world.

Plus gardening renews a connection with nature in a way more solid than an occasional leisure outing into the wilderness can. When I get around to building my own home several years down the line it will likely be out of town in a wooded area. Close enough I can commute for work but away from the city enough to be able to do whatever I want on my property.

Sirgod · « **Reply #45 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:08:32 pm »

That is truely great news Storm. I'm very happy for you My friend.

Stephen

TB613 · « **Reply #46 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:17:41 pm »

Your plants are blooming while gardeners around here have at least another month to wait before working the ground and a month to two months before killer frosts are not an issue depending on how close to the big lake that they live. Congratulations on your gardening enjoyment.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #47 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:25:37 pm »

On very rare occasions we can get a frost this late but normally not but every 5 to ten years or so. I think i'm safe here. Still up where you are at people use cold frames to start some crops early don't they?

I should add that the squash are so far along because I brought some that had been started in a green house and set them out. That is why they are so far advanced. It is a little early even here for them to be that big this soon, otherwise.Tthe pumpkins are just emerging though vigorously and faster than I expected. I planted the squash and pumkins along with some corn which has also emeged from all but one hill.

I will plant cukes, beans and melons in the same rows later. the climbers use the corn stalks as a trellis and the plants use different nutrients and generally support each other. Particularly, the legumes fix nitrogen in the soil that helps the corn along and the corn "trellis"supports more beans.

TB613 · « **Reply #48 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:55:19 pm »

Yes we use cold frames however, you still need to let the frost come out of the ground and you are limited to how large an area you can cover. Right now you would be working with mud on top of a layer of ice. We can an do get a head start by starting our plants inside though.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #49 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:29:22 pm »

It's been 10 years, 1 month and 30 days since I retired from the USAF...got my 30 out of the way, and have enjoyed nearly every minute.

Good luck Storm, it's fun when the check hits the bank, and all you did was hang out at home

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #50 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:36:11 pm »

Coming from your neck ofthe woods, you are probably one of the few people on the board that knows what a paw paw tree is. Can you tell me anything about thier growth rate, robustness, disease resistance?

hey are not native to my area being an eastern native fruit tree and all. Of four that I bought through mail order; two are alive, one producing leaves, another with one live branch and immature buds; barely alive. They are several years old and not doing well at all. There may be a third coming up from the root of one of the "dead" ones. I cannot tell because my mother plants stuff in containers that already have plants in them making identification hard.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #51 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:38:13 pm »

Yeah, but I'm a greeeeeedy right winger so I must get another job to support my evil life style.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #52 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:50:54 pm »

Yep, me too...I let them hire me as a contractor doing my same job (PMEL), and let them double my pay, put the benefit moneys (because of Tricare, etc) that I don't use into my 401K, I can fiddle in the market. I hope to retire totally in 7 years, when I 55.

I did remind my wife that I promised to work the first 20, and she'd work the second 20...but she's gone and gotten a job as the Asst. Director of Omaha's largest food back...great work, but charities never pay well..

Ah well, still the retirement chack covers the house payment..

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #53 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:17:08 pm »

Around here it pays the house note and utilities and food with some change left over. Nice houses, they just cost a lot less here than the east or west coasts. But in order to have money for leisure and luxury I need another job. Even a "you want fries with that?" type job would be enough but I'm going for bigger game, of course.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #54 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:27:28 pm »

In fact I might get a "you want fries with that?" type job just so one day I can go off on the boss and tell him where to put that job. And then go on to complete my training for electrician.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #55 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:42:26 pm »

Well, you can always check the fuses the way a Phillipino electrician did when I was @ Clark AB...run your fingers down the fuses until you feel "something"

That's the bad fuse....get clip leads..pokey ones are fin for circuit cards, but grabbing bare wires can give you a lesson in humility

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #56 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:48:37 pm »

Yeah not good high voltage cominginto the power distribution box. High amperage too. Still if the conductors are not exposed a good fuse would be warmer and an open burnt fuse would be cold ...with power applied. (the filament/buss would warm due to resistance. A fuse with a burned out filiment would not warm up.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #57 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:01:47 pm »

If you're gonna check temp on components..get a decent Fluke DMM amd the temp probe designed for it...get the one with a fast reaction time...Fluke skimped on some models and it can take 3-5 minutes to read the actual temperature..know this 'cause I've calibrated them

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #58 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:10:35 pm »

Kinda easier to take the fuse out and check for continuity isn't it?

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #59 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:28:25 pm »

There's 2 ways to do it....if you set it on AC Volts and don't read anything, the fuse is good (input impedance being 20K ohms or better on the DMM)...or put it on ohms and if the DMM starts smoking, the fuse is bad, since you just created a path...

Use your own judgement...but I prefer using AC

so many sotries, so little time

Like when our Physical Dimensional guy in MI wanted to help out in electronics, and he plugged the 400 cycle generator into a 60 cycle outlet...he got to replace the transformer...you can go from 60 to 400, but not 400 to 60 (AC impedance and vector analysis)...

Or my buddy who was wiring a house, and the carpenter came in and plugged his saw into the wall he's just wired, and it worked..someone had turned the electricity on to speed things up

Just take care, and know who you're working with.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #60 on:** March 30, 2004, 10:32:00 pm »

East coast bump for info.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #61 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:39:23 pm »

I just planted an unusual type of cabbage that produces heads that are only the size of softballs and a few black beauty egplants. The squash are already two inches long and the blooms are unfurled. The tomatoes have trippled in hieght and have blooms. the pumpkins have developedthier first true leaves. The ornamental corn is 3 to 4 inches high.

I bought a mexican fan palm from walmart for 5 bucks that almost immediately started to die. I thought it was fungus due to spotting on the blades but that turned out not to be the case. I repotted it today and when I tapped it out of the pot the soil was not visible. The whole thing was a root bound mass of roots. No wonder it was dying. I scored the rootball and loosened the roots up and swabbed them with a diluted transplant starting solution before moving it into a much bigger pot and trimming the dead fronds.

All of walmart's mexican fan palms are in too small of a container and are apt to desease and then to decease. If you buy one transplant it immediately. But the altenative is 40 dollars for a small one and 250 for a ten foot one at the home improvement stoors. Get a small one and transplant it.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #62 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:40:19 pm »

Any of you durned Easterners got Paw Paw trees? Mine need help.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #63 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:47:52 pm »

Try www.fred.net/kathy/pawpaws.html I don't recall ever seeing them while growing up in western NY, but apparently they grow up into Canada.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #64 on:** April 07, 2004, 05:28:14 pm »

Thanks. I'll check it out.

I've got two remaining of four bare root plants I got a couple of years ago. One is showing signs of life, the other is hanging on by a branch and has two buds one of which may actually make a leaf. the other two died but one may have only died back to the root as there is an unacounted for tree popping up in it's place that may just be a paw paw. I don't know yet. however if it is it is growing too fast to match the profile thus far but the leaves look about right from what I can tell (and it is hard to tell by leaves on a fresh sprouted tree what they are). Fortunately, I've got two more (this time potted rather than bare root) on the way through express mail. I get a lot of wierd trees and plants that way. Ginkos, Rowans, almonds, sasafras, redwoods, quinces, bananas etc.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #65 on:** April 08, 2004, 05:30:44 am »

Are you trying to create a forest? All the luck to you. I'm looking forward to moveing back to WNY in a few years and getting enough property to do something like that. The city I live in requires permits for nearly everything (and that included the sugar Maple I planted in my backyard)....NE is always after a $

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #66 on:** April 08, 2004, 11:45:31 am »

land is cheap in Oklahoma except in the very heart of the cities. i'm making at least three forests.

deciduous, conifer and cycad. With all the wierd trees and normal ones I can get my hands on.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #67 on:** April 09, 2004, 04:31:16 pm »

Some of the squash are now nearly four inches long!

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #68 on:** April 10, 2004, 06:14:56 am »

Just a reminder to anyone who visits Storm, don't leave your car doors unlocked, or you will get the revenge of the squash grower...i.e. a back seat full of zuccinis, summer squash, and anything else prolific

Have fun in the garden...I just take care of the wife's roses for now..but she wants me to plant some forsythia's (sp?)

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #69 on:** April 11, 2004, 07:07:54 pm »

Unbelievable! We are at 82 degrees one day and get a frost warning the next! I just buried all my plants in mulch and covered them with pots. I get 4 inch long vegies and then a rare april frost? Aaaaargh!

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #70 on:** April 12, 2004, 02:52:18 pm »

It was 30 degrees here on Easter morning...had to warm the car before going to church...but I still grilled the ham outside

I hope all comes out well..they still get snow where I grew up, it's only April.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #71 on:** April 12, 2004, 02:54:56 pm »

Got a frost warning again for the night. Again its just "frost possible" type of thing; but friday it will be 85 degrees again.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #72 on:** April 13, 2004, 07:53:57 pm »

hope your plants survived...the wife's roses are pretty hardy, but we are a bit farther north, and of course plant for the weather.

Mike

14 days 'til my son's home from Korea

Stormbringer · « **Reply #73 on:** April 28, 2004, 06:20:41 pm »

Sorry I did not see this in a timely manner. Yeah, they all survived. The weatherman was talkin' out his ass as usual. No frost. but had to battle down aphids on the tomatoes. And today got a surprise. A hatchling box turtle in my tomato planter box. Physically impossible for hi to get in there himself. And a herd of them in the main garden, too. I got two of them in a tub now. about an inch in diameter.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #74 on:** May 06, 2004, 12:56:19 pm »

Garden Update: Squash are harvest sized. Tomatoes are ripening. All (4) varieties of peppers are now blooming. Today I checked for blooms on my pumpkins and there are tiny pumpkins under the bloom pods. one day they are not there the next they magically appear. My eggplants are coming along but My fast ball cabages are not doing very well.

All my trees are thriving. Two grapefruit seed I planted popped up over night, it seems. Apple and Quince are in bloom. bush cherries are almost ripe. Grape clusters are forming. I've planted three varieties of watermelon a little late but they should catch up.

* turtle hatchlings removed from garden. They seem to be happy. One likes bananas; the other does not.

Puddleoguts · « **Reply #75 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:37:10 pm »

Good thread.....very relaxing read.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #76 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:49:05 pm »

A change of pace at the very least. Glad you like it.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #77 on:** May 28, 2004, 02:35:57 pm »

I found it! I thought it was gone. So BUMP!

Stormbringer · « **Reply #78 on:** March 30, 2004, 11:31:52 am »

For the first time in twenty years I have a garden. There are plenty of squash already on my vines. I've grown roma mini tomatoes; the plants are strong. Pie pumpkins I've grown from last thanksgiving's seeds are coming up in abundance. It's a small plot but it's a great start. Life is fine.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #79 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:51:31 pm »

I went out this morning to check my plants and was surprised to see tiny squash already forming under flowers that actually have yet to open on four of my vines. I counted about 10 per plant and these are small plants yet. These plants have a 75 to 90 day maturity. The other plants have a similar maturity except the Roma tomatoes but I've got them in planter boxes. I have examined my potted trees and the one of the Paw Paw trees is showing leaves. The other is alive and has immature buds but is not doing well. The fig OTOH is leaving out already. The banana tree is approaching fruiting age and has a three foot offspring. The oranges and grapefruit trees lost quite a few leaves going out doors but are recovering. They are a few years away from producing fruits. And I may have to build a sunroom for them when my home comes through.

Toasty0 · « **Reply #80 on:** March 30, 2004, 12:56:22 pm »

Home ownership...nothing like it in the world. I just spent an hour trimming my 6 foot tall rose bush and loved the feel of the warm Sun shine on my back as I walked the yard.

Best,
Jerry

Stormbringer · « **Reply #81 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:00:15 pm »

Yes. I believe you are right. Mine is still a couple of months off, but I'll be out there too and loving every minute of it. 6' rose eh? You know roses have a way of extracting revenge on those that trim them.

762 · « **Reply #82 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:08:50 pm »

"Yours must be a great realm if gardeners are held in such high esteem." - Faramir, The Two Towers

Stormbringer · « **Reply #83 on:** March 30, 2004, 01:19:33 pm »

Gardeners and farmers are the lifeblood of the world.

Plus gardening renews a connection with nature in a way more solid than an occasional leisure outing into the wilderness can. When I get around to building my own home several years down the line it will likely be out of town in a wooded area. Close enough I can commute for work but away from the city enough to be able to do whatever I want on my property.

Sirgod · « **Reply #84 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:08:32 pm »

That is truely great news Storm. I'm very happy for you My friend.

Stephen

TB613 · « **Reply #85 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:17:41 pm »

Your plants are blooming while gardeners around here have at least another month to wait before working the ground and a month to two months before killer frosts are not an issue depending on how close to the big lake that they live. Congratulations on your gardening enjoyment.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #86 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:25:37 pm »

On very rare occasions we can get a frost this late but normally not but every 5 to ten years or so. I think i'm safe here. Still up where you are at people use cold frames to start some crops early don't they?

I should add that the squash are so far along because I brought some that had been started in a green house and set them out. That is why they are so far advanced. It is a little early even here for them to be that big this soon, otherwise.Tthe pumpkins are just emerging though vigorously and faster than I expected. I planted the squash and pumkins along with some corn which has also emeged from all but one hill.

I will plant cukes, beans and melons in the same rows later. the climbers use the corn stalks as a trellis and the plants use different nutrients and generally support each other. Particularly, the legumes fix nitrogen in the soil that helps the corn along and the corn "trellis"supports more beans.

TB613 · « **Reply #87 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:55:19 pm »

Yes we use cold frames however, you still need to let the frost come out of the ground and you are limited to how large an area you can cover. Right now you would be working with mud on top of a layer of ice. We can an do get a head start by starting our plants inside though.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #88 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:29:22 pm »

It's been 10 years, 1 month and 30 days since I retired from the USAF...got my 30 out of the way, and have enjoyed nearly every minute.

Good luck Storm, it's fun when the check hits the bank, and all you did was hang out at home

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #89 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:36:11 pm »

Coming from your neck ofthe woods, you are probably one of the few people on the board that knows what a paw paw tree is. Can you tell me anything about thier growth rate, robustness, disease resistance?

hey are not native to my area being an eastern native fruit tree and all. Of four that I bought through mail order; two are alive, one producing leaves, another with one live branch and immature buds; barely alive. They are several years old and not doing well at all. There may be a third coming up from the root of one of the "dead" ones. I cannot tell because my mother plants stuff in containers that already have plants in them making identification hard.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #90 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:38:13 pm »

Yeah, but I'm a greeeeeedy right winger so I must get another job to support my evil life style.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #91 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:50:54 pm »

Yep, me too...I let them hire me as a contractor doing my same job (PMEL), and let them double my pay, put the benefit moneys (because of Tricare, etc) that I don't use into my 401K, I can fiddle in the market. I hope to retire totally in 7 years, when I 55.

I did remind my wife that I promised to work the first 20, and she'd work the second 20...but she's gone and gotten a job as the Asst. Director of Omaha's largest food back...great work, but charities never pay well..

Ah well, still the retirement chack covers the house payment..

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #92 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:17:08 pm »

Around here it pays the house note and utilities and food with some change left over. Nice houses, they just cost a lot less here than the east or west coasts. But in order to have money for leisure and luxury I need another job. Even a "you want fries with that?" type job would be enough but I'm going for bigger game, of course.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #93 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:27:28 pm »

In fact I might get a "you want fries with that?" type job just so one day I can go off on the boss and tell him where to put that job. And then go on to complete my training for electrician.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #94 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:42:26 pm »

Well, you can always check the fuses the way a Phillipino electrician did when I was @ Clark AB...run your fingers down the fuses until you feel "something"

That's the bad fuse....get clip leads..pokey ones are fin for circuit cards, but grabbing bare wires can give you a lesson in humility

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #95 on:** March 30, 2004, 05:48:37 pm »

Yeah not good high voltage cominginto the power distribution box. High amperage too. Still if the conductors are not exposed a good fuse would be warmer and an open burnt fuse would be cold ...with power applied. (the filament/buss would warm due to resistance. A fuse with a burned out filiment would not warm up.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #96 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:01:47 pm »

If you're gonna check temp on components..get a decent Fluke DMM amd the temp probe designed for it...get the one with a fast reaction time...Fluke skimped on some models and it can take 3-5 minutes to read the actual temperature..know this 'cause I've calibrated them

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #97 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:10:35 pm »

Kinda easier to take the fuse out and check for continuity isn't it?

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #98 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:28:25 pm »

There's 2 ways to do it....if you set it on AC Volts and don't read anything, the fuse is good (input impedance being 20K ohms or better on the DMM)...or put it on ohms and if the DMM starts smoking, the fuse is bad, since you just created a path...

Use your own judgement...but I prefer using AC

so many sotries, so little time

Like when our Physical Dimensional guy in MI wanted to help out in electronics, and he plugged the 400 cycle generator into a 60 cycle outlet...he got to replace the transformer...you can go from 60 to 400, but not 400 to 60 (AC impedance and vector analysis)...

Or my buddy who was wiring a house, and the carpenter came in and plugged his saw into the wall he's just wired, and it worked..someone had turned the electricity on to speed things up

Just take care, and know who you're working with.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #99 on:** March 30, 2004, 10:32:00 pm »

East coast bump for info.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #100 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:39:23 pm »

I just planted an unusual type of cabbage that produces heads that are only the size of softballs and a few black beauty egplants. The squash are already two inches long and the blooms are unfurled. The tomatoes have trippled in hieght and have blooms. the pumpkins have developedthier first true leaves. The ornamental corn is 3 to 4 inches high.

I bought a mexican fan palm from walmart for 5 bucks that almost immediately started to die. I thought it was fungus due to spotting on the blades but that turned out not to be the case. I repotted it today and when I tapped it out of the pot the soil was not visible. The whole thing was a root bound mass of roots. No wonder it was dying. I scored the rootball and loosened the roots up and swabbed them with a diluted transplant starting solution before moving it into a much bigger pot and trimming the dead fronds.

All of walmart's mexican fan palms are in too small of a container and are apt to desease and then to decease. If you buy one transplant it immediately. But the altenative is 40 dollars for a small one and 250 for a ten foot one at the home improvement stoors. Get a small one and transplant it.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #101 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:40:19 pm »

Any of you durned Easterners got Paw Paw trees? Mine need help.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #102 on:** April 07, 2004, 04:47:52 pm »

Try www.fred.net/kathy/pawpaws.html I don't recall ever seeing them while growing up in western NY, but apparently they grow up into Canada.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #103 on:** April 07, 2004, 05:28:14 pm »

Thanks. I'll check it out.

I've got two remaining of four bare root plants I got a couple of years ago. One is showing signs of life, the other is hanging on by a branch and has two buds one of which may actually make a leaf. the other two died but one may have only died back to the root as there is an unacounted for tree popping up in it's place that may just be a paw paw. I don't know yet. however if it is it is growing too fast to match the profile thus far but the leaves look about right from what I can tell (and it is hard to tell by leaves on a fresh sprouted tree what they are). Fortunately, I've got two more (this time potted rather than bare root) on the way through express mail. I get a lot of wierd trees and plants that way. Ginkos, Rowans, almonds, sasafras, redwoods, quinces, bananas etc.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #104 on:** April 08, 2004, 05:30:44 am »

Are you trying to create a forest? All the luck to you. I'm looking forward to moveing back to WNY in a few years and getting enough property to do something like that. The city I live in requires permits for nearly everything (and that included the sugar Maple I planted in my backyard)....NE is always after a $

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #105 on:** April 08, 2004, 11:45:31 am »

land is cheap in Oklahoma except in the very heart of the cities. i'm making at least three forests.

deciduous, conifer and cycad. With all the wierd trees and normal ones I can get my hands on.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #106 on:** April 09, 2004, 04:31:16 pm »

Some of the squash are now nearly four inches long!

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #107 on:** April 10, 2004, 06:14:56 am »

Just a reminder to anyone who visits Storm, don't leave your car doors unlocked, or you will get the revenge of the squash grower...i.e. a back seat full of zuccinis, summer squash, and anything else prolific

Have fun in the garden...I just take care of the wife's roses for now..but she wants me to plant some forsythia's (sp?)

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #108 on:** April 11, 2004, 07:07:54 pm »

Unbelievable! We are at 82 degrees one day and get a frost warning the next! I just buried all my plants in mulch and covered them with pots. I get 4 inch long vegies and then a rare april frost? Aaaaargh!

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #109 on:** April 12, 2004, 02:52:18 pm »

It was 30 degrees here on Easter morning...had to warm the car before going to church...but I still grilled the ham outside

I hope all comes out well..they still get snow where I grew up, it's only April.

Mike

Stormbringer · « **Reply #110 on:** April 12, 2004, 02:54:56 pm »

Got a frost warning again for the night. Again its just "frost possible" type of thing; but friday it will be 85 degrees again.

Capt. Mike · « **Reply #111 on:** April 13, 2004, 07:53:57 pm »

hope your plants survived...the wife's roses are pretty hardy, but we are a bit farther north, and of course plant for the weather.

Mike

14 days 'til my son's home from Korea

Stormbringer · « **Reply #112 on:** April 28, 2004, 06:20:41 pm »

Sorry I did not see this in a timely manner. Yeah, they all survived. The weatherman was talkin' out his ass as usual. No frost. but had to battle down aphids on the tomatoes. And today got a surprise. A hatchling box turtle in my tomato planter box. Physically impossible for hi to get in there himself. And a herd of them in the main garden, too. I got two of them in a tub now. about an inch in diameter.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #113 on:** May 06, 2004, 12:56:19 pm »

Garden Update: Squash are harvest sized. Tomatoes are ripening. All (4) varieties of peppers are now blooming. Today I checked for blooms on my pumpkins and there are tiny pumpkins under the bloom pods. one day they are not there the next they magically appear. My eggplants are coming along but My fast ball cabages are not doing very well.

All my trees are thriving. Two grapefruit seed I planted popped up over night, it seems. Apple and Quince are in bloom. bush cherries are almost ripe. Grape clusters are forming. I've planted three varieties of watermelon a little late but they should catch up.

* turtle hatchlings removed from garden. They seem to be happy. One likes bananas; the other does not.

Puddleoguts · « **Reply #114 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:37:10 pm »

Good thread.....very relaxing read.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #115 on:** May 06, 2004, 08:49:05 pm »

A change of pace at the very least. Glad you like it.

Stormbringer · « **Reply #116 on:** May 28, 2004, 02:35:57 pm »

I found it! I thought it was gone. So BUMP!

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