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Yesterday we played with dirt. The weather wasn't all I'd have liked, but the need to transplant was imperative. The budding plants are bad enough now, without waiting any longer than we have to.
Maia and Alexa discussed where to put the barrels. My only concern is that the grapes get enough sun, and I can easily get at them. For fear of hungry, or rambunctious dogs I don't want them in the back yard.
Alexa has a half-barrel with a pond liner, (holding a potted water plant, some slimy algae and four small goldfish; to eat the wrigglers) which they decided to move to the center front of the yard. This is where I will probably put in the herb beds, once I've gotten rid of all the alyssum, and some of the bunch grasses. The question is how to best arrange the parts I leave have wild/native with the other plants. I also want to amend the soil, as it's sand, with some organic material. Nice for onions and leeks (which we planted two-weeks ago) but not the best for most things.
We moved the tokay I potted on Thursday to the angle of the front walkway.
I dug the plants out of the plot I was afforded, leveled the supports for the barrel (which I won't let sit on the bare earth. Not only do I not want the thing to rot, I don't want access to parasites) and then flipped the barrel over and started drilling holes for drainage. The ends of barrel are much thicker than I supposed. They are about two inches thick. I put 7 holes of 5/8th in. into it.
I took the barrel to the supports and started hauling dirt.
A half-barrel is, more or less, 55 gallons of space. It takes, more or less, 3 1/2 cu. ft. of soil, and about a gallon of fine pumice. I have 7 cu. feet of compost, and 2 cu. feet of enriched potting soil (laced with mychorrizidae, and baccilli) The potting soil had brick in it. Crushed and of a good size, but if I'm going to get non porous additions I'd rather have crushed flint (since this is for grapes). The last stuff we used had pumice, it was better in that regard.
So, a bunch of medium (the size people use to fill decorative beds) of red pumice on the bottom (in lieu of screening) to keep the dirt from leaking out the holes, and then a bag of compost. Some pumice, (about the size of split peas) and half a bag of the potting soil. Mix thoroughly. This basic idea was repeated until the barrel was full. In the meanwhile the grape to be moved (the one from the cutting. I think (hope) the parent plant is still alive, but it was a wild grape, in back of Maia's grandparents [where the horses live] and when they get out they eat it to the ground. It's tough as nails, but stunted as all get out. The year I was tending it, with fencing and water, it grew tasty grapes) was soaking in a muck-bucket.
I worked it free. Clayey soil, with lots of flinty bits (not the easiest of things on the hands) and looked at the root ball. Teased it free. The longest root (out of a pot, 14" by 8" dangled about three feet. A bit of trimming and then I scooped out a deeper hole than I was going to put it in. Holding the plant I started adding the dirt back in. I set it down, put in more dirt, lifted it a bit, tamped dirt into the gap, and repeated until it was where I wanted it.
Today I took some pictures Grape. There are four close-ups of a leaf bundle opening up. I love the colors they have, the brown of the dormant bud, the purple of the tips, the fuzzy white of the underneath. There is also a shot of the whole plant, and one of an opened leaf.
I have been using the empty room as studio space(we still haven't found a new roomie, some looking, but no deals. Mixed bag. We've had one who looked, OK, but he smokes, and has that casual air that butts aren't trash [apparently while he was meeting the dogs he pitched one over the fence, into the schoolyard], which afflicts so many smokers), and this morning the sun was out (gone again now, the forecast is for rain in the wee hours) and I moved an orchid in to take some shots.
I saw something I've never seen before... naughty bits. The newest bloom is sporting what I presume to be a stamen. Small, projecting from the hooklike bit on the top of the proboscid bit and convolute as all get out. I tried to get pictures, but the depth of field at greater than 2X magnification is both small, and hard to be certain of. I have some.
I offer them to you as a Valentine
Maia and Alexa discussed where to put the barrels. My only concern is that the grapes get enough sun, and I can easily get at them. For fear of hungry, or rambunctious dogs I don't want them in the back yard.
Alexa has a half-barrel with a pond liner, (holding a potted water plant, some slimy algae and four small goldfish; to eat the wrigglers) which they decided to move to the center front of the yard. This is where I will probably put in the herb beds, once I've gotten rid of all the alyssum, and some of the bunch grasses. The question is how to best arrange the parts I leave have wild/native with the other plants. I also want to amend the soil, as it's sand, with some organic material. Nice for onions and leeks (which we planted two-weeks ago) but not the best for most things.
We moved the tokay I potted on Thursday to the angle of the front walkway.
I dug the plants out of the plot I was afforded, leveled the supports for the barrel (which I won't let sit on the bare earth. Not only do I not want the thing to rot, I don't want access to parasites) and then flipped the barrel over and started drilling holes for drainage. The ends of barrel are much thicker than I supposed. They are about two inches thick. I put 7 holes of 5/8th in. into it.
I took the barrel to the supports and started hauling dirt.
A half-barrel is, more or less, 55 gallons of space. It takes, more or less, 3 1/2 cu. ft. of soil, and about a gallon of fine pumice. I have 7 cu. feet of compost, and 2 cu. feet of enriched potting soil (laced with mychorrizidae, and baccilli) The potting soil had brick in it. Crushed and of a good size, but if I'm going to get non porous additions I'd rather have crushed flint (since this is for grapes). The last stuff we used had pumice, it was better in that regard.
So, a bunch of medium (the size people use to fill decorative beds) of red pumice on the bottom (in lieu of screening) to keep the dirt from leaking out the holes, and then a bag of compost. Some pumice, (about the size of split peas) and half a bag of the potting soil. Mix thoroughly. This basic idea was repeated until the barrel was full. In the meanwhile the grape to be moved (the one from the cutting. I think (hope) the parent plant is still alive, but it was a wild grape, in back of Maia's grandparents [where the horses live] and when they get out they eat it to the ground. It's tough as nails, but stunted as all get out. The year I was tending it, with fencing and water, it grew tasty grapes) was soaking in a muck-bucket.
I worked it free. Clayey soil, with lots of flinty bits (not the easiest of things on the hands) and looked at the root ball. Teased it free. The longest root (out of a pot, 14" by 8" dangled about three feet. A bit of trimming and then I scooped out a deeper hole than I was going to put it in. Holding the plant I started adding the dirt back in. I set it down, put in more dirt, lifted it a bit, tamped dirt into the gap, and repeated until it was where I wanted it.
Today I took some pictures Grape. There are four close-ups of a leaf bundle opening up. I love the colors they have, the brown of the dormant bud, the purple of the tips, the fuzzy white of the underneath. There is also a shot of the whole plant, and one of an opened leaf.
I have been using the empty room as studio space(we still haven't found a new roomie, some looking, but no deals. Mixed bag. We've had one who looked, OK, but he smokes, and has that casual air that butts aren't trash [apparently while he was meeting the dogs he pitched one over the fence, into the schoolyard], which afflicts so many smokers), and this morning the sun was out (gone again now, the forecast is for rain in the wee hours) and I moved an orchid in to take some shots.
I saw something I've never seen before... naughty bits. The newest bloom is sporting what I presume to be a stamen. Small, projecting from the hooklike bit on the top of the proboscid bit and convolute as all get out. I tried to get pictures, but the depth of field at greater than 2X magnification is both small, and hard to be certain of. I have some.
I offer them to you as a Valentine
