|
|
Post by steev on Feb 26, 2014 4:31:17 GMT -5
That flake stone is quartz, very pretty. I think it'll make an excellent walkway on cement; not that I can catch up to richardw, who is clearly both younger and further ahead than I, in his construction.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Feb 27, 2014 21:57:13 GMT -5
'Sposed to rain tomorrow; very welcome. In any event, I've an appointment to meet the second extinguisher guy to trans-truck a load of mono-ammonium phosphate, which I'll haul to the farm Saturday, going to my week-end of "Manuel Labor", my alter-ego; no phone-booths required (nobody knows who I am, regardless). I'm not just under the radar; I'm beneath the radar's notice! There is freedom in insignificance!
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Mar 8, 2014 0:54:54 GMT -5
Trans-trucked another load of MAP (Wow! I've gone acronymic.) today. Like the long-previously-posted shelving, they're so grateful that I almost feel guilty. My return of the empty buckets and lids was greeted as really-not-expected largess. I feel like I'm taking advantage of their failure to be ecologically integrated. Haven't asked; expect they've got bitty yards; I'll ask.
On down the road, I'll give 'em some zukes....'kay, some cukes and tomatoes and stuff. No obligation, you understand; I'm doing them a favor (so far as they know).
Finished the load with free bunny-bedding and stone scrap; off to the farm in the morning.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Apr 1, 2014 18:11:40 GMT -5
Scored 94 square-feet of ceramic floor tiles free; show-room samples, mostly porcelain, assorted greys, browns, and creams. I think that's enough to floor the farm-house bathroom. I don't think any two are the same, but I don't care; I'll enjoy sitting there thinking how much that designer tile didn't cost.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Apr 8, 2014 1:36:34 GMT -5
The local discount store has a large quantity of blueberry plants. They've been trying to sell one-year plants in three inch pots for $4.99. Suddenly, they have lots of two-year plants for $1.99. They're in gro-bags, not pots, and unlabelled as to variety (though they seem all the same); I think it's some commercial grower that hasn't been able to sell them to farmers due to the drought and doesn't want to water them in their growing-yard for another year. It's an ill wind that blows no good; I bought a bunch to pot up and plant out next Fall, when the rain will doubtless return.
I'm already digging holes for trees I want to plant out next Fall (poor things are in pots, still); well, I have to do it while the soil is moist, before it turns to concrete.
|
|
|
|
Post by templeton on Apr 8, 2014 4:46:02 GMT -5
Steev, I love the expression of your scrounge gene. I've been extracting the pebbles and chunks of silurian mudstone and bits of quartz (from the old gold crusher in the waste ground up the hill that have migrated down slope over the decades)from my vege beds, and throwing them on my saffron bed gravel mulch. Not quite junk, more industrial pollution, albeit Victorian (temporal rather than geographical)in origin.
Been eyeing off the window in the back of the twin cab across the road where a tradie is doing a renovation on an old 60's home...except I can't think of a use for it - already got skylights stacked in the backyard that are yet to be deployed as coldframes.
T
|
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Apr 8, 2014 16:41:40 GMT -5
Steev, gophers love blueberries. Grow bags might not be a bad idea.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Apr 8, 2014 19:56:16 GMT -5
Mmmm. Blueberry-fed gopher!
Actually, I was thinking to plant them in a wired trench with asparagus, which I figure will be past its cutting season by the time the blueberries are very leafed out.
|
|
|
|
Post by philagardener on Apr 8, 2014 20:55:03 GMT -5
Mmmm. Blueberry-fed gopher! Just think of all those anti-oxidants! Might prevent body rust  |
|
|
|
Post by steev on Apr 9, 2014 22:11:17 GMT -5
Think I'm more prone to powdery mildew.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Jun 3, 2014 22:22:51 GMT -5
Got a call from the first MAP guy; he's got a full load for me; damn. I've got a full load of oak and bunny-bedding to haul out. It's an embarrassment of riches; I will persevere; it's not as easy keeping up with "scrounger's bounty" as one might suppose. It's no wonder to me that I have to replace my truck's transmission so often. I think I can blow him off 'til next week.
Have to say, the tomatoes I dressed with this MAP are growing like Topsy.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Jun 16, 2014 20:13:53 GMT -5
I was going to side-dress things with a thin (so as not to burn) solution of that MAP; I put 2 spoons in 4 gallons of water and hit it with a paint-stirrer chucked in my drill. Whoops! Doesn't want to dissolve, nor even wet. Having had one bucket that had had water in it for some time, apparently, such that it, being left tipped to drain and dry, became a very solid, hard mass, I know this stuff dissolves, although apparently slowly and sparingly. I put some shampoo in the bucket as a wetting agent, but results were not encouraging. Left the bucket to its own processes until next week.
If I can only work it in dry, that's still good, as it really does the job. Its apparent reluctant solubility is actually probably a good thing, given the drainage-proneness of my soil, where readily-soluble nutrients can be quickly leached below use, when it rains (not that that's any threat before late October, when the rains will surely copiously return, Inshallah!).
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Jun 24, 2014 18:45:22 GMT -5
Scored another load of "free to a good home" high-end (Italian!) tile, discontinued floor samples. I think a fully-tiled (except the ceiling) bathroom is coming into focus; when I sing in the shower or make any noise, just think of the acoustics!
|
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Jun 24, 2014 21:15:21 GMT -5
And when you next come to the farm, I have several boxes of tile that you can have.
|
|
|
|
Post by steev on Jun 24, 2014 21:47:23 GMT -5
Oooh! What a "come hither" cherry on top of your cooking, no question! Can't understand why Leo is as skinny as I am.
|
|
