Fingers Crossed

We have a lace leaf Hydranga on one side of the yard.  We decided to move it to another side of the yard.  Of course, I make this decision after it's already started to come back to life.  That's how I roll.

I also realized as my son and I were digging that the cinder block wall put in before we moved in runs right over half the root ball, so there was a large amount of sweating, grunting, swearing...and that was just the boy.

We finally got it moved.  So, fingers crossed as this is one of my wife's favorite plants.

The Never Ending Side of the Back...

The great daylilly experiment was an absolute failure.  So, we replaced them with boxwoods.  In the front near the grass, we're going to drop in some annuals.  I moved some of the surviving daylillies over to near the shed.  We also added some Peacock Irises, Cordilyne "Cha Cha" and Cordilyne "Electric Pink.  Lastly, I moved the Pink Panther Phormeum from the front yard where it was getting it's ass handed to it by the lavender.

Lastly, the orange tree has been ripped from the ground and I dropped a multi-trunk white Crepe Myrtle in its place.  Only, it's more of a stick at the moment, so I'll get a picture of it when it actually has some leaves and doesn't look like, well, a freaking stick.

See, We Still Grow Stuff

It's been a while, but we're still pluggin' away here at Castle Turling.  I got one of the two raised beds to actually grow some winter vegetables.  That we ate!

In this bed is broccoli first and foremost.  We're coming to the end of the season.  It was 91F today, so I'm guessing this won't last much longer.

I also planted a ton of lettuce, not realizing just how far lettuce goes.  I've been trimming away at it for salads and it just keeps on growing.  I think I'll put in about half next year.  I also have carrots, onions and garlic in here.

I also put in winter squash, but I'm guessing winter squash is named using the same reasoning as Iceland and Greenland, meaning winter squash needs to be planted in the summer.  Because this stuff sprouted and took one look at the weather and immediately died.  Bastards.

Anyway, the summer raised bed will get planted soon.  Then, I'll do a second planting in the winter bed after it's been cleared out, which I'm guessing will not be long from now.  In the meantime, I'll keep enjoying that lettuce.

No Wonder My Tomatoes Were Crap

Yes, that is a tomato worm.  And, yes, it's as big as my freaking femur!  Nobody tells you they blend so well.  I found three of these when we ripped the tomatoes out a while back.  I'm sure there were 276 I didn't find.  Bastards.

Selling the Beast

The time has come to say goodbye to the Beast.  It's up for sale!  As soon as I take some more pictures, it will be on E-Bay. 

It runs well. In the last 2 years/5,000 miles have done the following:

New all-terrain tires.
New exchaust from headers back done by OC Muffler.
Rebuilt transmission and new clutch by Chino Hills Transmission.
Upgraded standard brakes to power brakes, new lines, new front calipers and pads.
Replaced fuel tank, fuel lines, fuel pump and fuel filter.
New starter, battery and ignition switch.
Have new rag joint, not installed, but will be included in purchase.
Replaced front u-bolts.
Replaced mirrors with stock mirrors. (One's in picture have been replaced)
New rear shocks.

Problems: Leaks oil (but, it is a Scout, so there you go), speedometer/odometer non-operational

Why am I selling it you may ask...because I'll be getting one of these (mom, don't look):

Going to have a hell of a time getting 3cf bags of compost in the side saddles, but where there's a will, there's a way.

Finally

Spurs 3, Manchester United 2.  First win for Spurs at United in 22 years.  I need a beer..

My Vegetables Are Irrigated

Unfortunately, they're nearly dead.

I do not say that due to my inability to water by hand, which I am incapable of doing in a consistent manner.  No, we have entered our Southern California "Autumn".  I say this because our day time temperatures still hover around 100 F (38C), but our nights are dropping into the 50's F (10's C).  This means my peppers have given up hope (although I have one plant that has a few clinging to life) and the tomatoes have said adios.  Perfect time for me to get the irrigation done.

I plan on sowing a lot of seeds directly into the garden as opposed to starting them indoors and then moving them outside.  As such, it occurred to me that a pure drip system may not work as half, if not more, of the seeds will never get water.  We don't get rain, so just get that thought out of your head right now.  The only water I get is what California steals from Arizona!  Ok, Arizonians, put those weapons down.  They're crazy, you know.

(As a complete aside, my boss at work has a son in college.  This particular college requires them to take a 5 week course studying abroad.  Their choices?  Czech Republic, Italy, Hong Kong and...Arizona.  Yea, they're out there.)

I decided to put some sprayers out instead of drip emitters.  Unfortunately, these aren't cutting it.  Notice the streams above?  Makes a nice set of stripes.  Not what I'm looking for.

I also set a row of 360 sprayers down the middle.  Unfortunately, again, not what I had in mind.  They spray fine....about 3 inches.  You unscrew the top to get more spray.  At inch 4 the top popped off and I got a face full of water.  A very Three Stooges moment.

So, I'm going online to dripirrigation.com to find something that might work better.  I've always had good luck with them.  I'm not linking, as they don't pay me.  And, I'm lazy.

I also ran into a problem from my last post.  You may remember that I linked into the wrong side of the zone I'm tying this irrigation into.  Now that I've linked into the correct side, I've realized that I didn't bother capping any of the sprinkler heads I'm no longer using.  Think Caddyshack.  Yea, it was that bad.