Thursday, June 23, 2022

The good, the bad and the ugly

First, the good:

The third shipment of books

I am a fan of Don Camillo.






Mrs ERJ and I planted the extra watermelon seedlings from the grafting project. We put in 4 Blacktail Mountain, 6 Kholodoc, 5 Wibb and 6 Wilson Sweet. Unfortunately, we had Zeus out in the garden and he decided to help by digging...digging out the newly planted seedlings.

A grafted Lehman's Delight persimmon pushing buds.

A cluster of Saint Paul grapes. Saint Paul is a creation of Chateau Bortnov

Good fruit set on this pear tree

The bad

The east end of the garden looks a little rough.

The orchard needs mowing

I did a little weeding. At age 63 I am getting the hang of flipping the hand-pulled bundles of weeds so the roots land on top of the tops from the previous handful. That reduces the likelihood of them re-rooting and continuing to grow.

The ugly

The potato patch where I was weeding

Fire-blight strikes on quince. This is Tashkent which appears to be the most vulnerable.

8 comments:

  1. I remember last year your tater patch was overrun with weeds. Its becoming a tradition.

    For not much money (although more than you spend now) you could roll out a poly sheet. Then cover with layer of dirt (to protect from UV).
    I imagine you have considered this. My question is why haven't you?

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    1. I want to think that the garden would be in much better shape if I had not been hit by a car and my doctor had not ordered me to stay off my feet.

      Call me an optimist.

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  2. Big fan of 1491 and 1493. Very eye opening books.

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  3. You are sure blessed with those books your friend has sent to you. Hopefully when you are older your family will want to keep them and you will not be looking for someone outside to bless with them. I can see that becoming an issue for me in a few years and it's a sad position to be in. ---ken

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  4. Good books, and good luck with the garden!

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  5. Joe writing: Thank-you, sir. As I get more capability I hope to get things under control. Next doctor's visit is in a week!

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  6. Check your nearby libraries for Don Camillo books. If they haven't been checked out recently, you might be able buy them very cheaply; at the least, you can enjoy them.

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  7. I used to have the Audel's carpentry/builders series. Maybe I still have them in a box somewhere.

    I also have two books by Fred Hodges, one just on the many uses of the carpenter's/framing square, and the other on carpentry and joinery in general. One is from 1905, I think and the other is from 1911 or so.

    I just packed a box of "extra tools" to send to my grandson, who has shown an interest in carpentry. In the box, I included a speed square, a combination square, a block plane and extra Stanley no. 4 smoothing plane I have. A brass 16 oz. Plumb bob, nail puller, torpedo level and an extra Bosch laser plumb device I had. I also included a Hen and Rooster pocket knife and a small roll of carving tools. Also included in the box is a book on reading blueprints for the builder, a carpentry textbook, a woodworking book on joinery by Tage Frid and a book on woodcarving. I also gave him my copy of " The Diary of an Àmerican Boy" by Eric Sloane. I hope he will enjoy reading them and learning from them.

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