I did good, I got the blocks for the planters

I was busy, I got the concrete blocks for our little raised bed planters hoping that they will drain fast enough for the plants that don’t like wet feet. The soil is a mixture of good black topsoil and wood shavings from the chicken coop. We’re hoping that mixture will drain fast enough for the sensitive plants.

This is what is left of a trailer load (4’X8’X2’) of good black topsoil. It comes complete with worms, ants and who knows what plant life. Mixing it with the wood shavings makes it easy to pull the weeds.

This is our new horseradish bed. The plants are already perking up thou it is hard to see here. Lots of good wood shavings.

A planter full of spinach and some starts of oregano. We should end up with more of each than we can use, we’ll share all the excess.

Some starts of aloe for anyone who might want some. The plant on the right is an herb that has a licorice flavor but neither of us remember its name. At the bottom of the photo is turmeric. I'll pick up more concrete blocks for at least one more planter, well that is what Caroline says. The next one is already started waiting for more blocks.

The Jade we had in the front outside planter was getting crowded out so it has been temporarily potted in plastic till we can get some nice clay pots for them. Oh, the little guy was one I bought not understanding the fellow that gave the name, the leaves then were just round and the stalk did not look like a Jade plant but it do now. Je! Je! Je!

We could not get by without some entertaining wrestling matches. Here is Daniel and Miss Kitty having a match.

Then Aly had to get into the action with Daniel while Miss Kitty observes. For some reason unknown these two love to fuss around this plant in the cage (the reason for the cage) and these rocks. They play paws under the bigger rock below Aly’s head, oh, and of course under the bottom of the wire cage.

I also had to included a photo of Momma PJ and the two guinea keets. She is taking a dust bath in the wood shavings which filled the plastic green dish to her right and also some got on the keets. These wood shavings aren’t the good shavings (lots of fines) we get but those shavings are vented outside at the sawmill and are now wet all the time. As soon as we get a few days without rain I’ll rush over and get 10/15 bags full.

The elephant ears are growing like weeds. They get all the moisture they like from the water dish for the chickens which KitCat aka Ning shares with them. I feed the fermented feed for the chickens in a dog dish on the sidewalk about where I am standing so the excess and water that collects in the bowl gets tossed around the plants where it adds to the soil.

Here is one for the expert tree folks, I do not know the name of this tree but it has these, what I guess you call flowers and berries. Next photo shows the tree better.

The leaves remind me of the sensitive plant, Mimosa, that we had when I was a kid, eons ago but the blossoms are different. Could it be a Dormilona?

Our coffee plant struggles to keep its leaves and berries. No idea why it hasn’t shot up more unless the soil was very, very short on cal dolomita which I found and added the first of the month, I didn’t know it needed a lot of this till I was talking to a person who raised coffee. The soil it is planted in was 50/50 clay and abono which may not have been all of what it needed, now we will see how well it does.

The golden dewdrops are doing much better but I have no idea what causes the little black dots on their leaves. There are more and much fuller berries on some of the trees, perhaps they too liked the added cal dolomita. Being that the back yard was really disturbed when the house was remodeled the topsoil got turned under and the ol’ clay came to the top so I took several buckets full of cal dolomita and scattered it around the yard trying to improve the soil. I’ll get another 50 kilo bag and do some more scattering around the yard.

And this is Patches our ol’ friend from the states. We brought her and our other old cat, Coal, on the airplane when we moved here 4 years ago. She loves to roll in the wood shavings but wouldn’t pose for a good photo of her showing her face, no she is not shy.

The garden is mostly cleaned up, enough so I can install my watering system which is PVC pipe with very small holes spaced along its length. There are two advantages to what I am doing. Water will be better distributed all over the garden and with a mechanical timer I can set it and know the whole are is well watered when it needs it (and walk away).

Funny thing, the two new quail which were raised in close human contact are more nervous when I get near than the other ones we’ve had. The older ones hardly pay any attention to me when I’m in the garden area but these new quail try to fly and butt the fencing trying to get away. They’ll settle down over time I imagine.

 In the morning while it is still dark thirty I’ll get Henrietta the little black bantam hen and put her in the garden area to scratch around in the dirt getting bugs and old seed from the parakeets. The quail do not get up in the garden dirt even with the ladder I built for them.

This was taken some time ago of Henrietta. She has the strangest voice, there are times she sounds like a duck and then she can sound like an old rusty hinge needing oil but she is a good brooder and a great mom.

Well I guess I should get this posted, the tummy is saying it is dinner time and I do like a good dinner. I’ve been thinking it is about time for a good meal of chicken and dumplings, soooooo good tasting but soooooo bad for the calories. . . . .

Art

So much to do so little time!