WOOOT! It’s raining. The babies seem to be loving their first rain. I think this is the first time I’ve seen them un taco their leaves since I put them out. I got a surprise day off tomorrow so I’m gunna try to hustle into town in the AM to get more straw and the last few pieces of lumber for the green house. I really want to get that handled while the ground is wet. Sadly it’s starting to look like a sausage fest out there. I’m fairly certain I have one girl and maybe another but the rest are looking pretty suspect. Glad you guys like the pic. I was trying get a pic of the balls but I’m a terrible photographer.
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I almost forgot, I got some pics while there was a break in the rain. Looks like it’s going to be a good one. Its been raining for a few hours now. Here’s to hoping for a good monsoon season this year.
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Yup.
At least we are still breathing on this side of the dirt.
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Everything on the farm is looking good. Not sure where you are in NM but I used to live in Portales and I remember it being so dry. Rain was a myth.
I’m about 40 miles east of Albuquerque in the valley between the Manzanos, Sandias, and Pecos. We get the occasional storm from the gulf that gets hung up on the mountains, but ya, we don’t get much more than 10" a year here.
Everything is looking pretty good. They have been loving the humidity from a few evening rains this week. I have 3 confirmed males so far and the maybe girls are taking their sweet time popping hairs. I am noticing they are starting to lighten just a shade. Looks like the rain did flush them a bit. Good thing I ordered amendments for topdressing last week. I really wish the girls would pop hairs all ready so I could put them in the ground.
The green house has to take a back seat for a week or two while I get the yard and house ready for a new pup and get her settled in. hopefully by then I’ll have girls to put in it.
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I forgot the pics yesterday. I think I’m finally figuring out how to take good close ups. My buddy should be by soon to pickup a male and then the rest of them are getting the axe. Unfortunately the other possibly female was not looking good this morning. I didn’t think to get a pic before I removed the affected leaves. At first I was thinking Mite damage since I saw a webs and some spots a few days ago. It has been undergoing the neem oil treatment in quarantine since. Upon closer inspection today I saw no mites, no webs, no bugs of any kind which is more what I would have expected after a few days of treatment. It also occurs to me that this has been a weak plant for a while now. I think she may have been diseased and the bugs were just hitting the weak plant until I kit them with the spray. One way or another she is going down hill fast and I don’t think I care enough to try to save her.
Female plant, I think this one is a keeper
Male plant
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Whew, been busy busy busy. The greenhouse is 75% complete. I should be ready to order the tarp tomorrow after I get some hardware. I put the 2 girly looking plants in the ground yesterday evening along with some sunflowers and a mix of clover seeds and some of the native clump grass seeds I harvested from the ditch. They got a little wind beaten today but are otherwise looking good. I sent the best of the males with my buddy and threw the rest in the compost pile. Trying to decide if I’m going to plant anything else out there. Perhaps a chili plant or some herbs. I still have a ton of veggie seeds from a few years back I might see if any of them are still good.
As usual duke had to help dig the holes and roll in my dirt.
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You’ve been busy. Duke looks like he’s taken a more supervisory role. Looks like you have plenty of room for bunch of stuff? Dimensions? Covering with visqueen?
Dude im so jealous I would love to be doing that with the summer we’re having here
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The new dog has been keeping me busy too. I decided since she is a big strong dog it’s time to up my training game. Shes too cool a dog, not to invest the time in. I’m going to be starting seeds tomorrow. I have 3 orange hill and 3 white widow from dutch passion coming up to temp in the grow room. I think I’m going to try to train a couple tomato plants in the grow room since I’m going to have a little extra space this time. I think I’m going herbs and peppers and lettuce in the green house since I have a ton of seeds. hopefully some of them are good.
This greenhouse is a relatively small prototype, it’s 10’x6’. Maybe next year I would like to build another much bigger. I have to make sure it can handle 70mph winds before I go bigger though. I’m ordering either a 10 mil nylon reinforced greenhouse cover or and 8 Mil cover I haven’t decided I need the super heavy duty yet. Visqueen and the like aren’t designed for light transmission. Green house plastic is made and tested to allow specified amount of light through and isn’t terribly expensive. Mine is going to be $50-$75. I’m dumb though and should have gone a little longer. I’m going to end up with some waste since I didn’t build to a nominal dimension. That is what I get for trying to cheap out and reuse my grow table/ old futon frame. Should have just bought a few more 2x4’s. I also meant to face the greenhouse the other way, but some dummy didn’t measure when he stuck plants in the ground. I blame Luna, she was supposed to be supervising.
Here is the little one. It was the 5-1 so it’s always been a little behind.
This one on the other had has been one of the bigger ones since day 1. I think it was 2-2
Meatwad hanging out while I type.
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Neither plant looks particularly good. I didn’t have enough soil to fill the hole so I had to layer in some of the clay that came out of the hole. Maybe its not draining well enough. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes to dry out some. Maybe I should have thrown some perlite in the mix I have a ton of it. I also dropped all the 7 year old pepper seeds I had along with a few tomatoes just to test the waters. I don’t really expect much from them.
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So what did you end up doing? Can you spade it up in a wider circle and put crushed gravel in? I’ve been in the muggy south for so long that I’m not sure what growing anything out door in an dry environment is like.
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I love Duke. And Meatwad too.
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For now I’m just going to adjust my watering habits. Watering less and a little more slowly seems to be helping. If I only water twice a week so be it.
Me too, I really didn’t want a third dog, but my buddy had to give Meatwad away. She developed a taste for chicken and they have all sorts of free range birds. He didn’t have the time to train her, and I’m a sucker for a dog with a good personality. That’s how I got duke too. He was a chicken chaser too. Alot of people around here get dogs to look at, and then don’t know what to do when they act like wild animals.
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Spit my coffee, grab a towel.
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Lol, I’m pretty sure every neighbor I’ve ever had thinks I’m crazy. They’re probably right
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Nice looking greenhouse frame. I am impressed. I am also a sucker for pets. I have adopted 4 cats and 2 dogs from clients over the years. People toss them like trash; I look at them as family. Especially once I know them (animals), I sometimes like them more than the clients.
I had to stop working on my greenhouse, and plan to get back to it this week. Water main went out and it was a mess. Right under the high voltage sub panel for my development. I did as much of the digging as I could. The utilities would not let me do some and ordered a vac truck. Made me pay for it though because it was on my side the meter. I said whom was the dumb*SS that ran my water under the power box…?
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I’m not a big cat person, but I love dogs and birds. Cats are only good if they catch mice and don’t pee on everything. That’s how my buddy got Meatwad. Somebody dumped her a few months ago and she decided she wanted to live with him. She just napped out in the front yard and never left. She had just had pups too. Not sure if that was before or after she got dropped.
It’s a pretty common practice to run multiple utilities in the same trench in a subdivision. It save a lot of money in labor. If you are anywhere near power, a lot of places require a vac truck. I’ve dug up my fair share for cell tower sights and It’s serious business. One false move and there won’t be enough of you left to identify. Nothing like a morning pep talk that ends with “don’t f@#k up or your all dead”.
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All the new seeds have germinated except 1 White Widow that I dropped and lost and one of the Orange Hill that will go into soil tomorrow morning. The reticle just wasn’t quite there. I’ve stuck them in the home made soil. There are also 9 tomatoes in there with 3 or 4 seeds each. We will see if any pop up. Since the girls outside were looking better, I went ahead and tied the tops back down.
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