Big Scary Storms

 
 
 

Last night was a little hairy. We had some wild storms come through. Our house didn't flood, but my sister had an inch of water in her kitchen and their trampoline was mangled by the wind.

We have two large deck umbrellas. Manly left one of them open and it was really blowing around. In the past, I would have gone out in the rain and closed it, but after reading the Lightening Series over at Rock Paper Lizard, I won't do that anymore. It did blow over, but landed in a peach tree and wasn't broken.

Baby Monkey decided he was going out to take care of it. I didn't let him, but doesn't he look prepared?

Manly works at a water plant and he was exhausted when he got home this morning. He rattled off the millions of gallons of water that went through the place, but I was so overwhelmed I can't remember the actual numbers, something like a bazillion an hour.

Over the last week, it looks like we have had between four to six inches of rain. Everything is sodden and smells like earth. It is not supposed to rain again until Tuesday. Maybe we will dry out a little by then. This has to be good for the lakes, but the Trinity river is out of its banks in some places.

It will be too wet to work in the garden for a few days. Don't worry that I won't have anything to blog about as Paul Riddell of The Texas Triffid Ranch will be speaking to our master gardener group tomorrow. I'll bring you the dirt on his carnivorous plant lecture tomorrow.

How's your weather?

Purple and Orange

 

Like most gardeners and quilters, there are colors I am drawn to and colors I shy away from. Purple, pink, yellow, blue, and green are my flower, plant and fabric favorites. I do have some red, but not too much. I avoid orange. I just don't care for it. Well I didn't until today. There it is, a color triad of purple, orange and green. The nasturtium were started from seed. Luck would have it that all of them in the container are orange. The large pot has a variegated ginger plant along with the nasturtium. The orange higher up in the back is a dwarf pomegranate tree in bloom. Of course, the purple blooms are petunias. The confederate jasmine on the fence is in full bloom and the place smells like heaven.

Now I have a new color combination I will use again. Blues are still my favorite, but I won't run away from orange anymore. If you look closely at the picture you will see yet another broken pot. I just can't help myself.

What is your favorite color combination?

Tattoos and Rain Barrels

Here is a picture of the flower I want to have tattood on my foot. Nola says it is going to hurt and my sister, Becca, is threatening to tell Mom.

 
 
 
 

Now onto the important stuff. James and Shala are making a couple of rain barrels and asked if any of us had our own tank. Of course I got excited and turned into a busy body so here we go. Manly made me a rain barrel last year and I love it.

The second picture is the 3000 gallon rain tank at the KCMG Outdoor Education Center. This is the big bad boy. You can pretty much use only rainwater on a landscape with a tank that size.

The next two pictures are my rain barrel and the overflow containers I use to save water. I can water my garden and container plants for about ten days. I also fill my water garden with rainwater. This means that I don't have to treat the water for it to be safe for the fish. I am planning one more rain barrel and overflow containers. This should really cut down on the amount of city water I have to use.

For my first tank, I purchased a food grade container. It had soy sauce in it during a former life. Manly bought a pvc faucet and flex spout. He cut a square, slightly larger than the opening of the flex spout to allow the water to flow from the flex spout into the barrel. He removed the down spout from the gutters, and attached the flex spout. The end of the flex spout slipped just inside of the tank. This kept me from needing screens to keep out mosquitoes. Gutter guards were placed over the gutters to keep leaves and junk out of the barrel. He installed the pvc faucet by using a graduated drill bit making a hole in the lower section of barrel. This hole is small enough that the faucet threads had to be twisted into place. He used pvc glue as well to insure a good seal. We placed the barrel on a cinder block so the water would drain out better

Confession, the first time I emptied the barrel, I pulled on the faucet and caused it to leak. Gorilla glue fixed it up just fine. There is a little bit of sediment in the bottom of the barrel, but it comes out with the last little bit of water, no problem. The best part of this, besides the water of course, was the cost. It cost less than $20. I am getting my next barrel for free from our master gardener group. Sweet.

I found the first barrel at a local feed store and the other fittings came from a plumbing shop and hardware store.

Ingredients
55 gallon barrel
Gutter guards
Flex Spout
PVC faucet
PVC glue
Gorilla glue

Keep on Surfing. This is Not a Real Post.

Okay, nobody has swine flu. We did hose down the library and put out gallons of hand sanitizer. I have got to break myself of licking my fingertips to help separate papers.

I found an artist for my claradendron tattoo.

Maybe tomorrow I will have enough material for a real post. Possibly something about the care and maintenance of carnivorous plants. Stay tuned.

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

No, really, it is a dark and stormy night. The weather dudes are predicting floods. As any good mother would do, I heated up frozen pizzas for dinner tonight. The dog even went on self feed and ate straight from the bag. I tried to get a picture, but as you may know, Abby is camera shy. She has learned what the thing sounds like when I turn it on and runs away. Silly dog. Hopefully, we will not be under water by morning and I can post on some flower or another. They are shutting down schools and canceling sporting events around here because of that pig virus. Wouldn't you know it, Baby Monkey has a cough. Dude, you do not have swine flu, seriously.

Anyway, stay dry.

Wonder Where He Gets it From?

I didn't feel like cooking tonight so Teenage Monkey made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. I wandered outside and found that my Mexican Bird of Paradise is blooming
 
 
I came back inside and found Teenage Monkey doing this. Sandwich flipping. None landed on the ground. I think we may have another man cook in the making.

Maybe I've Gone a Little Overboard

It is raining, so I am indoors doing a little garden planning. This is an exercise in how much stuff I can cram into my little garden. So I started a list and now I am a little afraid.

Vegetables;
Peppers - Habenero, jalapeno, Serrano, chili pequino, sweet bell.
Swiss chard
Lettuce - red, freckles, oak leaf, green leaf, and endive.
Onion - Red, white, yellow
Carrots - Nantes
Tomatoes - Old German, Russian black krim, yellow pear, Avivvi, san marzano, celebrity, green zebra, sweet 100, Mr. Stripey, Ladino di Panacchio, early girl and better boy.
Collards
Squash - Zucchini, yellow crock neck, ronde de nice, some other sort of heirloom zucchini that is light green, acorn squash
Corn - Not popcorn, not this year. Just sweet corn.
Yard long beans and red noodle beans
Sugar snap peas
Potatoes - Yukon gold and sweet potato
Okra
tomatillo
Black eyed peas
Water melon

Herbs
Dill
Rosemary
Sage
Lemon Balm
Lemon Verbena
Basil - sweet and lemon
Thyme - English and lemon
Lemon grass
parsley
thyme
Mexican mint marigold
fennel
Comfrey

I won't even try to list the perennial and annuals that are inter planted amongst the food.