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Deluxestogie Grow Log 2018

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Bex

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Strange, midges? I had never heard of them until I came over here. We never had midges on Long Island (NY). Here, where the trees from either side of the road form a canopy, the midges cluster in little clouds. When I first got my moped, I quickly learned to ride around with my mouth shut, as you’d get a clump of them as you drove through those clouds. Although I’ve never worked in the bog, that’s one of the things that people talk about here - on a good summer’s day, you’d go to the bog to deal with your turf, and be totally eaten by midges.
Conversely, I haven’t seen a mosquito in 21 years, they apparently don’t have them here.

Did you ever see the tv show ‘Top Gear’? They did a thing with a Toyota pick up - they drowned it in sea water, set it on fire, demolished it, etc. At each point, they could only do whatever repair with hand tools. It was totally smashed up - but at the end of all was driven into the studio. They couldn’t destroy it. I think Toyota actually makes the best cars in the world. My little Tracker was actually made by Suzuki - so not so bad - it’s a rebadged Suzuki Sidekick. The rust is a constant battle, sadly......
 

deluxestogie

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A quick inspection of the detail listing for nearly every camping tent on sale will include the phrase, "no-see-um netting". They know. [Somehow, Daddy Long Legs "spiders" always managed to get inside.]

About mosquitoes in Ireland, if you simply look at the historical regions in which there were natural outbreaks of malaria or yellow fever (Mediterranean basin, South Asia, Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, coastal east of North America, Central America, Caribbean, and tropical/sub-tropical South America), those locations are natural mosquito habitat--at least for the disease-carrying species.

In 1793, the entire US government (then based in Philadelphia, since the synthetic city of Washington, D.C. had not yet been carved out of unwanted swamp land) had to flee to the hinterland, because of a yellow fever epidemic. Ancient Rome learned to drain the swamps of the capital city. It took the rest of us a couple of thousand years longer to figure it out. (Of course, they thought it was the stinky air released from swamps that caused disease.)

Bob
 

Bex

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When I was very young, back in the 50’s, we lived in a new development that had initially been a golf course. We lived there from 1952-1960. Every Friday, the ‘fog man’ would come around with this machine and a terrible smelling gas that it emitted. It terrified me, and if we were in the car, I would start screaming that we needed to get home, as the ‘fog man’ was coming. Years later, I found out that they were spraying DDT.....
 

CobGuy

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When I was very young, back in the 50’s, we lived in a new development that had initially been a golf course. We lived there from 1952-1960. Every Friday, the ‘fog man’ would come around with this machine and a terrible smelling gas that it emitted. It terrified me, and if we were in the car, I would start screaming that we needed to get home, as the ‘fog man’ was coming. Years later, I found out that they were spraying DDT.....

I recall those foggers, as well. They came at dusk and it was a couple times a week.
We have Tiger Mosquitoes here now ... thanks Asia ... and sometimes I wish they were still spraying.
The bites are much worse than the normal variety and itch like mad.
 

deluxestogie

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Today, I measured and marked out my new garden bed for next season (pink area below). I had intended to toast the area with a garden torch, but was out of propane, so I brought out the glyphosate spray, and marked the margins for now.

Garden_Layout2018_final.jpg


I also plan to abandon the western (right hand) half of the bed that grew Long Red during the 2018 season. The eastern half did fine, while the plants in the western half were runted by the pine roots.

I haven't decided what varieties I'll grow in 2019. [But doesn't this post make it look like I'm doing something besides sitting on my butt, enjoying that the harvest is over?]

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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I know where I can get some Paraquat. Just kidding, I wouldn't handle that nasty stuff myself. I do know where to get it though. We used to sell its aquatic cousin Diquat. It has been a lot of years since I was in that business, and I'm still amazed that a lot of that poisonous stuff is still on the market.

I'm glad for you that you're done with harvest. I'm only about half way done. The pace will pick up around my place starting next week. I'll post some photos to my blog as more activity develops. Meanwhile, I've got to go to bed. I have to be out the door tomorrow by about 05:15 local. Ugh!

Wes H.
 

Bex

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Asparagus. How long has your asparagus bed been going and how many plants do you have? When I first moved here, with my idea of being ‘self sufficient’, one of the first things I did was plant asparagus. I couldn’t find crowns, so did them from seeds. I had about 10 plants going for years - about 5 of the originals are left (20 years later) and I’ve got some 2 year olds that are coming on. My favorite vegetable....
 

deluxestogie

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I was able to purchase crowns (10 of them) at least 10 maybe 15 years ago. If I can keep the bed clean of weeds, it yields more asparagus than I can consume. It's nice, though, to know that at any point in the summer, I can just say, "Enough!", and allow it all to go to seed. This summer, with everything late and behind, the asparagus got away from me early on. Next year will be better.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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My asparagus is Jersey Knight, and is supposed to be "mostly" male plants. It decided to be gender flexible. So I have many hundreds of bright red, poisonous berries every year.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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For commercial purposes, asparagus has a lifespan of 25 years. After that many years the rows become too disorderly to harvest economically. The crowns can live much longer. Asparagus is a springtime delight. Nothing's better than some sweet fresh mammoth 'grass.

Wes H.

...There used to be an asparagus cannery in my home town.
 

deluxestogie

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I'm going slightly nuts this morning. My ISP servers (hosting my websites and my personal email server) are apparently having issues. I can't get my email, or upload material to my sites by FTP. After a hurricane a few years ago caused problems with my ISP is North Carolina, I moved to one in California. Maybe the servers just need to be watered.

I'm now noticing difficulty in reaching a number of other websites. So maybe an Internet trunk line or two is under water in the south-east, or some key DNS servers are out.

"We are temporarily experiencing difficulty getting your heart to beat. Please be patient, and enjoy the rest of your body, while we speedily remedy that limited issue."

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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I sit on my porch in awe. Thousands of pounds of birds just flew over, and continue to do so. At over 12 pounds each, Canada geese, which easily number two or three dozen in a small V-formation, go by at dusk each evening, one flight after another. Their constant squawking guarantees that I can't miss them.

It's interesting to recall that a pair of annoyed geese on the ground can be an intimidating sight. Even a single goose among a flock of chickens or ducks can often frighten away an approaching predator. Yet hundreds of them just sailed along through the sky in perfect formations.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Sounds like you need a long barreled shotgun with 3" magnum loads. Or, if you really like recoil, get a 3 1/2" shell turkey gun. In the word's of a former coworker "I want to be able to reach out and touch those birds at 75 yards!" This was said by a 5' 3" blonde female.

Wes H.
 
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