April 9, 2011 - It Just Didn't Work. Or........

If you happen to have a removable dental appliance, it is not wise to store both of these in the same bathroom drawer. Believe me, I know from experience. One of them just doesn't work.


If these three items are sitting on the counter, side by side, make sure you answer the one that says AT&T. Believe me, I know from experience. The other two will not work as a telephone device, no matter how long you hold them up to your ear and yell "Hello...hello...HELLO!"

Have you done anything really stupid this week?


I've been MIA the past few days, because it has been busy, busy, busy around here. First of all, we had a three day celebration for Mr. Granny's 76th. birthday. Thursday he and I ran away for a day of fun and food. Friday our daughters cooked him a birthday dinner. Tonight we took the family out for our April Birthdays Celebration Dinner. Every one of our family members (or their significant others) with a birthday in April, is invited, along with their families. We had nine in attendance tonight, with one birthday guy missing due to illness. The greatest thing about Mr. Granny's birthday is that I don't have to cook for three days in a row!


Happy birthday Mr. Granny!


The weather decided to turn nice the past two days, so I did manage to get some gardening done. Today I got all the rest of my broccoli and cabbages planted, seeded a row of kale, a row of turnips, a double row of spinach, and a double row of radishes. I pounded six lengths of rebar into the edges of the spinach/kale/beet/turnip bed and put up two hoops. I cut and glued the center fitting to the third (middle) hoop, let it set a while, then tried to bend it onto the rebar....the glue failed, and one piece popped out. I reglued (brand new blue glue for PVC) and I'm letting it set overnight before I try it again. I may have to give up trying to tie the three hoops together using PVC fittings, and just zip tie a top bar to the hoops for stability. I need to get them done and get the netting on before the leaf miner flies appear!

I have to do something different with the lights in the mini greenhouse. Some of the tomatoes are so tall they are touching the lights now, so the upper shelf needs to be removed to make room for them. There's still 3-4 weeks left until they can be planted outside, and they are really large, sturdy plants right now.

I'll be ready with the egg shells when it comes time to plant the tomatoes. I've been rinsing them out and tossing them into a little bucket to dry, and yesterday I got them all out and ground them to a powder in the food processor. I'm planning on 12-14 plants this year, so I tossed in 14 aspirin tablets and a handful of outdated calcium tablets as well.



I'll give each plant a heaping spoonful at planting time. Will they help the tomato plants? Who knows....I did the same thing last year and grew great tomatoes, so I know it won't hurt!

36 comments:

  1. Happy birthday Mr Granny! I was once eating an ice-cream and answered the phone. I found that phones don't taste that good and ice-cream in the ear isn't pleasant.

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  2. Happy Birthday to Mr. Granny! Loved your opening, my husband wanted to know what I was laughing at. I've been saving eggshells too for my tomatoes, never thought of grinding them to a powder in the food processor. Thanks for the tip!

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  3. Egg shells help tomatoes? Thank goodness I compost a ton of them! I add Epsom Salts with my AP fertilizer when I plant. Intesting concept.

    Happy Birthday Mr. G!

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  4. Oh yes, I've answered the remote and tried to punch in TV channels on the phone. Any day now I'm going to brush my teeth with diaper rash ointment.

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  5. I've yet to grind my eggshells. I've got so many this year My townhouse mates now save theirs and give them to me. So I have double my normal. I guess I'm growing double my normal tomatoes this year too so its good.

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  6. Happy BD Mr.Granny!! So the ant-itch cream didn't work too well on your dental appliance?? When I was working, I found out that the calculator doesn't dial out well either!!

    I always use ground egg shells when planting my tomatoes. But I didn't know about the aspirin and calcium tablets. Maybe I will give it a try.

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  7. That could NOT have tasted good! :) Happy Birthday to Mr. Granny!

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  8. I would like to add on to the list of birthday greetings that Mr. Granny has received. Many happy wishes coming your way, Mr. Granny.

    Didn't know that egg shells would help. This is a tip that I will put to use soon as I have just sowed some tomato seeds.Thanks, Gran.

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  9. Happy Birthday Mr. Granny! I love how you pulverized those egg shells and will have to try that as we always feed them to our tomatoes too.

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  10. Oh yes, I have done many similar stupid things LOL! Happy Birthday, Mr. Granny!!

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  11. Last month, I put A&D diaper cream on my toothbrush instead of toothpaste. I will NEVER forget the taste or sensation!!! I scrubbed my tongue with a washcloth and threw out my toothbrush. *sigh*

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  12. "Happy Birthday Mr. Granny!"
    I am still gigglin over the tubes and remotes ;-)

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  13. Hazel, Dianefaith and Ivy Mae, you all gave me a good laugh. I'm glad I'm not the only one! :-D

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    Robin, the egg shells are for adding calcium to the soil, so why not old calcium tablets? They expired three years ago, and you probably know how huge those bottles of them from Costco are. Daphne used aspirin as a spray, but I have an article written by Cynthia Sandburg on growing tomatoes, and she uses two tablets per plant in the planting hole. I just figured grinding them up with the eggshells would distribute them better.

    http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/instructions-on-how-to-gr.html

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    Sinfonian and J. C., I'll refer you to the same tomato growing article as above, that I got from Thomas.

    http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/instructions-on-how-to-gr.html

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    Alison, it's much easier to store them when they're ground up, and the powder makes the calcium more readily available to the plant.

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    Daphne, you're growing double, and I'm growing half!

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    Megan, luckily I saw the difference in color before I put the partial in my mouth!

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    To all: Mr. Granny says "Thank you for the birthday wishes".

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  14. Toodie, a giggle a day keeps the doctor away!

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  15. ha! i've mistaken salt for sugar... and plenty of other dodo bird things i can't think of right now.=)

    happy birthday, mr. granny!

    should i be putting hoops on my beds? what do you use yours for?

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  16. Kelli, I lose my spinach and beet greens to leaf miners every year, so I'm putting netting over hoops to try to keep out the fly that causes the damage. We'll see if it works. I got some floating row cover, but I'm afraid it would get too hot under it for those cool weather crops, so I went to the fabric store and bought net. If it doesn't work, I'll be making a lifetime supply of pot scrubbers from it!

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  17. No wonder you had great tomato.... very clinically done, right down to aspirin!

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  18. Happy Birthday to Mr Granny, have a wonderful time and count most of your blessings :o)
    I like the idea of grinding up the egg shells , think I'll try it too...thanks for the posting.

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  19. ohhh. something munched some of my greens too last year. maybe i'll try that to keep the critters out. i'd also like to try the hoops for winter gardening, though i'm not sure what do when it snows!

    i have another question... about zucchini - someone told me to sow a few seeds together and grow two or three plants in one 3X3 plot. will they get too crowded? and is there a way to prevent the white stuff that killed my zuke plant last year?

    thanks granny!

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  20. Happy Birthday to Mr.Granny!! I've never used egg shells in my garden, ever. Just planting in compost in full sun, produces tons of tomatoes for us:) This year, I'll try cow manure with compost and see how that works!

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  21. Bangchik, it works! None of my tomatoes get headaches ;-)

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    Ginny, You're welcome.

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    Kelli, I think that heavy plastic on the hoops works for winter snow.

    Your zuke was killed by powdery mildew. I have read that milk sprays will help, but I've never been diligent enough to even try it, I just cut off the bad leaves until I can't cut any more, then pull them out. Of course, try to keep water off the leaves and give them plenty of air circulation.

    Milk is an effective spray for powdery mildew. Mix the milk at a ratio of one part of milk to nine parts of water and spray weekly. Do NOT go higher than 3 milk to 9 water or you’ll attract other fungus problems that want to feed on the milk. Skim milk works well as it contains no fat to turn rancid (and attract other problems that like the smell of rotting fats.)

    Read more: http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/powdery-mildew.html#ixzz1J8xIuE7X


    I plant three seeds in a hill, then thin to the strongest two. You could probably get two in that space, but expect them to run over the sides of the bed. Last year I had 2 plants in a 4x4 spot, and had to pull one of them as they got so large. That one plant was at least 8'x8', and went way out of the garden and onto the lawn.

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    Random, the egg shells are supposed to provide the calcium needed to prevent bottom end rot. Grinding them to a powder makes the calcium more readily available to the plant.

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  22. thanks granny! you're the best!xo

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  23. I'm none too good first thing in the mornings (my excuse, anyway). The other day I sprayed shaving foam under my arm instead of deoderant. Made quite a mess on both me and the floor and almost woke me up!

    Thanks for the puppy good wishes.

    Johnson

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  24. I also use aspirin in the planting hole of tomatoes along with crushed eggshells or crushed oyster shell, organic feritilizer, and some epsom salts. It does seem to give the plants a real nutritiounal boost and some initial defense against disease.

    I seem to always be doing stupid things but now that you ask I cannot think of a one to pass along! Trust me though... they happen daily.

    Happy birthday to Mr. Granny!

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  25. Johnson, I have sprayed my underarms with hairspray! No, I didn't walk around all day with my arms in the air :-)

    The puppies are so very precious, as is their mother.

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  26. Happy Birthday to all with an April B'day.

    True story: Nurse Shari, helping a patient with her bedpan, reached into the bedside drawer, grabbed a tin of talcum powder and generously sprinkled for patient's comfort.

    When others went to help the patient off the bedpan, she was STUCK. Denture adhesive powder was what was the in the tin nurse failed to read....

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  27. NellJean, how funny! Of course, it probably wasn't very funny for the poor patient ;-)

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  28. I have a question! :)

    Do you put the egg shell powder on the surface or in the hole that the plant is going into?

    I was thinking that I'd also spread some crumbled egg shells along the surface in the HOPES that it would deter the nasty green hornworm from crawling across the dirt to make a meal of my tomatoes..

    What do you think?

    ~Wendy

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  29. Wendy, I put it at the bottom of the planting hole, along with a scoop of compost, then stir it all into the soil a bit before setting in the plant.

    The only way I ever controlled horn worms was to watch for them and pick them off into a bucket of soapy water. I've been known to also snip them in half with the scissors once they're in the water. I think BT is about the only chemical control you can use, but I'm quite sure eggshells on the ground would not work, as they are the larvae of a pretty moth that lays eggs on the plant.

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  30. ok, thank you! I do the soapy water thing too. I've yet to ever see the moth that lays the eggs that create those gi-normous monsters. My daughter thinks it's horrible that I kill them.. she thinks they're cute.

    :)

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  31. Wendy, I used to see them on my tomato plants all the time, and they were HUGE! I haven't seen any at all in several years now, knock on wood. I don't know why they've disappeared, but I'm happy they did.

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  32. LOL! It's good to know I'm not the only one who does dumb stuff like that. Thanks for the giggle!.
    As for the hornworms, I hate to even touch them. I usually just chop them in half right where they are, then laugh manically as the ants eat them up!!!

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  33. SB, you mean you do dumb things too? LOL! I'm glad I'm not alone.

    I have wire worms....I mean my garden does, not me personally. I'm getting so brave I can almost stand to squish them between my bare fingers now! When had wood sides around the beds, I'd lay them on the wood and them step and squish. Now I have to either smash between my fingers or fling them out into the grass. I don't know if they can find their way back into the garden from the grass or not.

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  34. I can tell you where all your hornworms are Granny... they've all migrated down to my yard! :P

    I had 10 tomato plants last year and was picking off at least 4-6 hornworms PER plant, and they were all different sizes from the lil baby ones to the HUGE fat ones..

    When the wild child was about 13 he started using his bb gun on them.. I wasn't sure whether to be proud.. or just plain disgusted!! ugh. boys will be boys I guess.

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  35. Well now, Wendy, you could at least thank me for sending you my pets!

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