March 9, 2012 - Busy Day & Another Blogger Problem


Recently my name is showing up as Annie & # 39 ; s Granny ( I have to use spaces, or it changes to a comma when I save it), rather than Annie's Granny. It just started, so Blogger must have changed something in their HTML code. It's not a new problem with Blogger, complaints go back several years but the threads all end up being closed without an answer, just an admonishment to stop trying to respond to an old thread and start a new one. Well, people have started many, with no answers from Blogger. It looks like I'll have to change my name to "The Granny of Annie", "Annies Granny" (which is just wrong!) or just plain "Granny" and confuse everybody. If any of you know how to fix this, I'll be forever grateful!

Yesterday was a hard work day! My son-in-law couldn't make it to pick up the sod (he'll be here later today), so I had to find something else to keep me busy. I had wanted to move the dog kennel over about 3-4 feet, until it was right up against the neighbor's fence, so I raked out all the leaves and pulled the dead morning glory vines off of the chain link, and then I pushed. And I pulled. And I leaned my entire body into it and pushed with all my might. It didn't even budge an inch! I guess the kennel stays right where it is.

I moved on from that chore, and double dug a 4x4 raised bed, thinking I would soon find time to plant it with peas. I amended the bed with composted manure, raked it all nice and smooth, then dug five nice straight furrows with the hoe. That would have given me the equivalent of a 20' row of shelling peas. I went in and pulled out my two packets of peas, planning to soak them overnight, but when I opened the packets, there weren't very many peas in there! Actually, there were only 36 peas between the two packets, which wouldn't have planted even one of the four foot rows. Plans changed, furrows were raked smooth again, and I'll likely plant a few radishes right away and in May a couple of cucumbers in a bucket, surrounded with a ring of green beans.

I turned my back for a second and Annie scooted under the unfinished section of fencing, and made herself comfortable right smack dab in the middle of the freshly raked bed. I shooed her back out, and pulled a couple of large bags of leaves over to the opening, but it didn't take her five minutes to figure out how to get around them and back into that garden bed.

It was time to finish the fence, even if it was only temporary. Of course, that entailed moving the big pile of tree roots out of the way, as well as one large roll and several smaller, but heavy, squares of sod. The corner T-post was leaning a bit, but there wasn't time to dig it out and set it in concrete so I tied a rope to it and pulled it as tight as I could, then tied the rope to the chain link fence. That kept the T-post straight enough to attach the fencing, even though it's just a temporary fix until I can do it right. I went ahead and attached the welded wire dog barrier to the bottom of the permanent installation, then used folding wire fence along the bottom of the last (temporary) section. There....the garden was now Annie proof! And I was exhausted!


It was still too early to start dinner, so I mixed up a bucket of compost, peat moss and vermiculite so I could plant some seeds. Yes, I made my own mix. You may have guessed I was rather upset over some of the comments I got when I mentioned I had purchased a small bag of Miracle Gro for my first seedlings, as the store shelves had not yet been stocked for spring. Yes, I know how to make my own potting mix, and yes I had all the ingredients needed to do it, but it was January, it was cold out in the garden shed, and all the lawn furniture was stored in front of the shelf that held the supplies. So I bought a bag of what was available, and it grew some lovely plants. So, to those "Anonymous" people who left some very nasty comments, your words were not worthy to be published. I do moderate the comments on my blog, so don't expect to have yours published if you can't play nice.

While I'm on the subject of rude people, yesterday was garbage pickup day and I had an old broken plastic container, filled with trash from cleaning the garden shed, sitting at the curb. There were some short pieces of the welded wire fencing, too small to do anything with, in the bottom. Somebody came by and dumped the contents onto the driveway, took the fencing scraps, and just left everything else scattered all over. I already picked it all up once, I wasn't happy about having to do it again. They were certainly welcome to the fencing, but they could have returned the other stuff to the container.

Anyway, I got all of my peppers, early cabbage, Chinese cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts planted, placed under humidity domes and on the rope lights to germinate. The grow shelves are filling up fast. Now that I have the garden shed cleaned out, I can get some lights up in the mini greenhouse and move the cool weather seedlings out there.



Aren't these pretty! There are two clusters of blossoms, and several clusters of buds on the largest tomato plant. I shake it several times a day, hoping they pollinate.


The large tomato plant grew too tall for the grow shelves, so I moved them all to the laundry room, where I removed the middle shelf to make room. Then I broke the double 2' shop light, so now all they have is a single 18" light on the shelf above. As soon as I move the cool season seedlings out to the shed, I'll get Mr. Granny to help me remove a shelf from the wire rack to make room for these plants to grow.


24 comments:

  1. You are always so industrious! Those tomatoes look good. I have a Silvery Fir Tree tomato start that has blossoms set on it and when they bloom I intend to give them care and see if I can get some ultra early fruit set. The Silvery Fir is a short plant that will be growing in large pots on my deck this summer.

    Your fencing project wears me out just reading about it. we are getting ready to have someone come in and do some tree removal - getting estimates today in fact. Looking forward to getting that project done and over with as it will be a mess and very disruptive - but needed.

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    1. Kitsap, the blossoming tomato is a Mini Gold, it should only get about 18" tall. It's the one I'm trying to get to fruit inside, but all four will eventually go outside into containers. They are all the same variety, from the same seed packet, planted at the same time. I ended up with one mega-performer, two normal and one runt!

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    2. sounds about right. I have one performer, two normals, and a runt as well. :)

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  2. oh no! I hope my comment didn't upset you. I certainly didn't intend for it to. Your tomatoes are fantastic, btw! I can't believe they are so big already. When did you start them?

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    1. Anywhere, it was a couple of "Anonymous" comments that got me mad. People don't have to be so rude. I started them on January 26.....in Miracle Grow ;-)

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    2. lol, that figures. Well they look great, and I am terribly jealous. ;)

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  3. So exciting to see first blooms! and lovely containers help too :)

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    1. LOL, Jenny, those are my dollar store containers. I think I'm going to buy a few more! They would be perfect for herbs.

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  4. Darn! I love reading snotty comments...I wish you would have printed them! I was pretty sure you were going to get a few. Keep doing what ya' do...your garden is beautiful and it's YOURS...do it your way. I used to use Miracle Gro on EVERYTHING...I have a huge yard that's chuck-a-bucka full of ferns, flowers and foliage and hey that stuff really works! Now I use a fantastic home-brewed compost tea, and I think it works better. BUT, that's just my opinion. AND I love your new garden plan...and blooms on your tomatoes: ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!

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    1. Lynda, luckily I haven't received very many snotty comments over the past 3 1/2 years of blogging. I could count them on one hand....until the MG post! I just don't usually publish them. I think there have been a total of two that I wanted to reply to, so those were published. One was on the seed mats and the other was when the Uncle Ben's rice exploded in the microwave!

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  5. Oh! What a great tomatoes! So big!
    When you have planted them? Do you use some of the fertilizers for seedlings? Thank you!

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    1. SunnyBeach, they were planted on January 26 in Miracle Gro, then potted up into containers filled with a mixture of compost, peat moss and vermiculite. I water them with half strength fish fertilizer every two weeks right now, that might increase to once a week if needed.

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  6. I am so sorry you had rude comments about the Miricle Grow potting mix. I have used it too and I believe that everyone should be able to use anything they want in their own garden. Sometimes you can not get exactly what you want when you need it. Shame on those who think they can tell others how to garden.

    I am so jealous of your potted tomatoes! Mine are just starting to sprout and I am so excited to see them grow! Hurry up spring...

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    1. Thank you, Christy. My feelings exactly.

      The early tomatoes are an experiment in trying to get one to grow and fruit in the house. I planted four seeds to make sure i got one...of course they all grew! I hope I can keep them all alive until they can go outside in two months :-) I won't even start my regular tomatoes for another week.

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  7. We will call them the "M.G. Trolls" from here on out LOL. I'm SURE they have NEVER, EVER taken a shortcut for convenience in their whole lives, right?... yeah, right! And oh, I thought that you had just added your age into your name :) No wonder you have so much energy in the garden Annie's "39" Granny!

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    1. MG Trolls they are, Erin!

      HA! You thought it was my age, I wondered why they were inserting my birth year. I guess that works, Annie's Granny was born in 39!

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  8. So sorry you got 'flamed' over the MG. Heck, I used their potting soil last year when I was in a hurry and that was all the store had. It's not my favorite, but it's better than some of the really cheap potting soil out there.

    That ''' is just the ASCII code for an apostrophe. Why it's showing up instead of the apostrophe is anybody's guess. Bad, bad Blogger software!

    You are wearing me out with all your garden work! I've been too lazy to even work on getting a spot ready for potatoes. I bought the taters yesterday, so I better get in gear.

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    1. Dave, we sometimes do what we have to do.

      I got the Happy Yummy Peppers planted yesterday. Not in MG ;-) I have to wait until the guys haul off the sod before I can dig my potato spot. Oh, it will be so nice to have room for potatoes this year. I really missed them last year, but I ran out of garden.

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  9. I'm with you Granny. If you don't have anything nice to say...then keep your comments to yourself!

    Boy, I sure hope I have as much energy as you do to get those plots up and ready! You are just amazing!!

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    1. Robin, I think desperate is more descriptive of me than amazing!

      Have you ever noticed the rude comments are always from the same person....the one named "Anonymous"? They're too chicken to use their real or blog names.

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  10. I can't believe that you got negative sooments about using Miracle Grow. Don't take it personally that these folks are so ignorant. I'm sure they still believe that Scott's is owned by Monsanto. I need to do a post now and admit I use it on my out door pots at least ten of the largest bags per year. I'll make sure I have on my "flame proof" helmet.

    You make me tired just reading about all the work you are doing, your results will be amazing.

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    1. Ed, my dear "partner in crime"! I think I'll run out and buy a big bag of it ;-) I hadn't ever bought it before, simply because I was happy with Jiffy seed starting mix for planting and Ace Potting Mix plus vermiculite for potting up the seedlings. The MG just happened to be the only thing in stock in January.

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  11. omg i was shocked at the tomato blossoms! I wondered when they were planted also. Next year i start getting soil and shelves up after xmas day! haha. So, I was at Squak Mountain Nursery today and asked them if they have a source or carry Fortex seeds. They said not in stock and they'll call if they source some. I told them I already found them via territorial seed company but wanted to see if they can find them cheaper or closer. She's going to call me. (i think) She took a number and name and name of seeds, so stay tuned!
    I planted a ton of stuff tonight with Tera. We got the early indoor stuff planted brussels sprouts, broc, cauliflower, various herbs, a few beneficial flowers (some go later). We planted a pack of kale to start indoors (nero di toscano) or lacinato kale by other name. should be interesting to see if the inside vs outside will be better going. At least maybe we'll get some earlier kale. I wish i'd started sooner but I'm only in year three of gardening so doing better each year.
    your backyard plans are incredible. I can't wait to see it all blooming. What will you be putting in the greenhouse in the shed? Are you doing lights in it also? I need to get outside when it ever stops raining and plant up peas, carrots, beets, my kale/swiss chard/spinach trifecta, and then will go for 2nd round of spring veg. Did u start lettuces yet?
    I need to start a garden diary or something to keep track of what's going in when, planting date and space, etc. I sorta remember last year's info but I know it'll be useful to write it down over time.
    ok, tired here, but hi and will get those fortex out to u asap! GOOD work and you must be one strong Granny for all of that work you do!

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    1. Amy T., yes, there are lights in the shed greenhouse. It's only set up for one shelf this year, as the other lights are being used inside on the wire shelves. I'll put all of the cool weather crops out there...lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, B. sprouts and Johnny Jump Ups. They'll be outside most days (as soon as they are large enough), but if we get a sudden freeze, they can have the lights on for protection.

      Lettuces have been started. In fact, the first batch is growing in containers in the front yard, the second batch will be hardened off this week and into the garden soon. I'm starting small amounts every couple of weeks so they aren't all ready to harvest at once. Peek at Granny's 2012 Planting Calendar, the link is in my side bar. It has planned planting dates as well as actual planting dates. Yours would be at about 2-4 weeks ahead of mine, I think.

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