Miscellaneous Stuff From The Sticks

Not sure if I've mentioned the difficulty in growing nasturtiums around here. It looks like the secret is doing the exact opposite of what I've heard on internet message boards. The opposite would be partial shade instead of full sun, great soil rather than average to poor...and moist.

Here are some Milkmaid type that are supposed to climb. Leaves are about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, bettering any I've had by 50%. Seeds were started April 5. I'll have to get around to fixing that bird feeder again as it was whacked by another large nighttime visitor.

Cat up a tree? Nope. Working on getting more sun to the moonflowers that are planted just below. Some overhanging branches needed pruning while watching the sun at the same time. It looks like  I'll have to go another ten feet to get an extra hour or so of full sun. The trees will be wrapped with loose laid chicken wire for a moonie playground.

Hmmm. This is strange... Another idea in the working stage.

It needs some modifications. It also got extremely repetitious and boring making close to 200 kerf cuts on the plywood, with two passes as the same time.

I never did mention anything about the creek pump. The whole irrigation idea also needs some improvements in that in can only run two sprinklers and a garden hose nozzle at the same time. The idea was presented to me by a guy at Ace. Problem is it has oodles of potential to pump a large amount of water through a two inch line. However, it goes from a two inch hose (blue) to a 3/4 inch diameter garden hose (red) that runs off several Y-connectors along the driveway.

By running all two inch pipe from creek and along the drive, it can probably run ten sprinklers at once. That's next years project as it satisfies me for now.

Creek view...

Driveway...

Forget The Seeds. Forget The Overpriced Plants At The Orange & Blue Places

Mentioned previously I want to try flower plugs this year from NCFarms. Having placed the order today for 600 plugs I'll be busy when they arrive. They're not the type that you can just plop in the ground and expect them to grow. At this stage they still need some tender care. Order should arrive the week of April 22, still a bit early as the average last frost hits about that date.

So they all need to be transplanted into something larger. I have oodles of containers piled neatly near the woods. Four inch to one gallon. I'm thinking of using the railroad tie garden along the driveway as a temporary nursery covered/tented with plastic sheathing. It gets plenty of sun each day and is protected from winds. Ideal for the 300 trailing petunias but could be too strong for the 300 coleus.

Coleus Selections: They all grow to knee high height and not those lousy ones that don't go higher than eight inches. Oh, they're all supposed to like full sun, but that orange color I had last year faded too much. No idea what the name was.

Coleus Oxblood

 Coleus Golda

Coleus Rustic Orange

Petunia Selections:

Trailing Purple

Trailing White

Trailing Red

Now that I look at them more, perhaps a different color other than red? Not pink, sorry.

About that irrigation. I think I'm going to abandon the green energy and go with a good gas powered pump. Lot's of great reviews on the Honda WX10. Only problem is climbing up and down that hill near the source.  Rocks, boulders, trees, you name it. A remote kill switch would be beautiful!

Local folks have a water tank (330 gal) or two for sale. Pricey though, off Craigslist. Only eight miles away. Fugly? Yes, but I could tuck it in the woods out of sight, covered with a green tarp.. Maybe I don't need it. The Honda has great numbers. Pressure, head, ease of use, etc. Plenty of tinkering with options before I consider a tank.