• Join Home Gardening Forum

Whatcha Up To???

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,450
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Made bread.

Re-hydrating some of last year's potatoes so I can make a batch of scalloped potatoes to go with our supper.

Watered everything in the greenhouse. The 'Sweet & Sassy peppers are up now. Still waiting on the jalapenos...
 
Last edited:
W

Waite

Guest
Picked up a 2 x 4 four tube fluorescent fixture for free. (Say that five times). They're changing out the fixtures in our building to LED and I was able to wrestle one of the fixtures from the contractor. Last year I used a 2 tube but needed a bit more. It uses T8, which means it probably also uses T5, I'll have to look at the ballasts. I'll swap the bulbs out for some 6500 Kelvin and be ready to go when I start my seeds.
 
W

Waite

Guest
Pulled the last 14+ lbs of tomatoes out of the freezer. I freeze them in vacuum bags until I get around to doing something with them. Also have a bag of red/green bell peppers. As soon as these thaw they'll become roasted pepper and garlic pasta sauce, should end up with 3-4 quarts.

 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
Three sick kids of varying degrees - but not serious illness like the flu or worse, just colds and ear infections.

Sister-in-law and her husband in town.

Did major grocery shopping yesterday along with comparison shopping. Found that Aldi would have allowed us to save about $0.94 on the 12 items (12 line items, 44 items to put in the cart) they carry relative to the local chain but then we'd still have to go to the other chain as there are 25 items on the list Aldi didn't have.

Started building a hydroponic system.
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
Finished assembling my hydroponic setup. Waiting on silicone to dry before I put it to work.

Played in the snow with kids.

Made a copy cat recipe of the Panara Chicken and Soba noodle broth bowl - it was edible but a failure in copying the flavor. I expect a large part of the failure is my not finding miso for the broth.
 
W

Waite

Guest
Well, the best laid plans...

My free light fixture has a ballast set up for 277 volt. Not uncommon, but most will accommodate 100-277. This one is set up for 277 only. I can pick up a ballast for $15, still cheaper than buy a fixture by a long shot.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,450
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Cleaned the back flowerbed, relocated 4 shrubs in it & burned the 'trash'. Then fertilized & watered it in. I still need to chainsaw the yucca to complete it entirely, but we're ready for the flower bulbs when they arrive. Then I can plant the remaining Lirope...

Watered the seed flats in the greenhouse.

Mrs. Ranch is making yummy fried pork chops & mashed potatoes for supper. I contributed by making the soybean succotash (yeah I got off easy, but I still have to do the dishes).
 
Last edited:

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,450
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Took my Jeep in for it's yearly inspection & maintenance. Then did some shopping & picked up the license sticker on the way home.

It's 76 degrees & been raining lightly since I got home... needless to say, I didn't do anything outside.
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
LOTS of rain here today and yesterday. Flood warnings and rivers are really high. The ground is still frozen with the frost line around 50 inches deep according to my coworker. Some water coming in the basement now. This is also causing the roughly 16 inches of snow we got in the last two weeks to quickly melt and add to the water.
 
W

Waite

Guest
Same here. We hit the mid-sixties today, flood warnings until tomorrow afternoon. It's been so foggy with the snowpack melting off the farm fields it's been tough to drive. Today was the first day you could see.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,450
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
Temperature dropped to 49 degrees here & raining (1.44" thus far). The lightning was severe enough to wake me up a couple of times last night...

Dang it!!!! I just took Dieter out to do his business & saw something standing up in the back flowerbed... a coon got caught in a trap & it totally destroyed the 'Rose of Sharon' that I just relocated yesterday. I'm PO, it took 5 yrs to get it that big. Man, it's no wonder I have a hard time getting ahead here when I have to keep revisiting things that I thought I had finished. Now I have to go find another one that size to replace it. GRRRRR!!!! Needless to say, it died a slow, horrible death.

Replanted marigolds as I had very poor germination (50%). I awaiting the arrival of new jalapeno seed too... 0% germination.
 
Last edited:

wolffman

Sponsor
Plus Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Texas, Gulf Coast
Planting Zone
9
Temperature dropped to 49 degrees here & it's still raining.

It's still hot/muggy here. Hopefully for not much longer.

10:05...cooler weather just arrived. Hopefully we don't get the rain that was originally forecast. Don't want to soak those newly planted potatoes.
 
Last edited:

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
Administrator
Moderator
Plus Member
Messages
6,450
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
The temperature 46 degrees & it's still drizzling (0.07" thus far). Dreary day to say the least...

Took Mrs. Ranch to the eye doctor for a post-op checkup (she's good) & to schedule her other eye to be done next month. While we were out, I bought meat for Dieter & picked up 15 dwarf dahlia tubers for the back porch pots.

 
K

ksk

Guest
Same here Ranch [48 degrees] and everything is wet.Too wet [and chilly] to do any outdoor activities for my old bones.
 
W

Waite

Guest
A bit ago it was sunny and 40 with a wind chill of 33. I was standing out in the middle of an airport with a light jacket on, and it felt GREAT!

My daughter finished up school last year at the University of CA Santa Barbara and came home just at Christmas. She had a very hard time getting back to being used to this weather. This year she can handle it, but she still gripes a lot!
 
  • Up Vote
Reactions: ksk
Top