The White House

The White House

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

So Glad This Day Is Done

The Great Greenhouse of 2012 is giving me the biggest headache. Or, more likely, I gave myself a big headache by neglecting the pruning for several weeks while I planted flowers. Bad idea.
Onion in the greenhouse is a no-go. I suspect it is just too warm. I picked half of it, braided and hung it up to dry. The bulbs are far smaller than what I’d hoped for. Crossing my fingers the bed outside will give me some big onions.
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Stupid, stupid, stupid. Prune your tomatoes!! They went nuts. Grew up and out the cages. Then fell over and grew back down to the ground. They have to be 12-15 feet long. I have all kinds of redneck string and cut up blanket lifting the fallen part into an archway. Trying to salvage the big tomatoes on those branches; the rest I just cut off and didn’t deal with.  To the left behind them they continue up to the ceiling, but I didn’t get a shot of that angle. (That’s an 8 ft. ladder in the back if you need a scale…. it’s holding up the last of the branches that I was to tired to deal with).
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This bunch was 19 Cherry Tomatoes (I may have knocked the 20th off when I was stringing them up).
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Those are Early Girls. Much smaller than they should be, but I’m just glad to get some which is an improvement over last year.
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These are Purple Cherokees. I only had a couple last year and they were divine dehydrated and put into pasta.
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I whacked the crap out of the cantaloupe and ripped most of it out. I didn’t have the time to tend to it so the fruit wasn’t setting. This vine does have three on it so I let it live.
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I have an insane amount of peppers. The plants are 2.5 feet tall and crazy.
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There must be 20 peppers on this one plant (see my hand?).
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I had a boy from my soccer team spend the night last night. Everything he says is in a scream. Literally. Nice kid. I like him, I like his parents, but OMG shhhhh!!! They were up late, up early and this play date kicked my butt. After taking him home we ran to the store. This is why you do not leave trash in the back of your truck. Those pesky ravens are horrible.
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I was going to blog about the pickles I made with Jean’s recipe (5.5 quarts….4 the other day and 1.5 tonight), but forgot to take a photo. I’ll try to remember tomorrow. I’m so very tired right now and chilled. It’s been raining today. Ick!
And how are my lists doing? Not worth a crap. One has to make the list before they can do the list. I suck.
So tomorrow’s to-do list:
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 8 loads of laundry (yes, really, 8.)
bake 4 loaves of carrot bread
√ wash 12 rocks for the pool
√ transplant the huge Impatiens in my greenhouse shading the strawberries
√ √ √ strip/wash/make six beds
√ split wood for one hour (I did that today, too. Made a pile the same size as Elijah’s. His took him 6 weeks. *sigh*).
√ paint Olivia’s fingernails
√ take the nail polish of Lucas’ nails *sigh*
√ √ √ weed at least three flower beds
√ pull woody radishes and replant
√ √ √ √ add water to four fish tanks before the fish are on the rocks!
√√OMG… that reminds me, get some feeder fish for the Oscar before he eats the Dragon Fish
the last one requires going to town (yuck) so haul a load of water for the pool while there (my pool is really low….I’ve hauled 1200 gallons the last two days and you can’t tell at all)
Okay…that’s it. I’m not adding any more to tomorrow’s list although I really should. Do you think I can do it all?? Should I do more or less? What are your days like? I feel frantic most of the time. How about you?

7 comments:

Nancy J said...

Top of the list..Buy a log splitter, the petrol driven kind,( will put a photo on my blog) I do hope the pickles turned out well.Peppers, I have a friend who slices and freezes them,Ravens, like our Keas, nothing is safe from their eyes.I am too scared to do a list,and I am sure Hugh hopes that I do one, and then do all on the list. dream on,my man.!!Soon you will have shorter daylight hours and do the jobs get less when winter comes??
Cheers from Jean.

Nancy J said...

Gayle, I have done a post for you, or is it for Homer,forget the list for tonight, it will be there tomorrow, I hope you get a sunny hot day with that laundry waiting. Fond cheers from jean.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Oh my gosh Gayle~ Your days are full to overflowing. Sometimes I make a list, and when I do, no way does everything on it get done. I've got things in my head that I want to do today, as I will be working at my part-time job tomorrow through Sat.

I think it is wonderful that you grow so much food for your family and put it up to eat later in the year.

Plus you split and stack wood for winter.

I need to finish my coffee, get us some breakfast, then get started on my day.

Hope yours is a good one.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Kim@Snug Harbor said...

Ick -too much on your list. You work too hard. Go lay in the hammock and take a swim. Your greenhouse results are impressive tho. I can never have enough green peppers.

Anonymous said...

That is one long list. Can you prioritize the things on your list so you at least get the most important ones done and any other ones are just gravy? That's how I make my lists. The top 5 or the ones I have to get done and the rest are things I'd like to get done.

Oh, and the things that have to get done are things that mean death or destruction if I don't do them. LOL

Anonymous said...

I love seeing all your gardens and your pond. We swim in our pond too. Wonder if you can post more about your pond how you keep it clean enough to swim in.
Lovely, site, lovely gardens, lovely children...Hard workers the bunch of you.

Patty said...

The Peppers look wonderful! I am way behind on your blog. Jared had hip surgery this week, so we were in Anchorage. Again, I am jealous of your green house. I am so getting one for next summer.