Thursday, August 3, 2018; Weeds, chimney, Marimo Moss

I arrived home on Friday, August 3. I had been gone since Thursday, July 12 (essentially three weeks). Overall, the house and yard are in good shape. The lawn needs to be mowed and the weeds have sought to take over everything. My east neighbors (Morgan/Joyce) had to leave town unexpectedly a couple of weeks before I got home.

East Raised Bed - Lots of weeds

Neighbors put some of their potted plants inside my irrigation zone

 The basil is doing great!

West Raised Bed

 I "harvested" 14 okra that were probably each over 9" long. I gave them all to Morgan/Joyce, hoping they are not too woody.

Okra in overdrive

The most surprising and depressing thing I found upon opening the connecting hall east shade Saturday morning was one of my chimney caps wedged between the main house and the sunroom.

It came from the southwest chimney. This is the second time that cap has blown off. The first time was probably seven or eight years ago. At that time, we had a new aluminum cap made and the chimney was tuck pointed. Between then and now, we had the cap on the northwest chimney blow off.

Upon further inspection, it appears we were very lucky. Two bricks came down with the cap and narrowly missed smashing a sunroom window. One did hit the window frame and the limestone sill, breaking off a corner.

Today, I had the first of two companies come out to give me an estimate. I can see another brick sitting, apparently unsecured, at the top of the chimney. We also sustained some gutter damage right above the Mother-in-law room balcony.

The fish seemed to have survived, for the most part. I had three fish in each of the vases inside. One, the west cylindrical one, only had two when I got home. Later, Morgan told me that he had found a dried-up caucus on the deck when he entered the sunroom about a week after I had left town. I'm not surprised. I filled both vases to the brim and was concerned the fish might actually jump out. One did...thinning of the herd I guess.

Before I left town, I put a flow dissolving feed block in each of the inside vases and two in the pond itself. Each block was advertised to be able to feed 5-10 fish for 14 days. I fished the two blocks out of the inside vases. Each had been "used" by less than 50%. The vases also had a couple of small Marimo Moss balls in them. The 17 moss balls I had put in the pond back on June 1 are all gone...eaten. I ordered four giant and one bag of 10 small moss balls. They arrived today. I put the four giants in the pond, a couple of small ones in each inside vase. This left about 16 small for future use. They are in a vase sitting on the sunroom hearth.

Remaining feed blocks from the inside vases

The Purple Fountain beech is dead. I wrote a note to John (landscaper) asking what he suggests I replace it with.

Dead beech

The surviving peppers (I didn't think any survived) are doing well. It does not appear any of the jalapeño pepper plants survived.

Santaka pepper

Peppadew

Bell pepper

I've been pulling weeds on and off for the past week. It is starting to look better.

I was very impressed with the growth of the Acalypha hispida (chenille plant) that I got during the MoBot class in June. It is at least twice the size it was. I was concerned it would not make it but, apparently, it liked the south Texas weather where it stayed while I was gone.

Surplus moss balls

The moss balls are very low maintenance. You don't have to feed them, they don't even need air.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018; Asparagus

Leaving town tomorrow for several weeks. I watered all the inside plants but took the asparagus from the conservatory and planted it into the west raised bed. We have had this plant for several years...at least four. I believe T told me it was an ornamental asparagus and I'm not sure it is hardy in our climate zone. What I do know is that it was taking over the conservatory and weaving its way in and out of the window curtains.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018: Brugmansia, Roses, Bonsai

I bought a Knockout Rose to take over to T's later this week.

The Brugmansia should be in full bloom by the time I leave town.

I added another couple of wires to the bonsai juniper. The first wires were installed during my MoBot class on April 14 and removed on June 13. One wire was reinstalled on the center branch on June 16. The two installed today are on the side branches, bringing them up a bit.

Monday, July 9, 2018: Okra, Peppers, Brugmansia, Holly Hock

This past week I had D&D visiting. D helped me pull weeds out of the raised beds. Unfortunately, she mistook the smallest okra for a weed. Why she thought I would have tied a weed to a post, I don't know. Anyway, today transplanted the last okra from inside out the east bed. I'm leaving town later this week, so it will get watered via the irrigation system.

There are at least two green pepper plants and perhaps four. Two of them have fruits and others have flowers.

The brugmansia has eight blossoms in the process of opening. Last year, there were very few.

The holly hock just outside the south door is really taking off. It is almost six feet tall and it is starting to bloom.

Friday, June 29, 2018: Carrots, beets, rhubarb, etc

I sowed the carrots and beets on April 11, 2018. The seed packet for both show 65 days. Not sure if that is when they are supposed to be harvested from the time of sowing or what. 

Today it has been 79 days since I planted the seeds. Both the carrots and the beets have good foliage showing, so I decided to dig up one of each to see how the root is progressing.

Beet foliage

Beet root

Carrot foliage

Carrot root

Obviously, both the carrot and the beet have a long way to go. I tried to stick the ones I pulled back into the ground. We will see if they survive.

The basil, rhubarb and cabbage are doing well.

Basil and cabbage

Rhubarb

All four of the okra plants are still alive. One, the oldest has fruit. Two others are growing well. One is sickly but still hanging in there.

Okra

Of the 30 or so pepper plants I planted in April, it appears maybe two or three are actually still alive. One has a small fruit on it while the other two are flowering.

Sunday, June 24, 2018: Door shade, fish food; cactus

Friday, the Marvin people came out to install the new southeast door shade and adjust the south door. When they called earlier in the week, they said they were going to replace the lock on the south door. I did not understand why and, upon inspection, they agreed there was nothing wrong with the lock. So they just adjusted the hinges, for the third time. The new door shade they brought was even the correct color! They stated that if the south door continues to have problems, they might have to replace the hinges. How much of the problem is due to the floor, I don't know.

I also received the vacation fish food tablets I ordered. Each tablet is supposed to slowly dissolve and supply food for 5 to 10 fish (average length of 2") for up to 14 days. I really got these in hopes they would feed the inside fish vases. The back of the package warns not to use these in an un-filtered or un-aerated aquarium. We have aeration but no filtration. Hence I am going to try them out before I leave on my trip in July. I will be gone for about three weeks. There are only three fish (about 2" in length) in each vase.

I quartered one of the 14-day tablets and put one quarter in each vase. I do not plan to feed the fish for the next week or two, or until the experiment is complete. I did replace one-half of the water in each vase on Wednesday, June 21.

I am hoping, providing one-half a tablet in each vase and the Marimo moss balls, the fish will have enough to sustain them over three weeks. We will see how they do and how cloudy the water gets over the next week or two.

I've been watching the prickly pear cactus to see what happens to the spots where the flowers developed during the first week in June (about three weeks ago). Buds have now replaced the flowers. We will see what they finally develop into.

Thursday, June 21, 2018: Okra, West Bed

I moved two young okra plants out to the east bed this morning. I still have one more okra plant in an air pot inside. These plants are all from seeds I harvested last year. The first plant I took outside already is blooming and fruiting. I may let the first couple of fruits mature and harvest seeds for next year.

Shows dates plants were put into east bed

The veggies in the west bed are really coming along nicely. No doubt in my mind that the beets are in front of the basil and the carrots are along the south side.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018: Okra, Hydrangea, Mike S.; goldfish; Marvin

As promised, Mike S. stopped by this morning and looked at the floor at the south door. He did not have a firm answer, but he rapped on the tile just east of the door and it sounded hollow. He suggested taking up the tiles and see what is going on underneath. He said he would try to find time in the next couple of weeks. We have plenty of replacement tiles. He was relieved to find no obvious issues with the foundation. He feared he would find cracks.

A week or so ago, I noticed the tree Hydrangea (Quick Fire, #70 on our map) was listing severely toward the east to the extent that you could not walk along the steps from the back patio to the top pond. I could pull on the trunk to straighten it, but I needed to put something in to hold it. Today, I used another part from the hoist I bought a couple of years ago. We'll see if it lasts. The ants really seem to love this tree/shrub. There is a continual line of them going up and down the trunk.

I noticed this afternoon that I already have a good sized fruit on the first okra plant I put out on May 22. The plant I put outside on June 11 is still doing OK. I have two more plants growing inside that I think I will go ahead and bring outside tomorrow.

The plants in the west raised bed (carrots, beets, dill, basil, kale) all seem to be doing well. It doesn't look as if the rabbits (and we have a large population this year) have found them yet.

I changed one-half of the water in both the fish vases today. I filled both vases up to the brim. I need to ensure the water level will hold while I am gone for three or four weeks. Otherwise, I will have to transfer the fish back out to the pond before I leave town.

Got a call from the Marvin people this morning saying they would be out Friday morning with my replacement shade and a new lock for the south door.

Monday, June 18, 2018: Rosemary and floor settling

I decided to re-pot the other rosemary I brought home from the MoBot the weekend before last. It was in perlite, but wasn't rooting. I used the last 1-liter air pot. We will see if it perks up.

On a sadder note, I noticed yesterday that I have some subsidence occurring at the south door of the sunroom. I have been having some problems with the door and have had the Marvin people out twice before to adjust the door. Yesterday, I noticed there is one cracked floor tile and there is obvious settling right in front of the door. I called Mike S. (carpenter) today and he said he would come out later this week to have a look.

This is disconcerting. As you may recall, Mike had an engineering company come out on September 30, 2014 and test the soil before the footings were poured. After they took their samples, Mike had the footings poured on October 6, 2014. On October 18, 2014, Mike sent me the invoice from the engineering company along with their report. The report stated that "the existing fill soils observed are unsuitable for support of the proposed construction". I showed this report to the architect (Tyler) and he said he thought the language was a bit severe and that most of St. Louis is covered with fill dirt, but it is decades old. Tyler also advised me to keep the report "just in case". When I spoke with Mike about it, he also said he was disappointed with the language used in the report, but based upon his own soundings of the soil, he was comfortable we could proceed. He also assured me he would stand behind his work. We will see what happens next.