Friday, August 24, 2018: Chimney Update

Three weeks ago, when I returned from my trip to Iceland, I found I had lost the chimney cap on the southwest chimney. This is the second time this particular cap has been blown off. The first time was about seven years ago and they people who put it back on (Irish Construction) did some repair tuck pointing. It obviously was not a permanent repair as two bricks came down with the cap (narrowly missing my sunroom windows) and another brick appears to be sitting loose on top of the chimney.

Anyway, since then, I contacted two companies about repairs. One company (English Sweep) I have talked with before. The other company (St. Louis Chimney) was one I had not talked with until now. Both companies said they would send out an estimator. English Sweep set up an appointment for a couple of days after I called. St. Louis Chimney said they would have someone call to establish an appointment. The English Sweep guy came out and took a bunch of notes and photos. He warned me that they were very busy and it might be October before they could fit me into their schedule. However, he said since this is such a "small" job, he would talk with his boss and see what they could do. Several days later, I finally got an email saying they had decided they were too busy and would not make an offer. They did give me three other companies I might want to contact. They were:

• Galati & Sons Tuckpointing
• Mirelli Tuckpointing
• Gress Masonry

I called all three of these companies and they each seemed willing to come out and give me an estimate. All three companies seemed capable and said they could get to the job before I left town again in late September. They all provided me with estimates. The estimates were:

• $1,700.00: Mirelli who suggested removal of any loose rows of bricks at the top of the chimney before reinstalling the cap
• $2,950.00: Gress who suggested some kind of strap to secure the cap and included the cost of tuck pointing the entire chimney plus repair of the limestone sill which was damaged by the falling bricks. If I agreed to the tuck pointing, I would get a five year warranty
• $3,480.00: Galati who said they would reset any loose bricks, reinstall the cap and repair the window sill

I had almost forgotten about the St. Louis Chimney people when I got a call from Chris this past Monday asking if he could stop by and take a look at the job. Chris and friend came by and on Wednesday sent their estimate for $450.00. Their approach was to "re-install the current chimney cap by tap con screwing the cap to the sound masonry" to prevent future decapitations. The caveat placed on this estimate was that they would have to evaluate the condition of the chimney when they got up there and there may be some additional cost for tuck pointing. I immediately accepted their proposal (before they could withdraw it) and today called and talked to Chris. He said he would target doing the job on August 30 (next Thursday), but would get with me on August 29 to confirm.

Monday, August 20, 2018: Cabbage bugs

Joyce came over today to harvest some basil. While chatting with her I noticed just how much damage has been done to both the cabbage and the kale. The kale is essentially eaten down to the stems. The cabbage has also been well chewed on. I got out the Bayer Natria insect, desease & mite control spray. It lists kale and cabbage as valid applications. We'll see if there is a improvement. The instructions say to reapply every 7 to 10 days or after rain fall.

Kale

Cabbage

The peppadew peppers are really doing well. I found a web site that says:

"Peppadew™ is the trademarked brand name of peppers from a pepper plant called “Piquanté.”

The trademark on the name is held by Peppadew International Ltd of South Africa.

The Piquanté bush grows up to 1 1/2 metres tall (5 feet), bearing up to 50 to 60 chiles per bush.

The peppers ripen over a four month period, with peppers lowest on the bush ripening first. The peppers are small and round, only about 2 to 3 cm tall (1 inch), with bright red thin flesh walls. They look like a cross between cherry tomatoes and small red peppers."

The peppers now are green with a crunchy skin.

The santaka peppers are now starting to turn red. I think I will dry them and make a chili powder.

Sunday, August 19, 2018: Barley

Cleaning up around the pond, I found the barley bale I installed on April 5 was completely gone. I put in a new bale in the same location, in the stream between the upper and lower ponds.

Friday, August 17, 2018: Too much water

Earlier this week, I sent an email to John (landscaping) telling him my beech was dead and the boxwood along the west fence are dying. Today he stopped by. He looked at the beech and the boxwood. His hypothesis is that they are getting too much water. He pulled one of the dead boxwoods out and said "yep, too much water".

We looked at the irrigation settings. There are three areas programmed. The "A" area includes all the shrubs zones (1 through 8), "B" is the grass zones (9,10,11,12) and "C" includes the two raised beds (zone 13).

Zone 1-8: 10 minutes M, W, F, Sat
Zone 9, 11,12: 10 minutes T, T, Sat
Zone 10: 5 minutes T, T, Sat
Zone 13: 1 hour M, Th, Sat

He suggested reducing the number of days on the shrubs (Zones 1-8) by one day, so I eliminated Saturday. He also suggested completely turning off the system for a couple of days, so I did that and will leave it off over the weekend.

As for the boxwood, there are still five or six that look healthy. John suggested he has another client that he could offer these to and replace them with more Yews. He will also replace the beech.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018: Santaka Peppers

I was noticing progress of my peppers today, especially the Santaka. I grew these from seed and planted them too early this Spring. I had six plants growing inside and with one plant surviving the move to the garden outside. However, this one plant is bearing a lot of fruits. This is my first experience with Santaka, which supposedly has a Scoville Heat Units (SHU) of 50,000 (essentially the same as cayenne, but 20 times that of Jalapeño and 50 times that of Peppadew).

Capsicum annuum. Open Pollinated. Plant produces good yields of 2 ½" long by ½" wide hot peppers. Peppers grow upright in clusters and turn from green to bright red when mature. Plant has green stems, green leaves, and white flowers. A variety from Japan. They are cone-shaped, bright red when mature, and the skin is thin and wrinkled.

Santaka plant

The peppadew and bell peppers are also doing well. I have two peppadew plants and three bell pepper plants.

Sunday, August 12, 2018; Brugmansia

Back on June 12, I decided to "wound" the brugmansia to see if I could stimulate new growth. Today, I noticed the arrival of new growth at the site of the wound.

June 12, 2018 fresh wound

New growth on August 12, 2018

The technique works!

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.