Kristine Beatty

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Week of January 27th

1/27/2019

Another busy weekend!

Prepped the new containers for gardening - drilled holes in the metal tubs I’m going to use for the succulents (would be SO PRETTY with the string of pearls!), drilled holes in the new wooden box, sprayed the acrylic coating on the terra cotta pot and the wood box

Started one of the metal tub planters - got the sea weedy plants in, and cleaned up the string of pearls to split enough for both sides.  Also had a little left over to try propagating.

Got the horseradish and potatoes into some soil; also repotted the little tomato plants and little zuchini that were both still in their plastic “grow” containers.

Finished the bottoms of the smaller planters!

Set up the intervelometer for doing some test shots - nothing crazy, just capturing the movement of the sprouts as the sun moved.


1/28/2019

Managed to be productive after work today - got the ginger planted, but will keep it in the garage for a few days to acclimate it to the temps, and then do another watering likely over the weekend to get it going.

Also was finally able to get the smaller planter boxes sealed.  I was a little more stingy this time and didn’t cover them with quite so much sealant, but all I have left is to line them and then get those top trim boards in.  Which reminds me, I need to either get my circular saw going and handle it myself or get them marked up and have Matt take them into school (he offered to use his table saw to get them ripped).

Also saw the hot pink hummingbird again - I was worried since he hasn’t been around in a few day!


1/30/2019

Man, am I a zombie today!  The skunk certainly made an impression last night.  I was hoping we could co-exist, since they haven’t seemed to be interested in my garden plants and there is a decent chance it’s been eating some of the yucky bugs out there.  But no no, all bets are off now. About 3am last night, I was awakened to the sound of the thumping under my bed.. It almost sounded like it was chewing through something. Right under my bed.  Tried to practice my mindfulness and go back to sleep but then heard the squealing from near the far wall (with the windows). I’m going to hope that it wasn’t from any babies. Again, trying to go back to sleep.   Then I smell it. It starts growing through the room and I can’t handle it any more. I know Matt has to get up in a few hours for a work trip so I really don’t want to wake him, and frankly there isn’t anything I can do at this point right?  I’m not about to scare the skunk off, and aside from looking up home remedies, not. A thing. To. do. The smell was strong enough it woke matt up, so I went aheda with those home remedies. Ceiling fans turned on. Bowls of vinegar laid out. Once it was daylight and we could confirm the skunk hadn’t sprayed outside, I opened up the windows to get some fresh air.  Sorry skunky, but you gotta go!



1/31/2019

When watering the basils today I noticed some white bugs with wings - turns out their “whitefly” - go figure.  Found out I can use alcohol to kill them (or just my fingers) so I cleaned those guys up a bit. Thankfully a pretty minor incident, but I’ll keep an eye out for them in the future.  Sneaky devils like to hid under the leaves and in the wrinkles of the new foliage. Also found out they are fond of the new growth - which might explain why I only found them on certain leaves.

Just to be safe, I popped the tops off the biggest basil.  For some reason, they started looking like they do right before they’re ready to bolt.  But they definitely shouldn’t be to that point yet!

2/1/2019

Matt received the Saffron bulbs he ordered in January, will need to make sure we get those planted soon.  Did a little research, and they’re fall blooming and it sounds like the likelihood of first year blooms is pretty low.

The basils are looking great and are ready for a trim

The other seedlings are doing ok - the salvia and marigolds are really the stars this week; both thickening and growing nicely.

Some of the seedlings in the white tray will be ready for transplanting into bigger pots soon, and I can get a new crop of flowers going.

I also caught a glimpse of the hummingbirds from my office today too - they’ve got to be around here somewhere!


2/2/2019

Matt taught me how to create time lapse videos with my photos not using Adobe; so I was able to compile two of the ‘test’ ones I did.  Pretty happy with how they turned out, will need to share them. It’s not anything amazing, just a couple sprouts doing their things. Hoping to get some clips of flowers blooming, etc.  Using the camera won’t be great for long term though, since it’ll fall asleep. But on that note, I did order a smaller tripod because when I am shooting the seedlings on the bottom shelf, I have to get super creative with how I prop the camera for the right angle.

Matt took up the arduino project.  I’ve spent many a night the last few weeks just getting more and more frustrated with it so thankfully he took a stab.  And of course, he figured it all out and got it running in a matter of hours. He also configured it to data log to google sheets.  So now we’ve got a working prototype. I ordered more of the components (the weather proof temp sensor, the light sensors, more wireless boards, breadboards, and a box/casing to try out).  They should be here monday, so depending on what the week looks like, we really could have a working model ready by the weekend!

Also ordered a new container for some succulents and am really excited - it’s a Groot!  I think it’ll be really cute with some flowering or pink tall succulents. Looking forward to him arriving on Monday!