Great Basin Natives

Filing the Seeds

2012-02-22T22:35:00.003-07:00

We put in our application for a Passport this morning. That took a couple of hours including the travel to Delta. We will be going to Jamaica around the first of September.

After lunch I watered everything in the greenhouses. I then began the job of developing a filing system for all of my seeds. I got most of the tomato seeds filed. If I get finished, I will be find any seed in minutes. I cut the top of a 6 x 9 brown envelop just below the clasp. I then printed a table on the remaining envelope to record information about the seeds. The seed packet would then fit in the envelop. The chart at the left is printed on the envelop.

House Six

2012-02-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

I worked in house six in the late afternoon pulling weeds out of the pots. I the furnace is not on in house six, but it is getting a little warmer. I pulled weeds a couple of months ago, so it didn't take much time to get the weeds today. It is absolutely important not to let them go to seed. If one of those Bitter Cress goes to seed the seeds could be spread up to twelve feet. It is looking pretty good for me and bad for the weeds.

Fertilizer Injector

2012-02-18T23:10:00.003-07:00

This morning I accomplished something that I have wanted to do for over three weeks. After each day, I said to my self that I will do it tomorrow. By the end of the next day there was not any time left. Finally I fixed it today. A couple of days ago I could have got it working, but I needed a couple of pvc parts. I got those yesterday and got the fertilizer injector hooked up. I unhook it during the winter in case the furnace fails for some reason, and the injector freezes and breaks. Now my little seedling are getting fertilizer.

Keeping Track of the Seeds

2012-02-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

From year to year I have had trouble keeping track of all of the seeds. I have seeds that are ten years older or more. When I order seeds I can't remember from year to the next I I have the seed or not. I go ahead and order seeds and later I find out that Had some left over from last year. Many of the seed packets have 10,000 seeds. Most of the more popular annuals like merigolds and petunias contain 500 or 1,000 seeds in the packet.

I bought some 9 x 6 inches brown envelops. I printed a table on the envelop to show date planted, week planted, and number of plants, and the year the I purchase the seeds. The seed packet goes into the envelop and then are put in alphabetical order. I am going to organize the the bedding and vegetable plants first. I thin that

Campaigning

2012-02-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

I getting off the usual topic today. The Campaign for President has taken a number of strange twist. The topic is negative campaigning. There is a lot of negativity in the world today. And it probably has been for thousands of years. It comes in many different levels and environments. Negativity in the home, school, church, and all others right to international relationships between countries.

A mother or father is very negative when in dealing with their children. If you don't quit hitting you brother, I will hit you so hard that you will never forget. mom/dad screams at their child for screaming.

Children are very negative in dealing with each other. She is fat, four eyes, sissy, etc. Teachers are negative in dealing with their students. He/she yells at the class for being so noisy. Candidates are negative in dealing with other candidates and it goes on and on.

They use the same form of negativity that they are trying to eliminate in the other person.

Candidate A derides candidate B for being so negative. Often one use the same words talking about it that he/she is complaining about in the other person.

Finished the Acorns

2012-02-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today I finished planting the acorns that were ready. I checked every acorn for roots. All that had roots, I planted. The rest I put back in the seeding tub for further growth. To the left are two acorns that have germinated. I press the acorn root into the soft soil and let leave the acorn on top. I did four trays and placed them into house three. The root in the center broke form one of the other acorns.

Bittercress

2012-02-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

We headed for Manti. It was snowing and it got worse as we left Scipio going south. We turned around and came back home because of the snowy weather. I worked at the computer trying get all the tomato plants listed on the web

This weed is called Bittercress It grows all over in the greenhouses. It is so hard to kill. As with all weeds, one left alive and produces, and then a new generation begins. This one is particularly hard to kill because from the period of time from germination to the dispersal of seeds is so short. In addition to that the seed pod explodes casting seeds up to twelve feet.

The next two pictures illustrates a common problem that I have. I was not able to transplant the Silver Sage into gallon pots. So now they are to tall and will not bush out properly. They are watered every day in the summer. I and if it really gets hot they are watered two times a day. The water is sprayed on them in the same direction each time they are watered. As they get taller, they begin to lean away from the force of the water breaker. So today pruned them back and pulled the weeds.

Here the plants have been pruned and the weeds pulled. The Silver Sage is a very nice shrub. It seems to do well in these tubes. I haven't been able to grow this for some reason.

I picked these Gambel Oak acorns mid September of last year. Acorn's normal cycle when it is ripe, it falls to the ground were several things might happen. It gets eaten by some animal. Squirrels eat them or hide them some where. There are some birds that store them the bark of trees. If that doesn't happen it lays on the ground, eventual gets covered by leaves. The fall rains keeps the acorns moist and cool. If the conditions are right a radical emerges and starts its trip into the earth. In the spring after the snow melts, a stem begins to reach for the sky. All of this time the acorn is mostly above the surface of the ground.

The acorns that I collected were put in a zip lock bag and placed in the fridge in early October. In December I I filled a #5 nursery pot with a layer of potting soil and then a layer of acorns, then another layer of acorns. I dug up a couple of them last week. Pictures at the left show radical beginning to emerge. O will be putting in individual containers soon.

Planting New Seeds

2012-02-13T18:15:00.002-07:00

Tomato plants in tubes ready for shipping.

These tomatoes are the right size for shipping.

I received new tomato and pepper seeds the end of last week. I got them planted today. Most of the old seeds that I planted several weeks ago have come and are looking pretty good. There were onion seeds planted several weeks ago that have not germinated. They have had plenty of time to germinate. I put those seeds in a special container and will throw them out in the garden somewhere to see what happens. The seeds today were planted in Leech Tubes. I am preparing them for internet sales. They will be ready in eight to ten weeks. The tubes make a nice container for strong plants for more efficient shipping. SEE OUR ONLINE STORE

What is your favorite tomato?

Good Progress on Web Page

2012-02-10T13:53:00.002-07:00

Worked all morning on the web page. Yesterday I was trying to get an image on my web page. The content of the image explained the requirements for purchasing tomato plants. I had several copies of the same image. I tried for over an hour to figure out away to it on my web page. I can navigate through the computer and the web page fairly well, but by no means am I an expert. I called Prostore who host my web page. I was able to talk to some one after the third ring, which was the same yesterday. I usually get a message, "do to a higher than average number of call you will have to wait. Your call will be answered in the order that it was received. The person who answered was going to tell me how to do it. I told him that I had one image in the product list of images. He said it was to small and would be difficult to read. He directed me to find the image. He waited for me for about five minutes. I could not get it. He said if I gave the image a name he would put it in then I would put the image in and it would all work out. I still could find a way to up load it to my web page.

I called again and asked the person to take me to the coding of the table that I did yesterday. It took him awhile to find it. He did find, and directed me to the source of the coding. I wanted to write in the purshaing directions. He told me what codes to use. I put them in while he was telling me. I then typed in the directions. He told me to push several buttons and then save. It worked. I was typing quite fast and made several typing errors plus some spelling errors. I then went back, corrected them, and then saved.

I follow the chain from beginning to the end to help me remember how I did it.

I planted twenty-six different perennials. That was about it for the day.

Facebook Instructions

2012-02-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

A Banner For my Web Page

I made a banner to upload to Great Basin Natives in regards to the tomato plants. I just didn't know how to do it. The banner had to be an image. I selected an unimportant photo that I store on Picasa. I adjusted the brightness so the image would no longer be visible. I could not find away to insert text in the image. I couldn't do it. I pasted the image on a word document. I put a text box in the image and put the text in the text box. That seemed to work well. I could not up load the image to the web page. A solution popped into my mind. It is probably a little unorthodox, but this is what I did. On word I inserted a text box. I added the text and then scanned it to my computer. I edited it in Picasa, gave it a name, used the web page edit procedure to put the image on my web page.

This afternoon I met with the Millard Area Chamber of Commerce where we were instructed to the art of facebooking. It was a good meeting, but as many techinal meeting go. It sounds good when you hear it, but by the time you get home to implementation, most of the information has left the brain. I may report the implementation later.

Updating My Web Page

2012-02-08T19:50:00.002-07:00

Tomato Plants for Sale
I am offering tomato plants at Great Basin Natives. It takes about ten weeks to grow a tomato plant that will be of sufficient size for planting. For example, I want a plant order in February so that it will be ready to ship in April. I had only one plant listed and I need to get my complete list of tomato varieties up and pictures. One week in February is gone, So I need to get going on it. I spent most of the morning getting the pictures ready. I have some pictures of different tomatoes, but not enough. I may be able to get photos from my seed the vendors. Still need more work.

Called My Webb Hosting Company
After lunch I created a planting and shipping schedule. After several try I came up with one that was easy to understand. I called the toll free number, and to my surprise, I did not have to wait. Sometimes the wait is ten minutes or more. I explained to the lady that answered the phone what I needed. It took me a while to explain it in a way that she could understand. Not any fault of hers, but mine. She then said that I wanted was a table. It would be a lot easier if I would have said table at first. The table has two column and nine rows. She made a table and I told her what to put in the table. It took her about fifteen minutes to write the code for it. When she finished she had me go to my web page, click on tomatoes, and there it was.

Pulling More weeds
By the time I finished talking to Hosting Lady, the day was about over. I spent the next hour in the nursery pulling weeds out of the darcenia plants that were in four inch pots. I am all most finished with that project.

Please make any suggestions or comments on anything above or about Great Basin Natives.
Thanks

Gone

2012-02-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

We were in Manti, Utah, at the Manti Temple for most of the day. We leave at 4:15 am, drive about 86 miles. We are back home around 3:15 pm. I did a little weeding, watering, and recording germination rate of the tomatoes and peppers that I planted a little over a week ago.

Great Basin Natives

Back to Planting

2012-02-06T18:42:00.001-07:00

This morning it was work at the computer, updating my web page. It takes a lot of time to do that and I have to be a jack of all trades at this time of the year. Hope to get everything done, but never do. This afternoon I got some planting done. I planted nineteen different penstemon. I planted the same one about three weeks ago, put they were planted in the leech tubes. Today I planted them in 1020 germination trays. I planted two different penstemons in each tray. I laid a short board to divide the tray in half. All together I used twelve trays. There were a couple of other plants beside the penstemons.

The Atonement

2012-02-05T21:01:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking much about the crucifixionof Jesus Christ recently. I don’t know any details about it, but it may have happened this way.here is some ofmy thinking. This may be the way that ithappened. A cross is laying on thegrounds. Jesus was placed on thecross. His arms were stretched out and pulledout tight. His wrists were secured by tyingthem to the cross. Nails were thendriven through the palms of his hands. The cross was inserted in the hole.

There were many criminals who receivedthe same punishment. But think about theweight of his body severely stretching his arms and any effort to use hismuscle power to lift his body cause excruciating pain. As painful as this event was, it was notnearly as bad as his pain in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke in chapter 22 and verses 43-44 records, “And there appeared an angel untohim from heaven, strengthening him. Andbeing in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were greatdrops of blood falling down to the ground.

Many scholars acknowledge that it was bloodysweat, and was caused by stress over his upcoming death. The truth of the matter is that he sweatdrops of blood, because of he suffered for all the sins of all mankind. In the Book of Doctrine and Covenant itsays. “: But if they would not repentthey must suffer even as I; Whichsuffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because ofpain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and wouldthat I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—“

Weeding Again

2012-02-02T18:19:00.001-07:00

This morning after doing a few chores, I began ordering seeds of tomatoes and peppers. It is a challenge to figure best price, best varieties, and order seeds that I don't already have. I am placing my orders online. Johnny's seeds, and The Tomato Grower are my main source tomato and pepper seed sources. It is hard for me to remember some of the names, and the color, size and whether the are determinate or indeterminate. I spent most of the morning doing this. This afternoon, I began to make a booklet which will have a the seed source, photo, and description of the tomatoes and peppers.

The rest of the afternoon I was in the greenhouses. I did some watering, and then went to work on the weeds that are in the Dracaenas. They are in four inch pots. Some have more weeds than the other. The roots of the Dracaenas grow quite large, and push the plant out of the pot. I should have worked on them two or more weeks ago. Some of the weeds have set seeds and have been dispersed. So there will be new plants coming up a little later.

2012-01-31T22:25:00.002-07:00

We were in Manti, Utah, most of the day. Only thing done in the greenhouse was some watering. We had a good day.

Germ Test for Onions and Peppers

2012-01-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

I continued my germination tests. It will help me determine what additional seed I need to order. I had to make more labels. I looked for seeds that were stashed away. I haven't been able to find some of the seed left over from last year. I planted ten different of onions. Some of the seed is pretty old. I planted six sweet peppers, and six hot peppers. I found some Cayenne Long Slim hot pepper seed that was tested in 1996. I threw it away. Because I had other packages of newer seed. The daytime temperature has been quite nice. It is between sixty and seventy inside the greenhouse. The expansion tank, pump, and the heating bench are working perfectly. The pressure of 15 psi is being maintained.

Heating Bench is Fixed

2012-01-26T22:51:00.002-07:00

The expansion tank came yesterday afternoon. This morning I worked in the greenhouse. I

n ou

I removed all the trays and some junk of the heating bench. I had to streighten out the rubber tubing. For about twelve years, I have placed the trays on top of the tubing. Doing that, it is hard to keep the tubing streight. I put four foot weed barrier on the tubing. The trays can slide over the tubing.

This shows the how the weed barrier looks with a few trays.

Here are the germination trays with the labels. There are five rows with twenty seeds in each row. This is working much better than last year. I print the labels with my printer on peel off labels. The labels are attached to short sections of venition blinds. They are made from the viention blind and cut to the proper length.

removed the defective expansion tank. It was a little hard, but with a pipe wrenchI was able to get it off. There was athree quarter inch coupler that I couldn’t remove. I got got a bigger wrenches and was able toturn it a little, but was the wrong way. I got going the right way and it cameoff. I needed some Teflon tape, andcould not find the tape that I had. Ihad to drive to Fillmore to the hardware store. I got two rolls. I was then ableto get the tank on and tightened so it would not leak. I turned the water on, but the water wouldnot run into the hot water heater. I wasgoing to call Trueleaf, The company where I bought it. I pushed the level for aquick fill, but nothing happened. Ipushed it a little harder and water started to run in to the hot water heatertank. The circulation pump started, butthere was not any water being circulated. I had to bleed the air out. Whenthat happened the hot water began to flow. The heating bench was finally being heated.

Onions

2012-01-25T19:43:00.001-07:00

Onions will be shipped April 9, 2012. There is roughly 5 dozen onions in each bundle. Have your garden ready for planting. They to be planted 5 inches apart and one inch deep. If they are planted too deep they will not make a bulb. I use a stick to make a hole one inch deep. Stick the plant in the hole, and press the soil around onion. Then water.

Walla walla

Walla Wallahas been a customer favorite for years. A French soldier brought the first seed fromCorsica, Italy. This is one of our favorites. 90 days to harvest, but can be harvested through July and August; whilewaiting on other onions which have a longer storage. Sweet onion.

Size Potential: Up to 6”
Storage Potential: Approximately 1 month
Days to Harvest: 90

RedCandy Apple

Red Candy Apple isabsolutely the most beautiful red onion on the market. When planted in shortand intermediate day areas it produces larger bulbs. Utah is and intermediateday area.·

Size Potential: Up to 3
Storage Potential: Approximately 2 month
Days to Harvest: 95

Top ofForm

Copra

I have plantedCopra onion for years. They always lastuntil spring if they are not eaten. Plant one of the other onions for summer eating, and Copra for winterand spring eating. Plant early forlarger onions. Normally it will make anice round, hard 3” onions. They areideal for cooking since they maintain a nice flavor.

Size Potential: Up to 3-4”
Storage Potential: Approximately 10-12 months
Days to Harvest: 110

SuperStar

Also known asSierra Blanca. Only white onion ever to win the coveted All-American Selection. I planted them last year for the firsttime. They make a huge onion. We ate these after the Walla Walla onionswere gone.

Size Potential: Up to 4”
Storage Potential: Approximately 2 months
Days to Harvest: 95

Candy

Works almosteverywhere in the country as a large mild onion that keeps well. This onion isgreat for anyone that has never had much success growing onions. It is so easyto grow due to its strong root system and disease resistance.

Size Potential: Up to 6”
Storage Potential: Approximately 3 months
Days to Harvest: 90

The special on the 10% discount Flower Card ends at the end of January. The special is that the card will be good for two years. Beginning the first of February the Flower Card will be good for only one year.

Thanks, Merrill and Carol Johnson

The Ducks

2012-01-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

The duck at the top, limpy, has a little weight on the left leg. It is down flat.

The, Limpy, the top duck looks as if she has more weight on her left leg.

Limpy, is second from the right. The left leg is a little to the left.

Limpy on the right looks quite normal in this picture. I don't think that she will get any better. But she limps around really well and pretty fast.

2012-01-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

I started out the morning paying a few bills. The hot water heater that I use to warm a heating bench which helps with germination and rooting plants that I stick. A hard wind will sometimes blow out the pilot light. Last Month I tried to light the pilot light. It would not light. It looked like there was not any gas getting to it. I looked at some new water heaters and considered getting one. I looked online for trouble shooting hot water heaters and saw something that gave the idea that it might be fixed. I decided to try again to light the the pilot light. I have had a couple lighters that has a flame that will reach back inside the water heater. I got a couple of sticks about the same diameter of a pencil. I got a small candle to get a flame to help to light the stick. I lit the stick, held the button down, put the stick to light the pilot light, and to my surprise, the pilot light lit.

I stated the water running to fill the water heater and raise the pressure to 14 ppsi. There was not water running into the tank.

More Wicked or More Righteous

2012-01-22T19:56:00.001-07:00

Ezekiel 16:52 "Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine ownshame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominablethan they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justifiedthy sisters.?

This scripture has reference to two groups ofwicked sisters. However, one group is more wicked than the other group. And the lesser wicked group is described as more righteous than the morewicked group of sisters. Thus the less righteous group feel that they arejustified in their wickedness.

Take a group of 100 righteouspeople who are either Christens, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, or whatever. Most likely they are not all the same degree of righteousness. Canthat be true. They are either righteous or not righteous. It issomewhat similar to a circle. Is it round or not round. By definition itcan not be called a circle if it is not round.

Righteous may then be definedin such a way that if certain conditions are met, they are then calledrighteous. One example might be the Ten Commandments. If a personabides by the Ten Commandments he is considered righteous whether he has doneor not done the initiatory rituals of any given religion. Therefore, the righteous person is saved. If that person belongs toa religious organization and if that organization is accepted by God, if hefollows the initiatory steps, he will be saved in a higher order thanthe righteous person without any religious affiliation.

Where is this going? Ultimate salvation comes by belonging to a religion that receivesauthority from God to perform the ordinances.

Can we use the words, “more righteous”? Am I more righteousthan my neighbors?

Righteousnessis righteousness and wickedness is wickedness.

The Story of My Ducks

2012-01-20T08:53:00.001-07:00

One of my female ducks got her left foot caught in the wire fencing of the duck pen. There is a large tub of water in the corner where she was caught that has shallow sides. I think that she was frightened some way time during the night and tried to fly out of the pen. Sometimes when frightened they attempt to fly and start climbing the fence. During this her leg went through a space where to wire panels come together and she pushed her leg through and and could not get loose. She was laying the edge of the tub with her foot caught in the fence. I freed her when I went out to feed the ducks.

Her leg was pushed back and almost flat with her tail. She could not get her leg back in to its regular position. I thought that she would starve to death die in a week of so. Maybe the best thing for her was kill her and take her out of her misery. I didn't do that. She was able to move around some by flapping her wings. I don't think she ate much for three or four days. One morning i went out and she was able to stand on one foot. Over the next couple of days she was on one foot more often. Then she was taking a step by using the top of her bad leg. Later she standing with her toes curled backward. As the days went by she was using the leg a little more efficiently. Then a couple of days ago she had foot flat on the ground and would take a step and a limp. The last couple of days she would be aggressive at getting some fresh lettuce that was tossed into the pen.Here you see how the left leg is pulled back. She does not seem to be interested in the lettuce which is unusual for these ducks.

Another look at that left leg. This is the way that she sit most of the time.

This is interesting as how she is bending over getting a drink of the dirty water. The blue that you see in the upper left hand corner is a blue tub where there is fresh water running into it all the time. Earlier in the day she was setting in that water trying to get out. She finally got out and turns around to drink. You see how the foot is bent over backward. Now she sometimes stands on a flat foot.

Our business is native plants, be sure to check out Great Basin Natives.

Like us on Facebook.

Starting Leveling House Two

2012-01-19T17:26:00.001-07:00

Several months ago a wind broke the back door storm door. Just after lunch I took the south door of house two and replaced it with the broken storm door. I fit quite well but was about six inch short.

Today I started to clean the east side of house two. Yesterday you saw the pictures. I removed the last of the cactus and cholla, except for a few. I moved the other plants to the north end. I had a couple of steel pipe that I laid down parallel to each other to set the grade. A two by four is laid across the two pipes to make it flat. It really is not flat, but slopes to the west by about 3/8 of inch.

I hauled the sand in a wheel barrow from a pile by the rode. The sand is too heavy to fill the wheel barrow to the top. Besides, I have to push through a little mud. It is starting to look good.

Our business is native plants, be sure to check out Great Basin Natives.

Like us on Facebook.

Greenhouse Improvements

2012-01-18T21:53:00.003-07:00

I accomplished quite a bit this afternoon.

The north end of the house two.

There are two major problems that I face in the greenhouse. Weeds and fungus gnats. Weeds seem to grow every where on the floor. It is hard to get weeds under the benches. I get some of them and a few that are left go to seed and spread their seeds all over. Some of the seed pods explode, others blow around in the breeze. and there are some that are tracked around on my feet. The solution to this would be too have a concrete floor which could be easily cleaned with a pressure hose.

The fungus gnats also live and reproduce on the moist floor. Right now I can't afford a concrete floor. The greenhouse measures 30 by 48 feet and which would take a lot of concrete. So, I am going to put used poly on the floor which would make the floor easier to clean. I would need to make sure the floor is fairly level with one inch fall from the east to the west side so the water would drain out. I got a load of sand to use to level out the floor. Pictured below is a shot of the south end of house two.

South end of house two

I moved these trays from house two to house three. That makes room in house two to clean-up in house two.

Geraniums growing in house two.

Water Well

2012-01-16T22:08:00.002-07:00

We built our first greenhouse in the spring of 1997. Having never done this before, we bought a kit that had all the bows, clamps, fans, furnace, and other hardware that goes along with it. At the same time I was building a house. I brought the water in and put a hydrant in just about six inches inside the south end of the greenhouse. I put a valve about ten inches below the ground. Well, over time the valve become covered with soil. Since then thee has been several times that I have had to removed the dirt to shut off the water.

Today, I removed the soil, making a square hole and lining with brick. I put a lid on top of it. If I need to turn off the water, I just remove the lid at/nd shut it off.

This is what I call a water well. Now I can reach into the hole and turn of the water. The pipe that goes to the left goes out to water some flowers. and the pipe on the left goes the the fertilizer injector and it used to water all of the plants. Below all of this is the ball valve that shuts the water coming in.

The well is covered with a piece of plywood.

I laid a small piece of plywood to cover up the well.

Here it is covered with the weed barrier and a few brick put on to hold it down.

Servicing the Car

2012-01-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

Not any work at the nursery today. We had to drive to Linden, Utah to have our Hyndae service. It was and oil change and a transmission flush. It takes about three hours for a round trip. 90 minutes to service the car. 45 minutes for lunch. 45 minutes to cash in on a couple of gift cards. That is really hard just try in to figure out just what I want.

Chamber Meeting

2012-01-12T17:42:00.001-07:00

I had lunch with the Fillmore Area of Commerce. That has been a good organization to belong to for promoting business in this area.

I planted ten different native plants today. The planting is coming along pretty good and am almost finished with the first round. There are some that I want to plant at least 10 trays.

Pictured is a stainless steel tray cover. I use it when filling the trays with soil. The spaces between the cells are mostly free of soil. In the lower picture I use it for planting. Seeds are not lost between the cells. If the seeds are large, I use my fingers or tweezers to place a seed in each cell. I use a small vibrating seeder planting small seeds. There are two or more seeds in each cell. After germination I will pull most of the plants out leaving one or two. Now I am planting seeds of two different native plants. One half is planted to Greaswood, Sarcovatus vermiculatus. The other half is planted with Alkali Sacaton Grass, Sporobulus airoides.

Elder Berry

2012-01-11T21:36:00.002-07:00

Seeded seventeen native plants and one non-native plant. I got started around eleven this morning. Before that I was working at the computer. Elder Berry, Sambucus cerulea, is spot lighted this evening. I have one bush that produces exceptionally heavy fruit. The pictures show how the fruit sets. I planted seeds for this two years ago and a few germinated. I sold a couple and then transplanted one in the west yard. It grew good the first summer and flowered, but just a few fruits. Last year it came and and appeared to die. Towards the end of the summer new growth appeared from the roots. I will be watching it this spring.

Rocky Mountain Beeplant

2012-01-10T22:20:00.001-07:00

We got home from Manti a little before three this afternoon. That gave me about 90 minutes to work. I planted the seeds of nine different native plants. I haven't tried the Rocky Mountain Beeplant, Cleome serrulata, for quite along time. I seeded them in the tubes, a half tray for each color. White is quite rare. A few white plants were growing among the purple. Most of the seeds from the white plant may produce purple flowers. They grow in my yard all of the time because of their ease of reseeding. I have seed from white and purple flowers. They are really great annual plant because of the long blooming period and the way it attracts of pollinating insects.

Seventeen Penstemons

2012-01-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

I went to Fillmore to make a deposit at the Credit Union. I picked up the two springs for the garage door. I called a friend install them. I suppose that I could do it but would take me all day and then I wouldn't know if I had done it right or not. He was going to come here late afternoon, but he didn't make it. It is hard to leave a job to spend and hour here. I will just wait my turn.

It's been a good day. I spent most of the day in the greenhouses. I planted seventeen different penstemons. Click here to see the list. The tube trays has 98 tubes. I planted a half tray with the same seed. Filling the trays took extra time. Usually the potting soil is damp. I ordered a big load eleven months ago. I still have a little left, but it is so dry that the water won't soak thought it. Also, it is really packed hard and hard to shovel it down. I dug a bunch down and then had to spray water on it to get it wet. Then I had to mix it up, then more water. Then mix again. Then let it set for about half hour for the moister to move around a little. While that is waiting, I have to dump the soil from the dead plants out of the tube.

Go to Great Basin Natives

Outdoor Christmas Lights Boxed Up

2012-01-06T18:16:00.001-07:00

It has been Christmas lights put away weather. Yesterday, we finished taking the light down. It has been a three or four day project. It was getting dark and cold, so I left most of the lights laying on the lawn. Carol wanted me to bring them into the house, but I wanted to wait until in the morning. Right after breakfast, I went outside to start bringing in the lights. They were all frosted up, and I thought that I would do it in the afternoon when it warmed up. I changed my mind and started to bring them in and let them warm up in the house. I have tried many different ways storing the long strings of miniture lights. There is now way to stick them back into the box that they came in. I have wound them around piece of corgated cardboard, around an H stick, around quart bottles, wind them around my hand. Today I wrapped them around my elbow and thumb. I then folded them in half and wrapped them with a rubber band. That was the fastest and easiest way to do it.

I had to run to Fillmore to deliver a gift certificate for the mother of the first born baby in the Fillmore area. I pushed the garage door opener button. The door lifted three inches and then quit. Strange. Carol had taken the car out twice this morning without any problems. I pulled the cord that is used if the power goes off. That didn't help. I looked for a spot where the door was binding thus shutting the motor off. I found nothing. I then noticed that the tension spring was broken. The door is really heavy and I could not lift it. I called the hardware store to have someone help fix it. He called back later in the day on his way to Salt Lake City. I measured the broken spring, the door, and other parts and gave him the measurements. He is bringing the replacement parts back and will be ready by Monday. In the meantime the car will live outside.

I tried to start the truck to go to Fillmore and it would not start. I plugged in the diesal engine to warm the oil some. Still would not start.

After lunch, I did some watering and thought that I could use my tractor with its fork lift to open the door and get the car out. I did that. Lifted the garage door up. Carol put a six foot step ladder under the door to hold it up. I moved the tractor out of the way and she drove the car out of the garage. I drove the tractor back, lifted garage door a little and Carol removed the step ladder. I then let the door go down gently. The door is heavy and might have broken if dropped.

Then back to planting. I planted Mountain Mahogany, Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany, Eastern Red Bud, Net Leaf Hackberry, Desert Willow, Purple Cone Flower, New Mexico Privet, and a native perennial sunflower that I don't have the name. All of theses were planted into tubes.

There is a Sand Cholla, Grusonia pulchella, in a gallon pot that I haven't seen for a long time. There were three small stems that I removed and put in their own pot. We shall see how it goes. I found this cholla several years ago on the west desert of Utah. It has really a pretty flower. I thought it had died for the lack of water last winter. The cuttings I took from it a couple of years ago died.

Seeding and Transplanting

2012-01-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

I worked in the house most of the morning. I had planned to go to the Fillmore Area Chamber of Commerce. The first baby of the New Year in Fillmore was born on January 3. The Chamber asked its members for gifts. I prepared a $25 gift certificate for the mother. I also prepared a letter for the Fillmore town council inviting them to buy hanging baskets to be hung on light post on main street. I was almost ready to go the the chamber meeting. I checked my email. I received a letter from the chamber postponing the meeting until next Thursday.

I had lunch and then began working in house two. I planted some barrel cactus seeds that came from the Beaver Dam area near St George, Utah; Sideoats Grama; Water Brich; and Utah Service berry. I divided the 1020 in half. Planting only half of each. There was a tray left over from last year which had twelve small Fremont Barberry plants that did get transplanted last year. I transplanted them in to square gallon pots today. I planted one 98 cell tray of Agastache and Bitter Brush.

Planting Again

2012-01-04T18:39:00.002-07:00

I got an afternoon free to do some planting. I like to plant November and December. Last year I planted in February, and someone else did most of it. I usually plant in a 1020 germination tray and then transplant into tubes in May and June and then into gallon pots in August and September. Frequently were are so busy that all of the native plants do not get transplanted. This time I am seeding many of the seeds directly into tubes. The large seeds will be one seed per tube. The smaller seeds there will be two or three per tube.

This afternoon I planted Great Basin Wild Rye, Leymus cinereus; Rose Sage, Salvia pachyphylla; Banana Yucca or Datil Yucca; Yucca baccata Sweet Four O'clock, Mirabilis longiflora, Desert 4 o'clock, Mirabilis multiflora, Firecracker Pestemon, Penstemon eatonii, and Scarlet Bugler, Penstemon Barbatus.

The picture to the left shows the germination trays planted with native seeds. Photo taken in February 8, 2010. As you can see there are lots of trays that will need to be transplanted.

Mice Problems

2012-01-03T20:38:00.002-07:00

Mice can be quite a problem in the greenhouse. Some of their favorite seeds to dig up are the vine crops. Cucumbers, melons, squashes, etc. They also like the Desert 4 O'clock seeds and the seeds of Indian Rice Grass and pinenuts. Now they are digging up the seeds of the Orbit Geranium I planted a week ago. The geranium seeds are easy to germinate. Usually don't get them planted until early in February. They grow slowly until the days grow longer. I have mine under lights hoping to get them growing faster.

I is a little hard to see. You can see some of the seedlings. There is a large space in the front center where the mouse has been digging and moving the soil to the right edge.

Here is another picture of the same thing, but from a different angle.

The last photo is still from a different angle. The lights have been moved out of the way. There are four trays all together.

Cats catch the mice and also use the tray as their sandbox. Sometimes the seeds get thrown into the tray on either side which makes a plant identification problem

Word Contest Winner

2012-01-02T20:20:00.002-07:00

Last week we had a word contest. Thanks to all that have entered. The winner would get a $25 gift certificate from Great Basin Natives. The winner was Adrian Tuttle Johnson. She made 35 words. Many of them are acronyms and some acronyms have turned into words. I did not set any rules. She left off the devil, Adrian, send me and email with your address.

Le Led Lev Levi Li Lid Lie Lied Live 9

De Dei Del Deli Dev Devi Di Die Div Dive 10,

I I’d Id Ile I’ve 5

Vie Vied Vide Vile 4

Ed Edi El Eli El Evil 6

Resolutions?

2012-01-01T20:50:00.001-07:00

Here, it is the end of the first day of the new year. Our church meetings went very well. The talks were about setting goals for this year. New years resolutions seems to be on the mind of many people at this time of the year, only to forgotten in a couple of months. Then another new year to start the process over again. What about resolutions?

According to Wikipedia, "a New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more lasting personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit. This goal must be reached by the next New Year. Keep in mind that this is a goal, not a wish and should be something that you as a person could strive for."

A resolution might last for a month or even a day. It depends on the goal one is trying to reach. A goal of loosing weight depends on how much you eat. A goal eating 700 calories tomorrow, may be a lot easier to keep than a goal of loosing one pound in the next even days. The following statement by Les Brown illustrates an important principles in setting goals. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

But in other situations a goal of the lose of 50 pounds this year is achievable, but if you on reach half the goal, that is still good.

Goals may range from simple to the unachievable. Simple ones are easy to achieve. Difficult resolution are will discourage us before we really give it a good try.

What is more important a self improvement goal or a materialistic goal or can you do both?

The following quotes are very meaningful. "If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else." Lawrence J. Peter

"The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher." Thomas Henry Huxley

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” C. S. Lewis

Looking for my top ten resolutions that are not fully developed.

Eternal Life and Exaltation
Be kinder and more helpful to my sweetheart
100% Home teaching in visiting and service
Attend all church meetings
Read priesthood lessons before attending priesthoodmeeting
Read Sunday school lesson
Book of Mormon
Read New testament
Read book about George Washington
Out of debt
Taxes paid on time

New Years Eve

2011-12-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

Not much going on today. I put the rest of the decorations in the garage to come forth next December. We hung our 50th anniversary photo on the wall above the fireplace. The pictures and clock that were there have been moved to different locations. All of the signs of Christmas are gone except a few Christmas cards hanging around the doorway into the company room.

Robert and Jeanne and the girls stopped for an hour before they went home. I watched the U of U football game the rest of the afternoon. It looked like the U would loose, but they scored a touch with a minute and half left. The game went into overtime. The U scored the winning touchdown.

Sticking Cuttings

2011-12-29T19:21:00.001-07:00

We had company yesterday and this morning. They left just before twelve. After lunch I started with the cuttings. Relying on memory has been a problems in the nursery business. I plant something and place it in a certain place thinking that tomorrow I will label it. Tomorrow I can't remember what it was. Today, I Walked through the yard observing the shrubs. Some shrubs are easier to propagate from cutting at this time of the year. As I saw them, I made my list. I have a small printer that prints on water proof labels.

I use a 38 Cell Propagation Tray. There are five rows in each tray. The outside rows have eight cells. Nest are two rose with seven cells in those rows. The center row has eight cells making five rows. I used four trays. My potting soil is powder dry, which makes makes it difficult for any water to run through. I filled the trays with soil and watered four or five times and let them soak awhile. The label stick is made of Venetian blinds. I cut them with scissors into eight inch lengths. I cut a point on one end and the label is stuck to the other end. It easily slides down the front edge of the first cell of each row.

I cut of twelve inches or so off the end of each branch. I like a branch that is straight. The center branches are straight, but the side branches are somewhat curved. I put them in a can of water to prevent the cut ends from drying. Using a sharpened pencil, I poke a hole in each cell. Then dip the bottom end of the branch in to hormodin; stick into the hole; and then press the soil around the stick. I watered them again and took them outside.

I stuck some sticks last spring and kept them in a warm greenhouse. It didn't take long for them to bud and begin to grow. I was pretty excited about it. They grew leaves, but not any roots. There were a couple that did, but most did not. Those today were taken outside to be in the cold, rain and snow. Outside, the buds will not brake dormancy before the roots have a chance to develop. We will see what happens some time in April.

Bridle wreath, Mountain Spray, Little Leaf Mock Orange, Lincoln Lialoc, Desert Willow, Forsythia, Snow Ball, Dogwood, and Rose of Sharon are the plants that I stuck this afternoon.

Pansy Swiss Giant

2011-12-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

We got home for the temple in Manti, Utah, a little after three. I quickly changed clothes and was able to work for a little over and hour. I planted two trays of geraniums and one tray of Pansy Swiss Giant Mix. This is one of the older varieties of the pansy. The seed does not cost much and it makes some nice pansy flowers. Pansies should be started in the middle of the summer for fall planting.

The Day After Christmas

2011-12-26T17:21:00.001-07:00

I did a little job in the house that took me nearly two hours. I gave Carol several kitchen tools for Christmas, but there was no room in the drawer. We have a drawer for all the spatulas, pancake turners, knives, serving spoons, can opener, etc. The drawer was so full of these utensils that it was getting difficult to close. There was no room for the new stuff. Beside that, it was hard to find some of the items in the drawer. I dumped it all out and found some things that we haven't seen for years. There were things in there that we hardly ever use. Someone said to put all of those in a box. Then when you need something take it out of the box, use it, wash it and then it in the drawer. Keep doing this then after a while you won't be going back to the box. I didn't do that way. I put things back in the drawer that we use everyday and what we might be using in 30 days. There were some thing that are seasonal. I put those back. The rest of the stuff is in the box and stored away.

Our web page needed to be updated because of Christmas being over. I added a blog line that linked with this blog.

This afternoon I worked in the greenhouse. The temperature outside in the early morning is around 16 degrees. But In the middle of the day greenhouse is really quite nice, if the sun is shining. I set up a heating pad and hung some florescent lights over the heating pad. I planted two packets of Orbit, Geranium seed. One was white and the other Violet. Each packet is labeled 100 seeds. One packet had 104 seeds and the other packet had 103. I watered them and turned up the thermostat for the heating pack. I won't turn the light on until the plants begin to germinate. Furnace turns on during the night when the temperature drops to around 40 degrees.

Geranium, Orbit Synchro White
Geranium, Orbit Violet

My Christmas Message

2011-12-25T07:01:00.001-07:00

Christmas morning is now here and the year is quickly coming to and end. Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ that occured over 2,000 years ago. It seems appropriate to connect the Sabbath and Christmas together since they both occur on the same day this year. The original meaning of Sabbath and Christmas have nearly disappeared from our culture. The Sabbath has changed from a Holy day of worship, rest, and devotion to a holiday of sports, recreation, and shopping. Christmas has changed from a day of reflection, adoration of Jesus Christ, and rejoicing with family, to Christmas trees, decorations, parades, and political correctness. Both have been so commercialized that the remembrance of the original purpose has nearly faded into the far distant pass.

Let us carry in our hearts the image of Christ how he was, how he is, and how he will be. Let us have daily thoughts in our minds of His purpose mission and life. He is our Savior, our rock, and our salvation. May our lives reflect in every way our love for Him. He is eternal, we were with him in our pre-mortal life. He is with us in our mortal life. We will be with Him again in our post mortal life, if we live the way that he has instructed through the Bible and The Book of Mormon. This I know as well as I know anything that it is true.

2011-12-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

One duck egg today. I cracked it trying to remove it from the duck house. I didn't dare eat it because of the possibility of contamination.

Most of the day I worked on a list of penstemon seeds that I need to order. There are a lot of beautiful penstemons. I hope to order about thirty more. The weather was a little warmer today.

2011-12-23T22:14:00.003-07:00

Our company left this morning around eight. They reached Nephi, and Fred couldn't find his wallet. Anne called. We found the walled in back of the headboard where they slept. We met them a the Yuba lake exit. It took us about 20 minutes to get there.

By the end of the day I had all my native seeds coin envelopes and filed in alphabetical order. I had several pounds of some seeds and just a few of other. One of the problems of planting is forgetting to plant something because I hadn't order the seed or that I had it but could not find it. I will be order seed of plants that I need, but do not have.

Sleeping In

2011-12-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Thought for the day:

Your gardening is helpingGod beautify your yard, your town, your country, and His world.

I slept in. I don't usually do that, but didn't get up until a little before seven. I was an hour late on getting things done. It snowed this morning. I shoveled the snow off our walk and driveway; drove a mile and cleaned the walk and driveway for them. By the time I got back home it was nearly time for lunch. I worked at the computer some and then went out to water. Watering doesn't take much time this time of the year. The gallon pots may not need to be watered for ten days. The tubes are smaller and need to be watered twice a week.

Yesterday I tried to separate the seed from the Golden Current fruit. It was hard and sticky. I soaked them in water and tonight the water and currents are a grape red. Tomorrow I will put it in the blender to remove the seeds from the fruit.

I got three packets of native seeds ready for planting. We had company this evening and wasn't able to do more.

Organizing Native Seeds

2011-12-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Just before lunch I began to remove the seeds form the Nootka Rose hips. I picked these hips several months ago and left them to dry. When the hips are wet, it is hard to remove the seeds. They are sticky. I have put them in a blender with some water. The blender cuts the hips to pieces, the water is drained out and the pulp is left to dry. It dries rapidly if a fan blows on it. The dry rose hips shatter when lightly hit a small hammer. The pieces of hips and seeds go flying. I then placed a small board on top of the hip and applied some pressure. The hip broke and the seeds were easily removed.

I got all of my seeds that start with the letter "p", most of the seeds were penstemon seeds. I harvested penstemon seeds earlier this year and was going through the seeds from previous years to have a set of penstemon seeds to plant this winter. I discarded most of the seeds from previious years for which I had fresh seeds. I recorded all of these. The astric indicates which seeds were collected before this year. Click here to see the seed list. I hope to get all of the native seeds that I harvested this year planted.

Back to Work

2011-12-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

It has been a few days since I have written. We have been shopping, decorating, baking, wrapping presents, shipping them to friends and family etc. This morning we finished up with the baking and delivered banana bread to some of our neighbor this afternoon. I need to order geranium, pansy, and fountain grass seeds. They need to be planted in a right away. I was able to get those seeds ordered today. There are a lot of things that I can put off until tomorrow and then all of the sudden it is tomorrow and there is so much to do and not enough time to do it.

Problem Solved

2011-12-16T20:19:00.001-07:00

For several years I have had a problems with Prostores, my web page host, and PayPal. Customers order, but can't check out unless they have a PayPal account. If they used a Visa, Discover, Master Card, they would get the error message, 10501. They were then given a phone number to call, which happens to be me. The customer would then call me and I didn't know why they received that error message. Sometimes I took the order over the phone. I have called Prostores many times for help in maintaining my web page. But they could not fix this problem. One told me that I would have to upgrade which would double my web page hosting costs. Others would change a few things, but it never fixed it. Calling a business is quite a procedure. You never get to talk to anyone until you have gone through several layers of menus. Even after doing this there is sometimes an extended wait. Sometimes it would be as much as twenty minutes. Other times they would answer after the first menu item. I never talked to the same person. There several people who could not answer the question and would then ask a supervisor. Lately the Prostore people tell me that it is a problems that PayPal has. I would call them and the automated answering machine would ask me what I want, then tell me to go to a web page. Many time they would tell me it is a problem with Prostores. I did speed it up a little by saying, "Operator Please."

I called them today. I called Prostores first and after a twenty minute wait was was able to talk to some one. The person I talked to asurred me that it was a PayPal problem. I called PayPal. The machine asks for the last four numbers of my checking account. Then give me my PayPal balance. Then asks, "what kind of problem are you having?" And many other similar questions. I try to answer. Finally a person answers. I tell that person the problem. He then transfers me to another person. After explaining the problem to him, he tells me that it has to be fixed by Prostores. I called back to prostores and their expert tells me to call PayPal. So I call PayPal again he tells me to call Prostores. I did that one more time and then called back to PayPal I got a lady that really helped me. She told me that it was a Prostore problem and then told me what to do when I got back on the Prostores' web page. I fixed it my self by making a couple of adjustments. I then ordered something using a Visa card and then to my surprise, it worked.

I have asked my son, Robert, to order something using his credit card. He made the order and it was really easy for him. He then received an email from ProStores confirming his order. That should also solve the problem of abandon carts. Customer could not check out and did not want to call so they left.

Vegetable Juice to Vegetable Soup

2011-12-15T19:58:00.001-07:00

This morning we drove to American Fork, Utah, where we met two of our daughters to exchange Christmas presents. We did a little shopping and then came home.

Sometimes at our house, we have supper on our own. Tonight was one of those nights. Carol fixed her a few things. I grew up on bread and milk. For those of you who are not familiar with bread and milk, I do it this way. I break bread into small pieces into a bowl and pour milk on it. I put some jam or jelly into another bow. With a spoon I get a little of the jam and then fill the spoon with some bread and milk. Tonight I used a our vegetable drink and bread. I put a quart of juice into a pan and put it on the stove to bring it to a boil. In the meantime I diced a red onion, sliced a leek from the garden; I diced a baked potato that was left over from our Sunday dinner; I cut two garlic cloves into small pieces. All of this was put into the boiling vegetable juice where it boiled for about thirty minutes. I also added a little salt and pepper and a tablespoon of butter. I broke one slice of bread into pieces into a bowl. I spooned the concoction into the bowl. It was very good. I even had seconds.

Everything that we ate was from our garden except the bread. I had put the leeks in to our root tub which is a large tub buried in the ground. The potatoes there looked good, but the leeks were trying to grow and some of the leaves were beginning to root.

Cold Night

2011-12-06T21:28:00.001-07:00

We have been gone all day. We got home at three this afternoon. We had a little lunch. I then put out some more lights in the yard. I have a few more to do an then will take a couple of pictures. Last night was the coldest night this winter. But I guess it is not winter until the 22 December, but it feels like it now. The ducks don't seem to mind. They play in the tub that has a little water running into it 24/7. The repaired furnace is keeping the greenhouse from freezing. The temperature at night ranges 43 to 50 degrees. It goes up to 75 during the day.

Drawing

2011-12-02T06:56:00.001-07:00

Today is the day. I spent several hours yesterday getting the tickets ready for the drawing. I had to check all of the emails that I received associated with the drawing. I used excel spreadsheet. Made each cell about the size of ticket. I then wrote the names of those that sent me the emails in each cell. The cells were printed and cut apart. I folded them in half an put them in a large Dream Whip tub. There were two tubs. One for the new emails I got and one for the emails that I already had. Carol drew a name out of each tub. The two winners of the $100 gift card are Jeff Whatcott and James Mikkelsen.

Fruit Flies!!!

2011-12-01T20:47:00.001-07:00

The one of the first thing I did this morning was to drive to Fillmore to pay the taxes. They were due yesterday, but I made a deposit first.

With fall comes fruit flies to the house. They hitch hike on an over ripe piece of fruit and make it into the house. Once in the house they seem to multiply a banana, peach, tomato, or any other fruity that might be in the house. That was several months ago. When ever I sit down to the computer in my office there are always a couple of fruit flies buzzing around. I can't here them, but they are really annoying. We have had any fruit in from outside for a over a month, and I can't imagine where they are coming from. On top of that I have been able to kill most of them, but they keep coming back. Then I saw the fruit in the office. I had a large bowl of Mahonia fremontii fruit which I hadn't separated out the seeds. That had to be the source of the flies.

Later this afternoon I mashed the fruit, added some water, and stirred it up in a blender. That broke most of the open and allowed seed to come out. I strained out the water and put the pulp which contained the seeds and placed it on a large sheet of newspaper. I put it in front of a large fan to dry. I stirred it up several times. It dried in about five hours. I strained it through a sieve which allowed the seeds to drop through. The is a lot of seeds in the chaff. I will plant chaff and all. I have, just a guess, 5,000 seeds.

Fruit of the Mahonia Fremontii, FREMONT BARBERRY. When ripe it is sweet and juicy. Getting seeds out is a sticky mess.

Decorations Outside

2011-11-30T20:42:00.001-07:00

I was able to fix the lights on the Christmas tree last night. Earlier I check fuses, but last night I inspected that section of the tree while sitting on the couch. I studied it for quite a while. There were pairs wire connecting all of the miniature lights. There was large parallel wires that brought the power from one tree section to the next. There was a small parallel wires that connected the larger lights with the main power source. The male connector has a fuse in it. I replaced the fuse with the spare that located next to it. Ah, the lights work. I then put the tree back together.

This morning I started on the outdoor lights and Carol began putting the WalMart Christmas balls on the tree. She got it decorated and I decorated the trees and shrubs outside. There was a large number of the strings of the miniature lights that only half of them light up work. I used a 3/4 inch pvc pipe with a forked stick stuck in the end of it to lift the lights on the higher trees and shrubs. I used three different lengths of pipe. I started wrapping lights at the ground level and all the way up the trunk and on some of the branches. I then wrapped the strings of lights around the circumference of the tree. They look pretty good.

It is snowing now.

Flowering Kale

2011-11-29T19:54:00.001-07:00

These photos were taken November 29, 2011 north of house 1. We have not had really hard freezing weather at this point. However, it is not uncommon to have this kind or weather through November. I show these pictures to illustrate that late summer planting of larger flowering kale in various areas of the flower beds. When frost kills the tender summer annuals, these hardy kales keep on giving color to the garden until late in November.

This, above, kale was planted late May and has grown quite large. Photo was taken in October. It has lost much of its beauty and has been fed to the cows. Same for the photo below.

New photos

Decorating for Christmas I

2011-11-28T20:54:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is over and now we are decorating for Christmas. We started in the house first and will go out side when it warms up some in the afternoon. I brought the decorations into the front room. Some were in the garage and others in a bedroom closet. We have a small conifer growing in the living room. We moved it to the front room and Carol decorated it with her Santa Claus ornaments. We always put the artificial tree in the living room. I took it out of the box and put in the round globe lights. I started with the bottom section. I connected the electrical cords as I completed each section. I had a six bulbs left over. I found a place for half of them. There was several bulbs that did not light. I unscrewed them and then screwed them back in again. Two of them lighted. I tried one more and the whole section went off. I Checked all the fuses that I could find all were okay.

Nut Crackers and other items on top of the milk safe.

On top of the piano are Nativity sets.

We had to clean up the dust and cob webs that were hiding on to of the entertainment center. We put up the Nut Crackers. They are shoulder to shoulder.

After lunch, I started with the outdoor lights. I found a ladder and took the icicle lights on the roof. brought up and extension cord. I started hanging the lights along the edge of the roof. I was working from west to east. When I got to the east side of the front of the house. I plugged in the next string and only half of the lights came on. I took that one off and replaced it with a new set. The next set was the same. When finished the lights did not reach the east front. I had to move all the lights further east. I got them up and it looks pretty good.

I then began to put light on the two columns that held up the front porch. Once again many of the light would not come on. It was getting late and began to get dark. I had some supper and began searching the internet for ways to fix the lights. I located the Light Keeper Pro. The reviews were very good.
I was getting close to finishing It was going pretty good. I always plug each set in to see if it will light up. There were a lot of them that li

Fixed Greenhouse Furnace

2011-11-26T11:02:00.001-07:00

I could hear sort of a muffled boom just after I went to bed. It sounded like one of the grand kids jumped of the bed and landed on the floor with a boom. Different time during the night I heard the boom. I thought that strange. Towards morning the source of the noise came to me. It was the furnace in House 2 coming on. Normally it is a woof sort of noise that I don't hear from the house, but I sometimes hear the noise of the fan. About a month ago, it was making the same noise. One of the burners had come loose and the gas was not going into the burner. The space inside of the furnace would accumlate some gas before it would ignite. I would then ignite with an explosion. Having this trouble before, I was going to get a new furnace. There are some other problems with it and I surely didn't want it to quite some cold winter night. Most of the plants would die, the pipes would freeze and break. The value of the lost plants may exceed the cost of a furnace.

Robert, who was here for Thanksgiving, and I went out to fix it. There are nine burners and two on the left side had come of the orifice causing more gas to accumulate. We put them back on and they fell off again. We would put one on and the other one would fall. We discovered that the manifold looked a little out of alignment. And then discovered that one of the two welded holders had broken leaving the left side wider than the right. We cut five inches off a one inch piece of pipe, We put that between the furnace wall and the manifold. That held the manifold in place. I can sleep tonight.

The Day After Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T10:27:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is over. At our house there are plenty of leftovers that we will be eating for awhile.

Need a gift for the person who has everything. Black Friday at Great Basin Natives starts today and ends on Christmas Eve. Great Savings. Give him/her a gift certificate for the yard or garden. A 20% saving. A $50 gift certificate costs $40 which is a 20% discount. Good at Nursery or mail order. Remit the amount for one or more gift certificates. Mail check or credit card information to Great Basin Natives, PO Box 114, Holden, Utah 84636

Complete the following:

Merrill and Carol

Great Basin Natives

Name____________________________________________________

Address__________________________________________________

City _____________________________________________________

State _____________________________ ZIP ___________________

Phone ___________________________________________________

Amount of Purchase________________________________________

Card Number _____________________________________________

Expiration Date _{_____________________________________________________}

_{greatbasinnatives.com}

The Day Before Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T20:11:00.001-07:00

Last week I bought an indoor/outdoor thermometer. I installed that this morning. It took quite a while to get it set up. The box said it was easy, but there were not enough instructions to make it easy. By the time I set it up three time, I learned how to do it. I probably will forget when it comes time to change the batteries in November of 2012.

I was surprised by another duck egg today.

Right after lunch I mowed the lawn. Not much grass to cut, but a lot of leaves. There is a slow leak in the right tire. I have to put air in it about every other time that I mow. I was nearly out of gasoline, but had some in the garage. I put just enough in the tank to finished the lawn. I swept the leaves on the drive way onto the grass just west of the driveway. I raked the leaves at one spot where there were a lot of them and carried them out to the garden. I moved the boards that set on the edge of the driveway since the last time I mowed. I moved the two large tubs of Wave petunias one on each side of the garage door, that are not blooming, but still green to the dead plant recycle hill. The I mowed up all the leaves and put in the garden.

I moved all of the gallon Fremont Poplars north of house one. They are ready to be picked up. They are going to Wildland Nursery. There are about twenty-four Little Leaf Mt Mahogany that have been in back for several years and seriously neglected. I brought them in, trimmed the dead wood, and pulled out the weeds. They are now in house five and will be given good treatment and may be ready to sell next summer.

I have one Utah Yucca, I think it is a Utah Yucca, that is very different. I put it in a two gallon pot, and will be watching it to see how it does.

Late Afternoon

2011-11-22T20:14:00.001-07:00

We were gone until 3:30. While we were gone I received a call from the Linden Nursery. They want 150 one gallon Fremont Poplars. I didn't count what I had, but a quick estimate indicated that there were 80 to 90 plants. Wildland nursery is getting 70 of them. While out there I notices a few Little Blue Stem plants. I gathered some of the seed. They are nice clump grass with a pinkish red fall color.

The surprise for the day was in the duck house. I walked out there right after we got home and found one egg. The ducks quite laying eggs about two months ago. I didn't think that they would lay until the spring. The egg weighed 1.98 ounces, which is the biggest egg that they have laid.

More Cleaning of House two

2011-11-21T17:23:00.001-07:00

Last week a neighbor of mine brought three pickup loads of leaves. He dumped them in front of our garden next to the road. I would fill a small tarp with leaves, bring the four corners together, and then put it over my shoulders and carried them out to the garden where I dumped them. The south garden is covered with about six inches of leaves. They will pack down to two inches.

I have a lot of cacti in house two and quite a few of them have died. They haven't sold very well and the just keep getting bigger and bigger. They have taken 200 square feet of space out of 1400. I am keeping starts from a few of them. The little barrels sell pretty good. I watered this afternoon. It has rained some today. The tempature has been cool but pleasant.

INPGA

2011-11-18T19:16:00.001-07:00

The Intermountain Native Plant Growers Association meeting today in Kaysville, UT. I left home a little after six this morning. The meeting started at nine and I was about thirty minutes early. The meeting went well. There were three presenters spoke on native plants in the landscape and re-vegetation. The other two presenters presented the books that they have written. On was about the woody plants and the other one was about the Forbes. The meeting ended at one this afternoon. I then drove home. The round trip took about five hours. I made two stops on the way home.

In the Morning

2011-11-17T21:10:00.001-07:00

More stories about the ducks. All of the lettuce was gone and saw dust was tracked onto the ramp. I thought that it would take several days before they would get used to the duck house. It looks like some of them spent the night in the duck house. They are right close to our house, so we see them every time we go into the back yard. One time there were two in the house, one under the ramp, and one sitting in front of the house. Another time there was one in the house one under the ramp, and two in front.

I worked most of the day on getting up on my computer work. My hard drive crashed in June. About three months later my son recovered all of my files. I wrote checks and payroll checks by hand. It is those things that I had to post. There are some invoices that I had hand made. Then the deposits still have be posted.

Home All Day

2011-11-16T19:29:00.001-07:00

This morning I let the ducks out of their pen. I don't know if all ducks are like our four, but they do not want to explore new places. I opened their gate wide enough so they could quickly walk out. An hour later they had not left. Soon after that I came out and they were barely outside of their pen. They ran back in just as soon as they saw me. I had to have the ducks out so I could put the duck house in the pen. I went to the backside of the pen and encouraged them to go out. They spent most of the time on the lawn. I cleaned of an area for the duck house. I placed a brick at each corner to keep the house off the ground. The opening is about six inches above the ground. I made a little ramp so they could walk up the ramp and enter the house. I put sawdust inside for softness and a little warmth.

Now the duck house is ready, but the ducks won't go back to their pen. I tried to herd them, but they would not go near the pen. I just let them be. They walked on the lawn and appeared to be getting some insect in the grass. I don't really know if they were getting anything. Sometimes they would just sit on the lawn. After that they played in the water and mud just outside of the pen. They love lettuce. Carol put some lettuce in the pen, but would not go in. Sometime later after lunch, gently herded them in and pushed the gate close but not tight. The next time I saw them, one duck was out and trying to get back in. I opened the gate and the duck went right in. This time I shut the gate tight. The ducks would not eat any of the lettuce, hugged the side of the pen that was away for their house. Eventually they did eat the lettuce. These ducks are funny that way. They avoid anything new in the pen. We fed them some watermelon rinds. They would just stand there looking at them. After awhile they get get used to it and begin to eat them. We gave them melon seeds. It was the same. The just looked at them. The next time we gave them rinds or seeds, they really go after them. Carol put some more lettuce in the pen and some on the ramp and a little in the house. They ate most of the lettuce, but would not touch the lettuce on the ramp and in the house.

I harvested seed from the Desert willow tree, and Buckwheat plant. I cleaned the Desert will and put them in an envelop.

The weather has really been nice. I drove over to a neighbor's house to harvest the Desert 4 O'clock seed. Most of the plant was dry and had good seeds. My first plan was to load the large plant in the truck. Take it home and put it on the driveway and run over it with the truck numerous times to bread the seed loose. The was a nice asphalt driveway at the neighbor's house. I threshed it out there which save a lot of time. I removed all the large stems and loaded them on the truck. The chaff that was left containes the seeds. I brought them home in a large tub.

The gardener was there raking the leaves. I told him that I wanted the leaves to put on our garden. That was okay with him. He loaded them on his truck and dumped them just off the street by our yard. I hauled most of them to the south garden.

I brought some Utah Yuccas, Kanab Yucca and some Utah Agave into greenhouse five. They have not done very well outside during the winter. I think it is to wet far them.

I had one customer this afternoon.

Two Orders

2011-11-15T19:56:00.001-07:00

I had hoped have these two orders shipped yesterday, other things needed to be done. I shipped ten Utah Yuccas to Las Vegas, Nevada. It took a while to get them ready. I have a weed problem and these had a lot of weeds. I cleaned them all up and put them in a box. Many of the weeds that thrive in the greenhouse will not survive in the same areas of plants that are drought tolerant. The other box went to Denver, CO. It took me a couple of hours to prepare them and get them boxed.

Duck House

2011-11-14T21:14:00.001-07:00

I had one small order that I had planned to ship, but the weather was quite nice and I decided to build the duck house. I had a large old box made out of plywood. I started to take it apart last week to use the parts to make the duck house. I had an idea just how to make it, and the parts for the box were not big enough. Right then I needed a 1/2 by 4 by 8 piece of plywood. I told Carol that I would need to get a piece of plywood in Fillmore. She had some things that she was doing before she could go. About thirty minutes later we drove to Fillmore. I got some diesel for the tractor, picked up some tie wire, a pound of grabbers, and the 3/4 inch sheet of plywood which. Carol was at the market while I was doing some of my errands. We then came home.

My neighbor called me and wanted to borrow my trailer which was loaded with tree branches and garden debris He said that he would take that to the dump for me. That was not a condition of letting him use the trailer, but I thought that would be good. Carol suggested that I take it to the dump and clean up the west berm. I cleaned up all the annuals. There were a lot of flowering cabbage. I loaded them on the hand cart. I tied down the tree branches, and went to the dump.

As soon as I got back I had my lunch, which were the leftovers from our Sunday dinner. Our daughter called about some automobile insurance. I called my agent. He was busy with a client, but would call me back. I waited for about one and a half hours for him to call, but he never did. I then went out to work on the duck house. Upon seeing leaves on the lawn, the snow all melted, and a nice day; I got the lawn mower going and mowed them up. That done, I went back to work on the duck house.

It was getting late and Carol went to her DUP meeting. I worked until it the soon was hanging low. I moved all the materials into the garage where I continued. Carol came back and we had supper. I finished the duck house about two hours later.

Not much done at the nursery today. Maybe more Wednesday.

The photo shows the nearly completed duck house. All the corners and edges of is lined with 2 x 2 inch stock. The top, sides, and bottom are screwed to the 2 x 2's. I then put the top on. It took one sheet of plywood to complete this project. The wood left over is laying on the floor at the top left.

Problem Solved

2011-11-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

I went to work on the duck watering problem just as soon as I finished eating. I got tee and a ball valve in the waterline last night. This morning I dug the trench through house four and out the end under the back wall. I have a lot of used pvc pipe from other projects that did not work out. I cut bad parts out and connected the good pieces together with the 3/4 inch cuplers. I laid down and glued it to the ball valve. The other end extended out the back end about twelve feet. I attached a hose bib to it and the hose. The 110 ft hose reached the duck pen. I blowed out the other line that might freeze. The ducks are getting the water that they need.

11/11/11

2011-11-11T21:37:00.001-07:00

Not much time at home today. We have four Khaki Campbell ducks. The breed was developed by Adele Campbell of England in the late 1800's. We are concerned how to take care of them through the winter. I made a lean-to shelter. It is rather simple with a piece of plywood in the corner of their pen leaning against the garage. A there is wall on the left and garage at the back. I have a large plastic tube that sits in the other corner with a hose running a trickle of water. The water in the tub comes from a hose bib just feet away from the ducks. It is well water that feeds our sprinkler system which is always fresh and clear. With winter coming I had to drain the water lines. I connected two long garden hose together and attached one end to the city water which was less likely to freeze.

I let it run day and night. As it gets colder I will have drain that line also. Early this morning before I got up, a solution came to me. I can bury a pipe down the center of one of the greenhouse and then with a garden hose I can run the water to the ducks. I started digging some and then we drove to Provo.

I bought some pvc parts in Provo. As soon as we got home I started building the water line. It got dark before I finished. Last winter I would blow out the lines after each time that I watered. This year I will let a little water run because I can't shut it off because of the freezing temperatures. The new line will make it a lot simpler.

There were reminders all day long about the veterans. Flags out everywhere. Radio reports. On television. In the restaurants. So grateful for our free country and those that helped to make it free in their service all over the world.

Too Wet to Plow

2011-11-10T19:58:00.001-07:00

I cleaned some of the seeds of the Salvia pachaphyla this morning. The seeds are small and very had to thrash out. I tried two different food processors to loosen up the seeds. It did not work. I cut through the old blossoms with a pair of scissors. That seemed to help. I didn't count the seeds, but I think I got about 250. I had planned to plant the seeds in leach tubes, putting one seed in each tube. After that I drove to Delta to pick up some germination trays and potting soil. After lunch I mowed parts of the lawn where there was no snow and a lot of leaves. The grass catcher was a little of half full. I drove the lawnmower to the garden to dump the leaves. It was really muddy. I had hoped to till the garden, but it looks like I won't be able to until in the spring. This afternoon I went out to plant. Needing a good place to put the trays when finished I began to clean all of the weed infested germination trays left over from this spring. I took them out in back. I may be able to save some of the plants in the spring. At least the weeds are now gone. I didn't get any planting done. There is still plenty of time. My goal is to have weed free greenhouses.

Big Day Today

2011-11-09T18:38:00.001-07:00

I called Wildland Nursery before eight this morning wondering about her plants. Freight company were there and were nearly finished loading her plants for Alamo. She said they would soon be leaving. I had arranged of Jesus and Lorena to be here at nine to help me load. The plants have been ready to ship now for over a month.

The driver had driven through town and stopped called wondering where we lived. I had a difficult time figuring out just where he was. He was at the three mile marker north of town. I didn't know where that three mile marker was. He turned around was here in about ten minutes. Jesus and Lorena drove up just before they got here. They had a about a 30 foot fifth wheel trailer. I think we loaded up the 600 gallon plants and about ten trays of tubes in about thirty minutes. The plants filled all the space that was left. I went back into the house for the invoice. He signed one copy and then was on his way.

The Linden Nursery ordered Salt Brush and Cliff Rose. I got those ready earlier this morning. I was glad I did. I didn't know just when he would come, but he was here around twelve. I was working in house two. Carol called me to let me know that he was here. I looked for him for five minutes. I found his truck, but not him. Finally, I found him. He was older and using two aluminum crutches that attached to his arm just above the elbow with a couple of clips. All of his plants were in two trays. My phone rang as I was placing the two trays in the extended cab. Kirk, from Tri-city nursery called about 31 Salvia Dorrii plants. He was wondering how he would bet them. I told him that we were going to Provo Friday for an appointment at Utah Valley Regional Medical center, but were going in the car. He said he pay for the fuel if I went in the truck. Mark overheard this conversation and mentioned that he lived in Highland, Utah could take them that far. I gave the phone to him so he could talk with Kirk and work out the details. Fortuntantly he was able to take them. I then loaded them on his truck.

I was soon back in the house and prepared the invoices and got them in the mail.

I have so much to do so I finished planting pine nuts. I bought a pound of pine nuts that came from eastern Nevada. Therefore, Pinus monophylla, Single-leaf pinion. I planted a little ofver 8 1/2 trays or Planted 830 pine nuts.

I finished off the rest of the tray by planting 35 Acorns. I don't know the name right now, but will get it soon.

Garden is Almost Ready for Winter

2011-11-04T22:19:00.000-06:00

went for a walk
After lunch I had planed to work in the nursery, but fearing that we might have some rain or snow tomorrow I changed my mind and decided that I should get the garden smoothed the garden
dug oregon grape and transplanted to 24 gallon pots

mowed the lawn
ended the day with a little weeding

A Good Day

2011-11-03T20:42:00.001-06:00

A customer emailed me late last night, writing as if it were morning. There was a plant delivery for her from one of my customers in California. Her place is quite aways off I-15, so they were being dropped of here. She asked me if the truck came last night. When I read it late that night it didn't make sense to me. The semi arrived after I had gone to bed so I didn't hear the it stop in front of our house. She emailed me again Thursday morning. I wrote back saying the truck was not here. I looked for it several times. It was just getting light and I thought that there would be a truck waiting for me to help unload. I still did not see it. It was light the next time I went out and the plant material was sitting in my driveway covered with heavy frost. I called my customer and reported to her that the plants were here. My California customer returned a bunch of trays and leach tubes and four trays of Birch Leaf Sumac. I but the trays and tubes away.

The customer was arrived two hours later. We loaded her up and then she was on her way.

Another customer from Great Basin National Park arrived a little before twelve. He bought all the Ponderosa pine I had, Water Birch, and two of the Birch leaf Sumac trays that just returned from California. All in all it has been a good day.

I took pictures of the Four Wing Salt Brush seeds. I have two plants, and the seeds are a little different.

Seeds on the left are scalloped. Seeds on the right have smooth edges.

I harvested seeds from the Grease Wood, Sarcobatus vermiculatus. This and the Four Wing Salt Brush are prettier than dirt. They are extremely drought tolerant and will grow almost anywhere. So, if nothing will grow in your dirt, these will, therefore "prettier than dirt". They can be hedge and look really nice. The four wing is evergreen, or I should say evergray.

I transplanted the Trailing Daisy into five inch square gallon pots, planted a few pinion pine nuts. Looking forward to see them grow.

We remove the tubs and baskets from the front of our yard and dumped them on the old potting soil dump. I use the old potting soil for planting trees and shrubs. The pots and tubes are put away to reappear in March.

The last thing of the day was to finishing the watering.

Cold Morning

2011-11-02T21:42:00.001-06:00

Eric stopped by a little after six this morning on his way to Phoenix, AZ. He will be there for a week working on his Phd.

There was a message from a person back east on the phone. She wanted some information about a picture that she had seen on Picasa. I called. She wasn't in. I waited in the house for her call for about three hours. She then called back.

The morning was quit cold and I was glad to worked in the house. I worked in the greenhouses removing weeds. some of the pots were so low on soil, I had to pull the plant out and put more soil on the bottom. I was working out there and the call came. I told her all I new about the photo.

Cleaned weeds from 56 one gallon Oregon Grape. Most of them are a pretty good size. They look pretty good in five 1/2 rows of ten in each row.

I cleaned and packaged the seed of the chocolate flower, a thorny Robenina, and a yellow flower that grows in the St. George, Utah area.

A Lot Done Today

2011-10-31T19:53:00.000-06:00

We had or car serviced last week in Linden, Utah. They recommended that we have a coolant flush. I took the truck and Carol took the car to Fillmore this morning. We got some Halloween candy at the market and then drove home in the truck. While in Fillmore we had some lost property paper notarized at the bank. Later in the afternoon, we went back to Fillmore in the truck. Carol drove the car home and I came home in the truck. The coolant is good for another 30,000 miles.

As it was going to be cooler tomorrow, I wanted to make some type of shelter for the ducks for the winter. I dismantled the large plywood box that I used for hauling soil to now be made into a duck house. Carol was moving some heavy steel pipe that was used to hold the weed barrier fabric down when the wind would blow. The pipes being heavy, I helped her. I put the pipes away. We folded up the weed barrier on both the north garden and the south garden. It is now ready to be smoothed out, manured, and tilled.

Our furnace has not worked for nearly two weeks. The furnace guy removed the exhaust fan several weeks ago. We picked up a new one last week. He made several appointment to install the fan, but was not able to come. He came Saturday afternoon, but we were not here. He made it this afternoon, and replaced the exhaust fan. He fixed a couple of other things too.

While we were cleaning the garden, I gathered the dried up asparagus bean pods and threshed out the beans. The pods are about over two feet long and have a beans scattered along the pod. They are a climbing bean that grows in all directions. The ones we cooked taste just like the Blue Lake Pole bean.

The maple trees dropped most of their leaves. There are too many to gather them with the lawnmower. Normally I would rake them up, but today I broomed them up. I used a push broom. It works very well. I can push or I can pull. I make a pile or a row of leaves. I filled three large garbage bags and put the bags on top of my vegetable pit. For the rest of the leaves, I lay down a 6 x 8 foot plastic tarp. I either shovel the leaves on the tarp using a large light weight aluminium scoop shovel. I can also use the shovel like a broom and push the leave on the tarp. When it is full, I pull each corner up to the center and then put it over my shoulder and carry it out near the garden.

It was getting late in the evening when I mowed the lawn. I mowed rather quickly getting the rest of leaves. I got most of the leaves and a little grass in the grass catcher. I watered all of the tubes in the greenhouse and then turned the water on the plants in the holding area, which is on the lawn next to the driveway. I have been holding them for two weeks. Someone is to pick them up tomorrow.

Over all we, Carol and I, accomplished a lot. The only thing on my to do list that was accomplished was gathering the leaves.

Like on Facebook

Not Much Done

2011-10-24T21:04:00.002-06:00

A lot of boring things today. The day started with a healthy walk. I had some blood drawn before I have my check-up Wednesday morning. I made a small deposit at the credit union.

After lunch a neighbor came over find out why my furnace started with an explosive bang, He opened up the bottom panel. One of the burners had slipped out of place. The gas was accumulating some before it ignited; thus the explosion. The good news is that he had it fixed in five minutes.

I got on the phone to get my new web page up and running. I didn't work.

The weather forecast for the next five days is freezing weather. I shut of the water, hooked up the compressor, and blew out the water. The compressor is small and took quite a long time clear the pipes throughout the yard and gardens. I watered all the plants in tubes in the greenhouses. This water is connected to the city and I don't blow out those lines until it is cold enough to freeze in the green houses. House two is heated during the winter. The perennials, shrubs, and trees in the other greenhouse need a good watering once a week. Last year I lost quite a few plants because of not following a good winter watering schedule.

The last thing of the day was pulling out more pot weeds. I think that I am getting some control over them.

Storing Leeks

2011-10-22T20:35:00.000-06:00

Not much done in the nursery today. Went for a walk with Carol, Watched BYU football. Mowed front and east lawns. Did some weeding in the west garden.

Digging the leeks has been on my to do list for quite sometime. I had dug a few, and put them in my root storage hole. The potatoes looking really good, but the leeks were a little wilted. The weather has been really warm since I put them in. The forecast for the next couple of weeks is for colder weather. I thought that to day would be a good time to do it.

Earlier I ran some water down the row to soften the ground so it would be easier to dig them with the shovel. After the water had run awhile, I pulled one up and it come up with hardly any effort. During the half I harvested the rest of the leeks. I then sheared the tops off the leeks. It was much easier to do it before they were harvested than doing it after. I then got the hole ready by removing the cover. The leeks were pulled with a little difficulty, by much easier than digging. I carried them to the hole and put them in. I did not clean the leeks. I left the muddy dirt on them, which should help prevent them from wilting.

2011-10-21T22:28:00.001-06:00

I started the day by gathering tomato plants that had frozen. We throw them over the fence for our neighbors cows.

Over the years I have collected a number of different cacti. They have multiplied and it took two large benches to hold them. For the most part only a few were sold. This spring I emptied one of the benches. That was not very efficient use of space. I put plants there that were in demand.

During the winter last, the pilot light on the furnace went out and many of the plants froze. Some were the cacti. This morning I started to discard the dead plant material that were on the other bench. I just got a good start and I had to leave.

Carol and I went to Fillmore to get a few items. We visited a good friend who had a stroke. He is doing much better now. I paid a few bills. I just started to work on the web page, then stopped to go for a walk. When got back from that walk, I did the payroll. It sounds like a big deal, but right now I have two people, husband and wife. The are working part time and I will probably have them for about one more week. About ten days ago I harvested some Big Tooth maple seeds and didn't take care of them. I should have put them in the fridge. I planted them in a germination tray today and they are in house 3. I got a few weeds after that. Taking the weeds out of the pot is time consuming. I dig them out with a fork and then pluck them out with tweezers.

Springdale, Utah

2011-10-19T21:07:00.001-06:00

My help went home yesterday before I had a chance to have him help me load the two Utah Junipers. This morning I got the tractor started. It was quite cool and wondered if the tractor would start. Some models have heaters to warm the tractor up. I turned the key to the left hoping that it would help. When I came back it started pretty good.

I loaded one of the trees and was getting the other one ready. It is much easier to position the tree in the truck if there is another person helping. Just then Jesus, one of my employees arrived. He helped me load. I loaded two ramps and the cart. Carol and I then drove to Springdale and got there a little after twelve. Their gardeners, a young man and his wife, were there. We rolled one tree down to the ramp, loaded it on the cart and pushed it to its final resting place. They already had the hole dug. We put the other tree on the cart while it was still in the truck. One of the gardeners pulled it down the ramp and pushed over to the hole that was dug for it.

The following pictures are of their gardens.
Above. Pinion and junipers with walking paths around and between them. Most of the photos are east of the house.

The wash that comes through the garden.

The garden on the north side of the wash with steps coming down into the wash and steps (not seen) coming up the towards the driveway.

Same as above but this shows the landscape in the background.

A path on the right side of the wash. Beautiful full Utah Juniper takes up one third of the photo.

Merrill and Laurie on the deck. Beautiful red rock canyons in the background.

A retaining wall above protects the garden from occasional floods. One such flood occurred in January 2011. Large yuccas punctuate the bottom of the wash.

Large square stepping stones are boarder by purple flowers with Utah Junipers on either sides.

The gardener coming up out of the wash towards the driveway. The setting for the home and garden is between the Beautiful red sandstone mountains and cliffs.

The Tractor is Fixed

2011-10-18T22:20:00.003-06:00

Several weeks ago we picked all the tomatoes and covered with frost protection covers. Most of the tomatoes went Las Vegas. We had two buckets of tomatoes in the pantry. They have really ripened and some were beginning to spoil. Today we trunred them into seven quart bottles of vegetable juice. As soon as they were cooking, I drove to Fillmore to get motor oil and an oil filter. When I got back I helped Carol juice the tomatoes and other vegetables that were cooked with the tomatoes. I then began working on the tractor. It took me awhile to find the drain plug. The tractor is so low to the ground that I could not crawl under it. I could not drive it because most of the oil was gone because of the hole that was in the oil filter. Well, what I was I to do? Holding a mirror at and angle under the tractor I was able to see the plug. I could not see well enough to put a wrench on it through the hole that gave one access to the plug. The plug was metric and I didn't have metric wrench that would fit it. It took a 17 mm wrench. My 3/4 wrench was to large and my 9/16 wrench and was to small. So off to Fillmore I went to get a metric set of wrenches. I had to jack the tractor up. The jack would not work properly but after struggling with it for a while I did get it high enough up so I could place a block under the tractor. I still could not get under it. I dug a hole under the tractor. The tractor was parked over a bunch of rocks, making it difficult to dig. I made the hole large enough to get my head and shoulders beneath the tractor. The open ended wrenches would not work, but a socket would. I didn't have any metric sockets. An 11/16 was tried and it loosen the plug. The oil drained into a small pan. There wasn't much oil left. I let it drain awhile to remove as much oil as I could. I needed a metric socket. I was able to find a 17 mm socket. It fit the plug perfectly and with and extension I was able to screw it in and tighten it. That bout ended my day.

Carol had been pulling up some of the frozen plants in the garden. I hauled them out to the cows. I worked a little on the computer and then spent a little time pulling weeds in the greenhouse.

An Egg Explosion

2011-10-18T20:14:00.001-06:00

I often get ideas during the night. Some I forget when it is morning. I woke up last night thinking about Stuffing Tomatoes. A couple of days ago, I filled a stuffing tomato with egg salad. An other time I filled it with cottage cheese. Last night in my mind I filled the tomato with an egg. Well, this morning I gave it a try. I cut the top off the tomato, the stem end, and removed the seeds. I broke the egg and emptied the slippery contents into the hallowed out tomato. I seasoned it some with salt and pepper. Then into the micro wave at full power for one minute. It had cooked for about 45 seconds and "bang/pop" an explosion. I left it until the beep of the timer. I took it out and spent the next ten minutes cleaning the inside surfaces of the oven. It reminds me of butterfly smashed against the windshield of a fast moving car. But, looks like a dish of whipped potatoes with a little dab of butter melting in the center. However, it tasted pretty good. The tomato was completely cooked, but needed salt. The tomato skin slipped around in my mouth. The egg was well cooked. I the next time that I do it, it will have an omelet twist. I will break the egg in a dish; and stir in sweet bell pepper and an jalapeno pepper then top it off with some cheese and then pore it into the tomato.

Sunday Is Our Day OffI

2011-10-16T21:30:00.001-06:00

We are closed on Sunday, but we still have to do the watering. During the hottest day of the summer we have to water two times a day. No that it is much cooler, we water the larger plants every other day and the smaller plants only once a day. We could get by with every other day if everything was watered evenly with sufficient water. That is had to do. most of the time the plants at the edges don't get enough water. On an every other day schedule, they would die, and some do that any way.

I had to stuffing tomatoes for supper. An interesting tomato that is hollow like a pepper with seeds that are easily removed. I have stuffed two of them with egg salad. I also have stuffed them with cottage cheese. I really liked the cottage cheese, but a little disappointed with the egg salad.

Windmills

2011-10-15T20:15:00.000-06:00

Our company left for the day this morning. We have wanted to see then windmills just north of Milford, Utah. Over the last couple of years we have watched the propellers being hauled on the freeway. Interesting and noting how large they were. We saw a lot of the windmills on our trip to Kentucky. We left a little after our company left. There are numerous roads that go to Milford. We went by the way of Clear lake, a state bird refuge, which was one of the longer ways to go. We stopped before we got to Clear Lake to collect some shadscale seeds. It is a lovely desert plant that grow in areas of very little rainfall. I is a poky, "pretty than dirt" shrub that ranges 12 inches to 18 inches tall. I say "prettier than dirt" because it is so tough and grows on less than ten inches of water per year. If this shrub was not in the exric garden, you would have only dirt. Seeds on some plants turn pinkish in the fall.

Going on there were a few other plants that I would of like to look at, but we just kept driving. At the side of the main road there were a lot of Indian Rice grass.

As we neared Milford, I was looking on the west side of the road and did not see any. I then thought that they might be in the valley west of the range of mountains that were on our left. Carol saw the windmills and they were east of the highway. They were lined up in straight lines going east and west. All the propellers were turning in the gentle breeze. There were many rows of windmills. We drove past them for several miles.

We drove through Milford, then through Minersville where a three or four point buck jumping a fence run across the road in front of us and then jumped the next fence. No time for pictures. On to Beaver and then back home.

Slow Day

2011-10-13T20:27:00.001-06:00

I had hoped to get a lot done. To start off, I slept in. The first thing to do was take care of the payroll taxes, State and Federal, and then the state sales tax. The federal tax is done each month. The state taxes are done quarterly. That is done on line. I had to call to the state tax office to see what forms I hadn't submitted. It took me a couple of hours. I had to do the sales tax form three times before I got it right. I emailed the form and a supporting document. I had made a big error on the second quarter report and discovered that I had over paid the sales tax by nearly $400. I hope that I don't get an audit.

I had a couple of other items on my too do list. I collected Bur Oak acorns from an oak tree at the church; the White Oak acorns came from a tree in our yard; and acorns from another tree in our yard, which I called little oak tree. I found seeds from a New Mexico privet on several potted shrubs.

I had hopped to spend a couple of hours working on the web page. I am getting intuit to host my web page. I have to transfer all documents and images to the new web cite. Not a lot done because I spent so much time on the taxes.

2011-10-12T20:39:00.001-06:00

Changed gears quickly this morning. I was hurrying to be read for Jim from Alamo, NV. I didn't know just what time he would get here. The trip from Alamo to Holden and then back to Alamo is one long drive. He might have driven here last night and then stayed in a motel which would put him hear fairly early this morning. He called and wanted to come on a different day. I had everything ready, which would be okay. He called again a little later and would come November 2. That was okay. It took the pressure of and gave me a chance to do some other things. I prepared the invoice and now will just wait.

I started the watering. I see a lot of things while watering. Weeds, dead plants, a plant that someone wanted and I told them that I didn't have any. Several of the same plant located in different places. plants that should be put closer together to make watering more efficient. Today, I stopped watering to take care of some of the little projects. If I waited until the watering was done I would forget I wouldn't be able to pull that weed that was ready to broadcast its seeds. I one weed is not pulled it may quickly go to seed and spray the neighboring containers with hundreds of seeds.

Carol wanted to get the potatoes dug. We were going to do it after she came home from the market in Fillmore. Then it was after lunch, and then it was after a TV show. We then dug the potatoes. We got three large tubs of potatoes. We dug the potatoes that were growing in a section of pipe. I have heard that if a person plants potatoes in a tire, cover them with soil, and add another tire as the potatoes grow. The tires could be stacked quite high. This vertical gardening would produce a lot of Potatoes.

Well, we removed the section of culvert to see dozens of large potatoes. I didn't happen. I planted three potatoes at the bottom of the culvert. I harvested seven pounds of potatoes. There were nine large ones and four small or tiny. They had a nice shape. It didn't end the way I thought it would. It was easier to plant the potatoes in the traditional way. A little more research to help me determine why I didn't get more potatoes.

I cut the bottom off a large tub and dug a hole large enough to drop the tub in. I put some of the potatoes in the tub for winter storage. I also dug some leaks and put in with the potatoes. The humidity in the hole has to be high enough to keep them from drying out and low enough to keep them from rotting. I covered the tub with a piece of plywood. I don't know if it will work or not.

This is an egg plant about the size of a golf ball. Florists attach wire wrapped with green tape to it and us in floral arrangements. They make a great table directions in the fall. I have seen these on TV as a set decoration.

When it Rains it Pores

2011-10-11T21:23:00.001-06:00

We continue to work to be ready for the order from Alamo, Nevada. We are getting all of the weeds pulled and moving the plants out by the road. As we worked on that I received phone call from an Alta Nursery driver. He was in Salt lake City and would be here in about four hours. Fortunately, we are almost ready. I was expecting them sometime next week. We got all of the plants out, 30 trays with 98 plants per tray, several hours before he came. We quickly loaded them in the truck. He loads them in the rear area of the truck in such a way that the California inspectors cannot get into the truck. They have to look from the ground and can only see some of the plants. He then cleans every the rear of the truck with water so the inspectors see only the clean trays.

For the last two weeks we have been getting the weeds. Now they are looking good. I closed of the evening by cleaning the weeds out of the small barrel cactus. The twelve inch tweezers are really good for getting the weeds hiding in the needles. It has been a nice warm day. I uncovered the melons in the south west garden and then covered them up tonight.

This evening I cut open the last cantaloupe that we picked last week just before the frost. It didn't look ripe when I picked it, and it was very good.

2011-10-07T21:37:00.002-06:00

We drove to Manti this morning and got home early this afternoon. I cut the tops of all the onions and put them on the heating bench in house two. There was no heat there. They are drying and being cured for a couple of day.

I picked more of the fruits from the Fremont Barberry shrub. I think I picked more today than I did at the first picking about a month ago. I ate some of them. They have a good fruity flavor. The next job is to remove all the seeds and get them planted. I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling weeds from the pots. They are fast growers. I hope to get them all pulled before they go to seed.

The day has be fairly cool, but the greenhouses were fairly warm. The temperature tonight is in the low 40's.

First Snow, Fall of 2011

2011-10-06T22:30:00.003-06:00

Something happen to you when you are not expecting it. I was up at 5:30 and opened the door and was surprised at the snow. It had rained all night and began to snow early this morning. I continued to snow during breakfast. I loaded the truck yesterday for a delivery up north. I decided not to because of the snow. I got Lorena started removing the weeds from the plants that are going to Nevada next week. I started the furnace going in house two. The furnace in house six would not work. I will call some one to fix it. I called Salt Lake to find out how the weather was there. No one answered. I left a message indicating that I would not be coming up, but I might come up later. I called Bratt Landscaping asking about the weather in Pleasant Grove. I was told that it had rained there during the early morning, but was not raining now. I decided make the trip. I then called Red Butte Gardens and left the message that would probably be there around one. I always take snacks with me when I make deliveries. I got chips, raisins, and a cucumber. I nibbled on them all the way up and back.

It rained, then snowed, then quit, and then repeated again. It was not raining when I stopped in Pleasant Grove. It was raining lightly at the Red Butte Gardens. I unloaded their plants, and then picked up the plants that didn't sell at their fund raising a couple of weeks ago.

Carol picked all of the peppers while I was gone. When I got back we pulled up the onions. There were a lot of them. I took them to house two. We will lay them out so they will dry. Then we can put them in bags. We then covered the tomatoes, some melons, and cucumbers. I picked a watermelon and cut it for supper. Not ripe, just barely pink. We also picked other melons. The Topaz melon was really good. I ate half of it and will eat the rest in the morning. I went out twice to check the temperature in house two. It was okay. The snow on the lawn is frozen.

Picking Before the Storm

2011-10-05T20:58:00.001-06:00

Can't get anything done outside in the morning. It is still dark at seven in the morning. We had breakfast and then picked the tomatoes. The weather forecasters have been predicting a big storm coming in this weekend. We picked about 160 pounds of tomatoes. The Delicious tomatoes have really done well. The Tomatoes were slow getting started because of the cold spring. Here it is October 5, and no frost yet. We can get another big picking of tomatoes if the frost holds off for another week. We gave most of the tomatoes to a neighbor.

We are still eating corn from the last planting. More about this in a later blog.

I got two different orders ready to take up north in the morning. It has been threatening rain all morning with only a sprinkle or two. Later in the evening it began to rain. I worked about 45 minutes weeding in house six. I hired back one of my employees to work with the weeds for four or five days.

Mirablilis

2011-10-04T21:49:00.002-06:00

We got home from Manti late this afternoon. I began to do the watering. There was only a little stress on a few of the plants. After a good watering they should recover okay. I collected seed from a Mirablis that I had growing in one of the greenhouses. I have tried to find the name of it, but cannot. I don't know where the seed come from.

The plant is about 18 inches tall. There are numerous branches which may be 18 inches wide. The little trumpet flowers are about the size of a dime. In the photo there are flowers from several plants that have grown together. The bloom in the late afternoon when it cools some and remain in bloom until it is hot in the mid morning. By itself it is not at all spectacular, but in a grouping with other plants, it looks pretty good. The seeds are small about an 8th inche long and width of 1/16 of an inch. The plant is open and airy. I bought some seeds several years ago and collected today many more than I bought.

I spent about one half hour weeding.

Acorns

2011-10-03T21:00:00.001-06:00

For several weeks I have wanted to go to the foothills and collect some acorns. Today was the day. I was gone for about an hour and picked around 200 acorns. They were not very many on the oak trees, however, two of the trees had quite a few. I put them in a zip lock bag and they are now in the fridge waiting for more time from me. Just before lunch I started the watering. I had several interruptions, but finally finished. A customer was one of the interruptions, but that was okay.

I noticed that there was some seed to of the Alkali Sacaton, Sporobolus airoides, just ready for picking. I stripped each stem with my thumb and forefinger, and the seed fell into my hand. I put each handful in a Dream Whip container. My hand was not really full, for the seeds are very tiny. Each seed has a husk on it. Some of the husks came off with the stripping.

I had one order to fill. I planned to do this morning, but ended up starting it about four. A person from Ivins, Utah ordered six Salvia dorrii. I picked out the plants, cleaned out the weeds, and did a little pruning. I boxed them a little differently, which took more time. In the long run it will be faster and more efficient. To make it faster will need to have all the boxing components cut beforehand. I was to late in getting it ready, so I had to take to the ups transfer station.

After dinner it did some weeding of the oak trees in the #5 pot.

Harvesting Tomatoes

2011-09-29T22:23:00.000-06:00

Carol went to Salt Lake City for another treatment and I went with her. The treatment seems to be helpful. After we met Lisa and had lunch. We stopped at Carol's brother's home. No one was home, but we left the two bags of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and and leeks. Then it was straight home.

I went right out to the greenhouse and began to get more plants ready for next week. I had about eight trays of Cliffrose, and so far about half were either dead or weak. I put the weak ones back into the tray. putting one in every other hole. After 45 minutes I went in for dinner.

This evening we picked the tomatoes. We haven't picked for two weeks, and the red was showing all over. There were a few tomatoes that should have been picked a week ago that were beginning to spoil. It took us a little over and hour to pick eight bushels. There were quite a few stuffing tomatoes. Some pink and yellow brandywine, and some Polish Linguisa. Carol's sister from Las Vegas will be here tomorrow. What she doesn't take we will give to our neighbors. Another warm day.

Getting a Large Order Ready

2011-09-28T21:58:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I received a larger order from a grower in California. I spent the day most of the working on it and I am not half ready yet. He ordered Fern Bush, Curl leaf Mountain Mahogany, Cliff Rose, and Salvia Pachaphyla. Pulling the weeds out takes the most time. The Fern Bush and half of the Curl Leaf Mountain Mahogany is ready. I did some weeding this evening. Still working on being weed free in the green house. I have weeded the third time in some of the pots. The number of weeds in those pots are declining. I am going to use Round-up on any weeds that is growing around the edges of the greenhouse.

Another Monday Morning

2011-09-26T21:11:00.001-06:00

I cut down a bunch of Columbine plants between the house and garage that were looking kind of ugly. Last year I cut them down in the spring when they were really ugly. I had one hose running on the lawn most of the day. I moved it to another location every half hour. This afternoon I prepared a shipment of Great Basin Wild Rye for mining restoration in New Mexico. They ordered 24 tubes. If they are successful they may order "thousands"

The End of the week

2011-09-24T22:49:00.002-06:00

It is getting near the end of the month, so I spent some time paying bills. Don't want to wait to long then I may forget and get a late payment charge. Later, Carol, Melissa, and I had lunch in Fillmore.

There are a lot of little jobs to do. Several weeks ago I picked fruits from the Fremont Barberry. Some of the bigger ones are the size of small grapes. There is about eight small seeds in each fruit. They are getting ripe. This afternoon, I picked some more. I tasted some of them and they were quite sweet. They are hard to pick. The holly like leaves have sharp points and my arm and hand gets poked. I wore long sleeves and a glove on my right hand. Still getting poked. I picked about 1 1/2 cups. I cleaned them up and squeezed the 1/4 cup of juice out. It was a refreshing drink. I am going to let the rest ripen a little more before I pick the rest.

I finished up the day by pulling the weeds out of the pots. A week after I pulled the weeds, a new crop comes up. There must be thousands of the little seeds. I have been doing it for nearly a month now and seems like the number of weeds is on the decline. I am planning on weed free greenhouses. If I miss one and it goes to seed the adjoining plants are reseeded with the weeds again.

Fixing the Printer

2011-09-23T22:30:00.001-06:00

Neither one of my printers are working using my desk to computer. I bought a new HP Office Jet 4500 a couple of months ago. I was able to print via router using either printer. Then for some reason I could not print using my desktop computer. I called HP serves people. I was on the phone for a little over three hours. It is now working well.

I started getting my Salvia dorrii ready for

Pressure is Off Today

2011-09-22T20:36:00.002-06:00

Today is a day to catch-up on all jobs that I have been putting off. I transplanted one tray each of thirteen different native plants. Each tray holds eight 5.25 square pots. They are about the same size of the gallon pots. That took me a couple of hours. I did some serious punning on some of them. Some in the tubes were to tall. Others were bent over. The potting soil was very dry, therefore I had to soak them well. I then had lunch. I finished after lunch. I made some tags for each tray while I could still remember what they are. I know many of them by just looking at the plant. Customers need to see the tag.

I used a kitchen fork to dig up the weeds. It worked very well. It is easy to slip the tines of the fork under the weed and lift the weed out by the roots. I can scrape out the smaller weeds with the tines. Sometimes it is faster than tweezers.

After dinner I started cleaning and pruning the Dorr's Sage, Salvii dorri. I have an order for 175
of them. I have a couple of hundred of them, but they are weedy, tangled, and roots growing the weed barrier. I worked for nearly two hours and got thirty-two cleaned up. They are not needed for a month or so.

I went out to the garden this morning and saw the Copra onions that have been drying for a couple of weeks. I decided to gather them up and bag them. There was a lot of dew and were still wet. This evening I bagged them. Two bags of large onions, one bag of medium, and half bag of small. Ty18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.

There are a lot of different kinds of onion that I haven't dug yet. That is a job for another day.

Red Butte II

2011-09-22T07:23:00.002-06:00

This is a report of the events of yesterday.

There is always some stress in making a delivery. All of the the plants have to be pulled, weeded, and labeled and then delivered at the prearranged time. It was no different today. I had a two hour drive ahead of me. They had to be delivered before those that were to help unload went home for the day; and I had to be back home for a Holden Ward harvest dinner.

I started the morning making the labels for the plants that were in tubes. Next I pulled twelve of each of about eighteen different plants. I got a lot of the plants ready yesterday, and finished pulling the rest of the plants. I have a small box where I have labels filed in separate envelops. I used to make new labels. Now I make up new labels if there are not any in the box. Melissa attached the label to the pots and tubes. Finally we were ready to load. Melissa was in the truck. She arranged them in the truck while I was handing them to her.

Red Butte

2011-09-20T20:17:00.002-06:00

I am taking plants to Red Butte Gardens Wednesday for their annual fall fund raising plant sale this weekend. I had to sort the plants that were not sold from the Cedar City sale. While I was doing that I finished up with the broken pipe from yesterday.

This afternoon I started to pick the other plants that I am taking to Red Butte gardens.

I collected seeds from Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata; Mountain Spray, Holodiscus dumosus; and Squaw currant, Ribes cereum. There were only a few fruits were on some of the currant bushes. So not many seeds. Milkweed seeds are hard to deal with. Each seed has a silky parachute connected to it. When the seed falls off, the parachute goes floating in the air with the slightest breeze. Holodiscus seed is very tiny.

Early Customer

2011-09-19T21:37:00.001-06:00

There is not enough time to post every day. There is always too much to do. I try to keep up with my phone calls, the web page, an availability list, and seems like a zillion other thing that are crying for my attention.

A customer was here this morning at 7:05. I didn't wake up until 6:45. I didn't have time to shower. I went right out and began to pull the trees and shrubs that she wanted. She wanted 20 Silver Buffalo shrubs. We put ten on each cart. She took the first on and brought the second one. The hose laying on the ground in house one stopped my cart. It is a lot easier to pull them than push them. I turned it around and hit the pvc pipe broke the stem to which the hose bib was connected. Water began spraying everywhere. The water was easy to shut off. We then loaded her truck and trailer.

My daughter's car needed some repair work. She drove it to the garage where we left it for the day. I went with Carol to Salt Lake City where she had another treatment for her nerve pain. We got home a little after five. I did a little watering and then repaired the broken pvc pipe. The stem was part way in the isle of house one. Customers had walk to one side of it. I moved it about three feet to the east which will give customers more room to walk past it. Thinking back on this, I should have moved it years ago.

I took nearly two hours to dig the pipe up, find the parts, and glue them back together. I have a lot of pvc parts, but not all in the same place. That is another project for some time in the future. Better sooner than later. I will turn the water on in the morning.

More Tomatoes

2011-09-15T20:51:00.000-06:00

We picked little over two, five gallon buckets of tomatoes for our next door neighbor. The Delicious Tomato is just starting to come on.
I have one Yellow Pear tomato. I am beginning to like the Yellow Pear tomato. It is a one bite size, and is quite sweet tasting.

We hope for ten more days of frost free weather. I picked a passport melon that weighed 4.5 pounds. Its light green flesh was sweet and very tasty. One half went into the fridge. I had a little taste of the other half and ate the rest for lunch. Carol needed some potatoes. I dug up two hills and presented her with seven large potatoes. It was late morning when a customer from Salt Lake City stopped here. He was here for about and hour, and made a nice size purchase.

I spent most of the afternoon getting plants that I am taking to Cedar City on Saturday. The Cedar City chapter of the Utah Native Plant Society is sponsoring a plant sale. I picked nearly 300. I hope to get a few more in the morning, put labels on them and load them in the truck.

To SLC

2011-09-14T22:00:00.001-06:00

This morning, it was off to Salt Lake City. I received an early email from a customer. She planed to be here this afternoon and I didn't think that we would be back in time to help her load. I picked up two plants to be delivered to a customer in Orem. We got away in good time and was about 45 minutes early. Carol received the first of eleven treatments to manage her nerve pain. On the way home we stopped to see Eric. Both cars were there, but no one answered the door. I gave him a call and no one answered. We then made our delivery in Orem and had lunch at the Golden Coral. We stopped at Sam's Club and then was home about 3:30. The customer was there, but will be back Monday to pick up her order.

I finished up the day by pulling more weeds in the gallon pots.

I made some omelets. Everything in the omelet was from the garden except the eggs. The eggs in my omelet were from our ducks. This evening I called Eric and got Micro Soft Office installed. I then was able to get all of my files back. Now I will not have to type in the labels again. Still having problems with the printer. Over all it has been a pretty good day.