Sunday, July 7, 2013
Growth Explosion in the Garden
This garden has been a battle on many fronts. I have insect invaders messing with my tomato plants, I have a lack of the right fertilizer for the plants, and a massive heat wave came along and killed off a lot of good progress. On the other hand, things have been growing like crazy, almost despite my battles.
Here is the 10 year old's garden. You can see that the Lemon Cucumber is going crazy in there, and taking over.
This is the 6 year old's pond form garden. Her tomato plants are thriving, and the strawberries are producing fruit again.
This is the 14 year old's garden. You can see the corn is growing like crazy, and the pumpkin is starting to climb the trellis.
Tomatoes
Rainbow carrot seedlings, Bean plants, and 4 year old's carrots
Green onions
My tomato tree.
Ok, so for a while, I had no clue what these plants were. I had mixed up the containers before I managed to label them. Well, lesson learned, but patience pays off too. I can now tell you what they are, left to right: Cantelope, Watermelon, and Cucumber. The Mini Pumpkin went out to the front yard.
See? Here is a little cantelope on the vine!
Today's harvest. This got chopped up and added to the lettuce on hand to make an excellent salad to go with tonight's supper.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Garden Photo Update
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
ADA Compliancy: How Much is Too Much?
As a mother of disabled children, I can fully appreciate all of the upgrades that the ADA has provided to make it easier for disabled people to get around in the city. There are tweeters on the crosswalk signals, so that the blind can know which direction is safe to cross in. There are little rails in every bathroom, so that people can raise and lower themselves onto the thrones, there are doors that open automatically at the push of a button. If you are in a motorized scooter, you can drive around town in that, because every sidewalk curb has been gently sloped for ease of rolling.
These can be some very wonderful additions to any town and city, to make life easier for those already struggling to adapt to a normal life with big obstacles. When I see businesses that are ADA Compliant, I notice and I thank them by spending a bit of my hard earned money there. I do the same when a place goes a step above the rest, and offers something that is not required, but is useful.
I am really struggling with a few things though. In our area, there is a guy who is not disabled, who goes around everywhere, and sues businesses that have something that is not 100% compliant. "Wow! That is some dedication! What a noble cause!" Right? Well, because of his lawsuits, some places have shut down, and others have had to find a way to comply. If these were major issues, I wouldn't care, but now they are affecting MY disabled children in a bad way.
For example:
My mother lives in a gated community. There are special handicapped units, with wider doors, lower counters, open shower, and handrails. The parking space is less than 20 yards from the door of the apartment, and you can roll there without hindrance, as well as all around the complex, and into the pool area. The pool and spa had to be fit with taller hand rails for entering the pool, and that was done. Once upon a time, the pool has a bathroom, where a person could go potty while spending time in the pool area, but because the complex is unable to adapt that bathroom to ADA standards, it had to be permanently locked up.
OK. So a person in a wheelchair can stand up, step down the steps and go swim, but they can't stand up and sit down on a toilet? Ok, I guess I can see that line of thinking. Barely. Here's the thing, not all handicaps are the same. My children have skin that rip and blister with the slightest of friction, and walking TO the pool from Grandma's house is hard on their feet, even protected. By the time they get to the relieving cool waters, they are already fragile. After swimming in water for awhile, they have to potty. We used to just carry them over to the bathroom, and assist them through the processes. Now we have to bandage their feet, add socks and shoes, walk to the apartment, undress, redress, walk back to the pool, unbandage and ease back in. If the pool waters weren't so healing for their skin, one might consider it a big hassle.
I do understand the logic on much of the ADA rules, but there is another one that is making no sense when it comes to practicality. They have started putting these yellow bumpy plates in the sidewalk ramps.
The knobs on them are hard and pointed, spikey almost.
When they first got put in on our neighborhood sidewalks, I thought Oh, those must be to help the wheel chairs get traction up the slope. Which soon proved very confusing, as the gentleman in a motorized wheel chair who lives in my neighborhood started going around them, and driving on the street instead. After a few weeks, my oldest went out to rollerblade a bit. Not 5 minutes later, I am running out into the streets to her screams of pain. She had tried to go over the yellow plate, it locked up her wheels, and threw her to the ground. The yellow plate collided with her knee, and she had a 5 inch diameter wound across her knee and a sprained wrist that took weeks to heal, along with many other wounds from the landing.
We talked about the yellow plates, and agreed that they weren't for wheels of any sort (they wreck havoc on your eggs coming out of the grocery store too). A few months later, I am again running outside to screams. She was WALKING on the sidewalk, and when her feet came in contact with the yellow plate, the feet stopped, and her body kept going. The jarring motion dislocated her patella, which knocked back into place when she landed (on the yellow plate). The wounds from the fall were again nasty, and took time to heal. It's hard to hobble about on crutches, when your palms are blistered up and raw.
So now, we the disabled are actively avoiding these ADA yellow plates, as they cause us too much damage and absolutely no assistance. Whatever purpose they serve, I only see people of all types avoiding them. Easy enough, they are only on the sidewalks, right? Wrong.
These were taken by my hunny recently, in our own small suburbia.
Can you see the raised CURB protecting the yellow plates? There is not a sidewalk here, yet they painted a crosswalk and added the yellow plates at all the corners. The curbing is avoided by motor wheelchairs and bicycles alike, as well as by the vehicles that need to turn. The bicyclists swerve out into the lane of traffic to negotiate these areas, as do motorized wheelchairs.
Same Neighborhood, no plates:
This last one is again, in the same neighborhood, yet they carved out the area for the plates, and there is no sidewalk in sight!!!
Honestly, this is taking it all a bit too far, and is a waste of our tax dollars.
I am not saying that there shouldn't be ADA rules and compliancy, but I think some Common Sense should be used in creating and enforcing it, and I think that people that have no disabilities have no business suing businesses and towns over something that MIGHT not be needed. I am saying that when the rules that are designed to help ease the life of the disabled is now harming the disabled and are not USED by the disabled, there is a problem.
These can be some very wonderful additions to any town and city, to make life easier for those already struggling to adapt to a normal life with big obstacles. When I see businesses that are ADA Compliant, I notice and I thank them by spending a bit of my hard earned money there. I do the same when a place goes a step above the rest, and offers something that is not required, but is useful.
I am really struggling with a few things though. In our area, there is a guy who is not disabled, who goes around everywhere, and sues businesses that have something that is not 100% compliant. "Wow! That is some dedication! What a noble cause!" Right? Well, because of his lawsuits, some places have shut down, and others have had to find a way to comply. If these were major issues, I wouldn't care, but now they are affecting MY disabled children in a bad way.
For example:
My mother lives in a gated community. There are special handicapped units, with wider doors, lower counters, open shower, and handrails. The parking space is less than 20 yards from the door of the apartment, and you can roll there without hindrance, as well as all around the complex, and into the pool area. The pool and spa had to be fit with taller hand rails for entering the pool, and that was done. Once upon a time, the pool has a bathroom, where a person could go potty while spending time in the pool area, but because the complex is unable to adapt that bathroom to ADA standards, it had to be permanently locked up.
OK. So a person in a wheelchair can stand up, step down the steps and go swim, but they can't stand up and sit down on a toilet? Ok, I guess I can see that line of thinking. Barely. Here's the thing, not all handicaps are the same. My children have skin that rip and blister with the slightest of friction, and walking TO the pool from Grandma's house is hard on their feet, even protected. By the time they get to the relieving cool waters, they are already fragile. After swimming in water for awhile, they have to potty. We used to just carry them over to the bathroom, and assist them through the processes. Now we have to bandage their feet, add socks and shoes, walk to the apartment, undress, redress, walk back to the pool, unbandage and ease back in. If the pool waters weren't so healing for their skin, one might consider it a big hassle.
I do understand the logic on much of the ADA rules, but there is another one that is making no sense when it comes to practicality. They have started putting these yellow bumpy plates in the sidewalk ramps.
The knobs on them are hard and pointed, spikey almost.
When they first got put in on our neighborhood sidewalks, I thought Oh, those must be to help the wheel chairs get traction up the slope. Which soon proved very confusing, as the gentleman in a motorized wheel chair who lives in my neighborhood started going around them, and driving on the street instead. After a few weeks, my oldest went out to rollerblade a bit. Not 5 minutes later, I am running out into the streets to her screams of pain. She had tried to go over the yellow plate, it locked up her wheels, and threw her to the ground. The yellow plate collided with her knee, and she had a 5 inch diameter wound across her knee and a sprained wrist that took weeks to heal, along with many other wounds from the landing.
We talked about the yellow plates, and agreed that they weren't for wheels of any sort (they wreck havoc on your eggs coming out of the grocery store too). A few months later, I am again running outside to screams. She was WALKING on the sidewalk, and when her feet came in contact with the yellow plate, the feet stopped, and her body kept going. The jarring motion dislocated her patella, which knocked back into place when she landed (on the yellow plate). The wounds from the fall were again nasty, and took time to heal. It's hard to hobble about on crutches, when your palms are blistered up and raw.
So now, we the disabled are actively avoiding these ADA yellow plates, as they cause us too much damage and absolutely no assistance. Whatever purpose they serve, I only see people of all types avoiding them. Easy enough, they are only on the sidewalks, right? Wrong.
These were taken by my hunny recently, in our own small suburbia.
Can you see the raised CURB protecting the yellow plates? There is not a sidewalk here, yet they painted a crosswalk and added the yellow plates at all the corners. The curbing is avoided by motor wheelchairs and bicycles alike, as well as by the vehicles that need to turn. The bicyclists swerve out into the lane of traffic to negotiate these areas, as do motorized wheelchairs.
Same Neighborhood, no plates:
This last one is again, in the same neighborhood, yet they carved out the area for the plates, and there is no sidewalk in sight!!!
Honestly, this is taking it all a bit too far, and is a waste of our tax dollars.
I am not saying that there shouldn't be ADA rules and compliancy, but I think some Common Sense should be used in creating and enforcing it, and I think that people that have no disabilities have no business suing businesses and towns over something that MIGHT not be needed. I am saying that when the rules that are designed to help ease the life of the disabled is now harming the disabled and are not USED by the disabled, there is a problem.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Meandering through the garden, and a sweet ending
My garden is coming along in leaps and bounds, but it is all a precarious balance. I have some plants that are always on the brink of dying off, and some that are under attack. I've got plants that need different types of fertilizers all in the same container, as well as plants that like less water in with deep water types. Needless to say, if this garden does well, I will consider this year a MAJOR learning success. As I type this up, I am waiting for yesterday's pictures of the garden to upload.
I mentioned that I have plants under attack. The invaders are so tiny and light green, that I can't see them unless I put on my glasses. I've taken to petting each leaf on each tomato plant to kill off any egg sacs and whatever invader hiding there. This is helping some, but I can't always get to it 3 times a day. I did some research online, and found a simple, homemade recipe that doesn't kill off beneficial bugs, just the ones attacking the tomato plants. Yesterday, I bit the bullet, and harvested a handful of leaves off of my poor plants. Now that I have more plants, this is a bit easier to do. I brought them in, chopped them up and then threw them in the blender with an equal amount of water. I then liquified them for a full minute, until they were pulverized. They've now sat for 24 hours, and are almost ready for stage 2: Straining. Once I get the fibers out, I will add another equal amount of water, and 1 drop of dish soap. Then I can pour it into the spray bottle, and start spraying down my plants. I am excited to see if this works.
DIY Insecticide for my tomato plants. (photo during 24 hour sitting stage)
This is an overall look at the garden. If you have been following my progress, you will notice some things are different.
I had been having problems with my red bell pepper plant. It was not getting enough fertilizer, and seemed to dislike full sun. I was able to shade it for a little while with my cabana, but the unusually crazy weather flipped the cabana and tore up the cover. I've given it more fertilizer, and then top dressed it with the compost to help protect the roots. I am seeing good results!!
The 10 year old's kiddie pool garden is starting to thrive. I suspect that the Lemon Cucumber would rather be in a different container all together, but I am hoping that it will green up and thrive. It's in flower already, so I am encouraged! (maybe it's supposed to be yellow?) Strawberries are getting ready to produce fruit again, the little hot pepper plants are finally starting to grow more leaves, and the carrots are much happier since I top dressed them with boosted soil and fertilizers. Her tomato plant is one of my sickly ones under attack. It has 1 giant tomato at the base, and then 2-3 starting up at the top! This is encouraging, as it means that changes I've made are helping!
The chives and the one lonely onion I have, I think they are straggly looking, but am hoping that they will keep going. The onion looks like something small has nibbled on it.
The black pond form I used for my 6 year old's plants is both good and bad. It gives me multiple layers of soil depth, but it might get too hot in the summer heat. I may have to rethink how I use this, or how I protect it fom the high temps and scorching sun. That said, her strawberries are also getting ready to fruit again (surprise me, I thought it was one and done!) and her volunteer is starting to perk up. I should be able to identify it here soon.
Her (second) tomato plant is doing AWESOME!! (can you hear me singing that??) She is blessed that she has no invaders, and has at LEAST 6 baby tomatoes starting to grow!!
The other side of her pond form is the potato bin. This is not looking as flourishing as other areas.
Of course, the one that I need to add more dirt to, is thriving like crazy! I will be trying to move this over to a rubber maid tub here soon, as I need to bury them for more potatoes. It might be too late though, as the plants are starting to flower.
This tomato plant is doing great, but I have already seen it invaded. Treatment will commence today! The 2 tomatoes are starting to color up, and more have started forming higher up.
My 14 year old's pool garden is perking up. For a while, the corn and the pumpkin plants were looking pale and less than lush. I did some research and discovered that it prefers a different fertilizer, and I had not boosted my hand mixed soils with those nutrients. I've started using a commercial fertilizer and it has recovered well. (I need more of that stuff!) Her strawberries are ready to go again also. We have one tiny volunteer in her garden too, I can't wait to figure out WHAT it is. *grin* She might be rather disenchanted with all of her late season harvest choices right now, but she is going to be THRILLED when the other gardens are done, and her's is just starting up.
The cauliflower is going well. The larger (twinned) plant is doing GREAT, and had a visible head growing now. The other 2 plants are more puny, but they are sharing their nutrients with the thriving Garlic and the smaller patch of chives.
My poor tomato plant. This one is very much under attack, and while the trunk is strong and thick, this poor plant has no leaves worth mentioning. I am very excited to see the baby tomatoes at the tip tops, and I hope I can make this poor plant happy.
The 4 self watering buckets, and their mixed up vine plants. At least now I can tell that they are 4 different types of plants. If I had more experience with them, I could figure them out, but I will resort to looking up the leaves of what I KNOW I planted, and then label the containers. While the buckets are self watering, the plants need me to top water daily.
I planted the Topsy Turvy Tomato plant. I am not sure if I am happy with this set up or not, as it has it's issues. I might have to set it up to slow drip water, as rapid watering is killing off the plant where it drips down it. Slight design flaw, that could have been easily remedied at manufacture.
I had a strawberry pot, that I planted Marigold as a potato in. I noticed last week that it was dying off, and figured that it was probably root bound. I broke part the pot, and pulled the Marigolds off and set them aside. I moved the lump of soil and placed it into my newly created crate planter, and started burying it. I found a fully grown potato in there!! I pulled the one out, but didn't look for more. Either it will start to thrive again, or perhaps the other potatoes can sprout and make more... I dunno, it may have been too late for that plant, but I had to try.
I put the Marigolds in with my 4 year old's carrots. I also set the last tomato plant in with them for now, so that I wasn't tripping over it in the tiny walking area in my micro garden.
So, there you go. My garden is growing and fighting for survival quite well. My side projects are coming along wonderfully, and I have already gotten to use the first batch of horse manure compost.
Ah, I forgot. Th e little sounds of thumping and crashing bodies, and the prickly sounds of tiny claws catching on the bed quilt reminds me. The 3 abandoned kittens have found their forever home. Their names are Spot (stripey one), Snow (black one, think NYC Snow), and Miss Cuddlebug Grey Grey. The children are very excited and happy.
Anyone with a caring heart towards animals is welcome to donate to fund for the vaccinations and "fixing" of these adorable fur babies. I hadn't put aside vet funds for baby kittens, as I had no intention of getting any for a pet. =) I believe we will be having Lemonade Stands and car washes this summer, to help cover the added expenses!
Thank you for visiting, have a Blessedly good day!
I mentioned that I have plants under attack. The invaders are so tiny and light green, that I can't see them unless I put on my glasses. I've taken to petting each leaf on each tomato plant to kill off any egg sacs and whatever invader hiding there. This is helping some, but I can't always get to it 3 times a day. I did some research online, and found a simple, homemade recipe that doesn't kill off beneficial bugs, just the ones attacking the tomato plants. Yesterday, I bit the bullet, and harvested a handful of leaves off of my poor plants. Now that I have more plants, this is a bit easier to do. I brought them in, chopped them up and then threw them in the blender with an equal amount of water. I then liquified them for a full minute, until they were pulverized. They've now sat for 24 hours, and are almost ready for stage 2: Straining. Once I get the fibers out, I will add another equal amount of water, and 1 drop of dish soap. Then I can pour it into the spray bottle, and start spraying down my plants. I am excited to see if this works.
DIY Insecticide for my tomato plants. (photo during 24 hour sitting stage)
This is an overall look at the garden. If you have been following my progress, you will notice some things are different. I had been having problems with my red bell pepper plant. It was not getting enough fertilizer, and seemed to dislike full sun. I was able to shade it for a little while with my cabana, but the unusually crazy weather flipped the cabana and tore up the cover. I've given it more fertilizer, and then top dressed it with the compost to help protect the roots. I am seeing good results!!
The 10 year old's kiddie pool garden is starting to thrive. I suspect that the Lemon Cucumber would rather be in a different container all together, but I am hoping that it will green up and thrive. It's in flower already, so I am encouraged! (maybe it's supposed to be yellow?) Strawberries are getting ready to produce fruit again, the little hot pepper plants are finally starting to grow more leaves, and the carrots are much happier since I top dressed them with boosted soil and fertilizers. Her tomato plant is one of my sickly ones under attack. It has 1 giant tomato at the base, and then 2-3 starting up at the top! This is encouraging, as it means that changes I've made are helping!
The chives and the one lonely onion I have, I think they are straggly looking, but am hoping that they will keep going. The onion looks like something small has nibbled on it.
The black pond form I used for my 6 year old's plants is both good and bad. It gives me multiple layers of soil depth, but it might get too hot in the summer heat. I may have to rethink how I use this, or how I protect it fom the high temps and scorching sun. That said, her strawberries are also getting ready to fruit again (surprise me, I thought it was one and done!) and her volunteer is starting to perk up. I should be able to identify it here soon.
Her (second) tomato plant is doing AWESOME!! (can you hear me singing that??) She is blessed that she has no invaders, and has at LEAST 6 baby tomatoes starting to grow!!
The other side of her pond form is the potato bin. This is not looking as flourishing as other areas.
Of course, the one that I need to add more dirt to, is thriving like crazy! I will be trying to move this over to a rubber maid tub here soon, as I need to bury them for more potatoes. It might be too late though, as the plants are starting to flower.
This tomato plant is doing great, but I have already seen it invaded. Treatment will commence today! The 2 tomatoes are starting to color up, and more have started forming higher up.
My 14 year old's pool garden is perking up. For a while, the corn and the pumpkin plants were looking pale and less than lush. I did some research and discovered that it prefers a different fertilizer, and I had not boosted my hand mixed soils with those nutrients. I've started using a commercial fertilizer and it has recovered well. (I need more of that stuff!) Her strawberries are ready to go again also. We have one tiny volunteer in her garden too, I can't wait to figure out WHAT it is. *grin* She might be rather disenchanted with all of her late season harvest choices right now, but she is going to be THRILLED when the other gardens are done, and her's is just starting up.
The cauliflower is going well. The larger (twinned) plant is doing GREAT, and had a visible head growing now. The other 2 plants are more puny, but they are sharing their nutrients with the thriving Garlic and the smaller patch of chives.
My poor tomato plant. This one is very much under attack, and while the trunk is strong and thick, this poor plant has no leaves worth mentioning. I am very excited to see the baby tomatoes at the tip tops, and I hope I can make this poor plant happy.
The 4 self watering buckets, and their mixed up vine plants. At least now I can tell that they are 4 different types of plants. If I had more experience with them, I could figure them out, but I will resort to looking up the leaves of what I KNOW I planted, and then label the containers. While the buckets are self watering, the plants need me to top water daily.
I planted the Topsy Turvy Tomato plant. I am not sure if I am happy with this set up or not, as it has it's issues. I might have to set it up to slow drip water, as rapid watering is killing off the plant where it drips down it. Slight design flaw, that could have been easily remedied at manufacture.
I had a strawberry pot, that I planted Marigold as a potato in. I noticed last week that it was dying off, and figured that it was probably root bound. I broke part the pot, and pulled the Marigolds off and set them aside. I moved the lump of soil and placed it into my newly created crate planter, and started burying it. I found a fully grown potato in there!! I pulled the one out, but didn't look for more. Either it will start to thrive again, or perhaps the other potatoes can sprout and make more... I dunno, it may have been too late for that plant, but I had to try.
I put the Marigolds in with my 4 year old's carrots. I also set the last tomato plant in with them for now, so that I wasn't tripping over it in the tiny walking area in my micro garden.
So, there you go. My garden is growing and fighting for survival quite well. My side projects are coming along wonderfully, and I have already gotten to use the first batch of horse manure compost.
Ah, I forgot. Th e little sounds of thumping and crashing bodies, and the prickly sounds of tiny claws catching on the bed quilt reminds me. The 3 abandoned kittens have found their forever home. Their names are Spot (stripey one), Snow (black one, think NYC Snow), and Miss Cuddlebug Grey Grey. The children are very excited and happy.
Anyone with a caring heart towards animals is welcome to donate to fund for the vaccinations and "fixing" of these adorable fur babies. I hadn't put aside vet funds for baby kittens, as I had no intention of getting any for a pet. =) I believe we will be having Lemonade Stands and car washes this summer, to help cover the added expenses!
Thank you for visiting, have a Blessedly good day!
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