Friday, January 18, 2008

Pictures on Flickr!

I signed up on Flickr, I kind of liked it a bit better than picasa. Anyway, here's a link to the overal pic section:

http://flickr.com/photos/14254910@N04/

And here's a link to some garden photos I took in Shizuoka City, Japan (Mariko area, 4 chome):

http://flickr.com/photos/14254910@N04/sets/72157603577671314/


http://flickr.com/photos/14254910@N04/sets/72157603572034494/


http://flickr.com/photos/14254910@N04/sets/72157603570268346/


http://flickr.com/photos/14254910@N04/sets/72157603575076113/

Catching up.... NAH! No way can I catch up now...

So I a just starting over with the New Year ;o)

Status of a few things:

* Chickens! Of the original 27 birds, I have five left, three of which are laying eggs. Unfortunately they are still too crowded, so a second coop is in progress and is actually my big goal to complete for this weekend. Of the original 27 birds I gave a bunch away, ate a few, and, unfortunately, one of them died of misadventure, which I regret.

* Peanuts! Did not work out very well. I had maybe 6 square feet planted with peanuts, but they didn't produce very much, I don't know why. Maybe the soil was too hard, and I needed something sandier? Hard to tell.

* Right now I have one bin that is still "working," growing at about 80% capacity. I haven't replanted since I harvested the peanuts and the tomatillo. Another bin has some bird eye peppers, some sweet potato, and some lemon grass, but is about 60% empty. Another bin is about half full with ginger (Japanese kine), thai ginger (galanga?), and tumeric. And another bin is completely "empty." Last weekend I cleared out the luffa and beans from that fourth bin, then collected about three wheel barrels full of compost and distributed it across the empty sections, as well as adding some vericompost.

* Worms! Still going strong, BUT the clear plastic bins from Walmart have degraded (they're about three years old), so I need to come up with a longer term option. Still thinking.

* Taro! Starting to wither down a bit, maybe getting ready to be harvested?

* Fish! All of my tilapia died, and now I'm just growing guppies :o( But the taro growing in the fish bin is growing really well, I had one corm that was about 5 pounds. I need to finish (start?) the pond in the back of the house.

PLANS! This weekend, along with finishing the second coop, I have a bunch of stuff I need to get planted. Long beans. Broccoli. Tomatoes. More luffas? I finally found out how to cook them ;o) I have a bunch of stuff ordered from Baker Creek (rareseeds.com) which I am looking forward to.

Yep, gotta love the garden.

-Z