The 51.86-point Buck, er, Weed

[clarentine]

Now here's a competition I can get behind: trophy weeding! Tired of all that good ole boy bragging about the ten point buck your neighbor shot last November? Use the calculations at Garden Rant (http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2011/05/trophy-weeding.html) to claim some bragging rights for yourself.

(What was my trophy weed, at least thus far in the growing season? Another damned oak seedling, sprouted from the multitude of fertile acorns strewn across my back yard. I used to have a dog that thought the seed balls from the sweet gum tree (Liquidambar sp.) were tasty treats and so had few gum tree sprouts in my back yard. The new yard, and the current dogs, don't seem to consider acorns akin to popcorn, which is really too bad considering the number of mature oaks on the property.)

***

No chickens yet. The house was not ready, so we postponed. Maybe in another week, maybe two, when the bitty chicks are old enough not to need heat - our chicken house is at some distance from the people house and does not have electricity. It does, however, have trim work around (now properly hardware cloth-screened) windows and doors, and a chicken door into the run that is both operable from outside and latchable, and a feeder indoors that can be height-adjusted from the storage portion of the house (so as not to disturb the birds). On Wednesday, we'll have the stone to finish off the lower portion of the wire protecting the run, and then the house and run will be ready for occupation.

Yeah, yeah. I'll have those new photos up some year.

***

The tomato plants are blooming, despite relatively cool overnight temperatures (48 this morning before the sun started to warm things up). None of the bush bean seeds have thus far sprouted; I'm hedging my bets with pole bean seeds planted in between each of the bush bean hills.

The one surviving thornless blackberry plant I brought with me from in town is installed in its row (with a slight haircut; P did not realize it wasn't a weed to be mowed). It'll throw out great arching canes this season, which will be pegged out to produce additional plants and thus populate the row. Thank dog this variety is thornless - it's incredibly prolific.

The raspberry sticks purchased at Lowe's are still sticks and have been evicted for lack of viability (no buds in two weeks; no life in the poor things, which clearly were allowed to dry out in the store). My mom and dad are sending replacements from their raspberry patch. I suppose I'll buy my son, whose project these are, some thorn gloves now as an early birthday present. *g*

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

So, Liquidambar is sweet gum in English. Thanks! I always mean to look up Liquidambar when we go to Paris because the highway we take is called "highway of trees," and there are all sorts of trees planted (and labeled) along it, Liquidambar being one of them.

[clarentine]

Liquidambar styraciflua, to be specific. *g* Around here, it's usually know as the gumball tree. If you've ever seen one of its fruits, you'll know why. (Also not to be confused with black gum, which is Nyssa sylvatica, a tree I greatly prefer to sweet gum, and a distinctly different species than the Australian gum trees.)