Back online

Yesterday afternoon to evening, my cell provider's internet service was offline. It had been offline the night before when I got home, also. Back on now and hope they have the kinks worked out.

Last night that I had forgotten to plant some pepper seeds I wanted to plant. Cayenne peppers. Maybe I'll just sneak those in with the flowers. They're colorful enough. Just have to tell my daughter not to pick them. Or just grow them in containers.

Was reading more about growing lettuce. Seems the seeds need light to germinate. So, with all the mulch on the rows, what I saw and believed to be lettuce germinating may have been carrots. Not sure the lettuce will germinate at all with mulch already in place. So I cut up some egg cartons last night and planted more lettuce seeds in them. May plant more today. Can't wait too long on that one because if it gets too hot lettuce either won't germinate or it will bolt to seed. I was planning on feeding the rabbits a lot of lettuce this summer.

Still need to build the tomato supports as best I can with what I've got. Extend the trellises upward with remaining netting. Then I've hit the wall until time to transplant the tomatoes out. I've planted everything that can be planted, dug everything that can be dug. Now it's a matter of waiting. I can refresh the mulch here and there but that's about it.

I do intend to use the red bricks to build a walkway down the center of the garden. Probably don't have enough for the entire length but go as far as I can. Not going to martar them, just rake the soil level and lay them in. That will let me reconfigure the garden in the future.

In spite of forecasted temps, haven't had any freezing or even frost for last few nights. It was still 50 degrees at 10 PM last night. I'm happy about that and hoping it stays that way. Forecast now calls for lots more wind but no chance of rain for weeks. Last measurable rain/snow was in Oct, I think.

Looked up prices on manual bilge pumps. Much cheaper than well pumps. Guess it's all in the label. I don't need to pump from a great depth because the water rises so high in the irrigation well that it's visible with no light, so within 5 ft of surface. Surprised there aren't natural surface springs in the area. If there are, they must be on private land. Wonder if I could sink a constricting pipe in the well and cause a semi-natural spring? Maybe worth a try. Add a shutoff and wouldn't need a pump at all. Connected to drip hoses and it could irrigate continuously unless turned off. If there's enough pressure, of course. If not, a few minutes of pumping or cranking a day would be okay.

Except for the grass and flowers, gray water isn't much of an option any more. Too many food crops. And best not to use it on flowers immediately next to the main garden. Too much chance of runoff when it finally does rain.

Gotta make some phone calls.