I noticed the other day that it appeared that my fence was leaning in where my bougainvillea is located on the back fence. So I decided it is time to work on taking it down. It can get really beautiful a couple of times a year, but it is a nightmare to maintain, and is now jeopardizing my fence.
These new loppers I bought a few months ago are pretty great.
They had no problem cutting through a thumbsized branch of bougainvillea...
And my new Kobalt handsaw had no trouble cutting through bigger branches...
I cut down probably about half of the bougainvillea, and filled up my large 65 gallon horticulture can. I'll try to work on the rest next weekend.
I've also been testing the viability of my old seed. I started by putting seeds and beans that all had a 2009 "best by" date on damp towels.
Then I rolled up the paper towels and placed them in a ziploc bag labeled with all of the seed names.
Then I checked the seeds a few days later, and I found the beans and peas were doing really well.
Then today, after about a week, I checked them again, and found nearly all of the beans had germinated.
So I decided to try some experiments, instead of just throwing away the germinated seed.
First I cleaned out one of the deck beds.
Then I planted a jalapeno and sweet red bell pepper, and a Better Bush tomato plant (which already has a couple of small tomatoes on it). And then as an experiment I took some of the Big Red Ripper Pea, Garden Bean and Royal Burgundy Bean sprouts and put them about an inch down in the soil along the back. I also put a bunch of the Brandywine tomato sprouts around the outside of the tomato cage.
We'll see how it goes, and whether any of the sprouts grow.
I also put some trellis around my new grapevine.
Earlier today, while I was at Lowe's, I came across some boxes made to sit on a deck railing. So I bought a couple. I drilled some drainage holes in the bottom (I love when I get to use power tools!)
Then I put 4 Dwarf Taylor Bush Bean seeds along the back, and 4 Dwarf Oregon Giant Snow Pea seeds across the front. We'll see how they do, and how "dwarf" they are!
I also took 2 Dwarf Taylor bean sprouts and put one on each side of the box. We'll see how they do.
Then I took the remaining sprouts and spread them around the yard. Some I pushed into the soil, and others I just tossed on top. I put some around my mahogany trees and some around my grapevine.
And I put some sunflower sprouts around my tree stump.
So we'll see what happens with all of my sprouts and seeds. I also sprinkled some Giant Columbine seeds over some soil in my decorative pot. I'll be curious to see what happens with them as well.
I have more work to do tomorrow, and I'm exhausted just thinking about it! I still need to do some weeding, re-pot my pineapple and some strawberries, put some lettuce seed in the other deck railing box, maybe clean out the other deck planter (to try sowing some Cornflower and Wallflower), and maybe finally put my Bird of Paradise in the ground (I've had it sitting in a pot on my deck for years). Oh, and I have a new papaya tree that I need to put somewhere, but I'm not sure yet just where.
So busy day tomorrow, too!
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