The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[seminolewind]

I was really annoyed at my planted seed tomatoes, never sprouted. And the season's ticking on. So hubs drove me around for tomato plants. Walmart-sold out. Some little garden place-sold out. Tractor supply-sold out. Supermarket had some!!!! So I got 2.

We've had rain for several days and will have some more. My horse is running out of places to stand not in a puddle. It's just nuts. My lawn squishes when you walk on it.

 

[seminolewind]

Sometimes.

Got in peas, carrots, parsnips and Cosmos. We are about 2 weeks from last Frost. finished the plastic on the greenhouse, so planting some squash and putting some dahlias tomorrow. Cleaned out the little coop (should have been done last fall).
Guess I did get something done. This is the first sunny day that we've had for 3 weeks, got all the way up to 61!

Funny. I've been waiting for my cosmo seeds. That's the only annual I ever plant. Are Dahlias worth planting? long bloom? easy?

 

[speckledhen]

Funny. I've been waiting for my cosmo seeds. That's the only annual I ever plant. Are Dahlias worth planting? long bloom? easy?

My mother always grew them so I got seeds last year. I can't tell the Dahlias from the Zinnias, though! They grew..and grew...and grew. There was a mass of flowers in the garden last year, a mix of several types of Dahlias and Zinnias.

My tomato seeds usually sprout, but the cheapie seeds tend to do it less reliably. I am now planting my "insurance seeds" that I started because some of the ones I did plant in the raised bed garden just limped along and some gave up the ghost due to our odd weather after the last frost date had passed. We found a few tomato plants, but almost zero paste type tomatoes, which are the main kind we grow for canning; had to start all those from seed, unfortunately.
Next year, after Tom cleans out the basement, we will have a grow table with a light for better starting. I also pulled up a row of what was supposed to be butternut squash and seems that Tom accidentally labeled them wrong and they were the Chinese long beans. Those were replanted by the fence and I direct-sowed some Amish Paste tomato seeds a couple of days ago. Now, it's raining for days so I hope they don't rot in the ground.

 

[1muttsfan]

You can grow nice Dahlias from planting roots, and pull them in the fall to plant again the next year. They take a while to grow from seeds, I think. They are not cold hardy so can't be left in the ground up here over winter. Zinnias grow well from seed.

 

[speckledhen]

I ain't pulling nothing and replanting, too lazy for that! I've heard people say dig up bulbs and replant, but that seems like a ton of work I'm not willing to do. If it won't overwinter, it's just gonna have to be replanted the next year from seed. I grew them from seed fine last year. I was looking for my pictures of them and can't find them. May be that I just showed them in a video, but I was sure I took pics.

 

[PoultryPedia]

I figure if Oxine AH vaporized cures fungal infections and viruses, as we know it does, then it would be good to put some in a cool mist vaporizer and clean the air in our house a little bit...

Both humidity and chlorine dioxide (the active ingredient in Oxine) have been shown to greatly reduce viruses in air when used appropriately. There is some info at www.coronaviruscd.org

 

[getaclue]

I do the Oxine in a regular vaporizer for a little while, in each room, about every 4 months, or after someone has been sick. I don't have mold spores in my home, and don't want them. Just don't make it overly strong, or stay in the same room for long, while it's running, since it has the potential of irritating the lungs.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, I've been moving my quilt room back to the little bedroom and my bed, chest and nightstand back to the master bedroom. Along the way, of course, I had to clean and dust and reorganize and toss stuff out, so it's not just a matter of moving furniture, which is bad enough by itself. My back says to quit now.

Yesterday, I saw Hector do his necessary roosterly duty and I don't mean fertilizing eggs. Jill and Athena were staring each other down and the hackles were rising, all this inside the barn. Hector didn't miss a beat, walked right between them and grumbled something to them. When they didn't appear to be backing down, he was right back at it, keeping them separate. And I also saw him mate Wendy so that relationship seems to be a little more amiable. His leg is still shaking, but I have limited him to the barn pen, not free range, and gave him aspirin. Leg stuff takes forever to get better ....in humans and chickens. My knee is still really stiff, though the other day, I was walking down the embankment behind the barn and heard/felt it pop. For the rest of the day, it was so much better! But that didn't last, especially taxing it by heavy lifting.

The garden is finally doing great. My peas I planted three weeks ago finally are breaking ground. They were not coming out until it was good and warm, no matter how much I coaxed and watched them. Tomatoes I started from seed are at last taking off. The peach, pear and cherry trees are loaded and I vow the birds will not get all those cherries this year!

 

[getaclue]

You've been busy. Careful of overdoing things until that leg heals some. That's good advice for both you, and Hector. It may, or may not help to wear an Ace bandage on it.

 

[speckledhen]

You've been busy. Careful of overdoing things until that leg heals some. That's good advice for both you, and Hector. It may, or may not help to wear an Ace bandage on it.

I don't think Hector would hold still for me to put an Ace bandage on him, LOL.
As for me, I have knee braces, from Tom's knee issues, but there is only so much you can wear one of those. If it gets worse again, I will, though. I have so much work to do, cleaning out the original coop (moving what's left to the building closest to the barn) so we can start tearing it down, installing our 2nd Defender camera-no it's still not up, too much got in the way- cleaning out the big stand up crawlspace, etc. Tom really needs to do that, though, too much I don't know what to do with in there, plus he needs to get rid of his stuff in the basement, hundreds of books, videotapes from Bible conferences that he can now get online, old electronics from his days puttering around after the military, etc. So, much of that is on him, but I can get the big Rubbermaid wheelbarrow, load it up and at least get some of the remaining stuff out of the old coop. That poor thing is disintegrating with no one living in it-trim is rotten, metal roof pieces have buckled, probably because of wind and screws popping, etc. It needs to come down soon. I can salvage two windows from it, may put one in the little 4x8 coop for more air flow. It has lots of ventilation up high, but nothing on the actual center walls.