three cats, two legs and one bike

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Popeye

This is what writing my thesis looks like:Sadly the doctor took the camera when he left, so I am left with webcam photos. I seem to be quite interesting to Popeye the turtle, and she has been a good distraction for me.

Girl, I will be sad to see you leave this month.

Since I moved my desk close to the turtle tank, the cats have discovered her. Luke got so bold the other day that he "pow powed" her. The turtle turtled, then swim away.

Guerilla gardening part 2

A couple weeks ago the doctor and I went out and planted the Morning Glories on the west side of a set of stairs leading down into the river valley.

We used twigs to support the young plants, watered, fertilized, and crossed our fingers.

When the doctor originally suggested we do this, I had intended for it to be an outlet for my gardening urges. When we arrived to do our planting we were greeted by Brent, a guy from the neighborhood working out on the stairs. He was very interested in what we were doing, and our efforts were met with much enthusiasm. So much, I promptly started some more seeds for some sunflowers and checked out some new locations.

Below is the finished Morning Glory project.



It has been a couple weeks since we did the planting. The seedlings placed higher on the hill (to the right) are having a harder time. The soil is quite sandy, which means lower nutrients and a lower water holding capacity. I've been watering with a low dose fertilizer every few days, which has helped. Yesterday I tried to amend the soil with a peat moss/ soil mixture.

Things I have learned:

A/ Check soil quality (amend soil early on--by digging in compost).
B/ Be sure to plant on even terrain (so the water doesn't drain away).
C/ People like plants and actually appreciate guerrilla gardening :)

I don't have any updated photos. I don't think web cam photos will work out there :(

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