More steps toward spring
Apr. 21st, 2003 06:33 pmYesterday was a pretty nice day, and we had nothing scheduled, and we had had the foresight to call the Gloucester water department on Thursday to get our service turned on, so we went up to turn on the water in the house and check out all the plumbing, and also do another round of seeds.
Well, the water was OK, except... the relief valve on the hot water heater has developed a leak, which meant water dripping all over the top of the heater. And, of course, it being mid-afternoon on Easter Sunday, we couldn't get a replacement part. So we didn't fill the hot water heater, and we shut the water off when we left. We'll fix it the next time we're there.
I planted six kinds of lettuce, two kinds of beets, and some Nigella and California poppies. The peas aren't up yet, which is not particularly surprising, considering how cold it's been. A few supposedly perennial things look like they didn't make it through the winter. but that's not unusual. (And then there are the things that I can't remember whether they should be showing signs of life yet, like the Liatris and the Malva.) The strawberries look healthy, which is the really important thing.
Back here under the grow-lights, things are moving along. I transplanted the tomatoes a few days ago (so each one could have its own space), and all but one of them seem to be fine. (Which means we have way too many tomato plants.) In a week or so we should be able to put some of them out, protected by our handy-dandy Tomato Tepees.
Also, on the way we stopped off at Lowe's (which I think I really like better than Homo Despot) to get some lime (for one vegetable bed that hasn't been terribly productive lately) and some Quikrete so John could repair the front step in Cambridge that didn't react well to having little piles of salt/sand mixture sitting on it most of the winter, which he did today.
Next time we go to Gloucester, we might even be able to stay the night.
Well, the water was OK, except... the relief valve on the hot water heater has developed a leak, which meant water dripping all over the top of the heater. And, of course, it being mid-afternoon on Easter Sunday, we couldn't get a replacement part. So we didn't fill the hot water heater, and we shut the water off when we left. We'll fix it the next time we're there.
I planted six kinds of lettuce, two kinds of beets, and some Nigella and California poppies. The peas aren't up yet, which is not particularly surprising, considering how cold it's been. A few supposedly perennial things look like they didn't make it through the winter. but that's not unusual. (And then there are the things that I can't remember whether they should be showing signs of life yet, like the Liatris and the Malva.) The strawberries look healthy, which is the really important thing.
Back here under the grow-lights, things are moving along. I transplanted the tomatoes a few days ago (so each one could have its own space), and all but one of them seem to be fine. (Which means we have way too many tomato plants.) In a week or so we should be able to put some of them out, protected by our handy-dandy Tomato Tepees.
Also, on the way we stopped off at Lowe's (which I think I really like better than Homo Despot) to get some lime (for one vegetable bed that hasn't been terribly productive lately) and some Quikrete so John could repair the front step in Cambridge that didn't react well to having little piles of salt/sand mixture sitting on it most of the winter, which he did today.
Next time we go to Gloucester, we might even be able to stay the night.