Just a quick update - a lot going on.
Aquaponics- gave my contractor the ultimatum to be done by the end of this week, so I can clean up the basement, get rid of the dust from sheetrock, tile cutting and sawdust. In the meantime I'm still struggling to source plumbing to make bell siphons- more to come on that. The good news is the glass cutting hole saws I purchased online seem to work ok on the 10G aquariums.
Bees- had to add a bunch more top bars to keep up with hive growth. A baseball size lump of bees was having to camp outside overnight. In the process, I did get stung once. Sting count for the year is 5.
Companion Planting- while late for this year, I've been looking at the sparcity of my garden and thinking about all the wasted space, especially where the peas are starting to die back. Only two of my three sisters are going: beans never came up, the corn is pretty minimal (maybe 5 stalks), but the squash is going gangbusters. There is a whole lot of info on the web about companion planting, and frankly I'm still absorbing it all. I am considering moving my rhubarb patch to go under various fruit trees next year, so I can stop worrying about weeding grass out of my mulch. Same thing with mint. Wife nixed the idea of using cactus.
Desirables- Learned a big lesson this year, before I got around to ripping out an unknown sapling, slotted for replacement with one of my pawpaws. The tree started sprouting berries, and I eventually managed to identify them as juneberries, which are not only edible, but indeed quite tasty. It turns out I had 3 more juneberry bushes in my garden area that are all slightly different varieties. I'd also been on a mission to gradually change the flower garden (planted by previous owners) over to edibles. I've now identified calendula (marigold) as a keeper (not only edible, it makes a nice companion for lots of veggies. Who knows what else I'll discover about the existing flora?
Aquaponics- gave my contractor the ultimatum to be done by the end of this week, so I can clean up the basement, get rid of the dust from sheetrock, tile cutting and sawdust. In the meantime I'm still struggling to source plumbing to make bell siphons- more to come on that. The good news is the glass cutting hole saws I purchased online seem to work ok on the 10G aquariums.
Bees- had to add a bunch more top bars to keep up with hive growth. A baseball size lump of bees was having to camp outside overnight. In the process, I did get stung once. Sting count for the year is 5.
Companion Planting- while late for this year, I've been looking at the sparcity of my garden and thinking about all the wasted space, especially where the peas are starting to die back. Only two of my three sisters are going: beans never came up, the corn is pretty minimal (maybe 5 stalks), but the squash is going gangbusters. There is a whole lot of info on the web about companion planting, and frankly I'm still absorbing it all. I am considering moving my rhubarb patch to go under various fruit trees next year, so I can stop worrying about weeding grass out of my mulch. Same thing with mint. Wife nixed the idea of using cactus.
Desirables- Learned a big lesson this year, before I got around to ripping out an unknown sapling, slotted for replacement with one of my pawpaws. The tree started sprouting berries, and I eventually managed to identify them as juneberries, which are not only edible, but indeed quite tasty. It turns out I had 3 more juneberry bushes in my garden area that are all slightly different varieties. I'd also been on a mission to gradually change the flower garden (planted by previous owners) over to edibles. I've now identified calendula (marigold) as a keeper (not only edible, it makes a nice companion for lots of veggies. Who knows what else I'll discover about the existing flora?