There's lots of garden activity going on in the neighborhood.  Plants are leaving the nurseries in droves. I have just planted the tomatoes and bell peppers at Terra Nova Gardens. Next week the cucumbers, zucchini and corn will be planted.  My neighbor across the street from where I live at the Urban Ranch asked for some space at Terra Nova Gardens for watermelons and pumpkins.  He now has three hills of watermelons and three hills of pumpkins planted.  The rest of the open garden will be planted in sweet corn and five rows of companion planting called three sisters.  I expect most of you know what that is but for those that don't it's a combination of corn, pole beans, and vined squash planted in the same area.  The pole beans will climb up the corn and the squash will cover the ground to keep down the weeds and deter the raccoon.  The raccoons don't like stepping on the squash vines.  So I've read.  So we will see.

Here's the almost finished beds. Two more bales of straw covered the rest of the area. Once again this is not what the garden looks like. By the time I get to blog a couple days have gone by and things look much different. I guess that I really should take more pictures during the work days.

Here's the plan for this year. The grand plan has changed so many times that I couldn't tell you what issue this is. The overall plan has changed as well. I've decided to have half the garden be an open garden without a fence. Raised garden beds are great but just not for vined plants like acorn squash, watermelons, pumpkins, or sweet corn. There's a need for both. So half will be fenced and half will be open. Do turkeys like pumpkins or watermelons? I guess I'll find out.

Mean while back at the Urban Ranch, the backyard gardens have been severely neglected this year. Time in the backyard will be a must next week. The main rain water storage tank is full and I will ask my friend who has a source for unlimited plastic 55 gallon drums to snag me a couple more. I would like to continue to store up water for the backyard gardens as much as I can. Before the last rain I integrated one 55 gallon drum but it's overflowing and I had to close off the fill line for now. The dribble in the main water storage tank has all but stopped. The water loss has gone from 18 gallons a day to practically negligible. I'm not sure why but I'll except it and move on.

I have installed a water fountain in the main water storage tank. I don't want the water to become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Before too long I plan to have fish caught from the local ponds in the tank as well so a little aeration is also needed. The cover for the tank used to be part of another project from 10 years ago and has been recycled as a tank cover to keep curious neighborhood from falling in the tank and to help to prevent algae growth. This project has come a long way since that first anchor concrete block was laid for the foundation. This is third year for working on the project. Last year only a few tweaks in the watering system were needed. This year I expect it to function as well as last year. So many projects and never enough time.

That's it for this week but there's another week coming with new and exciting adventures. I better rest up today so I can get started bright and early tomorrow. I'm glad you could sit a spell and read about the antics of old Dave and his gardening experiences. Until the next time keep those garden tools sharp and working. One hour a day in the garden is better than two at the fitness center.  

Well, folks it's with a sad heart I write this post today. Two weeks ago my sister called with a message that our Dad of 87, who fought the good fight against bladder cancer all summer was beginning to slowly deteriorate. The cancer was in remission but the chemo and radiation wore down his strength.  She suggested I come for a visit. He lives in Las Vegas and I live in Nebraska. My daughter and grandson decided to tag along to see their grandpop. Upon arrival we were told that he had taken a turn for the worse and was now in a semi comatose state. When we arrived at the Long Term Care facility, I immediately went to his room and talked to him. He opened up his eyes and looked at me intently for five minutes as I talked, then closed his eyes. It was to be the last conversation I had with him. Five days later her passed away peacefully.

Dad started his life in a small town in Nebraska and lived all his youth years on a farm. His school education was 9th grade but he just had a way of knowing how to fix things, build things, or come up with solutions for a problem. He was a self taught truck mechanic and had his own business for over 20 years. He retired at 55 and moved to Las Vegas where he and Mom worked as trailer park managers for many years. His attitude for positive living influenced all those that knew him and his humor kept all entertained. He was indeed my hero and a great Dad.

While in Las Vegas I took Bradley fishing at a small stocked city pond close to my Dad's long term care facility. We didn't catch any fish but he had a good time throwing out the plastic fish and reeling it back in. The weather was good most of the time but one day it did rain .... well, they call it rain. It got the street wet. They have a term there they call dry rain. That's when it actually rains but because the temperature is so hot it evaporates before it hits the ground. That happens during the summer hot months.

There's not been much activity with projects or gardening the last couple weeks. All that's left to do is to dig up the potatoes. The broccoli and carrots are not going to reach maturity but the Mesclun salad greens are still growing like weeds (pun intended). I haven't heard anything from the new property yet, but I expect to hear something any day now.

My daughter was in a car accident right before we left for Las Vegas. Someone cut across three lanes of traffic on the Interstate and then slowed way down. She was able to get slowed down but the car behind her didn't. The car hit her so hard that neither the trunk nor the two back doors could be opened. It blew out the back window as well. It's a blessing that Bradley was home with me as he would have been in the back seat. Now we have to go car hunting. I'd rather take a whipping in the town square than buy or sell a car or a house. I'm just not good at wheeling and dealing. It's a good thing that I have a friend in the car business. Oh, yeah, Lydia had a few bumps and bruises but she was OK.

Remember the storage room project of last winter? Well, it's about time to start working on that project again. Maybe, just maybe I can get it finished this year. :0) I still have hopes of working on the backyard patio project, but the weather is starting to get cold with the threat of freezing rain and snow. So it's time to move the working projects inside for the winter. Does anyone else have winter projects planned? It's only about a month until the first of the seed catalogs come out. That's always a joyous time for me. How about anyone else? Which seed catalogs do you like and order from?

I've been working on the GRIT garden planner program for the new Terra Nova Gardens property. Whoa, I can have a lot of garden beds there. The beds will be 4'X8' but without board or rock borders. They will be raised just by natural tillage. I will have four foot pathways between the beds. Each row of beds will be six deep so for every 32 feet I can have 18 beds. The area in the video that's flat is about 50 or 60 feet wide. I can have about 35 to 40 beds without too much hard work. I want to work on some other things before I get into gardening on that scale. A ten by ten patio in the back of the beds with a simple fire ring will be one of the first things on the list to be able to burn the brush and weeds.

Then there is the water issue. I see another gravity feed system in the planning stage. I have a source to acquire 55 gallon barrels that could be ganged together and store as much water as I wanted to store. I would put the barrels as high on the back bank of the property as I dare without being visible from the street. That would give me at least a 45 to 50 foot drop to the gardens. That should give me a good amount of hose pressure just from gravity. Water for the garden would have to be hauled. I figure my little Ford Ranger (Ranger Rick) would be able to haul 110 gallons at a time. At 8.34 pounds per gallon for water it would be about 917.4 pounds which is about the load limit for Ricky. If I pull off the road on the street above the bank, gravity would feed the water into the barrels for the garden watering.

Where would the water come from? I will be beefing up the rain water system from my house. The total roof area is 800 square feet and with a possible .62 gallon per square foot rain collection for every inch of rain, it would be a total of 496 gallons for every inch.

Whew, big plans with a lot of work. I expect this will be a work in progress for the rest of my life. What do you think? I haven't even thought about the fruit trees, berry bushes, or bee hives yet. My mind is spinning with the possibilities.

I really need to go now. I need a coffee break after thinking about all that work. Ya'll have a great fall in the yard and garden.