Days I love my job

[jenett]

*Minion opens new box of just-arrived book order, which includes Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Graveyard Book among others. Minion processes the books.*

*Minion drops The Graveyard Book on my desk*

A few minutes later:

Minion: Want me to check that out to you? *waves book*
Me: *blink* Oh, sure. Such service!
Minion: That's what you hired me for, isn't it?
Me: Well, yes.

(Minion checks it out to me, drops it on my desk. Note that I could have checked it out to myself, mind you, from my own desk, just hadn't pulled up our circ module yet. Regardless, I will miss this minion.)

In other news, my evening plans are cancelled (the last of the current prospective group members under consideration sent an email this morning saying that she feels she doesn't have time to pursue this right now.) So, I am instead going off and walking with selkie_b and buying an Earth Box so that I can plant tomato seedlings this weekend. (Seedlings coming from L, once I make up my mind which of the several varieties she has.) We're starting small, 'cause I am still new at this gardening thing.

Comments

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

Hooray for Earthboxes! I love mine. I dunno if you have mosquito issues where you live, but they do tend to breed in any standing water in the bottom of the Earthbox. I recommend taping a small piece of fine-mesh window screen, or pantyhose, over the drainage hole, and covering the top of the fill tower with same, to keep them from getting in there. Won't affect air circulation or drainage at all.

The only other problem I've ever had was that once, I plopped dirt into one too hard and collapsed part of the support structure - I didn't realize I'd done it until all my plants drowned from sitting in the water reservoir.

Otherwise, I love them. They also make excellent places to shelter transplants and cuttings, and seedlings that are hardening-off. :)

[/buttinsky] ;)

[jenett]

*grin* I am going with selkie_b to get it, and she has quite a number of them.

I'm looking forward to it, as tomatoes don't seem to do well in my immediate-local soil, so a container seems the obvious choice. (Also, less issues with my figuring out whether to water. "Keep water chamber filled" is a lot easier for my new-to-gardening brain to work with than "Maybe water if..."

We don't have huge mosquito issues unless we're near larger bodies of water, usually, but I will keep an eye on it.

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

They're *awesome* :) I got them years ago to use on my apartment patio; I don't use them much now that I have a yard, but I love them for keeping transplants and things until I can get them planted. I hope you love yours :)

And I envy you the lack of mosquito problem. Yeesh. Only place I've ever seen with a bigger (and scarier) mosquito population than here is Houston, where they laugh at you if you smack them. O_o

[jenett]

Oh, we have mosquitos. Just, they tend to prefer the actual large bodies of water you can't help but stumble over around here to random little patches.(Minnesota, land of 11,400 and something lakes...) Or, rather, the puddles and eddies of same that tend to form.

Anyway, lakes give more scope for expansion, I think.

I'm looking forward to the box: am pretty sure it's going to go right outside my back step, on the alley, which gets tons of sun. (It faces south west.)

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

Whatcha planting in it?

[jenett]

Tomatoes!

Trying to decide which variants: L started bunches and bunches of different kinds this year.

(I am leaning towards an early beefsteak and a green variety she really likes, but I may change my mind. I totally blank on the names, though at the moment.)

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

Mmm, home-grown tomatoes. One of the best things in the world. :)

You know, aside from the ONE squash I got two weeks ago, I haven't gotten a single vegetable out of my garden this year so far. Lots of green growth, but no food. Which would mean fertilizer, except that I always give them compost, and I've never had this happen before. Weird.

[jenett]

We're still at the very beginning of growing season here: May 15th is the classic 'don't put much in until now' date for us, due to possible late frosts.

(Yesterday, it got up to almost 100 in southern MN, 97 in the Twin Cities, and yet, was in the upper 30s in northern MN. Gotta love this state.)

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

Wow, how weird. We do that, too - it'll be blistering down at the border, and still snowy up in the panhandle.

In my neck of the woods, it's already too late to plant much of anything, because it's too close to being really hot, and stuff won't get off to a good start. I usually have 90% of my planting done by the end of March.

[whispercricket]

Thank you! I'm hoping to build some Earthbox type planters this weekend, and never thought about mosquito control. :)

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! What are you building them out of? *new project ideas forming* :)

[whispercricket]

I'm using 18-gallon (I think?) storage containers, ones that are made out of polytheylene (#4 plastic), although you can use anything from kitty litter buckets to food service buckets to pop bottles. Most of the bigger ones use PVC for a fill pipe, but I'm going to use something made from a better sort of plastic (or metal if needed).

I'm trying to respond quickly, so I'll just throw you some links I have bookmarked and let you go from there. :)

Storage tubs:
Specific instructions
Square Foot Garden Blog instructions
Gardenweb instructions (has nice ideas about burying the tomato cage legs for better stability)
Option to use pipe instead of drain basket for wicking
Another Gardenweb thread with commentary

Pop bottle:
Inside Urban Green pop bottle instructions
Another set of instructions

[s1ren.livejournal.com]

Cool!!