Radogast's Non-420 Garden Creation Thread
- Thread starter Radogast
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #942
Thanks
I'll get back to work on the courtyard in late Sept/early October after I finish redoing the living room. Finished 60 grit sanding and stripping the wood floor. Removed the wood baseboards.
Still to do:
add 5 outlet boxes (2 with USB)
add a switch for one of the outlets
remove window corner molding
spray foam insulate around windows and behind baseboards
finish sand and varnish floors
paint walls
paint baseboards and re-install
varnish and re-install window corner molding
move furniture back in and rehang pictures
Do you anticipate having the checklist completed before the winter sets in? How much sanding do you have to get done yet? It's gonna be such a feeling of pride every time you look into that room when you're done. 
By the way, the back yard is wonderful!
By the way, the back yard is wonderful!
- Thread starter
- #944
Do you anticipate having the checklist completed before the winter sets in? How much sanding do you have to get done yet? It's gonna be such a feeling of pride every time you look into that room when you're done.
By the way, the back yard is wonderful!
I expect to have the living room ready to be used again in about a month. Right now, we have a mini living room setup in the foyer: sofa, loveseat, 2 arm chairs, reading lamp, and the TV. Guests end up in my wife's office, which isn't so fun for her, plus she had to listen to about 60 hours of sanding.
This is how much of my living room was left to rough sand when the belt broke and I had to get showered to go out for the evening. Finish sanding will only be a couple of hours. I'm going to wait until after I finish the wiring and spray foam insulation to do the finish sanding. I haven't decided whether to paint walls or varnish the floor first. Probably the floor first.
The main (rough) sanding was completed the morning after this photo.
Earlier in the day, I was sanding away ridges in the wax/varnish. This "partial print" was about 7x7 inches.
This passes for entertainment when belt sanding
I'm actually not one to sit and feel satisfied with a job I've completed. I've sat on the porch 100 times since I scraped, planed, sanded, and painted it. I've thought "This is a nice porch" at least 20 times. but I've thought "I did a nice job on the porch" only 2 or 3 times. I'm proud of the job I did, but I don't think about it much.
A bee on a fluffy sunflower.
A monarch caterpiller on the milkweed plant was brought inside 2 days ago. It was near full grown and a friend said this is the age when they are selected by predatory wasps for egg laying. This morning (after this photo) it formed it's chrysalis.
I was out along the river yesterday and came across a flower being worked by two of the busiest bees I'd ever seen. It was like they were working in fast-forward. Lol! When I leaned over the fence to take a picture one of the bees charged me! I'd never had that happen before! He flew right at me, right at my face, and drove me back about twenty feet before he backed off and returned to his foraging.
I walked away.
I walked away.
- Thread starter
- #946
I was out along the river yesterday and came across a flower being worked by two of the busiest bees I'd ever seen. It was like they were working in fast-forward. Lol! When I leaned over the fence to take a picture one of the bees charged me! I'd never had that happen before! He flew right at me, right at my face, and drove me back about twenty feet before he backed off and returned to his foraging.
I walked away.
Those are, as Winnie the Pooh said, "the wrong sort of bees."
grassypete
New Member
I always admire people who can tend their gardens so well. You guys are superb. The most I can do is to keep it clean and simple, something like that 
- Thread starter
- #948
I always admire people who can tend their gardens so well. You guys are superb. The most I can do is to keep it clean and simple, something like that
https://tranio.com/photos/adt/5cd55d32/19060382/950x633.jpg
I look at this photo and I see a lot of work. Most of my time is spent topping up the water in the fountains and bird bath. I've probably only spent 7 hours total on yard maintenance all summer - mostly weeding. As things become established, weeding gets to be less and less.
ginganinja30
Well-Known Member
Your garden is developing nicely there Rad ...
I've had one of those amazing cosmic moments.
Whenever you are in true need of something, Mother Nature always provides.
This year has been another rollercoaster health wise for mean and have been diagnosed with diabetes.
This young tree that has been growing right at the edge of my garden fence on the neighbours side has fruited for the 1st time with beautiful elderberries.
Elderberries are the traditional remedy used to treat diabetes ..
I love how your eyes are opened to see exactly at the right time.
...
I've had one of those amazing cosmic moments.
Whenever you are in true need of something, Mother Nature always provides.
This year has been another rollercoaster health wise for mean and have been diagnosed with diabetes.
This young tree that has been growing right at the edge of my garden fence on the neighbours side has fruited for the 1st time with beautiful elderberries.
Elderberries are the traditional remedy used to treat diabetes ..
I love how your eyes are opened to see exactly at the right time.
...
- Thread starter
- #950
Your garden is developing nicely there Rad ...
I've had one of those amazing cosmic moments.
Whenever you are in true need of something, Mother Nature always provides.
This year has been another rollercoaster health wise for mean and have been diagnosed with diabetes.
This young tree that has been growing right at the edge of my garden fence on the neighbours side has fruited for the 1st time with beautiful elderberries.
Elderberries are the traditional remedy used to treat diabetes ..
I love how your eyes are opened to see exactly at the right time.
...
Nice looking elderberries.
Too bad about the diabetes diagnosis. In my family, the heart and circulation issues that come with diabetes are the worst. Slow acting, but deadly. Sounds like a good time to focus on removing plaque buildup in the arteries and veins.
I looked and saw a January study - Ângelo C. Salvador et al, Portugal in International Journal of Molecular Science
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC52976/ said:
Elderberries work.
In 2017, in Portugal, they finally got around to testing more of the elderberry than previous studies - in my opinion arguing for the efficacy of whole fruit over pharmeceutical extracts.
and now a brief look at my back yard
Painted ladies are abundant - I have seen 4 at a time on the Butterfky Bush (budleia)
The view of Morning Glory from the kitchen sink has been great for months.
This morning was more spectacular than this week old photo
Overview (2nd story bathroom window) of the back courtyard
A couple of weeks ago I moved the comfrey (it was by the 2 white chairs)
It was too large for the area, crowding people and other plants.
Garden construction is still paused while I work on the Living room
Pre-wiring (5 outlets and a switch) completed this morning.
I did put a plant in the front cottage garden on Friday
Painted ladies are abundant - I have seen 4 at a time on the Butterfky Bush (budleia)
The view of Morning Glory from the kitchen sink has been great for months.
This morning was more spectacular than this week old photo
Overview (2nd story bathroom window) of the back courtyard
A couple of weeks ago I moved the comfrey (it was by the 2 white chairs)
It was too large for the area, crowding people and other plants.
Garden construction is still paused while I work on the Living room
Pre-wiring (5 outlets and a switch) completed this morning.
I did put a plant in the front cottage garden on Friday
Do you have birds feeding from the sunflowers yet Rad? The yard is wonderful! I can see it gets lots of loving use.
I can see it gets lots of loving use.- Thread starter
- #952
Do you have birds feeding from the sunflowers yet Rad? The yard is wonderful!
The birds (and squirrels) have finished with the black oil sunflowers in the front yard and are working on the millet.
A squirrel was up on top of the sunflowers and took out a row about the length of a pencil, and didn't come back for at least a week. Yesterday I noticed another squirrel or bird had taken out a short patch on another sunflower, but they also stopped feeding.
I've been watching, since once they start actual feeding, I'm going to harvest the tallest of the sunflowers to save seeds for next year. I also think I'll save out seeds from the 4' teddy bear looking hydra sunflower. Maybe my neighors 9' hydra sunflower for next year too
You can't really notice, but at the base of the butterfly bush (middle right next to the concrete) is one of 4 Roma tomato, I've eaten probably 15 tomatoes off that one bush. The corn patch is host to a cherry tomato bush, and there are 5 pepper bushes among the flowers
Teddy Edwards
Well-Known Member
Looking good, Rad. Great Morning Glory show.
I'm a big fan of Teddy-shaped sunflowers.
I'm a big fan of Teddy-shaped sunflowers.
- Thread starter
- #954
Looking good, Rad. Great Morning Glory show.
I'm a big fan of Teddy-shaped sunflowers.
In response to your post, I went outside and took a snapshot of
Today's Morning Glory show
on the way to
Teddy Bear sunflowers (a touch past their prime.)
I was all ready to check the formatting and hit post
when
this guy appeared on my left hand
So I took the Praying Mantis outside
and I decided to take a picture of the newly planted
Coralberry (First Edition Coralberry 'Candy' clone - Symphoricarpos orbiculatus x doorenbosii 'Kolmcan' )
which should have berries all winter.
When I got back inside
River was in my face about all the commotion
until the girl called me outside to admire a spider
Nice yard Rad. Have watched you transform it to its current lovely state from when you moved in. 
ginganinja30
Well-Known Member
The birds (and squirrels) have finished with the black oil sunflowers in the front yard and are working on the millet.
A squirrel was up on top of the sunflowers and took out a row about the length of a pencil, and didn't come back for at least a week. Yesterday I noticed another squirrel or bird had taken out a short patch on another sunflower, but they also stopped feeding.
I've been watching, since once they start actual feeding, I'm going to harvest the tallest of the sunflowers to save seeds for next year. I also think I'll save out seeds from the 4' teddy bear looking hydra sunflower. Maybe my neighors 9' hydra sunflower for next year too
You can't really notice, but at the base of the butterfly bush (middle right next to the concrete) is one of 4 Roma tomato, I've eaten probably 15 tomatoes off that one bush. The corn patch is host to a cherry tomato bush, and there are 5 pepper bushes among the flowers
That's a great height to get the full appreciation of your garden Rad, and thanks for the article reference earlier .
...
- Thread starter
- #957
It's a Boy!A monarch caterpillar we brough inside emerged today and stretched it's wings
Carried outside and placed on the butterfly bush
After his first flight (bush to fence) The spots on hind wings, and details of hind end of abdomen indicate it's a male.
- Thread starter
- #958
Harvest Day - Sunflowers
We had about 8 hours of thunderstorms last night with lightning strikes (including cloud to cloud) of about one per second.
The rain and commotion were the final straw for half the sunflowers
I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've used 2" geared loppers to harvest a flower
Half the sunflower crop
Dunno why... but those white chairs in the garden look out of place to my eye. You should paint 'em blue like the other one. I think that blue is the exact shade as my house.
- Thread starter
- #960
I was wirebrushing chairs prior to spray painting (BLACK.) Tools being used, additional supplies and alternate tools were ready at hand. - then my wife pointed out it was a low priority project behind living room rehab, pavers and patio. It's now behind entryhall makeover, sliding doors for her office, and patio (weather permitting.)
I don't know how far behind it is in project rankings. (It's in the "it could be a year or two" category.) I refuse to have more that three items on my major projects todo: list. Too long a list leads to me worrying. I've also found the important stuff will rise to the top and re-prioriize one's lists anyway.