The Beauty Of The Changing Seasons

[Teddy Edwards]

Things are remarkably good with Junior. He's getting settled nicely. He worked with a friendly outgoing red haired girl this summer who is in school here. They get along well, and she is a good student. I'm fixing them super tonight. Asada marinated chicken, sautéed cabbage, brown rice, salsa fresca with tomatoes and chile from the garden, warm tortillas, vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries.

I don't remember where the sale on the vaporizer was...

Glad you have been chilling, Victoria (see my post in your journal.)

I just started a new round of grad classes this week and have been busy getting Junior settled, so I'm crazy busy!

That's good news about PeeJay Junior. Just watch out for those red-heads. In my not inconsiderable experience of them - it was a phase, ok?, I'm over it - they are always Trouble.

Footnote: Mrs Teddy is a natural blonde.

 

[GardenFaerie]

HEY, I'm a natural strawberry blonde.


Me to Everyone

 

[Lester Freeman]

Hi Cannafan

I hope you have a good day.

The weekend is almost here.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Thanks Lester! I'm going to take tomorrow off, can't afford it...but I need a break from this place. Boss' dad died of Cancer last week so I've been handling the biz alone. I'm ready to tear my hair out!

3 days away from here.....what shall I do? I'm thinking it will involve green plants, oil and butter.

Hope you are having a good day too!

 

[Lady Cannafan]

I feed these guys everyday at work. It's to the point where I get out of my car and they are waiting for me. LOL

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Mr Teddy,
I have a question on the Lavender you planted. How long did it take to bloom? I have tried so many times to grow lavender here and never get flowers. Maybe I am just plain the wrong climate, but I want so bad to grow it. I make bath oils and sprays with it, and it's expensive to keep buying it.
Just curious on what your bloom time is.
Thanks!

Good evening, Cannafan. So sorry it's taken me days to reply. A few technical problems at this end, which in Greece take some little time to resolve. So I'm about 5 pages late. And typing on Mrs T's ipad. Which I hate doing. All I can tell you is if you think Lavender, think the parched clay of Southern Provence where they have great fields of the stuff. Similar to here. It's been the easiest thing I've planted. In March we bought around 15 small plants, about 5 inches high for 20 cents each. I just dug a trench in the clay here, popped in a thin layer of good soil to improve matters and drainage. By May they were becoming the fragrant hedge we were after and in June were flowering. By July Mrs Teddy had quilted lots of little bags full of the stuff and then....the pink rambling roses I had planted between them bloomed. Today they are thriving in the drought. I don't know where you are but I tell you, I couldn't have got this with so little effort in Camden Town, London.

Mr Teddy x

PS We went on a bit of an off road trip up the mountain for your thread. Never been that high here before. Will post a few snaps when my laptop is doing what it should. X

 

[Lady Cannafan]

For Dennise and anyone else that wants to join us:

 

[GardenFaerie]

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Good evening, Cannafan. So sorry it's taken me days to reply. A few technical problems at this end, which in Greece take some little time to resolve. So I'm about 5 pages late. And typing on Mrs T's ipad. Which I hate doing. All I can tell you is if you think Lavender, think the parched clay of Southern Provence where they have great fields of the stuff. Similar to here. It's been the easiest thing I've planted. In March we bought around 15 small plants, about 5 inches high for 20 cents each. I just dug a trench in the clay here, popped in a thin layer of good soil to improve matters and drainage. By May they were becoming the fragrant hedge we were after and in June were flowering. By July Mrs Teddy had quilted lots of little bags full of the stuff and then....the pink rambling roses I had planted between them bloomed. Today they are thriving in the drought. I don't know where you are but I tell you, I couldn't have got this with so little effort in Camden Town, London.

Mr Teddy x

PS We went on a bit of an off road trip up the mountain for your thread. Never been that high here before. Will post a few snaps when my laptop is doing what it should. X

Thanks Mr Teddy, and good to hear from you! Hope you get your 'puter problems settled, those ipad keyboards are a pain for sure.
I appreciate the info on the Lavender, it sounds like I'm going to be kind of out of luck in my area as the time and effort to keep them happy in my climate isn't going to be feasible. Just not dry enough here, which is probably why I was never successful at them. Maybe when I retire I'll give them another go. Until then I'll just have to wait for PeeJay to send me that 80 lb. bag of the dried buds. LOL (Lavender buds mods)

Can't wait to see your pictures up the mountain. I love your area.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Any of you have a sure fire fix for locusts (grasshoppers) invading outdoor cannabis plants?

Another grower is having an issue with it. I sent the home made mix that Reg had for gnats and a suggestion for a product called Nosema locustae that I read about. I also suggested possibly putting a mesh covering over the plants, but don't know if that will work out real great.
Hoping some of you might have encountered the problem before.

 

[GardenFaerie]

Nosema is a great biological pesticide, very host specific. I used it one time in my yard and have not had an infestation of grasshoppers since. However, that takes time to work. Grasshoppers don't like water, so a good strong spray. NOT right before dark! They will be on the plants in the morning or daytime. They love dry and heat.

I've used Nolo Bait which is the N. locustae.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Victoria!

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Kali spera all. It's 4pm here and the very thought of raking leaves or weeding is exhausting. The thermometer says it's 36 out there so I've retired indoors (as have sensibly the cats and dog) and, because I'm up and running on the old Apple laptop again, thought I'd pop up a few more snaps of the area as promised. Mrs T has retired to the bedroom - the only air conditioned room in the house.

So last week I looked at the best map of the area, drove down through the village and we turned left back uphill towards the Aegean. After a couple of miles I found the unmade road I was looking for which runs way above the villages perched on the mountainside and serves as an access to the high orchards. I don't think anyone had used the track for a long time. First gear most of the way and Mrs Teddy was gamely not complaining about her poor back while I bounced from dry rut to hard stone.

At around 1100 metres it levelled out. Here's the view looking south / south-west across the gulf to the Northern Sporadic islands. We're almost directly above (high above) our house at this point:

In the winter I'll go back up if there's no snow - it would be magnificent without the heat-haze.

Mrs Teddy was delighted to find plenty of wild blackberry bushes which of course up here are untouched by the Athenian holidaymakers (even though their 4x4 Mercs and Porsches could handle the road a lot better than my old flatbed).

I made pie that evening.

And here's Mrs Teddy and Teddy off to look for more:

As you can see, the road got a little better so that's the way I'm going tomorrow morning to find some more.

I hope everyone is happy and as well as can be. We're here for a good time, not a long time.
Good gardening to you all.
Mr Teddy x

 

[PeeJay]

How's Teddy supposed to enjoy a good roll in the dung if he's kept on a lead? Sheesh! Looks like a wonderful adventure, Mr Teddy. Thanks for taking us along.

Mmmmmm. Pie.

Canna, you were awful quiet over your three days off. I hope they were wonderful, your mother's hip is mending well, and that you are full of vim and vigor.

 

[GardenFaerie]

Good morning everybody. Wow, Teddy, amazingly beautiful. That very much looks like our west coast in California. Also parts of Texas in the Hill Country. Very Mediterranean climate.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying life every moment.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Mr. Teddy, a very enjoyable scenic view in your pictures!

I decided that if anyone ever tells me to "get lost", I know where I will get lost at. LOL

I can picture it now......a setting sun.....
some good company, A small round portable table, couple of fold out chairs, white round table cloth, with a couple of candles and the best bottle of wine I can find....and the wild fruits. The picture is perfect! (Geez, I get out of the house for a couple days and I get all romantic and stuff.)

It does remind me of a view from a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains that I used to stay at. You could see for miles and in the evening the mountains would fade into the light with beautiful gradations of blues.
Thanks so much for taking the time, it looks like you all were enjoying it.

PeeJay, my three days was perfect. I did some things around the house on Friday, and Saturday left town to go see a minor league ball game. Ran into some friends and decided to make a weekend of it. I got home fairly late on Sunday. I need to get out of the house more, I miss the world. LOL

Hi to everyone else and hope you are all doing well!

 

[PeeJay]

You have mail, T. Sounds like a great weekend!

 

[PeeJay]

It's been a while since I saw the Ms. Mantis in the ghetto deck garden. While I was watering today she crawled up through the agastache. At least I think it's the same one... She was in the same vicinity I last saw her. Boy has she grown, more than three inches long and with a set of wings ready to fly away! I carefully moved the agastache into the green house tent and zipped up the screens. It's been a couple of weeks since I sprayed with bug inhibitor. I'm going to leave her in there for the duration. She looks like she can eat a ton of bugs a day.

A sunset picture from the ghetto deck tonight. It's a beautiful time of year here.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Good morning, PeeJay. What a lovely post to wake up to. I'm jealous of your mantis. I've seen them many times over here, but not this summer at this house.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

That Mantis is looking healthy PeeJay. Good job. Love the sunset pic too. Thanks!