Re: pepperhead212's 2023 garden

[pepperhead212]

I finished a project I have been working on for 3 days fixing my recliner, in which a wooden piece cracked, and I had to disassemble it quite a bit, make a duplicate wooden piece, then put it back together. Fortunately, I had a small piece of white oak, which I could draw that rocker shape on, in sort of a mirror image, and cut them on the bandsaw, and glued them together with some Gorilla Glue, and didn't even have to plane them to thickness, or sand the edges! Really strange thing happened when I was taking that cracked piece out - I found a broken off brad-point drill bit, that must have been left during assembly, because it was from the other side! You can see all these holes (I tried to fix it before, but I pushed it to the back burner, until gardening was almost done), and the piece of the drill bit I found! I filled the particle board holes with auto-body filler, the first day, then yesterday, once it got dark out (the day was too nice to work inside much of the day), I got the piece attached, with 2 oak dowels, and 4 #10 screws, plus Gorilla Glue. Today was a rainy, dismal day out there, so a good time to finish this! I did go out, briefly, to harvest some greens, to make dinner.

Here's that broken piece I had replace, showing the drill bit piece I found:
The piece of wood that I had to replace, with the piece of the drill bit I found in it! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

This was the first day I cooked for a while (besides the bread, to make all those sandwiches) - I made a dal, with those greens, from some bok choy outer stalks, and all 4 of the cauliflower that I tried to grow again! There wasn't even a hint of a head on any, and they were planted back in August! Like I've said before, cauliflower just don't like my garden!

[pepperhead212]

Today, I noticed again that the epazote in the front flowerbed is still growing, after 3 freezing nights (and several close to freezing), and a lot of new growth on both plants. And these are fairly tropical plants! I cut off almost all of the new growth - I just left the rest, with the seeds all over, wo it can become a weed, maybe.
Red Oaxacan epazote, still growing, and no browning, after 3 freezing nights! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Another plant that I can't believe is still living is a volunteer dill plant (started after I pulled up some tomatoes), that has become huge, for a dill, and I keep waiting for it to bolt, to save some seeds, and it's just not bolting! I might dig it up, and put it on the porch, as it is supposed to get down to 24° in a couple of nights - even colder than the other nights, so far.
A very large dill plant, with no hint of bolting, or browning, after freezing 3 times. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I did bring the dill in - I think it must be a volunteer of one of those Tetra that I planted, a while back in the hydroponics, and the roots got so big in the basket I had to break it out. They bolted about the same time as Dukat outside, so this would be a good variation, since this takes longer.
Brought the dill plant inside - I'll save some of the seeds, when it finally bolts. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Here's my last chard from the front flowerbed. I always use chard with some colors.
The magenta variety of Swiss chard, larger than the Burpee ruby variety. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

All the Swiss chard harvested on 12-2 - last of the season. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And the last 2 bok choy, along with a very small one, that grew next to the larger one.
Last two bok choy of '23 (plus a little one, next to the largest). Burpee Pachay - best new one this year. Seems resistant to heat, as well as cold. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I harvested the last things today, since I saw the freezing is coming soon, again, and I got the last of the SIPs emptied, and under the tarps. The chard in the front I just cut back to the small leaves - it might grow some more, otherwise, I figure it will die back, and maybe come back and go to seed in spring.

[pepperhead212]

I was going to start making cookie dough today, but I got busy doing other things - one thing I wanted to get done before it slipped my mind again, was to change a bunch of the water in my 4 aquariums, and refill them (instead of just refilling them), which I prefer to do when growing things still, so I can just siphon the water out to the plants, along with that composted fish waste! I hate for it to go to waste, but it happens once a year.

Then it got late, especially since I got up very early for me, so instead of actually making any cookie dough, I got things situated for it - a new bag of flour, sugar to the top of the container, and so forth. And one thing I had to do was get that solid block of molasses broken up! It was some "powdered" molasses I use in many recipes, instead of "light molasses" (I only keep around blackstrap for baking bread, which is too dark for most cookie recipes), and this is an easy (and cheaper) way to replace the lighter versions. Unfortunately, even though this was in 3 vacuum sealed bags, somehow, it got a hole in it, thus letting a small amount of moisture in, and forming a solid block! So I took it down to my workshop, and on my anvil, with a very heavy hammer, I broke it up! I took all the fine "crumbs", and smaller chunks, and made them into powder again in the VM! The larger chunks I put into a Ziploc (about 2 lbs, with a couple of silica packs), then 2 more vacuum sealed bags, not sucking the air out, so the glass like pieces wouldn't poke holes in it. The 3 cups plus of powder should have me set for a couple of years, before I have to grind it up again.

I took this out on my deck, to sift everything, so I didn't have all that dust in the kitchen!
Broken up block of solidified powdered molasses. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About half of the broken up molasses, re-powdered, in the Vitamix. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tomorrow I'll get started on the cookie dough...

[pepperhead212]

I went out today and piled some leaves around that small fig tree I have - this was only the second year I had it, and it got to about 3½ ft tall, though too early to flower. I didn't even bother with it after the first year, and was surprised that it survived, and grew more than the first year. This time I wanted to insulate it some, so I put some chicken wire up on one side, and piled the leaves against that, and around the tree, then a trash can over it, and weighted it down. We'll see if it over-winters better this year.
Getting fig tree covered with leaves, before putting the trash can over it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Trash can weighted down over the fig tree, with a bunch of leaves, to insulate. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

On Christmas, I got a sort of unwanted surprise - my garbage disposal broke. The breaker plate cracked, and about a quarter sized piece away from it - a rather noisy happening! I can't say that old Kitchen Aid disposal owed me anything, as it was put into my kitchen just over 40 years ago, when I was setting up! I guess it was just ready to go I didn't even put anything hard in it (and really never do).

I looked around at everything available at Lowe's and HD, as well as Amazon, and Amazon had better deals, for a model with a 10 year warrantee - the warranties vary greatly, even with higher prices models! It was nice being able to just pick it up off my front porch, too, though I eventually had to go get some plumbing parts, so I had to make a trip.

Getting that old disposal out was harder than putting the new one in! I had to check online for something that had a photo of this old thing - I had sort of figured it out by "feel", and it had a snap ring, like what they have these days, but a neck, with a red piece of plastic on it, to grab it from, didn't really help any. Eventually, I got some Visegrips, and clamped them onto that neck of the snap ring, and used brute force to remove it! It didn't matter if I damaged it, so I didn't care if I did, and it came out, then the old machine dropped out! It weighed probably twice what the new one does! I just cut the wire, then took the DW hose off - one of the large threaded parts to the S-trap must have snapped out, from the weight of the disposal dropping - I thought I had disconnected everything, but I guess not!

I had ordered that Moen model as a "hardwired" model, but it came with a plug anyway, with instructions to hardwire it! So I decided to put a box in, and use the wire! That was not easy for me, but I figured that was a better thing to do, than to hardwire it. I didn't have any single outlet electrical outlets, or receptacle covers - not something I use very often, but didn't want an unused outlet under the sink, so I got those at Lowe's today. It's unbelievable how a single output outlet costs $4.97, while a regular, double outlet is 97¢! Supply and demand...

I had some plumber's putty still, from the last time I used it, many years ago, and itwas still good! That's because I put what was left in a vacuum sealed bag, then shoved it back in the container it came in. Had about half of this left - hopefully, it won't be another garbage disposal I'll be using it for! (rofl) I got the idea for this when I had some dry out in the container after not using it for a while, and had to go out and buy more, wasting about 2/3 of the previous container. Like that Gorilla glue - keeps forever, as long as sealed off from the air.

The new one went in fairly easily, until testing for leaks! I finally disassembled the trap, and reassembled it, and it worked that time. That's when I finally turned the circuit breaker back on, and tested the switch, and it worked! And much quieter than that old monster, though I didn't grind anything yet. Still no signs of any leaking, and I'm leaving it open until tomorrow, then I'll replace all those cleaning things I keep on that sliding shelf. I also want to figure out a way to elevate that DW hose, keep it up when sliding the shelf - maybe use some of those cable ties.
About a half cup of plumber's putty, vacuum sealed until needed again. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finally finished putting the new disposer in the kitchen, about 9:30 pm. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Fortunately, no work to do in the garden now. I'll be starting a new thread for 2024, before I do anymore work! Had enough for this year.