(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Itzl Alert Network: Tuesday, 15th of August, 2023: More Veggie Garden! More Zucchinis! Ha! [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-14

I am doing a lot of work, and spending a lot of money, just to grow some zucchini plants.

But zucchini plants tend to produce about three squash per week, per plant.

We will see.

As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at, to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off Daily Kos. If you're not here, or anywhere else on Daily Kos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! This is our current schedule of regular IAN diary writers: Monday: Youffraita Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac Wednesday: Pam from Calif Thursday: art ah zen Friday: FloridaSNMOM Saturday: FloridaSNDad Sunday: loggersbrat

A few days ago, I grabbed some scrap lumber from the basement of my building, and made the walls of my new veggie garden addition.

On my Sunday, I loaded it up with dead leaves that I raked up from under a few of the juniper bushes, that are near every front door in this apartment complex. That wore me out, raking, grabbing, with gloved hands, all those leaves, putting them into a big plastic tote, over and over, and then dragging the tote back to my garden. Three totes full of leaves. That wore me out, on my Sunday.

On my Monday, I went to Hillside Feed and Seed, and bought 2 big bags of potting mix, for $30 each, and a bag of composted chicken manure, for $13, and a new packet of zucchini seeds for $3.

$80, with tax.

Then, I had to roll that heavy load one block down the street to my home. Then toss the three bags onto the grass, turn around, and roll the cart back to the store. I have no car, so I had to borrow their shopping cart.

Then came the hard part.

I took that same big plastic tote, and set it next to the heavy bags. One by one, I stood the bags up on end, cut the top off with scissors, and dumped the soil into the tote. Then dragged the tote to the garden. Then lifted one side of the tote, and dumped out the soil, into the garden.

Then I used my little rake to spread out the soil, on top of all those dead leaves. I used a special grooving motion, to mix the chicken manure compost into the potting mix. Like mixing up the dry ingredients for my muffins. I am not an expert, but my muffins turn out nice, so maybe my zucchinis will turn out nice, as well.

Then I got my five-gallon plastic bucket, and my cup, and got it half full at the bathtub faucet, and watered that nice fertilized potting mix.

Then I got out my packet of seeds, and planted those seeds. I never follow the directions exactly, but I planted them in groups of two or three, and spread them out.

I marked the date on my calendar.

The seed packet says: Days to Harvest: Approximately 40. So, that means I might get me lots of zucchini squashes starting on the 23rd of September. Which is the fall equinox. We will see.

Before I quit working outdoors for the day, I propped up my wild, out of control tomato plants, with the side of a crib (from the basement), and nylon rope, tied to a bolt in the wall, near my back door. The heavy, thick plants are now up, so I can see underneath, and harvest tomatoes, as soon as they start to ripen. When I harvest them, I set them on my kitchen windowsill, to finish ripening. At the moment, I have about 12 tomatoes on my windowsill, and 6 in a bag in my fridge.

I need to figure out how to get my new camera working, and my brain working, and my videos recorded and uploaded or downloaded or whichever way they need to be loaded, so I can copy and paste videos to here, at Daily Kos, so you, my Itzl friends, can see what the heck I am writing about. (A bolt in the wall? Near my back door? What? You will see what I mean, if and when I get my videos posted.)

Well, time to put a pause on my typing, and eat some popcorn.

Take care of yourselves, and each other.

Hugs!

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/14/2187301/-Itzl-Alert-Network-Tuesday-15th-of-August-2023-More-Veggie-Garden-More-Zucchinis-Ha

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/