My Gardening Attempts

Blog has moved to its own host

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Hi,

Thank you for stopping by, I am no longer updating this blog anymore. Please head on over to my new host, Elements Backyard Garden. The site is still under construction. Sorry site is no longer active. Will eventually reopen the site once I have the time for it.

Element's Backyard Garden is no longer an active site and I have no idea if it will ever be active again since most of the current articles were lost several years ago. The articles that were saved will be slowly added over time (updated as needed) along with new articles added.

However, I partnered with a professional landscaper/garden nursery specialist to create a new garden information website. Please check us out at Garden DIY

Thanks guys - James

Pictures from the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:02:00 +0000

This weeks Blooms.

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Blog Roll and Link Exchange request

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:42:00 +0000

If anyone would like me to add their blog or website please post a message and give me your link. If I post yours please post mine as well. Thanks.

Element's Backyard Garden is moving

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:39:00 +0000

Element's Backyard Garden is moving. I have my own host and domain name now. Please visit and bookmark my new site please. Element's Backyard garden

This site is still underconstruction. Once the site is complete I will let everyone know. Thanks

Day 6: Oregan Coast Vaction

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:58:00 +0000

Today we went south down Highway 101 to Florence to play on the dunes. On the way to Florence we stopped at the Devil's Chur, drove to top of Cape Perpetua, and Strawberry Hill.

Our first stop was at The Devil's Cusp. We hiked the ruff terrain of the Devil's Cusp trails down to the bottom of the mountain, and crawled and climbed over the ruff valcanic basalt rock formations to get a close look at the see cave and channel the waves cut into the side of the mountain. Our next stop was at Cape Perpetua. Cape Perpetua is a scenic view that takes you to the top of the mountain that over looks the bay and The Devil's Cusp. The next stop was Strawberry Hill, which is a little known spot to view sea lions. Our last stop was just outside of town in Florence, we road the dunes on a 4x4 buggy bus tour. After the tour we stopped at Honeymen State park to play on the dunes and hang out near the lake.

The Devil's Churn

Cape Perpetua

Strawberry Hill

Oregon Dunes

Honeymen State Park

Day 5: Oregon Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:48:00 +0000

Today we got up early and drove to the North end of the Oregon Coast to visit Cannon Beach and Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. On the way to Cannon Beach, we stopped in Tillamook, Oregon and toured the cheese factory. After lunch at the factory we stopped along the way and took pictures of some haystack rock formations and the rocky beach. Once back on the road, we drove about an hour and a half north to Cannon Beach to walk the beautiful beach and do some shopping in town. Once finished at the beach we headed back south to Pacific City to eat lunch at Pelican Pub & Brewery for my wife's uncle's retirement party. After eating dinner, we hiked the big sand dune and saw amazing views from both sides. Believe me, though, if you're out of shape, it hurts! Too bad there isn't a way to just go down them... that part was fun.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Haystacks on Hwy 101

Cannon Beach

Cape Kiwanda

Fishermen hauling their Dory Boat back home

Bottom of the Sand Dune

View from the top of the Sand Dune

Day 4: Oregan Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:25:00 +0000

Today we went inland and visited 3 wineries. The first winery we visited was Maysara Winery which practices both organic and Biodynamic agriculture. The second place we stopped at was Eyrie Vineyards and then we stopped at Amity Vineyards. All three places are a must if you want to try local wines of Oregon.

Maysara Vineyards

Amity Vineyards

Day 3: Oregan Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:26:00 +0000

Today we spend most of the day visiting different sites between Lincoln City and South Newport, Oregon. First, we stopped at Boiler Bay and took in the sites. This stop had some great views of the coast and some interesting rock formations. Next, we stopped in Depoe Bay for some whale watching in the harbor. There are several whale watching tour guides and a whale watching information center. We visited the information center and watched the local gray whales breach the surface a couple times. We were told that sometimes you see them and at other times you do not, but we were lucky enough to see them a few times.

Our next stop was at the Devil's Punch Bowl. The Devil's Punch Bowl was created over time as the waves formed a sea cave and then eventually the roof collapsed. We also stopped on the bluff long enough to watch a surfing class with new surfers learning to surf. On our way into Newport, we stopped at Agate Beach and walked along the misty beach. After the beach walk, we stopped for lunch in town at a local pub down in the marina. Our final stop for the day was the Rogue Brewery in South Newport. This brewery was set up in an old marina warehouse. We took a tour and sampled some of their beers.

Boiler Bay

The Devil's Punch Bowl

Agate Beach -- overcast and misty

Rogue Brewery

Mixing Tanks (first Stages)

Bottling

Day2 of vaction - Oregan Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Today was a good day. I spent most of the day just hanging out and playing on the beach. We spent the early part of the day with my wife and her parents shopping at the outlet mall. We found some good deals and didn't have to pay sales tax.

About 4 in the afternoon the overcast wore off and we spent the afternoon on the beach playing Frisbee with my wife's cousins. Then late in the afternoon my digital camera fell and landed in the sand. Before we could recover it the waves washed over it and it died. Of course I am not happy and we lost the chance for some good pictures, but tomorrow I get to replace it with a new one! Plus I will be getting my wife a nice pocket sized camera for her as well.

Her are a some more pictures of the beach.

Spending a week on the Oregan Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Today we arrived in Portland from a 9:30 A.M. flight from DFW. Then drove another 2 hours down to the coast to Lincoln OR. We are staying at very nice beach house that is within walking distance from the beach!

It started misting about 20 minutes from the cost and has misted on and off all day. the weather is a breezy 60 degrees and overcast. More to come as the week progresses.

Here are some pictures of the beach taken at 6:00 P.M.

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Elements backyard garden is moving!

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:57:00 +0000

Elements backyard garden is moving to its own host and changing formats to wordpress! Please visit the new site and make a comment. How do you guys like it? Right now I will keep both sites open and posting regularly to both. Should have the same content at least for now!

Yesterday I did my First Staining project.

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Late yesterday, I decided to stain my porch screen door. Originally when we rented the house it had a nice screened in porch but it did not have a screen door or any type door so it was pointless to have a screened in porch and do to the mosquitoes we could not use the porch.

One day my wife and I went to one of the big box stores and purchased a cheap unfinished screen door and had it cut down to the correct size. We also bought a fancy screen door brushed nickel door handles and hook lock. The next day I installed the hardware and put the door up. About two years later, the door started to look kinda shabby. I was also worried that the door would start to rot since the door was not treated for the weather.

So late yesterday evening, I decided to remove the hardware, the screen, and sand down the old wood. Once that was that was completed, cleaned and prepped the area for staining. I then got a cheap set of all purpose paint brushes and small can of stain. All together it took about 2 hours to complete the project. Tonight after work, I will inspect my handy work and decide if it needs another coat. If it does this time I will pull out the trusty saw horses and remove the door and hinges and add another coat.

Maybe tomorrow I will post a picture of the door once it has had time to dry.

Veggie Garden Plot Phase 1

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Over the last few months, I have been working on several new flower beds. One of those flower beds was originally setup for in ground plantings for Tomatoes and Peppers. But due the heat and other factors I lost most of the seedlings. So this year we purchased our veggies from several different places and planted in three and five gallon buckets. Because of the heat some of the younger tomatoes are not doing so well. A couple of them were hidden and did not get water for a couple of days. But they will come back and should produce some tomatoes in a few months.

This bed is a 20ft x 8ft bed. Half this bed is setup for in ground close proximity plantings and the other is setup for five to eight gallon container veggie gardening. The container section can be converted to in ground planting if we decide we want to commit to a veggie plot.

As for the soil conditioning, I mixed in homemade compost, worm compost, donkey manure, leaf mulch and landscaping mix.Then weed screen was layed across the entire bed followed by hardwood mulch.

Phase 1 Almost complete - Need to organize and tie everything up

Tomato Pot - That brown stick is a blackberry cane I haven't gotten around to removing.

Candy Striped Tomatoes - Can't wait till theire ready to eat!

The Worm Factory

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:37:00 +0000

3 weeks ago my wife bought me an early birthday gift. She got me The Worm Factory and I love it. I put it together in about 20 minutes. The first steps are to take it out of the shipping box and assemble it. The instructions were simple and easy to understand. I will not bore you with the instructions but, I will show some pictures of the install process.

The next step is to prepare the bedding for the worms. This kit comes with coconut coir and strips of newspaper. All that is needed is a layer of newspaper sheets unfolded and enough to cover the bottom of the tray. Next I soaked the coir in warm water for about 20 minutes. After the coir was ready, I mixed in the newspaper and some compost from my bins. Once mixed in I added this mix to the tray. I then added tow large handfuls of rotten vegetable matter and covered with several more sheets of water.

Once the worms arrive, I added them to the worm factory. Once I added the worms to the factory I then added a cup of water to the bin.

When you are ready to close up the bin, add several more sheets on top of the worms. The worms will look small and skinny, but once they are refrigerated and had some time to much on the debris in the bin they will fatten back up. In about a week, check on your worms and make sure they are doing okay. If the worms are doing well, most of the food will be gone and add food as needed. Once a week add a cup of water to the bin.

blog is moving!

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Sorry its been a while since I have last updated. As before I just haven't much time to work on the garden and post new updates. But I promise to update you soon. I have several projects I am working on and hopefully I will post up soon.

As the title says, elements backyard garedn is moving! I finally got around to moving to my own host. I am still working on the templates and it looks like I have to manually import since wordpress to blogger is does not seem to work on my host. Anyways take a look at my new site. Once its open and running I will post up here and let everyone know again.

The site is elements backyard garden

Just an update

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Just an update. Sorry about not updating my blog in a while. I have been to busy to work in the garden and with all the rain, I haven't worked that much in the garden. I will post some new pictures soon

Spring Blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:04:00 +0000

Some more Spring Blooms

New Blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Dutch Iris - Iris x hollandica

Iris - Unknown, was here before we moved in.

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Confederate Rose or Cotton Rose (Hibiscus Mutabilis)

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:20:00 +0000

The Confederate Rose or Cotton Rose (Hibiscus Mutabilis) is a shrub or small tree from China that thrives in the southern gulf coast of the United States. The Confederate Rose can reach a height of fifteen to twenty feet tall and have a spread of ten feet. The foliage has a coarse texture on the underside and the size of the leaves range in size from five inches to seven inches. In the Dallas Fort Worth area the Confederate Rose will drop its leaves after first frost. After the first frost, the Confederate Rose will die back to roots if the weather stays below thirty-two degrees for more than several nights. From late summer to October, Hibiscus Mutablis will be in full bloom. In the morning the blooms will start out white or light pink and grow darker throughout the day, until it reaches deep red in color. Most blooms only last twenty four hours. The blooms are delicate and range in size from three to five inches. After the blooms have died, a small round seed pod forms. Once the pod has dried, the pod can be removed and the seeds can be harvested.

Plant Care: The Confederate Rose needs little care. Once established, it will thrive in most soil types, but it prefers a soil high in organic materials.
Moisture: The Confederate Rose loves water. In the Dallas Fort Worth Area,
it needs to be watered every day. If the Confederate does not get enough water,
the leaves will wilt and start to droop. If watered in the afternoon or evening the leaves will perk back up.

Hardiness: USDA Zones 7-9.

Propagation: Propagate from cuttings in the spring or in the fall

after first frost. The prefer method in the Dallas Fort Worth Area is to take
cuttings after first frost. Place cuttings in a bucket of water and let it sit until next spring. Depending on the amount of light available and the temperatures, cuttings may form in a few weeks or take as long as 6 months before roots have formed. Propagation can also be done by seed, direct sow after last frost.

Updates...

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:44:00 +0000

The last few weeks I have been spending most of my time studying and working on different website and multimedia projects. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have the time to start working on the garden.

My current project that I am working on is for the Fort Worth Garden Swap website. I completely revamped the main pages, the only pages I could not change were the forums. Take a look at the site. It is still under construction and the client and I are working on some ways to bring in more users.

Fort Worth Garden Swap

Week 6 for the AeroGraden

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:47:00 +0000

Its been 6 weeks since I have last posted an update about my new AeroGarden or even to the blog...

Since last post, I finally found a job, and I decided to go by to school for a degree in multimedia design, and other items that I prefer not to mention.

As for the AeroGarden, I love it. The only issues I have with the system is the loud air pump, and sometimes the light timer schedule changes. Orginally I set to come on at 8 AM, then it changes to 10 AM about 2 weeks. Then a week later the timer changed to 12P. Not sure why this happened. And no my power never went out.

The pictures below show the progress of the plants.

2 weeks

6 Weeks

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New Garden Toy for Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:36:00 +0000

Late last night we got back into town, my wife and I spent the week in Wesson Mississippi and Northport Alabama visiting my relatives. After we got unpacked and visited with friends from out of town, it was to late for us to open our gifts from each other and gifts from her in-laws.

One of my gifts from one of the cousins got me an AeroGarden3! I put its together and so far I love it. I have been interested in these little guys for quite some time. If this smaller one works out as well I hope it does, I will spend the money on several other models I have had my eyes.

I put together the AeroGarden3 in less than 30 minutes. It took me longer to figure out where to put it than to assemble it. The first step is to assemble the arm for the light to the base and install the light bulb. Once the that is complete you then attach the base and grow surface to the system. After the system is setup, you will then add the grow seed pods, seed starting formula tablet, and water. Then plug the system in. The light source will run for 17 hours and be in the dark for 7 hours.

So far, the only thing, I do not like about will live with is the water pump can be loud if you are in a quiet room, you will hear it. But more to come on that later on.

As time goes on, I will report my findings. Below you will find pictures of the assembly process and the completed unit.

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Overwintering is not fun...

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:41:00 +0000

Not sure why this didn't post earlier, but I will repost again...

Last weekend, came time to overwinter all my tropicals and start some more cuttings. I converted a wasted space in my garage into a pepper storage area, use my side of the garage to overwinter tropicals and some Brug cuttings, and put the rest on my covered porch.

As for the pepper storage, eventually I will have this up with better lighting but for now this will at least keep them alive and finish off the last of the peppers.

The above picture is a small window pot filled with peat and perlite for a batch of cuttings that I could not fit into my rooting chamber. What I did was take three wire coat hangers and cut them down to size and stuck one end on one side and took the other and looped it over. I set one support on each side and one in the middle. Hopefully they metal will not rust before the plants root.

Pepper Plant Storage

This is where my car is suppose to be parked. It looks like I will have to come out to a cold car in the morings.

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Its a been a while since my last post...

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:18:00 +0000

Well, its been while since my last post, and I am sorry. A lot of things have happened in my life lately and I just haven't time nor the money to work in the garden.

First I lost my job back in October and I have not found steady employment yet. Second my grandmother had another stroke and passed away 2 weeks after losing my job. But on the good side a friend of my offered me a job in the audio/visual field and some video shooting running second camera and assistant for the lead cameraman. I was also offered some constulting work for an internet web design company ran by one of my gardening friends on Garden Web as well. So if you need any web work or need a new host let me know...

Also I just harvest a lot batch of peppers today and have about 15 more that will be ready to harvest. Unfortunally I do not know what they are. All the tags were lost when I moved the pepper to the side yard to fend for themselves after they did not produce any peppers this year. I figured I would keep the survivors and start some news ones next year. It looks like most of them survived and even produced. If you know what kinds they are let me know.

Thanks guys.

Pride of Barbados

noreply@blogger.com (Element) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:27:00 +0000

Caesalpinia pulcherrima 'Pride of Barbados'

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