Other Garden Chores today

1. Emptied the 9 month old compost container. Filled it with the summer cleanings, which are mostly from the chicken coop. Not that compost bin is ready for winter chicken coop cleanings.

2. The compost was layered on the chinese chives which have been growing in a 1/2 whiskey barrel for 2 years.

3. More was layered on a rhubarb plant in the front yard, and on some Chinese chives in the ground in the front yard. As these become more established, I am hoping that they are more vigorous and need less care than the containerized plants.

4. Pruned Tree Peony. The buds are swelling, so it was easy to see where to prune.

5. Chopped garden bed cleanings. Most were gladiolus and crocosimia stalks. These went onto borders without further processing. The Tomato plants went into the bottom of the compost bin that will be blessed with chicken coop materials through the winter.

Fig maintenance and garden bed cleanup

Today the worlds stopped a little, and I did some garden maintenance. It might be a bit early for pruning the figs, but I think it should be OK. All of the beds are mixed function, so even though this is the 'fig bed', it also contained the tomatoes, is bordered with strawberry plants, and contains some ornamentals along one side. In 2008 I think I'll remove some of the ornamentals, and grow fewer tomatoes. They did not do as well this year. Today, I removed the dead tomato vines, removed the posts, pruned the peonies, pruned the figs, and pulled a few weeds.





This Hardy Chicago fig made some puny attempts at figs in 2007, but it was too small (2nd season). I pruned for shaping, to keep it small and open.

This petite negri fig didnt make many brebas. Last year I left a fair amount of growth in hopes of a good breba crop. Today I pruned more aggressively, to maintain small size and open form. The hope is that without brebas, the main crop may arrive a little earlier.

Bathroom. Removal of shower stall.

"Rambo of the bathroom demolition"

Shower stall "before". That saw made a big difference - it let me cut 'surgically' through nails and a few boards, and the result was faster, less tiring, and more intact framing to reuse. I still have all 10 fingers - I counted them.

1/2 way there. All of the exposed 2X4's were cleaned up and are now sitting in the basement where I hope they'll stay dry and straight. They will be re-used in the framing later.

Gone, except for the pipes. I'll have to learn how to cap the source, then remove them.

Happy Hens

The white blur is chicken wire. They are quite happy, clucking actively. They like their dry house and their nutritious diet.

Master Bathroom Project. Demolition.

Today my brain went on strike. I couldn't work (it was my 'day off' but I almost always work the whole day from home). Just couldn't. So, I pulled up the particle board layer from the master bathroom floor, removed some drywall, removed a wall that had separate the bathroom from the 'empty space', removed part of the wall separating the bathroom from the closet. Here is the result. Nice, from the bedroom you can't tell there is anything different.
The yellow part is the backing and framing that i did in the guest bathroom. this area will be used for the new shower location.
The 2X4's are salvaged for framing. These are nice, already aged and cured, straight, and of course, the recycling is environmentally friendly. Since they started out as framing, they may even be the right length for their new location. Maybe.
The particle board and mold are gone. The sub floor is soft around the toilet, but it will be relplaced anyway becaues the new floor calls for 3/4" outdoor grade plywood and a cement backerboard. The old subfloor is 1/2 inch indoor grade plywood. I'm very happy about getting rid of the mold.

This photo from December 17, 2005. This year it's not frozen yet. Looks like SO FAR it's a milder winter.

It's amazing to have so many people look at this blog from all over the globe.

Vintage Photo. Brothers?

I don't know who they are. The photo was in Emma Herrman's collection from Quincy, Illinois. They look like brothers.

Master Bathroom: Floor plan before & after

Here is the "before". The layout is cramped and awkward. There is no exhaust fan. I don't know if the outside wall is insulated. The window is in an odd location, in the corner behind the door - you can't really look out of it. The shower is dark and cramped. There is no tub.

The closet and 'empty space' will become part of the floor plan for the larger bathroom. The 'empty space' was created by changing the floorplan of the original guest bathroom - click on 'bathroom project' for details of that remodel. Even though this space was 'cannibalized' from the other bathroom, more efficient use of that bathroomn's space meant that no meaningful loss of floorspace occurred and the overall feel is much more roomy.


This is the new layout. The door will be a pocket door, which will create more wall and floor space for both the bathroom and master bedroom. The toilet will have a bit more space, and since the shower will have a glass wall, the visual space will be more opened up there as well. I'm hoping that there will be room for double sinks and for a spa tub, although when the space is opened up we'll draw the plan on the floor to get a better feel for it.

By having a towel closet in the bathroom, there is less need for the linen closet which is going to be taken over to replace the lost bedroom closet space. There will also be cabinets in the new closet with space for linens.

Other improvements not seen on the drawing will include an exhaust fan. It's hard to believe that a window is OK for code instead of a fan. Who opens the window in the winter? Plus, a window doesn't really exhaust either the humidity or odor, very efficiently. Possibly a radiant heat floor, or heated towel rack.

Overwintering. Dark, cool & dry vs. light, not as cool, and not as dry

This dracaena and trailing pelargonium are overwintering, dry, dark, in the garage. It is attached so doesn't freeze.
The brugmansia overwintered in this spot last year, same garage. The cannas were dug up this tijme because several died or did very poorly with overwintering outside last year. Some pelargonia and zantedeschia are overwintering in this situation as well. The more tender zantedeschia dont survive winter here, but take to the dry/dark/cool method very well.
This is the spare bedroom that, until a month ago, had a carpeted floor. You cant see the spot here, but there is a 1X3 foot plywood patch on one side. The rest is a nice hardwood oak floor, full thickness tongue and groove oak. I need to get saucers under a couple of pots (as soon as I finish this posting). The cacti (Epiphyllum and a coujple of opuntia) should be OK here since they have wintered for several years in the room. The citrus are a bit anemic but as long as they survive, that's OK. There is also a small brugmansia - we'll see how it does, a cavendish banana - last year it died down to the container, and I would like to keep more of it alive if possible. An aloe, and two gingers are also present. the gingers may be OK outside or in the garage, but i wanted to see if I could maintain them green for a head start next year.