05/08/13

I haven't accomplished a whole lot the past couple of days. On Tuesday I worked in the office in London. We didn't have our gardening 101 class afterwards, so I ran a few errands. This included picking up some wing nuts and bolts for a project I have in the works, and buying a set of ramps that I can pull the mower up on when working on it. I also went in search of a store that sells blades for the mower, but only found parts for a different Swisher model. I ended up just ordering a new set of blades, as well as a new belt, so I'd have it on hand for when I need it.

Today at lunch I went to check on the plants again that I hope are Lady Slippers. They are still not flowering, however. I also checked on the garden while I was out, and found that the potatoes are looking good, with some of the plants being about eight inches tall. All four of the plants in the potato tower have sprouted, although the ones in the front aren't doing nearly as well as those in the back. I suspect this is because those in the front are being shaded much of the day by the container they are in. This isn't something I had considered, so will have to think of ways of addressing that if we do it again next year.

It was raining again by the time I got off of work, so I wasn't able to get outside to do anything. We decided to try to be productive, though, and work on window screens. Several of the screens in our windows need replaced, due to their age. We have put new screen in some of the frames, but have a few frames that need to be replaced. We've had the materials on hand for some time to do this, so decided today was a good time to give it a shot. We assembled a frame for the large window in the living room, because that window will be the most useful for airflow, as it is directly across from another window, and because it opens onto the porch, can be left open even when it is raining. Unfortunately, however, we found that the frame bowed inward in the center, possibly from attempting to get the screen tight. This bowing leaves a gap, that is close to an inch in the middle, which sort of negates the benefits of installing a screen in the first place. We decided to give up on the project for now, and think about some options for dealing with this before we attempt it again.