Taylor’s Blog

it is with a tear in my eye that I must report that the veggie garden that i have so happily reported
on over the last few months is well.. Quite ill..

First there were the horned tomato worms.. Then they got killed off by the some wasps that use
their bodies as vessels for reproduction.. I thought the worst was over and I could be enjoying salsa, tomato sauces, etc.. Sadly I was wrong..

First the zucchini plants got weird.. This had been happening for a while, and I am not sure really what went wrong.. It could be the normal end
of their life, but I suspect not.. I removed them from the ground a week ago..

You can see the roots look pretty weird.. They stopped
producing fruit a month ago, and so I figured it was better to pull em out and hope whatever they had didn’t spread to other plants..

When I pulled
the roots out the insides had rotted..

So that’s not the worst of it.. Looks like the
Tomato plants all have Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.. The tomato’s I have gotten
that weren’t previously eaten by the worms, have the spots on them.. The yellow lines / spots..

I didn’t see anything wrong with the leaves
earlier, but now it’s very obvious..

The only solution to the problem is to remove the
affected plants and hope that it hasn’t spread to the rest of the crop..

It is with a heavy heart I am about to head outside and start my mercy
killing of pants.. Hoping to remove the infected and save the rest..

A week ago or so I was going to post a blog about tomato hornworms eating about 20 tomatoes.. I just
got lazy since it was the last week without classes (school starts Monday)..

So Sheila went outside a little bit ago to check out the hornworm
infestation, and low and behold nature had taken it’s course..

Well to start off let me show you what the little bastards did to the tomato
crops..

You can see the results of the hornworms snacking..
They ruined about 10-15 other tomatoes in the last 4-5 days.. Those bastards!

If you look closer you can see one of the
bastards having a snack on a tomato that was originally destined to be made into salsa or something tasty..

So it turns out the hornworm has a
natural predator.. Some wasp that feeds off of the hornworms.. Sweet sweet parasites..

They will soon use that lovely hornworm as a
snack, kill him off, hatch, and eat the remaining hornworms.. How sweet is that?

On to other garden reporting..

The cantaloupes are
finally growing.. I thought we got dud seeds at first, but about 3 weeks ago they started growing.. They aren’t very large yet, but at least there is
fruit that might be edible.

We also got some Jalepenos growing..

So the garden has been growing like crazy.. Tons of Zucchini, etc.. I have learned some good lessons..
Mostly don’t put your tomatoes so damn close together.. Zucchini take up a shit-ton of space.. I’m going to have to learn how to can veggies really
soon.. There are close to 50-100 tomatoes about to be ripe.. I already have a canning pot I used to use as a lobster pot, and my mom gave me my
grandmothers “how to can anything” book from the 50s, so it shouldn’t be too hard..

Look at that insane growth.. Next time I will give
everything more space

Roma Tomatoes..

Baby Watermelon

The garden is doing awesome.. So far in about 2 weeks I have gotten a ton of fruit from the plants.. I
think there will be a massive abundance of fruit.. I love fried Zucchini, but does anyone have any awesome recipes that use Zucchini? I am not afraid to
try anything.. I’ll make Zucchini Ice Cream if you can convince me it tastes good..

There are finally fruit growing on everything else except the
cantaloupe (which has flowers).. Peppers, Tons of Tomatoes, Watermelon (They are about the size of a silver/Sacajawea dollar now), and carrots.. Well the
carrots may not make it.. The squash are starving them of sun.. Oh well..

Zucchini and a few Cucumbers – Not everything is
present either.. I ate some squash and cucumbers and left a few at Stacey’s..

Maybe I am super excited cause this is the first time I really have had a garden, but well I am
ecstatic.. Yesterday I harvested the first fruit from the garden.. It was a 3-4 inch zucchini, and I ate it before I had a chance to photo it.. The
cucumbers and zucchini are growing really well, and the tomatoes and peppers all have flowers.. The melons are starting to flower, and the carrots look
good..

Check out the cucumber..

Zucchini

I have so much to write about.. The patio.. Sasquatch!, Sheila’s Birthday Party, Brewing Beer, and the
Garden.. Today I guess i’ll bore you all with photos of the veggie garden.. Expect more blogs.. I’ll be Sheila-less pretty much until we go to the beach
in July so expect more writing, and me to get in much more trouble that normal..

Onto the garden.. After growing out of control for a while we
took off the big cage this morning.. I went to Lowes and got a ton of tomato cages, and some stakes to put everything up with since it was past time to
stake everything..

I got all of the tomatoes trained up in cages..
I put one of the larger peppers into a cage.. I also setup something for the cucumbers to crawl up on.. I also put up some string to keep the squash from
covering over the carrots..

We already got fruit/flowers.. Check out this
baby cucumber.. Mmm..

View from the backyard..

So this weekend there was some progress on the many projects around the house.. Like most projects
there always is something unexpected, like that loose thread on your sweater you know you shouldn’t pull but you do anyway..

Before I get to the
project in a project an update on the garden.. Everything was sewn on Saturday.. Raised beds are well quite easy to plant in, all you really need to use
is your hands the soil is so loose.. Sheila and I bought another 2 tomato plants, and a red pepper plant.. We planted the some seeds (carrots, some kinda
squash I already forgot, etc) and the peppers and tomatoes that we raised from seedlings..

It still looks like a bunch of dirt, but
here she is.. We shall see how the garden grows in a few weeks or so..

My rabbit cage I don’t think is overbuilt now.. One of the little
fuckers hopped right up close to Sheila and I and started eating the weeds in my yard.. I am OK with him and his 100 future offspring if they stick to my
weeds, but you know they will want the garden..

And now for the sweater thread.. The part of the project that forces you to start on a whole new
project.. Another 5 trips to Lowes/Home Depot/Hardware Store.. You know.. The thing that makes you curse owning a house, much less one that is older than
your grandparents..

So Sheila and I start digging next to the house for the patio foundation (You have to dig down 8 inches you know) and I hit a
ceramic pipe.. Interesting I think.. I dig a bit more and realize that it is next to another pipe.. Turns out it is the original drain pipe for the
gutter.. The pipes have nothing between them anymore.. All I can surmise is that they were originally held together by something similar to tar paper.. On
the side of some of the pipes there is stuff that looks like the remnants of tar paper.. The inside of the pipes are filled about 2/3 of the way up with
sediment, and are most likely barely carrying any water to the catch basin in the back yard..

It’s like cholesterol for drain pipes..

So now I have found out why the north side of the house is always so wet, but that has opened up a new project.. Replacing the drain
pipes on the north side of the house.. So far I have dug out about 2/3 of them, and will be putting in 4″ PVC pipe.. It won’t cost too much, but it is
still a shitload of digging.. I also need to get the drain all done soon in case it starts raining.. i don’t need a mud pit 6 inches from the foundation
of my house..

That’s what i have gotten out so
far..

I don’t know what I will do with all of those yet.. Sheila and I will probably plant some flowers or something in them.. We shall
see.. I suspect I will end up with 30-40 of them when i am done digging them all up..

The trench so far..

The
rain has always been a problem at my new house.. One side of the house (opposite the patio side) all the roof water just turns into a river and runs into
the backyard since the drain pipes are all concentrated at one exit point.. I have a simple solution to that.. A Rain Barrel.. The city of Greensboro has
a rain barrel program where they subsidize it so I can
get a 65 gallon rain barrel for 80 bucks.. I am going to call the folks today and see what I need to do to pick one up.. They are made by a company in
Raleigh..

Hopefully all of my drainage problems will be resolved shortly, but we shall see..

Until next time this is Taylor for This Old
House.. Be sure not to miss our next episode where Taylor uncovers another project he had no idea he would have to take on, curses the PVC gods, throws
rocks at rabbits, wishes he never had even wanted to make a stupid patio in the first place, and in the end sits down happily with a beer..

So I have been working on the most awesome garden Sheila and I will have this summer.. Here is my
progress so far.. I can’t wait to have some fresh veggies..

Here are the seeds
we have started so far.. Peppers, Tomatoes, Basil, the usual shit..

So for the garden we are building some raised beds.. It’s pretty much a bunch
of 2×6′s and 4×4′s.. We got some treated lumber, sealed/stained it, and then I built the boxes/beds this afternoon.. We have a 4 foot by 4 foot herb
garden, and then 4 foot by 8 foot one for the veggies..

Here is the wood drying in the
backyard..

Here is the herb garden being set
into the ground.. What a pain in the ass digging holes.. Uggh..

Here is where they
are at so far.. I gotta re-level out the smaller one, get dirt and well a ton of other stuff..

So yeah that’s it.. I think this year I am going to
live off the land and live up to my real hippie potential.. See hbomb I am admitting I am a hippie..