After years of wanting one, today I finally ordered a ‘real’ home weather station. I’ve had some small wireless La Cross indoor/outdoor thermometers for years, but they only monitor indoor/outdoor temperature and, the most recent one, indoor humidity. A major disadvantage of these inexpensive transmitters was the inability to get an accurate reading when the sun would shine directly on the outdoor sensors. They…
This past week has been full of minor garden related activities and some lessons learned. First, all of the berries have been planted into their containers. We currently have three different blueberry varieties, two raspberries, and one strawberry container. Blueberries- For nearly all blueberries, it is critical to have multiple varieties for efficient pollination. I thought I…
The compost bin is finally up and running! I’ve had the addition of a compost bin on my list for some time, but I hadn’t decided where to place it and what to make it from. I wanted to have a compost bin that was self-contained, wouldn’t dry out to quickly or stay too wet during rainy…
During the last few days the weather here in NE Indiana has begun to turn more “springlike”. Sunny days with highs in the low forties and cold frosty nights. The buds on the trees appear to be plumping right before my eyes and the boxwoods out front are showing signs of their spring growth. As I sit here writing at…
It’s been close to a week since I planted the container garden starter pots. So far, I’ve relied on the windowsill and clam-shell greenhouses to support germination. As of this morning, the only things that have sprouted was one tomato, two of the herb planters, and some of the lettuce mix. To help kick-start the…
Having spent a lot of time in the great out-of doors, I was aware of the synergy that the web of life provides, but I never gave much thought about the inter-relations within the home landscape. Jack Spirko, and his TSP podcast, helped enlighten me to principles of Permaculture. I’ve been hooked on Permaculture research…
For Valentine’s day, my lovely wife bought me a three pack of mini pots for our kitchen windowsill garden. I didn’t waste any time getting these filled and into the sunlight. These three pots will be the first herbs in the windowsill garden. We’ve decided to start with Oregano, Sage, and Dill. I’ll be adding…
A few weeks ago I planted a green onion kitchen scrap root trimming. Looking at the roots on the green onion and the plantless pot sitting on the window sill, where a spider plant start failed to take, I figured ‘why not give it a try?’. Within a few days the center of the green onion started growing…
The time has come to take down the rest of our messy hybrid willows. Come Monday, they will be nothing but stumps. We’ll have those ground out come springtime. We were in no rush to deal with the last eight willows but after seeing the mess of switches they littered all over the neighbors’ yards after just…
Another of my 2010 goals is to publish at least one blog post each week. This post is to serve as my motivator to keep up with my blogging. The original intention of “SPISBLOG’s Journal” was to chronicle things that sparked my interest, things I was doing or researching, and to share some of my knowledge and experience with anyone who might…