I'm a bit busy today cutting grass and heading to the laundromat but here is an experiment from yesterday - click on the link. Dairy-free 2-ingredient rice pudding made in the Instant Pot. The experiment was a success!
https://therealmgreene.com/ins...
A few months ago I had bought some coconut coir at Walmart. I thought the price was good compared to my local garden center. $7.98 .
Today I was back at Walmart to buy one more huge block of coconut coir and was surprised to see a price drop. Only $5.88. WooHoo!
After adding water, one block completely fills my garden cart. I think this is a very good deal. I will be back at Walmart in the morning to buy more.
Hope this information helps some of the frugal gardeners who are trying to stay within budget.
For those of you who may have read my real-life blog at https://www.therealmgreene.com and know about my little chicken named Dottie, sadly, she is dead.
She developed a severe vent prolapse. If you don't know what that is I would strongly advise that you do NOT try to find images. Basically, her insides were outside and, I worked hard and did all the right things, her vent would stay not inside and she was in severe pain.
I wrapped her in a towel and carried her to my neighbor down the street. He's had tons of experience raising chickens. He was kind enough to put Dottie out of her misery.
Later today I will dig a hole and bury her and plant a tree in the same space.
Tears.
Update:
I dug hole after hole and after hitting good old Georgia clay in each of 5 places, I went ahead and buried Dottie and will revise my plan. No tree would be happy in a clay hole so I'll build a small raised bed over the spot and plant small shrubs, herbs, and flowers.
Edit:
I have 6 eggs in the incubator. This morning I took one of the dogs for a walk and came home to find that one of the chicks has already hatched. Two days early!!
Short YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Update:
April 5 2019
So far, 4 of the 6 eggs have hatched. Of the 4, two have feathered legs like the Brahma rooster, 2 have no feathers on their legs. I am still waiting for eggs #5 and #6. They may not have a successful hatch.
This is the first chick to hatch:
Here we have chick #2 and #3:
I'll try to get more photos when I can. Thanks for watching the progress. I have not hatched chicken eggs since way back in the day when my older daughter did this as a science project...over 35 years ago!!
Update. May 26, 2019
Hatching eggs might be addictive. The first batch of 6 hatched by April 6th; the second batch of 5 hatched by April 26th. Of the 11, I only lost one chick due to an unabsorbed yolk sac. This week all 10 are outside in their temporary coop/run.
Here are the 10 chicks.
My two dogs, Jack and George, enjoy watching the 'babies'. Here is a link to a YouTube video of the dogs interacting with the chicks. Warning, George is very loud!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
March 13, 2019
No one can even see my house!
The 50+-year-old Azalea...Oops, okay, now they are Rhododendron, must go!!
But before I hack them down (they are planted slap in the middle of the front yard, duh!), I began taking cuttings. So far, the propagation is successful. I've been using the Forsyth Pot method combined with a bit of neglect.
Here is the first bloom. There are several cuttings in 3 Forsyth Pots, all doing very well.
I made a collage so Y'all could get the idea.
Rest assured, I will not hack down the good old Azalea, um, er, Rhododendron, unless and until I have propagated enough new plants that will be all matchy-matchy and will look exactly like the mother plant. Gonna make an entire row of them...somewhere else!! They might look much better along the side yard property line. It may take a while but I'll come back with some 'after' photos. Wish me luck!
Oh, and for those with a keen eye, the non-native Wisteria will be gone in about a week. Will be replaced (in a different location and with a hefty trellis or possibly a pergola) by Callerya reticulata aka Evergreen Wisteria. Such a silly name really as it is neither evergreen nor is it a Wisteria. Here is an image from the NGA database contributed by mjsponies (her image is way better than the one I captured!)
