Citrus

“Carnival”

ESPatch Jan 6, 2010 15 comments

Brrrr, another freezing front blows through Central Texas, but what do I care, I hear the carnival setting up camp in the Patch…

Okay we might not have all the lights, rides, and well practically anything else you would normally find or associate with a carnival, but we do have this…

“Looking good now ESP, with all your psychedelic ghost canopies and ****!”

Oh yes, the carnival tents are popping up in the patch…

…and the ESP is filling up with colorful carnival folk, why? Let me explain.

This Mexican Lime tree took a hammering in our last cold snap and with an even harder and prolonged one arriving I feared for its life. I broke down, shattering my principle that if it can’t survive the Texas winter, it should not be in the Patch, yes folks I “covered” it, at least partially. I looked in my shed for my large linen painting sheet that I usually use, but I could not find it, (it has been a long time since I have covered anything). I settled on these rather dapper sheets from the house that really do look totally ridiculous from the road. They are bright enough to cause yet another Chevy Tahoe to veer off the street and head toward our property, the occupants slurring…”what is that”? Hic! “Do you see that”? “Is that a carnival man?” Hic! etc,etc.

I also have a hunch that these tents will be totally ineffective, but talk about adding winter color! I walked out around dusk to see if the wind had already blown them off the tree (it is only a matter of time after all, with the sheets overly complicated system of pegs and granny knots holding them down) and found John Merrick already scoping out the temporary carnival-like structures and atmosphere…He wastes no time.

“Very Pleashhed to meet you ESP.” (Or perhaps that was Sean Connery under the hessian sack?) Hard to tell considering their similar accent and facial angle.

Oh come on Gandalf, it wasn’t that funny.

What was funny was the way these sheets looked the next day after overnight winds had predictably compromised the overtly complicated system of pegs and granny knots…

Oh yes, they had provided extremely effective coverage during the brisk night…not. Interestingly, with all their nonsense night flapping and billowing around, they had somehow managed to exfoliate most of the previously frost bitten dead foliage from the tree. At least they were good for something!

Once again I will not be covering anything in the Patch this year it seems, I am just rubbish at it, and anyway now I remember how this “survival of the hardiest” philosophy started in the Patch in the first place…because… I HATE THIS COVERING PALAVER!

Good luck Lime tree, you are on your own I am afraid…

“May your roots grow deep and prosper.”

Moving quickly along before my fingers freeze…

Picture of Eskimo lady 1929 by Edward S.Curtis.

Solidago

‘little lemon’ is already adorning it’s Eskimo-esk fur coat in anticipation of the freezing weather to follow. Also known as goldenrod, solidago has wrongfully been accused of being a source of pollen or an allergen thought to have affected numerous allergy sufferers. Not true, the pollen of solidago is too heavy to be carried by air currents and must move from plant to plant on the bodies of insects. The pollen from ragweed, which flowers about the same time as goldenrod, is the pollen source that causes many individuals to suffer from hay fever. Trust ragweed to place the blame on this little plant. It should be ashamed of itself.

A big thank you for this plant http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/ and http://www.highcountrygardens.com/

Color in the Cold:

This kale is loving the frigid temperatures. Very aquatic!

As is this verbena, this individual plant has gotten huge recently…

…producing bi-colored flowers as abstract as my lime-tree canopies!

When the temperatures seriously dip, one look at this amaryllis on our galleon ship’s galley table always warms the cockles. ARRrrr.

And when the cold has locked us inside for too long and we have become too stir-crazy in the house, the final resort: Dave & Busters of course for some high speed fun, and hopefully a prize.

What else would he pick!

Inspirational image of the week:

“The “WheelEasy LE” is a folding wheelbarrow, replacing the heavy steel or plastic tubs of conventional haulers with a 3-cubic-foot, vinyl-coated nylon basin which can hold up to 150 pounds. You won’t be carting around concrete or bears*, but when it comes to dirt or lawn clippings, the WheelEasy has one clear advantage over solid barrows: because it can lie completely flat on the ground, it’s easy to quickly rake it full without shoveling stuff up over the side”.

Stay Tuned for:

“Thanks CTG”!

All material © 2009 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Milk, Cookies and Spells”

ESPatch Dec 23, 2009 22 comments

It was getting late in the Patch, and some major spells were being cast on me from deep within the amaranth. Horsetail reeds make for excellent wands it appears, though my eldest hobbit insists she got hers from Diagon alley.

Expelliarmus!

Some of these spells take an immense amount of concentration it appears. Now will you please get that reed out of my face!

This budding wizard just wanted to talk to me about Christmas and Santa and ask a thousand questions about why Muggles celebrate this holiday, and how Santa gets into houses and the global logistics of accomplishing such a gift-giving feat, all in one night? These discussions tend to last quite some time.

What a fine horsetail wand.

Come early Christmas morning, and it was early, our wizards were glad they had Muggle parents. Hands tore through wrapping paper as fast as their small fingers could find the ends of the tape. Santa had devoured the home-made “Santa” cookies we had left out for him, and had washed them down with some milk…

…we wanted to leave out a nip of whiskey for him but it was decided, (not by the Muggles,) that he would prefer milk.

This “Happy Van” was a total hit…a van filled with small candies…he was in hog’s happy heaven with two of his most favorite things in the whole wide world!

Going back to the amaranth, it was time for our annual harvest of the seeds, though the seeds were not nearly so abundant as last year, but nevertheless we got quite a few. The seeds also were reluctant to separate from their husks, I think they were less developed due to the earlier frosts we have had this year. Clearly some form of incantation was being muttered by this wizard in an attempt to make the seedpods magically shed their seeds into the bowls.

It was good to give the nimble fingers a break from tearing at wrapping paper! The clouds of dust that arose from these buckets smelled like the barnyards where I used to play as a kid, it is amazing how a smell can teleport you back to a specific place. It was all-hands on in the patch, and I knew my “everything but the kitchen sink” rain water collection “system” would come in useful for more than collecting water.

Talking of serious rainwater collection endeavors, this has to be one of the big ones…

http://dracogardens.blogspot.com/2009/12/last-tank-is-in.html

Amaranth harvest.

I also cut down My Papyrus “toupees” today. I could no longer convince myself that they still carried any “Winter form”. No, they now looked like a seriously bad episode of the Muppets, or perhaps…

Oh yes, this one will be going into the “Looks Like…” page!

These cattails are also in the process of popping.

Millions of tiny seeds will shortly be catching the ESP thermals. Climb in here for a good nights sleep.

At least a better night’s rest than you would have here.

My largest sotol. I am about to get shredded once again by this beast, still, it has to be done. The lower branches are once again laying flat against the ground, skewering the odd ghost plant (like they care, they are already ghosts).

Huh uhuh huh.

Like my agaves, I try to trim up these plants as high as I can, at least so that the bottom leaves are not resting on the ground. It is a personal preference, but I think it looks better and creates less of a jumble of plants at ground level. It also makes weeding a little less painful, I have to weed a lot more regularly than I trim these plants up after all.

Here is the Patch all cut back for the winter…store all that energy roots! You can see the frost damage on the top of my Mexican lime tree on the right. It feels good to have all the scraggly amaranths pulled out.

The top third of my lime tree has taken a good beating, but it will quickly recover in the spring.

There are still a couple of butterflies moving ever-so-slowly around, so slow in fact, it made them an easy catch.

Battered and torn are they .

And still the Gerbera daisies continue to send out new blooms.

Inspirational wintry image of the week…

Moonlight is a German company that makes these glowing garden orbs. The polyethylene spheres have been around in Europe for a while and they’re making their way to the United States via a new company called Moonlight USA. I think an icy-blue version would be appropriate for our warmer Texas nights, but you will not find one in the Patch…I need the space for more plants!