From time to time, I’m going to try and provide some advice and fixes for common garden problems for you. Stuff that I have encountered and battled with, and other problems that I might be currently experiencing and want to help you avoid.

Have you ever had a Squash, Pepper or Tomato plant growing wonderfully, setting lots of fruits, and suddenly one day, discover the blossom ends of the fruit starting to go black and rot?

Problem is BLOSSOM END ROT! Pretty aptly named, eh?

It seems terrible to look at— worse yet when it strikes your beautiful Tomatoes! OH NOES!!!

But, fear not, this is an easy problem to fix, and the fix is cheap, as well.  Read more 

I had one last garden box left to prepare, and I figured that it would make a great tutorial. This method of gardening is foolproof, and hugely productive. Here Is A Quick And Easy Step-By-Step Guide With Pictures.

I have no idea how to post pictures to this blog, so I can only link to my place. Sorry Lambert, I’m honestly not trying to push up my traffic.

Every garden needs European Honey Bees to pollinate the flowers to produce fruits and veggies.

I was having a very tough time attracting the l’il fellers to my yard, even though I’ve seeded the entire yard with Dutch White Clover to attract them, and crowd out this damned Bermuda Grass that refuses to die.

A good friend of mine, a Beekeeper, gave me this recipe to attract them:

In a Mason jar, to a bit more than half a quart of hot water, add 1/8 tsp of lecithin. Add seven drops of oil of lemongrass, seven drops of oil of spearmint and fill with sugar (I used two cups). Shake until all the sugar is dissolved. The lecithin emulsifies the oils, so they spread evenly.  Read more 

In response to requests for pictures and more information in FeralLib’s most recent gardening post, I’ve posted a bunch of pics to my place. You can find them HERE.

Every vining plant that you can grow vertically will save you at least a square yard, of space that you can use to plant something else, AND you’re simplifying the process of caring for those plants. Squash Beetles are VERY easy to catch and kill, and you don’t have to worry about treading on foliage to harvest. No ground rot, no missing that one Cuke that goes to seed, and ends the vine’s setting fruit early.  Read more 

I’m shocked, awed, and overwhelmed tonight!

At least a HUNDRED blogs from every aspect of the political spectrum have taken part in this swarm of goodness. I want to take a moment to thank Chuck Adkins, a blogger at the Town Hall Blog Community and other places for picking up my plea, and spreading it far and wide through the Conservative ‘sphere. He’s right— this isn’t about politics, but I had to start somewhere.

It will be days before I get everyone thanked properly. But, I’m starting right now, and every day, I will post another set of Thank Yous, until either my fingers fall off and my eyes go blind, or I get to the end of the list. Let’s hope for the latter.


OK. Let’s toss around some numbers:

2,600 people visited this place over the last two days. I average ~90 on a normal day.

If 1/2 of those visitors donated $10 to the Mid-South Red Cross or the Mid-South United Way, we raised $13,000 from this site alone. TODAY.

If everyone came to make a $10 donation, we raised $26,000.
If everyone who came by made an average donation of $15, we raised $39,000.

If everyone came by and gave $20, then we raised $52,000.

—NOW.—

I’m still trying to sift out repeats in the Technorati site, perhaps others who use Technorati more than I do, can help me get down to the actual number of unique participants, I sure would be thankful.

Wandering around, I have noticed that many of the posts look sorta like this (Blogger’s abstract interpretation):

Monkeyfister lives in Memphis, says the storms were terrible. Here’s where to donate:

American Red Cross
Mid-South Chapter
1400 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
901-726-1690


And:
United Way of the Mid-South phone in a donation at (901) 433-4300.

I’m going to make an assumption, and figure at least another 2,000 people (considering the readership numbers of some of the bigger blogs that linked in, and the sheer volume of small-bloggers) hit those links directly from those pages, instead of coming here to do that. I noticed the storm coverage was pretty heavy on CNN, today, and that many people understand the situation enough, now. Applying the same formula as above, we get:

2,000 x 10= $20,000
2,000 x 15= $$30,000
2,000 x 20= $40,000

For thumbnail totals of:

$39,000
$46,000
$69,000
$92,000

That is one hell of a spread.

In my heart, I think that these are safe minimums. All I can say is this far exceeds my humble expectations, and I’m calling this a smashing success.

You statistics geeks might want to put the calipers on my assumptions, but I think that I may be low-balling that 2,000. Digby’s 26,000 readers, C&L’s 62,000 readers, The Raw Story’s readership… Even IF every single person who made a donation actually came to this blog to make their donation(s), and the first set of numbers are it, it’s still a fat sack of cash getting out to people in need. I’m not even counting in that percentage that might have donated more than $20. I think that I am definitely in the ballpark.

I am completely in love with every single one of you right now. I asked— you answered. Many dollars were raised. Many PEOPLE are getting help. BRAVO ZULU If there is ANYTHING that I can do to help you in a similar stead, I’m here to be tapped.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

It’s time for me to get down to linking, and Blogrolling.

Tragic. I pray that peace, kindness and hope can find each and every one of those touched families.

I’ve been looking around for some local centralized relief group/agency… Someplace.

Right now, in the meantime, I recommend the:

American Red Cross
Mid-South Chapter
1400 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
901-726-1690

And:
United Way of the Mid-South phone in a donation at (901) 433-4300.  Read more 

Well, Jonah Loadpants has yet another person to whom he needs to explain his very serious book…

Chris Hedges, reporter, 2002 Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges explores the rise of the Christian right in America, drawing parallels with the rise of fascism in Europe prior to the Second World War. How does the vision of the United States as a Christian nation relate to our Bill of Rights? Why does Hedges identify the increasing political power of Christian fundamentalism as a war against America?

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

Watch The Google Video Here

More Like This At The WGBH Forum Network. (Lambert, you’ll really like this link.)  Read more