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Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Pictures of that darned old bamboo grass!


This guinea hen was wise and built her nest in the monkey grass a few feet from our front door...unlike the little guinea hen who lost her life a few weeks ago while sitting on her eggs in the ditch along the dirt path.



I've built a little enclosure around her with some old chicken wire, so when her babies hatch, they can be safe. I know from experience that mama guineas can not raise babies. Why, the first thing she will do is lead the tiny little things through wet grass and lose them, one by one. 



Hope this idea works because I do not want to take the babies away from her, not after watching her sit patiently through these hot days, and through thunderstorms, and pouring rain. She deserves to enjoy and raise her babies. Pardon the mess, by the way. The yard is starting to look pretty scraggly about now.

and speaking of scraggly, here's some pictures of that old bamboo grass I've been complaining about...pictures requested by Linda over at "Linda Letters" blog. Thank you Linda...


that's monkey grass trying to bloom through the veil of bamboo grass. Anything that can out-grow liriope, has got to be strong and invasive.


here, climbing the birdbath.


and taking over the tall phlox and obedient plants


and believe it or not, this was an Iris bed planted along the driveway. I should be ashamed to admit how out of control this has become. See why I think a bulldozer is the best solution? 



Finally and at last, red tomatoes in the teeny tiny garden...and as mama would say, "such as they are".


I've seen worse looking tomatoes, but these are tastless. We had bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches last night. We cut the biggest, reddest tomato in the bunch and it was watery tasting, not sweet at all. 

Before next spring, we want to have the soil tested in the teeny tiny garden and find out what needs to be done to grow sweet tomatoes. Wonder if it could be from all the leaves I dump in the garden during the fall and winter months, maybe that puts too much acid in the soil. Sure need to find out.

Why, the very first year we had a garden here on Henny Penny Lane in the early 90's, the tomatoes were huge and very sweet. I remember proudly carrying a sack full of our tomatoes to my boss in Raleigh. The next day, he said to me, "Melba, you may think that I am just saying this, but those are the best tomatoes I have ever tasted. Ever!" Sure made me feel good. 

and the kitty cat picture today...


Smokey stretched out on the kitchen floor.

and surprise, surprise, surprise the teeny tiny garden grew two pretty squash like I've never grown before. I'm going to try roasting them for supper tonight, using a simple recipe I found on line.


Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny





27 comments:

  1. Aren't you such a good mom to build the enclosure for one of you Guinea hens? Very sweet! Wow, that bamboo grass really does take over everything! Too bad about your tomatoes. I think every gardener is having a tough year. Too much rain, not enough rain....... We are still so dry here most gardens amounted to nothing this year. Love the photo of Smokey!

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  2. I think the little Guinea fence will work fine, and hopefully those babies will have a chance to grow up. Your garden is producing well, enough for two people, and then some.
    Sweet Smokey, he's a good little kitty.
    I'm glad we didn't plant any Bamboo, I've got far too many other invaders to worry about :)
    ~Jo

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  3. Hi Henny ...so are you saying that given a chance, a guinea will be a good mom and want to raise her young? It sounded like they want to lose them as soon as possible. I am so clueless about this stuff.I have an issue with wild morning glory that gets into my garden and tries to strangle plants. It's enough to make you crazy trying to stay ahead of it. Next year I have to make gardening easier by possibly having raised beds. In spite of it, though, our garden is doing well. Hope you enjoy the squash. Oh Smokey...you're adorkable. :)

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  4. I grew a couple of butternut squash for the first time too. If you find out about your tomatoes find out about mine too. The grow big and beautiful and then just die. Good look with the guinea yard.

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  5. My neighbors have a garden across the street and I finally saw what they had, tomatoes

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  6. Makes me feel a bit better to see that other people have invasive weeds/grasses too that try to take over everywhere. Misery loves company and all that ;-). I would have thought those tomatoes would have been nice and tasty, too bad! Enjoy the butternut squash, they are nice. I have one here still that has lasted from last Fall. I need to make it into soup.

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  7. At this time of year everything tends to get overgrown and like a jungle. My vegetable garden is a mess from now until it's over.

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  8. Too bad about your tomatoes that are disappointing. I hope you can find out exactly why.
    Too bad also about that terrible invasive grass. What can a person do? One morning you may not be able to leave the house because it will be completely covered.

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  9. Shame about your tomatoes but those squash look perfect. Hope you enjoyed eating them. : )
    Some of my gardens are overgrown too and I feel like I'm always weeding something!!

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  10. My mom always told me when you put leaves in the garden you need to add some lime now and then. So I do that. But I don't usually grow tomatoes - we buy them off the Amish as we always get those big gross horn worms on them. My favorite way to make butternut squash is to peel it with a veg peeler, then cut into small squares and fry it up with some onion like hash browns. Add some seasoning salt and some basil. Yum, I could go for some right now. I've always wanted to raise some guineas, but never took the leap.

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  11. Our garden has not done well since we moved to this place 10 years ago! I can't grow anything in this ground! It is very frustrating for me because I have never had a problem growing anything until we moved here!

    Such a sweet thing to do for your little guinea mama! I lost one of ours last week. Coyote had a nice dinner.

    Grace & Peace
    Pam

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  12. You might need to add something to your soil. Take a sample in to the County Extension Office, I am certain they can help you. It might be your variety of tomato also. They look pretty good to me! :)

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  13. It's because of all the rain that your tomatoes seem tasteless. But testing your soil can't hurt. The same thing will happen to watermelon when they ripen. If you get a lot of rain, they will be less sweet. Your tomatoes do look pretty.

    I hope your guinea is broody after the babies hatch. If you have a broody chicken, it might be best to let her raise some of the keets. Your fence is a very good idea though. That will let you keep an eye on things as they progress.

    With bamboo, you have to mow relentlessly. Eventually the rhizomes will run out of nutrients and die out. Here is an older blog post that someone did on how to get rid of bamboo without using poison - which isn't very effective, anyway. I have read that boiling water on new shoots may be effective, too.
    http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/bamboo-removal-made-easy.html
    Good luck with eradication! Johnson grass is just as bad here!

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  14. Thanks for the photos. that appears to be bamboo grass, all right. By that I mean it looks like grass that looks and spreads like bamboo. that's not something we have out here. You might be right about the bulldozer.
    I love it that you are trying to protect the guinea hen and her babies. I sure hope it works.

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  15. I have cleavers in one part of my garden and creeping bittercress in another, thankfully they can be kept in check easily. The buttercups are very invasive and new ones spring up daily from long runners just under the soil, the runners are as tough as old boots and take a lot of pulling out. My tomato crop is a failure this year, I grew lovely strong plants that romped away. Then the weather changed, there were few pollinators and even less sun. This weekend I plan to take them all out. Peas did well and are still going strong, spring cabbage, shallots and carrots are thriving and with a little sun I will have corn. Fingers crossed for the guinea and chicks.

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  16. That bamboo grass is amazing. It looks pretty and green but wow does it grow. I'm sorry about your tomatoes. I don't know anything about growing tomatoes so no help here. Hopefully, you can get your soil back to where it grew those amazing tomatoes of the past. Have a great day.

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  17. Mom and Dad would always use chicken hens to hatch the guinea eggs. Far better mothers.

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  18. Hi,
    I love the way you are working on saving the guinea hen and babies. So sweet of a mom, hope she follows thru!
    A bulldozer, that made me laugh. :-) Good luck with the grass.
    Carla

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  19. We have that in one part of our pasture. Our cows like to eat it.
    Love you!

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  20. Such a shame about the tomatoes, mine have a been abysmal this year. Looking forward to seeing the new babies, fingers crossed the fencing works and keeps them safe. Take care.

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  21. I hope that little enclosure keeps mama and her babies safe! What a great idea, Henny! My tomatoes are still green, even the cherries - but there are millions of green tomatoes! Soon we will be overrun with tomatoes, and I'll be roasting them for soups and sauces for the winter.

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  22. That's so sweet of you to take care of that mama and her babies. There's nothing worse than a tomato with no flavor. Our garden didn't work out this year. First too much rain and then not enough. I always enjoy your pictures and posts so much! Blessings, Valerie

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  23. Love the picture of Smokey today! Such a gorgeous kitty. I dont know if it's just because it's summer or what..what I simply crave BLT's all the time, just love them! Lots of pepper, old fashioned white bread (the kind that is not good for us, LOL), DUKE'S mayonnaise, hot crispy bacon, and if we are lucky!!-----LOL-----a good big juicy red "mater", as they are called where I am from. What y'all got planned this weekend?

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  24. I have a soft spot in my heart for cats and Smokey is gorgeous! Best wishes to the guinea and her little ones. She is blessed to have you watching out for them. We gave up trying to grow veggies. During summer months, we have a farmer's market we frequent. I will miss veggies and fruits when winter arrives. God bless your weekend.

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  25. I think everything looks great! I know how hard it is to keep everything groomed this time of the year. I despise bamboo grass! . It takes over! Love you! Your girl

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  26. I hope all continues well with your guinea hens. Does make you wonder about the tasteless tomatoes if it could be your soil. Sorry about your bamboo grass. Did you plant it to begin with? Nancy

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  27. Too bad the tomatoes don't taste tomato-y. Mine would get watery and flavorless when we had lots of rain. My, that bamboo grass certainly does take over thIngs. It looks like a big job to get it under control. A gardener's work is never done!

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