Why I Oughta...

We have three Doublefile Viburnum in treeform in our backyard.  Two along the north property line and one in the back by the firepit.  They went in the garden in Spring 2022 .  And, struggled.  These were hard to get established and required some baby'ing with water that first year.  Last year, they seemed to be able to handle themselves more and by this Spring, they were what I'd call 'established'.  That took two full growing seasons with the beginning of the third growing season producing the best/biggest/most-full blooms yet.  Here they are in Mid-May of this year with white flowers all over them . Two months later, we have another first:  these red berries on the tips of the shrub.  See below for a couple photos of the bright red berries.  The birds have not found these (yet).  There are A LOT of misses in our garden, but these Doublefile Viburnum are a big 'hit'.  They do A LOT for a shrub that grows in the shade.  W...

I brought home a Giant Marconi Hybrid Sweet Pepper plant from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale this Spring and - along with some other things - I stuck it into our Greenstalk tower.  It went into the bottom row in a deep pocket - and then I used the on-board tomato cage to sort-of train it up and give it some support.  The plant has thrown off one big pepper so far.  You can see it below.  Long, thin and (for now) green.  I'm going to see if it will redden-up on the plant. #19 on my 2024 to-do list is to keep going on vegetables .  I feel good about tomatoes in the raised bed and now add to things a nice-looking pepper and I feel like I've gotten back into the veggie game a little bit more this year.   The other thing that I'm remembering is that pepper plants don't produce A TON of fruit.  They take up space, but aren't productive.  That's ok, just something to remember.  

Cut flower season has arrived with the first Cut-and-Come-Again Zinnias.  These three followed the first Dahlia that I showed yesterday - a Melina Fleur Dahlia .  These were direct sown seeds and are being over-shadowed by what I'm pretty sure is Nicotiana Jasmine stalks.  I might have to thin those out to keep these happy - not to mention the Disneyland Roses that are tucked back in there. I did exactly what their name implies:  cut them.  Here's to...ummm...coming again. These took a little more than four weeks from seeds being sown to the first cut flowers. 

Out in the front yard, I am seeing my first Dahlia bloom of the season:  a Melina Fleur Dahlia that is (right now) short and stout with the bloom nestled in amongst the dark green foliage.  These were planted outdoors about six weeks ago after being started in nursery pots indoors .  I left this one on the plant (for now), but hope to cut some of these as they pop-off in the coming weeks.   Below is a look at the first Dahlia bloom of the season - the Melina Fleur Dahlia:

A few days ago, I posted an update on our Cardoon - with its purple, spikey (but soft) bloom on the largest bud .  Today?  That first bloom is joined by two others that have all taken on a thistle-like form.  That means the primary bloom is just over a week-old (from when it first opened) and appears to have some staying power.   To say that this plant is dramatic is an understatement.    I could see it in the middle of a large container - like these .  

Yesterday, I shared the details of a template that I cut out of Masonite and a circumference tool that will shape the form of the floor of my wood-fired oven.  In order to get the inner arch opening correct, I opted to create a second drawing jig - one that is 20.25" wide that will set the width of that opening.   The goal was to draw the outline of the oven floor, but it proved harder (for me) than I thought it might be when I started. Before I get into the process of getting the oven floor drawn, a quick mention on firebricks.  The community on FornoBravo spec's "Medium-Duty Firebricks" for the floor and dome.  After poking around online, I've come to discover that Illinois is home to the Alsey Refractory - in Alsey, Illinois.  Somewhere between Springfield and St. Louis is the Alsey Refractory ; where they've been making firebricks in the USA for more than 100 years.  A few towns over, a materials dealer - LaGrange Materials - sells Alsey firebrick...

Last week, I showed the final form of the raised hearth - after I stripped the concrete-pouring forms from the four sides and talked about how I can now move-on to actual oven building.    For me, that started with creating a template out of Masonite.  I bought an 8x4' sheet and created a little circle-drawing jig that I cabbage'd together out of spare parts I had on hand.  The sheet is just 48" wide and after thinking about it, I've decided to make a 40" oven (interior diameter), which means the outside footprint diameter is 49".  That meant that I'm going to be a half-inch shy on either side.  That's ok.   I also needed to figure out where the dome meets the inner arch.  I started by attaching the circle-drawing-jig to the center of the board and drew out a 40" and 49" circle.  Then, I started to think about my arch sizes and how the inner/outer arch differ.  I chose to go with a 20-1/8th" inner arch width.   That meant...