Botany 102

Hidden object game!  Can you find the still-potted rosemary?

Rotate 90 degrees, trim deadwood, and voila!  Replacement for trumpet vine and garnish for Kai's food.  (Kai helped dig up trump stump on far right).  

Also planted 2 avocados (Reed and Hass) in the backyard.  While we had our eye on a Lamb-Hass because it yields monstrously sized avocados in its formative years, these were sold out and it turned out we could get 2 whole trees for 1/3 the price of the illusive Lamb Hass.  

MaGyver dropped in to fill MacGyver's truck with green waste for our field trip to the Prima Deshecha landfill (outgoing truck load 4/10) and jump start two raised beds for herbs and veggies out of salvaged boards in the yard.  Approximately $110 project ($8 of which was pure bull sh*t).    

More documentation to follow if/when things start to sprout.  

Veggies Planted:  

• Sweet potatoes:  Grab a sack from Trader Joe's, cut into halves/thirds, bury in bullsh*t/leaves/nitrogen boosted soil, cover in mulch (partial shade is OK).  
• Spinach/Mesclun:  Scatter each seed package over approx 6-9 sq foot expanse and cover lightly with more of the above.  Make sure to water daily while getting its start.  Once established, "haircut" periodically for salads.  
• Bell Peppers:  bought a started plant.  Provide a support stake.  
• Cherry tomatoes:  bought 2 started plants (a yellow pear and a red cherry).  Provide a support stake.  Research the cool heirloom varieties we beeline for at Trader Joe's.  
• Peas:  scratch with screw, etc. if you didn't start them in a wet paper towel.  Dump them in a trench in front of a wire trellis for them to grow up.  Best if trellis is towards the back of the bed on the north end in order to ensure the rest of the plants get sun (or in the middle, in order for plants to grow up both sides).  
• Marigolds:  Evidently, these tell bugs to GTFO.  
• Chives:  See above, but slightly more edible. 

Herb garden, (shadier, less trafficked corner under the orange tree because it needs less TLC).  This one MacGyver used whimsically patterned river stones instead of mulch to increase heat, retain moisture, and dissuade weeds.   

• Rosemary: remnant from apartment container gardens.  Rocks in rosemary sweet potato fries (a la Clover food truck at MIT).  
• Stevia: remnant from apartment containers.  This stuff is super hardy and sweet!  It doesn't make hard apple cider (aka MacGyver Redbull) taste any smoother, but works wonders in "Nohitos"
• Mint: because we decimated our last apartment mint plant in our Tim Ferriss no-sugar-mohito summer (mint, stevia, limes, rum).  
• Basil: remnant from grocery store TBM run (aka Operation Caprese)
• Garlic:  MaGyver gift from previous visit-- it might or might not be elephantine.
• Sage:  good in stews (because I cook so many of those...)
• Oregano:  Italiano?  idk
• Thyme:  I really don't know, except some kid in my 8th grade class used it with a seafood dish in home ec that won our "Iron Chef" before Iron Chef was a glint in a producer's eye final.  
• Parsley:  last one was never used to garnish anything and eventually went to seed... hopefully destroying the unsettling symmetry of The Park's ferngully below.  

Homework:  water veggies every morning for 3 days straight. Potentially locate onion start bulbs.  Find uses for above before the bumper crop final.    

Also learned:  carotene (vitamin A) boost Koi color.  Tried feeding cooked shredded carrot to the ghostly trio. No bites.  After killing the horsetail, it would be nice to slide some plants into their pond sometime soon.  Perhaps after I convince MacGyver to relocate it to the front porch...