Foster Jack Black update

On the morning of Saturday July 4th, Shannon and I woke to our foster Jack having a seizure. (Read my blog about canine epilepsy) I gave him his medication hoping that would help prevent more. After having multiple episodes throughout the morning we took him to the vet. They gave him a shot of phenobarbital which helped for a few hours. Then around 7 pm he started having them again and they were getting more and more frequent to the point he was having severe seizures every five minutes. I took him to the ER where his temp went from 104 to 110 in 25 minutes despite an IV pumping him with fluids, ice packs and fan on him. They gave him 2 more injections of phenobarbital, each having no effect. Then they tried giving him the animal equivalent of Valium which did not help either.

With Temps hovering around 110 for a prolonged time he was suffering organ and brain damage and was struggling to breath. The medication wasn't controlling the seizures. With little chance of recovery and the vets advise we decided not to prolong his suffering. He passed around 10:15

When we first took Jack in I used him as a subject in a blog posting for KSAT.com

Hoop it Up from William Caldera on Vimeo.

Help the Hounds

Jack Black is one of our two current foster beagles. (Normally we only take on one foster at a time but this spring every foster family with the Hound Rescue has doubled or tripled up to help save the precious beagles from kill shelters. ) Jack is a very low key beagle that likes lots of attention and his love for food makes him fairly easy to train. He has canine epilesy but the fairly cheap medication has managed to keep it under control.

Jack is just one of the more than a dozen hounds that are currently in the care of Hound Rescue volunteers. HR pays for the medical care, which includes vaccinations, spay / neuter, heart worm preventive (or treatment if needed) and any vet care needed, for the foster dogs.Adoption fees help cover the cost but if you have ever owned an animal you know how quickly vet bills can add up.


Hound Rescue will be having its 3rd annual charity sale where 100% of all proceeds go directly to the medical needs of our hounds.

Date: Saturday June 27th, 2009
Time: 7 am to Noon
Location: 8807 Black Oak Street, Austin, TX 78729

If you would like to donate any unwanted goods to the sale, please email info@houndrescue.com. A tax deduction receipt is available upon request.

And you can always donate to HR through Pay Pal.

Growing Giant Watermelon

Last year I grew watermelons in my garden with mediocre success. Some of the melons split open or died on the vine for what ever reason. The melons that I did harvest were some of the sweetest melons I have ever had.

This year I'm going to attempt to grow some on a trellis and let the others grow normally. While I'm at it, I'm going to attempt to grow a giant watermelon on one of the plants.

You have probably heard about the annual giant pumpkin contests up north. They grow pumpkins so large they need a fork lift to move them. Down south it gets to hot to grow pumpkins that large (or so I've read on the www) Instead southerners grow giant watermelons.

Some people take it so seriously they attend their prized melons 24 hours a day! The world record is 268.8 according to this site. First I'm not that crazy. Second I have things to do like to work to pay bills and take care of our animals.


I might go check out the Luling Watermelon Thump this year

Online Resources:

• U of M high tunnel Melon Production
• Arkansas Giant Watermelons
• UMD Growing Watermelons
• Georgia 4-H Giant Watermelon Growing Suggestions
• OSU Watermelon Production

Fun Facts:

• Melons and watermelon are second only to bananas in total U.S. per capita consumption of fresh fruit. Melons are low in fat and sodium, have no cholesterol, and provide many essential nutrients such as potassium. Watermelons are an excellent source of lycopene, which is credited with reducing many forms of cancer. (source: Univ of Missouri Extension)
  
• Both melons and watermelon are native to Africa and thrive in a warm, dry climate with a long growing season. The optimal growing temperature (source: Univ of Missouri Extension)
• for melons and watermelons is 70–85 degrees F. (source: Univ of Missouri Extension)
• Cold Watermelon is sweet and refreshing on a hot summer day, plus it has added benefits.
• Plastic Mulch may be used to increase crop yield and ensure earlieness. (Source: Maryland Coop Extension)
• Harvesting or loading wet melons is inadvisable because of the increased risk of decay. (Source: Univ of Georgia - College of Agg and Enviro Science)
• Square watermelons in Japan sell for the equivalent of about $83.00 (Source: BBC)
• Research has revealed that each female melon flower must receive at least eight bee visits to set a marketable fruit. (Source:Univ fo Missouri Extension)
  
• Read more interesting facts here!
  
  

5-10-2009 Growing progress

Top Row:

• Onions are growing really big. I need to look up when to harvest them.
• Sweet corn is about knee high. Three rows of it. Hopefully I won't harvest it to late like I did last year.
• I was a bit careless with the basil seeds. Now I have basil popping up all over the garden. Cant wait to make Basil pesto, pizza and spaghetti.
• Pole beans are growing but not quite tall enough to start climbing up the trellis.
• My jalapeno plants from 2 years ago survived the winter and are popping peppers out every where. You can tell they are ready to pick when they turn dark green. Those veins mean they are HOT!!!

Center:

• The tomato plants have tiny tomatoes about the size of my thumbnail. Its getting pretty hot here already. Hopefully I will get a few tomatoes out of it.
• The watermelons are coming up. I'm going to allow some to grow underneath the apple tree and try to train some to grow up a trellis.
• Swiss Chards are about waist high. We need to eat more. We have only cooked with them twice.
• Bush beans are growing pretty well. Only one row came up though. I wonder if the Swiss Chards shaded the other row to much.

Bottom Row:

• The strawberries are in a shadier part of the garden. I think they might want more sun light. The berries that are growing are small and the bugs keep eating them.
• Carrot tops surround a poblano pepper plant. (pix under strawberries)
• I got impatient waiting for the basil seeds to germinate. I thought they were not going to so I bought one at Lowe's. I'm going to have so much this year. It sells for about $4.00 for a small package at the store.
• More Jalapenos! I haven't bought Jalapenos in over a year despite giving away as many as I can. I still have a gallon zip lock bag full of peppers in my freezer.
• Romain lettuce is wilting. They like nice cool weather so I have to hurry up and eat some and let the rest bolt (go to seed)
  

I put okra seeds I save from last year in 2 rows this morning and I still have 2 empty rows. I got to figure out what to put there. I'm thinking some of the cantaloupe leftover from the curbside garden.

If you are wondering, the stringy stuff all over the ground is pollen from the pecan trees. It makes a huge mess.

Curb Side Garden

I have this long narrow patch of land (5ft wide by 45 ft long) in front of my house. Its nestled between the side walk and the street. It should be covered in grass but the only thing growing is weeds. It is in full sun all day and our of reach for my water sprinkler. So I decided to convert it into a mini garden strip. There is a crape myrtle at one end that provides some shade for the only patch of grass. When I set out to improve this patch I wanted it to be

Low maintenance
"Water Wise"
Nothing that would grow over 2 feet (I don't want to block the view of the house from the street)
Inexpensive

I began the conversion by tilling up the swatch of land and then raking out all the weeds. After tilling the dirt was about 1 and a half foot above the curb. Since I'm trying to keep the cost down I decided not to use a border. That would have drastically raised the cost by at least $100.00 My neighbor recently added sprinklers in their yard and the dirt settled creating a valley around their front yard. I ended up shoveling about 25 loads of dirt into a wheelbarrow and spreading it in their yard. That got rid of half the dirt and took all night. The next day I asked another neighbor if he needed dirt and he came and took the other half. He in exchange gave me a soaker hose and a handshake. (I have really good neighbors) Finally I got it low enough that I hoped the mulch would not run off.

I used 9 bags of pine bark mulch and 1 bag of Black Kow compost. I didn't use weed fabric because I didn't want to have to mess with it if I decide to plant something else in the future. I got 3 lantana plants from the clearance section at Lowe's for $2.00 each and a Coreopsis I paid about $6.00 for a few months back. Last year I got a free plant called bulbine from the annual SAWS Spring Bloom event. I divided it into two and planted them by my front door. This year I dug up one of the plants and divided it into 20 plants . I started basil seeds and cantaloupe seeds about a month ago and didn't have room in my garden for them so I decided to put it out in my curbside garden along with 2 pineapple tops and 2 crape myrtle trees given to me by another neighbor. Before I put each plant in the ground I added a scoop of the compost.

Shannon is afraid that someone might steal a cantaloupe. I'm not really concerned. I have some more to put in the garden. I told my neighbors to come get some basil next time they make speg. or pizza.


Materials

• 9 bags Pine bark mulch
• 1 bag Black Kow Compost
• *Soaker hose
• 3 lantana
• Coreopsis
  
• * 2 Pineapple Tops
• *2 Crape myrtle trees
• *20 Bulbine
• **Cantaloupe
• **Basil

*free
**Practically free



Tools Used

• Tiller
• Wheelbarrow
• Rakes
• Shovel
• Broom
• Leaf Blower

Guerrilla Gardening in San Antonio

This afternoon I was listening to ABC World News Tonight in my IFB while waiting to do a live shot when I heard a story about Guerrilla Gardening. I immediately tweeted looking for potential gorillas in SA. Nicole quickly pointed out my spelling error. There are many areas in my neighborhood that could use some assistance to say the least. I know my yard has never won yard of the month but I atleast keep it clean and trimmed. Ive been tempted many times to grap the weedeater and help some of my lawn challenged neighbors or clean up some of the city right of ways. I know a perfect spot to do a garden but don't have the time or money to fix up the city's property. I have enough stuff I need to do to my own yard first.

The closest I have gotten to Guerrilla Gardening was last summer. My neighborhood association (which has no power or deed restrictions for better and worse) has a sign near one of the entrances of my neighborhood. They did a great job landscaping it in early spring. By summer the weeds were taller than any plants in the flower bed. After a month or so I couldn't stand it anymore. Armed with a garden hoe and trash bags I proceded to rip out the weeds and clean out the flower beds.

If anyone is Guerrilla Gardening in San Antonio, let me know. I just might help out sometime.

Garden Update 04-24-2009

I took these pictures last weekend.
I have three rows of corn that are starting to pop up along with 2 rows of bush beans and 1 row of pole beans underneath a trellis.
The onions are making some sort of pods at the top. I have no idea what they are.
The apples that the squirll hasn't got ahold of are getting bigger.
I have one row of tomatoes (3 plants) with lots of blooms.
The Tomatillo plant gave up and died.
There are 4 jalapeno plants that survived the winter and are full of peppers.

Garden Irrigation

Irrigation System

This is the irrigation system I made last year. I used pvc pipe and soaker hoses.
This year I added flow controls to each soaker hose but I still have not been able to get the water to flow evenly through all the hoses.

Espalier Trellis - Tying Off the Limbs

Today I finally got around to tying the limbs to the guide wire.

I used a twist tie to secure the top of the tree to the conduit pole making sure to keep it loose.

The largest limb on the tree is on the bottom left. It has one apple at the end.

I tied it close to the trunk and towards the end of the limb.

This limb is near the largest limb. It is perpendicular to the guide wire.

I carefully bent the branch and tied it to the wire making sure not to make the rope tight.

I also noticed some new growth on the tips of several branches about an inch long. (tip of my thumb to the knuckle)

There are several new branches sprouting. I'm reluctant to prune them off. I don't want to cut the wrong thing off. Time to do more research.

I found these sites

• http://healingmagichands.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/espalier-maintenance/
• http://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/how-to/espalier.php

 <-- Previous Espalier Trellis - Finished For Now 

Next - Quick Update to progress -->

Espalier Trellis - Finished For Now

I hope the tree will grow and block this nice view of my neighbors wonderful yard (sarcasm) The only down side is the semi dwarf apple tree is deciduous.




Materials List

• Semi Dwarf Dorsett Apple Tree
• Compost
• Mulch
• One metal electrical conduit
  

1. Two 4x4x10 Cedar Post
2. Eight eye hooks
3. Eight U-Bolt Wire rope clamps
4. Wire rope

1. One Cedar 2x4x10
2. Three 1x6x6
3. Four deck screws

Tools

1. Shovel
2. Drill
3. Jig saw
4. Tape measure
5. Pliers with metal cutters
6. Wrench and socket
7. Hammer
8. Screw driver
9. Level
10. Ladder
    

<-- Previous Espalier Trellis - Installing the Top 

 Espalier Trellis - Tying Off the Limbs -->

Espalier Trellis - Installing the Top

When I tightend the guide wires, the posts tilted inwards (probably since they are just in the dirt.) I wasn't planning on adding a cross beam but the guide wires were to loose. I had to make a trip to Lowes to get a 2x4x10 (you should see that fit in my 2003 Nissan Sentra) to make a cross beam.



I leveled out the cross beam and then used some left over decking screws I had laying around to fasten it.






I used my jig saw to cut "wings" out of cedar fencing plank.






I did not use anything to fasten the wing. They should hopefuly stay in place but I can nail them down if I need to.

<-- Previous Espalier Trellis - Installing the Cables - Part 2

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Espalier Trellis - Installing the Cables - Part 2

Once I got the first cable installed and level I added the other two at 15 inch intervals.





I used "U Bolt Wire Rope Clamps" to secure the cable to the eye hooks.

I should have looked at the proper use of clamps but I'm not supporting a ton of weight so I don't think its that important (but then again I have no idea what I'm doing.)

I didn't screw the hooks in all the way until the cable was attached.

After attaching the cable I screwed the eye hooks in all the way to put tension on the line.

I only did three levels of rope because I ran out of the wire rope. Since my tree is not that tall yet, I'm just going to wait to add the fourth level later.

<-- Previous Espalier Trellis - Installing the Cables - Part 1

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Espalier Trellis - Installing the Cables - Part 1

I used some left over wire rope that was collecting dust in the garage and bought 8 U-bolt wire rope clamps and eye hooks.




I tied the string across to mark points on each post so my cable will be level.




Then I pre-drilled the hole for the eye hook.

and installed the eye hook. Tip : put a screw driver in the eye hook and use
it to turn the hook. It will save your finger tips.

<-- Previous - Espalier Trellis - Installing the Post - Part 2

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Espalier Trellis - Installing the Post - Part 2

Then I made sure the post was straight.

I used a tamp to compact the soil to keep the post in place.

<--Previous - Installing the Post - Part 1

Next - Installing the Cables - Part 1 -->

Espalier Trellis - Installing the Post - Part 1

Disclaimer: Just like planting the tree, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just doing stuff and hope it works.

First I decided where to put the post. I wanted the trellis to span 10 feet so I decided to put the post about 5 feet from the apple tree.





I originally wanted to get about 2 feet deep but was only able to dig a hole about 1 and a half feet deep This would have been much easier if I had a post hole digger but I didn't want to go buy some just for this.






I filled the hole with about 2 inches of gravel to help with drainage. (not shown) I did not want to use concrete because some say it can have adverse effects on the soil. I put the beam in the hole and put another 2 inches arond it.

For some reason I thought I needed a 10 foot cedar beam. Once I got it home I realized 8 foot would have been more than enough.

Previous - Semi Dwarf Dorsett Apple Tree

Next - Installing the Post -Part 2