I had this grand plan to grow peanuts in the back yard. I researched how to do it and made a list of all of the things I would need to make it happen.
Now that it’s Spring, it’s time to do it…
And I think I have decided not to bother.
There is no way the rodents living in the woods behind our house would let a plant like a peanut plant slip past their stomachs. Anything I try to grow out there is going to get eaten by one critter or another.
Yeah… I think the peanut plan is kaput.
The home made sugar free ice cream plan though… that mofo is still on. Just you watch.
I re-potted Bertha the Plant Clipping today. She’s in my step son’s room with me right now, sitting in front of the window and hopefully not dying.
221/365
Bertha the Plant Clipping is the plant on the right. The plant on the left is Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping, which was clipped off of Bertha. Does that make Bertie the next generation, or is it the same generation in a different pot? What are the language rules on this kind of thing?
Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping is still alive, but in the couple of weeks since I took her out of the glass of water and put her in a pot of dirt she hasn’t grown any new leaves. Bertha looked half dead (I did a lot of pruning off dead leaves today) and she’s grown two new leaves in the same amount of time. I’m getting worried about our little Berttie Botts.
First there was a plant that belonged to my step kids’ step mother’s mother. When she passed away, their step mother took the plant home with her.
When my step daughter, Bellana, got her own place she took a clipping of that plant and used it to grow a new plant for her apartment. She named the plant Burt. I don’t know if the original plant had a name or not.
During the early days of the Covid lockdown Bellana took her plant, Burt, to our house. While it was with us, Bellana gave us a clipping to grow another plant. We named ours Bertha. Bertha is now gigantic and still growing, but much of her early growth is dying off. The plant is alive, but it doesn’t seem terribly happy. I got nervous about the plant’s prognosis so I did a thing.
I took another clipping and put it into a glass of water. Nothing happened for what seemed like a very long time and I was afraid that I was going to fail in my attempt to keep Bertha alive forever. Then, late last week, a new root grew! Then a second new root! Excellent! The new clipping is alive!
A few minutes ago I put it into a pot full of potting soil. Will it survive the transfer? I hope so, but I have no way to know. It has plenty of soil, food, and water. I will watch it like a hawk to make sure it doesn’t lack for anything until it proves to me that it’s thriving. After that I’ll just treat it like a normal plant and let it grow like crazy the way Bertha did.
Say hello to the new baby plant. I have decided to name it Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping, which I will probably just shorten to Bertie Botts Every Flavor Plant… or maybe just Bertie.
I so want to do this next Spring. I’m pretty sure I won’t, but as of right now I really want to. I just need to learn how to protect against the rodent wild kingdom in my yard.
I really want to grow my own peanuts next year. I do, I do.
Driving North on route 95 in North Carolina I saw a sign for locally grown peanuts. It made me think of how Jimmy Carter made his fortune growing peanuts. That made me wonder if you can grow peanuts in New England’s climate.
I asked Jen to as Google and now I have a project for next summer.
I am going to grow myself some mutha-truckin’ peanuts boys and girls! Get ready!
I’m going to spend hours upon hours on YouTube learning all there is to know about home-grown peanuts and how to keep them safe from those asshole squirrels!
And then probably forget about the whole thing once next summer arrives.
I’ve mentioned this before, but we took a clipping from one of Bellana’s plants in the hopes of keeping it alive forever.
It’s been sitting in a glass of water for a few weeks and we were worried that our attempt was going to fail. While we didn’t see any roots sprouting, the thing didn’t appear to be dying. So I kept it in the glass of water and waited.
This morning I was looking at it, trying to figure out what was what. I expected something to sprout from the bottom, but I noticed something further up the stem.
That’s new! It’s still alive and it’s trying to grow new roots! Yes! We will let this little guy grow out a little more and then try potting it.
Bellana has a plant that has a lot of sentimental value. It was originally her step mother’s mother’s plant and she is no longer with us. Keeping this plant alive and healthy is really important.
It spent the last couple of weeks at our house. I was nervous that I’d do something to hurt it. We watered it a couple of times and it seems okay.
Earlier today she took it back to dad’s house, but we asked if we could take a clipping of it and try to grow a new plant. We should try to keep this guy alive forever if we can, and if it lives in multiple pots in multiple locations then that just increases the chances. Bellana’s plant started out as a clipping of the original so why not start another?
Wish this little guy luck and hope it starts a new life. Fingers crossed.
No, really. It was about three feet tall and branching out like crazy. We had a debate in the house over what to do with it. I was all for letting it grow to its full potential and provide us with extra shade in the front yard on hot summer days.
How’d you think that flew?
So today I had to buy a ladder so that I could get up to the gutters to pull out the four foot tall oak tree thriving on top of our house. I went with an eight foot step ladder because it would fit in my father’s van which we are borrowing while our CRV is repaired after last week’s hit and run (more like hit just barely hard enough to do a little damage and slowly drive away). Anything larger (and safer) wouldn’t have fit. I got some bungie chords too, on the off chance it stuck out enough to keep the door from closing. It didn’t.
When I got home from Lowes I hid in the corner of the living room in the hopes that my beloved wife would think that just buying a ladder was enough and that the five foot tall tree sprouting out of our house would get scared and magically relocate itself.
How’d you think that flew?
So out I go. Up the ladder. Boy there sure are a lot of leaves in the gutter. Now I want to get one of those iRobot rain gutter cleaners. How much ass would that kick? Anyway. There were a few weeds growing out of the decaying leaves. I gave ’em a yank and dropped them onto the ground, ever hopeful that I would hit a squirrel. No luck. Eventually I got the six foot tall tree. I had an axe and a two person saw. Actually, I was wearing a checkered flannel lumberjack/grunge rocker shirt just for luck.
It wasn’t a seven foot tree. It was a weed. About 18 inches tall.
Now it’s a dead weed.
Success! Who’s the rooftop gardening king, babie??
Inside the Red Head's Head 