Estate Sale Finds

 It takes time, but you can collect some real neat things at estate sales. I've been on a real basket kick lately and I think it has to do with pattern or grids, but I am not too sure yet. Basketry is one of the oldest forms or art on Earth. They are all handmade and each basket comes from a practical need to carry or contain something. A fish basket is used for fish, a lobster cage is for catching lobsters, a minnow basket is for catching minnows...

 This is a mid 19th century mass-production Ginger Jar with a nice cherry blossom motif in nice celadon glaze. It's practically flawless and has a level of craft that is unmatched by today's utilitarian standard.

 This is a Chinese Fang ding. Also known as a Ding. It is about 18" tall and weighs about 30lbs to 40lbs. This solid bronze incense burner is so unique that I have yet to find another like it. The closest one I have found that that has a lot of the same characteristics is in the Phoenix Museum of Fine Art and it is a late 17th century artifact. My favorite part is the removable lid (below)

 This two piece cast bronze sculpture is one of my coolest finds ever. On top is a Fu dog tearing up a lotus flower riding n top of clouds, or fire, or wind, or abstracted water motif.  http://www.phxart.org/slideshow/index.html#/COL/72157606187498905/2671933700/

 I think this is from Paraguay. I am not too sure. It is difficult for me to know, but is is a nice ceramic sculpture.

 This is a ceramic oil lamp that has never been used. I really like the glaze on this one.

 This is a Tarahumara basket in front of two English candlestick holders from the early to mid 1800's. The candlestick holders have three stones in the base to add weight to the holders. Everything in the photo was made by hand.

 Detail of the cattle skull and wildflower themed motif.

 This is an extremely well made basket. This is a basket that is made in Mexico by an indigenous peoples tribe called, the Tarahumara. (The people who run 120 miles in two days in their bare feet.) I think this is made from pine needles.

Here is another one I just enjoy looking at.

This is Nigel and the first yield from the garden around the first week of May. Nigel sampled the radish leaves

Out of the bunch of radishes that I grew, there were a couple darker radishes that were so dark they were difficult to distinguish that the were more violet than black.

I replanted the black radishes so that they would seed out and I could see if I could grow black radishes. Subsequently, the radish tops died and new leaves grew and both radishes are getting ready to bloom. (I may be able to see if I have heirloom black radishes in the next month or two.) I ate a couple of the black radishes and they had a pleasant mild flavor to them. Sometimes the red ones can be as hot as the white icicle radishes, but these were not hot. The red ones seemed like they had more snap too them but the black radishes were really nice.

Nigel and Fiona look for beetles to bite.

Kittyscuro Nigel

This is Nigel.
Nigel is a biter.
Siegfried & Roy haven't a chance.
Nigel is a hungry Meezer
NOMINOMINOMINOMINOMINOM.

Pelargonium/Geranium

This is a geranium that occupied a window of my art studio.  It received little attention, water, and only the heat from the sun though a West facing window. It has a deep dark purple flower that seems to be hard to find. I like the way it spills out of the container. I might try to make cuttings this year.

Mosaic Virus and a Practical Treatment

One of the other local nurseries I go to in Wichita, Kansas is a place called Dutch's Greenhouse. I like this place because of the variety of plants that I can choose from. I bought a few Heirloom plants from Dutch's that I had not seen before including a tomato plant that was supposed to get red and green stripes. (It was called the 4th of July or something along that theme.) It started out okay, but then I started to notice that the stems became thin and the leaves curled and looked really distorted.

 (Click the photos for a larger view.) I am not sure that this virus was imported from Dutch's, but I was watching my other plants vigilantly as to see if any other plant had abnormal growth. None of my other plants had this problem and when I went to Google image search tomato viruses and diseases, the virus that closest resembles my tomato plant pictures was the Cucumber Mosaic Virus. Other than not having a way to fix this problem, I watched the plant for a few days and then decided that it would be best to pull it and send it to the closest public landfill. (Mosaic Virus isn't always killed off in a compost pile unless it reaches temperatures of 160 degrees Fahrenheit or above.) I have over 30 tomato plants this year because I am trying a lot of Heirlooms. It seemed that the most reasonable thing to do was to get rid of the problem before it became a problem to the other plants. There are a number of things that may have cause the leave to do this other than the virus including cooler weather. (I think.) However, this was the only tomato plant to look like this so it is possible that the plant had a virus.

The bottom leaves appeared normal and the spots were from the cooler weather (I think.) It totally threw me when the top started to grow out ratty. My whole garden this year has been kick started with Ammonium Sulphate 21-0-0. I used light applications of this about once every two weeks. This is type of salt and it's probably not the best fertilizer to put on your vegetables in heavy concentrations. I usually use it in my compost to break leaves down faster. I was going to use Ammonium Nitrate 34-0-0 (Which is about the next best thing to having access to Chanel No. 82-0-0, AKA-Nh3, Anhydrous Ammonia.) However, I have seen how Ammonium Nitrate can burn spots on lawns, so I opted for the lesser and gradually built up the soil applications every two weeks. Other than buying 13-13-13/17-17-17 I had calcianated lime and bone meal that I added deeper in the soil so that the plants could tap some calcium and at least some 0-10-0 to get some blossoms cranking when the roots tapped it.

*Dutch's Greenhouse doesn't have a website so I can't link it.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Elmer

It was exciting for gardening this year. I picked up my first two tomato plants from Johnson's Gardens the first day their tomato plants arrived. I was told that it was way too early to plant tomato plants and that the first frost would kill them. I bought a couple of solid hardened tomato hybrids called Jet Star. This particular indeterminate variety for South Eastern Kansas grows great and is resistant to a lot of tomato diseases. Usually, it takes about a month and a half for Jet Star to start cranking out fruit. (These Jet Star photos were taken on May 28th of 2011.)

http://www.johnsonsgarden.com/ 
I was worried at first that I may have planted too early. I had some blighted looking leaves, but I knew that the cool weather had caused a little leaf yellowing and leaf curl. Other than that, the Jet Star tomato plants are my oldest plants in the entire garden and they are just starting to reach about three feet tall. (Almost one meter.) My beds are filled practically with straight compost, but I have added other soils for just to fill to beef up the bed. I've didn't have much luck with my garden last year because of the heavy rains and lots of overcast cool days. A lot of my tomato plants developed brown spots on the leaves and blossom end rot. I tried some permaculture techniques and compost tea, and aerated compost tea and it just did not yield any results that I could notice. So I went back to what I think I know.

Elmer's Fantastic Garden

This is one of my raised planters I photographed in bug vision. I have ornamental oregano, onions, 1 Juliet tomato plant, lemon grass, 1 Celebrity tomato plant, and a California Wonder bell pepper plant packed into one picture. I'm in Zone 6a and I has an early start planting because of great weather. I started planting around the first week of April. Most of my beds are raised and I have windows so while the plants were smaller, the windows made improvised cold frames. It's the end of May and I already have tomato vines/bushes that are over three feet tall and have tomatoes growing on them.