Entropy

[billshurv]

I discovered the joy of picking figs straight off the tree when on holiday in portugal some years back. If I ever get a house with a wall facing the right direction I might try although they are touch and go where I am.

[JR.]

I discovered the joy of picking figs straight off the tree when on holiday in portugal some years back. If I ever get a house with a wall facing the right direction I might try although they are touch and go where I am.

Not sure why you need a wall?

Here is a couple pictures from last year...

This tree is my second attempt, the first fig tree I planted was killed by a hard freeze. This second try (Chicago Hardy) appears to be doing better.

Over the winter I trimmed back the one upshoot... now there are three upshoots... I'm afraid if i trim them I'll end up with nine.

JR

[billshurv]

Last time I checked we didn't have access to hardy varieties in UK so the south facing wall is just to give the plant a bit more warmth.

Edit: have checked and chicago hardy IS available in UK. Getting one of them!

[JR.]

Last time I checked we didn't have access to hardy varieties in UK so the south facing wall is just to give the plant a bit more warmth.

Edit: have checked and chicago hardy IS available in UK. Getting one of them!

Great,,, I love mine and it is thriving.

They are supposed to be easy to grow new trees from cuttings. I tried rooting the upshoot I cut off last winter and no luck yet.

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Yesterday I pulled up my silt trap buckets and rinsed them out... I rinsed them out above my buried drain pipe where i could use some extra soil. I also rinsed out the pipes I had sitting down in the rain ditches, steering runoff into the buckets... more silt in the pipes than buckets, but only fully in place for a few months and appear to be working as expected (a bunch of dead leaves in with the silt). With the ditch dry, I dug my silt pool a little deeper but already adequately lower than the bottom of the drain box inlet port.

Since I hired a guy to put gutters on my house, it will probably never rain again. He was so busy he is not even scheduled to do the work for another two weeks.

JR

[billshurv]

Tonight I have to fix the shower. It cut out on me last night after about 4 minutes. (note this is an electric shower with a 9kW electric element). I'll give it the usual annual de-limescaling then try and work out if its the switch or the thermal cutout (which I only replaced last year). New showers are cheap, but different form factor and this one was put in before the tiles so have to keep the form factor!

[Gold]

There are fig trees in a number of backyards of Italians in Brooklyn. They keep them covered in the winter.

[JR.]

Tonight I have to fix the shower. It cut out on me last night after about 4 minutes. (note this is an electric shower with a 9kW electric element). I'll give it the usual annual de-limescaling then try and work out if its the switch or the thermal cutout (which I only replaced last year). New showers are cheap, but different form factor and this one was put in before the tiles so have to keep the form factor!

be careful, I got a shock from my hot water heater in the shower a few years back when the element rusted and energized the hot water tank. That adds new meaning to "hot" water.

JR

[billshurv]

Luckily supply is isolated. Partial success. Cleaned all the limescale out but it still shutdown twice during my shower. Restarted this time though and was ok for wife this morning. I'll replace the thermal trip (again) when I can remember where I ordered the last one from.

[mediatechnology]

I'm a big believer in stored hot water heated by gas because we have days long power outages out here in the woods.
My current water heater was replaced in 2010: I promised myself I would replace it after 10 years whether it needed it or not.
With the new efficiency ratings I'll be lucky if I can replace the 50G with a 40G.

I should have a fig tree.
We have peaches that my grandmother planted from the 1950s-1970s but they were grown from hybrid seed and don't produce much.
When they do the squirrels usually beat us to them.

[JR.]

I'm a big believer in stored hot water heated by gas because we have days long power outages out here in the woods.

Solar might make actual sense for hot water heat but I don't know about long term reliability (leaks, etc). Probably worthwhile to heat a swimming pool, while swimming pools don't make sense.

I want to replace the sacrificial electrode in my relatively new electric hot water heater. I couldn't break it loose, even with an impact wrench.

My current water heater was replaced in 2010: I promised myself I would replace it after 10 years whether it needed it or not.
With the new efficiency ratings I'll be lucky if I can replace the 50G with a 40G.

I should have a fig tree.

Just do it

We have peaches that my grandmother planted from the 1950s-1970s but they were grown from hybrid seed and don't produce much.

I planted several fruit trees over the last few years but most are still too young to bear fruit. This spring my peach tree tried to grow one peach but soon dropped it. One of my two young apple trees also made a tiny apple, but dropped it too. This makes me optimistic that maybe by next year actual fruit could happen. My fig tree has been bearing fruit since the first year, and I see probably a dozen figs growing already this year.

When they do the squirrels usually beat us to them.

I am upping my game against the squirrels this year. Last season I killed 5 or 6 of them with my pellet rifle.

I bought a 4 camera security system (swan) so I can monitor my pecan trees for squirrel activity, I should be able to determine whether there are meat targets present before I go outdoors. I fired up one camera yesterday facing the camera through a window in my back corner room. It works adequately in daylight, at night the IR light sources inside the camera reflect off the window glass and corrupt the image, but I don't need to see squirrels at night. The motion detection is pretty much useless due to wind blowing the branches around, but picture resolution appears adequate. After I do my gutters I may mount some cameras outside, but for now looking through the window works for daylight monitoring.

JR

PS: I can already see two baby jalapeños coming, other hot peppers still immature, but they have time.