Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Happy Frogs, sad tomatoes and rescued goat

Tonight it is raining! First good rain in a while here. The frogs are at level 10 calling so happily! I'm sure we had next to no rain to amount to much in June, yet most days it reached 90 degrees.
 Here is one of the groups of tomatoes and peppers we grew from seed in our garden on June 23. Sprinkling them almost daily for some while. We left for 3 days and found deer had been grazing them a little. Right now we have lots of green 2 inch tomatoes, we both agreed these are some of the best organic tomato plants we have ever grown. Meg found some horn worms on a few of the front garden plants today as well. Meg finds caterpillars much better than me.

So to  keep the deer out of the garden I installed some 4 foot tall fencing, no not tall enough yet a deterrent hopefully. When I get time I'll set it up the fencing permanent with a gate and small arbor next to the bee hive.
 Goat rescue number two. This was a different goat than the last one I rescued. It was mid day on Monday and I figured his owners were at work. picked some wild blackberries as a reward. By dinner time another goat was stuck in the fence, they must have freed it, as it did not call long.
One thing about tonight's rain, could have filled the rain tote. I have the 300 gallon rain tote in place. The PVC piping in ready to install. I bought two 16 inch fake concrete decorative pots, that look old. I'm going to cut a hole in the bottom of the pots and run 3 inch PVC pipe through them one to fill the the rain tote, the other to a drain that empties into the pond. The rain chains should be here in the next day or so. Then the gutter guy will install gutters, I'll drop the rain chains into the decorative pots, it look nice on our big deck. And we can watch the rain chains from the windows or sit on the porch and enjoy both the visual and sounds they will make as it rains.

16 comments:

ann said...

Amazing tomato! Ours are half the size, but doing well. Our neighbor has goats that sometimes roam free, but they respect the electric fence.

Your wife's son will enjoy Ft. Collins. It is a college town (Colorado Sate U), so there are lots of things for young people to do. The mountains are are just right there. The army base Ft. Carson, however, is in Colorado Springs, 2+ hours from Ft. Collins. Still lots to do and the mountains are close. Great places for families to visit too. Thanks for your photo tip. I will get to practicing when I have a free moment.

smallgardendesign said...

Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!
amazing tmatoes and its good idea to keep the animals out of the garden.

small garden design

Les said...

We enjoyed the same rain, and it is still falling.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

My tomatoes are blooming, but no fruit yet. Yours looks great - healthy!

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Rain missed us entirely last night.
I have two pots of tomatoes on the deck, one bush and one cherry. The Cherry had a Hornworm on it and this morning I finally found it....didn't look too hard yesterday or the day before-- too hot. He was about the size of my index finger. I set him out for the birds to eat.
Those goats are the funniest looking creatures.

tina said...

Those rain chains sound really neat. I hope you'll post a picture? Poor goats.

Karen said...

Thank goodness you finally got some rain. I'm looking forward to your posts on the rain capture system. We're actually enjoying some sunshine--your tomatoes are amazing. You should see mine. (No, you shouldn't, they are sulking in the wet weather.)

There's always something going on in your neighborhood, from peacocks to captive goats, the neighbors must have a mini-zoo. Too bad they aren't better zookeepers!

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

We're not used to rain in summer here...but it actually rained yesterday, 1/2 an inch! Crazy weather. It is funny how the goats seem to get caught while admiring your garden, but glad to hear the frogs are so happy!

Beth at PlantPostings said...

Oh, please post about your rain chains and water pots when they're in place! Poor little goats...but it does keep them out of your garden. I envy your lush Tomatoes! Yum!

Randy Emmitt said...

Ann,
Looks like he is not going to Fort Collins, staying nearby at Fort Bragg.


Les,
We did not get much rain after all. The ground it hard as a rock still.

Tatyana,
Good to see you stopping by! The local farmers market today lots of venders had big slicing tomatoes already.

Janet,
Apparently you did not miss much rain, our ground is rock hard here still.

Tina,
Yes I will post a detailed post about the rain chains and full set up in the next week or so.

Karen,

The neighbors do have a mini zoo. They lost the ducks to local a local fox I suspect.

Clare,
We have a 100 foot wooded buffer from the zoo neighbors, the goat was in the fence on the opposite side from us.

PlantPostings,

We will show the rain chains set up in the coming weeks.

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Randy, Gardening Adventures! I'm so glad it rained and you have an abundance stored!!! Obviously, you've been using this month.

Don't you love the happy sounds of the ALL the creatures after it rains?

Casa Mariposa said...

Where would those goats be if it weren't for you?? Ugh! I don't even want to think about it! We have five rain barrels that help keep our water bills down. But none are 300 gallons! That's practically a small pool!! :o)

Laurrie said...

Those poor goats with their backward curving horns that lock them into the fence wire! Bad design, both the fence and the the goat.

I'd love to see the rain chains and pots and hear how they work for you.

Pat said...

Always got a kid out of goats...my first encounter is when I was five and one of them wanted to eat my hair.
Tomato plant hugh. We just have greenies right now.

Beth said...

What an interesting blog you have, Randy! I love your rain chains and I love that you recycle. The goat photos are cute and I guess all's well that ends well. Have a good week!
Beth

TexWisGirl said...

poor goat! glad you were there to free it!