Greg’s Truckload volume 22
Hello Truckers, what a fantastic weather pattern we have been in. We have had some rain to keep it green. We have had plenty of sunshine to make the vitamin D. Warm days and cool mornings. Just glorious. In looking at the 45 days forecast the remainder of October looks the same, maybe a bit cooler. November looks much different. Cool, wet and gloomy. Many people refer to this as soup season. OK, cool I can get down with that. There are so many ways to do this, soup can be a meal in itself. You can make soup and salad or soup and sandwiches. Soups can be a great way to utilize leftovers or clean out the freezer. Possibly throw those leftover roasted red peppers in your butternut squash soup. That half a bag of frozen corn in the chicken tortilla soup and so on. My 1stsoup of season is usually for Halloween I’ll do chili and hot dogs. It’s perfect for an action-packed night. The kids come home from school and must hurry up and get into costume, maybe I do too. Double check all the scary pieces in the yard are just right and that the fog machine is warming up. The candy bowl is full. After all that you turn around and hey, you’re so glad that there is a hot pot of chili on the stove and all’s left is to drop some dogs in some hot water or pan whichever. The soup talk is souper fun and all, but we will come back to that later. With this change in weather, it’s important we talk about houseplants and bringing them in, because its time to take precautions. When they are outside on the patio there are all sorts of bugs on them. Some of those bugs are feeding on the plants themselves and others are feeding on the other bugs, and it creates a nice balance that usually checks out. Once they are inside it’s a different story. I’ve had years when I’ve brought them in that that balance falls apart and the bugs that feed on the plants get out of control. Those are usually ants, spider mites, thrips, and fungus gnats. To make sure I don’t bring these in Ill be hitting them 3 ways. 1stI must say this is only for non-edibles. Do not use these methods if you are bringing in citrus or other edible types. You will need to find an organic method for this but still action will be required. OK, back to houseplants, 1sthit will be a general insecticide such as 7 or 8. I’m going to ask my mosquito control applicator (which is also me) to spray them when he does October application. Then I’ll water them with a systemic insecticide that will protect them from the inside out, you can get these at the hardware store. Then just before they come in, I’ll apply a neem oil to the foliage. It seems like a lot, but I like these plants and if you have plants that you want to survive the winter now is time to consider these precautions. Possibly my yard is just extra buggy. If you haven’t had problems in past, then you might not need any of these steps. Assess your bugs and hit them with the minimal, but effective dose. Also maybe make sure the bay window is clear of all the clutter that got put there over the summer.
A fun project you can try at home if you have a firepit. We purchased a 20 foot copper coil, a sump pump, and a stock tank. Set the sump in the tank with hose going to coil, which is in the firepit. Then use a straight section of copper bringing water back to the tank. We added a water shut off valve at the end of return so we could slow down the water movement through the coil, and it gets pretty hot. Last weekend we got the water temperature up to 103. As I’m writing this its 5 am and 49 degrees outside, I’m anticipating this evening to be perfect for a Poor man’s hot tub. Just plan about 4 hours of sitting by the fire in order to get the water hot.
Till next time, keep on truckin and stay spooky.
PS, if you would like to know more about bringing in your houseplants or more details for building a poor man hot tub respond to this email and I’ll walk you through it. I’ve got some great soup ideas as well.
