Deluxestogie Grow Log 2022

[deluxestogie]

My 2022 Growing Season Plans

It's a modest tobacco grow for the coming season. There is a rumor going around that I will be 74 before the tobacco transplants go into the ground. So (if said rumor is true) I am content with the grow plan. The bed area for tobacco is 60 square feet less than last season. Instead of tobacco, two half-beds will be planted with food--peas and corn. If my peas fail again this season, then more tobacco plants will replace them. (I did purchase new seed peas.)

I like to plant at least one new variety each year, but my Ainaro (seed collected in Timor Leste, by @Tutu) performed quite poorly last year, due to a number of factors. So my Ainaro seed for this season was provided by a potted, indoor Ainaro. Ainaro is a variety dubbed by @Tutu as a "dark sun-cure" variety. I've sun-cured it on the stalk, producing a deep red-brown leaf with a bright taste. I've also cooked some into Cavendish. I believe it is unique, and worth preserving.

I will be planting 4 plants of the so-called "Pieate Cuban", to reassure myself that it is a mislabeling of Piloto Cubano. Not really a new variety.

Of course, the first draft of my growing plan always changes. (This is actually my second draft!)

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

On this first day of the new year, the honeybees from my neighbor's apiary are busy foraging. It's 68°F this January 1 afternoon. I know they are out, because I am as well--not foraging, but sitting out on my front porch, enjoying the abnormal temperature, while smoking a cigar and sipping cold well water.

Earlier today, I began my seasonal tobacco seed collecting by finally getting over a tablespoon of cleaned seed for @Tutu's Ainaro "dark sun-cured" variety. That is delightful, since the first 20 or so Ainaro seed pods were totally empty. No seed at all. [There was the desiccated carcass of an earwig inside the bagged head. They are capable of chewing a hole right through the Agribon AG-15 bud bags. A spritz of permethrin on the bud head, prior to bagging eliminates that risk, but I failed to do that with this indoor, potted Ainaro plant.]

Bob

 

[cincydave]

Looks like a good plan Bob! That candy roaster squash sounds interesting. Curious what software you use for the garden design. I've been using Excel, which really isn't designed for that but it's what I have. Been looking for a free simple program for garden design. Thanks.

 

[deluxestogie]

Libre Office is a free, comprehensive, open-source office suite, which I have been using extensively (book manuscripts, spreadsheets, etc.) for a number of years. It is totally compatible with all the applications of the Microsoft Office Suite. I use the Libre Office Draw to layout my garden.

Bob

 

[cincydave]

Thanks, I'll take a look at that.

 

[deluxestogie]

Activities for a Beautiful Day

The sky, reflected in the window, is light blue, with scattered puffy clouds. My cigar has long since gone out. I am enjoying the vexatious task of transferring a long spreadsheet page onto three consecutive pages of a Word document, while keeping the floating column headers on each page, all rotated 90° and equally resized, then creating a caption that contains rotated text. Touchpad. No mouse.

Epilog: While making this post, I can affirm that I have succeeded at the above gymnastics, and have happily re-lit my cigar.

Bob

 

[mbatini]

Activities for a Beautiful Day

The sky, reflected in the window, is light blue, with scattered puffy clouds. My cigar has long since gone out. I am enjoying the vexatious task of transferring a long spreadsheet page onto three consecutive pages of a Word document, while keeping the floating column headers on each page, all rotated 90° and equally resized, then creating a caption that contains rotated text. Touchpad. No mouse.

Epilog: While making this post, I can affirm that I have succeeded at the above gymnastics, and have happily re-lit my cigar.

Bob

Great work ongoing there Bob! I think you could apply for a layout-&-colour-code specialist in my Company. Sadly ... smoking is not permitted. Have a great time.

Mauro

 

[deluxestogie]

could apply for a layout-&-colour-code specialist in my Company.

Does it pay better than rolling cigars in Honduras?

 

[mbatini]

Surely we can help you write a great Candidate Review and Presentation, but for the salary ... maybe you can find more satisfactory to roll cigars in Blacksburg !!!! You know, those US-based megacompany, only focused on profit, nahhh.

I vote for you having a strong commitment to enhance and grow a website, helping ppl and giving hints. Sometimes rolling.

Bye, Mauro

 

[deluxestogie]

I ate lunch today out on my porch, expecting a final post-prandial cigar, before winter arrives tomorrow. But, alas, while I was eating my sandwich, the forecast high for today got cancelled. They just do that. Not even 15 minutes of advanced warning. So no cigar for me. Now, they're expecting snow overnight.

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!"
[Robert Burns: 1786]

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

We are currently in the mother nature is bipolar time of year. For the last few days we needed ac!

 

[deluxestogie]

Our snowfall has ended. With several inches of wet snow covering my car, and the anticipated overnight temps dropping to 13°F, I trudged over to the car with a broom, to remove the snow before it froze.

When I came back inside, I was a bit wheezy, and my toes were chilled. I put some water on the stove, and went to the pantry for an envelope of instant cocoa mix. There were none. Only a container of 100% baking cocoa. A heaping tablespoon of cocoa was dissolved (actually suspended) in boiling water. I added a few drops of vanilla, and a small fistful of stuck-together mini marshmallows. To this I added some milk. (The timid can add table sugar.)

Potent stuff! My toes promptly warmed. My wheezing vanished. (I had forgotten about the theobromine in cocoa. Kind of like a good puff of albuterol.) My car is now clean, the frozen-shut doors liberated, and (as part of the process of simply getting to my car) my porch steps are swept and salted. Now all that stands between me and driving tomorrow is the huge lake blocking my driveway--soon to be a solid sheet of ice.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Just because it is frozen doesnt mean you arent walking on water!

 

[Radagast]

Time to sharpen the skates

 

[deluxestogie]

Skating sounds like a great idea, but I don't have a blade for the tip of my walking cane.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Before I began laying out my garden plans with Libre Office, I used hardware instead of software:

Making changes was more difficult.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

View from my study this morning.

This morning is a beautiful, clear day. Not a cloud in sight. No breeze. The temperature is 8°F outside; 68°F in my study. So long as electricity magically arrives at my home, I find it difficult to recall the life and death implications of common, winter weather. For the moment, I will simply accept its visual loveliness.

Also on the subject of reliable infrastructure:
The latest email that I received from my brother, who is currently traveling with his wife from Virginia to Hawaii, included the phrase, "archeological dig", and possibly visiting Prescott tomorrow. I suppose flexibility is in itself beneficial.

View from my brother's airline journey.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Looks more like Texas than Hawaii to me

 

[deluxestogie]

They began their "flight" on 6 JAN, and are "scheduled" to depart Phoenix maybe tomorrow (9 JAN).

Bob