We misjudged you!

Here we thought it was just an old, crochety grapefruit tree (among 3 grapefruit trees on the property) that might not live out the year. We pruned it back hard and almost cut it down.

Really, we were standing around holding large chopping/cutting implements after pruning off three-quarters of the tree. The topic of just putting the tree out of its misery was brought up and seriously considered. But we held off, deciding that we may as well see how good the grapefruits were before taking the tree out.

Then today, I took a close look at the fruits. Do I detect a hint of orange!?

I propose a toast: To experiments

The Grow Lab started by the county's Master Gardeners has a circular herb garden (PDF page 2) built out of wine bottles. When I first saw it, I thought, "Wow, I want to do that someday. Good thing I drink a lot of wine."

You'd use wine bottles as a border for a number of reasons. Long wine bottles are a good height for raised beds, and raised beds are helpful with drainage and keeping the soil warm. Bottles don't decay or wear down. Bottles are sturdy and pretty. And, also, why the heck not?

Fast forward a couple years, and I still had the inclination, finally had secured the location, but didn't have enough of the bottles for the experimentation.

I put the word out to local friends (like Leslie at Tea with Iris) that I needed their help collecting wine bottles, plus I went by a wine bistro and asked them to save a few cases for me. Soon after I had enough bottles to start my project. 

 

With the first batch of bottles, I scrubbed off the labels with soap, water and steel wool.







It took a long time.

  

I inserted the bottles neck-down into soil that I had softened up with a shovel. 

To keep the bottles in a straight line while I planted them, I used long 2-by-4s left over from a previous project.

Then I piled up soil and mulch on the outside and put my best compost and soil on the inside. The interior level is about 4 inches higher than the exterior level. 

With the second batch of bottles, I didn't take off the labels. I know, lazy.

This is also a beneficial bug experiment. To draw out the good guys, I planted sweet alyssum, lobelia, pansy, borage, viola, calendula and chamomile, plus 3 sages, 2 basils, parsley and a thyme. Here you can see a purple sage (outside) and the top of a purple sweet alyssum (inside).

Oh yeah, almost forgot! I've also got three tomatoes, brussels sprouts, pak choi and red & white onions growing. Really cannot wait to see how the colors explode here. So far everything looks super healthy.

If there is any hint of frost, I'll cover the whole thing with a large sheet/blanket using the tomato cages. (I was going to make those circular tomato houses out of chicken wire this year, but instead decided to save money and use what I have.)

So do you think it looks better with or without labels?

Somewhat back on track

Doing laundry today, and though it is humid, I will hang what I can to dry outside.

The borax/baking soda mixture in the dishwasher started not working anymore--there was a film on everything. It was wonderful for a couple weeks, and I was prepared to never buy dishwasher soap again. But it began creating a buildup on glasses and wasn't cleaning anymore. In the future I will use it in a pinch (like for a few days when my soap runs out). It may be best just to clean and freshen up the dishwasher every month or so. My current experiment with that is to use a cup of vinegar in the dishwasher and see if it cuts through the film. Stay tuned ...

So that diaper experiment ... when I am prepared to write about it, I will. As of this posting, I am still in the weeds with it.

My laundry, the volcano experiment

So I had my fun with vinegar and now it is under my kitchen sink, ready to be employed at a moment's notice.

But, my God, there is another? Another super-cleaner that has been sitting in my cabinet for years, used only to make cookies or in my fridge to deodorize?

Once again strolling in Costco, I saw the 13.5-lb. bag of baking soda and couldn't resist buying it for $4.99. Fresh from my acidic cleaning experiments with vinegar, I was ready to go basic.

(Full disclosure. I'd actually just used up my cooking-size can of baking soda for two different projects: cleaning silver over the holidays and creating a rocket out of a plastic milk jug for my son. Neither project turned out well. The silver did not become shiny; I was left with a large metal pot filled with soggy tin foil and hot, tarnished silver. Regarding the rocket, let's just say that experiment ended with Owen and I cowering in the house while we waited for a milk jug to explode. Maybe I'll explain more about these at a later date. But I digress, even though the rocket project has some bearing on the laundry volcano.)

We just put our house on the market, and we had an open house coming up. As an experiment, I wanted to clean using baking soda throughout the house.

Tile grout: I poured a half-cup of baking soda in a small bowl filled with water, then used it on an grout-scrubbing brush to scrub the grout between the tiles of my kitchen floor, which had become dark-grayish. This seemed to work well; it turned a brilliant white. But then when it dried, I saw that it was just a film of baking soda. My husband thought it looked bad. Using a sponge mop and bucket of water, I tried to rinse it all off. I believe the abrasiveness of the baking soda somewhat cleaned the grout to a lighter shade of gray. Could have just been the grout-scrubbing brush and my elbow grease though. Grade: C+

Cleaning counters: I sprinkled some baking soda on a wet sponge and wiped down kitchen and bathroom counters. Seemed to work OK and rinsed off cleanly. It got a little in the kitchen's tile counter grout, but I followed up quick with a clean, wet sponge and we were in business. Grade: B


Carpet and diaper pail freshener: One of our cats must have gotten stuck in the upstairs walk-in closet. The closet smelled awful, and I found evidence in the far back corner on Scott's side. After cleaning up the mess, I poured tons of baking soda on the area, and the closet smells regular again--like old clothes. And the diaper pail, probably the most disgusting thing in our house, it too was freshened by judicious baking-soda sprinkling. Forget Febreze or Lysol! Grade: A

Cleaning stove burners: This didn't work. I'm always searching for new ways to clean the black stuff off the little pans that hold the stove burners. I soaked the burners in the sink with a half cup of baking soda, then scrubbed them really hard. No good. Only steel wool works on those guys. Grade: D

Laundry: Apparently, baking soda helps the detergent to clean clothes better? Something having to do with the pH. Now, my friend had suggested using vinegar in laundry after my vinegar blogpost, and I've been doing it pretty regularly since then. (Vinegar in the rinse cycle helps reduce the buildup of detergent on clothes, working as a fabric softener.) And, silly me, forgetting all chemistry classes and past experience, I dumped a half cup of baking soda in a load of whites, then put in the detergent in the soap hole and slopped some vinegar into the fabric softener area. Of course, as I twisted the knob to turn on the washer, I realized immediately what I had done. Ever made a "volcano" as a science experiment? Ever set off a baking soda/vinegar rocket? Who knows what even happened in there, whether there was some sort of fizzle or the lid came just shy of exploding off or what. The laundry seemed soft afterward. Grade: B

Spit and vinegar

At Costco a few weeks ago I bought a 5-liter (1.32-gallon) bottle of white vinegar. It cost a little over $3. The thing is huge. It was on my kitchen counter for a while as I considered how I would use it.


Apparently, using vinegar is a green way to clean. According to both new (Internet) and old (my mom) wives' tales, when diluted in varying strengths, its acidity breaks up soap scum and stains in the kitchen and bathroom and it spitshines windows and mirrors.


My question: If something works this well and is so cheap, why do we have Tilex, Comet, Windex and other foul-smelling, chemical-filled, expensive cleaners?

Test No. 1: Mirrors. I filled half a large measuring cup with vinegar and then topped off the rest with water. It didn't smell too badly. In my toddler's room I dipped a clean old diaper cloth into the mixture and wiped down his mirrored closet doors. They were filthy, covered with fingerprints. Using a clean newspaper, I made circular motions to dry off the vinegar solution on the mirrors. It worked very well, just as good as--if not better than--Windex. The mirrors dried super-clean, no streaks. Grade: A-

Test No. 2: Windows. Feeling good after the mirrors, I moved on to the kitchen window that always gets hard water stains on the outside and on the inside still had some specks of a shade material I had scratched off last year. Using the same measuring cup solution, I cleaned the outside and dried with the newspaper. All the hard water stains came off with a little elbow grease. Inside, the vinegar was able to dissolve whatever stickiness the specks had left. They all came off. I got anal and saw I could do better outside, so I cleaned it again. Now the sunniest window in my house was sparkling. Grade: A

Test No. 3: Toilet. I was on a roll, cleaning, so I headed to the bathroom. The measuring cup solution was all gone. I poured straight vinegar into the toilet bowl, let it sit a bit, then whisked around with the brush. Some hard water stains came off and the vinegar must have been dissolving something in there because the water looked very dirty. After I flushed, I thought it looked good, but I'll have to get used to no scrubbing bubbles or flower-fresh smell. Grade: B+

Test No. 4: Bathtub. There was a strange red line of something on the edge of the tub where it met the tile. But I eschewed the toxic Tilex Atomic Mold Destroyer spray I own and just poured straight vinegar on the stain. Using a brush, I scrubbed the red right off. Then I used more vinegar and the brush to scrub the rest of the tub very shiny, including soap scum stains off the chrome fixtures. And I did not faint from the fumes, nor need to have an open window, as I would have with Tilex. Grade: A

Approximately 3 cups of vinegar was used, probably about 25 cents worth. I can do this vinegar thing. (But, help! Now what should I do with all those chemical cleaners filling my under-sink cabinets?)