Garden Update

Well, finally my tomatoes ripened. I guess because the weather finally became consistently hot around here. I actually had staggered their planting times so that I could maybe have the tomatoes ripen at different times, but the weather foiled me and all are now ready to be eaten.

Mortgage Nuisance

I found out a couple of weeks ago that my mortgage servicer had been raided by the governemnt and immediately ceased all operations. I only found out about this when I logged into my mortgage account and read a cryptic posting there. I saw no mention of this elsewhere, and this compnay was the twelfth largest servicer in the country.

Finally, yesterday the company released info about what their current mortgage-holders should do with their upcoming payments. Undoubtedly, many of their customers know nothing about this change, and will send their payments to the wrong address, or not have their payment electronically drafted. Let's hope the new servicers do the right thing with waiving late fees.

Automatic Gates

When I had my fence installed, the company installed a gate that had a pretty flimsy latching mechanism. In the past couple of years, I’ve thought about replacing it. I looked into the usual manual types. In my searches, I discovered something I never knew existed: automatic gates.

Gate openers are what they sound to be: mechanisms that will open the gate via sensor or remote or button. Prices vary depending on what you’re looking to get. A decent gate operator won’t kill your budget, though it may cost more than you had planned to spend, since most undoubtedly did not plan on getting an automatic gate. But if you’re someone who has difficulty opening the gate due to age, disability, or just because you do so much traversing through that area, an automatic gate should be something to consider.

Will a device like this make your home more attractive to potential buyers? I look at it as a nicety, almost like a pool. To some people, a pool is a necessity. To others, it’s nothing but a nuisance. If this is something that makes your life easier, it should get your consideration. A potential buyer being impressed by the automatic gate might be a welcome byproduct.

As with any installation, make sure you feel confident in your skills if you plan on installing it yourself. If you want someone to install it for you, make sure they are familiar with this type of product. I assume most well-established fence contractors will have some experience with this type of mechanism, but call around to find the one that seems to be the most knowledgeable. You might also want to take a walk around your neighborhood and be on the lookout for gate openers. This way not only can you see how they look, but you could also ask the homeowner for a demonstration and reference.

My Sad Garden

Last year, my garden grew very well. The only thing that didn't go well was that animals were able to crawl underneath by wire fence and get to the tomatoes. This year I outfoxed them by securing the fence into the ground with metal stakes.

However, this year's crop has been puny compared to last year's. I planted pretty much the same things, changing the placement of a couple plants to better maximize sun time. Here's a rundown:

• basil- i planted the seeds as I did last year, but nothing came up. I ended up buying small plants which grew very well
• toamtoes- i bought small plants like last year. All three grew and developed tomatoes, but only one of them is producing ripe product. The other two have had a couple of ripe ones, but it's as if something went wrong and their development stopped
• cucumber- grew better than last year's, but suddenly died. It looked as if it was done producing, though, so maybe that is supposed to happen?
• pepper- died before producing
• lettuce- another good early showing which yielded a few salads. But, most of it is now dead
• squash- the plants are growing well, yet there is nothing to harvest!
• eggplant- looks in good shape so far

I prepared the soil before planting, even using my own compost. The only reason I can figure things went wacky is because of the weather we had here. Very few hot days and a lot of rain, and also a lot of days with threats of rain. I think they may have gotten too much water at times, and then not enough when I thought it was going to rain.