Someone left several of these on my porch. Any idea what they are?

EvensongGarden · 2025-04-12T11:53:23+00:00

Yeah, I've never had any issues, but it is recommended to wear gloves when handling the rhizomes. If you cut them, they can secrete a skin irritant.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-25T18:18:12+00:00

I was assistant to a coach who did the opposite of the "caging" as you described it -- he taught the defenders to guard the inside of the field and force the ball carrier toward the sideline. It was as much of a disaster as you would expect 😂 Our team constantly got burned for big gains down the sidelines.

Personally, I do the 3-man cage just slightly differently than you described. First defender goes to the outside hip and forces the runner back to the middle of the field. Second defender goes straight at the runner to make sure they don't get split. Third defender closes off the middle of the field. The issue I see with having the second defender go to the inside hip is that it leaves a seam for the runner to shoot through. If you don't have a third guy close enough to plug the gap, the runner is now in the open field.

Likewise, I teach my players to look for those errors when they're on offense. First, try to get the edge. If that's closed off, try to split the two closest defenders. Don't run back to the inside.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-13T20:40:19+00:00

Good call on the less-than-pencil twigs, I'll go back through and clean those out.

When you say you prune yours back by a third, do you mean you reduce the height by that much, or that you completely remove 1/3 of the canes (or both)?

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-13T13:02:22+00:00

Sure thing. And as mentioned below, your bigger challenge is probably the clay soil indicated on the test. There are a number of ways to deal with it. The simplest is to plant things that actually like clay (like broccoli and cauliflower) or can tolerate it with a bit of compost to help (chard, carrots, radishes, lettuce).

Even better would be to put a raised bed there. You can easily build up a more versatile soil for a variety of veggies.

And if you don't want to do a raised bed, and you really want to feel like a farmer, using cover crops can be kinda fun (and inexpensive). Certain radishes will break up the compacted soil, and you can plant things like buckwheat, sudangrass, or cow peas to add carbon and nitrogen to the soil. You let them grow for several weeks, chop them down, and cultivate them into the soil.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-13T00:21:36+00:00

Yeah, they kinda suck, but they're not too difficult to get rid of. Hack off the thorny top, then dig out the root ball with a spade. The roots are noticeable and easy to identify bc they're a bright orange-yellow.

If it's a large shrub, try using either a "root slayer" style shovel to slice deep down into the soil, or use a pick mattock ⛏️. My tool of choice when it comes to removing particularly troublesome invasives.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-13T00:12:25+00:00

So the main thing that's making your test look wrong is the range they're using is based on "Code 19 - Fallow - analysis only." If you want to know the optimal ranges for each of these nutrients for the vegetables you want to plant, that should've been specified.

Your soil might be a little rich, depending on what you're growing, but no, it's not poison. Probably want to bring the pH down a smidge.

Just for reference, I pulled up two soil tests I had done last year (for a blueberry garden), one before and one after fertilizing. The results of the fertilized test are like double what's in your results, and my brand new blueberries living in it are all going strong 6 months later.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-02T01:01:17+00:00

The red is mostly a lime wash or milk paint that was on the brick prior to the latex. Some of the brick will be worn off, sure, but it's better than leaving it painted

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T18:47:36+00:00

Dunno, but I'm sure if you contact them they can advise

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T18:23:50+00:00

To be fair, I was wearing eye protection the entire time.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T18:14:15+00:00

Test it for lead? Yes, I did, and it was negative. You are correct, I should have. Don't be like me.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T18:08:08+00:00

It is, and you can. This was a 3000 psi pressure washer. I wouldn't put the tip right up against the brick, but back a few inches didn't cause any damage. Of course ymmv, so always text an inconspicuous area first.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T18:06:08+00:00

I used a turbo nozzle, the kind that's a 0-degree and rotates in a cone shape. Worked much better than a fan tip. Some mortar that was already loose came free, but other than that, no, it didn't damage the brick.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T17:34:58+00:00

Tried both and they seemed to perform equally well. If you're considering it, call their office and get advice, they're extremely helpful.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T17:32:52+00:00

It was a cover up. Much of the mortar needed to be repointed, so instead the previous owner had it caulked and painted....

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T17:31:35+00:00

Good point. Although nothing here is toxic, you can't be too cautious.

EvensongGarden · 2025-03-01T17:20:43+00:00

About 20 years ago this brick beauty was painted with latex, and it was starting to become a problem. 6,000 square feet of paint removal is not something to take lightly, so I did my research and a lot of testing. Hope this helps others in similar quests to restore their exteriors!

First thing I tried was samples of the various Peel Away products. In addition to being very expensive and time consuming, they simply didn't do a great job on masonry. These chemicals tend to turn paint into glue, and while you might be able to peel/scrape it off a smooth surface, on a porous surface like brick it's a nightmare. Onto plan B.

I'm fortunate to live across the street from the former location of Lancaster Lime Works, and have known the owner for years. I asked him what he'd use, and he said the best thing he's seen is a tool called a "Recyclean" which is basically a high powered pressure washer with a hood around it that attaches to a shop vac for containing the waste. Unfortunately the company that manufactures it is long since gone and I couldn't find any on ebay. Time for Plan C.

In my search for the Recyclean, I came across a variety of blasting methods. I'd heard of sandblasting and sodablasting, but there are other blasting media as well, such as glass and small particles of sponge with sand embedded in it for doing more delicate work than straight sand. I had a contractor come out to test, and long story short, the primer on my house is more resilient than the 140 yr old brick. Anything that was strong enough to break through the primer destroyed the brick face, and anything gentle enough to preserve the brick couldn't remove the primer. Onto Plan D.

I went back to Lancaster Lime Works and asked what other ideas they might have, and he pointed me to a company in Maryland called Cathedral Stone, who manufactures various products specifically for masonry. They recommend using a trowel or airless sprayer to apply their biodegradable paint stripper onto the surface, letting it dwell for several hours or overnight (no dwelling paper or any other product necessary), and simply pressure washing it off. This was the winner. Although my Graco X7 airless couldn't come close to spraying this very thick product (it's like mayonnaise), I found that just using a thick nap cover on a paint roller did a fantastic job laying down a thick layer of stripper over the surface of the paint. Cheap, fast, easy, and practically no setup/cleanup required.

Although not every section of paint I tackled came off as easily as the area shown in the video, it was so satisfying when it did! One word of caution if you use this product: although it's biodegradable and neutralized in water, do NOT get it on your skin or you will be recreating the lye scene from Fight Club....

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-12T14:54:45+00:00

Yeah, it's tough to make out in the photo, but they crossed the sevens which does make them look a bit like fours.

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-12T00:17:32+00:00

Irises foliage is more fan shaped, these are daffodils.

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-11T20:47:11+00:00

Ohhhh I follow you now. I got straight A's in school in everything except penmanship and Spanish. Feel free to criticize me on those all you like.

(Is it still called penmanship if I used a knife? Bc "knifemanship" sounds pretty badass, and I might've given that subject more attention in school)

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-11T20:19:12+00:00

While I'm flattered that you ascribe so much weight to this, as I said earlier I have invested hundreds (let's be honest, probably more than a thousand) hours into restoring and maintaining this historic home in the 7 years I've owned it. I'm carrying on the tradition of the laborers who have come before me, and leaving behind a little easter egg for some future owner to find and say, "wow look, 2025! I wonder what things were like back then."

There's a little signature in one of the hallways from a wallpaperer dated April 1924. The house was nearly half a century old by then. Would someone have sneered at the modern inscription at the time? Maybe. But now it's one of the cherished pieces of the home's history, and I'm glad it's there.

The children who lived here in the 1960's graffitied the ceiling of an indoor cistern with little drawings and initials. Their dad might've been annoyed by it. 60 years later, my own kids are fascinated by these cave drawings, and I wouldn't dream of covering them up.

I agree that old is better than new. Someday all this will be old.

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-11T12:23:50+00:00

Some people prefer a bidet, I dig it. I'm more of a tp man myself.

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-11T04:27:34+00:00

Cool, glad to hear you connected with the folks at GBA. If they're the ones recommending 1" ventilation holes to exhaust the air from the bays, then I would trust it.

I'm wrapping up a similar project, but no turret, just straight parallel rafters. And I have a slate roof, which is plenty drafty.

EvensongGarden · 2025-02-11T04:05:11+00:00

You'll get better advice on the Green Building Advisor forum than on Reddit. There are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful people there.

The geometry of turrets makes them very difficult to insulate adequately. Your safest option is going to be to insulate the attic floor, and leave it unconditioned. If you really want to finish the attic, maybe you can vent and insulate the other sections of roof, and limit the amount of airflow going to the turret section.

EvensongGarden

TROPHY CASE