I’ve been on hiatus this month until now, but I’m totally going to get some work done this weekend. Anyone who wants to help should do so. This is what we need to get done:

1. Pull out those poor dead squash plants. Kill the fungus-infected leaves with fire.
2. Cardboard and mulch a larger part of the garden. (Operation is cardboard-limited.)
3. Then compost and plant all of that new area. I’ll bring the seed beans when I come, maybe grab some extras from the Kentucky Wonders if we’ve got extra.
4. Remove the impenetrable arugula forest that has taken over the wall bed, saving seed if possible. That will also enable us to take a look at the beans and see if anything needs to be done there.
5. Shear the garlic (this helps the bulbs develop). I’ll take the scapes home, but if anyone else wants some they’re welcome to ‘em. I’m sure there will be plenty.
6. Take a picture of that weird little nightshade with the tiny purple berries. Maybe someone can figure out what the hell it is.

Again, anybody’s welcome to come out and help. I’ll be there either Saturday or Sunday, but you don’t need me there to get work done.

I talked to them, they’re willing to grant us a refund if we simply refuse delivery of all packages. Talked to Mario in central receiving, and sent him an email with the 21 tracking numbers to refuse. To date, 20/21 of the numbers have been refused, the last hasn’t come yet.

We shall see if Park’s is good on their word and doesn’t pull any crap like making me pay for shipping or some kind of restock fee, but it looks like we’re getting a refund for the bulk of it.

UPDATE [2008-07-10] After initial delivery was refused, Fedex kept trying and eventually Shipping and Receiving let the order through. I’ve asked Eric to go talk to S & R and ask them to return to sender, if he’s too busy I’ll find someone else to (it’s best if it’s him since the packages are addressed to him). If this fails, I think it may be time to talk to Tom. I have no use for an additional 20 tomato cages and 8 packages of trellis netting; and we were counting on that $377.

So I get this email this morning:

Turns out they were wrong — it was 25 packages But yeah - we have our 20 Tomato Towers (boxes in a pile near the garden), 10 compost buckets (will probably distribute tomorrow), and 3 Bio-Orbs.  The orbs are pretty awesome - they apparently want to be kept in a warm, sunny place for 24-48 hours before assembly to recover their roundness from shipping, so they’re sitting happily on the north side of Dabney courtyard.

To prevent headlines like this in the Tech, I am posting our budget for the world to see. Please do not buy anything for the garden without talking to me first if you expect reimbursement.

I will be fighting the double charge from Park’s, and have sent them an email.

Al “feels guilty writing himself large checks” ex