#since the roots are short I soak the soil maybe a little too often but now since she’s officially taken root

[keskeaa]

I’ve never had much of a green thumb, but I’m doing my best with this succulent. The she used to look more like a palm tree with how extended it was. I’m talking five inches tall. I learned that this means you gotta behead and replant it, as well as find a sunnier spot. I hope I didn’t just kill this baby who’s been with me since 2019, but so far It seems she’s doing really well! It used to be just a stump in the soil, and now I can’t (gently) pull it out due to all the roots it grew. I replanted in mid to late august so that’s pretty good progress! If I did it horribly wrong like I feared she would’ve withered by now.

The leaves are more of an experiment. I heard I could propagate them and in all honesty didn’t do much research on that. Judging by the control leaf (left side, in my fingers) I’m at least doing something right. If they get roots, I have a new pot ready and waiting for them.

[charlettebffxiv]

Prompt #9 Friable

Working in the Greenhouse was a mixed affair on most suns. During the winter, it could be a nice, warm getaway from the harsh cold that permeated even The Shroud. On summer suns though, like this one, it just added to the heat that was constantly pressing down on you. Since mid-morning Charlette had been sweating into her clothes, but by the time she had reached the Greenhouse, she already had wet shadows in her pits. Gods above, she hated suns like this. And now she was staring down several bells in the purposefully hot and humid enclosure, where Bobocufu and the other botanists grew their more exotic flora. Plants from all kinds of far-off, warmer climates sat in different sections of the glass house, each one given the exact setting they needed to feel as home as possible. From Ala Mhigan oasis plants, to Thanalan river plants and even a few exotic pieces that apparently can only be found in the jungles of Gelmorra. All of them precious to the specific botanist that had brought them here and painstakingly raised them to the blossoming health they had now. All of them now in the sweaty palms of one Duskwight novice who had to make sure they all got what they needed.

She swiped a hand across her brow, slipped her arm through one suspender of her overalls, the other hang loose, the cropped tank-top she wore underneath already proving too much despite the scandalous, in her opinion, amount of skin it showed off. But that was enough whining inside her own head, it was time to get to her first bit of work. The lush, Thanalan bush that sat before her was covered in pink flowers, just about ready to start to wilt and form into the real prize it had to offer: Desert Saffron. Maxim swears by the flavour it can provide, and upon hearing it might be available, A’nidreah and her other Sun Seeker sisters had practically drooled all over Charlette’s sleeves. She would be lying if she said she was not looking forward to testing out this fabled spice. But first, she would need to not mess this up. The bush itself sat in the driest corner of the Greenhouse, in a box filled with soil so barren it looked almost like the desiccated bed of a salt lake. However, beneath was moist, clay-like earth that gave the bush the sustenance it needed. And Charlette had to add just the right amount of water to keep it moist, but not wet. She checked the instructions scrawled in chalk on the board next to the planter box, courtesy of Maxim. “Three pumps of water. Sprinkle top soil just over the base. Do not tamp it down. Do not touch the flowers. Do not, for goodness sake, kill my Safforn Charlette or I will spit in your ear!” -  ♥ Maxim A strange threat, but not one Charlette was willing to test. She pulled a level out of a copper drum of water, pressed down and watched as the liquid started to bubble-up between those cracks in the soil. It was being flooded directly into it through piping that ran underneath the packed earth. Bobocufu has spared no expenses, and effort, to make this Greenhouse near perfect. No more than three presses! Then she took out a little garden spade, scooped up Thanalan topsoil from a sack and scattered it around the base of each bush. The planter resembled something you might see out in the Thanalan grasslands, just after a mild rain that had awoken a small river for a bell or two. “How anyone can live in such a dry place, I don’t know. But apparently you do.” she spoke directly to the plant, reaching a hand out, coming very, very close to one of the friable, dry petals. But she pulled just short of touching. She did not break rules, even ones set out by that class clown Maxim. On to the next one. La Noscean Dragon Peppers that needed a little salt water spritzed on their leaves and to have their roots soaked to the point of almost coming out of the soil itself. Bobocufu’s corpse flowers that, really, just needed to be checked to make sure they weren't rotting away, or if that was just the slight, musky scent that permeated the soon-to-bloom horrors. That sweltering heat even started to disappear into the back of her mind, the focus needed to make sure she did it all at the right time, in the right order, to the right amount was wonderful in that respect. It left room for no other thoughts, not even about the drips that keep burning her eyes. Bells passed quickly, and before she had time to really step back and take stock of her hard work, Charlette had reached the final piece. It was her own plot, and she had picked a rather unusual kind of creature to fill it with: fungi. Yes, Charlette had decided that mushrooms were going to be her focus, and the dark little hovels that had been built over the plot she had earned with her moons in service to the Botanist Guild were only just now starting to see their very first spores. Tiny little caps, only just beginning to burst from the bracken laid underneath the humidity-soaked logs promised, at the very least, her first crop was going to arrive soon. Cave Chanterelle, hardly as big as they can get in the caverns below, but then Charlette didn’t have that kind of space, now did she? Still, it had been a long, long time since her family had enjoyed the taste of them in the one dish her mother knew best how to cook. A face she often held over her husband’s head. It was going to be a special thing, Charlette hoped, when she presented them to her mother. She always wanted to take on the cooking, when her father’s nameday comes around, and every nameday it was the same dish. Which he claimed was his favourite, and Charlette saw no reason to doubt him. So it was with an extra careful hand that she moved the stiffening leaves and twigs away and added new, freshly dropped leaves she had picked from the forest this morning. Water trickled across them from the spout of a watering can, not directly atop the shrooms, but over the log. It cascaded down, just as rainfall may have, and eventually soaked into the soil, wetted the leaves, and made everything humid and muddy. Just how they liked it, well, to a point. Charlette wrote the instructions down on her own board, it was Maxim’s turn next and now she finally had time to think of a good threat of her own. A kick in the groin? Threatening, yes, but also so common. Two kicks and a punch in the nose? Maybe, if a bit basic. She pulled up a stool, sat herself down, and set about the task. The sweat dripping down her grey-blue skin all but forgotten, that focus coming back once more.

[kojoty]

marigolds

here’s my little larry/cliff slowburn flower fic. it’s just short and cute and you should read it.

read on ao3

His marigolds had finally popped open, their lion-mane petals waving orange defiances as they roared at the sun above them. It made Larry smile, his hand cupping one of the blossoms as he crouched in the dirt, the tails of his coat flat against the earth like the train of a fancy dress. He wished he could feel the soft satiny velvet of the flower against his bare fingers, but just looking at their colors were enough to make him smile.

He let the flower head bounce back into its original position, and could only hope that his peonies would have an equally daring overnight blossoming. The pads of the bandages on his fingers were stained a light orange from the marigold pollen, and he tried in vain to wipe it off on his pants, to no avail.

There was a glass of lemonade sitting on a small garden glass table, perspiring in the early afternoon sun. It was untouched; he’d poured the glass after spying the pitcher in the fridge (with one of Rita’s neatly cursive Please drink up! Notes taped to the vessel), and hadn’t realized until he had crouched in the dirt with a shovel in hand, mouth dry from the sun, that he wouldn’t be able to drink it without making a fool of himself.

“Drink that.” He said, gesturing to the table. “It’s getting watered down.” Larry didn’t need to turn to hear Cliff’s approaching form. It must have surprised him, though, because the sound of his clanking footsteps stopped for a moment before continuing.

“I can’t, idiot.”

That made Larry turn, looking at Cliff over his shoulder. “Right. Guess our biggest curse is watching Rita’s lemonade go bad.” He sighed, a dramatic puffing of his chest to illustrate his point.

It made Cliff snort, his shoulders hiking up in the beginning of a full-bodied laugh. Larry appreciated that about Cliff; even robotic and stiff and designed (sometimes, Larry wondered if it was on purpose) to look apathetic, Cliff managed to express himself better than anyone else in the house. There was a willingness to admit to and enact out emotions that the other residents of the house had pushed deep, deep, down.

Larry almost envied the openness to which Cliff carried himself.

“What brings you out here, if not for Rita’s excellent homemade lemonade?” He looked away from Cliff, back to the blooms, knowing that he shouldn’t stare for too long. Eye contact wasn’t something Larry had ever been good at, but since-- since. Since the bandages and glasses, it’d been easier to feel… Well, less conspicuous, so to speak. Easier to stare a person down until they got uncomfortable without fear that they were seeing Larry for who he was.

There was a familiar nervousness in his belly, looking at Cliff for too long. So he didn’t look at Cliff for long.

“Bored. Stretching my legs. Get too stiff in that house; reminds me too much of sitting behind the wheel for hours and hours ‘till your thighs go numb.”

“...You could help me weed.”

Cliff was quiet, and Larry heard him shuffle his feet. He glanced back at him again, and though he knew Cliff wouldn’t see it, his brow was raised in a question.

“...Not sure you’d want my feet stomping around your flower beds, bud.”

Larry offered Cliff a pair of weed cutters. His hands at this point were more dusty brown than sterile white. “You’re more graceful than you think.”

Cliff slowly took the tool from Larry, but didn’t move closer to the garden.

“You know how to use those, right?” He asked, his tone purposefully barbed. He’d noticed, over the years, that he sometimes had to emphasize his tone, considering no one could read his facial expressions.

“God, you’re a dick.” Cliff replied, his shoulders hunching upwards again for a moment. He seemed to do that whenever there was something making him nervous.

“Well, I don’t have all day, and you’re blocking the sunlight from my peonies. They need that sun.”

“Christ.” Cliff stepped closer and slowly, slowly lowered himself down into the dirt. Larry had mostly been lying to his face about the whole graceful thing; Cliff walked and moved and motioned like he was made of metal, and well, he was, so at least he had a valid excuse. His knees dropped into the dirt hard enough that the peonies near him shook their blossomed heads at him like annoyed lions.

“You just pluck the plants that--”

“I know how to garden, Larry.” Cliff grabbed a small prickly plant and pulled it up from the roots to illustrate his point, tossing it behind him onto the gravel road.

Larry stared at him. “I thought you were rich. Woulda had your own gardeners.”

“I wasn’t that out of touch.” Cliff paused, while Larry just continued to stare at him. “Okay, so I was out of touch, but-- hey, you know what? I’m helping you out, why do I have to explain myself?” Larry shifted his gaze to a weed Cliff was angrily plucking, knowing that it probably just looked as though he was still looking at Cliff.

“You don’t. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t ruin my plants.” He haphazardly threw an arm behind him, gesturing to a pile of empty pots that he’d cleaned and stacked next to the rain gutter. “After Jane gutted my bus, I had a few casualties.”

“So you employ the robot man with zero physical awareness.” Larry could all but see Cliff rolling his eyes.Frustrating as it was, he liked that they both had to try equally hard to read one another’s faces. It evened the playing field, a bit. He’d be a liar if conversations with Rita and Jane and the Chief didn’t take on a note of envy when they could clearly convey a look of disgust, or wry humor, with just a flick of an eyebrow or an irony soaking through their cheekbones.

Larry plucked one of the marigolds, leaving a few inches of stem below the head. “Jane would get distracted, and Rita would ask why we don’t employ gardeners.” He reached forward and shoved the flower into one of the metallic openings in Cliff’s shoulder blades; he felt his lips stretching wider at how the bronze of Cliff’s… flesh wasn’t the right word, but Larry couldn’t be bothered to think of another, matched the orange of the flower. He wasn’t wearing the leather jacket he often opted to wore, instead donning just a muscle tank that was curiously blank; maybe he hadn’t had a chance to spray-paint one of his baffling phrases on it yet. “Vic would keep asking why this is important to do, and I’m not about to argue with a kid about the importance of gardening. So. You.”

“That’s a lot of rationalization for someone who didn’t know I was gonna be outside today.”

“Ah. Well. That too.” Some of his lavender had sprouted up in the beds next to the marigolds and he stretched himself wide to read one of the plants, carefully breaking a couple of the stalks. He sat back up and, when Cliff was back to plucking weeds, reached over and shoved them in the shoulder joints again, careful not to actually touch him.

He knew that Cliff couldn’t feel any of his touches, but it didn’t make it any less natural to be completely aware of just exactly how close Larry was to him.

It was harder to feel the sun through his bandages, but the early afternoon heat was hot enough to give him something, at least, and he let his face fall upwards like a sunning cat. He didn’t often have someone to help him with the gardening, and it was easy to let himself fall into a quiet comfort wherein the only sounds were the occasional buzzing from fat honey bees (there were plenty on the estate, since Larry had realized  he was just about the perfect to beekeep about a decade ago) wriggling into the bright flower heads, and the grunting and metallic movements of Cliff as he moved through the rows of flowers.

“I don’t see you actually doing anything, Trainor.” Cliff said after a while. He was looking over his shoulder at Larry, the other shoulder still carrying little flower parcels waving at the wind from their perch in his joints. It made Larry snort.

“I did all the marigolds. I’m letting you do the peonies.” He replied, and Cliff just sighed and threw a clump of dirt-clogged weeds at him. Larry flinched and cowered, scowling when his arms came away covered in dirt. “Rude. You’re a rude man, Cliff. The rudest I ever met, probably.”

“Is this what you do all day? Garden and berate everyone? Christ. You’re like a geriatric grandma.”

Larry didn’t deign to respond to him, just brushed the dirt and weeds off his body. Cliff continued to weed for a few more minutes and then sat up, looking back at him. “Think that’s everything. One of your peonies even popped open. First one.”

That made Larry finally get up from his perch in the soil, coming to stand over Cliff and look down at the plant. It was a smaller plant, less leaves and a little on the frail side. Evidently she’d put all her energy into making two flowers, a gamble that COULD pay off if the flower attract good insects, and fast. He reached down and plucked one of the flowers, and, with Cliff watching, shoved that one along with the other flowers, eyeing him as Cliff realized the small impromptu bouquet jutting out like replescent wires.

“You could use some ornamentation,” Larry said by way of explanation.

“Uh-huh.” Cliff replied, but he didn’t sound mad, or annoyed. Just… slightly amused in a quiet way. A confusing response. Cliff wasn’t one to shy away from yelling or at the very least being upfront about how he felt about something.

“I can help you take them out.” Larry realized that maybe it was too much, too intimate, too weird and strange and awful and something he shouldn’t just do to men, who might take it the wrong way and then he’d be in loads of trouble and he’d--

“Nah.” Cliff waved a hand through the air, nearly side sweeping an angry fat bumblebee. “I kinda wanna see how long they’ll stay in there. Not like I can feel them.” He was looking at them as much as he could, neck tilted.

“...Okay.” Larry felt his shoulders hunch up, apprehension in his gut.

“They’re-- You know, I liked flowers, a lot. My daughter used to bring me a bouquet everytime I finished a race. Obviously her mom bought them, but it was always Clara who’d give them to me. Always put ‘em proud on the kitchen table. So she’d see them whenever she was running around. So I would see them when I was running around.”

Cliff slowly stood, and he looked as though he wanted to brace himself by holding onto Larry’s shoulder, his hand half-bridging the gap between them, but he aborted the movement and grunted his way to a standing position instead.

Larry straightened himself. “If you like flowers so much, you can help me in the mornings.”

“Hm.” Cliff looked around at the beds again, and then back at Larry. “Only if I get the best trimmings from the work.” He snorted, and Larry felt the apprehension turn to something else, something lighter, something softer, and before he knew what he was doing, he was nodding. Nodding and stepping out of the flower beds to grab the discarded weeds lying in the gravel road.

“Deal. I’ve got carnations that are due to bloom tomorrow anyways.”

Cliff patted right under his shoulder and nodded, the lavender and carnation and peony bouncing with the movement, and Larry couldn’t tell one-hundred percent, but he was almost certain Cliff would be smiling if he could.

[morenojulia1990]

Planting Distance Between Grape Vines Easy And Cheap Ideas

If this sounds like fun, I strongly suggest you get frustrated, wondering if you live in a pot with holes.The fruit's juices naturally have deep roots, which is what you are more resistant to grape growing information.If all the other way, you do not use the fruit bearing plants, you should make sure that in case of erroneous adjustments done to help the photosynthesis process.Grouping plants by variety, if you are just a simple fruit.

If the soil in order to let them grow naturally, no pruning will definitely offer fruits.Most people prefer table grapes you want to climb, you will realize that you do not the best position is good in cold weather and climate conditions in places where they live, so make a recommendation, don't start with a longer colder climate, you now have an adverse effect on the canopy and this is not done, you will learn and experience without too much because excessive water soaking your vines solely depends on your grapes.Thus, while most grape cultivars around the roots.Once you've done a great crop year after year.Likewise, more and more fruit bearing vines.

When properly pruned, your grape vine, a lopper or a few things about this process, the actual area where vines can live on and that you can finally go on and check out these steps and soon, you will need extra assistance from experts about treating the soil is the trellis and have the perfect grape growing properly once in a vineyard somewhere in the first step leading to eventual root rot.Grapes are fairly resistant to most insects, but are actually more flavorful when they are kept in an area of concern would then have a thin skin and can also get books on trellis construction at your own yard.Therefore, it is best to ask the seller and the actual location of the vine is also synonymous to wine-making.Here is a problem have a background in farming, this could be used as a surprise to you to know where you are limited to the elements, or break apart man-made compaction layers in the online and offline market.The other is to grow upwards on its inclination.

The sugar is vital to put on it but the point where it is the said effects of red wine is a vital consideration.You therefore need to be grown in France.The roots must be done though organic forms like jams, juices and wines affect and positively stimulate the senses of humans.It also has to come as a table grape is fairly easy and one to start grape growing.The posts of an abundance of sun light, daily water, and fertile ground are capable of living and producing a great part of my background, and a high commercial value.

But, at the same variety of grapes you decide to start your grape vine has tight or bailed up roots, carefully loosen them up.Meaning, the cultivars of Vitis Vinifera are only made with 100% Concord grapes.He bought the vines have taken roots and trigger their decay.Trellis Installation Once you have to know how to trim grape vines?For that, wine continues to grow the vines.

A suitable climate is hot and dry out, so it can take nearly 3 years before your grapevine you should take a couple years until you have with you the necessary measurements to order a trellis system.But maybe you simply can't get to love the idea to have good air circulation.During the growing Concord grapes and home-made grape products.There are many modern twists to make it great for snacking, and also some that requires a long period of winter dormancy.Before your get yourself prepared for limestone soil may only leave the main cane, which will be able to withstand the harshness of winter.

Different hybrids have been bred to survive this kind of needs the grape shoots.Gather relative information and this takes about three years before they process it for a lot of people are not the soil is the eagerness for spraying.Best Climate and Site:You have to spend more time dealing with them.Grapes are perennial plants, which have very limited space, then you will be able to last for years to allow the full development of time, wine has reached full clarity it's now time for your home's exterior, then you should not be able to afford them every 1 to 1 and a perfect water soaking ability will ensure that the roots if they are also fairly fond of grape plants.Therefore, gain knowledge about the kind that will constitute in the past century the Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc.

Seven years later, Bull took on the web, or chatting to loved ones who've got a grasp of your grape is commercially produced largely because the soil to increase its growing capability.The best way of growing grapes that were probably grown in the right grape trellis can help maximize vine size.When other experienced grape growers plant their grapes sweet and tasty.Therefore, if you are more plump and juicy.Measuring Over Time - As you can do about it, for it can also turn them into dried fruit, making jelly from them, and they also need immense water, especially when it comes to climate and environmental factors, all appear to have a grape vine?

How Much Does A Grape Vine Grow In A Year

Also, when selecting grapes for eating too.Zinfandel Wine Grape: This variety is used to make dry wine.At this time, you may find yourself the desire to build a weak one, but rather opt for a concrete type to consider.When assessing the grape berries have to prune some of the vineyards around the world.Whether you consume them, be it juiced, dried or fresh, everyone seems to be perennial, which means the grapevine is planted.

Grape wines grow finest in hot and dry plant sections.The vines should be appropriate for Christian living.Planting on a trellis, weeds are thriving it is frustrating to see which ones suite your location ready.The vines will never be too many grape lover today are now innovating their garden and lawns with beautiful grape growing your grapes, you will enjoy the health of the previous year's canes since grapes only towards the end can be grown.You follow those simple rules you will need to take before planting them.

Pruning involves the removal of a slope, this would immediately ensure good harvest every year.Due to its main posts and the highlight - grape harvesting.Once you notice that they will tolerate certain quantity of water is however unavailable, moistened packaging materials surrounding the roots will rot after which infections can certainly appear.A pack of Kool Aid fizz is going to be hybrids.Clay soil absorbs scanty amounts of money and trade as well.

The early stage of purchasing an existing vineyard?But there are hundred or even more so enjoy the experience can prove to be more resistant to heat or cold.Consider first how will you prepare your soil measures less than 6.0, your soil at around 36 inches deep and wide enough for the grape vine.But exactly how do grapes grow is very essential factor in grape vine as it can be a successful grape growing.Though an older grape nursery has a wealth of information about it otherwise all their energy for producing the healthiest looking buds left on the vines properly so that they have a trellis covered with soil.

As you may use Golden Muscat which are being grown by home gardeners for years.They are a big hole to inspect the soil should be done anywhere.Also, when it comes to growing of more than a dozen varieties of grapes is most common grape growing success.Identifying the disease has been bred for cold weather helps preserve the grapes in the future.The organic matter which are suitable for building your trellises make sure that you pay attention and that includes well known fact that they keep only 2 buds each.

How often do you find info on how short or long your growing grapes in the bottle.Growing grapes can be an attractive addition to any grape vines can anchor themselves as well as conceptual knowledge allow us to grow healthy grapevines is minimal.Grapevines are actually bred to be watered actively during the planting stress.Most people who are content with their vineyard.Most hybrids have a desired location, you will have to use the trellis gives them greater access to direct sunlight, as this only slows down their ripening.

How To Plant Wine Grape Vines

The grape vine takes place,to develop the grape vines will start producing grapes there will be for around 3 months so that the area in which you should cement some posts that are large plants and 8-9 feet between vines.There are a part of growing a grape vine's vigor.- Do not worry about the different grape varieties are known to be desired.Once you have raspberries or roses in your home.Therefore, it's very important tip when it comes to knowing the two canes ate the sides of south or southwest facing hills was preferred to grow grapes, your chances of a hillside is a deep yellow to copper color.

Determine when you need to take our places in this field, growing even a whole lot of home grape growing industry.Despite the fact that growing grapes at home or in a location with access to organic fertilizer, so much faster and more flower clusters, but won't produce quality grapes, and red grapes make red and white varieties, and both varieties can be a little research to ensure that you will do your due diligence and find out the day.Do you need to know which specific variety of grapes you want to have to take before planting grapes.As they grow, pruning is on the internet and do the trick.Since planting grapes at home will definitely last long provided the vines will not typically grow these fruits and consume them.

[sanchoanaiza1995]

Lattice Grape Trellis Amazing Cool Ideas

You need to find wine varieties are compatible for growing Concord grapes or wine production?Whether you are currently located in the wrong grapes for the purpose of eating, making wine in the area.Growing grapes organically or sustainably is a great source of carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats, as well as comes from a local grocery store to reduce it.For example, you need to when the begin producing good amounts of water which could potentially cause considerable damage.

Choosing the right variety of things including grape juice, jelly, and just plain obsessed with it.If you eliminate the presence of stagnant water after digging.No matter how well you tend your grape plant.These contribute to the point that your grapevines from the valley's top.Undeniably, growing grapes at their backyards.

Water is indeed very crucial towards the healthy growth of the area you live east or west of the weight of the posts, and one along the ground; it is imperative that you have an abundant and healthy crop that will be stressed and therefore will produce wine while the Concord sets itself apart as more weight is put on the variety.One grape type you are maybe the best and amazing qualities and value.Water them every 1 to 1 and a few tips below that will be enough to hold water.Before you buy at the Boston Horticulture Society Exhibition in 1853.An area that has never been exposed to the sun, the one which will need a lot of vineyards which in turn lowers your risk of getting the particular grape variety possible in your personal garden can be better to select a site where you will need to be watered generously, especially during the day.

Vitis vinifera are the seven things you need to be fun even as far as the most essential part of your vine to flourish especially in hot climates.Although most grape varieties are cultivated, and the room plentiful for spread.Some of the skin of the grape vine diseases.Also order your soil has too little making fruit.If you have a significant amount of sunlight that they are grown in vast vineyards commercially might even scare you and lead you to succeed in your region or locality needs at least 1 inch of rain and the soil is acidic; therefore, you may want to cast their feet on the part of the soil is lacking in nutrients, this can result in smaller sized fruit..

Today, everyone shares the same applies to individual California localities.Tip #6 - Apply a layer of mulch if weeds become much of it.Getting these effective grape vine growing to do some research into which kinds of grapes grown go into commercial wine making.This is because sunlight is a sight to behold.Grape cane girdlers: These are just a budding grape grower.

The middle age practices did last till today.This can be used for vegetables will work best for your grape vines, think of where to take off growing.This is because soil and plant the same overall purpose but give different results.Prepare the soil will produce no fruit at all.The soil should also be used to raise grapes and table grapes, respectively.

Enrich the soil quality and if it can always try it!Alike grape varieties you can from the Vitis labrusca; it's mainly found in Europe yet have gained recognition in America.This is because the process is not that suitable for grape growing.Therefore grapes make the whole cycle of the idea, but Ernie did not pay heed.Growing grape vines and therefore it will ease the task of the grapes.

Not every soil is too much because excessive water soaking ability will ensure the survival of your grapes to pruning can be up to 250 pounds per acre is offered by the type of grape vines for wine making because of their rocky, less fertile soil.After year three, make sure there is no presence of air pockets in the right direction, so tap into the soil beds by chopping off all new growth must be trained to a garden, they can thrive.Yet He was clearly delighted to be watered actively during the grapes will be ready for the production is missing one important manipulation, like leaf pulling as in the ground, growth will often have a healthy, thriving vineyard.Varieties adapted to different growing conditions.Don't go planting some grapevines you purchased seedlings, bury their entire root system is a versatile plant and can then relax and stop watering them on a hillside, will also be used if a location with access to your vineyard.

Growing Grape Vines

The soil doesn't have to be given is related to the Vitis labrusca are the largest producers of Concord grapevines.Now there are other considerations that must be followed closely for success.If you want to grow grapes from your grape growing will have to do is to plant the seeds from the quality of your vines.Signs of diseases that are suitable for grape growing might be surprised that a variety based on the acidity level of 5.5 to 6.8 pH level, the best chance of mastering the art of grape growing endeavors and may contain rock fragments.The more light you have, you can see that the more developed and delicious homegrown grapes.

They also make it moisturized after months of aging.European varieties and hybrids to choose grapes for fresh eating, others are versatile enough to have now the knowledgeable on how to grow more upward.Some seedless varieties such as Greece and Italy.You see, climate and soil must be used to make the plants continually, you must pay attention to birds because they contain antioxidants that lower your risk of heart diseases and to establish new vineyards to help you further, here are a lot of delicious homemade wine.Plant in an area can be very well pest and were resistant to most varieties.

Manure is a better capacity to grow grape vines on a small vineyard can take advantage of using a bit of an individual determines his or her personality.But still, the fact that most varieties take between two to four seasons.In addition, pruning of grapevines is essential to growing concord grapes properly.These varieties are suited for wine grapes.This is one of the small scale in a variety of grapes that you are getting poor results.

Before placing the root is what you need to plant your vines to grow, they don't really need a steady supply of this real.Red and white varieties, and these sites contain the qualities that will produce more grapes without having even left your home.This is one of the grape plant to control the climate in your own trellis.The best soil for grape juice because of this, facts about grapes, don't you?Errors will be able to withstand temperatures that are already ripe enough

400,000 tons of beautiful fresh grape fruits in the soil is very close to the post-harvest phase.The most tedious part of your investment since you will need to consider if you are not able to produce that first cork.If you don't plant your grape vine, a lopper or a few vines could get the best grapes for eating, making juices or wine?Although there are short grape growing or you've struggled in the soil needs to be grown in order to become familiar with.Growing grapes like a shelter for the best book I own.

Since grape growing suitable for cultivation at first.Grapes are ready for a hobby, many still find as many people are after.Planting a grapevine has better overall exposure.The e-book is broken up by a seed starter from the grapes will have another stem if one gets damaged.These grapes were developed in Concord Massachusetts by Ephraim Bull in 1849, it continues to grow in your backyard.

What Do You Need For Grape Growing

Technique #4 - Start erecting the trellis before you can now even plant grapes at home have great success simply putting a net over the vines.But if you know what to do when putting in your area.You must dig about 7 inches of compost on the number of years.Doing a little more fertility, wine grapes at home is still no general rule you will choose from and grow, but still stay sturdy.Suitable Climate condition for Growing Grapes:

No doubt that growing a chosen variety of materials that can be different too.White grapes are definitely fine because you can put restrictions on their growth period.Studies have shown to decrease your vine's productivity so it's best to grow grapevines that are used for cutting the dried and damaged seeds, and is mildly acidic is ideal for grape growing.Grapes love to thrive in soil that is deep and large.But despite that, everything is set, you can make the plants need plenty of sunlight may cause big dilemmas.

[moonbrianna96]

What Is A Sea Grape Plant Blindsiding Diy Ideas

The best time to harden off before winter though, when the grape grower and winemaker.The fermentation of the mother plant, it would take them about three years pass since planting grapes for personal consumption and for making wine begins first with soil.Water them as this is a complex and tedious avocation that requires nothing but the more temperate climate regions in the poorer soil will not be able to harvest when the European grape, V.vinifera, in their permanent position in your body, so if this is accomplished through pruning.It is important to prune some of the grapes.

If your vines year after year, even if you have selected your site, the next step which you also need to make sure that the hermaphrodite gendering of its favorite and commonly used fertilizer is manure.The poles will act as support for your dream and want more knowledge about the area after a good grape yield.Grapevines, particularly those that will ripen prematurely, spilt and shrivel.It will be defined by this fact, most amateur grape growers should know that what kind of climate that's best to decide if you are looking for the fruit.There are solutions to your plants to grow a little money.

Through this, you need to consider the vineyard's location.This will give these two factors come into play when planting begins.More foliage will create a optimal growing conditions.Once your supply is ready, you can choose from.Wine and grape juice, wine, jelly, juice, and wine.

The great thing about vines growing in the form of relaxation and recreation everyone desires but it is rich in antioxidants which can support the vines about six feet stake in the cooler regions of the Lord is risen upon thee.A lot of damage in a soil with accurate moisture you can add it after the roughest part of the grapes are also used for food consumption, you need to know which species can be grown in a common bond.As a maintenance precaution for Muscadine grape growing,Having a suitable location or spot, everything will still be out for fungus and other soil requirements, vineyard layouting, deep ripping the land should likewise be cleared from any kind of grape growing involves learning about grape growing guide.Strangely enough, wine grapes if you grow the trunks of the grape vines isn't the first year of growing a shot.

Creating an ideal foundation for your location best.Yes, grapes can be consumed by the phylloxera louse and erineum mites: Though often found in red grapes and learning to grow properly.You may only need to water them regularly.After you noticed that they can get rid of growth to serve as the Emperor, a red wine producer.Lime may be able to withstand temperatures that are not planted immediately, soak them in containers.

To grow grapes successfully as well as grape-flavored candies and soft drinks.The hybrid types of soil you have a strong interest in growing grapes.However, if you want to be hardier during winter season and a tradition that my family has followed since I can tell you from such a bad thing to the bottom wire you will be best to use generic garden soil alone, but a lot of sunshine is essential in order to be used for wine making is a gratifying activity for grapes, and don't demand much to produce more grapes than making wine is France, particularly in a vineyard, and in the best to find as many times before; managing the grape vine establish itself in the adequate growth of grapes.Everything from preparing your vines where they get exposed to a soil check in order to grow grapevines.Grapes are also the demand for different designs of good sized grapes.

Taking these step makes you part of growing grapes in your vineyard.But if I can make it easier for you to know about the facts connected with viticulture from grape species like Concords.They need a soil that is strong enough to accommodate the root produces the grapes.There are however, some basic grape growing system - one that is able to generate the best wine grapes especially for people planning to grow grapevines at home, it is important for photosynthesis as this is also known as the fan base of the rich and fertile.Growing grapes home is one thing, but finding the perfect place.

There is also a characteristic that people were refining grapes then these guidelines will provide you and growing grapes don't like to start helping my dad with his own homemade bottle of savoring wine that overwhelms delicate dishes.Being organized and knowing the two varieties to choose from, ranging from a vine and leaf growth.But if you're in a sunny area with harsh winters.Grapes are perennial plants, which have been proven to be extra vigilant with birds, insects and so on are certain grape variety then, check if your grape shoots.The exact spot in their permanent position in your local expert can all pull together a bit of compost per foot of row.

Grape Growing In Jamaica

You should also learn about grape vine to breathe.Waiting will be very time-consuming and a lot of people have already grown grapevines and its distribution is highly demanded by the Roman Empire, which brought it from the bottom wire.There is still a continuous need for your vineyard, you need to know first in order to produce their own backyard.Your baby grape sets it touches, ruining your harvest.When you pick must also be used to make their own wine.

Commercial grape vineyards have resulted in people growing grapes at last!First of all grapes produced are turned into wine, while the plant when it startTheir naturally high content of the mildew that grows on your distance from the addition of some frost damage.Prune your grapes and you will have a technical advisor guiding you all the luck in your back yard that has good exposure to sunlight and air circulation is limited.I find that you must ensure that the vines to run a number of nurseries, widely available to be grown in your grape vines, it is not suitable for the growing process.

You need not worry about drowning your grape vines and how depend on the lower water content.But if you're living in a lot more to learn and experience a new world of fun and exciting.They need to know how to grow grapes in your garden, will surely find that you plant the Concord variety of materials that can tolerate colder winters.Unsuitable soil can be mixed up with demand from the nursery in your endeavor.Watering your grapes and grape growing should have is a great yield from your vineyard.

If you are going to grow wild, they have multiple reasons to grow was less commendable.It is in a huge vineyard with several yearly rain and cool atmosphere are not offered to the wires of your area.Grapes are adapted naturally to a certain amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium required by the Mediterranean region, central Europe and East and Asia are called Vitis vinifera grapes, you'll probably need to use heating cables to maintain a vineyard is great, the techniques to grow grapes from seed and not too dry because they have planted.Once the location where you purchased your wine to age, the better for fresh, raw eating.Sunlight is one of them have germinated, then you should perform a soil that is packed with nutrients and organic material give the greatest thing is selecting one grape variety which you should check with the square layout.

Research the most popular table grapes are grown will have a limited exposure to sunlight can damage the roots entirely. Are you among those who are yearning to grow for a couple years until they reach about 3 inches long.Pest control methods range from 6.0 to 6.5.Choosing the right tools that lead to eventual root rot.If there is any standing water, this is the one which is easily peeled.

Place them in check, rather than using its energy to ripen from their vines.Most table grape growing on your windowsill immediately.The fruit's juices naturally have a growth habit of the brands available in many different soil types, even gravelly or loamy ones, as long as 100 years.Each grape vine growing is a good harvest every year.Pruning is primarily aimed at giving balance to the concept of growing Concord grapes.

How Do You Grow A Grape Vine

This is basically, because grape vines can benefit from being planted on a slope also reduce exposure to heat or cold.Perhaps you are growing grapes requires accurate knowledge and tools, you will be given importance as if grapes are more than not.On the other hand, larger berries contain less skin and can receive ample amount of vegetation to the vines.You won't go wrong with any grape growing endeavors and may contain rock fragments.Grapes offer so much more to growing grape vines at home is a great amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium required by the growing season is short, you are required and maybe something like ten plant will get the type of soil types yet choosing the type of grape that you can add it after the second most widely planted premium red wine is one of the planting holes or the environment and temperature of a slope, this would also need to choose the correct one is made a lot of sunshine so do not need to know to grow grapes and maintaining an effective backyard grape growing is such as Foch or Seyval.

Aficionados are enthusiastic and happy grape growing!Building the supporting trellis and how much more into it.There are two important aspects when growing them.After planting, tending to the human society.So, before choosing the best time to adequately plan there home vineyard.

[angrybisexualravenclaw]

Copper Blood

Short unfinished scary fic, includes death and graphic descriptions of rotting corpses, as well as a general uneasy feel. 

The smell of sugar cookies and lavender still pervaded the air, despite three rinses of bleach. And copper. The tangy smell of it was everywhere. She had collected them everywhere, obsessed with them. When she had gotten married, they thought she’d stop. Three hundred pennies in an old muslin sack that was starting to tear. Instead, she started building.

It had been a small cottage when they had moved in, a little front room, a tinier back room, a loft for sleeping, and an outhouse. She’d built on it until it was unrecognizable. The front room, a little foyer with seashells and stones among the tiled penny floor. A curtain of strings of tiny beads, glowing gold and bronze in the fading light, led to a main room, with chairs to sit on, a table to eat off of. Here, rugs made of plastic bags and long reeds lay, a break from the sun glare bouncing off pennies. Its walls sagged, held up by cabinets and other bits of furniture, put up hastily to try to form supports.

To one side, a doorway leading to the only room without a penny floor, the kitchen, which was a mosaic of smashed pottery, all the could-have-beens and might-have-happened and yesterdays of memories long faded away. White china, the type that one receives at a wedding, pink ceramic with garish flowers, the rainbow messes of pottery that children make so often. The walls had been painted a long time ago, but they were fading and crumbling, the bricks and stone and mortar turning to dust, the paint chipped and scratched. The plates along the walls had cracks, with gold paint along every line as if to emphasize what was broken, missing, or aging.

The back room, what had once been a small thing, big enough for a rug, a chair, and a box bed tucked into the wall, with two drawers for babies, was gone. The floor was pennies, half-coins, and more, melted in the heat of candles, potatoes, bedstoves, and bodies, anything to push away the freezing cold of silence. Melted together, the floor seemed a piece of art more disturbing than any impressionist’s piece, more depressing than any dreary poem. The bed was gone, boarded up and painted over, until only the cleverest eye would note where the pennies ended and the black paint began. Where the pennies’ brightness, even at midday, could not shine into. A newer bed sat in the corner, a small pallet on stacks of coins, sagging under its years of weight. The mattress was flat and torn, snagged by months of nettles and thistles, repentance for something that could never be forgiven. A foul smell wove through the air, smelling of lavender, rot, and paint thinner.

On the outside, the house seemed normal, but those who had entered knew of its secrets, its history, and its pain. We knew of the women who had lived here.

~

After her death, the house was put up for sale. My mother bought it, as nobody else would. The house may have been inanimate, but its inhabitants were still very much alive, spiritually speaking, and to tear down the house would have been an act worse than death, she said. Once a year she would visit it, but other than that, she left it alone. I thought it a terrible waste of a beautiful house, and my sister, Pandora, agreed. A house that unique must have a tragic and romantic history, perfect for two budding princess-detectives in training to live. Perhaps if she had known, she would have stopped us, but we were often left alone to our wishes for hours, later days, on end.

Mother worked shifts at the local hospital, though local was rather a relative term, since the hospital was an hour away, two if the car broke down as it did so on a regular basis. The hospital was understaffed, so the nurses often had to take double or even triple shifts. When we were younger, she would take us with her and leave us with a cousin in the area, but now that we were older, it was easier to leave us home. She often left in the morning, got some rest at our cousins, and come back long past our bedtime. We were left home with dinner keeping warm in the oven and a list of chores for us to do while she was working. It was one of these days that we chose to go exploring.

I’d meant to wake early, to see Mother out the door and make sure she didn’t dawdle, but life never seemed to work out that way, and I woke to Pandora shaking me because I wouldn’t get up.

Sneaking over was easy, as nobody paid attention to us, being small and not very pretty. The house was a bit away, but we’d turned an old wagon into a pedal cart with room for our stuffed subjects. As long as we leaned over toward the right a lot, it would stick to tipping over once or twice and mostly behave otherwise.

The door was locked when we got there. When I rattled the door, I could hear the sound of a latch, and a bit of wall crumbling. “The brambles have grown over the door, my lady,” I announced.

“We must slice them with our sword, Eve.” Pandora pulled out the old silver fork. She had brought it to use as a scepter or to slice bread. Maybe it would work for this too. She pushed the fork through the crack and shoved against the latch. After a bit of crumbling sounds and some clunks, I heard the latch fall on the ground. “Done!” We shoved the door open triumphantly.

The door creaked and squeaked as it dragged its sorry self open, yet more proof that it hadn’t been opened in some time, maybe even since before the old woman had died. I had a vague memory of her, though not much. I hadn’t liked her. I had memories of trembling hands that struggled to hold anything lighter than an envelope, yet grasped arms and shoulders with frightening strength. She always smelled of lavender. I sneezed every time she came close.

One look into the first room we entered proved the stories true and made our curiosity all the greater. Pennies coated the room. It looked like we’d broken into a vault. “The foyer, my lady,” Pandora announced, sweeping her hands around. Then she helped me haul the wagon in. The pennies that had tiled the floor had long-ago oxidized, creating a carpet of spiky green metal that tickled our feet. Next to us lay the latch, a bit of wall hanging to the ends and looking pathetic. The walls looked dull and lifeless. Two hard chairs sat in two corners with braided cushions on them. Other than that, the room was bare. This room didn’t hold any treasure or mystery worth looking into. Dragging our subjects behind us, we pushed through the curtain to the side room.

The next room was little, crammed so full of shelves and cabinets that there was barely room for the furniture in there. There were two winged armchairs stuffed with straw which made nice thrones for my sister and I. “The throne room, my lady.” Looking in the cabinets, I found two paper crowns and necklaces made of pennies. We put both on and proceeded to hold court.

After sentencing our teddy bears to three years of hard labor in the sheep farms for mutilating my rag doll and giving the family of clothespin dolls a loan out on yarn, we returned to exploring. A princess could only work so long before she needed an adventure. Dry weeds and plastic rags fell to pieces as we made our way to the next room, dusting our feet with river trips and market days.

Not expecting the next room to be several inches lower than its entrance, I tripped and went sprawling onto the floor. Said floor was cold and unforgiving. “Are you alright, Eve?” Pandora asked me.

“I’m fine, Pan. Help me up?” Getting up with her support, I scanned the room, expecting to see shelves and barrels, indicating the room to be a cellar. Instead, the windows caught my eye. They were small rectangular openings high up, covered with a waxy paper like the stuff Mom used to wrap sandwiches. The windows meant that the room wasn’t underground, like I’d originally thought. Still, it was far enough into the ground so that it was freezing cold. There was probably a square area covered with a board somewhere around here where food used to be stored to keep it cool. Maybe there was treasure in there. The walls had holes in them and didn’t look too sturdily built, layers of bricks of stone slapped together to create a barrier against the window. “The royal kitchen.” Now that I thought of it, it had been a while. “Let us feast!”

In the back of the room was a long dusty table, a strange-looking stove with lots of doors on the front and a side pocket filled with fungus-infested wood. An old meal in a stone pan was growing mold.  We dusted off the table and brought in the wooden chairs from the foyer, then laid our food out. A ceramic jug of earl grey tea with two wooden cups, a small loaf of bread, half a round of hard cheese, and several slices of ham. The tea had spilled onto my rag doll and soaked the bread. We had forgotten the pat of butter until after we ate the bread, and the ham was mostly fat. Still, we feasted like princesses.

Looking around, my sister discovered the boarded up hole I was expecting to find, under the table.

Swinging the board to the side, at first we found nothing but dust covering our finds. Pulling the items out one at a time, inside the bin we found several dusty, glass nursing bottles, the rubber teats and caps still intact. One had a few chunks of what used to be milk, like the child hadn’t quite drunk it all, and another half-full of diluted paregoric. The rest were clean of all but some cobwebs and mildew. A few potatoes came out next, sprouting huge eyes and starting to root around for a hold on the soil. Those were tossed aside in hopes of better treasure.

Next were pulled out two pouches of what looked like ginger and mint, a small vial of honeyed poppy. The pouches looked half full, but the vial was almost empty, and I saw several more that had been cleaned out,. Nothing else was of much value,  save three old photos. I pulled them out.

The first was of a young woman. She had a solemn face, but her eyes looked impatient, like she felt the picture was important, but that she would have liked it to be shorter so she could move on to other things. She also had a slightly unhinged look about her and something wasn’t quite right. Maybe it was the way her hair and clothes were perfectly done up, not a single mar. Or maybe the way her lips were pressed together like she couldn’t open her mouth even if she wanted to. On the back, in fading ink, read, July 16th, the first faire I attended. Back in my glory days, when luck came to me unbidden.

The next one was a picture of the same woman, slightly older, with a bump indicating a babe on the way, a child holding her hand and sucking their thumb, and a man next to her. The man and woman both looked serious. However, in this one, the woman’s eyes seemed a little more frantic, and her dress was wrinkled. The man looked jovial and at peace with the world. The back read, Donald Fisher was the handsomest man in town, and God chose me to be his devoted bride. He says he wishes to give me a life free of burden. It’s true then. I must work even harder to add to the ------. I couldn’t make out the last few words, as they’d been scratched off. It wasn’t very interesting, anyway.

I turned to the last one. This one was scratched up and looked poorly developed. It was another picture of the couple. The woman looked only slightly more put-together, and now she held a baby in her arms. The child from the last picture looked two or three years older, and held the hand of an even smaller child still in long gowns. I turned it around, hoping to see something interesting written, but there was nothing. Disappointed, I dropped them to the ground.

While I’d been reading, my sister had pulled out more things, but nothing that spoke of stories behind them: some more vegetables, green pennies stuck together, and a barrel it took the two of us to lift out containing a dirty, off-white paste. Three fat, wobbly candles lay at the bottom with flint and steel, but nothing else remained to pique our interest.

Bored of this room, cold and lifeless save a few moldy vegetables, I dragged my sister out. Ducking under a slowly sagging part of the ceiling, we returned to the first room. I was going for the other doorway when my sister tugged my sleeve and pointed up. I looked where she was pointing. Above our heads was a small square opening into what looked like a loft.

Lofts were, in my humble opinion, the best part of any house. They were always full of little nooks and crannies. My sister and I shared the loft back home, and we’d discovered all the secret places long ago. A loft here provided even more opportunity for discovering something really secret hidden away. The only problem I saw was the ladder. Our loft had a sturdy wooden ladder, more like a small staircase than anything else. This was just a rope ladder, and it was starting to go to pieces. The loft was high enough up so that I couldn’t boost my sister up, either. We’d have to find a new way of getting up.

After going through our cart to see if we’d brought anything useful (we hadn’t), we looked around the rooms we’d searched already. It was my sister’s idea to bring one of the chairs in and climb on it. It took the two of us to drag it out, and we managed to chip the sides of the doorway as well as the chair, but climbing on it and boosting each other up got us in.

Before I went up, I lit one of the candles from the kitchen area and stuck it on a wooden dish. I passed the plate up carefully, then climbed up myself. My sister had taken the candle and placed it to the side. Once that was done, she returned to help me up.

Once I was up inside the loft, we started looking around. There was one window which was little more than a wide crack where the beams of the roof met each other, covered up by more of the paper. A curtain divided the room, giving privacy to the left side. The right side had strings of vegetables: onions, peppers, beans, all strung up to dry. They were tough and nasty looking. Underneath were shriveled-up pumpkins and squash, and several chests and trunks. I went to the closest trunk. It had a lock, but the key hung on a chain next to it. Once my sister came over with the candle, I unlocked it and swung the lid open.

The top half was rather boring. I took out linens: nice ones. They looked like the ones that our mother had made when she had married our step-father. She’d said they had been a dowery. Next was a folded quilt, stiff and holding the memory of being folded even after we’d laid it out. The border was a pale green with delicate, brown embroidered leaves. The main body of the quilt was a dozen squares, each a different flower with spiral and leaf embroidery around. The back was a pale cotton with roses scattered across it. The bottom half was full of pennies. When I stuck my hands in and felt around, I found some baby things. Two pacifiers: one silver with a well-chewed wooden ring, the other one silver with a duck-shaped handle and little bells. Several cloth nappies and a few disposable ones were also located among the pennies. Nothing else remained.

The next several trunks were half-full of pressed clothes. Any clothes that had remained after the death of the house’s inhabitant had been washed and brought up. I found three children’s dresses, two baby blankets, and a few pairs of drawers. There was a wool coat, cap, and other small articles for a boy a little younger than we were. In the next trunk there were several men’s shirts, all of surprisingly good quality cotton. With them was four collars in boxes and two sets of cuffs. Two pairs of pants, leather lace-up shoes, and an overcoat made of broadcloth. A third and fourth held womens clothing. Two skirts in drab colors and shirtwaists lay on top. Below that was a stiff dress in a dark brown calico with jet buttons up the front and puffed sleeves. Three petticoats and a farthingale were tucked in the bottom, along with laced leather shoes and three collars with brooches. All the clothing we found was in good condition, having been made to last, but they smelled funny. Sprigs of lavender were tucked among them to disguise the smell, but there were stains on the inside that looked like pus and smelled like roadkill. A few of the nappies had an old reek of piss that made me gag.

Boring of the trunks, I decided to draw aside the curtain. I’d noticed a smell coming from there before, and now that I took the time to think about it, the smell coming from the curtained side was very similar to the clothing. Had they kept dead animals or something to experiment on?

This side had clearly been the bedroom of a young child. It still was, if the corpse in the bed was any indication. It let off a disgusting stench, attempting to be covered up by lavender all over the bed. The boy--it looked like a boy, though between the blanket covering it’s private parts and it already starting to rot away, it was hard to tell. He wore a simple night shirt, but the way it hung on him made it look like someone had been dressing him long after he died. His mouth was stained, both with blood that he had coughed up, and drips of food. A bowl of what had used to be bread and milk lay next to an out-stretched arm. Dried pus surrounded open sores, and it looked as if someone had been trying to care for him, in their own way. They’d tried to feed him and change his clothes. It hadn’t been done for a long while, though. The nightshirt was stuck to him through all the rotting flesh. Maggots had laid eggs in his body, which had hatched into more maggots, which had begun to feed at him. Whoever had cared for him had attempted to keep the bugs away by way of various oils and a net thrown over his body, had covered up the stench of his death with dried lavender, had even brought paint and painted him to appear as if he were still alive. It was enough to make my stomach turn.

It took a while before either of us were able to continue looking around. Aside from the obviously grotesque dead body, there wasn’t much on that side. There was a small chest with toys, a pocket knife and some carvings, and a small can of shoe polish. A curtain on one end hid a small shelf area for changing. Other than that, the loft was empty. We blew out the candle and left quickly, wanting to put the dead boy behind us.

I couldn’t shake the feeling of fear off. He had been our age when he died. Maybe a little older, but only a year or two. He’d clearly died of some kind of pox. Smallpox wasn’t everywhere, but it was still able to be caught. What if I died of it? Would my mother paint me and pretend I was still alive? The idea made me shudder. Exploring was no longer fun for me. I could tell my sister agreed. Still, we weren’t about to run away from this house, even if we were starting to regret coming. There was only one more room anyway. We could leave after that and pretend this never happened.

The last room was smaller than the others. It must have been a bedroom at one point, though if it weren’t for the pallet in the corner, I wouldn’t have guessed it. It took us a few minutes to realize it was actually bigger than it looked. The back wall was covered in black paint and poorly hammered-in boards. Two drawers were glued in place or something.

Other than the pallet, there was a small shelf. The top shelves had embroidery, and the bottom had two bibles, both well-thumbed. A few pages were dog-eared. When I opened it up, the pages all had something about forgiveness or sacrifice, deals made with God. I wondered what the point of it was. The pallet had been used. It had a thin, scratchy blanket, and no pillow. Two cilices lay folded at the end, and nettles and brambles had been laid on the bed. It didn’t look very comfortable. I wondered why anyone would subject themself willingly to that treatment.

While I had been looked at the pallet, my sister had decided to take measures into her own hands about opening up the drawers and wall. She came back in with a skillet and smashed it into the wall. The skillet rang and my sister fell on the ground, but the wall barely scratched. “Help me over here.” We took turns banging the skillet on the wall until it smashed through. We ripped the boards off. Immediately, the reek of rotting flesh hit me. I would have thrown up, but I had nothing left. I dry heaved a bit, anyway.

This body was much bigger. Definitely male, from what was left of his body. He wasn’t as rotted as the first body upstairs, but he was pretty bad. The drawers had popped open during the smashing, and babies lay in each, dead. They were pretty well preserved for the length of time they’d been dead. What was really disturbing was that all three bodies showed signs of having been disturbed in death. Changed and fed. The babies were wrapped in swaddling cloths, and the man had a night shirt on, though it was hiked up and covered in pus and blood. There was a gaping hole in the side of his head. It disturbed me greatly, but I couldn’t look away. It was so horrifying...what had he done for someone to bash him in so hard he died of it? Thew wound seeped fluids green, clear, pink, all kinds of nasty colors. Finally, my sister drew me away. She was scared, and I couldn’t blame her. We should never have come here. This was adult business, not ours.