The garden and some new drills.

 

HI gang.

 

I have been hard at work with my garden, and I have learned a BUNCH of stuff.

My garden this year has been filled with new topsoil and mixed with perlite, a lightener and compost.

I planted lettuce in my garden, for several reasons. I have not planted anything else.

  1. My yard is heavily shaded. Lettuce does well in partial sun.
  2. Lettuce has a short growing period—it matures in about 60 days.
  3. Lettuce has a very shallow root group, typically 6-8 inches. My garden is only about 10 inches deep.

 

So with that, last week, I added “plant food”, a fertilizer that is designed for vegetables. It says only once a month, so I figure by the time it is ready to pick the lettuce, I will be done.

I also discovered that I have a problem with what appears to be aphids. Aphids are small bugs that eat leaves. Lettuce is ALL leaves, so that doesn’t work for me.

There are several chemicals that kill aphids an other pests, but most are not something that you want to put on a vegetable you want to eat.

There are only a few that seem to be options for organic, edible gardening. There was a  wonderful article on garlic juice as a spray, but apparently, it affects the taste of the lettuce, and you have to spray every day.

Neem oil is supposed to be safe, comes in spray and concentrate, and you can apply it as late as the day before harvest. It appears to be a weekly application.

 

However, there are a few article son planning a garden and what grows well in shade or partial shade.

https://www.almanac.com/vegetables-grow-shade

Is an article on what grows well in the shade. Remember that you need to also look at the root depth, to make sure you have enough dirt under the plant for it to grow. I suspect that had a major effect on what grew and what didn’t last year.

 

Garden layout

https://www.almanac.com/content/backyard-vegetable-garden-layout-ideas

This is an article about what to plant and where in your yard. Remembering that dirt depth, and distance between plants is important. When a plant wants 12 inches between plants, you can’t plant something else only 4 inches away, and they need to be companion plants, for anything closer than 2/3 of the recommended distance, and even then—MAYBE you can go to half.

 

Lets change the subject and talk about firearms practice.

One of my favorites for people who teach/demonstrate shooting skills is Lucas Botkin. Lucas is pretty good, but he is not so much a game shooter, as a combat shooter with extensive practice.

He pushes VERY hard on the idea that you must be able to HIT THE TARGET under pressure at speed, so much of his material is on that. Yes, he has lots of cool gear and toys, and stuff we can’t get. But the majority of what he does for PRACTICE is 1 shot drills—draw and fire 1 shot on a target. Or “1R3” – draw, fire 1 shot, reload, and fire 3 shots. He has gone to 1R3 rather than 1R1 because with a single rep, he is working on not juts the draw and reload but also grip and recoil control.

So, another drill you can work is a 4 or 5 step drill that was developed by some old time masters- Bill Wilson and Ken Hackathorn.

It does require a place where you can do the drills with multiple targets and movement.

 

WILSON Basic handgun proficiency drill #1- https://youtu.be/kJfWYgDKVkY

 

2 targets, 7 & 10 yards- IDPA or IPSC style targets

 

SHOOT THIS DRILL COLD ONLY.

 

Stage 1

4 rounds in gun, facing 90 degrees away

Draw and fire 2 on A 2 on B, emergency reload, 2 on A 2 on B.

 

Stage 2

With weak hand occupied (ammo can, brief case, etc)

Draw and fire 2 on A, 2 on B.

Repeat

 

Stage 3A

Draw and fire 3 on A or B, move at least 4 feet, fire 3 on B or A (which ever one was not engaged before)

Stage 3B

Draw and fire 3 on A or B, move at least 4 feet opposite direction, fire 3 on B or A (which ever one was not engaged before)

 

Stage 4

Draw, and engage A with 2 body, 1 head, engage B with 2 body 1 head (failure to stop drill)

 

SCORING

Center/A zone/Down 0 – no penalty

First ring/B/C zone/Down 1- 1 second penalty

Second ring/D zone/Down 3- 3 second penalty

 

CLASSIFICATION

<40 seconds- Expert

40-50 seconds- Proficient

50-65 seconds- Competent

65+ seconds- FAIL.

 

As usual, if you like this, feel free to share this. If you are a recipient of a forwarded copy and you would like to be on the distribution list, please send me an email, and I will be glad to add you to the list. 

 

Jason

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