Gardening in a Kilt (Buzz Kidder Canvas)

[Bugbear]

Haven't gotten much done today, but I've been wearing a BK while not getting stuff done...

* I was able to get out there and dig up several small trees. I also worked with the bonsai which means I stood there for a very very long time looking at them, then didn't do anything.

I also took several cuttings off fig trees and grape vines to start new plants. A lot of those end up being given away after they have rooted and grown for a year. That is why I am digging up all the small trees now. Different people seem to want them...

I have noticed that it is more comfortable now to garden in a kilt, and I will make a new post to explain a few things I have noticed and to give a review.

* I wheeled the trash can out to the street tonight while wearing the gardening BK. It is just a little cold out and I clearly noticed that it was warm inside of my kilt, but I could feel the cold air on my knees. I was wearing a pare of the gray socks I've been gardening in, but if I had been wearing hose, I would not be ashamed to flip the hose tops up over my knees if it were too cold out.

[Bugbear]

Review

I have moved the two week review on gardening in a kilt to the first post of this thread, so I can add to this post.

* I've decided to wash the BK. That is the easy part. The hard part is finding a spot in the garden to put the gray water from the wash, LOL! It's been raining so much lately that everything is fairly moist out there still.

* I decided to put this round of fig and grape cuttings directly into the ground in an okra bed from last year. I've also been watering the cuttings in with the laundry water from the washing of the BK. I'm taking a break from kilted gardening today, and I keep having to pull my pants up... I noticed at one point that my shirt had come up while squatting and leaning forward. This is never a problem in my kilt. It's a big problem while your gardening to have to constantly pull up your pants or pull down your shirt. I am starting to think that any issues with the kilt are small to some of the agrovating issues with pants. It's also just more comfortable...

* Now that I have washed the kilt, I have it and the other clothes I washed on the clothes drying rack. I don't have a dryer, and this isn't a big deal in the spring and summer. In the winter I put the drying rack in my bedroom which is the end of my trailer that I keep heated or.

The drying rack has legs and folds out like a table, so I am able to spread the kilt out on the top of it. I smooth out the pleats and so on as it is drying. I will still have to press it with an iron, but it isn't too difficult this way. That's how I do all my kilts.

[Bugbear]

This morning, the gardening kilt is dried. It doesn't look too bad, but I will still press it. The very ends of a few pleats like to get just a little bit of a curl behind the sewn in, outside edge. It's not too big of a deal to press it though.

* I pressed the kilt and went out to attack a patch of weeds with the mattock. I also dug a couple of small citrus trees up. It is nice to not be having to constantly pull up my pants.

I looked at a couple of bonsai that are fattening up in the ground. I will have to root prune them soon. It's also almost fertilizing time for all the citrus.

* For String, the citrus I dug up were Poncirus trifoliata (Flying Dragon and Citrus volkameriana (Volkamer Lemon). These are both used as rootstocks for grafting here.

The Flying Dragon will accept most citrus scions well even though it isn't a true citrus. it is also a dwarfing rootstock. I mostly use them for bonsai, but have grafted navel oranges on them. The resulting dwarf will only get about six feet tall.

The Volkamer Lemon will accept grafts of most if not all citrus, however, the fruit of the scion only come out good in the more acidic, less sweet varieties like tangelos. They, like most lemons, grow at a very fast rate, and can quickly become large bush-like trees without extreme pruning. They also have very sharp two to three inch long thorns that make the pruning difficult.

I only report this because it is bland, boring, and useless information.

[Bugbear]

Today, I will be picking a batch of oranges for a lady I know. not sure I will be kilted for that because I have to get up in the trees. Usually overalls are best for that.
I will be going to the store to get a giant sack of rice, and a large tube of oatmeal... Perhaps I should wear a kilt for that. Should I go with browns, or should I go black and gray... I have to face that question every day when it comes to clothes.

Later on I hope to get one or two more trees dug up and transplanted, and I do plan on wearing a kilt for that.

[string]

Sounds like for most things the kilt is a workable method, of course the original kilt wearers probably didn't debate on whether they would do things in their kilt or not, come to think of it.

I do agree that climbing trees in a kilt is probably a dangerous thing, but then I hate heights and will do about anything to avoid them.

[Bugbear]

Sounds like for most things the kilt is a workable method, of course the original kilt wearers probably didn't debate on whether they would do things in their kilt or not, come to think of it.

I do agree that climbing trees in a kilt is probably a dangerous thing, but then I hate heights and will do about anything to avoid them.

I hate heights too. thankfully my trees are semi-dwarf and I don't have to do much climbing. I will have to get inside of the tree though, and that is what I ment more than climbing. The citrus tend to have thorns. Usually by the end of picking and pruning season, I'm very scratched up.

I have read a lot about long shirts or tunics being worne with the belted plaid. The belted plaid was then removed for work. I don't know... Everything changes over time.

Thanks for posting, String.

[string]

you are welcome

[Bugbear]

Welp, I got the orange picking done. It wasn't too bad. I bundled myself up in an old coat and hat, so I wouldn't get all scratched up. Guess I'll head to the store after the lady picks up her oranges, and that'll be a day. I'm glad I have some more posts to edit stuf into now.

I will add that I have three belted plaids that are supposed to be being fitted with drawstrings, but I haven't heard back from the sewing lady... Those are nice to wear right now in the cool weather and they also make good blankets, then good wall decorations in the summer.

* I forgot to bring up that I also have to give the lady a batch of sulcata tortoise grub: bermuda hay, prickly pear pads, and frozen grape leaves.

[string]

Those are nice to wear right now in the cool weather and they also make good blankets, then good wall decorations in the summer.

I was just telling Yeti that his belted plaid could double as curtains, he was unconvinced and vetoed the suggestion. Now i feel validated.

[Bugbear]

String, I started a thread a while back on this and Yeti just happened to post in that thread. Here is the description I gave:

Here's what I want the plaid to do. I'm planning on putting a loop of thread or fabric where I want each pleat to be. The paracord goes through the loops, then the pleats can be drawn together kind of like opening a curtain. This idea comes from Matthew Newsome's albanach.org in an artical called "Did the Belted Plaid Have a Drawstring?" http://www.albanach.org/drawstring.htm
I will be using the plaid as a blanket/ sleeping bag by folding it in half width wise. It will be twelve feet long and so six feet when folded.
I also use wearing blankets a lot during the winter, so the plaid will probably be used in this way from time to time. I want to be able to put the plaid on fairly quickly because often I will be gathering up my blanket and going outside early in the morning to keep citrus and other plants from freezing. More often it will be to stop the cats from fighting in the un-heated end of my house.
Another way I will use the plaid is to hang on the wall either in the winter or summer for a little extra sound and heat insulation. I tend to only heat and cool one end of my thin walled house and I've found that hanging my wearing blankets and that type of thing on the wall makes things a little quieter and a little easier to heat and cool. Keep in mind I live in the desert.

Most of the thread is about paracord, though.
* You should be able to go to the thread by clicking on the view origenal post link at the beginning of the quote, but I will go bump the thread up to give it some life. It's in the DYI forum.

* I will also clarify that my "thin walled house" is a trailer. It is 12/36 feet, with a screned in patio attached to one side, 36/9 feet, and an open-walled car port attached to the other, 26/10.5 feet. A basic aluminum box with 3 inch thick walls. Bla bla bla.