Martin Fisher

A living mulch like inoculated New Zealand white clover should work splendidly.

The affect of weeds on asparagus and other plants depends on the weed. God forbid something like field bindweed get a foothold and take over...it's an evil plant. Where I'm at, Ground Ivy AKA Creeping Charley is a very serious problem. It can smother asparagus. ETA: Lambsquarter and patience dock are edible weeds, but I wouldn't want them in my asparagus beds...they can also take-ever.

I'm starting an asparagus bed this year after not having one for about 10 years. I've always grown organically. I controlled weeds in my asparagus beds via mulch....double ground pine bark, chopped weed seed free straw, etc. If some weeds do happen to pop up here and there they're very easy to pull out of the mulch bedding.

Part of my grow light set-up. Nothing fancy. Simple, cheap, and utilitarian. Eight fluorescent lights. The shelf is 12 inches wide and 8 feet long. Plenty of room for my plants. I don't like them getting big inside. It just means more work. When the garden soil is warm enough they'll take off like a rocket! I can move the lights and shelf up and down via chains It's okay for seedlings to touch fluorescent lights. I keep the seedlings as close to the lights as possible.

A friend is of the same philosophy in terms of yard management. She says...."If you can't eat it, delete it!" Love it!

No, but I have experience with other LEM products. Customer service is horrible. The products were sub-par. I wouldn't buy anything from LEM.

I finally ordered and received 1,000 10" x 15" pouches for use in the VP-215. I'm glad I did...I should have done it a LONG time ago. They're a pleasure to work with compared to the 10" x 13"!!! Ordering 1,000 10" x 13" pouches was a HUGE mistake! Oh, I'll use them all eventually...but there are hundreds left.

Unfortunately, I need to travel to North Dakota August 14 to August 21. I can't afford both trips so I'm going to have to bow-out this time. What a total bummer...I was really looking forward to the visit.

I finally got rid of the last non-edible in the yard! I sawed the big burning bush off at ground level with an electric chainsaw! Yay!!! It'll be replaced with productive edibles.

Found it....$9.97 Good Cook Deluxe Can Opener

I noticed the other day that WalMart sells an EZ-DUZ-IT under their "Good Cook" branding for $9.99......but I don't see it on their website. The packaging is the same, the only difference being the name.

FWIW, The new agrarian, utilitarian, contrarian "experimental" organic micro-farmden logo... What do you think?

Yes, that definitely looks like heat/solar stress. If you can get your hands on some Wando Dwarf Shelling (English) Pea seed—it's a cultivar that's much more tolerant of heat than other pea cultivars. Looks like Burpee even sells it. https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/peas/pea-wando-prod001145.html

FWIW. This year's Adaptive Seeds order: Fava Bean, Aprovecho Select (Organic) 2 oz ≈ 30 seeds, 3 packets for $11.40 Lettuce, Little Gem Pearl Romaine (Organic) 1/2 g packet ≈ 300 seeds $3.50 Green Onions, White Spear, Perennial (Organic) 2 g packet ≈ 400 seeds $6.50 Hot Pepper, Korean Kimchi (Organic), 1 g ≈ 100 seeds $6.80 Sweet Pepper, Stocky Red Roaster (Organic) Packet ≈ 30 seeds $3.80 Ground Cherry, Otto's Brush Creek (Organic) Packet ≈ 50 seeds $3.50 Tomato, Sweet Cherriette (Organic) Packet ≈ 30 seeds $3.50 Barley, Purple Valley, Hulless (Organic) 4 oz $5.50 Millet, Hells Canyon (Organic) 4 g ≈ 1,200 seeds $3.50 Napa Cabbage, Nozaki Early (Organic) 1 g ≈ 250 seeds

I made a hard cheese roughly 4 weeks ago using kefir as a starter and rennet as a coagulant. It was an impromptu experiment. I have the patience and attention span of a gnat so I couldn't wait to sample it! I sampled it yesterday and was surprised at how complex the flavor is for a cheese that's so young and not aged properly or for any great length of time—I don't currently have the "cheese cave" set up. I vac packed it and kept it in the fridge after pressing. The flavor is slightly tart and is reminiscent of a melding of Cheddar and Parmesan. I think it's very good! The texture is relatively dry, so it would make a great grating cheese, but it's not at all bad when sliced very thin. I'm sure it would have been excellent if it had been aged properly. Maybe I'll do it "right" next time!

And temperature of the meat, brine, etc. And density of the meat muscle. And connective tissue in or on the meat. And fat in or on the meat. And orientation of the muscle fibers. And strength of the brine. FWIW, here is a post of mine on equilibrium brining and a link to my curing calculator: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/universal-cure-calculator.124590/

In the end, here's what I ordered from Fedco: 204A - Provider Bush Green Beans (2oz) 1 x $1.90 = $1.90 318A - Scarlet Runner Pole Beans (1oz) 1 x $2.10 = $2.10 792A - Alderman Shell Peas (2oz) 1 x $1.80 = $1.80 798A - Gard-N Garden Combination Inoculant Legume Inoculant (treats 8lb) 1 x $6.00 = $6.00 1239A - Little Leaf H-19 OG Pickling Cucumbers (1g) 1 x $2.00 = $2.00 1243A - Mexican Sour Gherkin Specialty Cucumbers (0.2g) 1 x $2.50 = $2.50 2439A - Evergreen Hardy White Scallions (1/16oz) 1 x $1.70 = $1.70 2590A - Caucasian Mountain Spinach ECO Perennial Greens (0.1g) 1 x $2.70 = $2.70 3050A - Claytonia Specialty Greens (0.5g) 1 x $2.20 = $2.20 3096A - Good King Henry Perennial Greens (0.5g) 1 x $2.10 = $2.10 3099B - Sea Kale Perennial Greens (2g) 1 x $4.60 = $4.60 3182A - Golden Purslane OG Specialty Greens (0.5g) 1 x $2.10 = $2.10 3195A - Turkish Rocket ECO Perennial Greens (1g) 1 x $3.60 = $3.60 3831A - Jaluv An Attitude OG Hot Peppers (0.2g) 1 x $2.20 = $2.20 3866B - Matchbox OG Hot Peppers (0.4g) 1 x $4.00 = $4.00 4585A - Lavender OG Lavender (0.2g) 1 x $1.80 = $1.80 5282C - Empress of India Nasturtiums (27g) 1 x $5.00 = $5.00

I think I'm going to corn a chuck-eye roast in the style of Darina Allen's "Ballymaloe Spiced Beef." Slightly adapted. Balleymaloe is in Cork, Ireland. Recipe here "Ballymaloe Spiced Beef." I better get my heinie in gear!

I'm giving the kefir a rest for the first time ever—froze the grains. I'm going to experiment with "heirloom" mesophilic (room temperature) yogurt cultures. First up—Filmjölk

Works now, but, of course, there's no index! GRRRrrr!!! Bought it anyway.

All I'll say is—food isn't the only thing that's packed in cans. I open a lot of cans.

Linda Chalker-Scott Debunks Horticultural Myths =Link= I have both of her horticultural myth books: The Informed Gardener and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again Excellent!

I currently have four P-51s and two P-38s.