Gardening: 2015-2016

[KennethT]

Just got a new plant light for my bucket nursery....  holy crap is it bright!!!!! Hope the neighbors don't complain!

 

[kayb]

Crop report: getting a good stand on the yellow crookneck and zucchini squash. Cucumbers are a bit slower, but coming along.

64

 

Kentucky Wonder pole beans have yet to show foliage. Unsurprising, as they were planted a few days later, and take longer to germinate. I won't worry about them until this time next week.

 

Tomatoes all seem to be thriving; I put cages around them yesterday to give them something to lean on as they grow.

 

Lawn care folks were here to spray my yard for weeds today. I warned them sternly that if they got herbicide on my garden plots or herbs, I would come looking for them with a shotgun.

[Wayne]

 

There are a lot of strategies for growing tomatoes and everyone does what works for them.

These are mine and they've worked for me for many years. I'm constrained by limited space, want good production that is continuous rather than batch, want varieties that are otherwise not available and will trade great taste for other considerations such as quantity.....

 

This is one of my two setups. I only grow indeterminate varieties, which require a solid support system and periodic maintenance, but produce until frost kills the plants. The supports in the photo are rebar to anchor with bamboo extensions and back anchored to the hedge behind. I'll train each plant to one or at the most two vines. They are six feet but will be extended when necessary (one year I had a black cherry tomato vine that topped the hedge and had to be trained sideways). Since the hedge is south facing I believe it gives me a slightly longer season.

 

 

 

 

The lines in the background are for growing yard long beans and cucumbers.

 

The rhubarb is late but finally showing good growth:

 

 

And after two weeks the other beds are starting to show green. These are French Breakfast radishes, white onions and kohlrabi. Trust me

 

 

 

[ElainaA]

Watching all the gardens getting going makes me so anxious to get mine started. Sigh. I love where I live (except in January and February. And sometimes March. ) but our growing season starts late and ends early. My garden was tilled last Saturday but it has rained since and will rain more later this week so it is too wet to rake and plant - probably for another week. Which actually would still be earlier than many years. In fact most years nothing is planted until the end of May. I am working on making beds in the new green house so that feels like something garden-y is being accomplished.

[Shelby]

Gorgeous gardens everyone.  I love seeing all of the baby plants

 

Sigh.

 

I hate reporting this.  But, something had/has to be done.

 

The rabbits have eaten SO many of my tiny plants.

 

Just a bit ago we were enjoying a glass of wine...looking out on the garden and nine rabbits shot out.  NINE rabbits went to the garden.

 

I hate shooting them.  I really do, but we won't have any garden if we don't.

 

So, rabbit for dinner tomorrow.  

 

[Wayne]

8 minutes ago, Shelby said:

 

 

I hate shooting them.  I really do, but we won't have any garden if we don't.

 

So, rabbit for dinner tomorrow.  

 

 

Glad you posted it. I know I will have a similar one in the next few weeks and was debating whether to post it or not. And yes it will become dinner.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Wayne (log)

[HungryChris]

13 minutes ago, Shelby said:

 

I hate shooting them.  I really do, but we won't have any garden if we don't.

 

So, rabbit for dinner tomorrow.  

I know the feeling. Been there, done that.

I thought I had a good relationship with them. They stayed on the lawn and out of my garden....until I saw this one guy take a sample bite out of a ripe tomato, then another, then another, trying to find one that was just right. That was air gun, last straw territory for me.

HC

Edited May 3, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[Shelby]

Thanks, guys, I feel better knowing you understand.

 

All rabbits will be eaten, I promise.

[Norm Matthews]

I love small furry animals.  Especially with a good gravy.

 

[shain]

No rabbits in my place. Only porcupines and vipers.

The porcupines are a couple (probably male and female) and don't do much damage ever since I fanced the plants. They mostly eat fallen fruits and nuts. They even manage to break macadamia nuts! I was told that they are supposedly quite tasty. 

The vipers gets the hoe, whenever I find myself in front of one. Even being a vegetarian, I can't allow them being around my pets... Quite magnificent beasts they are, I hate having to kill them. 

[ElainaA]

I had several years of losing most of my beans and peas to rabbits and woodchucks in my fenced garden. I had a trench dug 6"deep around the bottom of the fence and fencing buried at an angle facing out. Haven't had a problem in the garden since. Except from the #@!&# mice and voles that eat my beets. Nothing I have found stops them. 

 

Edited to add - rabbit makes great pasta sauce as well as stew. 

Edited May 4, 2016 by ElainaA (log)

[Martin Fisher]

30 minutes ago, ElainaA said:

Except from the #@!&# mice and voles that eat my beets. Nothing I have found stops them.

 

In all my years of — mostly rural — gardening/farming (35+years) I've had minimal trouble with rabbits, woodchucks, deer, etc.

Voles, on the other hand, are nothing but pure evil!

 

Here's one of my posts from another forum back when I still had the farm......

 

"Yes, voles are pure evil! LOL

 

They're the worst warm blooded pest on my place, they'll nibble on almost anything in the garden..beets...potatoes...carrots..... tomatoes...you name it.

I've reached almost 100% control with 4 measures....a shallow trench around my raised beds discourages them....cutting the grass quite short surrounding the garden area makes it easier for the hawks to get them (there are a lota hawks here)...and trapping (placed where my dogs or cats won't be bothered)...a regular unbaited mousetrap will work when placed perpendicular to their paths...they'll just run over it and SNAP! I also use a regular mousetrap under a one foot square piece of plywood baited with a small piece of apple! 
Also.....I have several 4-foot X 4-foot pieces of heavy rubberized roofing (basically, extra heavy tarp material) that I have placed on the ground around the place...my dogs will flip the pieces of roofing looking for voles... the dogs and cats both will readily munch on them!

 

Good luck!"

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@DiggingDogFarmI have never seen a cat that would tolerate a vole in the yard. We used to be overrun with them, but cats make short work of them. I have not seen one in years, although I am down to one small, elderly, but very spry and hale, female feral cat. Her name is Mista Jiggy Fur, after a stupid, but amusing Geico commercial many years ago. Females of the species have always been the best hunters in my experience. We used to have lots of snakes too, and most of the watersnakes (we have a creek that runs through the backyard) in NC are poisonous. Cats take care of them too. I have had to assist by chopping a couple big ones with a shovel. I guess snakes with their teeny tiny brains are hard to kill, and I've had cats bring them still alive twice up on the back deck and meow at the door to proudly inform me of their prowess. I can't say I feel remorse about it either; snakes seem to bring out a hatred in me.  A snake's the only animal I have ever shot, on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River. Still no feeling but relief that the threat was negated. Haven't had any in the yard lately. Cats are the best for garden patrol and rabbits soon learn to move to a safer environment when you have a good hunter or three.

 

@ShelbyI knew this day had to come if you wanted a garden this year. I think they are cute and endearing too, but there's not really a way to grow vegetables with an overpopulation of rabbits. Everyone knows how they multiply too. I hope you enjoy your rabbit dinner. I'll be looking forward to hearing how you prepare it. 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

10 hours ago, shain said:

No rabbits in my place. Only porcupines and vipers.

The porcupines are a couple (probably male and female) and don't do much damage ever since I fanced the plants. They mostly eat fallen fruits and nuts. They even manage to break macadamia nuts! I was told that they are supposedly quite tasty. 

The vipers gets the hoe, whenever I find myself in front of one. Even being a vegetarian, I can't allow them being around my pets... Quite magnificent beasts they are, I hate having to kill them. 

 

@shainyou are sitting on a goldmine of excellent eating with your macadamia nuts. They are indeed delicious, and I thought most came from Hawaii. Most that are imported to my location do, but macadamias apparently have a wider distribution. Look how much these are selling for!

 

I do not feel guilty for the snakes i have killed. They are a threat to people and your pets. I've had to take my late beloved cat to the vet several times with a swollen lower jaw, and after I described his behavior with the vipers in my yard, the vet informed me that it was probably due to snake bite. I'm very lucky he survived those incidents.

[Martin Fisher]

47 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

@DiggingDogFarmI have never seen a cat that would tolerate a vole in the yard. We used to be overrun with them, but cats make short work of them. 

 

 

 

We had 4 cats that were FAR outnumbered!

[Shelby]

One rabbit has multiplied into three that are now in my fridge.  

 

Will be thinking how I want to make them for tonight.

[shain]

6 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

@shainyou are sitting on a goldmine of excellent eating with your macadamia nuts. They are indeed delicious, and I thought most came from Hawaii. Most that are imported to my location do, but macadamias apparently have a wider distribution. Look how much these are selling for!

 

I do not feel guilty for the snakes i have killed. They are a threat to people and your pets. I've had to take my late beloved cat to the vet several times with a swollen lower jaw, and after I described his behavior with the vipers in my yard, the vet informed me that it was probably due to snake bite. I'm very lucky he survived those incidents.

 

Those macadamias are indeed delicious, but they are so hard to crack... I don't have the time to crack them all, so they sit in a box in a shady room, and hope that I'll have the time to crack them before they root  

I had the same thing happening with my cat a couple of years ago, I was told we where lucky that the sake probably just bite into his meal earlier, and was out of venom.

[HungryChris]

4 hours ago, Shelby said:

One rabbit has multiplied into three that are now in my fridge.  

 

Will be thinking how I want to make them for tonight.

Because it's Cinco de Mayo and I do see quite a few Mexican rabbit dishes when I google, like braised rabbit with mushrooms, you might pick one of those.

HC

Edited May 4, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[Shelby]

First peonies of the year.  My all-time favorite flower, hands down.

 

 

 

[kayb]

8 hours ago, Shelby said:

One rabbit has multiplied into three that are now in my fridge.  

 

Will be thinking how I want to make them for tonight.

 

Three words: Rabbit and dressing. (Lots of black pepper.)

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, Shelby said:

First peonies of the year.  My all-time favorite flower, hands down.

 

 

 

 

When I was a young orphan I had to pick peonies for commercial sale.  Not my favorite flower, unfortunately.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Sorry for your bad peony experience @JoNorvelleWalker, I can relate to that. My life went south when my mother died, too.

 

@Shelby, one of my best memories involved peonies. I have never grown them, but a gentleman visiting the State Offices of the Order of the Eastern Star with his lovely wife brought the three of us ladies working there each a huge bouquet of pink and white peonies from his garden when he came on business from far across the state to ask a favor of us. I was the one who had to do it, but after 30 years, I have forgotten what the favor even was. I still remember that beautiful bouquet of fresh picked peonies, though. 

 

And to keep this on topic, peonies flowers are edible, as well as the roots. Peony water was a popular drink in the Middle Ages, and Pliny the Elder even wrote about them. I'm not quoting that because he also said crazy stuff about woodpeckers descending to peck out your eyes if you tried to pick the flowers during the daytime.   You can easily look it up if you're interested.

 

Hibiscus are edible too and popular in Mexico and for tea in many places.

 

Another edible flower is the phalaenopsis orchid. Nice Thai restaurants use them a lot, and they seem to be trending for wedding cakes. When the buds on my indoor one open, I will leave them on the plant because they can last a month on there. As pretty as they look as decoration for food, I would rather enjoy them as long as possible.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

17 hours ago, shain said:

 

Those macadamias are indeed delicious, but they are so hard to crack... I don't have the time to crack them all, so they sit in a box in a shady room, and hope that I'll have the time to crack them before they root  

I had the same thing happening with my cat a couple of years ago, I was told we where lucky that the sake probably just bite into his meal earlier, and was out of venom.

 

I didn't realize how hard the macadamia nut is to crack, @shain. We never see them that way here. Now I understand why they are so expensive! I was sent a five pound tin of Hawaiian macadamias roasted, salted and shelled from a 65' yacht owner and his wife that visited the marina my father-in-law owned and where my husband and I worked 40 years ago. It was a token of appreciation for our hospitality. It was the first time I ever tasted them, and their gracious kindness still lives in my memory.

 

I did think they were a$$es for throwing a huge wake when they first arrived, though. When you live on the water, the no wake zone is THE LAW. There were NO WAKE buoys everywhere! They redeemed themselves though, and once we explained it, they understood and didn't do it again. That behemoth had to move very slowly to keep from tossing us lesser beings!

[Wayne]

23 hours ago, Shelby said:

One rabbit has multiplied into three that are now in my fridge.  

 

Will be thinking how I want to make them for tonight.

 

A little late but my suggestion would be Lapin a la moutarde (rabbit braised in white wine and Dijon mustard).

 

 

[Shelby]

Thanks, all for the rabbit suggestions.  I have one in the freezer and I fried and then pressure cooked the other two.  

 

We didn't see a single bunny last night.  Maybe the rest have learned a lesson.  Sigh.

 

@Thanks for the Crepes  I have nothing but good memories about peonies, too.  My mom worked part time at a peony farm when I was tiny.  She brought me a long sometimes.  I loved the big walk-in cooler that displayed row after row of peonies all wrapped up in plastic and tied with string.  Once in a while they let me (with a lot of supervision) do the machine that tied the string around the stems.  I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

 

I worked in the garden all day yesterday.  Got it all weeded again.  A lot of our tomatoes do not look good at all.  Yes.  Someone please remind me not to plant until after the 10th of May.  Sigh.  I'm going to have to replace some plants with ones from a store.  Oh well.  The onions are doing well.  And, we may have brussels sprouts yet.....the beans and peas are growing.  So, all is ok