Gardening: (2016– )

[KennethT]

11 minutes ago, TicTac said:

So jealous of those fresh Asspergass (sorry, it's what this household - aka the rugrats - refers to them as...!) 

 

They are one of the veggies that truly degrades the moment you pick them - hence why keeping them in water is advised.  Then again if it is a 2 minute walk to the kitchen, who needs water!? 

 

 

I have an old cookbook from Joel Robuchon who basically said that if you don't use asparagus within an hour of when it was picked, don't bother using them at all!!!  I think that's a little extreme, but I thought of it when reading your comment.

[TicTac]

Joel clearly knows his food - but as you said, even that is a bit extreme.

 

Fresh cut spears into cool water do the job nicely for a few days, at least.

 

 

 

 

[kayb]

I'm behind. Tomatoes and peppers are in, herbs are going in today, but I have not yet planted potatoes, onions, or any of the seed garden. Hope to get that done today. Life has conspired against me this week. Starting an asparagus bed this year; I've lived in this house for five years, so I don't guess I'm moving any time soon.

 

There will be green beans, lima beans, peas, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, okra, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. And Sugar Baby watermelons and some kind of small cantaloupe. I'm thinking since I've waited so late, I may wait and plant the broccoli, cauliflower and sprouts on up in July and let them be fall bearers.

 

[kayb]

Well. I am closer to caught up than I was in the last post. Today, I replaced the tomato plants that didn't make it because of the delay in planting them, and added another pepper plant (ancho). I planted the herbs, and noticed that the rosemary has vanished, apparently having fallen victim to the rampant sage (I think that's what it was closest to). I tilled and planted the seed garden -- squash, cucumbers, lima beans, carrots, cabbage, radishes, pole beans. Decided I'd waited too late to plant the sugar snaps, the broccoli, the cauliflower, the Brussels sprouts, the leeks, and the cauliflower, so I'll hang on to those seeds and plant them next year. 

 

Tomatoes, planted and caged. Better Boy, Arkansas Traveler, Brandywine, Cherokee purple, yellow and red cherry, and Roma. Peppers in the background, though I'm not sure you can see them; pimiento, ancho, cubanelle, Thai hot.

 

\

The herbs that overwintered/reseeded: Bronze fennel, sage, thyme, oregano, copious amounts of mint I should have never planted in the bed itself. I added to the pots, dill and onion and garlic chives and interspersed them in.

 

There was rosemary, earlier this year, and it's vanished. I think the thyme and the sage ate it. Must get some rosemary.

 

 

And the new ones planted today: Purple basil, regular basil, marjoram, and back in the back where you can barely see them, badly wilted cilantro and parsley. 

 

Still to come: Must plant the melons (no room in the seed garden, as I opted for an extra row of pole beans instead). Must put together, fill and plant the raised beds (one with asparagus, one with potatoes and onions). I think I can squeeze a few hills of melons in along the edge of the raised beds, at each end of the long garden. Will hope to get to that Saturday or Sunday. Right now, I'm so sore and tired I can barely move.

 

[HungryChris]

This dwarf pear tree lost all it's blossoms to a late frost last year and the year before that, the deer ravaged it just before I was ready to pick. I plan on putting deer fence up this time and am hoping for better luck.

HC

[kayb]

1 hour ago, HungryChris said:

This dwarf pear tree lost all it's blossoms to a late frost last year and the year before that, the deer ravaged it just before I was ready to pick. I plan on putting deer fence up this time and am hoping for better luck.

HC

 

Just a word to the wise -- if it looks like it's going to bear heavily, you may want to be prepared to prop up heavily-laden branches. We had a Pineapple Pear tree that regularly shed branches because they'd be so heavy they'd just split off from the truck. We'd prop them up with 2 x 4s, because those pears made the finest pear preserves going, and did NOT need to be wasted.

[HungryChris]

4 hours ago, kayb said:

 

Just a word to the wise -- if it looks like it's going to bear heavily, you may want to be prepared to prop up heavily-laden branches. We had a Pineapple Pear tree that regularly shed branches because they'd be so heavy they'd just split off from the truck. We'd prop them up with 2 x 4s, because those pears made the finest pear preserves going, and did NOT need to be wasted.

I honestly don't remember ever seeing so many blossoms on this tree ever before. Every spring, I try to identify second year branches as I understand that is where the blossoms will appear. It looks like I have done well this year.  I take your advice to heart and will watch it like a hawk.

HC

 

[Okanagancook]

Yes, for sure, thin the potential fruit.  Being done here by hand on the apricot tress which are in blossom at the moment.  Apple thinning Is done by spraying a special chemical. 

 

 

[Smithy]

Apricot trees! Oh, lucky you!

[chromedome]

I'll be able to start planting in a few weeks' time, so I've got my seedlings started in the front porch. 

 

I was delighted to find that there's a variety of okra that grows well in our northerly climate (I can take their word for it, because the seed is grown locally as well). It's the Clemson Spineless 80, which I'm told produces lovely blossoms as a bonus. I wouldn't know, I've never seen okra growing. This will be the first time in many years that I've had a full-sized garden to work with (usually, if anything, I've had to content myself with a few herbs and lettuces artfully concealed in a flower bed). I'm rather looking forward to it. 

[kayb]

Clemson spineless is good okra. When you pick it, it's a good idea to wear a long-sleeved shirt, as the leaves have a stickery "fuzz" on them that can make you itch something fierce. And like all okra, it has tough stems, so carry a knife or kitchen shears to cut it from the plant, rather than just pulling it.

 

[dcarch]

young okra leaves are edible.

 

dcarch

[Martin Fisher]

On 4/21/2018 at 3:01 PM, dcarch said:

cow manure is grass without the beef.

 

Cattle manure can be MUCH more than grass.

In fact, grass often isn't a component.

[Okanagancook]

On 2018-05-04 at 8:21 PM, Smithy said:

Apricot trees! Oh, lucky you!

The trees are not mine.  There is an apricot block on our street.  A block being two acres.  We live in fruit and wine country.  Those are commercial fruit so we don’t get any but we have several friends with trees so there never any shortage.

[chromedome]

I remember thumbing through the Okanagan on my way to Vancouver for the first time, back in the early 80s. One of my rides gifted me with a box of the biggest, ripest, juiciest peaches I'd ever seen in my life. You couldn't eat one without juice up to your elbows, it was ridiculous (in a good way, I hasten to point out). 

[Shelby]

I've been in the garden since 8:45 this morning.  It's now 1:30.  Like @kayb I am one tired, sore person.

 

I weeded the potato patch and the onions.  That took forever.  

 

Planted:

 

33 tomato plants (about that many more in the greenhouse that will be ready at the end of the week--so around 60 total this year)

100 seeds of corn (new variety this year called Nirvana--with a name like that, how could it be bad?)

3  rows of lettuce

7 rows of beans

4 yellow squash (probably do 4 zucchini later this week)

4 rows of okra

3 hills of watermelon

2 cucumber plants (will get more from the nursery this week)

6 jalapeno plants

3 bell plants (sorry @rotuts just scroll on by this part)

3 banana pepper plants

3 poblano pepper plants

 

Will get a couple eggplant plants this week.

 

I need a shower.

[kayb]

49 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I've been in the garden since 8:45 this morning.  It's now 1:30.  Like @kayb I am one tired, sore person.

 

I weeded the potato patch and the onions.  That took forever.  

 

Planted:

 

33 tomato plants (about that many more in the greenhouse that will be ready at the end of the week--so around 60 total this year)

100 seeds of corn (new variety this year called Nirvana--with a name like that, how could it be bad?)

3  rows of lettuce

7 rows of beans

4 yellow squash (probably do 4 zucchini later this week)

4 rows of okra

3 hills of watermelon

2 cucumber plants (will get more from the nursery this week)

6 jalapeno plants

3 bell plants (sorry @rotuts just scroll on by this part)

3 banana pepper plants

3 poblano pepper plants

 

Will get a couple eggplant plants this week.

 

I need a shower.

 

You put me to shame. I still have the raised beds to do, and the seed garden needs hoeing, but before that, the hoe needs sharpening, and before that, this twingy muscle in my back needs to quit.

 

[dcarch]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I've been in the garden since 8:45 this morning.  It's now 1:30.  Like @kayb I am one tired, sore person.

 

Go take a  bath. You are filthy and stinky. I can smell you all the way here in NY.   

I just came in the house to change for some dry underwear, for the fourth time. Looking at the weather report, I need to get the work done as much as I can today.

 

A couple more hours of digging, then call pizza. A long bath and many cold beers for me.

 

dcarch

 

Edited May 6, 2018 by dcarch (log)

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

 

You put me to shame. I still have the raised beds to do, and the seed garden needs hoeing, but before that, the hoe needs sharpening, and before that, this twingy muscle in my back needs to quit.

 

Nah, you have done a TON of work!

 

I have a twinge going on, too.  I am hoping this glass of wine calms it down.

21 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

Go take a  bath. You are filthy and stinky. I can smell you all the way here in NY.   

I just came in the house to change for some dry underwear, for the fourth time. Looking at the weather report, I need to get the work done as much as I can today.

 

A couple more hours of digging, then call pizza. A long bath and many cold beers for me.

 

dcarch

 

 

I guarantee you could smell me up there.  I was RIPE.

 

 

Oh how I wish I could call in a pizza.  That sounds SO good.

[KennethT]

Just finished adding a LCD and some buttons to my farden controller. Now I can check the temp, humidity and CO2 concentration from outside the tent without plugging in a computer.

[Shelby]

Planted more yesterday.  

 

2 eggplant

2 basil

5 more cucumbers

35 or so tomatoes

 

Then I weeded.  Have I mentioned how much I hate weeding lol.

 

The corn, okra and beans are all poking through the ground.....they germinated very quickly this year.  The soil must have been at optimal temps.

[ChocoMom]

Well....today, my daughters limed my garden and hubby just plowed it! YAY!     My seeds arrive tomorrow. I can't do anything until June because of the frost...but I can plan! .....  And, it will give this *#!@$%^& knee time to heal. ( I'm in a lot of pain at the moment, and quite angry about this injury.)

[kayb]

Went out early and weeded about two bushels of crabgrass and johnson grass out of the garden and got some fertilizer on the tomatoes before the rain chased me inside. Determined I do not have a hoe sharp enough to cut the bermuda in the garden, where it seems to grow MUCH better than it does in the yard. 

 

Everything seems to be coming along apace. Need to get some okra in. Two rows of pole beans and a row of bush limas are growing nicely, as are the melons, carrots, cabbages, radishes, squash and cucumbers. I've lost one tomato; the other 14 look great. 

 

Out front, the mint is doing the mint thing; will be making some mint chutney soon to get rid of some of it. Sage, thyme and oregano are prolific, as is tarragon. Basil is slow, and the cilantro and parsley did not take hold and need to be replanted. Still don't have the raised beds in; it's at the point of being too late now, although as long as the growing season's been the last couple of years, I could probably still get a year's growth in.

 

I didn't plant lettuces this year. Heresy, I know. Not a huge salad eater.

 

[Shelby]

38 minutes ago, kayb said:

Went out early and weeded about two bushels of crabgrass and johnson grass out of the garden and got some fertilizer on the tomatoes before the rain chased me inside. Determined I do not have a hoe sharp enough to cut the bermuda in the garden, where it seems to grow MUCH better than it does in the yard. 

 

Everything seems to be coming along apace. Need to get some okra in. Two rows of pole beans and a row of bush limas are growing nicely, as are the melons, carrots, cabbages, radishes, squash and cucumbers. I've lost one tomato; the other 14 look great. 

 

Out front, the mint is doing the mint thing; will be making some mint chutney soon to get rid of some of it. Sage, thyme and oregano are prolific, as is tarragon. Basil is slow, and the cilantro and parsley did not take hold and need to be replanted. Still don't have the raised beds in; it's at the point of being too late now, although as long as the growing season's been the last couple of years, I could probably still get a year's growth in.

 

I didn't plant lettuces this year. Heresy, I know. Not a huge salad eater.

 

Oh good job!!!!  I truly know how hard it is to keep up with the weeding.  And yeah, the damn bermuda does awesome in the middle of the garden sigh.

 

I need to get out there.  I weeded Tuesday morning, but it's already needing it again--this poison ivy is in a spot on my leg that makes bending over and weeding extremely uncomfortable.   

[dcarch]

Other than for aesthetic reasons, I have not found most weeds to be that detrimental to  garden productivity.

 

This year's weeds are next years tomatoes. More compost, weeds improve soil.

 

dcarch