Gardening: (2016– )

dcarch · February 10, 2020

1 hour ago, haresfur said:

I'm thinking of seeing how they do as a ground cover out front. I have an unused raised bed, too.

That should work.

Insects, rabbits don't seem to like them.

dcarch

sartoric · February 17, 2020

Here’s a garden update !
The veggie bed is going great after a weed and a feed, plus my handyman has installed a door to make it easier to get in and out.

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A neighbour gave us a mature bunya pine cone.
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They’re easy to pull apart to remove the seeds.

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Apparently, the easiest way to prepare them is to boil for a couple hours. Said to taste like chestnuts....there will be a stir fry in the future.

Gratuitous mango shot here. I’ve made pickle, chutney and this lot are destined for the freezer. These are just the ones that have fallen off the tree. I’m giving them away as fast as I can, typically though, nearly everyone I know also has a tree.

This was yesterday’s pick up, there’s another eleven on the back deck from this morning

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Happy days in paradise.

KennethT · February 17, 2020

If only international shipping wasn't so expensive, I would be thrilled to take them off your hands!

KennethT · March 21, 2020

I wasn't planning on any gardening until I moved into our new apartment, but it seems like that won't be happening for quite a while. Our new building is currently not allowing renovations or workpeople in the building and I imagine that is going to last for at least 1-2 months. Then I've got probably about 2months of renovations. So, since I won't be going anywhere for a while, I figured now would be a good time to start up my indoor garden again... so far planned: herbs like cilantro, mint, lemongrass, rau ram (vietnamese coriander)...

Margaret Pilgrim · March 21, 2020

I won't dignify it by calling it gardening but we periodically harvest mache and sorrel from a galvanized stock water tank. The mache is volunteer, year after year, while the sorrel, once started, just GROWS. Also several clumps of chard which I hope will supply greens during these sketchy times.

Mache = salad material, and may become a cooked green

Sorrel

Today's sorrel soup

I wish i had had better foresight several months ago in terms of a useful greens patch.

**Shelby** · March 21, 2020

I ordered my seeds, seed potatoes (red and Yukon Gold!) and onion sets a while back. I was kind of worried I wouldn't get them due to being sold out or mailing problems because of how times are now, but they came Friday. Ground is too wet to plant, but hoping to get in the garden the end of next week for the taters and onions. Hoping I have some lettuce seeds somewhere. I didn't order any because it bolts so soon here in hot Kansas. Now, I don't care if it bolts soon because who knows if lettuce will be available in the store.

chromedome · March 21, 2020

51 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Hoping I have some lettuce seeds somewhere. I didn't order any because it bolts so soon here in hot Kansas. Now, I don't care if it bolts soon because who knows if lettuce will be available in the store.

The logistics are often hard to organize, but I always try to find a spot where my lettuce gets morning sun and afternoon shade. It seems to help (though NB certainly doesn't get as hot as Kansas, I'm sure...).

Also planting at frequent intervals, so you always have some coming along when the earlier batch bolts, is helpful.

shain · March 22, 2020

A short garden tour.

chromedome · March 22, 2020

Not nearly as exciting, where I am. My "garden tour" would show the last couple inches of melting snow, with mud and a few green shoots beneath.

Here where I live (my garden is outside the city, about 40 minutes by hwy and ferry) the snow is gone and grass is starting to grow. Saw my first caterpillar and a couple of flies yesterday. It's rare that "real" spring arrives in close conjunction with "calendar" spring (usually March feels more like "late winter") but this year that's how it worked out.

kayb · March 22, 2020

I guess, since it seems to be intent on raining forever, I'll garden hydroponically. I think it'll be July before my yard dries out enough to get a garden spot ready.

heidih · March 26, 2020

On 3/22/2020 at 10:05 AM, shain said:

A short garden tour.

Lupine are my childhood favorite. We had a big hillside above us. The odd juxtaposition of a radar station and a lush lupine field.

heidih · March 26, 2020

In an Uber Sunday I noticed the vines pruned way back on a road adjacent vineyard. Amazing how they shoot back. The windbreak is olives so that cool combo of dusty grey olives and bright green new growth of the grapes = stunning.

chromedome · March 26, 2020

5 hours ago, heidih said:

Lupine are my childhood favorite. We had a big hillside above us. The odd juxtaposition of a radar station and a lush lupine field.

My ex-wife's grandmother grew lupine in her garden at the farm in northern BC (just outside Fort St. John), though it was always a struggle.

I vividly remember my ex's shock after we moved to NS, and she saw them growing wild along the highway embankments for several km at a stretch. They do so here in NB as well, though not as lavishly.

**Shelby** · March 29, 2020

Just came in from planting yellow, white and red onions along with red potatoes and Yukon gold taters. Oh and some lettuce (old seeds we will see if they grow) and Pak Choi (experiment, never planted it before...might be too hot already here).

KennethT · March 29, 2020

I just ordered some plant starts from Well Sweep herb garden for things that are either too slow to grow from seed, stuff I can't find seeds for, or stuff that's just plain hard to find in general... I ordered a curry-leaf plant, lemongrass, sawtooth coriander (culantro), kaffir lime (I don't think it's a whole tree - probably a cutting from a tree, which is fine since I only want the leaves), and some rau ram (vietnamese coriander). They're in NJ and I asked them to ship on the days that seemed like they'd be the warmest this week so they survive the day in transit

sartoric · March 30, 2020

We’re having a seedling and seed shortage here, probably due to panic buying by non gardeners. Heard someone walked out of a nursery with broccoli seedlings saying “yay, broccoli in 2 weeks” yeah right.

The Tibouchina is flowering, a beautiful colour. Shame about the bare patch, a product of the recent drought, it will be pruned back heavily soon.

We’re harvesting lots of mizuna for leafy green dishes.

We’ve also got lettuce (cos and butter) sufficient for current needs, a large butternut squash patch, jap pumpkin, sweet potato and regular potatoes. These first little guys are destined to be steamed and slathered in butter. I will do this while husband is in his shed, there’s not enough to share, lol.

We have also picked okra and two types of green beans.
This is a huegelkulture bed, I think we’ll plant cauliflower and broccoli (if we can get seeds somehow). Behind it the kumquat tree is full of fruit, they are slowly ripening. The brandy is waiting.

A weird one - this is wild tobacco, should be pulled as it’s a weed. However, it’s also said to be a great substitute for toilet paper...keeping this one in the ground.

heidih · March 30, 2020

@sartoric That s an amazingly deeply colored "tib". We have lots but more pink. Great assortment of vegetables. Unpredictable harvests inspire creativity. My old kumquat had younguns during drought with no supplemental water. Thus small fruit and very seedy. Fragrant though. This little bowl had this many seeds (a water issue - self preservation). I got the jam too dark so no image but it has a "deep" flavor, We had a good bit of rain last 2 weeks and are expecting 10F jump in temps this week so the fruit should be juicier in a couple weeks.

Edited March 30, 2020 by heidih (log)

sartoric · March 30, 2020

19 hours ago, heidih said:

@sartoric That s an amazingly deeply colored "tib". We have lots but more pink. Great assortment of vegetables. Unpredictable harvests inspire creativity. My old kumquat had younguns during drought with no supplemental water. Thus small fruit and very seedy. Fragrant though. This little bowl had this many seeds (a water issue - self preservation). I got the jam too dark so no image but it has a "deep" flavor, We had a good bit of rain last 2 weeks and are expecting 10F jump in temps this week so the fruit should be juicier in a couple weeks.

Are your kumquats fruiting now ? Is my tree out of whack, or yours ?

heidih · March 30, 2020

5 minutes ago, sartoric said:

Are your kumquats fruiting now ? Is my tree out of whack, or yours ?

Usually December is start of prime citrus but our weather was so off track. Plus we had no water for a long time so who knows. The oranges are very showy now. Here us 1.

sartoric · March 30, 2020

6 minutes ago, heidih said:

Usually December is start of prime citrus but our weather was so off track. Plus we had no water for a long time so who knows. The oranges are very showy now. Here us 1.

Wow, my orange tree is only a few weeks from looking exactly the same. We’ve had lots of mandarins from tree 1, and tree 2 is ripening now. Also had big drought of course. One theory is the trees all thought they’d die in the prolonged drought, so were desperate to reproduce. I reckon that’s how we got 90 odd mangos from a smallish tree.

Edited March 30, 2020 by sartoric
Fix typo (log)

Anna N · March 31, 2020

On 3/29/2020 at 11:19 PM, sartoric said:

A weird one - this is wild tobacco, should be pulled as it’s a weed. However, it’s also said to be a great substitute for toilet paper...keeping this one in the ground.

😂

dcarch · April 3, 2020

On Page 62, I posted my new way of winterizing fig tree using foam insulation borads.

Today, moment of truth. I opened the insulation to find out what's going on inside.

Very nice! not only the branches didn't die off like all the other winters, tthey actually starting to sprout.

So I did the second phase of my experiment, turn the insulation foam boards into a vertical temporary green house , using also insulating clear Twinwall panels.

Hoping for early figs.

dcarch

heidih · April 3, 2020

1 hour ago, dcarch said:

On Page 62, I posted my new way of winterizing fig tree using foam insulation borads.

Today, moment of truth. I opened the insulation to find out what's going on inside.

Hoping for early figs.

dcarch

Good result! Always interesting to see what people strive for in a climate not suited to the desired plant. My north England friend just went along when his mum crowed about her jade overwintering. A weed to us. We always seem to want what we can't have like lilacs and blueberries in S California - though Monrovia and other growers have created hybrids. We really have trouble with rhubarb and other veggies that like a very cold cycle. And I would love to experience a maple tapped and taste that first light dribble before boiling syrup.