Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
Warming weather, blue skies, temps around 70F and up. Looks like spring
is almost here. Tearing out the winter garden in bits. If it looks like it might bear a bit longer we let it live. Eggplants are gone, one sweet chili left with at least two fruit on it. Lots of chard, spinach, mesclun mix, beets and other greens to harvest. Will do our best for those. Soon we will be going to our favorite garden store and picking up tomatoes, eggplant, sweet chiles, etc. Black crowder peas came in yesterday from Victory Seeds, will plant those along the back fence with string to climb. Have seeds for green beans and everything else we will plant. The kumquat tree still has about a dozen fruit on it that will be picked tomorrow. We make a tossed salad with sliced kumquat fruit mixed in that is very tasty. Fig and pear trees are starting to put on buds. Need to prune the pear tree, to many "rain" limbs on that one. Won't take long to lop them off and set the limbs aside for possible smoking meat later in the year. We're hoping to get at least a small crop of the Tenousi pears, a mix of European and Asian pears that is supposed to be tasty. Tenousi is self pollinating according to the ag agent. The blueberries are starting to put on buds too, seems the Christmas tree limbs we laid around the bushes are helping as they slowly turn into a nice mulch. Need to find a place to rake up a bushel or two of pine needles to help with the blueberries, they need the acid of those plants. We've been getting some days up into the mid-seventies that make me happy. I could not survive somewhere it gets cold and stays that way for months. I guess it is because the USN ship I was on in '58-'59 was always poking around the Atlantic ice shield looking for Russian subs. Never found one but it was always cold on the bridge, my duty station. I reckon we Texans from SE Texas just never adapt to cold. I was 18 years old before I ever saw snow and that wasn't in Texas. George |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
George Shirley wrote:
Warming weather, blue skies, temps around 70F and up. Looks like spring is almost here. Tearing out the winter garden in bits. If it looks like it might bear a bit longer we let it live. Eggplants are gone, one sweet chili left with at least two fruit on it. Lots of chard, spinach, mesclun mix, beets and other greens to harvest. Will do our best for those. Soon we will be going to our favorite garden store and picking up tomatoes, eggplant, sweet chiles, etc. Black crowder peas came in yesterday from Victory Seeds, will plant those along the back fence with string to climb. Have seeds for green beans and everything else we will plant. The kumquat tree still has about a dozen fruit on it that will be picked tomorrow. We make a tossed salad with sliced kumquat fruit mixed in that is very tasty. Fig and pear trees are starting to put on buds. Need to prune the pear tree, to many "rain" limbs on that one. Won't take long to lop them off and set the limbs aside for possible smoking meat later in the year. We're hoping to get at least a small crop of the Tenousi pears, a mix of European and Asian pears that is supposed to be tasty. Tenousi is self pollinating according to the ag agent. The blueberries are starting to put on buds too, seems the Christmas tree limbs we laid around the bushes are helping as they slowly turn into a nice mulch. Need to find a place to rake up a bushel or two of pine needles to help with the blueberries, they need the acid of those plants. We've been getting some days up into the mid-seventies that make me happy. I could not survive somewhere it gets cold and stays that way for months. I guess it is because the USN ship I was on in '58-'59 was always poking around the Atlantic ice shield looking for Russian subs. Never found one but it was always cold on the bridge, my duty station. I reckon we Texans from SE Texas just never adapt to cold. I was 18 years old before I ever saw snow and that wasn't in Texas. George Rub it in, George. I'm getting snow, changing over to sleet and freezing rain this afternoon here in SE VA. I am planning on getting the timer set up for my plant light and starting some seeds: broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce. Later I'll add in some tomatoes and other warmer weather seeds once we get closer to a real spring. Last year's garden was a disaster. Planted out a month later than usual due to colder weather lasting an extra month, then in the summer it was too dry and too hot and too buggy for anything to produce well. But we're gardeners! We'll try again next year and every year with the undying hope that things work out. Besides, it's like playing the lottery; if you don't play you can't win. Having had a few jackpot gardens in the past, a repeat is always something to try for. Nyssa, who is staying indoors until this white stuff goes away |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
On 2/15/2016 9:14 AM, Nyssa wrote:
George Shirley wrote: Warming weather, blue skies, temps around 70F and up. Looks like spring is almost here. Tearing out the winter garden in bits. If it looks like it might bear a bit longer we let it live. Eggplants are gone, one sweet chili left with at least two fruit on it. Lots of chard, spinach, mesclun mix, beets and other greens to harvest. Will do our best for those. Soon we will be going to our favorite garden store and picking up tomatoes, eggplant, sweet chiles, etc. Black crowder peas came in yesterday from Victory Seeds, will plant those along the back fence with string to climb. Have seeds for green beans and everything else we will plant. The kumquat tree still has about a dozen fruit on it that will be picked tomorrow. We make a tossed salad with sliced kumquat fruit mixed in that is very tasty. Fig and pear trees are starting to put on buds. Need to prune the pear tree, to many "rain" limbs on that one. Won't take long to lop them off and set the limbs aside for possible smoking meat later in the year. We're hoping to get at least a small crop of the Tenousi pears, a mix of European and Asian pears that is supposed to be tasty. Tenousi is self pollinating according to the ag agent. The blueberries are starting to put on buds too, seems the Christmas tree limbs we laid around the bushes are helping as they slowly turn into a nice mulch. Need to find a place to rake up a bushel or two of pine needles to help with the blueberries, they need the acid of those plants. We've been getting some days up into the mid-seventies that make me happy. I could not survive somewhere it gets cold and stays that way for months. I guess it is because the USN ship I was on in '58-'59 was always poking around the Atlantic ice shield looking for Russian subs. Never found one but it was always cold on the bridge, my duty station. I reckon we Texans from SE Texas just never adapt to cold. I was 18 years old before I ever saw snow and that wasn't in Texas. George Rub it in, George. I'm getting snow, changing over to sleet and freezing rain this afternoon here in SE VA. I am planning on getting the timer set up for my plant light and starting some seeds: broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce. Later I'll add in some tomatoes and other warmer weather seeds once we get closer to a real spring. Last year's garden was a disaster. Planted out a month later than usual due to colder weather lasting an extra month, then in the summer it was too dry and too hot and too buggy for anything to produce well. But we're gardeners! We'll try again next year and every year with the undying hope that things work out. Besides, it's like playing the lottery; if you don't play you can't win. Having had a few jackpot gardens in the past, a repeat is always something to try for. Nyssa, who is staying indoors until this white stuff goes away Yeah, we're hearing the same song as yours from my wife's siblings in Southern Maryland. They've been hit with lots of snow at least twice this winter. Weird weather seems to occur at least every other year. Last year we had tons of rain, several folks died in floods, lots of property damage. We're hoping for moderate rain this year. Doesn't cost that much to water our wee little gardens but raised beds like ours need more rain than gardens directly earth planted. I'm down in my back again so won't be doing much stooping this season. Thank goodness for the garden seat that rolls. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
On 2/17/2016 10:03 AM, Derald wrote:
Still have time to start tomatoes if I'm going to grow them this year. Most years, I don't. Eggplant, too. Man, I can't even _give_ eggplant away around here. Except for peppers, I don't, as a rule, start transplants but just wait 'til we have a couple of weeks with nights over about 45-50 and plant tomatoes, eggplant, and basil outside where they're going to live. This year, those all will be in containers. Late tomatoes need an early start because the "spring" season is short, made more-so by the containers. We're trying to eat up all the eggplant delights in the freezer. Had burgers and eggplant fritters for dinner last night. Looking in the big freezer it appears that my dear wife has put up about six bags of fritters, five more containers of ratatouille, another six containers of eggplant stew. I'm afraid to look for more. G Victory Seeds! Yay! I got zipper cream seeds from them. They, Southern Exposure, and Sustainable Seeds are my three main sources for store-bought seeds. Unfortunately, unless one is quick to telephone and request it do otherwise, S.E. penalizes online customers with an (unrequested) end-of-year paper catalog. The pages are too small to be of much use in starting the wood heater but they do compost. My first order from Victory, won't be the last. I have a bookmark with nothing but seed companies in it and am trying to get back to the tried and true heirloom seeds. I generally send all the useless catalogs to the recycling bin. Now that we've bought a worm bin and are about ready to start setting it up I may just use the catalog pages for worm food and bedding. We're going to use red wigglers as they are good composters. Have not seen a regular earthworm on this property yet. A fairly large number of commercial growers is just down the road from me. They all grow hybrids that were engineered to produce large berries in warm winter climates (with human intervention). The shallow-rooted blueberry plants are above grade directly in/on shredded pine bark, which is top-dressed with fresh stuff annually, immediately after plants are pruned. At the same time, they're fed a commercial slow-release azalea or citrus (acidifying) fertilizer plus a healthy soaking with humic acid. I may be wrong, but AFAIK pine needles do little to acidify soil. Probably right there Derald but it does make a nice root cover and is very cheap around here. Until they built the new subdivision behind us I could go onto that property, covered with pine forest, and rake up all the pine needles I needed. Same here. My first winter experience came while I was in USN "A" school in Maryland and the second in Boston (I was in USS Boston's last crew). Man, I can't imagine the circumstance that would compel me to return. I taught at the Navy schools there in Maryland for about three months. Teaching YN's the "new" Navy format for filing. The WAVE boot camp and schools were there so it was interesting to say the least. Beat the heck out of cruising the Arctic ice but, alas, had to go back to that, just in time for a Caribbean cruise. G |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
On 2/18/2016 12:05 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote: We're trying to eat up all the eggplant delights in the freezer. Had burgers and eggplant fritters for dinner last night. Looking in the big freezer it appears that my dear wife has put up about six bags of fritters, five more containers of ratatouille, another six containers of eggplant stew. I'm afraid to look for more. G +1! My first order from Victory, won't be the last. I have a bookmark with nothing but seed companies in it and am trying to get back to the tried and true heirloom seeds. Well, I only grow open pollinated varieties but don't pay much attention to the "heirloom" appellation because it seems to have become a rather flexible marketing term within the past 25-30 years or so. I only have four seedsmen bookmarked. In addition to the three mentioned, I get good results from Reimer. Many in the NG rely on Johnny's and on Baker Creek (online as rareseeds.com, IIRC). I generally send all the useless catalogs to the recycling bin. Now that we've bought a worm bin and are about ready to start setting it up I may just use the catalog pages for worm food and bedding. We're going to use red wigglers as they are good composters. Have not seen a regular earthworm on this property yet. Earthworms would not be in my garden beds naturally: Native soil is sandy with nothing much to eat. I introduce them with compost and with "leaf mold", where they are abundant, and keep them well fed with my soil amendments. So far we have found no native earthworms on our property. Most likely because there is five feet or more of clay fill under the property, covered with a couple of inches of sand. We put some native earthworms we bought into the raised beds last year, nary a sign of them since. We're setting the bin up today or tomorrow to get it ready for the red wigglers. Hoping for worm castings to add to our gardens eventually. We have a barrel composter but it takes months to make decent compost with it. We will run both I guess. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
In article ,
George Shirley wrote: My first order from Victory, won't be the last. I have a bookmark with nothing but seed companies in it and am trying to get back to the tried and true heirloom seeds. Not sure how well they play with you Southern folks, but Fedco Seeds from Maine is well worth a look, IME, IMHO. Where there is overlap, prices are MUCH nicer than Johhny's (but, they don't have nearly the slick shiny color catalog business to support. They just recently got web ordering - used to be mail in orders even from the website.) -- Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Spring is upon us
On 2/18/2016 4:00 PM, Ecnerwal wrote:
In article , George Shirley wrote: My first order from Victory, won't be the last. I have a bookmark with nothing but seed companies in it and am trying to get back to the tried and true heirloom seeds. Not sure how well they play with you Southern folks, but Fedco Seeds from Maine is well worth a look, IME, IMHO. Where there is overlap, prices are MUCH nicer than Johhny's (but, they don't have nearly the slick shiny color catalog business to support. They just recently got web ordering - used to be mail in orders even from the website.) I have Fedco bookmarked for some time, just have not ordered from them as yet. I gave up on Johnny's Seeds after using them for several years. The last two orders from them were really messed up, wrong seeds, etc. I returned them and haven't ordered since. I prefer buying seed from the small companies like Victory and Fedco than buying from the big, high dollar catalogs that come in all the time as I've had bad luck and bad seeds from some of them. We save our own seeds on some heirloom plants we like. Seems to work pretty good. |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Good morning or good evening depending upon your location. I want to ask you the most important question of your life. Your joy or sorrow for all eternity depends upon your answer. The question is: Are you saved? It is not a question of how good | United Kingdom | |||
Chili peppers lose their sting upon drying? | Edible Gardening | |||
2003 Bread Upon the Waters Project | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
2003 Bread Upon the Waters Project | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
2003 Bread Upon the Waters Project | Freshwater Aquaria Plants |