On 5/9/2014 12:02 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Wife likes turnips but she's of German descent, I'm Native American and
English and I don't eat turnips. In my youth they were grown as animal
fodder. Wife planted spring carrots again, I know for a fact they will
not mature. Our temps here in Harris Cty, TX are already in the low to
mid eighties. We are getting a light rain drizzle right now and we badly
need it.

Last week I installed all new soaker hoses in the raised beds and they
seem to be working better than the rain we don't get.
I used soaker hoses for a few years. They were those black things
constructed of shredded tires. I wish now that I'd put the money I
****ed away on them into drip irrigation, which I now use.

Crowder peas are climbing the fence
Two questions:

What variety of peas;
Can (and will) you provide a trusted source for certified seed?
Can't, we save seed every year and have for about fifty years. My family
used to grow black crowders developed by a great uncle of mine back in
the nineteen teens in Central Louisiana. My Mom tossed the frozen seeds
when she moved to a nursing home while I was working overseas. Lost that
strain so just bought some plain crowders at a farm store in Orange, TX,
been saving seed every since we came home from Saudi in 1986. I reckon
they're heirlooms now. G They were in a bulk bin at the store at about
ten cents a lb at the time. The pods get about six to eight inches long
and about as big around as a grown man's little finger with eight to
twelve peas in the pod. Easy to string and shuck and taste good. There
are some good heirloom seed places online though.

I'd be happy with most any heirloom variety of crowder or conch
peas. Any change from blackeyes and pinkeyes is welcome.

Last spring, a nostalgia attack induced the planting of "zipper
cream" crowders purchased from an organic seed exchange; mistake.
Resulted in a bad experience and three beds that "technically" should be
quarantined to legumes for three years. Looks like I'm back to more
resistant varieties until I can find a source for disease-free seeds;
bummer.

, Hopi red lima beans are climbing
their netting as are the cukes. We actually have little tomatoes and
cukes making and an eggplant is about ready to pick, the fruit is bigger
than the plant.
It'll be interesting to have a correspondent whose gardening year
more closely resembles mine than do those of the other participants in
the NG. Shoot: Where I am, even the Carolinas is "up north" ;-) I'm a
little south of you at a latitude closer to that of Corpus Christi so
the solar timetable is similar but with warmer winters. We only had one
frost this year, not unusual.
What's your USDA heat zone, we're probably much cooler than you as we
are in heat zone 8b. In SW Louisiana we were in 9b, edging into 10,
probably more like your area. In a normal year we plant in late
February, this year we had frost, hail, sleet, and snow into April. In
Louisiana our last frost day was generally February 18.
While them folks "up there" are anticipating finally being able to
spend some meaningful time outdoors, I'm anticipating picking the green
beans that are in full enflorescence. "Contender"; new to me. Planted
on 04 April, fully emergent by 10 April and covered with flowers today.
I think they and I might be friends.
We generally grow Contender but am not growing any green beans this
year. Had a giant crop last year and canned ninety percent of it, still
got tons in the pantry. Will be good up until about mid-2015 unless the
house burns.
My cukes will get a fence wire trellis later today. In containers,
I can grow eggplant as perrenials for a few years but winter eventually
takes them out. Haven't grown eggplant for a couple of years, though,
and it seems that I may have lost the touch: Having a hard time getting
any started this year. Seeing nascent yellow squash but, if these
follow the pattern of the past few years, those blossoms will be
sacrificial due to the absence of pollenizers.
We have cukes about two inches long now, I spent an hour putting the
tendrils of the limas and cukes up on the nylon netting so they will
continue climbing. We have four foot wide raised beds so the trellises
are needed. Much smaller backyard than our old house. oh yeah, we've
been eating yellow squash since very early May. Grandson is trying to
give some of his away he has so many.

Leeks need pulling and will most likely given away to
neighbors, they're way to strong for my taste.
No leeks. Only allium are onions, garlic, chives
About twenty years a friend gave me a bag full of bunching onions. Still
have them growing. Pull the bunch, take one out, cut off the top and
replant, two months later you've got another bunch. We did that a month
ago and the replants are already bunching.

The fig tree has baby figs and the blueberries have very few berries
coming on due to a late frost. Looks like we will go to a pick-your-own
farm this year for blueberries and blackberries, the native dewberries
and blackberries didn't get enough rain this year and are small and very
seedy. I am happy for the rain we are currently getting.
Dewberries and rabbiteyes never amounted to much in this part of
Florida but the advent of heat-tolerant highbush hybrids has instigated
commercial farming, even this far south, in pursuit of the very early,
primarily Asian, market. The commercial season is pretty well over by
late April, after which some growers open up to the handy homeowner
market. Most, though, just prune and be done with it.
Native blackberries have all but disappeared from these parts but
those little tiny seedy things that travel under a different name (which
I forget) persist, although, deforestation passing as "development" is
likely, eventually, to get them, too.

In my old age I've gotten clumsy so I no longer grow anything with
briars, I end up looking like the aftermath of a scary movie with blood
all over my arms and hands. We will go to one of the better pick-you-own
places a little later this month and pick a few gallons of blackberries
and blueberries. I will can them for later use in pies and cobblers,
they're one of the easiest things to can around here.