On 5/23/2017 8:47 AM, Pavel314 wrote:
On Monday, May 22, 2017 at 6:06:56 PM UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
On 5/22/2017 4:46 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 5/22/2017 4:23 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
I tilled, hilled, seeded, and watered-in the pumpkin patch yesterday.
I planted eight varieties of pumpkins and winter squash. I planted
several varieties that we planted for the first time last year and
found very good, including Red October and Butterscotch. Also a few
new ones; Queensland Blue, Dill Atlantic Giant, and Georgia Candy
Roaster. Will give you a review of them this fall.

Paul

I'll do vines in a couple of days because it's supposed to rain
tomorrow . Today I tilled and transplanted all my tomatoes and peppers .
Also planted okra and three varieties of field peas - red rippers ,
skunk peas , and whippoorwill peas . I'm like a month behind my usual
timetable , between house building and just plain feeling like crap .
Probably not really a bad thing , we had a late freeze just a couple of
weeks ago and the weather has been really weird here with unusual cold
spells and a lot of rain .

I should get up enough ambition to go spread straw on the garden , but
I'm just whupped for now . Hope to beat the rain tomorrow and get it
down so the rain is slowed from running off . Not that I need the
moisture right now , but my garden is on a slight slope and if I don't
slow the runoff it washes the soil away . I've worked too hard to
restore it from when I didn't realize the damage I was allowing .

Our small gardens are full of good stuff growing fast. We're harvesting
tomatoes about every other day, the lettuce is gone now as the heat hits
it. The cucumber plants are a display of yellow flowers but no cukes as
yet. The beans are flowering and setting fruit. All of the other plants
are doing well and, today, we got roughly 1.5 inches of rain and more to
come.

The back gate had the latch board break off and I was going to put a new
one on today but, it is raining. Hoping for a break in weather tomorrow
I will put the new board in place. I have emailed at least five fencing
companies in this area as we want to replace the back fence, which is
deteriorating rapidly, but everyone seems to be busy. Lots of new homes
going in Harris Cty, Texas so reckon the fencers are locked. I guess I
will have to get the two eldest grandsons, in their early thirties over
to help us get it done. This time I'm putting in galvanized steel posts
and cedar fencing. The present fence was put in 2007 and should have
lasted longer.

The fig tree has about six figs on it and the pear tree has one pear,
plus the kumquat has not flowered yet, we still hope. Had two back to
back days of 21F in January and that is rare in our area. Of course the
!@#$% grass still grows fast. I need to get out and power wash the
driveway and sidewalk as the fall rains left a light coating of black
mold on them. It's always something with houses and land.

Day before yesterday my wife of 57 years hit her 77th birthday, she
always catches up to me on May 20th, I will go up a year in September so
she can still claim she's "a lot" younger than me. G

George

Our fig tree has figs forming already but they generally don't ripen before the first frost puts it into dormant mode. We did get a batch of figs one year, they were very good. Hope for an edible crop this year.

We have what turned out to be a fig bush instead of a fig tree. It puts out a couple of dozen stalks each year; they get about four feet high, but no branching or solid trunk. I bought it at an Italian restaurant/deli a few years back and all they knew about it was that it was a fig plant.

Paul
Maryland, North of Baltimore

My wife was raised in St. Mary's County, Maryland. We met when I was in
the flying Navy and have been together 59 years come June. She's headed
that way this week to celebrate her eldest brother's eightieth birthday.
She turned 77 on 5/20 and each year in May she catches up with me. I
will be 78 in September and it doesn't even bother me anymore. G