In article ,
rachael simpson wrote:

Jan Flora wrote:
In article ,
rachael simpson wrote:


A cottonmouth. Hmm. *shudder*

yeah, me too! i know there are some on here who will probably rant on
me about killing it.......but to each their own.......i'd rather *get*
it, than it *get* me or the kids.........

I killed every rattlesnake that wandered into my yard,
when I lived down yonder. They're delicious.

I also kill porcupines that wander into camp more than
once. Been through it with the dog too many times.
Porkies are good if you parboil the fat off, then
BBQ them. (Porcupines are survival food. You aren't
supposed to kill them unless you're in a survival situation,
because a starving person can kill one with a stick.
But I got *so* tired of pulling quills that I declared
my yard to be a "zero tolerance" zone.

A side note: if you ever kill a porkie or find a dead
one on the road, throw an old towel or something on it,
so the quills will stick to the towel. Then give the
quills to your Indian girlfriends. They make earrings
and stuff with the quills. (I wear beaded quill earrings
for "go to meeting" jewelry.)

I'd rather put up with a short gardening season than
deal with snakes.

My Blue Lake beans are just coming up, in the greenhouse.
(Yes, my season is *that* short.) But the 'mater plants
are loaded with fruit and the yellow crookneck has both
fruit and blooms on it.

I overwintered a Sweet Hungarian Pepper in the kitchen
last year. It grew fruit until very late in the winter,
looked crappy for awhile, then started cranking out
peppers again in about March, when we got daylight
again. It's almost 3' tall and looking pretty good.

hadn't tried the hungarian variety. how's it taste and compare to others?

They're delicious. Give them a try, if you get a chance.
Mild, sweet with a little tang. Very good.

The daylilies & sweet peas are all in bloom. I'm happy : )

got a few daylilies too, mainly hydrangea, moonflowers, and roses. loved
the flowers on the sweet peas, but those have played out here.

A couple of neighbors just gave me some rugosa roses. They'll
make it here, if I can keep my chickens from digging them up.
Had to make little chicken-wire doilies to put around the
feet of every bush I've planted this summer. The hens are
nosy. They like to scratch where I've been digging.

The hens eat so many bugs and so many weeds that it makes
more sense to fence them *out* of where I don't want them.
My yard is about an acre. The biddies have free run of the
place, except the veggie garden, which is moose-fenced.


Jan in Alaska

rae

Jan