Billy wrote in

ct.net.au:

While the sitting president and the potential Presidential
candidates are good sources for garden fertilizer, if you
have you can vote for a third party candidate without
scaring yourself, I would strongly recommend it. The
Democrats will win in California, so I can safely vote for
anyone else. I truly can only see a nickel's worth of
difference in the candidates. All of them would keep us
mired in, what I see as, a phony "war on terrorism", keep
troops in the middle east, and leave is with this abortion
of a farm bill.

fortunately that bit of stupidity seems to be hung up in the
"system"... indeed fortunate, because it makes NAIS mandatory.
perhaps i could farm without livestock, but i don't want to.
i also don't want to register my premises with the Feds for
the "privilege" of owning a horse, goat, sheep, llama, cow,
pig or a few chickens. not their business & not in any way
going to "protect the National Herd"

Speaking of agriculture, my two dwarf peach trees are
flowering and I have some wild onions that need a
reapplication of newsprint and mulch. Bought an artichoke
yesterday and now need to put it in the ground with another
one that I have in a pot (It was in the ground but was
being pillaged by rampaging gastropods. Speaking of
gastropods, while your garden is still damp is the time to
get out there and give them a good dose of iron
phosphate.). I plan to separate them (the artichokes, not
the gastropods) by five to six feet. Think that's enough? I
hope to get some echinacea and a half dozen or so mammoth
sunflowers to grow around them. This will be in front
(south side) of a trellis for bitter melons.

i think you should separate the gastropods by at least 6 feet
too...
i'd love to grow artichokes (my kid's favorite veggie!) but
they don't like my climate. i really need a greenhouse.
i have some old type echinacea (purplish pink). are any of
the newer colored cultivars non-patented & suitable for
medicinals? i won't plant anything with a patent if i can
avoid it. i think plant patents are one of the modern evils.

I tried some fancy mesculim salad mixes last year. All were
disasters that only left me with arugula, which grows like
a weed here, and which I can't stand the taste of.

my tortoises love arugala & it's very good for them. is your
area too warm for mesculin mix? how does mustard do there, or
don't you like that either?

This
year it is back to romaine, lolo rosso, and the basics. I
was told that my purslane (omega-3 rich) would become an
invasive weed but so far, no sign of its' return.

you want purslane? i have that *everywhere* in my garden. it's
invasive here, but the chickens do keep it in check (& i get
omega-3 rich eggs)

Most of my herbs, known and unknown, made it through the
winter although the local gray squirrels pawed through them
looking for something to eat. I was surprised to see the
bird feeder down in sunflower seed. I've heard birds,
including our blue colored jays (happy?) but I haven't seen
any at the feeder which is mostly for wrens and bushtits.

wrens like smaller seeds, or shelled sunflower seed, or at
least east coast wrens do. i mix smaller seed, like millet, in
with rendered beef suet so as not to attract English sparrows.

Sunday, looks like a barbecue day here (full Sun and temps
in the high 60Fs. I'll carp my diem while I can. Who knows
how long it will last?

my weather says Sunny, high around 37 for Sunday. good. i'll
get some sap we've got about 10 gallons in the freezer, but
we're really pushing the season still. another 5 gallons &
we'll boil it down with the 10 (15 gal) to 5 gallons & brew a
nice maple beer with it.

lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.