Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

i've got tons of fresh pea pods out there, wish i had either
energy or time to harvest them.

Ma picked some today and we had them with
onions, garlic and shrimpies.


Ooooh; that must be nice. Can plant this month and have peas until
December or January. Planted again in February, they'll last 'til late
May, sometimes even into June. Man, a chair in the garden, an Anchor
Steam, fresh from the vine "Little Marvels" and Glenn Gould/JS Bach on
the box is April morning Nirvana.

we were sitting in the grass and popping the
larger pods open as we picked. i.e. we understand...
i had to plant more in the middle of summer
after the chipmunks suddenly discovered them and
cleaned out the patch i had growing. we got this
patch first (actually the lawnmower got most of
them as they were growing and flopping into the
grass). the chipmunks were working instead on the
edamame soybeans that were getting dry. i managed
to get the last of those soybeans picked yesterday
and the day before so now the little buggers are
going to have to work harder again to get a meal.

which reminds me i need to check the golden flax
plants tomorrow...


you folks aren't big on tomatoes anyways...

Yeah; DW eats more of them fresh than I. One or two tomato
sandwiches in a year's time about does it for me. We both think ketchup
is an abomination and as long as high quality tomatoes and tomato sauce
are available and affordable, there seems little point to trying to grow
and "can" either when my limited space can be better purposed, from our
POV. Truth is, I hope that my "canning" days are gone, never to return.

if you don't use several gallons every once in
a while. when Ma cooks it tends to involve quantities
larger than a quart or two. it wouldn't be a minor
expense.

plus there's a difference between your place and
ours as we can't grow winter crops without getting
into major expenses.


yay for good horse poo! it smells so much better
than chicken or pig and is almost as good as fresh cow
pats for aroma. growing up next to a dairy farm makes
me roll the window down when i drive by a well run
dairy (when most others will be rolling the windows up).
smells like home...

Well, it becomes a little less idyllic when one is lying on ones
belly in the stuff for hours in the glaring sun but we'll keep that
story to ourselves, won't we? Had to replace the clutch in That Damned
Truck shortly after that adventure. I suspect a causal relationship
between those events ;-)

horse power was invoved in more than one form.
or you ride horses not the clutch.


deadheading to prevent the spread of the seeds?
yep


which wildflower?

Elephant's foot (Elephantopus carolinianus) and Spanish needles
(Bidens pilosa) are the primary, and perennial, targets. Each is
nomadic but not particularly invasive, in native habitat. However, both
are prolific and, in open "ruderal" spaces, can quickly become
pestiferous; particularly so when taking into account that Spanish
needles are easily transported in fur and clothing. In deference to
insects, we maintain three "island" colonies of each. Each spring, I
reduce their number by digging older specimens as well as those that
don't appear to be thriving; Of course, autumn deadheading reduces
reseeding.

i'm not familiar with either plant or what insects
tend to visit them. when i get back on-line i'll see
if i can check 'em out...

i was very happy to regain a low spot that had been
covered with carpeting this past spring. that's a
few more square yards of green space returned to some
kind of planting. as it is downhill from the primary
weed seed generation grassy strip it's not easy to keep
clear and it is low so it needs plants that can withstand
being submerged from time to time. grasses, clovers and
the original planting i liked in there (moneywort or
creeping charlie i think it was called) is the mix that i
will try to encourage. the space is a really wild
challenge as it does get flooded from time to time (as
designed) but it also goes fairly dry in the middle of
the summer so we need plants that can survive such a
wide range of conditions. if i'm lucky i can get some
of the moss roses (the decorative kind ) to get
going in there too. we'll avoid the mint family, oregano
or thyme as we have so much of those in other gardens.

the large drainage project is humming along. we have
filled most of it back in and the small berm along the
field is now being relocated into filling the trench.
most of what was used to build up that small berm came
from me expanding the capacity of the trench so moving
it back to fill is just another round of the usual.
over the years Ma would pile debris on that small berm
and she was commenting on how nice the soil was and how
many worms were in there. next, building the new berm...


songbird