Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back. I think some old seeds may be part of the problem. I
started onion and spinach seeds in the middle of January. Just got
the onions set out yesterday and hope to get the spinach done today.
This morning DH tilled a strip along one of the wire fences and I got
about 140 Petit Pois seeds planted. DH just came home with a bag of
sugar snap seeds to use up the rest of the space along the fence.

If I can still walk tomorrow and the rain doesn't start too early I
will get the weeds out of the rhubarb and divide some of the plants. I
also need to thin a few of the plants and fill in a couple that do not
appear to still be alive. I also have a friend who would like a few
more when I get them separated.

After that I plan to stay in the house and recuperate.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a
To find your extension office
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html

On 3/18/2015 11:25 AM, The Cook wrote:
Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back. I think some old seeds may be part of the problem. I
started onion and spinach seeds in the middle of January. Just got
the onions set out yesterday and hope to get the spinach done today.
This morning DH tilled a strip along one of the wire fences and I got
about 140 Petit Pois seeds planted. DH just came home with a bag of
sugar snap seeds to use up the rest of the space along the fence.

If I can still walk tomorrow and the rain doesn't start too early I
will get the weeds out of the rhubarb and divide some of the plants. I
also need to thin a few of the plants and fill in a couple that do not
appear to still be alive. I also have a friend who would like a few
more when I get them separated.

After that I plan to stay in the house and recuperate.

Sounds familiar to me Susan, wife planted the spring garden yesterday
under a nice, warm sun and almost 80F. Tomatoes, eggplant, sweet chiles,
green beans, etc. She's picking up one zucchini plant today while she's
out running errands. I slept most of the day yesterday and have no idea
what's going on in this old worn out body recently. Doctors having me do
multiple blood pressure and blood glucose readings and they're all over
the scale. I've had high blood pressure for years and now, all of a
sudden, the BP is dropping radically off and on.

It's a PITA as I have things to do in the garden that she can't do alone
and many other chores are going undone. At any rate the new seedlings
and plantings in general are looking good. The flower beds are blooming
like crazy. We have one bed by the porch that has Louisiana iris, Dutch
Iris, and California Poppies in it and now they've all started blooming.
The pear tree has calendula planted around the base and they're in full
bloom. Even the coral honeysuckle on the back fence is setting blooms.
It may be a beautiful spring after all, in spite of the rain we've been
getting. There's a slow drizzle falling right now.

Sounds like you and hubby are like we are, trying to keep up with
everything that needs doing. Luckily my wife is very healthy and would
rather be digging in the dirt than anything else.

The Cook wrote:

Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back. I think some old seeds may be part of the problem. I
started onion and spinach seeds in the middle of January. Just got
the onions set out yesterday and hope to get the spinach done today.
This morning DH tilled a strip along one of the wire fences and I got
about 140 Petit Pois seeds planted. DH just came home with a bag of
sugar snap seeds to use up the rest of the space along the fence.

that's a lot of doing for someone with a sore
back. glad you can still move.


If I can still walk tomorrow and the rain doesn't start too early I
will get the weeds out of the rhubarb and divide some of the plants. I
also need to thin a few of the plants and fill in a couple that do not
appear to still be alive. I also have a friend who would like a few
more when I get them separated.

it's a pretty hardy crop...


After that I plan to stay in the house and recuperate.

walking is our exercise for the off season and some times
during the gardening season we'll still walk. helps keep
my lower back happy, but if i overdo it i pay for a few
days after. stretching also has helped, but i have to do
it very carefully.

it's been cold still at night and the ground is still
frozen, but there are a few of the early flowers making
exploratory pokes above the ground. might have some
flowers soon. we didn't have any spring flooding and
the snow is mostly gone. all the snow/rain has been
going south or north of us again. ok with me for a few
more weeks. i got tons of puttering about i can do.


songbird

On 3/19/2015 7:18 PM, Derald wrote:
The Cook wrote:

Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back.
Lord knows, it's going slowly here, too, but largely due to
indolence, not to infirmity. Sorry to read that you're literally, "down
in the back" because I know that few things are more debilitating or
frustrating. Might be time to get those boxes up where no
bending/stooping is required.

Mine got bad enough that I bought a back brace online. Works great to
keep an old rickety back from going out again. Wife worked in garden all
day wearing the brace herself and is feeling okay.

Pulled the scallions and garlic chives today, washed, topped, planted a
couple of each back in the ground. Rest are being chopped and dehydrated
for later use and for the descendants to use also.

Had to take more buds off one of the blueberry plants today, thing is
persistent about making berries. I sometimes miss the massive gardens of
old and then I think about our backs and age and am then thankful for an
eighth of those gardens.

Raining again after a beautiful day in the low eighties with lots of
sunshine. Saving money on the water bill right now. Got to get out there
tomorrow and test the soaker hoses and set up the watering system for
summer, shouldn't take long.

On Thu, 19 Mar 2015 19:18:54 -0500, Derald wrote:

The Cook wrote:

Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back.
Lord knows, it's going slowly here, too, but largely due to
indolence, not to infirmity. Sorry to read that you're literally, "down
in the back" because I know that few things are more debilitating or
frustrating. Might be time to get those boxes up where no
bending/stooping is required.

Last year was the real looser. I was waiting for back surgery. When
I finally got to see the Neurosurgeon he mentioned physical therapy or
Epidual Steroid shots. I told him that I had already "been there,
done that" to both. Had the surgery and am much better but still have
to be careful about bending and lifting. Mostly I am trying to regain
strength since I was pretty much flat on my back from May to
September. Water exercise is really helping.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a
To find your extension office
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html

On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 09:08:35 -0500, Derald wrote:

The Cook wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2015 19:18:54 -0500, Derald wrote:

The Cook wrote:

Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back.
Lord knows, it's going slowly here, too, but largely due to
indolence, not to infirmity. Sorry to read that you're literally, "down
in the back" because I know that few things are more debilitating or
frustrating. Might be time to get those boxes up where no
bending/stooping is required.

Last year was the real looser. I was waiting for back surgery. When
I finally got to see the Neurosurgeon he mentioned physical therapy or
Epidual Steroid shots. I told him that I had already "been there,
done that" to both. Had the surgery and am much better but still have
to be careful about bending and lifting. Mostly I am trying to regain
strength since I was pretty much flat on my back from May to
September. Water exercise is really helping.
Gratifying to read that the surgery appears to have been
successful. We with no back ailments cannot grok the debilitating
effect of even minor spine ailments. Add my "voice" to the chorus of
DON'T "OVERDO"!

Thanks for the encouragement. Rhubarb all done, at least the weeds
have been removed. Took 2 days. Now just waiting for the tomato and
pepper seeds to finish germinating and will then move them to larger
quarters. They are taking their own sweet time. I think that the
middle of April is average last frost here but do not plan to set
these out until the first part May. The weather has been so crazy
this year that I don't want to take a chance. I probably should start
the squash and cucumbers seed before too long. I am sure that I will
think of something else I should or want to plant.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a
To find your extension office
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html

On 3/22/2015 12:47 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Mine got bad enough that I bought a back brace online. Works great to
keep an old rickety back from going out again. Wife worked in garden all
day wearing the brace herself and is feeling okay.

Pulled the scallions and garlic chives today, washed, topped, planted a
couple of each back in the ground. Rest are being chopped and dehydrated
for later use and for the descendants to use also.
I have onions blooming. They have the full attention of
swallowtail and longwing butterflies, as well as of native "wild" bees
and wasps. We've had just enough rain and fog to induce the spiderwort
to bloom and I notice that it diverted the honeybees from the onions.
Spiderwort blossoms don't last very long, though. I'm pretty easy on
the honeybees this time of year. They're mostly strays from the
blueberry operations down the road and are pretty easy to control. I
don't dehydrate much anymore; I just pay the electricity co-op to keep
the freezer running. I do, however, intend to try dehydrating a little
home grown ginger within the next few days.

Had to take more buds off one of the blueberry plants today, thing is
persistent about making berries.
The only blueberries here are "improved" highbush cultivars with
cute names such as, "Misty" and "Gulf Coast". They all tend to
overproduce and have to be thinned fairly ruthlessly, early on. No
native highbush, to the best of my knowledge, and the rabbiteyes are
only for the truly dedicated. Their range pretty much ends about ninety
miles north of me. Picking commercial berries should start in early
April; the season lasts two or three weeks and then the commercial
market dies by the end of April when the berries further northward come
in on a much larger scale. Afterward, a few of the farmers shift over
to pick-your-own.
The blueberries we planted all have fancy names too, all are southern
high bush cultivars and seem to be doing well in the new raised bed. I'm
grateful for the builders putting five feet of Houston gumbo clay in
here before building the homes. If they hadn't we would all have been
flooded by now.

I sometimes miss the massive gardens of
old and then I think about our backs and age and am then thankful for an
eighth of those gardens.
I grew up in a gardening household but we never dealt with anything
more than small kitchen gardens. Within my family, the generation
immediately preceding mine got over that farming stuff and began
converting their "truck" acreage to citrus. Of course, now many of the
orange groves are becoming house groves....
My Dad grew up in a sharecropper family in Central Louisiana and taught
me all about gardening and farming. Mom was half breed Cherokee and grew
up doing stoop labor and being someone's maid or housekeeper. They did
pretty good for themselves as adults and yet they never lost the urge to
plant and preserve their own food. Wife's folks were college educated in
the twenties, one an artist, the other an architect, but gardened to
survive when young and during the Great Depression. My wife is the only
one of five kids that is still gardening seriously. I guess it's a
disease that is passed on to children. Both our kids have, at least, a
salad garden. But only one grandchild gardens.

Raining again after a beautiful day in the low eighties with lots of
sunshine. Saving money on the water bill right now. Got to get out there
tomorrow and test the soaker hoses and set up the watering system for
summer, shouldn't take long.
I wish we had some of that rain you're getting. Spring is one of
our two "dry" seasons but this March has been exceptional. Are you
using those black soaker hose things made from shredded tires? Man, my
experience with those was terrible! Finally replaced them all with 1
gal/hr/ft dripline, which cost less (online) and, so far, is holding up
much better.

I will be looking at drip lining later on. First set of soakers I bought
lasted ten years but I also know how to repair them when they do leak so
they keep lasting. Now if SWMBO doesn't prong one with a shovel or hoe
maybe the new ones will last. She's dangerous around tools of any kind.
I try to keep her busy painting watercolors and playing with flowers.

We're getting intermittent showers mixed with lovely sunshine and about
a two knot north wind. Still to wet to plow in farmer language.

On 3/22/2015 1:24 PM, The Cook wrote:
On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 09:08:35 -0500, Derald wrote:

The Cook wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2015 19:18:54 -0500, Derald wrote:

The Cook wrote:

Things are going very slowly this year. Partly the weather and partly
my back.
Lord knows, it's going slowly here, too, but largely due to
indolence, not to infirmity. Sorry to read that you're literally, "down
in the back" because I know that few things are more debilitating or
frustrating. Might be time to get those boxes up where no
bending/stooping is required.

Last year was the real looser. I was waiting for back surgery. When
I finally got to see the Neurosurgeon he mentioned physical therapy or
Epidual Steroid shots. I told him that I had already "been there,
done that" to both. Had the surgery and am much better but still have
to be careful about bending and lifting. Mostly I am trying to regain
strength since I was pretty much flat on my back from May to
September. Water exercise is really helping.
Gratifying to read that the surgery appears to have been
successful. We with no back ailments cannot grok the debilitating
effect of even minor spine ailments. Add my "voice" to the chorus of
DON'T "OVERDO"!

Thanks for the encouragement. Rhubarb all done, at least the weeds
have been removed. Took 2 days. Now just waiting for the tomato and
pepper seeds to finish germinating and will then move them to larger
quarters. They are taking their own sweet time. I think that the
middle of April is average last frost here but do not plan to set
these out until the first part May. The weather has been so crazy
this year that I don't want to take a chance. I probably should start
the squash and cucumbers seed before too long. I am sure that I will
think of something else I should or want to plant.

Green beans are just breaking the surface here. We remembered to put the
stuff on them that helps speed things up. Radishes are up also. No sign
of cukes as yet but we have lots of lettuce, spinach, chard, etc. up and
growing. I have visions of big salads in the near future. The dawg
doesn't understand why we eat weeds when we have meat handy. Just looks
at what we're eating and quits begging. I think I hear a nap calling me
or is that just the dawg snoring?

Derald wrote:
....
I wish we had some of that rain you're getting. Spring is one of
our two "dry" seasons but this March has been exceptional. Are you
using those black soaker hose things made from shredded tires? Man, my
experience with those was terrible! Finally replaced them all with 1
gal/hr/ft dripline, which cost less (online) and, so far, is holding up
much better.

Ma insisted a few years ago that we use soaker
hoses and bought the cheapest kind, just like you
describe.

one run worked ok, but by the end of the season
i was not liking how they ended up. the tomatoes
had much less flavor than usual.

in the process of taking up the hoses at the end
of the season one broke off right at the end with
the connection to the multiplier valves. i bought
a replacement connector but she threw the soaker
hose away before i could fix it. i'm not sure i
really would have been able to as it was very
crumbly material -- probably would have ripped...

last year was wet enough i didn't do too much
irrigating.

so far this spring has been dry for us. cold and
sunny today. might get some rain this week, but i
don't believe it until i see it.

piles of leaves brought over from a friend.
unfortunately, a lot of trash in them. going to
have to go through it before digging it in.
stupid waste of time for me, but i'm lucky to
have the time right now for this sort of thing.


songbird