In article
George Shirley writes:

That's what winter is for for gardeners. That and perusing the seed
catalogs that will be coming in shortly. We're always trying something
new for our climate, might be some new stuff in the catalogs.

BEWARE!! gardening is almost as bad as drugs, once you're addicted it
seems all the seed companies find out and send you beautiful catalogs.

That is part of my mental survival strategy for Ohio winters,
especially the February part. My stance is that once the seed
catalogs arrive, winter is obviously finished.

When there are pictures of ripe tomatoes, frost must be running
away briskly.

And don't tell me I'm wrong, because I won't be listening.
If it doesn't work form my wife, it won't work for you.


A couple more not-so-standard companies found me this year, and
they will be straining my seed starting capacity next year, I think.

BSEG

Beautifully seeded early garden, I will insist on [naively] reading.

--
Drew Lawson | I told them we had learned to change
| our swordblades into plows.
| I told them they should learn from us
| what should I tell them now?

On 11/07/2015 09:56 PM, Derald wrote:
You're at a latitude where, it seems to me, one gardens
from frost to frost

well stated

On 11/7/2015 11:56 PM, Derald wrote:
T wrote:

I think it is time for me to start plotting and scheming about
next years plant.
Perhaps. You're at a latitude where, it seems to me, one gardens
from frost to frost ;-) My only experiece is in a warm climate, which
definitely suits.

I've always thought that SE Texas was a warm climate until a cold front
moved in last night. Woke up cold, now waiting on the coffee pot to do
its job.

Took a look out the back door, looks like the tomatoes have bit the
dust, not sure about the sweet chiles and the eggplant but one can only
hope. The eggplant and chile crops this year were absolutely tremendous.
Thankfully my wife loves eggplant fritters cause the freezer is full of
them and chopped chiles.

On 11/8/2015 11:26 AM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

I've always thought that SE Texas was a warm climate until a cold front
moved in last night. Woke up cold, now waiting on the coffee pot to do
its job.
Yeah, been watching the front on the box hopeful of a little rain
but not terribly optimistic. Temps not likely to get below "cool", I
hope ;-)

We've had about twelve inches of rain in the last two or three weeks.
After years of drought it seems the rain gods are finally figuring out
we need the stuff.

Up early this morning, no rain, sun is shining brightly again and the
wind has switched out of the north. Looks to be a fairly decent day.
Need to pick eggplant and sweet chiles and pull up the last of the
tomatoes. Winter veggies are coming along nicely, looking forward to the
leaf lettuce and all the other salad fixings. I do like a nice salad
with home grown stuff in it.

On 11/8/2015 3:22 PM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

We've had about twelve inches of rain in the last two or three weeks.
After years of drought it seems the rain gods are finally figuring out
we need the stuff.
Yeah, I been hearing about the weather on a Texas radio station.
We had an abnormally dry October here and NBT has set two or three high
temp records within the past few days.

Up early this morning, no rain, sun is shining brightly again and the
wind has switched out of the north. Looks to be a fairly decent day.
Need to pick eggplant and sweet chiles and pull up the last of the
tomatoes. Winter veggies are coming along nicely, looking forward to the
leaf lettuce and all the other salad fixings. I do like a nice salad
with home grown stuff in it.
Tomatoes are good 'til Thanksgiving most years down here and into
December occasionally. My biggest cold weather concern is usually the
"English" garden peas. They're usually pretty well into early
production when coldest weather arrives in February. The blossoms and
young pods are extremely tender.
No eggplant this year. Still have some in the freezer and my only
neighbor who cooks has no taste for the stuff. My late field peas and
okra finally are done. Cut down the last of the okra plants yesterday.
A few pea vines remain because they host colonies of plump little
aphids. When the weather cools a bit more, those vines will be done for
and the aphids on their own.
Got a few greens coming along. Hot weather has stalled the garden
peas (two varieties), broccoli, and cauliflower. Scarlet Nantes carrots
germinated but two other varieties did not—soil's still too warm, I
guess.

We grew a monster crop of okra five years ago, there's still a half
dozen packages in the freezer. I only like okra fried or in a gumbo so
they don't get used much. I reckon it's time to go through the freezer
and check dates and condition again. Need to clean the fridge again and
check the freezer that's the other half, where the meat is. There's
always something that needs doing. Still need to wash the walls in the
master bath, then put on a primer coat and then the finish coat. Wife is
wanting, finally, to repaint the rest of this house. Getting tired of
the colors put on by the sellers in 2012 and get her colors up. I'm
getting to old for ladders and hard labor, may just hire someone to do
it under her supervision.

The only good thing about getting old is that is better than the
alternative.

George Shirley wrote:
On 11/7/2015 11:56 PM, Derald wrote:
T wrote:

I think it is time for me to start plotting and scheming about
next years plant.
Perhaps. You're at a latitude where, it seems to me, one gardens
from frost to frost ;-) My only experiece is in a warm climate, which
definitely suits.

I've always thought that SE Texas was a warm climate until a cold front
moved in last night. Woke up cold, now waiting on the coffee pot to do
its job.

wow! surprised the cold got that far south
that quickly. we had a hard frost last night
and will get another tonight.


Took a look out the back door, looks like the tomatoes have bit the
dust, not sure about the sweet chiles and the eggplant but one can only
hope. The eggplant and chile crops this year were absolutely tremendous.
Thankfully my wife loves eggplant fritters cause the freezer is full of
them and chopped chiles.

yes, definitely our best year for sweet red chili peppers
(aka red peppers) by far.


songbird

On 11/9/2015 8:50 AM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

The only good thing about getting old is that is better than the
alternative.
Oh, I don't know.... I know one old guy who is enjoying the
lowered expectations of the world at large: Hell, old farts are
_expected_ to dither.

Yeah, I know some too, I'm still married to the same woman for 55 years. G

I have a list of places I go, the barbershop, the grocery store, a
nearby Big Lots, and the library, mostly to the library. Wife likes
trips, the dog and I like it when she's on one but are also happy when
she gets home. We have two kids, five grand kids, and six great grands,
we live within a few miles of all of them but we seldom see them,
they're young and busy, we're old and lazy.

I've been declared dead twice by doctors but I'm still here so there
must be something in my favor. Could be a loving dog and a garden to
peruse and sometimes am allowed to work on and in. It could be worse, I
could be in prison or dead. I just take it a day at a time and try to
stay happy.

Picked a two-gallon bucket of sweet peppers and eggplant today and the
damned things are blooming again. Also picked enough greens from the
winter garden to make a nice salad for dinner tonight. Believe it or not
the honey bees are swarming our flower beds and gardens, winter must be
close, there were hundreds of them out there today.

George Shirley wrote:
Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

The only good thing about getting old is that is better than the
alternative.
Oh, I don't know.... I know one old guy who is enjoying the
lowered expectations of the world at large: Hell, old farts are
_expected_ to dither.

Yeah, I know some too, I'm still married to the same woman for 55 years. G

i think it's great that someone can be with someone
else for that long.


I have a list of places I go, the barbershop, the grocery store, a
nearby Big Lots, and the library, mostly to the library. Wife likes
trips, the dog and I like it when she's on one but are also happy when
she gets home. We have two kids, five grand kids, and six great grands,
we live within a few miles of all of them but we seldom see them,
they're young and busy, we're old and lazy.

i always get a smile remembering someone sing a song
called, "How can I miss you if you won't go away?" as
it pretty much describes me and how much of a homebody
i can be. luckily the balance here is doing fine as
Ma goes out and visits her friends and does stuff and
that gives me time to do other things. the other night
when she was out i played some rock concerts and was
a general pest to the neighboring animals for a change.



I've been declared dead twice by doctors but I'm still here so there
must be something in my favor. Could be a loving dog and a garden to
peruse and sometimes am allowed to work on and in. It could be worse, I
could be in prison or dead. I just take it a day at a time and try to
stay happy.

perhaps they could tell how pickled you were already?
i dunno, my own philosophy has been that
every day is a gift and to try to enjoy it as much as i
can, but it wasn't until i was 25 or so that i reached
a more stable and even approach. happiness is to some
extent a choice. i was born premie and had several
episodes of not breathing and such that were caught by
the nurses. i'm quiet, hate loud noises (especially
in the morning) and really appreciate a good hug, a
good book and the gardens here...


Picked a two-gallon bucket of sweet peppers and eggplant today and the
damned things are blooming again. Also picked enough greens from the
winter garden to make a nice salad for dinner tonight. Believe it or not
the honey bees are swarming our flower beds and gardens, winter must be
close, there were hundreds of them out there today.

not seen any bees around lately. just found a
very tiny nest of some kind of bee on a branch of
a cedar tree, a small mud nest that looks like a
tiny little pot. i've kept it so i can take a
picture of it sometime (when i get a camera again).

fresh green salads... we'll be on California
rations again now *sigh* for fresh stuff and using
up what we've put up. started talking about making
some shortcakes again already.

we've had enough hard frosts now that nothing is
left other than a few dry bean pods that i'll find as
i rake up and bury the plants. the brussels sprouts
are out now, carrots are out, beets are out and
pickled.

we've had the live trap out seeing if we could get
the raccoon that has been going around and moving
things and digging in some areas. up until last
night we've had no luck but finally it is in the
trap this morning, we'll take it for a trip later to
a better home. we also saw yesterday the semi-feral
cat that has been coming through now hunting rabbits
etc. it's not a particularly large cat, but it makes
up for size by being persistent. weeks ago i saw
the tail end of a chase where it caught a rabbit that
was nearly as large as the cat. it's welcome to
what it can catch out there, the coyotes and foxes
don't seem to come in this close and so we always
seem to have rabbits and chipmunks around (even after
trapping nearly 40 of them this season). mice and
voles applenty too.


songbird

On 11/8/2015 11:26 AM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

I've always thought that SE Texas was a warm climate until a cold front
moved in last night. Woke up cold, now waiting on the coffee pot to do
its job.
Yeah, been watching the front on the box hopeful of a little rain
but not terribly optimistic. Temps not likely to get below "cool", I
hope ;-)

It's hot here again, 1249 and 74F, muggy, looks like more rain, heavily
overcast, had to turn the AC on again.

Damned eggplant and sweet chiles are still making like crazy, neighbors
hide when they see us coming up their walk with a bag in hand.

Went to local stupor market, scored some very good beef from the "used
meat bin." Ran into middle grandson, shot two deer on his hunt, probably
help him butcher and vacuum seal the meat. Of course we get a share.

George

On 11/11/2015 9:38 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

The only good thing about getting old is that is better than the
alternative.
Oh, I don't know.... I know one old guy who is enjoying the
lowered expectations of the world at large: Hell, old farts are
_expected_ to dither.

Yeah, I know some too, I'm still married to the same woman for 55 years. G

i think it's great that someone can be with someone
else for that long.


I have a list of places I go, the barbershop, the grocery store, a
nearby Big Lots, and the library, mostly to the library. Wife likes
trips, the dog and I like it when she's on one but are also happy when
she gets home. We have two kids, five grand kids, and six great grands,
we live within a few miles of all of them but we seldom see them,
they're young and busy, we're old and lazy.

i always get a smile remembering someone sing a song
called, "How can I miss you if you won't go away?" as
it pretty much describes me and how much of a homebody
i can be. luckily the balance here is doing fine as
Ma goes out and visits her friends and does stuff and
that gives me time to do other things. the other night
when she was out i played some rock concerts and was
a general pest to the neighboring animals for a change.



I've been declared dead twice by doctors but I'm still here so there
must be something in my favor. Could be a loving dog and a garden to
peruse and sometimes am allowed to work on and in. It could be worse, I
could be in prison or dead. I just take it a day at a time and try to
stay happy.

perhaps they could tell how pickled you were already?
i dunno, my own philosophy has been that
every day is a gift and to try to enjoy it as much as i
can, but it wasn't until i was 25 or so that i reached
a more stable and even approach. happiness is to some
extent a choice. i was born premie and had several
episodes of not breathing and such that were caught by
the nurses. i'm quiet, hate loud noises (especially
in the morning) and really appreciate a good hug, a
good book and the gardens here...


Picked a two-gallon bucket of sweet peppers and eggplant today and the
damned things are blooming again. Also picked enough greens from the
winter garden to make a nice salad for dinner tonight. Believe it or not
the honey bees are swarming our flower beds and gardens, winter must be
close, there were hundreds of them out there today.

not seen any bees around lately. just found a
very tiny nest of some kind of bee on a branch of
a cedar tree, a small mud nest that looks like a
tiny little pot. i've kept it so i can take a
picture of it sometime (when i get a camera again).
Mason bees make mud hives, single bees, lay their eggs in them and then
die. We have all of them, European honey bees, African bees (not many
hives though), Mason and Carpenter bees (Carpenter bees can be a pest as
they drill into wood and make their nest), and good old bumble bees. Not
to mention another pollinator that we see infrequently, bee flies, have
saved our crops several times over the years.

fresh green salads... we'll be on California
rations again now *sigh* for fresh stuff and using
up what we've put up. started talking about making
some shortcakes again already.

We get most of our fresh stuff from the Rio Grande valley and from
Mexico, most of it really good.

we've had enough hard frosts now that nothing is
left other than a few dry bean pods that i'll find as
i rake up and bury the plants. the brussels sprouts
are out now, carrots are out, beets are out and
pickled.

we've had the live trap out seeing if we could get
the raccoon that has been going around and moving
things and digging in some areas. up until last
night we've had no luck but finally it is in the
trap this morning, we'll take it for a trip later to
a better home. we also saw yesterday the semi-feral
cat that has been coming through now hunting rabbits
etc. it's not a particularly large cat, but it makes
up for size by being persistent. weeks ago i saw
the tail end of a chase where it caught a rabbit that
was nearly as large as the cat. it's welcome to
what it can catch out there, the coyotes and foxes
don't seem to come in this close and so we always
seem to have rabbits and chipmunks around (even after
trapping nearly 40 of them this season). mice and
voles applenty too.


songbird

I think I have some nice recipes around here for raccoon, wood chuck,
and chipmunk. Let me know if you need them. I used to market hunt wild
rabbits when I was a boy. Sold the skin and the meat, back then a couple
of bucks for a rabbit was good money, pretty much equal to two hours
work at the refinery for my Dad. Waaay in the past though.

George Shirley wrote:
....
I think I have some nice recipes around here for raccoon, wood chuck,
and chipmunk. Let me know if you need them. I used to market hunt wild
rabbits when I was a boy. Sold the skin and the meat, back then a couple
of bucks for a rabbit was good money, pretty much equal to two hours
work at the refinery for my Dad. Waaay in the past though.

if i knew someone who'd kill/clean/skin it i might
be willing to try cooking it, but we don't "take them
for a ride" aka what the mafiosi would do, but take
them for a ride and release them from the trap in a
better place for them to live than here.

caught another one last night.


songbird