Harvested a goodly amount of Swiss chard this afternoon. Huge leaves and
still tender. Blanched the harvest for three minutes in boiling water,
drained, put on a bun pan and into the freezer for overnight. Tomorrow
it will be vacuum packed for later use. Looks like at least eight bags
to put up tomorrow.

Still have a good sized stand of chard that we will try to eat up before
it starts to wilt in the heat. Pulled up most of the winter lettuce that
wasn't eaten already and put it into bags and into the freezer for food
for the red worms after it thaws. Might have to buy more worms to eat up
all the nice vegetable scraps we're getting. G

Planted the two tomato and two sweet chilies we're planting for spring.
Finally convinced SWMBO that we didn't need six of everything growing
and over shading each other. Tomorrow I will plant twelve feet of row
for black crowder peas. Once the green peas have stopped producing I
will add another four feet of row.

We have one Gypsy sweet chile still alive and we are thinking of pruning
it back and letting it grow to see if we can make it a perennial. Worth
a try as that plant was extremely prolific over the spring, summer, and
our mild winter for 2015.

Amended the raised beds with composted cow manure and worked it into the
whole thing. Will also put a bit more with each plant that goes in and,
possibly, for the peas to eat too.

We are very close to shorts and tee shirt weather, some days already we
have dressed that way but sometimes the next day is in the forties and
fifties. The nice sunshine today certainly felt good out in the backyard.

Emptied the composter today also, about half a bushel of very nice
compost, even smelled good. Some went into the vegetable gardens, the
rest around fruit trees and into flower beds.

George

George wrote:
....
We have one Gypsy sweet chile still alive and we are thinking of pruning
it back and letting it grow to see if we can make it a perennial. Worth
a try as that plant was extremely prolific over the spring, summer, and
our mild winter for 2015.



i'm trying to be patient...

i think peppers are very nice plants too even if
they don't get fruits on them. ours rarely make it
over 2-3ft, but they are usually prolific. getting
hungry just thinking of a decent red pepper fresh
off the vine.


Amended the raised beds with composted cow manure and worked it into the
whole thing. Will also put a bit more with each plant that goes in and,
possibly, for the peas to eat too.

wormies will enjoy it.


We are very close to shorts and tee shirt weather, some days already we
have dressed that way but sometimes the next day is in the forties and
fifties. The nice sunshine today certainly felt good out in the backyard.

hahahahaha, this morning was somewhere around 0F. will be
snowing a little tonight, some rain possible for tomorrow and
warming to 60F by Tuesday. quite a bit of this week's snow
should be melted by then, the ditches will be running and
the rivers will be up. don't think we're going to see any
flooding though. not enough snow on the ground or rains
predicted. we'll see...


Emptied the composter today also, about half a bushel of very nice
compost, even smelled good. Some went into the vegetable gardens, the
rest around fruit trees and into flower beds.

much better than throwing all that good stuff away!


songbird

On 5/03/2016 10:50 AM, George Shirley wrote:

Still have a good sized stand of chard that we will try to eat up before
it starts to wilt in the heat.

? Now that comment made me curious as mine has never wilted in heat so
long as the water is kept up to it. It's a staple in my garden year
round but especially in summer.

Here my Silver Beet (Swiss Chard in USian) powers through the summer.
We've now had weeks and weeks of mid and now late summer high
temperatures (above 86 F) and my Silver beet (chard) plants are still
putting out new leaves and powering along.


Pulled up most of the winter lettuce that
wasn't eaten already and put it into bags and into the freezer for food
for the red worms after it thaws. Might have to buy more worms to eat up
all the nice vegetable scraps we're getting. G

Planted the two tomato and two sweet chilies we're planting for spring.
Finally convinced SWMBO that we didn't need six of everything growing
and over shading each other. Tomorrow I will plant twelve feet of row
for black crowder peas. Once the green peas have stopped producing I
will add another four feet of row.

We have one Gypsy sweet chile still alive and we are thinking of pruning
it back and letting it grow to see if we can make it a perennial. Worth
a try as that plant was extremely prolific over the spring, summer, and
our mild winter for 2015.

Amended the raised beds with composted cow manure and worked it into the
whole thing. Will also put a bit more with each plant that goes in and,
possibly, for the peas to eat too.

We are very close to shorts and tee shirt weather, some days already we
have dressed that way but sometimes the next day is in the forties and
fifties. The nice sunshine today certainly felt good out in the backyard.

Emptied the composter today also, about half a bushel of very nice
compost, even smelled good. Some went into the vegetable gardens, the
rest around fruit trees and into flower beds.

George

On 3/11/2016 1:40 AM, Fran Farmer wrote:
On 5/03/2016 10:50 AM, George Shirley wrote:

Still have a good sized stand of chard that we will try to eat up before
it starts to wilt in the heat.

? Now that comment made me curious as mine has never wilted in heat so
long as the water is kept up to it. It's a staple in my garden year
round but especially in summer.

Most greens will wilt in the Texas heat Fran. Had chard in the front
flower bed, shaded from noon on, lasted two years but, eventually, it
finally died back. That flower bed is now overrun by Dwarf Barbadoes
Cherries and some creeping vine my lovely wife put in there, which will
have to be taken out soon. We get temps in the low one hundreds F
frequently during the summer. This week we've been hammered with rain,
band after band, still going on. Thinking of putting pontoons on the
vehicles just in case.

Here my Silver Beet (Swiss Chard in USian) powers through the summer.
We've now had weeks and weeks of mid and now late summer high
temperatures (above 86 F) and my Silver beet (chard) plants are still
putting out new leaves and powering along.
It's strange that the same plant has different names around the world,
used to run into that when we lived in Saudi Arabia. I guess they were
named by someone who was hoping to get rich on selling the seed.

The red wiggler worms are doing nicely and are carrying on with their
sex life as we seem to already have more worms (which is a good thing in
worm-a-culture). Gave them a shot of coffee grounds, tea leaves, and the
bags and filters too yesterday. Plus a little dose of corn meal, crushed
egg shells, and another batch of once frozen culls from the garden.
Might be able to take the great grands fishing before long.