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Old 01-10-2017, 03:43 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,072
Default october already!

i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...

garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.

i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower
this patch ever since it has been there. no reason
to mound it up really other than a few flash floods
which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to
strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding
under control well enough anyways now.

and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).

yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).

now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.

i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move
and as usual one project begets another. i've been
scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the
garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's
yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along
there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm
going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will
be brought up to the level of the neighboring path
and the whole area will be a garden i can have
several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a
narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very
productive use of the space before, but it was a
flower garden that has been removed and turned into
veggie production now). that's a few hundred more
square feet of full sun space and the soil is very
nice in there already. i'll use some of the
decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them
are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i
will then not need to do anything in there for a few
years other than to weed and top off a little at
the end of the season (after the ground freezes).

at least that is the plan...

today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).

in other news, still picking and shelling beans,
the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted
now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual
for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting
rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens
are too hard to do much with (the rest are much
nicer now after years of planting, amending and
giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire
for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or
start sprouting in the pods before i can get them
picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the
beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just
the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of
a gardener. i have planted enough varieties that
i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a
fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping
for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most
plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have
beans. at least the ones i was most worried about
not having anything from i have been able to find
some pods with beans in them now to restock a little
of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green
bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are
apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i
could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left
almost all of them because i wanted to restock the
seed supply.

tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be
taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok.
there should be a few red ones out there to harvest
in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had
a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows
full). the quality is overall very good compared to
last season. only two that i've noticed will have to
be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen).
not having much rain the past month and a half kept
the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all.

ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ...


songbird
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Old 01-10-2017, 04:04 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2014
Posts: 851
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...

Everything gets faster when you're aging. September was a good month for
us, I turned 78, wife got the fall garden, such as it is, in, the
kumquats are still getting bigger, the ten or eleven pears on the tree
are getting larger, my back still hurts. G

garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.

Hot weather, move to this part of Texas,we had several days at 100F or a
little more. Not all together but maybe once or twice a week. We're used
to it and we have air conditioning that is wonderful.

i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower
this patch ever since it has been there. no reason
to mound it up really other than a few flash floods
which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to
strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding
under control well enough anyways now.

Lots of flooding in Harris Cty, TX. Thankfully we bought a house on high
ground, 60 inches of rain that didn't bother us and watered the garden,
never lost power, water, etc. Sturdy house on a high spot, thank
goodness for that.

and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).

Wife loves tulips, alas, they don't grow well here, probably due to heat
and underground critters.

yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).

You must really like gardening for all the work you do. I'm glad I'm to
old for that stuff anymore. G

now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.

We have stones too, the last couple to own this house left a big pile of
river run rocks from somewhere. They're sitting in a big tub in the
garage (actually a storage garage as no cars get to go in it) until she
can figure out how to use them. Hopefully not thrown at me.

i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move
and as usual one project begets another. i've been
scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the
garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's
yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along
there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm
going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will
be brought up to the level of the neighboring path
and the whole area will be a garden i can have
several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a
narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very
productive use of the space before, but it was a
flower garden that has been removed and turned into
veggie production now). that's a few hundred more
square feet of full sun space and the soil is very
nice in there already. i'll use some of the
decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them
are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i
will then not need to do anything in there for a few
years other than to weed and top off a little at
the end of the season (after the ground freezes).

at least that is the plan...

We have lots of dirt in a bag, called "Black Cow." I think she thinks it
is fertilizer, probably from helping me clean out the milking stall when
we had a cow. She still smiles a lot when she can get cow crap for her
garden.

today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).

We're repainting rooms that have colors that make my artist wife flinch
at times. One room at a time and very slowly. The artist really comes
out when we're painting rooms. I just brush it on and move on, she takes
great detail.

in other news, still picking and shelling beans,
the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted
now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual
for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting
rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens
are too hard to do much with (the rest are much
nicer now after years of planting, amending and
giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire
for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or
start sprouting in the pods before i can get them
picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the
beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just
the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of
a gardener. i have planted enough varieties that
i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a
fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping
for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most
plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have
beans. at least the ones i was most worried about
not having anything from i have been able to find
some pods with beans in them now to restock a little
of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green
bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are
apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i
could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left
almost all of them because i wanted to restock the
seed supply.

We mostly grow green beans as we like those a lot and, normally, we can
get a fall crop too.

tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be
taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok.
there should be a few red ones out there to harvest
in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had
a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows
full). the quality is overall very good compared to
last season. only two that i've noticed will have to
be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen).
not having much rain the past month and a half kept
the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all.

ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ...


songbird

We still have two pepper plants that are producing fruit but the fruit
doesn't get very big. She just can't stand pulling up and composting
anything that might have a leaf or a fruit. G I buy my peppers at the
market, great, big, red peppers that are crunchy.

George
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Old 01-10-2017, 04:41 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2012
Posts: 678
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote:

in other news, still picking and shelling beans,
the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted
now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual
for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting
rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens
are too hard to do much with (the rest are much
nicer now after years of planting, amending and
giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire
for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or
start sprouting in the pods before i can get them
picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the
beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just
the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of
a gardener. i have planted enough varieties that
i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a
fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping
for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most
plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have
beans. at least the ones i was most worried about
not having anything from i have been able to find
some pods with beans in them now to restock a little
of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green
bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are
apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i
could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left
almost all of them because i wanted to restock the
seed supply.


ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ...


songbird


Â* While you're on beans ... I'll be getting a package of seed off to
you soon , just a few more days to finish picking this year's field peas
.. Nothing did well here but the Red Rippers , which is the only variety
I'll plant next year . I'll send whatever else (along with some fresh RR
seed) I've got , including some of the bush beans we discussed earlier .
If there's anything else you'd like , I'll send some if I got it .

Â* --

Â* Snag

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Old 01-10-2017, 09:33 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,072
Default october already!

Terry Coombs wrote:
....
Â* While you're on beans ... I'll be getting a package of seed off to
you soon , just a few more days to finish picking this year's field peas
. Nothing did well here but the Red Rippers , which is the only variety
I'll plant next year . I'll send whatever else (along with some fresh RR
seed) I've got , including some of the bush beans we discussed earlier .
If there's anything else you'd like , I'll send some if I got it .


no field peas thanks, none have ever done well
up here (or anything in that family including
adzuki beans which i really like ).

you did finally get an e-mail from me then?
i wasn't sure what happened there, and gave up.

no worries and no rush. i won't be planting
until next April/May.

what kinds of other beans do you grow? it's
really been an interesting season this time
around.

*waiting for paint to dry before the last coat
of the day*


songbird
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Old 02-10-2017, 12:32 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,072
Default october already!

George Shirley wrote:
On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...


Everything gets faster when you're aging. September was a good month for
us, I turned 78, wife got the fall garden, such as it is, in, the
kumquats are still getting bigger, the ten or eleven pears on the tree
are getting larger, my back still hurts. G


my back doesn't hurt as much as it used to.
chiropractor and massage therapy have helped
a great deal. i'm no longer having to take
any pain meds and can sleep. considering i
was contemplating surgery it's been well worth
it.


garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.


Hot weather, move to this part of Texas,we had several days at 100F or a
little more. Not all together but maybe once or twice a week. We're used
to it and we have air conditioning that is wonderful.


i hate AC, but we have it here too, i would use it
a lot less, but Mom has to have it on for the hot and
humid days. when i lived in TN i had a small fan which
worked well enough for me.


and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).


Wife loves tulips, alas, they don't grow well here, probably due to heat
and underground critters.


i love 'em too, but they don't do well here in
most places. with the animals eating them, poor
soil, diseases, fogs... only the sturdy ones
survive. i used to have about 70 varieties. i'm
not sure what is left now - maybe half that.


yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).


You must really like gardening for all the work you do. I'm glad I'm to
old for that stuff anymore. G


it is my preferred form of exercise and no
shortage of things to do here. this year is
actually sort of strange in that i've finally
been able to get to some projects i've wanted to
do for several years. so we've caught up and
i've been able to get ahead a little for a
change.

there's always something to do though and
often one project starts a whole pile of other
ones.


now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.


We have stones too, the last couple to own this house left a big pile of
river run rocks from somewhere. They're sitting in a big tub in the
garage (actually a storage garage as no cars get to go in it) until she
can figure out how to use them. Hopefully not thrown at me.


we have rocks from all over the USoA that have
been collected over the years. some of them were
used to try to break in one time and another time
one was thrown through the front kitchen window.
so i always recommend bigger rocks which are much
harder to throw.

....
We have lots of dirt in a bag, called "Black Cow." I think she thinks it
is fertilizer, probably from helping me clean out the milking stall when
we had a cow. She still smiles a lot when she can get cow crap for her
garden.


composted cow crap, trace nutrients in all three
of the majors, but still better than the higher
powered fake stuff.

i used a few bags of it when i was redoing the
tulip patches. partially/mostly decayed wood
chips are a much nicer form of humus if you can
get them for free or nearly free. most of what
we've gotten has come via tree service people who
are often happy to have a close place to dump
them instead of having to go a ways.


today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).


We're repainting rooms that have colors that make my artist wife flinch
at times. One room at a time and very slowly. The artist really comes
out when we're painting rooms. I just brush it on and move on, she takes
great detail.


i'm very picky too. nothing complicated with the
colors here, the house was meant to be an artists
studio/gallery besides being a summer place. so all
the walls are eggshell white. the trim is red cedar.
i painted the whole thing twice and this room three
times.

....beans...
We mostly grow green beans as we like those a lot and, normally, we can
get a fall crop too.


if i have the space set aside for it i can keep
planting all season to keep fresh beans going. i
usually don't set aside space.

....
We still have two pepper plants that are producing fruit but the fruit
doesn't get very big. She just can't stand pulling up and composting
anything that might have a leaf or a fruit. G I buy my peppers at the
market, great, big, red peppers that are crunchy.


i know that feeling, i don't want to bury any
bean plants until they've completely died back.
once in a while one will flower again and try to
put on some pods.

i've not counted the red peppers but over a
hundred for sure this year. i can eat three to
five a meal. roasted is by far my favorite way
to use them. they go well on about everything.


songbird


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Old 02-10-2017, 01:17 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2014
Posts: 851
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 5:32 PM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...


Everything gets faster when you're aging. September was a good month for
us, I turned 78, wife got the fall garden, such as it is, in, the
kumquats are still getting bigger, the ten or eleven pears on the tree
are getting larger, my back still hurts. G


my back doesn't hurt as much as it used to.
chiropractor and massage therapy have helped
a great deal. i'm no longer having to take
any pain meds and can sleep. considering i
was contemplating surgery it's been well worth
it.


garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.


Hot weather, move to this part of Texas,we had several days at 100F or a
little more. Not all together but maybe once or twice a week. We're used
to it and we have air conditioning that is wonderful.


i hate AC, but we have it here too, i would use it
a lot less, but Mom has to have it on for the hot and
humid days. when i lived in TN i had a small fan which
worked well enough for me.


and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).


Wife loves tulips, alas, they don't grow well here, probably due to heat
and underground critters.


i love 'em too, but they don't do well here in
most places. with the animals eating them, poor
soil, diseases, fogs... only the sturdy ones
survive. i used to have about 70 varieties. i'm
not sure what is left now - maybe half that.


yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).


You must really like gardening for all the work you do. I'm glad I'm to
old for that stuff anymore. G


it is my preferred form of exercise and no
shortage of things to do here. this year is
actually sort of strange in that i've finally
been able to get to some projects i've wanted to
do for several years. so we've caught up and
i've been able to get ahead a little for a
change.

there's always something to do though and
often one project starts a whole pile of other
ones.


now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.


We have stones too, the last couple to own this house left a big pile of
river run rocks from somewhere. They're sitting in a big tub in the
garage (actually a storage garage as no cars get to go in it) until she
can figure out how to use them. Hopefully not thrown at me.


we have rocks from all over the USoA that have
been collected over the years. some of them were
used to try to break in one time and another time
one was thrown through the front kitchen window.
so i always recommend bigger rocks which are much
harder to throw.

...
We have lots of dirt in a bag, called "Black Cow." I think she thinks it
is fertilizer, probably from helping me clean out the milking stall when
we had a cow. She still smiles a lot when she can get cow crap for her
garden.


composted cow crap, trace nutrients in all three
of the majors, but still better than the higher
powered fake stuff.

i used a few bags of it when i was redoing the
tulip patches. partially/mostly decayed wood
chips are a much nicer form of humus if you can
get them for free or nearly free. most of what
we've gotten has come via tree service people who
are often happy to have a close place to dump
them instead of having to go a ways.


today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).


We're repainting rooms that have colors that make my artist wife flinch
at times. One room at a time and very slowly. The artist really comes
out when we're painting rooms. I just brush it on and move on, she takes
great detail.


i'm very picky too. nothing complicated with the
colors here, the house was meant to be an artists
studio/gallery besides being a summer place. so all
the walls are eggshell white. the trim is red cedar.
i painted the whole thing twice and this room three
times.

...beans...
We mostly grow green beans as we like those a lot and, normally, we can
get a fall crop too.


if i have the space set aside for it i can keep
planting all season to keep fresh beans going. i
usually don't set aside space.

...
We still have two pepper plants that are producing fruit but the fruit
doesn't get very big. She just can't stand pulling up and composting
anything that might have a leaf or a fruit. G I buy my peppers at the
market, great, big, red peppers that are crunchy.


i know that feeling, i don't want to bury any
bean plants until they've completely died back.
once in a while one will flower again and try to
put on some pods.

i've not counted the red peppers but over a
hundred for sure this year. i can eat three to
five a meal. roasted is by far my favorite way
to use them. they go well on about everything.


songbird

The ones I eat are grown in water in a glass house, about the size of a
big man's fist or a small baby's head. There is so much variety in the
weather here from day to day nothing grows like we had in Louisiana. Of
course there we gardened on REAL dirt, detritus from several millennia
of plants dying after the sea fled from the land and became the Gulf of
Mexico and then modern trees dropping leaves for more years. I miss that
soil, throw a seed in the ground and jump back. We had fruit trees,
berries along the fence, etc. etc. The folks that bought that property
were smiling a lot as they wandered the 14000 square feet property and
the big house with the garage in back. Plus a few majestic oak trees
fifty feet tall with a trunk that was large, one was twelve feet in
diameter, lots of leaves for composting. Here, a little sand on gumbo
clay and a 6500 square foot lot with a 1960 square foot house and
garage. Luckily the prices here are sky rocketing since Harvey, we have
the high ground, another five miles north of us flooded almost as bad as
Houston. What makes people build large homes on a creek where you can
look up and see the highway going by thirty feet up from the creek. It's
a wonder a bunch of wealthy people didn't drown. Drove over the bridge
there the other day and most of those creek side houses were torn up
badly. I feel sorry for a lot of these people but who the hell wants to
build a fancy home on low land in this part of Texas where it gets so
much rain. Sheesh! I may be a dumb old country boy but I know where
water wants to go, used to work in rice fields, that teaches you how
water runs. I still have good insurance but no flood insurance as we are
above the flood plain. If the water gets deep enough to flood us I'm
building an ark and gathering critters. G

George
  #7   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 01:34 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2015
Posts: 259
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 9:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...

garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.

i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower
this patch ever since it has been there. no reason
to mound it up really other than a few flash floods
which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to
strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding
under control well enough anyways now.

and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).

yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).

now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.

i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move
and as usual one project begets another. i've been
scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the
garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's
yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along
there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm
going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will
be brought up to the level of the neighboring path
and the whole area will be a garden i can have
several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a
narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very
productive use of the space before, but it was a
flower garden that has been removed and turned into
veggie production now). that's a few hundred more
square feet of full sun space and the soil is very
nice in there already. i'll use some of the
decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them
are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i
will then not need to do anything in there for a few
years other than to weed and top off a little at
the end of the season (after the ground freezes).

at least that is the plan...

today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).

in other news, still picking and shelling beans,
the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted
now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual
for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting
rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens
are too hard to do much with (the rest are much
nicer now after years of planting, amending and
giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire
for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or
start sprouting in the pods before i can get them
picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the
beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just
the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of
a gardener. i have planted enough varieties that
i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a
fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping
for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most
plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have
beans. at least the ones i was most worried about
not having anything from i have been able to find
some pods with beans in them now to restock a little
of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green
bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are
apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i
could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left
almost all of them because i wanted to restock the
seed supply.

tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be
taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok.
there should be a few red ones out there to harvest
in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had
a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows
full). the quality is overall very good compared to
last season. only two that i've noticed will have to
be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen).
not having much rain the past month and a half kept
the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all.

ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ...


songbird


I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and
freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening
with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the
refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts.

I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my
friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as
they wanted.

Frank
  #8   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 01:59 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Dec 2009
Posts: 330
Default october already!

On Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 7:34:41 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 9:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...

garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.

i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower
this patch ever since it has been there. no reason
to mound it up really other than a few flash floods
which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to
strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding
under control well enough anyways now.

and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).

yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).

now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.

i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move
and as usual one project begets another. i've been
scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the
garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's
yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along
there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm
going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will
be brought up to the level of the neighboring path
and the whole area will be a garden i can have
several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a
narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very
productive use of the space before, but it was a
flower garden that has been removed and turned into
veggie production now). that's a few hundred more
square feet of full sun space and the soil is very
nice in there already. i'll use some of the
decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them
are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i
will then not need to do anything in there for a few
years other than to weed and top off a little at
the end of the season (after the ground freezes).

at least that is the plan...

today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).

in other news, still picking and shelling beans,
the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted
now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual
for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting
rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens
are too hard to do much with (the rest are much
nicer now after years of planting, amending and
giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire
for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or
start sprouting in the pods before i can get them
picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the
beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just
the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of
a gardener. i have planted enough varieties that
i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a
fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping
for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most
plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have
beans. at least the ones i was most worried about
not having anything from i have been able to find
some pods with beans in them now to restock a little
of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green
bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are
apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i
could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left
almost all of them because i wanted to restock the
seed supply.

tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be
taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok.
there should be a few red ones out there to harvest
in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had
a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows
full). the quality is overall very good compared to
last season. only two that i've noticed will have to
be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen).
not having much rain the past month and a half kept
the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all.

ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ...


songbird


I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and
freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening
with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the
refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts.

I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my
friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as
they wanted.

Frank


A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.

Paul
  #9   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 02:45 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2015
Posts: 259
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 7:59 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
On Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 7:34:41 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 9:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure...

garden news, still working on the first strawberry
patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't
accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few
days of cooler weather with some rains. not that
it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier
to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise
the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but
the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer
wasn't too bad.

i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower
this patch ever since it has been there. no reason
to mound it up really other than a few flash floods
which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to
strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding
under control well enough anyways now.

and i can move the tulips out of there that i've
already dug up several times, but always miss a few.
i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some
deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by
hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which
can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden
weeds for clay).

yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd
dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in
with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually
(bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that
is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles)
along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4).

now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've
missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't
be so hard to get the rest out of there.

mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch
so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get
in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle
breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna
flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through
and figure out something else to do with the rocks...
the stepping stones i already have are flat enough.

i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move
and as usual one project begets another. i've been
scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the
garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's
yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along
there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm
going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will
be brought up to the level of the neighboring path
and the whole area will be a garden i can have
several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a
narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very
productive use of the space before, but it was a
flower garden that has been removed and turned into
veggie production now). that's a few hundred more
square feet of full sun space and the soil is very
nice in there already. i'll use some of the
decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them
are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i
will then not need to do anything in there for a few
years other than to weed and top off a little at
the end of the season (after the ground freezes).

at least that is the plan...

today a little painting too, the garage sill i
put in this past spring is holding up and sticking
well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the
differences in cement batches i did when i was
putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i
couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it
needs to be protected before the winter gets here
and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it...
hopefully three coats will do it (or until the
quart of paint runs out).

in other news, still picking and shelling beans,
the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted
now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual
for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting
rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens
are too hard to do much with (the rest are much
nicer now after years of planting, amending and
giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire
for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or
start sprouting in the pods before i can get them
picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the
beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just
the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of
a gardener. i have planted enough varieties that
i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a
fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping
for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most
plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have
beans. at least the ones i was most worried about
not having anything from i have been able to find
some pods with beans in them now to restock a little
of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green
bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are
apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i
could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left
almost all of them because i wanted to restock the
seed supply.

tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be
taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok.
there should be a few red ones out there to harvest
in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had
a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows
full). the quality is overall very good compared to
last season. only two that i've noticed will have to
be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen).
not having much rain the past month and a half kept
the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all.

ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ...


songbird


I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and
freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening
with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the
refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts.

I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my
friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as
they wanted.

Frank


A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.

Paul


I liked them and my father always got them. Awful lot of work to to
husk, dry and have to hammer to get nut meat but mother made terrific
cookies with them. I watched a squirrel eat one once and he must have
been gnawing at it for a half hour.
  #10   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 04:30 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,072
Default october already!

Frank wrote:
....
I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and
freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening
with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the
refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts.


i didn't think there were any of those
trees still around any longer?


I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my
friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as
they wanted.


in the days before the fungi they were a major
source of fodder for animals in the forest and
many people would let pigs run to fatten up and
then...


songbird


  #11   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 04:34 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,072
Default october already!

Pavel314 wrote:
....
A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.


there's a lot of black walnut trees around
here, the squirrels drop them in the road and
let people run over them.

last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts
and shelled them out i made some black walnut
cookies. it was a lot of work but worth it.
i tried making walnut cookies with regular
walnuts, but they just weren't the same...

i will likely buy some black walnuts next
time i make those kind of cookies. my hands
are too useful to risk more damage like that.


songbird
  #12   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 01:30 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2015
Posts: 259
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 10:34 PM, songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:
...
A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.


there's a lot of black walnut trees around
here, the squirrels drop them in the road and
let people run over them.

last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts
and shelled them out i made some black walnut
cookies. it was a lot of work but worth it.
i tried making walnut cookies with regular
walnuts, but they just weren't the same...

i will likely buy some black walnuts next
time i make those kind of cookies. my hands
are too useful to risk more damage like that.


songbird


I made the mistake of planting a couple of English walnuts. Never got
any nuts as squirrels would get to them before they even matured. Early
this year one got blown over and I had it removed but it displaced the
other and it is not tolerating it well so I have to have it removed.

Been over 40 years ago that we moved into this house when it was new and
I am still correcting my planting mistakes with trees and bushes.
  #13   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 01:33 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2015
Posts: 259
Default october already!

On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote:
Frank wrote:
...
I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and
freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening
with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the
refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts.


i didn't think there were any of those
trees still around any longer?


I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my
friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as
they wanted.


in the days before the fungi they were a major
source of fodder for animals in the forest and
many people would let pigs run to fatten up and
then...


songbird


Mine are Chinese chestnuts. The American chestnut is supposedly
returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they
tasted the same. I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good
as the American tree.
  #14   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 01:58 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2014
Posts: 851
Default october already!

On 10/2/2017 6:30 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 10:34 PM, songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:
...
A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard.
She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we
wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three
five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it
reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.


Â*Â* there's a lot of black walnut trees around
here, the squirrels drop them in the road and
let people run over them.

Â*Â* last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts
and shelled them out i made some black walnut
cookies.Â* it was a lot of work but worth it.
i tried making walnut cookies with regular
walnuts, but they just weren't the same...

Â*Â* i will likely buy some black walnuts next
time i make those kind of cookies.Â* my hands
are too useful to risk more damage like that.


Â*Â* songbird


I made the mistake of planting a couple of English walnuts.Â* Never got
any nuts as squirrels would get to them before they even matured.Â* Early
this year one got blown over and I had it removed but it displaced the
other and it is not tolerating it well so I have to have it removed.

Been over 40 years ago that we moved into this house when it was new and
I am still correcting my planting mistakes with trees and bushes.

Been there, done that. Every house we've lived in has been spruced up,
the gardens done to our wants, then we move on to my next job as I
climbed the management of safety in chemical plants and refineries
around the world. I'm pretty sure we're going to stay in this house
until we're either dead or gone to a nursing home. Small property but
wife has most of the ground covered with flowers, etc. and our small
vegetable garden. At our age that's about what we can handle. I keep the
books, wife keeps the small lawn mowed, and takes care of the gardens. I
also do most of the cooking and cleaning. Can't walk well on uneven
ground but can get around with my cane in the house. Works well for us
and has been working well for a goodly amount of time.

George, up early to feed the dawg, as usual.
  #15   Report Post  
Old 02-10-2017, 02:00 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2014
Posts: 851
Default october already!

On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote:
Frank wrote:
...
I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and
freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening
with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the
refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts.


Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those
trees still around any longer?


I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my
friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as
they wanted.


Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major
source of fodder for animals in the forest and
many people would let pigs run to fatten up and
then...


Â*Â* songbird


Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly
returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they
tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good
as the American tree.

I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part
of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste?

George
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