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BS: Gardening, 2009
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 26 Apr 09 - 12:32 AM Know what you mean, Bobert, though I haven't experienced to the degree that you are in the midst of. A couple of years ago I spent one spring doing a lot of garden work for other people to pick up some much needed extra cash. It wasn't nearly as much fun as working in my own yard for the love of it, didn't leave much time for my own garden, and then when I had a little time, the last thing I wanted to do was go out and work in the yard. There are lots of woods up there. Go find another morel spot. Then you'll always have a back-up! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 09 - 12:17 AM What a betrayal--your mushrooms abducted! Any idea who got there first? (Do you suppose they had the same feeling last year, when you beat them to the 'shrooms?) Have you mentioned this spot? (Is it like a fisherman never mentioning a good fishing hole, or is there some wiggle room for telling a few folks about the general area?) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Apr 09 - 08:31 PM Wow, Janie... I'm glad that you've spent a life time working with nutballs (lol) 'cause you go messin' with folks cats and yer gonna need all that experience... I'd say "trap the owners" while yer at it and get them sent off as well...lol... Well, ol' bobert went back to his mushroom honeyhole to discover that someone got there before me... I found several stalks that were cleanly cut and enough foot-prints to let me know that I been had... Oh, this is a gerdening thread... Wish I had more to report but seems that for the forseeable future I'm is the landscape business and it sucks... I don't know how I get myself into such pickels but I'm in one now... I don't even want to talk about it... I think that gardening will never be the same... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Apr 09 - 08:13 PM I dig another several feet of my garden, I cleaned up, and I went over to see my guy The Dirt Doctor. It was interesting, and his demonstration was excellent--he had a few 5 gallon trees from nurseries, and pulled them out of the pots and demonstrated how trees grown this way really need to have all of the dirt knocked off, the root soaked, and then stretched out and planted with trenches radiating out for longer roots, if needed. I have a couple of trees that have failed to thrive since I planted them, and they probably were root bound like those. It's tempting to cut them down and start again, after several years they still don't look like much. I got a bit sunburned digging this morning, and dehydrated in the park. That can really take it out of you. I should have been drinking more water all day. Tomorrow I'll do better. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 25 Apr 09 - 03:44 AM If anyone comes around to inquire about their cats, it will be the first time they have come around for any reason, Maggie. I have come to accept that there is no way for me to deal with the cat issue that will be satisfactory for me and that will not result in hostility from my neighbors. I simply operate out of a different paradigm than do they. What really troubles me is the concern that these cats could end up being euthanized if their owners do not check with the animal shelter. I don't think most of them have tags on their collars, or have been licensed. I'm goin to put up handbills tomorrow to say that I will be working with animal control to trap and remove the cats, and people should contact the shelter if their cat disappears. I have no doubt, however, that I am going to be the bitch of neighborhood. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Apr 09 - 12:42 AM Escalation can result. Be careful--and you might not mention those traps to anyone who comes around asking if you've seen a certain tabby or other. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Apr 09 - 11:41 PM High of 87 today. Same expected for the weekend. I considered those squirter thingies, Bobert, but I have too many cats and too much yard. It ain't just the birds that are the issue. They are knocking over planters, crapping in garden beds, tearing up seedlings, lounging on my porch cushions, etc., etc. I have water wigglers in the birdbaths to discourage mesquitos from laying eggs. They are jumping in the birdbaths and knocking them over. Animal control is coming Monday or Tuesday to set box traps. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Apr 09 - 08:03 PM That's what is missing... Wild flowers... Usually be now I've wandered back in the woods and found a little of this and that of wild flowers... Two years ago I found and brought hom a nicde white trillium... Don't know how it got where I was but there it was... Also lotta maiden hair ferns back there as dutchman's britches... Our larkspur got eaten by deer when they poked up so we put pots over them to give them a chance to get soem size and then we'll spray nasty stuff (Liquid Fence) on 'um and hopefully have them to enjoy... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:35 PM Tomorrow is also when I'm going to get a good run at the garden. Expanding a new bed, replacing some stuff, planting some new stuff, and really piling on the mulch in places. And I'll spend some of the afternoon looking at wildflowers and visiting various eco-stalls in the park. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:23 PM This will nake yer day, Janie... I haven't had time to go to the local Walmart (yuck( yet but there's a squitrt gub called a super soaker that shoots up to 30 feet... Get my drift here... I have a sneaky almost adukt yer still kittenish cat who thinks that hiding behind one of my boxwoods and attacking squirrels is his duty... Wait until I get my super soaker tomorrow... This is gonna be fun... As fir gardening??? The P-Vine and I haven't really had much opportunity to do much of it... She's at the garden center and I spent the entire day planting OPs (other peoples)... I don't even want to discuss that 'cept I am very tired and everything hurts... But, tomorrow it's gonna be warm and I have my first festival gig at 11:00 and so I reckon that by 3:00 I'll be up in the mountain hunting mushrooms... I'm feeling real good about them being up this time... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:14 PM When the mice did that to our chinese paperbark it (luckily) sprouted from below the girdle and created a beautiful multi-trunked. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,HiLo Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:07 PM The dam squirrels have eaten the bark of one of my ornamental maples..is there ANYTHING I can do to save the tree ?. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Apr 09 - 08:07 PM Grrrrr....I mulched my new herb garden with shredded leaves - and the cats think it is a litter box. I keep putting off calling animal control 'cuz I know I'm only gonna piss off the neighbors - but better them p.o'd than me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Apr 09 - 07:53 PM Yeah, the oaks are putting out the lots of pollen this time of year... Seein' as we were late planting I don't expect any salad until the 3rd week of May... Tomato seedlings are up... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Apr 09 - 06:37 AM The hydrangeas are starting to grow little flower buds. Looks like everything transplanted nicely. The maples are pretty much fully leafed out an the oaks are blooming. Yellow pollen and people sneezing, coughing and hacking everywhere. Fortunately, it is the early trees - pines mostly - that I am allergic to. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:11 AM I cooked up a big pot of Swiss chard this evening. There is a lot more out there for tomorrow. I think I'll have to give away an armful. This weekend my organic gardening guru is at an event in a park in town. I'm going to go over and say hello! How exciting! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 Apr 09 - 09:15 PM Harvested my first salad greens tonight. A mix of assorted leaf lettuces, mesclun mix, curly and Italian parsley, green onions, chives, viola flowers, chickweed and violet leaves. Yum! Just remembered that I want to plant some garlic chives. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Apr 09 - 03:50 PM I need to replace some of the tomatoes that got a little too cold a couple of weeks ago. They're languishing, not growing. Time to be ruthless and replace stuff that isn't growing. I wish I could get a little more time out in the garden. I may take a half-day this week. I'm going to have some use or lose time this year anyway, so I might as well put it in the garden now. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 10:17 PM We are enjoying a lovely spring, which we haven't had in several years. Actually getting April showers, and temperatures for the most part moderate with daytime temps ranging from- upper 60's to the mid 70's and night time temps ranging from the high 30's to mid-50's. I love it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 07:51 PM Your asparagus bed has me salivating. One of these years I'm gonna plant asparagus, and One of these years I'm gonna grow a few potatoes. Never have planted either. Next weekend I hope to wrestle a big Iron kettle out to the edge of the road where there might be enough sun, and plant a tomato in it. If it does OK, next year I'm gonna buy a new contraption from Gardeners Supply that will let you hang 4 tomato plants, and set it up by the road. I'll probably use 5 gallon buckets instead of the do-whoppies they sell to grow the tomatoes in. Not real elegant, but cheap and functional. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 19 Apr 09 - 06:53 PM Glucosimine, Janie... My back is protesting as well... Dug 105 feet of potato mounds today... 70 feet for Yukons and 35 for red... The veggie garden is in for now... It was sprinkling on us the entire day but not enough to get us to quit... Looks like yer gonna get some rain from the same system... They are callin' for about an inch ove5r the next couple days... We'll take it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 05:22 PM Well, I guess I've done all the damage I have the time and energy to do for now. Everything I brought with me from the other house is now in the ground, though probably not where it will stay. I managed to move around and more or less place most of the pedestals, birdbaths and garden statuary - good enogh for now, anyway, and better than just sitting in a hodgepodge in the back yard. The yard and garden don't look great, but it is a big improvement. I have degenerative disk disease and fairly significant joint problems, especially in my finders. Right now the ol' vertebrae are displeased. I'm feeling increased numbness, but the only pain is muscle aches. This work will strengthen my back and abdominal muscles again and should eventually reduce the back problems. My knuckles, however, really give me fits when I am doing gripping work. I have no grip left, which is really why I stopped, and when I try to clinch my fists, the knuckles lock in place and I have to use the opposite hand to straighten the fingers. I'm not complaining - it is what it is - and there are only a few weeks of the kind of garden work that does this to me. Now, come on rain and help these plants settle into their new home! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 19 Apr 09 - 09:02 AM Busted shovels is a music to my ears...Yeah, I hate it that it means another $10 to the local farm center but it also means that that the therapy session has begun... The P-Vine had to go down to NoVa yesterday for an azalea convention meeting, which BTW is in 2 weeks (more about that later), and so I spent 5 hours in the garden center... Stayed purdy busy and looks as if I have landed yet another landscape job with one of the wealthiest old ladies in town... Just what I need!?!?!... My 2 Kohmo Shekebus were badly damaged by the stupid deer this winter so I probably won't get any blooms... I do, however have three ot 4 of them that I've grown from cuttings and they are in bloom... I went mushroom hunting after working at the garden center with this ol' boy and his lady... They took me to their honey-spot way back in some holler that I didn't even know about... Gotta be a danged goat to get up there... No mushrooms to be found yet... Reckon it's just been too cold at night for them... We hope to get our veggie garden going today after church becasue they are calling for rain tonight and tomorrow... We'll try to get on our taters, pole beans, limas, beets, spinich, onions and lettuce... We have aspargus to cut, too... Yummy... Nuthin' like freshly cut asparagus... Well, lemme get ready fir church... I generally don't go because there are some real buttheads there who have conspired to run the minister off and finally succeeded as this is his last day... I like hime a bunch so I'm going... I ran into him acouple days ago and I told him to "stick it to them in todays sermon"... He laughed... Very gracious man... Too good for the likes of those evil people... Opps... Thread drift... Sorry... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 12:12 AM There is some good soil here. A fair amount of clay loam, and when I dig in the existing beds - neglected after the elderly woman got to feeble to garden- it is clear she paid attention to the dirt and amended it. It was wetter than it should have been for digging today, Maggie, but drier than it has been for weeks. Plus, I had the time, so I went for it. I was able to break up most of the clods sufficiently with my hands, and added a good amount of compost. I think it will be OK. Time will tell. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Apr 09 - 11:39 PM Good for you, Janie! It isn't just gardening, it's therapy, and cheap at the price (even with new digging and prying implements thrown in!) I tried digging more on my veggie garden today, but it's still too wet. I'll try again tomorrow. We had heavy rain showers on Friday and with the clay in this soil, there is a sweet spot a few days out from a heavy rain when digging is perfect. It lasts for a few days, then it's rock hard again. My rosemary has "pegged" itself without my help. I thought I had just three plants out in one bed and was planning to move a couple, but last time I looked, several limbs on the ground had sprouted roots. Pegging is a good way to get the wild grapes growing here, and is something I've been planning to try on a vine on my far-back fence. It doesn't get enough sun to do much were it is, but if I can just get a sprig long enough to peg a few feet over, I think I'll be able to get some fruit in the yard. Right now I get my wild grapes from the trees across the road. I'd like something like that in my yard. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Apr 09 - 11:24 PM What a wonderful and tiring day! Not gonna be able to move on Monday - it has been more than a year since I did heavy gardening work, and I spent about 8 hours out in the yard today. Assembled my new lawn mower and cut grass, picked up tree limbs and sticks, raked leaves that had accumulated in low spots, fertilized the lawn, dug out 2 boxwoods, breaking a shovel in the process. (Finally ran out to Lowes and bought one of those long, heavy, pry bars, as well as a new shovel and garden fork.) One of the boxwoods was planted in the sunniest little patch of the yard, at the end of the driveway. I double dug a small rectangular bed there and moved all my herbs from pots into that bed. After it was all done, I realized it is just the shape and size of a small grave! Got the Kohmo Shekebu in the ground, as well as a mophead hydrangea and the Japanese anenome. Pruned the dwarf flowering almond, cut the bridal wreath spirea to the ground to rejunvenate it, and whacked off a forsythia which is growing where it doesn't get enough sun. Hope to dig it out. Also dug out some sweet autumn clematis because there is no good site for it. I don't know how much digging my back is going to be able to stand tomorrow, but I hope to redo one of the existing beds - dig out the variegated liarope and all the oak seedlings, shift the edges of the bed a bit, and then redistribute the daylilies I heeled in there last August. The ginger lilys were heeled into that same bed, and have not yet emerged, and I think I lost the Harvest Moon and Sundowner echinacea I stuck in there. I don't have a good site for the ginger lilies prepared, and am not sure just what I am going to do with them. I tried digging a little in the front yard under the tree canapy. There are tree roots everywhere. I don't have the money right now to buy a dump truck of soil and the materials to make raised beds. I also don't want to invest a lot in hardscaping until I decide if I am going to stay here. But I'll figure something out. Supposed to rain tomorrow night and Monday, so I hope to have strength tomorrow to get beds prepared for the rest of the plants in pots. Damn, it feels good to be back out doing serious garden work! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 17 Apr 09 - 08:27 AM We are lucky in that a local mursery gives us a lot of their discards - success rate is often low; and sometimes it takes a couple years to get a good display - but what do you want for nothing? We have a beautiful magnolia that the dear ate the leader shoot; and the six foot tree became a foot high stub; now, is is a gorgeous multi trunked tree well over our roofline. The draiveway is lined with "freebie" rhodies; and my wine coloured periweinkle was in the pot of a fir that didn't make it....but the periwinkle did! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Apr 09 - 07:31 AM You can get lucky sometimes at the box stores... We found Mount St. Helen's decidiuos azalea at Lowe's last year for less than 10 bucks... Seems that every year they have somethin' come in that is a good find... Alot of their stuff, however, is last year's leftovers that naurseries have doctored up, sometimes repoted and/or over fertilized to force blooms... Yeah, they look good at the box store but are high maintenance the 1st year to get them to thrive... We bought a couple rhodos from Lowes last year and had to water them constatntly becuase the root systems had been compromised from having to grow too long in the size pot it was in... Watered 'um every 3 days all summer... We're going to put in our early veggie stuff Sunday afternoon... Still thinking about the plan... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 Apr 09 - 09:55 PM Yeh, Bobert, that's called pegging. I find it pretty simple, and don't have a pot to tend to all summer as the "mother" plant sustains the branch and the new roots. Then, in the fall, there is usually a nice root mass and I can cut the branch loose from the original plant and directly transplant the new bush into the ground. I didn't know if azaleas could be propogated like that or not. It is easy as pie to do hydrangeas and roses that way. Which reminds me, I stuck a brick on a branch of an unusual, deep purple hydrangea over at Dani's 6 or 8 weeks ago. I better e-mail her and make sure the girls haven't knocked the brick loose when mowing. Bought a couple of Mexican Mint Marigolds this evening at Home Depot. Was surprised to see them carry it. Tarragon is hard to get to thrive here, so that is what I had at the old house. I was kicking myself for not digging some of it up when I moved, because it used to be hard to find. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 Apr 09 - 08:12 PM Hear, hear, Janie... Screw house work... It ain't goin' anywhere... It's time for gettin' into the dirt and getting our little green buddies goin'... The housework will wait... Our house is a wreck... Who cares... What's pegging??? Is that where you put a rock on a lower branch??? If so, yeah, it will make a new plant... Easier to grow 'um from cuttings... Or not??? We have Virginia Blue Bells that have come up here and there all over the woods... The self seeded and the best thing is that the deer won't eat them... We had two large decorate pots with hostas in them that had been sprayed with Liquid Fence but the deer sampled one so we brought them up to the house... I hate deer... Hate 'um...They are the most useless creatures on the planet... BTW, Janie... New mowers ain't got no oil in 'um so be sure to put oil in it... We found the last 10 pounds of Yukon Gold seed taters in the county so we're good for Sunday... The P-Vine has an azalea society meeting on Saturday so I am the "plant specialist" at the Co-op... Fun fun, fun... I'll bedaxxle 'um with my gift of BS... Might even sell some plants, as well... LOL... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Apr 09 - 10:29 PM Yer gonna wow 'em, I'm sure. Can I peg azaleas to propagate them like I do hydrangeas? Brought home a new lawn mower, a spreader, and two large bags of organic lawn fertilizer this evening. It is supposed to dry out a bit over the next few days. I'm gonna say to hell with the house work and spend all that time in the yard. Not good for the budget, but this is a rare weekend when I don't have clients to see in my private practice, and this is Sum Yung Sun's week with his dad. Yard and garden, here I come! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 09 - 08:30 PM I'm with Janie... We didn't ask for no nerdy MITers help, thank you... People garden 'cause they enjoy it... What next??? MITers gonna come up with a robot to make love with yer spouse fir ya'??? 'Er play yer geetar fir ya'??? Tell MIT to plant the robot where the sun don't shine... Two days of glorious rain here... Greened up anything that lived thru the winter... Callin' fir several days of warm and sunny beginning tomorrow... (Hmmmmmmm??? When was the last time you had the riding mowers runnin'??? Yer gonna be a buzy boy, Boberdz...) Well, the P-Vine has to go off for the last pre-convention meeting of the Azalea Society on Saturday so I'm gonna have to fill inat the garden center as the plant specialist... Ahhhhh, green side up... lol... No, I can hold my own as long as I don't get soem PHD horticulturist coming in and then I'm toast... Two weeks to the National Azalaea Society Convention... Seems like we have about 150 folks gonna be here... We were expectin' 125... Oh well??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Apr 09 - 07:58 PM I suppose intended for those enamored of the product but not the process.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Amos Date: 15 Apr 09 - 04:32 PM Help is on the way: MIT has developed robotic gardners for your tomato plants. Link includes a video of the little darlings at work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Tinker Date: 15 Apr 09 - 11:21 AM Sputter Sputter.. I've got icy hail falling today around my poor daffodils... Bobert, I can't place it, but I don't know the shore very well.... and it's very developed at this point. New Jersey Greensand is a gardners delight...there is a free download with all you'd want to know about Green Sand from our local Agricultural department. It's part of why New Jersey was the Garden State for the neighboring cities of NYC and Philly for a very long time... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 09 - 08:05 AM There you have it, Maggie... I reckon if I had a short growing season I would sprout them, too... Our season is so long that by the middle of August the taters are ready... Some folks around here think that you gotta plant them on St. Parick's Day??? It's a German thing... The Almanac has a different idea baed on lunar cycles... I donno... I plant 'um when the garden is dry enough to pull up the mounds and I have the time... Must work 'cause we still eating nice Yukon's from last August's haul... BTW, Tinker... One more day of this and Jersey will see lots of sunshine and warmth... Hey, I remember when I was a teenager and hitch hiking was a safe mode of transportation hitch hiking from the Greyhounf bus station in Philly to Surf City (Long Beach Island) where I was going to spend the summer with frineds... I'm not sure where this was but the route took me thru this area that looked a little bit like a desert... Do you know what I am talking about??? I think that green sand comes from that area??? No??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 15 Apr 09 - 07:49 AM While not required for growing potatoes, sprouting will increase yield and make good use of a short growing season. Here's one of the better explanations from a gifted Maine gardener & writer, Jean English: Why sprout potatoes? maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 09 - 07:17 AM Now, don't get me wrong, Maggie 'cause I ain't a seed potato-ologist (lol) but seed potatoes, as far as I know, are just ordinary taters that have been chosen because they do not exhibit any abnormalities that might indicate any kinds of viruses or deseases... And, no, they don't have to be sprouted... You can just cut them into quarters and stick them in the mounded soil and they will grow just fine... BTW, if you use my meathod of pulling up mounded rows, don't make the mistake of planting them too deep... 4 to 5 inches is about how deep I plant mine... Now blooming, inspite of the cold: PJM Azaleas, a few Japonica azaeleas, pulminaria, bleeding heart, tooth wart, daffoldis and not much else... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Apr 09 - 10:26 PM The wisteria was lovely here a few weeks ago. Not as big as some years, but lovely, as always. Bobert, I know that my nursery sells see potatoes. What makes them seed potatoes? If I leave them out on the counter to start sprouting, does that count? My onions are perking along, and the first of the carrot seeds are coming up. Time pretty soon to put in a few more rows, and do it every few weeks for a while. Tomatoes are finally kind of getting bigger. The peppers don't look particularly impressed with spring so far. They look the same. The chard is huge and happy. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:35 PM In some places along the roadsides, the edge of the woods are a solid wall of lavendar wisteria. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Tinker Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:26 PM Wait a minute Janie... I am way too jealous reading this. It has been unseasonably cold and rainy here in New Jersey. I just saw the first sprouts of Solomon's seal.... you've got blossoms !! I thnk I'll go pout for a week or two..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Apr 09 - 07:42 PM Wahhhhh!!!! The weed eater won't start either. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:54 PM Kohmo Shekebu is my favorite azalea... Very different flower from all the rest... Back to taters... There are enough eyes on the seed taters to make plants... I just quarter them and plant them about every 18 inches... I think that pulled the soil up into mounds keeps it loose and allows the taters more room and less resistence... Problem is that the Coop has sold out of the Yukon Golds starters taters and is trying to find more but we may have to do some searchin' elesewhere.... Got our onion sets today... Maybe by Sunday things will have dried out enough to lay off everything and start getting the early stuff in... Got two more trucks in today at the Coop... The garden center is lookin' real good and we're selling stuff... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:52 AM I'm cutting and eating chard regularly. I have several colors, it all tastes the same, but I can go for striking effects if I want. Red, pink, orange, yellow, green, and white stalks all make my early garden a very striking place. And I'm cutting it and taking it in to work already. I've cultivated a new chard eater, but if I take too much I might inspire the gag reflex, so I think I'll be looking around for preservation methods or more folks to give it to. These are out of two pots of mixed colors I bought from Home Depot last fall. Bobert, your potatoes have eyes before you put them in your garden, don't they? And how far apart do you place each potato? I have a neighbor who grows them, I need to go visit his garden and take a look. He got a couple of bushels last year, he said. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:15 AM Thanks Bobert. It's the "Kohmo Shekebu." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:16 AM Well, Janie, if it's the one we just gave you last month it's "El Freda"... If it's the one I gave you a while back it's "Kohmo Shekebu"... The "El Freda" is an old azalea that the P-Vine's mentor, Barbara Alexander, who lives in Charlotte has in her garden... It was grown from a cutting of a cutting... Who hybridized it is unknown but it goes back some 40 years... Yes, it is a Japonica... As for taters, I just cut 'um up and grow them in mounded rows... I don't plant 'um from the top... Once I pull up the mounts I the dirt is loose and I just stick 'um in the sides of the mounds and that's it other than straw mulch to each side of the mound to keep in moisture and keep out weeds... We grew two 35 foot rows last year and got about 200 pounds of taters from them... Very good year... Reckong we'll have to wait until after the rains to put in our spinich, lettuce and beet seeds... Asparagus is coming up nicely... Maybe we'll get a few searvings out of it this year... Last year was it's first year and we got only one good serving outta it... Well, off to the salt mine... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 13 Apr 09 - 10:22 PM Your azalea is blooming Bobert! The blooms are so delicate and unusual. I love it! I have lost the tag with the name. Can you tell me the name again? (It is a japanese azalea.) The solomon's seal is also blooming. I have got to find time to get all these plants and shrubs I brought with me in the ground before the weather gets too warm, even it they go into a temporary bed. I'm just not home enough to keep the pots watered daily once the heat and drought hit this summer. I DO have poppies! I tried to sow the different colors in separate sections of the one little bed that was here, and assuming no seeds drifted, it looks like at least a few of the double apricots germinated, in spite of the seeds being 2 years old. Sunday week I transplanted some of the kale, lettuce and spinach seedlings out of the original pots I sowed into additonal pots, and thinned the remaining seedlings. Not sure how many kale or spinach I can grow in one pot. I decided to try three and feed them heavily. I can always pull two out if it looks like one plant is all a pot will support. The little pot of mesclun mix is about ready for a first harvest, and I've got green onions galore that I planted in an old oblong wrought iron planter that my grandmother used to plant geraniums on her front porch. Sum Yung Sun was home on spring break last week. I left him a note telling him to cut grass and to use the gas can on the carport. He completely skipped that part and used the gas can with the gas/oil mix for the weedeater. Then wondered why the mower wouldn't start. I've got to ask a neighbor for a recommendation on where to take the mower here to have it serviced, and hope I can get it somewhere next weekend. In the meantime, the grass and weeds at the berm is 12 inches high and growing every day in all this rain. Oh well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Apr 09 - 10:06 PM Bobert, do you use grocery store potatoes, let them sprout, then plant them? Janie, I lived in western Kentucky for a couple of years back in the early 1980s. I worked one summer in the Great Smokys (Sugarlands) and had an apartment still in Kentucky where my husband was working (Mammoth Cave). So I went back and forth on weekends. Not as far east as you're talking about, but still, very beautiful. Some of the stuff out there is growing, some of it seems to be standing there thinking about it. Feet are a little cold yet, apparently. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Apr 09 - 08:24 PM I'd love to get back in there with you, Janie... My kinda people and my kinda piece of God's good earth... I can almost see what it's like... Undisturbed... Wild flowers of every kind just doin' what they have done forever... Somethin' very comfortin' about wild flowers... They are the earliest of spring's offerings and they all seem to shout, "We made it thru another winter"... I went mushroom huntin' last evening... Yeah, I know it's too cold yet and maybe next weekend will be better but I just had to get back where the wildflowers bloom... Still a tad early for them, too... Dug a Christmas fern even tho we have dug lots of them and stuck them here and there in the woods but, hey... Couldn't come empty handed... Spent the entire day installing a boxwood garden that the P-Vine roped me into... Oh well, paid well... The people are happy and we made some money for the Coop so, hey.... The tillerman tilled out the veggie garden today so we can finally get our early colder stuff in this weekend... Late on the taters... Don't much matter no matter what the old folks say... Last year I planted them the wrong tiome accordin' to the almanac and we had the best crop ever... Yukon Gold is all we are going to plant from here out 'casue the ones we planted last year are still looking fresh and the Russert's are shriveled a tad... Tired of cold... 40's the next 2 days... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Apr 09 - 11:58 PM I have heard of "Bountiful, Maggie, but never read or watched it. Now I'll have to! I never expected to enjoy this trip as much as I did. My sister has been doing genealogical research, and hooked up with with a distant cousin through her research who still lives in the area. She offered her mother and her to act as guides. Her mother, Lexie, is my grandmother's 1st cousin, though 20 some years younger. Lexie's mother's sister was my grandfather's mother, so they are related on both sides of my paternal family. They lived just over the ridge from one another. Lexie has lived in those remote hollows all her life. She's 87, deaf as a board, has to use a walker because her knees are shot, and absolutely sharp as a tack. She and her daughter, Carol, were absolutely delightful. As an added bonus, they are both big gardeners. Lexie has Wake Robin's blooming beside her house right now. A creek runs through her property, and there were all kinds of wildflowers coming up along the damp banks. It was she who grabbed a small shovel as we headed out the door to lay across the bars of the walker, saying that I might want to dig a few flowers from the graveyard on the Ross family homeplace as a remembrance. She talked at length about roaming the woods, ridges and hollers as a child, as did her daughter. They talked about a little valley covered with white trilliums, ginseng on hillsides, etc. There were a couple of key cemeteries and my paternal great grandparent's farm that are going to require four wheel drive, drier weather, a guide who is not in a walker, and good hiking shoes to reach. Lexie and Carol have already arranged for the guides. My sister and I will go back this summer sans the elderly and infirm folks who would have to wait in the car so that we can explore these inaccessible places. As an added bonus, we got Lexie's recipe for dried apple stack cake, which is probably the same one used by my grandmother. (Nannie was a wonderful cook and housekeeper who apparently resented every minute of it. Somewhere in her 70's she decided to retire from cooking, since Papaw got to retire from the railroad. When she did, she destroyed or tossed every single one of her recipes!) The area of eastern Kentucky where we were is beautiful. Lots of creeks with good, broad bottom land, and low, steep mountains covered in hemlock and rhodedendron, with lots of cliffs and stony outcrops. The topsoil looks rich in the plowed fields, and bottoms, and the farms looked very well tended, with garden spots bright green with cover crops, and pasture rotated so that the cows haven't grazed and worn it down to nubbins. Unlike in southern West Virginia, where the hollers are much narrower, the steep sides of the mountains are not generally cleared for cattle to graze, but are apparently managed for timber. The Ross family homeplace was a land-grant to my 3x great grandfather for military service. (I think the War of 1812.) When he died, it was divided among his sons, and when they died, it was further divided between their sons. Lexie says the arrangement was always that the boys got the land, and the girls got the timber. All of it has now been sold off and no Rosses own any of the original land-grant. Lexie was the last girl to have timber rights. The people who bought the part that has the original homesite keep the brambles and bushes knocked back in the cemetery well enough to insure the headstones can be found. Lexie was apparently able to garden until just a couple of years ago. Her place was functional and pretty. A little orchard with apple and pear trees, a big spot that looked like it was probably last in corn, a section near the creek with rhubarb, horseradish and other perennial veggies, a patch of gooseberries, a few blueberries, and several small beds with herbs, peonies perennials. (And a pot on the front porch with artificial flowers stuck in the dirt. Lexie said Carol wouldn't let her stick artificial flowers in the garden beds:>) |
