Garden thread.

[mvk]

benevolence

I used to grow some tomatoes in sheet rock buckets and then bring them into my solar green house in fall to extend season. I used to bury buckets in leaves, helped to keep them from drying out. I lost some when I went away and they got cooked.

Mike

[benevolance]

went to the farmers market bought sweet taters with eyes on them and cut them off and they are in the ground in the yard....

As for the tomatoes... yeah we water em pretty much every day... they are growing like crazy

[Sassy]

Our garden is doing good, too.  The artichoke plants are putting on artichokes like crazy.  I had to pull a bunch of rutabaga plants that I was letting go to seed because they were covered with aphids...     Just noticed that our pond has a bunch of pollywogs in it - yeah!  I thought the mosquito fish had eaten all the eggs last year because once we got the mosquito fish, it seemed the frogs disappeared.  So hopefully, they will get busy eating the aphids!

We also have a stupid gopher in the terraced garden - ate one of the big carrots & some of my petunias that I know of - they make me mad!  Hopefully it will go away & not eat a bunch of stuff... 

Finally getting some blueberries - not ripe yet but there's a few - I planted a couple plants last year...  The orange trees are blooming & there's blooms on the tomato plants.  Lots of roses, hollyhocks, foxglove, & other flowers.  The "hot poker" plant has a dozen flowers coming up out of it - thought it was destroyed after the dogs smashed it up a couple weeks ago.  And I finally have a "bird of paradise" flower after 5 years of the plant just growing & growing but no flowers.

Been weeding & weeding - seems like that never ends    my hands have ground in dirt & the skin is splitting - sometimes it just doesn't work to use gloves when weeding...    I have to explain to the patients that my hands are really clean     cuz I wash them a hundred times a day! 

[benevolance]

well I would just kill the gopher...

And if you have stuff coming in then bravo! I am not that far along as of yet... well the tomatoes and peppers are up... and some of the flowers I planted... but the main part of the garden is not up yet not really... dunno if it will be a success as of yet or not

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Our knock off earth boxes are doing great.  The cukes all came up, but I think the seed for the Korean melons was too old and never did sprout, so I replaced it with some seed for watermelon.  They may be too old, too, and if they don't sprout soon, I'll go ahead and stick a squash or something in there.  The new pepper plants that I put out after the idiot dog killed the first ones are doing well and blooming, and the tomato plant is slowly but surely recovering.   I have another tomato plant on the front porch with basil and little carrots coming up around it, and it is the healthiest looking tomato plant I think I've ever seen... the base looks like a little tree trunk, and it is covered in blooms... Within a week or two, we should be getting spinach out of the pots in the back yard, too... it's up and doing quite well.  There is also mint and pineapple sage, but those aren't too filling.  Still waiting on the sweet potatoes to surface.

[considerations]

Superglue mends the splits in your skin.  I know, sounds wierd, but it works

[Sassy]

Patients tell me they've tried Superglue on their cuts& it works - never tried it myself...  most hospitals have a glue they use - just talked to one friend who had a 3 in laceration across his forehead - they used glue & you can't even see the scar & this man is 70 y/o.

On another note, just watched part of a 12 part video on Monsanto - biotechnology - they have 90% on the genetically modified seed market around the world.  They also produce Round-Up.  Must see!  Here is the link to the 1st of 12 parts
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Shocking+World+By+monsanto&sitesearch=   

[MountainDon]

Cyanoacrylate glue (superglue) was used in the Vietnam War. A type that could be sprayed from a spray bottle was developed and saved many a soldier from bleeding to death between the battlefield and the hospital. Today it is used in orthopedic surgery as well as for some dental medical uses. Band Aid brand Liquid Bandage is cyanoacrylate based.

[muldoon]

My cucumbers are doing great, I have about 25 2" or so cukes growing in on the vines, pretty yellow flowers keep coming in.  The tomato plants are growing great but only a single actual tomato has appeared so far.  The bell peppers and the serranos have bloomed and should start fruit soon, I hope we have a hot summer and they are extra spicy.  Carrots are coming up, as are the radishes.  My eggplant never did much of anything other than germinate and stagnate at about 1 inch out of the ground.  Good thing I don't like eggplant much.  The hops have exploded and have come out of the dirt and into massive 2 foot bushes in just 3 weeks.  I need to get those on trellis or at least twine stringers this weekend. 

superglue is also good for guitar players; if your callouses are not strong enough long sessions can shred your fingertips.  The superglue puts it all back together and acts as a callous by itself. 

[MountainDon]

Cyanoacrylate.... used by burglars, etc to obscure their fingerprints as well.



FYI:
Do you know what makes cyanoacrylates set? Moisture.

CA's produce cyanide gas when heated.

Thick CA's are weaker than the thinner type.

Long life glue mixes are short lived and weaker.

Baking Soda is a great accelerant.

A good solvent for CA is nitromethane. (good to know if you own a "fuelie" dragster or fly R/C airplanes using high nitro content fuel)

Low humidity climates (desert) produce slow cures, long bonding times. Reverse for high humidity.


How's that for garden Thread drift?

[Sassy]

Interesting info, MtnDon...  wonder why the VA doesn't use that stuff?  Would be so much simpler & looks like people heal a lot better with it.   Of course this is very important info for the garden thread - I am always cutting myself 

[glenn kangiser]

You are getting almost good as me, Don.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

    We got .7 inch of rain last night and the tomatoes that were on the plant out front have more than doubled in size since yesterday... makes me grin to see it.

[Daddymem]

Some plantin' done tonight.

Overall view of garden.

My cauliflower and broccoli

Tomato front and pumpkin back.  Space saved for beans in the middle.

Tomato front, squashes the rest of the bed.

Squashes, cantaloupe and cucumber.

Radishes

Cape gooseberries.

Tomatoes waiting for me to build their containers.

*phew*

[glenn kangiser]

Looks great Daddymem.  I have to get after mine some more.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, the watermelon did finally sprout after all... they are saved seed from some watermelons we grew in our old house in Oklahoma more than three years ago.  I remember picking some of them in late November that year just before a freeze hit.  We sat inside watching the wind whip the trees around and eating our November watermelons, which incidentally tasted incredibly sweet.  I saved some of the seeds that year.  They're little bitty ones, but they fit in the fridge better anyway.

[PEG688]

 Looks good daddymem  , yours will take right off and pass mine . We're a slow and steady growth cycle here.





But things in general are growing along.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

PEG, it looks so pretty, though.

[PEG688]

 Thanks Home , I think  it looks pretty good as well  we are picking lettuce and radishes , spinach soon  as well.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

We've had some fresh basil, mint and sage so far, and we're getting really close on the spinach.  Seems like the little tomatoes are doubling in size every few days, but they're no where near ready to turn red yet.  The bell peppers are healthy looking and are starting to set tiny fruits.  The cuke vines are getting bigger and healthier looking by the day in my knock off earth boxes.  I was lamenting to my husband this morning that it is just wrong NOT to have a garden to work in on a day like today... it was the perfect day for it, but since everything is in containers and everything was watered, and there was nothing really to harvest yet, and no weeds, there wasn't really anything to do.  I hate living in town.  No wonder people actually pay for TV in some places.  I'll be so glad to sell our other house and get out of town. 

By the way, as a funny side note, my husband was praying the 23rd Psalm with the kids the other night and got tongue-tied, and instead of saying "Thou anointest my head with oil" it came out "Thou anointest my soil..."  Even though I got tickled by it, I told him I was glad he was already praying for God to anoint the dirt we don't have.   

[glenn kangiser]

Garden is really looking great, PEG.  We're still dragging our feet a bit.  Lots of garden yet but haven't got the new stuff in that we need to get in.

[Daddymem]

Thanks PEG.  I don't know though.  We got a cold spell this weekend and the little guys aren't looking to perky.  Think I lost my cucumbers.  Our spinach, kale, and lettuce didn't even come up this year and carrots are still my "Eleanor".  We have some odd ball stuff this year so we are chalking it up as an experimental year for us.  I just hope we get some warm weather to stay here finally.  You never can tell, it is New England after all, don't like the weather?  Wait a minute.

[Sassy]

Aw, Daddymem, hopefully they perk up - last year Glenn was in a hurry to plant stuff - usually April is ok where we're at.  I planted everything & then we got snow!  So not much came up & I had to replant...  that's why I haven't been in a hurry this year. 

PEG, your garden looks great!  Always so nice & neat    With so much volunteer plants, ours is rather chaotic  but we get lots of stuff from it.  Have been picking lots of artichokes.  Our 4 plants have been making them like crazy.  Cooked 7 of them last night.  Last week, I saw the large ones for $1.49 apiece.  So, we figure that was a pot of $10 chokes...  really good flavor. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Aw, Daddymem, hopefully they perk up - last year Glenn was in a hurry to plant stuff - usually April is ok where we're at.  I planted everything & then we got snow!  So not much came up & I had to replant...  that's why I haven't been in a hurry this year. 

PEG, your garden looks great!  Always so nice & neat    With so much volunteer plants, ours is rather chaotic  but we get lots of stuff from it.  Have been picking lots of artichokes.  Our 4 plants have been making them like crazy.  Cooked 7 of them last night.  Last week, I saw the large ones for $1.49 apiece.  So, we figure that was a pot of $10 chokes...  really good flavor. 

Sassy, I think I'm going to try to grow artichokes after we have a permanent place... I love the things and they're not cheap!  PEG's garden does look so organized and neat.  I get garden envy looking at it.  Our gardens are always crowded and colorful and full of good stuff, but they never look that pretty.  I also want to grow asparagus once we are settled.  My kids love asparagus (a-bear-a-gus) soup. 

[Sassy]

We have asparagus - got quite a bit this year - it is so wonderful picked fresh out of the garden - sometimes I just eat it raw.  Once it gets established, not much to do with it but wait for it to come up in the spring!    

Yes, PEG's garden is so neat... we have a lot of flowers throughout the garden that have reseeded themselves besides the rose bushes.  This year my "hot poker plant" I think it's called is doing great - I've counted at least 25 flowers that have come up from it - I thought the dogs had ruined it - they'd completely smashed the plant earlier this spring & I was just sick.  We have lots of foxgloves & some plant with delicate purple flowers - then of course the calendula, brown eyed susans, hollyhocks, sunflowers (they're not the big ones, don't know the real name for them), allysium, roses, poppies, daisies... they're all interspersed with the veggies - I have a hard time walking in between to harvest the plants.  I was letting the rutabagas & broccolli go to seed, but the stupid aphids just love the stuff, so guess I'm going to have to pull it up - pulled quite a bit up already... have sprayed soapy water on them, dilute vinegar water - doesn't do a thing...    Oh, we have quite a few blueberries on the little bushes I planted last year.  The peach & apricot trees have lots of leaves, but since Glenn just planted them this year, no fruit.  My poor plum tree that had literally 100's if not 1000's of fruit last year - I thinned it over & over & ate plums for 2 months off it - it is a 4 in one - 3 types of plums & a pluot grafted into it - the poor little think broke most of it's branches so only had a few blooms this year & no fruit - I guess it deserved a rest... 

The strawberries are producing like crazy - usually I go out to pick them, but they are on a really steep part of the shop roof so I think this year Glenn will have to keep picking them...     I hate this arthritis - I've tried DMSO, other types of rubs, turmeric for anti-inflammation, honey with bee venom, you name it, I've been trying all the natural stuff...  so still have to take naproxen & tylenol - I try to limit it to the bare minimum but can hardly walk & definitely can't sleep at night if I don't take it