Garden thread.

[PEG688]

 Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, parsnips (we have some year round )  trying to get full time self sufficiency here.


 

Well lets hope it never gets to  that , ,,,,,,,just  eating  only those items It could be a lil gas-ie around yer neck -oh- the- woods    Not sure about carrots  :-/

[glenn kangiser]

Ahhh yesss   -- the aromatic joys of winter vegetables.  I forgot about that until you mentioned it.  Where is my mind lately?

[glenn-k]

Sitting here eating stewed tomato soup fresh from the garden.  Thought I should mention that   Our tomatoes, peppers, squash, celery, swiss chard, parsnips, carrots, onions, a few strawberries, and misc. other stuff is still producing just fine.  Many of the plants are looking a bit ragged but still putting out.  

[peg_688]

 It's nice when things "put out " eh Glenn  

Tilled the garden yesterday so that compost can work in better , I hope .



Those grapes are riping a little we ate a couple this AM while in the hot tub so lil victories all a guy can ask for really outta life 8-)

Forums sure dead    

[glenn-k]

Forums sure dead

I guess we solved all the  problems and get a break to talk about the garden.

Yeah -- seems when they don't put out, it is more of a problem.

Had some people here today who didn't know what winter squash was.  It is a good way of having something that pretty well preserves itself for about up to 6 months.  Winter squash has relatively hard shells compared to Zucchini or Yellow Crookneck which are summer squash for those who don't know.

[tanya]

I finally got around to reading up on the papercrete what a fantastic discovery I am anxiou to try it and this weekend I plan to get  going on some stepping stones and planters.  I like it better thanthe hypertufa because it is only paper and cement and I wont have to worry about how I am going to get my hands on the peat moss or perilite.  I found a good site too called at www.livinginpaper.com and they have some good info there.  My indoor garden is doing well I made chicken soup yesterday and had cherry tomatoes and chives to add from my pots and the lettuce is ready to pick too.  The flowers are so beautiful I love geraniums and I have some gorgeous ones, I wish I had put them int he fair.  Well that is all for now thank you so much for the lead on the papercrete.  

[glenn-k]

My pleasure, Tanya.

A friend and group of her friends is experimenting with papercrete.  Here is a washroom they were building but she had a fire in her code approved  electrical panel and garage (4 years old), and wasn't there the day I went to check on her.  Funny the county didn't step up with a warranty check as they did  inspect it :-/  Wonder what all that inspection permit money buys? :-?

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

Just noticed that there is a gardening thread here this morning.  Glad to see it!  Our garden did fairly well this year, except the beans which all got eaten up by the Japanese beetles (or whatever those nuisances are called... I miss my chickens!)  We're still learning how to grow things up north... still haven't produced enough to can or preserve very much.  This year I made some salsa, and last year I canned a few green beans.  We've still got a lot of tomatoes, carrots, onions, and pumpkins.  Already went through all the potatoes, lettuce, corn, and so forth.  I've found a variety of tomatoes that we love... they're smaller than most cherry tomatoes but have one of the most powerful tastes of any tomato I've ever tried, and they grow and produce like crazy here.  They're Matt's Wild Cherry (available from Johnny's Seed).  Thanks to the chipmunks, we now have them planted all over our yard and garden, but I enjoy them so much that when they come up as volunteers, I try to leave as many as possible because they'll get eaten.  They seem to handle the first frosts better than other varieties, too.  Last year we were out of town when the first freeze hit.  We came home to mostly sad and wilted tomato plants, but the wild cherry varieties only looked  a little nipped, and they continued to produce for a few more weeks.
In OK, we'd gotten to the veggie and fruit self-sustenance point, but have never achieved it here... growing season is much shorter and there are a lot more garden pests to deal with than I've ever had to before.  Each year we get a little better, though.  Unfortunately we can't expand the garden any without cutting down some trees, so we have to be content with depending on the local orchards, farmers markets and the grocery store.   :-/

[tanya]

I was reading more ont he papercrete and I am not sure it will work for some of the ideas I had apparantly it holds water like a sponge so it wont work for stepping stones who wants to step on a wet sponge?  But I do think it will work for planters and I think it will work especially well for planters I will be using in the desert if I can seal the outside and make it so the water is released bact into the planter it may be jsut the ticket for that drought ridden area.  I also think the papercrete will make a lovely hearth I can build it with the flat stones i have been collecting and it will actually work as a heat sink too.  

Hmegrown tomatoes you should try french intensive gardening in raised beds I have used this method for my gardens for years and you just plant everything really thick using companion planting like tomatoes and carrots inthe same bed, and make the beds deep and high and I even plant stuff (strawberries) on the sides of the beds because I never cared about how things looked or if stuff like volunteers grow in the paths, just as long as I have a spot to step and someplace i can park the wheelbarrow to harvest.  After the first year you rarely have to pull a weed at all and they save water once the plants are established.  And after the first year the digging is easy and minimal.  I saw an idea recently too that says you can use straw bales to form the outer walls of the beds and that would make it better with kids and dogs around.  I have noticed that kids and dogs tend to stay in the paths better than in a gardens with a flat surface.  

[glenn-k]

A garden is good for anything you can get out of it, Homegrown.  Much better than the store.

The papercrete does soak up water, Tanya,  Not real tough structurally but it is a solid object.  I have only read up on it and seen the above project.  Maybe the hypertufa would be a better product for the garden stuff.

I'm also in favor of the French intensive gardening for home use.  Composted horse manure - 100% has been used successfully.  I like to add about 1/3 soil - maybe ashes too for other necessary minerals.  Seems it still needs some  fertilizer - all purpose.  We had great results this year - our first year with a ground based garden instead of on our roof (Still have the roof garden too but want to change some of it and fix a few  problem areas..  We went to the two foot rock walls - foot of topsoil on the bottom and a foot of composted horse manure and 1/3 soil mix on top.

The straw bales will grow stuff also if covered with manure and manure tea, and will probably decompose in one year or less, but still good stuff to build the soil.

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

Actually, we do garden intensively in raised beds as well as using edible landscaping (though I'm not giving the French any credit for it!).  We just have a really shady yard and a relatively short growing season.  I figure we'll just enjoy garden produce in season and deal with it out of season for now... hopefully we won't have too many more seasons of growing up here!!!  I'd like to be back somewhere where I can grow anything and the neighbors are smart enough to be thankful for chickens!

[Amanda_931]

Anything (organic) that's supposed to get lawn grubs gets the Japanese beetle/masked chafer bug larvae, because those are the two main lawn grubs.  

When I moved here there were shrubs along the road, no giant ragweed.  The utility company kills everything they can, so they killed the shrubs (wild hydrangea as well as the dreaded privet) and now the area is choked with giant ragweed.  Which I didn't get before it bloomed this year because of knee problems (I've still got knee problems).  They're even proud of killing shrubs so that weeds will grow.

I don't think they Round-upped a rose by the road--quite.  But they tried.  Did get the tomato  beds.

So this year for the first time I seem to be allergic to ragweed.

Bless their little hearts.

[Amanda_931]

Speaking of papercrete and fire--if there's not enough cement/concrete in it, it can burn very strangely, you might not notice it until it was a block of ash, and it collapsed into ashes.  According to what was going around a few years ago.

Doesn't take much concrete/cement, though, IIRC.

but that, and draining the blocks (that water is right nasty, I gather) is what made me think that papercrete wasn't for me.

[MountainDon]

My allergies were triggered big time a year after we moved to NM.My allergist said that's a common occurrence.  :-/

[Amanda_931]

Yep.

When I visited my (now late) parents on Rota (north of Guam), the first couple of times I wasn't allergic to the molds and mildews there.  

Might had gone away again by now.  

[glenn-k]

Vancenase or Beconase about once or twice per year gets rid of my hay fever - sniffles etc.  Yeah - I know --- empowering the pharmaceutical companies.

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

Funny thing... my allergies were so bad this summer here that I finally broke down and tried taking stuff for them.  Since they changed the formulation of Sudafed, it doesn't do diddly-squat for my symptoms, and Claritin makes me feel like I downed a whole pot of coffee in one gulp, and Benadryl knocks me out cold, I finally picked up a tiny little bottle that my mom had bought at a health food store for my husband.  It just says "Seasonal Allergy Relief" and looking at the ingredients, it's got things like cedar pollen and ragweed pollen in it.  They taste like little baby aspirin (does anyone else remember what i'm talking about... I don't think they even make them anymore.)  I couldn't believe it worked better than any of the above to help with itchy eyes, runny nose, sore throat, and sinus headache.  They don't seem to work as fast as the better known stuff, but they sure work better for me.  I was pretty skeptical, but if I ever run out of them, you can bet I'll be hunting some more of them down!

[glenn-k]

The two above are prescription -sprays that you sniff a few timess a season.  I learned about them from an old horse doctor who had allergies and found the cure.  It works quite well for most people but you sometimes have to ask your doc for a prescription for them as they don't all seem to know about it.

[tanya]

When my hayfever gets really bad I take children's benedryl the liquid kind so I can take only half a dose I can handle that without getting all knocked out.  If I have to take a full dose I take it at night and then I am fine the next day.  By the way I like having hte liquid benedryl inthe house and one inthe car.  I have had several instances where we have needed it ont he spot up in the high mountains hours away from medical facilities.  Bees nests and such.  Plus I have seen a couple of people who were never allergic to bees and meds all of a suden become allergic and not know waht was going on until they were in serious trouble and even jsut a short way fromt he doc a quick spoonful does wonders until you can get them there.  

[glenn-k]

Picked a peck of peppers today -- seems I did that last year too.  

More this year though.  Already about 10 bags in the freezer.





The lone head of cabbage I had planted when I knew it would be too hot (planted several) but it survived and will appear in another thread.

[MountainDon]

Impressive load of peppers, Glenn.

And just in case you were wondering "What the heck is a peck?"

A "Peck" is 8 dry quarts, a bushel is 4 pecks or 32 dry quarts.

And Peter Piper's peck of peppers were already pickled.... something strange going on in his garden.

[glenn-k]

I've always wondered about Peter's pickled peppers and how that happened.  Maybe Peter was pickled also. :-?

Thanks for the number's Don.

There are still more of the smaller ones in the garden.  Still growing season left here.  

Nice having excess freezer space now that we have the bigger one.  Lots more food in storage this year.

[Sassy]

I filled up 4 gallon bags for the freezer besides the ones I cooked.  I just freeze them whole most of the time.  They are great for cooking.  

[benevolance]

been eating fresh limes and emons off the young trees of late...

Last week I picked a lime and I spent an hour just smelling it...As it was picked off the tree... My wife was looking at me funny and she asked if I was on drugs...I told her yes...I just found the lime to be the sweetest most refreshing smell ever...Told her that must be what it is like to be on drugs or whatever...It was euphoric for me at least...

Almost a shame to peel and eat the limes when they smell that wonderful..

I never knew they could be that tasty and smell so good.... you do not get that at the supermarket with their produce

Sassy how do you freeze the peppers so that they keep and are crisp for later use?

[MountainDon]

I don't think there's any way to keep a once frozen pepper crisp. That's why they're only good for cooking.  :'(

That's great hearing your trees put out for you Peter.