Looks like this:
Posted on 07/19/2013 12:45:12 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
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Yes, I didn’t get it, either. It looked like one of those old floppies we used to use.
I’m alive! Just in case anyone was wondering.
The operation went well, but the recovery is going slowly. It hurts to walk, or even to sit in a regular chair. You wouldn’t think sitting uses your stomach muscles that much, but it does! Which means I haven’t been able to tolerate sitting at my computer for more than a few minutes. I’m using a borrowed laptop now, after 2 weeks without internet I was going stir-crazy! Every book I read gave me more stuff I wanted to look up :)
On my short walks I’ve been trying to make it to the back garden. My runner beans have little baby bean pods on them, and my snap peas are producing. 2 of my tomato plants are covered in green tomatoes. The paste tomatoes are still way behind, but one of them has the beginnings of flower buds on it.
One of the books I got to read while I recover is about vegetable breeding. Too many ideas there! I’m thinking I might try it with my tomatoes by crossing all 3 varieties in pairs and seeing what happens. I want a paste, a grape, and a slicer, but I want them all to have fast growth, vigor, resilience, dense growth, disease resistance, and high yields. Right now they all have disease resistance, but my grape has fast growth, vigor, and resilience; my slicer has such dense growth that it smothers the weeds for me, but it’s slow the first 2 months, and my paste is being downright lazy.
So far I’ve attempted crossing the grape and the slicer. The grape requires minor surgery to cross-pollinate it. The stamen is completely encased by the anthers, which is a great feature if you’re trying to preserve an existing variety. Not so great when trying to start a new one. The slicer doesn’t have that feature, so it’s easier.
Anyway, enough rambling, now to read through 2 weeks worth of gardening threads!
Just in from putting up the chicken wire and sweating like a pig. Whew, it’s in the 80s but the humidity got me. Didn’t have enough to go completely around but it might frustrate them enough. If they get caught in there, they’ll become buzzard feed. Might need to go back and block it off but no more today. Or set out the live trap. Sorry, you mess with my tomatoes and you’re fast on your way to the buzzards.
Years ago, I field-dressed and ate dillo. Much like squirrel. Of course, now I’ll get flamed with all sort of warnings about diseases.
Or get your garlic from the grocery store, separate the bulbs and plant it.
I walked into the dentist office when they opened at 8 am. Told them I was sorry to be there without an appt. and if the Dr. had a chain saw, he could just cut out my jaw and I'd go home. They are nice ladies and got me back there for an x-ray and the doctor came in and wrote a script for Cipro and a stronger Hydrocodone pain pill.
Came home, ate something, chewing on only one side, before taking the Cipro and I can take the stronger pain pill at 11:30. That pill may knock me out and I don't care.
I'm going to watch a movie (2003) on AMC channel starting at 10:30 about an attorney (Dustin Hoffman) who's brought a wrongful-death suit against a gun manufacturer. Gene Hackman is a jury consultant working for the company. I wonder who is going to win this case? Bet it isn't the gun company.
I’ve done that. Worked out great too! But if you’ve never tried the different ‘gourmet’ garlics you don’t know what you’re missing! They’re yummy!
Grocery store garlic works if your climate approximates SoCal where most of it is grown. I don’t grow out the Chicom garlic. Ew, who knows what that was sprayed/watered/etc with.
The Socal garlics are probably not completely hardy in the far north or very cold environs.
It might work as spring planted garlic somewhere it wasn’t winter hardy though.
I’ve planted grocery store garlic several times and had good results.
I’ve got two pots of ginger from Kroger in my driveway right now. I got a big ginger root that had lots of the white button looking ‘eyes’ on it and separated it into hunks. Let those dry/harden off overnight and planted them in big pots. It’s tropical so not hardy here over winter. I will plant it out next spring though so it can make a decent amount of ginger roots. It’s about 6” tall right now with several little sprout thingies coming up.
My next project will be turmeric root(s) from the local Asian market.
Ahhh, the smell of money!
We used to have cattle so always had a stocked freezer. The first time I had to buy beef in the grocery store was freaky.
I wear long-sleeved shirts, a big-brimmed or bucket hat, long pants tucked into boots, and a man’s short-sleeved casual shirt over all. Finish ensemble w/generous spray of Off! or Repel. Gloves, kneeling pad, weeding tool and sharp knife, as well as container to collect harvest. Next thing on shopping list is knee-high snake boots, but a few other things take priority.
I feel the same way about our 'maters. I knew about tularemia from rabbits and leprosy from 'dillos, but what besides rabies can you get from squirrels? I don't think they have hanta around here (they've had that in the Four Corners area back west--I think on the res).
My main considerations for garden attire are snagability and protection from sun/heat. Woven fabrics snag less than knitted fabrics. And a loose-fitting, lightly-colored, long sleeved shirt will keep the sun off your skin while letting breezes through. I even have a straw cowboy hat to keep the sun off my face and neck.
If it’s cold out I just dress warmly, but with snagability in mind.
But then, if I’m going to be in the garden long enough to dress special for it, chances are it means I’m going to the garden on my land, where nobody’s going to see me. For the back garden, I usually don’t even change out of my office clothes unless I’m wearing something particularly delicate.
That’s the difference between city and country living. Mine is about an hour’s drive away. It’s still too crowded here for me. I don’t want to see or hear anyone from my front door. Last night, a house alarm went off and the commotion kept us up half the night. Chances are it was just happenstance or a four legged creature rather than the two legged type.
Waaay cool!
Re: Okabashis. I have five pairs from a very long time ago that have been indestructible. I bought three pairs in 2011 and two of them broke between the toes. I was going to mail them back and ask for a refund but got off track somehow. Maybe it was a bad batch, but I felt stung.
Can’t think of anything you’d get from squirrels except rabies and never heard of any around here getting it. Hubby keeps telling me he’s going to thin them out because they were chewing into the shed but he hasn’t.
Save seeds from your hybrid tomatoes and try them next year. Some of the plants that grow will be blight-resistant, and some won’t be. But, by saving seeds from the plant you like the most each year, you will eventually end up with an open-pollinated variety that is still blight-resistant.
(((Hugs)))
In San Antonio Caliche amended soil . . . just planted Chayo (Spinach Tree), a mango tree (which will probably not survive anywhere close to a frost) an Edwards Lemon tree,and in the middle of our backyard a one foot loquot tree.
Prognosis? Anyone on the thread wanting to see how they thrive or die? I’ll provide pictures.
Also planted two chayote plants . . . which started out well, but have stopped growing . . . maybe till cooler weather. During the Spring, chayote reached the roof of my patio.
Chayote is supposed to be an every year plant. Your experiences are? If my plants die on the vine, will they come back next season?
Good to see you!
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