Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 49) December 16

Free Republic | 12-16-2011 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners. I hope all of you are doing well and wish you a Merry Christmas. Today’s thread will be the last one I post as the host of the gardening thread. Thankfully the thread will continue to be posted by Freeper JustaDumbBlonde. Not only is she is a very experienced gardener, she and her husband run a large acreage family farm growing corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans and various other crops. Her large kitchen garden is so successful she has set up a roadside stand to sell her produce. I am confident the Gardening Thread will be in very competent hands. She gardens and farms in Northeast Louisiana and has been a member of the gardening thread since Freepers gardengirl and Gabz started the original thread in January 2008.

It has been my great pleasure to host and post this thread every week for the last couple of years. I actually learned to garden from this thread and have enjoyed my garden and reading the posts and meeting new Friends on this thread every week. I will continue to read and post on the thread if I think I can add to the conversation. I hope all of you have very successful gardens next year.

If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.

[Red_Devil 232]

We have had a nice shower just roll through and more on the way. It was in the low 70s this afternoon. More rain is expected during the next few days with moderate temps.

[satan69]

SOUTH FL UPDATE: Christmas Kimchi. I am waiting for it to rot/bubble Sorry if you were eating your lunch.. :-}

[satan69]

South FL Pictures: OK, That's enough Egg Plant, Thank you very much..

[Red_Devil 232]

You are harvesting some great veggies. Those Eggplants look great, how many plants do you have?

[satan69]

You are harvesting some great veggies. Those Eggplants look great, how many plants do you have?

Thank you! There are only 4 Egg Plants, The Garden is right at 90 days old.. I am wondering where our cold snap is this year.... Some of the veggies dosn’t like 80 degrees every day! Thinking about putting in some early corn!

[Darth Reardon]

Yesterday, I was curious if cauliflower leaves were edible. Because I have some. First thing I came upon was a recipe. It's Indian, uses food I grew and would have otherwise thrown away, and it's deep fried. I'll be heading to a local Indian market tomorrow. Think I'll try my hand at some aloo gobi as well.

[satan69]

Good idea, It can’t be any worse then mustard greens, They get pretty big down here!

A friend of my Son’s has a rabbit who I export to. The rabbit loves them if that’s any help.

[satan69]

South FL gardening problem: Perhaps you all can help me.

My Brussle sprouts which I have about 15 plants in the garden will not form a head... (I am a leaf puller) I am thinking it’s becuase of the 80 degree temps we have been having for the last month.. Everything is perfect, PH is 7.0, No bugs, no bites, No errors.... The buds are there but never form into a good tight ball.. Should I just rip them out and plant corn so I can plant 3 weeks early or is the cold weather just waiting on me to do that?

[tubebender]

80 degree winter temps are out of my league but Sprouts are grown in the Santa Cruz/Watsonville Ca where temps can reach 80. Is there a Florida university with a ag department you can query? We have a pink sky this morning so maybe rain is on our way..

[greeneyes]

We have had a nice shower just roll through and more on the way. It was in the low 70s this afternoon. More rain is expected during the next few days with moderate temps.”

;

I am so jealous, we have been in the 20’s and highs of less than 40. Brrrrrrr. Got some rain though so that's a plus.

[satan69]

SOUTH FL UPDATE:

Brussels Sprouts problem.. Now they tell me!

I live south of SR 70 which puts me in zone 10ish. Nine for sure... And I quote “Zones 4-7”.. Everything I am reading says they need cold and like frost to form heads. It’s been 80s all week. My fault for not reading, There again you would think in Dec even FL would get cold.. Oh well, I wonder if my friends rabbit would like them, the plants are big and healthy.

Time to pull it and try and sneak in a crop of super sweet early corn. Then the ice cold weather can show up and kill it... Some of that new Burpee corn is ready in 65 days..

[satan69]

Are you going to garden in the sand? Different seasons then up north.. Enjoy the Crayfish and Catfish.. Cat fish guts make great Fert if you can keep the animals out of them. There again the animals are tasty also.

Steve in South FL

[satan69]

South FL Garden update:

I pulled up all my coliflower and brokley, I was done with it and got the main heads off of them, Blanched and in the freezer. I plowed up the 4 rows they were taking and another row I had empty from greenbeans and replanted.. Yes I know it’s 2 weeks early but I am going to chance it. I planted 4 rows of sweet yellow corn and one long row of beets and rutabagas abd a few flowers tossed in so the row is marked.. I hope to have corn by the end of FEB when my sister is down. Looks like no freeze this year.. We shall see....
Hope everyone has a good newyear