Weekly Gardening Thread ----- Tossing Around Ideas

My "pea" brain | 1/24/08 | Gabz and GardenGirl

[Red_Devil 232]

We used to have Chipmunks their holes used to be all over the place. But since the dogs have been around Chip and Dale must have relocated! They caught a rabbit when they were young I don’t know which one caught it. I think it could have been the male. He was out on the hill and would not move when called or come in to eat. I told my wife that something was wrong with him and went to see if he was hurt. I walked up to him and just laying there between his front paws was this rabbit. I think he felt bad that he had killed it while playing with it. Or it died of fright.

[gardengirl]

We don’t have chipmunks here. Evidently they don’t like the heat. i’ve seen them in the NC mountains. Shrug. We have rabbits, and you should here my oldest female chasing them. She yips, like she just got caught on a briar or something. I’ve seen her steam up their tails more than once!

She’s a long legged, beagle colored, miniature grayhound looking rat, and is she ever fast!

[txhurl]

Can I please be on this pinglist?

I didn’t even know this thread existed!

[Red_Devil 232]

We live about 2.5 to 3 miles from the Van Zyverden bulb plant here in Miss. It is where my wife got her Elephant Ear bulbs. She was driving by the plant (it is on a country road) and the road was filled with what she thought were potatoes. She stopped to figure a way around them and picked up a few. Not potatoes as she thought. They were bulbs but we did not know what kind. Just planted about 10 of them and all turned out to be these Giant Elephant Ears. A truck must have not been loaded right! LOL

[gardengirl]

Too cool!

I had several planted, which multiplied into many, altho much smaller. For some reason, they all came to the top of the ground one winter. We picked them all up and they nearly filled a 5 gallon bucket.

I was planning on replanting them. I came home from work one day and there was a small jar of homemade jelly on the counter. I asked hubby where it came from. “Oh, someone at work. I gave them all those bulbs we picked up, and they brought me the jelly.” LOL

Needless to sya, I have no elephant ears! I managed not to kill hubby!

[Red_Devil 232]

Was it Elephant Ear jelly? They are edible if cooked!

[gardengirl]

Not that I know of! I was tempted to make jelly out of hubby!! They were the giant bulbs—the ones that are about $12-$15 apiece!

[chickpundit]

If you don’t mind, please add me to the ping list. I forgot to ask when I posted earlier.

[Oberon]

Figs—they do great in a coastal climate. Not sure how far inland or north they will survive.

I can tell you that figs are a not-uncommon ornamental in Rocky Mount, which is as far west as I-95 and as far north as Nash County. They produce well here.

[Oberon]

I took a chance and sowed a leaf lettuce mix in my garden yesterday. It might very well be too soon. Hopefully if it is the seeds will just lie dormant until a more propitious time.

[gardengirl]

I think figs will do as far as Raleigh, maybe farther. Even if they die back to the ground because of the cold, a lot of times they will sprout back up. Not sure how cold it has to get to kill them dead.

The lettuce should be fine. :) Ours in the greenhouse is looking good. We sow it thick, and then thin it out and transplant the thinnings. We do green ice, iceberg, romaine, red sails, ruby, buttercrunch. Most of them go to seed quick here anyway. The iceberg won’t head—most people crop it like collards.

[tubebender]

The Great San Joaquin Valley with it’s 110 degree summers is a major producer of figs. At one time figs did well in coastal Eureka Ca and were abundant but for the last 40 years production per tree has fallen and people are taking the trees out.

[gardengirl]

Figs come from the Mediteranean (sp!) so they like hot coastal conditions. I remember from some research I did for an article that almost all figs do not need to be pollinated. There is a variety, and IIRC, some of them were transplanted to Cali, that need to be pollinated, and they’re only pollinated by a certain type of wasp. The first figs taken to Cali wouldn’t produce because there were no wasps. Once the wasps were imported—voila! Maybe these figs are that type. ????

[Oberon]

The lettuce should be fine. :)

They're calling for rain tonight, so that'll be nice. I hope to be eating salad by mid-March.

[gardengirl]

The weather is supposed to be pretty good here the rest of the week—if we don’t get too much rain! Your lettuce should sprout pretty quick. Just watch it when it gets cols again, and you should be eating lettuce quicker than middle of March!

[Oberon]

D’you think I should throw a tarp over it if the temp threatens to drop below 30?

[gardengirl]

Depends on how big it is. If it gets up a couple of inches, it should— :) — be ok. I’ve had older lettuce out in low 20’s and it was fine. Much lower than 10 degrees and I don’t think it made it. Too much cold sometimes makes it bitter, just like too much heat. Had some of the most beautiful red sails one year—the only thing it was fit for was centerpieces!

[tubebender]

Here is the Fig requiring a Wasp to pollinate and it is grown in the Central Valley.

Wasp

I know that Just Amy can fill us in on the varieties grown there including the venerable Black Mission...

[JustAmy]

Many years ago, the company that I worked for did some computer work for Valley Fig Growers.

I no longer have a copy, but they distributed a pamplet titled “The Sex Life of a Fig.” It was cute and very informative ..... all about the wasp brought in to pollinate the Calimyrna Figs.

We have a Black Mission but it didn’t produce very well last year. I think there was only one crop; we usually get at least 4 crops. We are hoping for a more productive yield this year.

[jla]

Hello Gabz. Please ping me if you would to new threads on this topic.

Thank you

I intend to plant Mazari palms this March/April, I live in Richmond.

I planted bamboo last summer.