My neighbor cut back his plumeria and put the cuttings on the median near the street. I decided not to be greedy and only took one, which I stuck in this pot filled with stock:
My eucalyptus is blooming:
He can't stop looking out the window for Santa's sleigh:
Merry Merry Christmas to all.
How is greeneyes doing?
Merry Christmas!
We started doing some of this this past year.
Here’s a link to native trees and plants for a reasonable price.
https://www.nh.gov/nhnursery/documents/spring2022nurserycatalog.pdf
The Baker Creek Heirloom Catalog arrived this week. It is addictive p0rn.
This is going to be a rough gardening year.
Not much point in starting my seeds in the greenhouse that I will have to take down to move it to Texas in April.
Won’t be able to easily get a decent garden going in Texas because the deer will eat everything until I get a high fence around the house and garden area. I won’t say it will be a lost year but this year of transition includes the garden for sure
A jalapeno question .....
I’ve always had good luck in the past with jalapenos. I let them go to red and then make Jalapeno Pepper Jelly (JPJ) out of them - the color using only red peppers is beautiful, sort of an amber with red flecks.
So this evening, my niece returned a box of empty jelly jars - she & hubby LOVE the JPJ I make - I usually give them a batch for a Christmas present. Hubby informed me he expected the jars to be returned .... full of jelly.
The jelly they got this year was made last year - I did not make any JPJ this year because my jalapenos ... well, they just plain ‘sucked’. They were short/stubby & they got the ‘age’ lines (corking?) on them while still green. By the time they turned red, they looked awful & I just didn’t want to use them. Niece’s hubby said they had the same issue with their jalapenos this year ... were not all that prolific & got the corking problem early.
I did as always & bought the jalapenos in a 4-pack from the local nursery. They were only marked as jalapenos & ‘hot’, no variety name or anything. The plants themselves did great & I actually had quite a few peppers, but the size/quality was the issue. I managed to make 2 batches of jalapeno poppers but I had to scrounge through a lot of smaller, stubby ones to find larger, longer ones for stuffing/wrapping with bacon.
Any thoughts about the corking issues - from what I read, after looking for info, it appears to be caused by ‘stress’ (for example - not enough water, too much water). Also, I’m thinking about starting some peppers from seeds myself this year .... very unhappy with whatever jalapeno plants I got last spring due to the short/stubby peppers. After no JPJ this year, for sure I will have to make a couple of batches next year - my brother gets JPJ too .. even bought me jelly jars last year so I would have enough to give him at least 2 batches!
It was another week of mostly shirt-sleeve weather here in Central Missouri. We got a bit of rain mid-week, but we are in dire need of more.
Mrs. Augie picked a nice salad from the garden to go with our leftovers that we had for Christmas dinner. The 31st will be our 30th wedding anniversary, and most of the kids/grands will be able to come over, so I’m holding the 16lb boneless prime rib of beef for New Years Day.
I hope you all had a safe and happy Christmas.
Merry Christmas (Yeah, a day late!) from southern New Hampshire, where we had rain and ice all day, Christmas Day! Footing is treacherous and this old fart is walking carefully.
Today is going to be dry and warmer, and I hope it clears and dries the roof so that I can install the roof mount for our Starlink “Dishy”. Then, I will go into the shop and start assembling the side hatches for our new hoop house, which has developed a bit of a sag in the middle. I am working up a plan to put up a backbone on the inside to support the roof. Also going to insulate and skin the inside of the front and back walls. Nothing is ever “done” in this homestead!
Household Six is delighted with the plumbing in her basement planting area, but now needs a water supply for her planting table, and oh, did I mention a drip system, and did I mention multiple zones? Like I said, no project achieves “done” around here!
It was 64 here yesterday in East Tennessee.
The forsythia is blooming.
The struggling snow peas are blooming. The lettuce is trying to grow.
Strangely, it feels like spring
Do Your Heart Good: National Gardening Exercise Day is June 6
Good Earth Plant Company ^ | January 12th, 2022 | Unattributed
Posted on 1/12/2022, 4:31:24 PM by Mariner
Our sedentary lives really hit home for many people over the last year. Did you gain the COVID-19, or was it 20 pounds?...
...If you’re a gardener, you know gardening is exercise. Experts say the various activities and tasks of gardening ultimately use all of the major muscle groups. In addition, strenuous gardening activities such as raking, hoeing, and digging are both aerobic and muscle strengthening.
Need to pick something up? Do your squats. Carrying something? Do some curls. Reaching for something? Calf raises. Do your rows while weeding. You get the picture. You’re incorporating typical gym exercises while you garden. No machines needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at goodearthplants.com ...