Garden thread
Replies
-
This year's garden added 5 lbs. of wild black raspberries and 6 lb.s of green beans to my freezer. I have 70 green tomatoes wrapped in the cool cellar - so I expect to be eating garden tomatoes well into December. Lots of dried chives, lemon balm, mint, rosemary and basil stocked in the spice cabinet for winter.
Next year, I want to add butternut squash, chard and zucchini. In the past, critters usually get anything in the squash family well before I do, but I'll give it a go.
When my city got rid of dead trees that were on their land but touching my fence, they cleared about a 30 foot strip that freed up an environment hospitable for brambles. They did nothing the first year. There were tons of blossoms this year, but very little fruit. (We had a major drought.) I think they are wild black raspberries. but they are not on the silvery stems I'm used to - the stems and leaves look just like my mom's blackberries.
When I run out of gardening to-do's in my yard I fuss around back there and am not sure what I'm going to do with them. They are super invasive but not very productive.
Today I think I am going to rip out the lemon balm I planted back there - I put it too close to the gate and it is eating everything else I planted and creeping towards my fence.
Is it vine borers that are ruining your squashes or bigger pests?0 -
Think I'm just going to grow a large variety of peppers and herbs for the spring, still in the 70's and 80's here in central Texas. Here are two bunches of jalapenos picked this month, super spicy kicking:
4 -
Those look beautiful--I'm jealous. Mine are all dead, of course, since it's definitely past the season for them in Chicago! ;-)2
-
Those look beautiful--I'm jealous. Mine are all dead, of course, since it's definitely past the season for them in Chicago! ;-)
Thank you! First batch were stuffed with cheddar and cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. Latest ones I've just been sauteeing in butter and stuffing in burritos.3 -
Bell Peppers, I love seeing that red!
A little seedling...
2 -
I started a batch of mushroom barley soup in part to use up the last of my chanterelles. With all this rain, it's possible we'll get another flush if it warms up.
Then I thought, HEY, WAIT! There might still be salvageable celery in the garden! Even as I had just started sauteing the onions, I ran out and grabbed a couple stalks. This is the last thing I'll pick until the winter beets start to get big enough. I had a dream last week they were ripe, and that made me happy.4 -
We're expecting a foot of snow overnight so cut down the ornamental grasses as they are alongside the driveway and we need them out of the way for the snowblower.
Also put out suet for the birds. I've saved stale bread in the freezer for them, and will start putting that out after the snow.
My OH is putting the patio furniture away.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »We're expecting a foot of snow overnight so cut down the ornamental grasses as they are alongside the driveway and we need them out of the way for the snowblower.
Also put out suet for the birds. I've saved stale bread in the freezer for them, and will start putting that out after the snow.
My OH is putting the patio furniture away.
Now that snow is coming, it’s time to start daydreaming about spring flowers, right?? I got my Baker Creek Seed catalog a couple weeks ago - drool worthy! My parents were visiting and my dad, who had previously declared he is not planting anything next year, started planning out a few things to try - mission accomplished 😁
We are getting our 12”+ as well! The kids have already been out in it for a while, I am hunkered down in the basement working on a couple quilts. I am a cold weather wuss anymore 🙄 thankfully we had done a yard/garden clean up a couple weeks ago when the weather was gorgeous. I do need to top off one feeder with some BOSS though, thanks for the reminder!
4 -
Winter hasn't even quite started. Solstice is still over two days away (08:39:13 on 21 December where I live). Daylight length is still slowly getting less. It will get down to eight hours, 49 minutes, and 13 seconds on 20 and 21 December.
Yet already there's signs of spring.
The peonies are poking their little buds out of the ground.
The filbert trees have catkins.
Even the lilacs are putting on buds (sorry for the awful image quality).
Happy Solstice!
Some might even invoke Sol Invictus. I'll just say I'm glad we're almost done with this part of our annual journey around our local star.
Don't forget the reason for the season: Axial Tilt!
3 -
Has anyone tried Winter indoor Belgian endive in a tub? Something I always thought about, never tried. The commercial ones are tasty, but on the expensive side, for produce.0
-
Time to start thinking about seeds. Full moon in February for peas, right?
My garlic sprouts are starting to poke their little heads out of the Earth.
4 -
I bought Prairie Smoke seeds and am not liking the part about putting the seeds and soil in the frig for two months. I'm afraid that to do it properly will take up too much room in the frig and if I use an amount of soil that will take up a small space they will get jumbled together.
I'm tempted to just throw the bag in the frig for now and a month before it is time to plant soak, stratify and start in soil in the unheated part of the basement.
Thoughts?
https://www.smartseedsemporium.com/products/geum-trifolium-prairie-smoke?_pos=3&_sid=5b90cf391&_ss=r
1 -
Does anybody know if seeds saved from tomatoes picked green, wrapped and ripened (barely) in a cold cellar will produce viable seeds?0
-
Does anybody know if seeds saved from tomatoes picked green, wrapped and ripened (barely) in a cold cellar will produce viable seeds?
I highly doubt that they will. I've never tried that, but as far as I know, seeds are picked from a ripe fruit. Also, make sure your tomatoes aren't hybrid.0 -
First time quarantine gardener last year who tried so hard to make everything "perfect," which resulted in failure. This year I'm going a little rogue. I dumped a bunch of potted soil containing seeds into my garden and much to my surprise up popped parsley and I have Bell Pepper seedlings growing in there. I'm not pulling anything this year, nothing, unless I know it's a weed. 2021 will be a year of spiritual and emotional growth and plant growth too, I hope!!!
2 -
First time quarantine gardener last year who tried so hard to make everything "perfect," which resulted in failure. This year I'm going a little rogue. I dumped a bunch of potted soil containing seeds into my garden and much to my surprise up popped parsley and I have Bell Pepper seedlings growing in there. I'm not pulling anything this year, nothing, unless I know it's a weed. 2021 will be a year of spiritual and emotional growth and plant growth too, I hope!!!
You know parsley is a hardy biennial, right? (Well, hardy to USDA zone 5, at least, and the web says 4-9.) If you never had parsley plants in that soil, obviously it's a seedling, of course. But if there were plants, it could be a returnee. In year 2, the plants look a little squirrely eventually, IME, then flower and go to seed - not that helpful for cutting.
Apologies if this is stating the obvious.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I bought Prairie Smoke seeds and am not liking the part about putting the seeds and soil in the frig for two months. I'm afraid that to do it properly will take up too much room in the frig and if I use an amount of soil that will take up a small space they will get jumbled together.
I'm tempted to just throw the bag in the frig for now and a month before it is time to plant soak, stratify and start in soil in the unheated part of the basement.
Thoughts?
https://www.smartseedsemporium.com/products/geum-trifolium-prairie-smoke?_pos=3&_sid=5b90cf391&_ss=r
@Kshama2001, the seeds need what is called “cold-moist” stratification for 60 days before those seeds can germinate. This can easily be accomplished in your refrigerator in couple different ways. Check out the instructions under the heading “GERM CODE C” in the following URL.
https://www.prairiemoon.com/blog/how-to-germinate-native-seeds
Or Google “Winter-sowing” for an equally easy method for stratifying the seeds outside.
1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I bought Prairie Smoke seeds and am not liking the part about putting the seeds and soil in the frig for two months. I'm afraid that to do it properly will take up too much room in the frig and if I use an amount of soil that will take up a small space they will get jumbled together.
I'm tempted to just throw the bag in the frig for now and a month before it is time to plant soak, stratify and start in soil in the unheated part of the basement.
Thoughts?
https://www.smartseedsemporium.com/products/geum-trifolium-prairie-smoke?_pos=3&_sid=5b90cf391&_ss=r
@Kshama2001, the seeds need what is called “cold-moist” stratification for 60 days before those seeds can germinate. This can easily be accomplished in your refrigerator in couple different ways. Check out the instructions under the heading “GERM CODE C” in the following URL.
https://www.prairiemoon.com/blog/how-to-germinate-native-seeds
Or Google “Winter-sowing” for an equally easy method for stratifying the seeds outside.
The damp paper towel / coffee filter method is perfect, thanks so much!1 -
I'm going to look into this too, was thinking about trying to add some native seeds.
kshama, I recently bought this: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emily-dickinsons-gardening-life-marta-mcdowell/1130003359, which given location you might find interesting, I expect it is at libraries. (I haven't actually read it yet.)1 -
I'm using this as a chance to brag about my husband's gardening skills, of which I have known. He had always been into gardening, having grown up on a farm. He even found some land to start a garden when he lived n apartment!
We live in a house with over 1.5 acres of land, which he specifically wanted so he could grow things. Our huge garden will have a variety of lettuce, a large variety of tomatoes, omatoes, strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, zucchini and yellow squash and a variety of peppers (including jalapenos). Also grows some grapes, raspberries and blackberries...but the birds usually get to those, first. Oh, we also have 2 peach trees.
Right now, he has built an indoor garden that grows a variety of lettuce and greens (spinach and kale). Ironically, he is not a very healthy eater, but he started the indoor lettuce and greens because he was tired of me buying crap stuff from the store. He's currently experimenting with growing strawberries I doors. Like I said...I just eat and cook the stuff and get it once it's ready, but otherwise don't have much at all to do with it.
6
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 901 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions