Garden thread
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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:
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Those look beautiful--I'm jealous. Mine are all dead, of course, since it's definitely past the season for them in Chicago! ;-)2
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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...
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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!
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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!
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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
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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.
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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
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Does anybody know if seeds saved from tomatoes picked green, wrapped and ripened (barely) in a cold cellar will produce viable seeds?0
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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!!!
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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.
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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.
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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.)
Thanks! My cousin is a poet and a big Emily Dickinson fan. He teaches a class on her and does a one man play about her and her Irish servants.3 -
Speakeasy76 wrote: »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.
At my last places I had enough strawberries to share with the birds, but here I fence and put bird netting over the fence. Works great!
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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.
Thank you, no it popped up from seeds because I've never had a parsley plant in the raised garden. I appreciate your insight, truly, because the more I learn the better I do. I'll be thrilled when it gets long enough to cut!2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Speakeasy76 wrote: »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.
At my last places I had enough strawberries to share with the birds, but here I fence and put bird netting over the fence. Works great!
Thanks for sharing! He does have netting around some of the raspberries and blackberries, but the other section doesn't have them...yet. I will be honest, I don't have any problems eating any of the stuff from the garden, except I'm always nervous about raspberries. I've seen too many larvae in them (even store-bought ones!), and I will eat them because they're one of my favorites, but I'm nervous about the ones we grow.0 -
It was one of those rare January days when the sun was out and it wasn't too cold. I took advantage of the afternoon, but I just about ran out of daylight.
First order of business was tree pruning. I got the figs last weekend. I started with the Italian Prune Plum. We did a major prune on it last year, so this was a fairly light prune. I had to cut it back majorly about ten years ago. I had a three year plan so I wouldn't stress the tree too much. I am on year ten of that three year plan....
Next I went to the back of the yard and pruned the Chojuro (Asian pear) and the Bartlett. I was a little more intensive with them than usual. Every summer, as the fruit is growing, I think, "Should have pruned harder - like this spot..." We'll see. Then the Stella cherry. This is a tree that is on dwarf root stock but doesn't realize it. It just wants to grow tall. But I keep working on it. I used to struggle with birds. One year I made a deal - they could have the ones far up, and I'd take the ones farther down. That actually worked until the day I got a ladder and took some of theirs. The tree was devastated after that. So the next year I made a deal - they could have some, but I would take all I wanted. Then along came a new pest - the spotted wing drosophila. Unlike most fruit flies who go after overripe fruit, this little *kitten* attacks fruit before it's even ripe. So when I pick a cherry, it has a tiny hole in it and leaks juice. And of course an egg or worm, but I'm not so worried about that. If I don't eat the cherry in one or two days, it's rotten. I really don't like them at all.
Next was the roses. That was easy.
Then I got dirty.
If I said my beets were several weeks overdue for weeding, it would be a gross understatement. Now they have a chance. I was as careful as I could be not to pull any up, but I think I pulled up a few. If I hadn't done this, they would have had no chance at all. I planted them maybe a week too late, but I'm still hoping to have some ready to eat in the next weeks or month. I almost ran out of daylight. But I had just enough left to get out the hula hoe and have a little go after the weeds growing in the artichoke patch. They will need more work.
It was good to spend a few hours with my plants and my soil. Now it's martini time! 🍸 🍸 🍸
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Speakeasy76 wrote: »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.
You are so very lucky! Do use it all as much as you can. Also if you use it in your cooking I'm sure he'll eat it and be very healthy too.0 -
Has anyone tried the winter sowing method with milk jugs? I just put some out yesterday, sweet peas, larkspur and mignonette. I know larkspur and mignonette prefer being direct seeded, but I moved my cutting flower garden raised bed and am still in the process of digging it in and refilling it. I’m not sure I’ll have it ready in time to direct seed, though I might.
I’m excited about the winter sowing though, and hope it goes well!0 -
gracegettingittogether wrote: »Has anyone tried the winter sowing method with milk jugs? I just put some out yesterday, sweet peas, larkspur and mignonette. I know larkspur and mignonette prefer being direct seeded, but I moved my cutting flower garden raised bed and am still in the process of digging it in and refilling it. I’m not sure I’ll have it ready in time to direct seed, though I might.
I’m excited about the winter sowing though, and hope it goes well!
You mean using them as mini-greenhouses or cloches? If so, yes. But only as a small season-extender at front end of the season. If you mean something else (and I suspect you do), then no. I have sown seed in peat or homemade newspaper mini-pots for later in-ground planting (fine for many things that don't mostly like being transplanted), but that's not going to going to provide stratification, inherently.0 -
gracegettingittogether wrote: »Has anyone tried the winter sowing method with milk jugs? I just put some out yesterday, sweet peas, larkspur and mignonette. I know larkspur and mignonette prefer being direct seeded, but I moved my cutting flower garden raised bed and am still in the process of digging it in and refilling it. I’m not sure I’ll have it ready in time to direct seed, though I might.
I’m excited about the winter sowing though, and hope it goes well!
You must be someplace warmer than me
Here in Zone 6b my ground is frozen and my Average Last Frost: 04/20-05/20
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Yes, I’m using them as mini greenhouses. @AnnPT77, do you have any advice or tips on using them? I’m in zone 6a and am only doing perennials and hardy annuals at the moment. The blog I was reading said to start those in Jan/Feb in zone 5b, so doing the same in zone 6a should be fine hopefully.1
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