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Author Topic: Summer gardening thread
Boom Boom
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posted 17 June 2008 10:56 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
It looks like summer is finally here!

I ordered a bug (mesh) jacket earlier, and it arrived today - I tried it on and was able to garden for two hours with it, and no bug bites! I look like someone from another planet with it, but at least I don't get bit.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
jrose
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posted 17 June 2008 11:28 AM      Profile for jrose     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Thanks for opening a new thread.

My rosemary finally kicked the bucket over the weekend, though my basil, chives and oregano are still doing fine. Good thing rosemary is my least favourite of the group!


From: Ottawa | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged
Sharon
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posted 17 June 2008 01:40 PM      Profile for Sharon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Our perennial herbs -- sage, oregano, thyme, chives, parsley (both curly and flat-leaf), mint (which needs to be reined in regularly!) -- are all doing well.

The peach tree has a gazillion tiny peaches on it. They won't all mature but it looks as if it will be a good crop. And the grapevines are starting to look lush.

As for the garden area itself, my loving chief gardener (husband Dan) is very discouraged because the goutweed has taken over so completely that it will take a major effort and much time (that none of us have) to try to conquer it.

It's very invasive and it's not uncommon around here. We've tried many ways to get rid of it but in the end, it will have to be dug out. And we know that every last microscopic bit of it has to go or else it will be back with a vengeance.


From: Halifax, Nova Scotia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 17 June 2008 01:53 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Things are going well here. Everything I've planted so far is growing like gang busters. We've had pretty decent growing weather. Rain every couple of days then decently warm. The perennial bed I planted last year is a jungle. So much for first year they sleep, second they creep and third they leap. It's leaping!! So are the weeds though. I swear you could just sit there and watch them grow. I'll get the last of the tomato in the ground tomorrow hopefully. Bit late on the beans...just didn't have time yet.
I also have way more lettuce then we can eat right now. It's time to start the neighborly give away.

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 17 June 2008 02:01 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Oh and there is the most amazing numbers of snakes around this year. I accidentally created a habitat form them and they breeding like crazy. In the early spring I covered about 1000 sq feet of our meadow for a new planting area with a layer of black weed barrier. Warm and cozy underneath. I removed a small piece today for the tomatoes and there were ten big ones and maybe a dozen or so babies in various states of growth.
Luckily I don't have an problem with them and am more then delighted to have them around. I decided that I'm just going to leave and area in the middle of the new area covered for them to live under. I'm naming it the 'barracks'. A veritable pest control army.

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 17 June 2008 03:38 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I'd love a few garden snakes here to keep the mouse and mole population under control - they're everywhere.

Just came in from a few more hours of cleaning up the garden - getting rid of weeds, watering, and planting grass seed. The mesh bug jacket is a life saver - the little monsters (blackflies) can't get at my skin when I'm wearing this outfit. Wish I brought one of these two years ago when I started gardening!


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sineed
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posted 17 June 2008 06:36 PM      Profile for Sineed     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
My parents up north have a cat that sits in wait outside mole holes, pouncing when they appear. He's a great mouser, too.

I used to have a backyard composter that made beautiful rich soil, but had to get rid of it because of the rats and the mice. You'd open the lid and it was like animation: zoom! in all directions. We're close to a Loblaws, and we share an alley with several restaurants and a butcher. In short, Rat City: huge frigging rats that sometimes go running through our backyard.

Most of us own cats, and they help keep the rodentia at bay. No rats in the house so far.

My apricot tree has a bumper crop of apricots for the first time in eight years. I thought I might try drying them. Fresh apricots don't keep, and they're kind of blah.


From: # 668 - neighbour of the beast | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 18 June 2008 10:57 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
July 1st will mark my second year in this house.

I am still learning from my neighbours about the
local flora growing on my property - I've learned
I have wild mint, strawberry, clover, roses and marigolds growing in different parts of the lawn, so I have to mark everything out with stakes because I want all that wild stuff to grow, instead of cutting it with the lawn mower.

My neighbour to the east has a nice field of mint, with a delightful smell that wafts over here. I wish our winters were shorter - I'd love to enjoy the summer smells much longer.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Ghislaine
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posted 18 June 2008 11:05 AM      Profile for Ghislaine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I wish I could afford to be a property owner so I could garden! I am envious of you lucky property owners....

ElizaQ - I absolutely love your snake "barracks" idea - very neat.


From: L'Î-P-É | Registered: Feb 2008  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 18 June 2008 11:23 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
If you can stand long hard winters and considerable isolation, you can get a deal like mine: nice property, garage, woodshed, ocean view, lots of wild plants, two gardens (one small flower garden, the other a large veggie garden) and completely furnished house, for $28k. Oh, and lots of wild birds here every day, including a family of 7 Mourning Doves that visit my backyard bird sanctuary every day - all year long!
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 18 June 2008 06:50 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
What zone do you live in Boom Boom?

Ghislane I never, ever thought I'd be a property owner either. Had basically given up on the idea. Some stars did some aligning and somehow we managed, though it's what one would call a MAJOR fixer upper. Plywood floors, unfinished drywall, still has holes in the walls, the roof had a hole in it and we haven't had potable water for over a year. Can't even shower or anything. The place was literly covered with dog shit and urine and we had to live in a tent for a month when we moved in... It is home though and of course has oodles of place to grow things. Which is great because I can work outside and ignore all of the other things like that back deck and stairs, that are slowly falling
apart.

As for the gardening today...managed to get in about 50 tomato plants but ran into one of those unforeseen *arrrrrghs*. I was digging in our new bed area, awesome black earth on top now that the grass is dead and 'clunk'..move the shovel over 'clunk'...what the? Well I discovered what I think is the remenant of an old stone wall long buried. Of course it runs right down the middle of exactly where I was going to plant....


From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 19 June 2008 05:48 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I think my attitude towards gardening, if anyone ever blessed me with a little plot of yard to garden in, would be similar to Heather Mallick's:

quote:
It was April and my garden felt wonderfully incipient. I felt incipient in solidarity, a fallacy that was pathetic. I saw a snowdrop, the hatefully chirpy Disney character of the bulb world, and my brain bubbled serotonin.

I was eager to start work.

There's digging, planting, training, clipping, fertilizing, watering, painting, repairing, shoring up, amending, mulching, thinning, picking up with a shovel and carrying delicately away, edging, raking, grafting, weeding, hoeing, top-dressing, deadheading, shifting, scraping, scrubbing, hauling, bickering, replacing, spending, weeping, more spending.

And then something breaks inside you. You throw away your mulch fork and spend the rest of the summer in a Muskoka chair, scratching at your mosquito bites till they go septic. You have no interest in this, this thing, this fenced green experiment. It's not an Eden; it's a rod for your back. Everything goes raggy and yellow in August and then winter comes.

Then you do it all again next year.


The rest.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 19 June 2008 06:25 AM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
*grin*. It really doesn't have to be that way. There's always some work involved but depending on how you go about it or what your after as a final result it can be some work or crazy insane stupid work. If one is after a perfect, manicured, show piece, impress the neighbors and play one up with the gardener next door and always need to have the 'lastest' 'new' specimicm then yeah it can be bloody insane.
Gardening has become horrible commercialized like most other things where people are convinced that they always need the latest do-dad and that it has to look and be perfect. Plus there's just things and ways people do things that create way more work then necessary, largely because that's always been done that way...and for asthetic reasons.
I remember when a lady came over last year and was aghast that my veggie bed was *gasp* covered with straw and the plants not in nice perfect rows. She actually said it didn't look very nice. So I asked, well how often do you go out and hoe and weed yours. She said oh a lot, several hours if not more a week. I pointed to my hoe that was hanging in the shed. 'I haven't taken that off the hook for a month and half. Thanks but no thanks I'll live with the straw and it looking messy."

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
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posted 19 June 2008 06:46 AM      Profile for Lard Tunderin' Jeezus   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
We gave up on the vegetable garden; it's now an herb garden, doing nicely. Too much shade and too dry (the century-old manitoba maple deflects half the rain, and sucks up the rest with its roots). But herbs do well with little care: sage, oregano, tarragon, chives, parsley, 3 kinds of basil, 2 of mint, sorrel, coriander, dill, wild celery (smallage) and a rosemary bush.

A cherry tree and hanging strawberries round out our attempts at growing-our-own. The squirrels are well-fed; we get an occasional taste.

[ 19 June 2008: Message edited by: Lard Tunderin' Jeezus ]


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Boom Boom
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posted 19 June 2008 06:47 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by ElizaQ:
What zone do you live in Boom Boom?

I live in Zone 3a, although considering the cold, wet weather we've had this year, it feels more like Zone 2a.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 19 June 2008 06:54 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I love reading Heather Mallick's exercise in gardening. It's a lot like my experience here, where I spend 6 to 8 hours (and sometimes more) every day weeding, watering, mowing the lawn, and feeding the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks (I try not to feed the mice and moles, but they grab what they can). My back is constantly in pain, but nevertheless I enjoy all the work - this morning my property looks gorgeous, and the flowers aren't even blooming (it's cold and cloudy). And, beginning in mid-August, I should have a basket (at least) of fresh veggies every day.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 19 June 2008 08:10 AM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:

I live in Zone 3a, although considering the cold, wet weather we've had this year, it feels more like Zone 2a.


I have great respect for you Boom Boom. I'm not sure I could handle that zone. Moving from 7/8 to 5 was bad enough.


From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Ghislaine
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posted 19 June 2008 08:16 AM      Profile for Ghislaine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Wow - your place sounds wonderful Boom Boom. I do not mind good winters - I actually moved back home from Vancouver Island as I missed the cold and snow! But, I doubt there is much in the way of job opportunities there? lol

Elizaq - we are contemplating taking that route as well. Looking for the perfect piece of land with a real fixer upper. It is good to hear from someone who has experience in this regard.


From: L'Î-P-É | Registered: Feb 2008  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 19 June 2008 08:29 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
There are a few job postings here from the provincial government - assorted jobs for health and teaching professionals. However, not all in the same community - I think I've seen two for Kegaska, and one apiece for all the other communities of Quebec's Lower North Shore.

My property is small, but I make the best of it. I'm still trying to get something done about shoreline erosion, after two years of trying.

Outside the village limits, we can dig up whatever trees or bushes or indeed any plants we want, and transplant them to our own properties. I'd like a few small trees, but I don't know how to deal with the massive root structures even the smallest trees have. Canadian Tire in Sept-Iles has a plant nursery, with their tree roots bagged, but you actually have to go there and pick out what you want - and I doubt I'll be leaving the coast this year.


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Boom Boom
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posted 21 June 2008 06:37 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
All I have growing at the moment are garlic and tomatoes (in the greenhouse) and sunflowers - I guess the sunflower seeds were dropped by the birds, as I didn't plant any sunflower seeds this year. They're growing everywhere, and that's okay, because I like sunflowers.

My wildflowers are dying, except for a few, as we've had very little sun since last month. On the other hand, some of my shrubs are doing
very well.

If we do get some sun by the end of the month,
then the veggies should do well.

Our forecast is for more cold, wet weather at
least until Wednesday. Right now it's cold at 9C, drizzling rain, and foggy. I had the furnace on yesterday (before the hydro went out for eight hours...) because the house was freezing - in the middle of June! This could be the coldest June
on record here. I'm at a loss to explain this cold, damp weather.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 21 June 2008 06:57 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I think if I had a yard, I wouldn't even bother with grass. I would love to get the courage up to ask my landlord if I can take care of the front yard this year and plant it all over with perennials, because this summer and last, he's tried to seed it for grass, but the grass never takes because we have a huge maple shading the yard.

But I haven't gotten the nerve up yet, because I'm not an experienced gardener at all, and I'm afraid of failing. I wouldn't be afraid of failing if it was MY yard, but I certainly don't want to fail in his!

But anyhow...if it were my yard, I would make the entire front into perennials (low maintenance ones like hostas) and herbs, with maybe a few big rocks here and there (perhaps in pathways, or separating beds).

I often feel like inside me there is a gardener trying to get out, but I have no confidence, and my houseplants often die because I forget to water them. So I have a feeling I wouldn't be a great gardener either, despite my longings.

My big dream is to have a beautiful (in a wild way, not manicured way), yet useful garden, even in the front yard. With almost all plants being edible, that sort of thing.

[ 21 June 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Stargazer
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posted 21 June 2008 07:01 AM      Profile for Stargazer     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
I guess the sunflower seeds were dropped by the birds, as I didn't plant any sunflower seeds this year. They're growing everywhere, and that's okay, because I like sunflowers.

I put a bird feeder over a part of the garden and now I am swarmed with sunflowers. There are so many that the dirt is covered in some type of moss. They are growing well though. Lillis just bloomed and the Morning Glories are everywhere.

My neighbours and I are setting up a garden/outside art studio. We'll be dividing the lawn in half, with one part studio, one part garden. Although I'm not too sure if it is too late to start planting now.


From: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 21 June 2008 08:01 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I have a beautiful small flowering garden just outside my LR window where the shrubs are doing very well, and the marigolds look ready to bloom as soon as we get some sun.

As for sunflowers - last year I planted what were called Russian Giant Sunflowers from Veseys, and they grew over seven feet tall with thick stems - thick stems are good, because it's so windy here. I decided not to plant any this year because they take so much space. Now I have regular sunflowers starting to grow just about everywhere, so this will be an interesting gardening year if the sun ever makes an appearance.

By the way, I have four feeding stations for the birds, I guess that's a reason I have so many sunflowers taking root everywhere.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 23 June 2008 08:31 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
We have little-bitty kiwis today. Last year they didn't grow much bigger than small olives, although we were away for a month and didn't take care of them.

I finally had chopped cilantro to spread over my tagine at supper this evening.

My wild roses (rescued from a gravel road ten years ago) are blooming and spreading over my front yard, which, incidentally, is about to explode in lily blossoms.

The wild tiger lily I rescued from urban sprawl a couple of years ago popped out of the ground last week and is ready to bloom in a few days.

The French courgettes are making their Canadian cousins look like wimps. I hope they produce! My basil and tomato transplants have finally taken hold and are growing, and some basil I sowed about ten days ago is up today too, as is the Italian parsley that I planted about a month ago.

And the Heyer #12 crab I planted three years ago is loaded with little green apples this year, while the gooseberry I planted the same summer finally has berries this year.

One of my mint patches seems to have gone barren, and has but a couple of tiny shoots where I had a mint jungle the last couple of years.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 23 June 2008 08:43 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I have a tarragon plant that is trying to take over my rosemary and mint. I'm going to try cutting it back and dividing it. I see some apples on our September ruby tree, but I'm not sure the hardy mac will produce this year (new last year and still quite small). Raspberries are going great guns, though, and the gooseberry is loaded, although we have to watch for bugs -- if they chew up the leaves it will drop all the berries.

The grape vines look like they'll produce a nice crop this year. Basil is finally looking like it's going to take off, and the oregano and thyme are doing beautifully.

The tomatoes are looking good, and we already have some zucchinis growing on the plants. Everything is up and we are already eating Ms B's radishes. We'll soon have lettuce, too.

Bloody squirrels are eating my lilies this year, which irritates me. My front yard is shady and they add some much-needed colour to the front of the porch.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 23 June 2008 09:51 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
double post

[ 23 June 2008: Message edited by: Timebandit ]


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 24 June 2008 06:58 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
We have a September Ruby too. We planted one three years ago (when we planted everything - it was our first summer in our new home) but last year realised that those bitter little things it produced were the fruit of the graft that had taken over, and not September Ruby apples.

The nursery let us have a new tree and I planted it last year. I stuck the old one in the alley behind my fence (did I tell you the tale of how the city paved the alley, digging up my nice potato patch back there? The spot is a weed-infested ugly mess now.) and it's actually growing.

Anyway, the new tree has a few apples on it this year. We'll see if they're red and medium-sized or green and small later this summer.

We have clusters of little flowers on our Valiant grape, which is exciting, since we hadn't seen those before.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 24 June 2008 07:48 AM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I can't remember what variety our grapes are, but they are smallish and have a fair number of seeds, but taste like concord grapes. I may try grape jelly this year, if I have time.

The apples from our September Ruby tree are not especially big, but they are lovely, sweet apples. We just have to keep the damned squirrels out of it.

Sorry to hear about your potato patch. Our alleys have been paved for decades... I lived in this 'hood when I was very small, and they had been paved long before that. We have a plot of raspberries just off the alley. I think some of the neighbors raid them, but they produce like mad so we've never been short.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 24 June 2008 07:54 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I'm so jealous of all of you. Growing berries in your yard!

I want a yard! Waaah!


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 24 June 2008 08:20 AM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Well you guys are inspiring me to get off the couch and head out to check my berries. I'm having one of those ho-hum days with a serious motivation issue. Even though I'm sitting here, with suncreen sunhat on and my grubbies on and it's beautiful day out I'm having issues going out and planting the last flat of plants and whatever else needs to be done!

I also have a recommendation. The hubby got me a pair of fancy gelled knee pads for my birthday. They are super awesome wicked! I don't know why I didn't get a pair long ago. Super comfy and I know longer have to move my kneeling pad around or worry about hurting my knees or gouging them or getting them packed with dirt and grime everytime I need to get close to the dirt. So yes I now look like and uber geek walking around outside with a super floppy sun hat, a gardening tool belt, purple crocs, camo shorts and a pair of bright green bulky knee pads.... The tan line may be kinda weird but I don't care!!

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 24 June 2008 08:29 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Today is the thrid day in a row I've to don a parka to go outside, it was so cold. Plus, early this morning we had a very heavy rainfall.

Everything in the garden is starting to grow, despite the lousy weather. A week of sun and warm weather, which we should get sooner or later, and I think my five gardens will look very nice.

In the greenhouse, my 44 tomato plants aren't any taller, but they're much leafier. We really need the sun.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 24 June 2008 09:49 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
The apples from our September Ruby tree are not especially big, but they are lovely, sweet apples.

Uh oh. I was hoping they'd be tart, like Macs.

I made cider from a neighbour's crabapples a couple of years ago. I heard September Ruby's are good for juicing, so maybe I can make cider from them once the tree gets big enough.

I saw a couple of these bugs ( top row, second from the right) on my wild roses this morning, poking and slurping away at my rose buds:

Click!

[ 24 June 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]

[ 25 June 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 24 June 2008 01:55 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Oh, no! Have they done much damage?

We're dealing with tent caterpillars right now. Wretched things. I need to send Ms B out with a bucket to pick them off my plants.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 24 June 2008 02:05 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Oh, no! Have they done much damage?

Not much; five or six buds. I caught the bugs in time and sent them to the secular arm right away.

I have to be vigilant over my gooseberry, though, as cankerworms are a constant menace.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 24 June 2008 02:25 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Yep, we use insecticidal soap on our gooseberry. I think we may have used rotenone powder on it at one point, but the blond guy doesn't think we did... Anyway, we usually lose the berries if we don't spray.
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 25 June 2008 03:35 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
al-Q, I edited your post simply to fix your long URL - didn't change anything else.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 25 June 2008 07:53 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Thanks. I edited that link a few times, trying to isolate the image,etc., then got fed up with the effort it was taking.

My gooseberry is covered in rotenone powder as we speak.

[ 25 June 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Sharon
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posted 25 June 2008 09:31 AM      Profile for Sharon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
I would love to get the courage up to ask my landlord if I can take care of the front yard this year and plant it all over with perennials, because this summer and last, he's tried to seed it for grass, but the grass never takes because we have a huge maple shading the yard.

Michelle, I do think you should ask your landlord if you could do this.

We live on a heavily-treed street and, on our side, most front yards get almost no sun. (Our backyard, thankfully, is sheltered and gets lots of sun so it's a nice little micro-climate.)

Many of our neighbours have magnificent shady front yard gardens with many varieties of hostas but also exotic grasses, flowers, herbs and veg -- I'm just enthralled by them.

You would probably have to do some work with the soil -- that maple tree is not only shading your yard but its roots are sucking a lot of nutrients from the soil.

I hope you do it!


From: Halifax, Nova Scotia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 25 June 2008 11:36 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Here, I think it's the opposite situation. Most housing lots on Quebec's Lower North Shore have been carved out of thick, heavy treed bush, and homeowners struggle to lay down a nice field of grass - sadly. In the effort to have a nice manicured lawn, some beautiful trees and shrubbery have been removed, on virtually every lot. Some of us are trying to reverse this trend by planting trees and shrubbery native to the area on our properties, with some nice results, although it's a struggle, because much of the original topsoil has been allowed to blow away.

There's a lot of empty properties here overrun with weeds and their pollen blows everywhere, so it's a lost cause trying to remove dandelions and the like - we all just cut them down with the grass, and the result are lawns that are about half weeds and half grass.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 25 June 2008 05:54 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Thanks to my rink, my backyard lawn is half weeds, half bare patches of dirt.

I checked the allottment today. Everything's pretty well up now, even if a bit slowish.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 25 June 2008 06:07 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
My lawn is patchy, but not where the rink was. Unfortunately, dog pee over the winter has taken its toll.

Our goal this summer is to teach Luna to use one small corner of the yard (where nothing much grows anyway) to do her business. Kali's already pretty good that way, but last fall we were just focused on getting Lou to keep it outside.

And the digging. We're also working on the digging. Ah, well, I get more joy from life with a setter than I would a pristine lawn...

Haven't been out to the garden plot for a few days, but we've gotten enough rain to keep it damp. Everything's been up for a week or two and is doing well, except for the cukes. Lots of attrition on the cuke front. My "heirloom" variety tomatoes are doing really well, and so are the brussels sprouts.

[ 25 June 2008: Message edited by: Timebandit ]


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 28 June 2008 04:41 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Now am up to 70 tomato plants. I just hope they all grow! Fortunately they're in the greenhouse, where it's warmer than outside (outside temps are about 55F, greenhouse is about 70). Spinach, cucumbers and garlic in the greenhouse are all shooting up green spouts, but they really need some sun and warmer temps.

The big outdoor veggie garden is overrun with grasses, so I have a fairly big weeding job ahead of me next week. I wish it would warm up! I had a heavy parka on tonight when I was bringing in bags of topsoil.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Jerry West
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posted 28 June 2008 05:03 PM      Profile for Jerry West   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Ghislaine:
I wish I could afford to be a property owner so I could garden! I am envious of you lucky property owners....


If you have any space at all try large pots. I live in a condo with a bit of yard space and most of my garden is raised in big pots (Canadian Tire, $6 each) and half barrels.

Currently I have over a dozen pots of snow peas doing well, and about seven or eight of scarlet runner beans doing well.

Tomatoes which I have sheltered started well, but the last part of spring was so dark and cold they are just now setting fruit. Squash which should have come up in May is just now busting ground, but my chard and Chinese greens have had a good time in the cool weather. Basil is so-so, but my rosemary, in pots and sheltered every winter, is into its fourth or fifth year and still growing.

Strawberries are just getting ripe, about a month off schedule.

The oregano, mint, parsely and wild black berries and raspberries which I encourage are unstoppable as usual.


From: Gold River, BC | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
remind
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posted 28 June 2008 07:36 PM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Had radishes today from my garden, baby greens, lettuce and beets, will be good to go in 2 days. Starting the second run of them, Monday. Was 38 here today.
From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 01 July 2008 01:40 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I wish my camera works - there is a Mourning Dove perched on an arm of the scarecrow in my veggie garden.

In other news, the dreadful weather of June continues into July.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Catchfire
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posted 01 July 2008 01:42 PM      Profile for Catchfire   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I had no idea slugs and snails could be so big. They are merciless. Goodbye arugula! Goodbye spinach!
From: On the heather | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
remind
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posted 01 July 2008 01:46 PM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
catchfire, circle your rows with a trail of salt that has no breaks in it, and that will take care of the attacks!
From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Catchfire
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posted 01 July 2008 01:57 PM      Profile for Catchfire   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Thanks for the tip! I'll try it out, although I fear it might be too late!

I've been hunting them at night (just went out for a round..it's hard, because it doesn't get dark until 11:00 here) and laying jars of beer as traps, and it seems to be working a bit. But I underestimated their destructive force. They are so big! Like, prehistoric. Fuckers.


From: On the heather | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 01 July 2008 02:17 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Catchfire,

I'm on bug alert here. My issue is with rolly pollies and earwigs. Since we live in a wet area there are 100,000 of them. The rollies aren't supposed to go for green stuff but they do for some reason like young newly sprouted plants. I just planted a bunch of vines out that aren't very big yet and am crossing my fingers that that they don't get attacked tonight.
Last year was a problem with beans so this year I've started all of my beans in the green house and will plant them out when they get bigger. It's pain but hopefully it will work as they don't go for bigger plants just the sprouts it seems.
None of my radishes or beets even made an appearance. I couldn't figure it out until I did some investigating and figured that they were being nabbed as soon as they poked out of the ground.


From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 01 July 2008 03:27 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
We were schlurmed by hail last night. Lots of stuff has been pounded into the dirt, and plants with bigger leaves, such as courgettes, look like lace.

Since this is Saskatchewan, though, everything will bounce back stronger than ever.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 19 July 2008 08:55 AM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Well after venturing out today I've come to the conclusion that right now I live in the tropics.
It's a jungle out there!!!!
The past few weeks have seen a weather pattern of fairly hot, humid and rain at least every two days even if it's just for a little bit in the evening or during the night.
It's absolutely wonderful for the veggies. I've never seen by onions so big at this time of year and the tomato plants are just exploding. Unfortunately in one section of the garden that I didn't get mulched properly I cannot see them anymore. I didn't go out there for two days...only two days! I can't believe it. It's like these these weeds and grass were just plopped down there fully grown.
We've just given up on one part of our yard. Mowing every second day or third days is just getting nuts. So it's our brand new 'naturalized' area for the summer at least.
I'm trying very hard NOT to complain, water and rain... good. Really..they are...but holy moley I've never seen growth like this before and yeah, the bugs are way worse or at least the ones that have decided to eat the beans. Didn't have one bit of problems with any bugs eating them last year.

Ah nature...gotta love it...


From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Brian White
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posted 19 July 2008 09:49 AM      Profile for Brian White   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Just a note that I make beer for my slugs. (Neighbour Cats keep the birds away and mice and shrew numbers down so slugs have very few predators) and no fireflys here either.
The environment is disconnected into little patches where you can easily get exploding population of slime makers.
I did find out that there are carniverous snails and slugs! (even several native to canada).
There may be quite a few!
This might be a solution for some people.
With natural control, you cannot get total rid of pests but you can reduce their numbers a lot.
There are SO MANY slugs here especially in the spring and I think they are the main destroyers of my early crops. I am going to hunt around locally and see if I can find the ones that find their neighbours tasty.
Perhaps some of you could too?
Brian

From: Victoria Bc | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 19 July 2008 10:45 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Will tomatoes grow if the tomato plants are close together? I have a very small greenhouse, so I planted all of them just five inches apart. Now they're all very bushy. I wonder if they need to be thinned out, or will I still have tomatoes if I just let them be?
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
WendyL
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posted 19 July 2008 10:55 AM      Profile for WendyL     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
al-Qa', I really like schlurmed. Please tell me 'bout it.
From: PEI Canada | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 19 July 2008 12:56 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I've heard that about beer, too. I also think it would be really neat to learn about what kind of complimentary plants you can grow next to edibles in order to discourage the particular pests that like them.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Brian White
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posted 19 July 2008 02:18 PM      Profile for Brian White   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I have used beer for several years, this year home brew because it gets pretty expensive. The slugs even have favorite beers. Ironhorse is cheap and well liked by slugs. Some other cheap beer is just not interesting to them! some of the slugs seem to have very high alcohol tolerance and do not get drunk and drown.
The predatory snail thing is serious. In the states and possibly in eastern Canada, they are sold to gardners and farmers.
For me, the nice thing about predatory snails is that it suppresses slug numbers long term.
quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
I've heard that about beer, too. I also think it would be really neat to learn about what kind of complimentary plants you can grow next to edibles in order to discourage the particular pests that like them.

From: Victoria Bc | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
Digiteyes
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posted 19 July 2008 03:33 PM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:
Will tomatoes grow if the tomato plants are close together? I have a very small greenhouse, so I planted all of them just five inches apart. Now they're all very bushy. I wonder if they need to be thinned out, or will I still have tomatoes if I just let them be?

I think you really need to thin them out, Boom Boom. To at the least, one plant every 15 inches. Unless they're miniature cherry tomatoes.


From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 19 July 2008 04:57 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Thanks. I'll give away as many as I can and use the rest for compost. They're the big variety of tomatoes. I figure I only need ten plants, but I've got 70.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Digiteyes
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posted 20 July 2008 10:09 AM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:
Thanks. I'll give away as many as I can and use the rest for compost. They're the big variety of tomatoes. I figure I only need ten plants, but I've got 70.

ROFL! If you had enough space, you could stock the local grocery store and pizzeria!

(edited for speeling)

[ 20 July 2008: Message edited by: Digiteyes ]


From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 20 July 2008 10:21 AM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Yeah I concur Boom Boom. 5 inches is pretty durn close for big tomatoes, considering the stems of some of mine big varieties end up being an inch and half wide at the base by fall. I plant mine 12 inches apart and that is considered close and intensive planting.
I'm not exactly sure what your situation is but when you thin them you could consider interplanting the spaces with some shallow root crops that actually need some protection from heat and some shade like lettuce or other greens that you pick when small and young. Basil tends to work well as it takes the same conditions as tomatoes generally plus it's supposed to and have some companion benefits. It also goes well together when eating them. Pick a tomato, grab a few basil leaves and slice them up, sprinkle on the tomato and have a yum yum fest.

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 20 July 2008 10:51 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Thanks for all the good advice! I wish I had a larger greenhouse.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Farmpunk
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posted 21 July 2008 04:09 PM      Profile for Farmpunk     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Yes, hot, humid, and lots of rain here, too. And as EQ says, it causes everything to grow.

Nature always has a challenge for gardeners. Rain and warm weather is a recipe for weeds to a farmer. Good for pasture growers, if the weeds don't outgrow the grass. I'm trying to establish a pasture and it's more diffcult than you might imagine.

Rain gives and takes away.

Take for instance the recent thunderstorms and hot humid weather in SWOnt. Wheat is ready to harvest right now. But, due to weather, the wheat may end up sprouting on the stalk, with the fields and stalk too wet to work. Remember that $14 dollar wheat? Bye bye. Hope you didn't sign a contract.

Beware, tomato growers. Hot, wet, humid - and bushy, tight plants in a greenhouse, Boomster - could mold your fruit, and will at least stress the plants and cause premature death. Fungicides can help, but need to be applied early, before the problems start.

Overall, and it pains me to admit it, but a dry year it is actually easier to manage food, given the ability to apply water. This is why I imagine California and other sunny and hot, dry-ish, regions are such big producers. And why they also lead the league in irrigation. Potatoes in Idaho and not PEI.


From: SW Ontario | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged
triciamarie
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posted 21 July 2008 06:26 PM      Profile for triciamarie     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Apparently these gastropods -- slugs / snails --also drink near beer. I'm assuming it doesn't knock them out though (unless they're American?) so you'd have to I guess, round them up manually and deal with them. This Ontario Ministry of Agriculture article says you can also just set out a plank of punky old wood and pick them off when they take up residence underneath. These little slimers are decimating my hostas so I may try that. Hopefully the wood doesn't attract termites.

Is there any non-toxic, non-crunchy way to dispatch these things quickly? I once tried putting a bunch of them in my yard waste bag. Then I remembered they can climb.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/hort/news/grower/2004/10gn04a1.htm

[ 21 July 2008: Message edited by: triciamarie ]


From: gwelf | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 23 July 2008 07:59 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
We've had lots of heat and rain, so everything's now looking great.

We had pesto today, made from our own basil and garlic. We also had Caesar salad, made from our Cos lettuce. Yesterday was Indian - with home-grown cilantro chutney and a spinach-rice dish in which I substituted beet tops (which gave the rice a pinkish hue)for spinach. I've been throwing mint into everything. Rasberry clafouti was dessert.

Two days ago we had stuffed koosas and stuffed swiss chard, followed by rhubarb crumble.

Peas are just about ready, and it looks like I might soon have an explosion of fava/broad beans. There isn't much action on the aubergine front, though; the plants are still pretty small.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 24 July 2008 12:37 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
My eggplant is blooming, and a not bad size. We had a serious downpour yesterday and another the day before, so everything is well-watered. Have some weeding to catch up on, though, and the grass is getting too long in the back yard.

My raspberries are finally in gear, we put up some saskatoon berry and rhubarb jam last week and have been enjoying lettuce, chard and zucchinis from the garden. There may finally be some green and yellow beans this week. The tomato plants are getting nice and big, and I have lots of green tomatoes on the plants.

Nothing like home-grown tomatoes!


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 24 July 2008 02:18 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
My beets, radishes, tomato, cucumber, turnip, rutabaga, and spinach plants are doing very well, but the beans, onions, lettuce and carrots have barely survived the lousy cold, wet and windy weather we had all June. I've ordered new carrots and lettuce seeds and will plant them next week. Should be ready for picking by either the middle or end of September. I've ordered the quickest growest plants I could find.

My wildflowers all died - May and June were just too cold and wet, and no sun whatsoever. However, all that rain and the sun we're getting now has given me a bumper crop of marigolds and the sunflowers are really growing as well. I have sunflowers growing everywhere.

Next year I will plant ALL my veggies no earlier than July 1st. I've learned my lesson.

The blackflies are really bad this year, because of the wet May and June we had. I can't even go into my backyard without being doused in fly dope or mosquito netting. I think I'm allergic to blackflies, because I get tired and have to lie down after I get bit.

Flowering wild weeds are doing fine here, so I think I'll let them be, because I have so few flowers at all, although the marigolds and sunflowers are doing really well.

I have wild roses growing in one section of my yard, and I'm trying more sophisicated roses in my backyard, but they're not doing so well. There's a lesson there, too: better to rely on native species than introduce new stuff.

Friends of mine here own four properties joined together, with a gorgeous house they rebuilt, and their gardens are amazing - but they're inland further than I am (I'm right on the edge of the salt water sea) and they don't get salt water spray that harms the crops. Flowers that grow well there are chives (yes, it's a herb, but chive flowers are gorgeous), sunflowers, marigolds, daisies, and forget-me-nots. I planted chives this year but they're slow growing. Next year I'm going to try both daisies and forget-me-nots instead of the tulips and wildflower bulbs that failed this year.

I mentioned in an earlier thread that my backyard/garden is also a sanctuary for small birds - these include a family of seven beautiful Mourning Doves that drop by in the daytime, but usually gather as a group and feed in the early evening. I love those birds. I also have Finches (Purple, and House), Common Gackles, Boreal Chickadees, Swainson's Thrush, too many crows and Common Ravens (which I would like to see move elsewhere - they scare off the smaller birds), American Gold Finch, Sparrows (different varieties), Tree Swallow, Evening Grosbeak, and European Starling.

Other birds that fly overhead but don't actually come into the sanctuary are a variety of hawks, eagles, Canada Geese, and lots of seagulls which poop over everything and drop stuff like crab legs here and there that they've been feeding on.

I just had a tossed salad with a huge radish from my garden - it was great. There's two friends here I grow radishes for - they don't have a garden - and another friend I am growing beets for - he also doesn't have a garden. The beet greens are enormous, very leafy - but the beets themselves are still pretty small. I found some more lettuce growing near the weeds, and also some carrots. I also have a row of rutabagas doing well.

What the heck can you do with rutabagas - anyone know? I usually boil them with potatoes and just mash them along with the potatoes - gives mashed potatoes a bit of a kick. I think I'd hate to eat rutabagas by themselves - too strong a taste.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sineed
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posted 24 July 2008 02:50 PM      Profile for Sineed     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
One way of doing rutabagas is to mash them with milk (or cream), lots of butter, and brown sugar. Not exactly a diet recipe, but the taste is much too pungent otherwise. (I also do what you do, and mix them with potatoes.)

The record rainfall we've had in Toronto has been good for my tomatoes; I planted them kind of late, and they're taller every time I look outside with lots of baby tomatoes. The green pepper plant is also doing well.

But something is munching my herb garden and sunflowers. I planted three varieties of basil, and the Thai basil is doing okay, but the other two are heavily damaged. And the sunflowers have been killed; their leaves look like lace curtains.

I'm nervous about planting root vegetables. I live in a former industrial area, and the neighbours tell me the soil is contaminated. My herbs are in pots, and the tomatoes are in a spot I've excavated and added home-made compost to from our old composter (the one I had to get rid of because of the rats).


From: # 668 - neighbour of the beast | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 24 July 2008 03:05 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
No rats here that I know of, but lots of very small moles (they look like mice but with no tail), and they burrow in the ground, and raid the gardens when they think no one is looking. I think the ravens are their natural predator. We also have chipmunks (maybe squirrels, I'm not sure) but I don't mind them at all - I actually enjoy having the chipmunks around, and leave some sunflower seeds for them.

I don't think I'll try your recipe for rutabagas - it made me cringe. They're good with mashed potatoes so I guess that's about it. They're really growing well.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 24 July 2008 03:11 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
The sky is getting dark early, and it's really blowing, and I can smell rain on the way, so I was out bringing more radishes in, in advance of the storm. They're huge!

I found some Meslun lettuce that I planted as seeds on June 1st growing between the weeds, but that lettuce is really small. I'm going to let the radishes, beets, lettuce and sunflowers grow, but everything else (mostly beans) are too hard to tell apart from the weeds so I'm pulling them all up together and will plant new seeds in their place.

I also have four small apple trees growing that I planted as seeds - they will produce crabapples in ten years or so. Wish there was some magic I could use to make them grow tall overnight!


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sineed
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posted 24 July 2008 06:51 PM      Profile for Sineed     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Don't like the idea of sugar in a mashed veggie??

It's a variation of a "neeps" recipe you might serve on Robbie Burns Day, when the rutabagas (or turnips) are mashed with butter and sugar along side "cock-a-leekie" soup made with chicken, prunes, and leeks. (And the haggis, of course, which is boiled for 20 minutes.) Yum!

I wish I could get sunflowers to grow. This year they got eaten by (I think) slugs. Last year, the racoons took them out.

For all my gardening problems, though, tomatoes always seem to work. I've never had a problem with pests. The racoons ate my pumpkins, but never the tomatoes.


From: # 668 - neighbour of the beast | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 24 July 2008 07:38 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I love homegrown rutabagas mashed with a little butter. I don't try growing them or radishes any more, though, as they get all wormy here.
From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 24 July 2008 07:59 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I planted Scarlet Runner beans in late June, and theyre already grown half-way to three-quarters up the bean poles. Earwigs attacked the leaves, and I've been waging war on them with pest powder now and then. 32 bean stalks in all and only a few badly eaten leaves and some stalks bent over from the wind before they had a chance to climb.
From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 26 July 2008 08:11 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I found potato beetles all over my spuds when I visited the allottment yesterday.

If you don't mind the greasy ochre ooze that covers your palms (and some errant splattering elsewhere) afterwards, there is quite some satisfaction to be had in smacking them bugs between your hands.


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Michelle
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posted 26 July 2008 10:48 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by triciamarie:
Apparently these gastropods -- slugs / snails --also drink near beer. I'm assuming it doesn't knock them out though (unless they're American?) so you'd have to I guess, round them up manually and deal with them.

Ha!


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 29 July 2008 11:43 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Just finished pulling up the last of the @#$%^!!!!! weeds from my veggie garden, and early tomorrow morning will plant a new crop of carrots and lettuce for harvesting at the end of September. Spinach plants are doing very well, a weird looking spinach, but very leafy. Now it's raining - again! Rain in our forecast for every day this week. It's insane to work in the garden in the afternoon, as the humidity is bad, but I went back to bed this morning after feeding the birds and reading my email. Wish the tomato plants would start producing some tomatoes, none so far although the plants are huge.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Digiteyes
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posted 29 July 2008 05:52 PM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by triciamarie:
Apparently these gastropods -- slugs / snails --also drink near beer.
Is there any non-toxic, non-crunchy way to dispatch these things quickly? I once tried putting a bunch of them in my yard waste bag. Then I remembered they can climb.
[ 21 July 2008: Message edited by: triciamarie ]

Put the beer in a container with vertical sides. Only needs to be about 4" high, unless you're on the west coast and are dealing with banana slugs, in which case, I don't know how you kill them because I don't know if they'll drink a keg of beer before they drown.

Bury the container up to its rim. The slugs will fall in, and drink themselves to death and drown.
Then you just have to dispose of dead slugs.


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triciamarie
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posted 31 July 2008 07:21 AM      Profile for triciamarie     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Oh! Okay, thanks.

This is such a silly question but... when a slug falls into beer and starts drinking, is that volitional on their part? Or do they just like, fall in and drown like any other animal? They must feel pain. How long before they go into a stupor? I'm just wondering if I should get over myself and step on the things (or get my four-year-old to do it!) if that would cause them less suffering.

Maybe I'll just let them eat the hostas.


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al-Qa'bong
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posted 13 August 2008 09:25 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by WendyL:
al-Qa', I really like schlurmed. Please tell me 'bout it.

I just made it up.

I dug up my garlic three days ago. The stalks were all brown, so I figured they weren't going to grow any more. The odd thing is, both those that I planted last fall and the spring plants turned brown. Anyway, I have some nice big heads of garlic this year.

Yhe French courgettes are producing like mad.
The aubergines that I started in the house in March are finally blooming, only a week behind the volunteer aubergine that is growing among my swiss charge.

The kiwis haven't grown a bit in a month; they're still the size of grapes. But my grapes actually look like grapes!

I planted marigolds out in the allotment to deter onion maggots. I don't know if the bugs are staying away, but the flowers out there in the middle of nowhere look incredible! What a waste!

Today we had new spuds - steamed, green beans sautéed in garlic and butter, beets, zucchinis baked with mozzarella, salad made from various lettuces, cucumbers, and other greens, as well as tofu Italian sausages that my 11-year old insisted we buy.

I like eating during this time of the year, when all I have to buy are things like butter, vinegar and olive oil.


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Boom Boom
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posted 17 August 2008 05:05 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
How about them garden gnomes, eh?
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Frustrated Mess
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posted 17 August 2008 05:47 AM      Profile for Frustrated Mess   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
We are awash in squash. Awash in squash, I tell you!
From: doom without the gloom | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 17 August 2008 06:15 AM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:
We are awash in squash. Awash in squash, I tell you!

I planted several squash plants. One died the others got munched when I wasn't watching and the only one left is just a monster so it's probably good that the other ones didn't grow because they'd have taken over. The main vines are now approaching 20 feet and still going and there are dozens of fruits. I've never seen anything like this.
My tomatoes are insane. I built 6 feet tall tripods and many of them are just to small. They just keep growing at this crazy rate. This past week I've just been pruning back branches so the energy will be put into the fruit. The durn things grew so fast that after going away for three days I couldn't get into part of the patch because it was like they just exploded.
And the kicker is I haven't watered the garden once this year.

This is all planted in a new garden bed which is basically a patch in a field that I smothered the grass and weeds with plastic this spring. Some things are just planted in half-decomposed straw and lamma manure. I figured the ground would be fertile but this is ridiculously crazy fertile. Even a couple of the weeds like the mallow are growing to monster proportions. According to my weed books it's now even supposed to grow as big as it is. LOL


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Boom Boom
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posted 17 August 2008 08:10 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Very little fertile ground here for anything but weeds. All the gardeners here have to bring in peat moss and topsoil from outside.

My rutabagas are now all grown and ready for picking, the beets still growing, tomatoes are still green and tiny, but the radishes, lettuce and carrots have done very well. I have a second crop of lettuce and carrots beginning to show their greens. My cucumbers are just vines so far, will have to re-arrange the tomatoes and cukes next year.


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Boom Boom
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posted 23 August 2008 10:00 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
The lettuce right out of my garden is unbelievable - I picked one head this morning, it measures two feet around. After rinsing the lettuce and letting it cool in the fridge for a few hours, it's really good and crunchy - makes great sandwiches with tomatoes or what have you. I have about 30 big rutabagas that I'm giving away. Beets are still small (I planted them too close together) but the carrots look good. Tomatoes are still small and green, but maybe a few more weeks of warm weather will take cre of that. The crows are getting into the lettuce so I have to find another way of getting rid of them - 'shooing' doesn't have much effect.
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al-Qa'bong
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posted 23 August 2008 12:02 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I've been pulling zucchini plants because they're crowding other things, and I have way too many zukes anyway.

Out at the allotment I have a mystery. My corn is as high as an elephant's eye, but the cobs are miniscule. I spaced the corn a lot more than usual this year, too, because I've been overcrowding them in recent years.


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Boom Boom
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posted 23 August 2008 12:18 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
You must have a fairly large property - corn takes a lot of space.

I decided not to grow potatoes this year, last year's crop wasn't worth the effort.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 23 August 2008 02:49 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
What the heck did you plant 30 rutabagas for!?

al-Q, I'm so jealous of your garden. I come to this thread just to salivate.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 23 August 2008 03:14 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:
You must have a fairly large property - corn takes a lot of space.

I decided not to grow potatoes this year, last year's crop wasn't worth the effort.


I don't plant corn in the backyard any more, but grow it out on the allotment, which is about a 50' X 30' plot.

Many of my spuds rotted in the ground last fall. It rained so much I couldn't get to them. I'd dig up a hill and find tiny pea-sized second-growth tubers and nothing else - the potatoes had composted themselves into nothing already.

This year's potato crop looks good so far.


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Boom Boom
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posted 23 August 2008 03:53 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
What the heck did you plant 30 rutabagas for!?

Ha! I had all those seeds left over from last year, and I had the space, so... Besides, I like one occasionally with my mashed potatoes and carrots. I gave away six big ones today to friends. And, they're supposed to be good for the soil. And the leaves, which are enormous, should make good compost. But this will be my last year growing rutabagas - next year, just regular turnip in its place.

The second crop of lettuce and carrots are coming along - in October I should have a bumper crop to harvest, aside from what I'm harvesting now.


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Sharon
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posted 23 August 2008 04:12 PM      Profile for Sharon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I picked luscious ripe tomatoes and a handful of basil leaves from the garden today -- chopped them and tossed them with olive oil, garlic, cheese and pasta. Simple and so delicious!

Boom Boom, I had lunch at a Meditteranean-themed restaurant a few days ago and one of the ingredients inside the wonderful sandwich (chicken with lots of stuff in a pita)was "pickled turnips." I love turnip and rutabaga but I confess, with all my history of pickling and preserving, pickled turnips is a new one on me!


From: Halifax, Nova Scotia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 23 August 2008 04:31 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Sharon:
I love turnip and rutabaga but I confess, with all my history of pickling and preserving, pickled turnips is a new one on me!

It's not new to me. When I moved to Thunder Bay in 1980 I met a family that gave me pickled carrots and turnips in a jar as a welcoming gift. Delicious! And they keep forever.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 23 August 2008 04:39 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Sharon, you should go to an Iranian shop sometime. You'll find pickled garlic, pickled eggplant, and other pickled veggies that surprised me. And oh wow, picked eggplant relish is SO GOOD.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
sandpiper
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posted 23 August 2008 04:42 PM      Profile for sandpiper     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Can anyone suggest a really good 'how to pickle' site? I'm taking two months off from city living and pickling from my Dad's garden is something we wanted to do during our escape.
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Sharon
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posted 23 August 2008 04:42 PM      Profile for Sharon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Well, I'll do some research and perhaps add them to my repertoire!
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Michelle
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posted 23 August 2008 04:45 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Recipes for eggplant relish are called "bademjan torshi" or "torshi litteh" if you're google searching. (I can't remember which one is the one I love...I can't tell from looking at the bottles I'm finding in google searches and I know it by the look of it when I'm in the store. "Torshi" is the important word. I think it's "Litteh" actually.) You might try alternate spellings too, since that's transliterated and there's no "official" English spelling for most Persian words.

[ 23 August 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Sharon
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posted 23 August 2008 04:50 PM      Profile for Sharon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
sandpiper, I'm trying to get organized to start a babble pickling thread/workshop which first came up last winter sometime -- when harvest seemed so far away.

Michelle and writer -- and others (I'd have to look back) -- were interested and because I have lots of experience, I said I'd direct the workshops.

I don't think we got so far as to figure out how we were going to do it, however. But it sounds like fun.

Michelle, thank you. I'll definitely look for delicious Iranian pickles.

[ 23 August 2008: Message edited by: Sharon ]


From: Halifax, Nova Scotia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
RosaL
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posted 23 August 2008 05:55 PM      Profile for RosaL     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I think maybe I'd like to make pickles too. Sign me up for the course!
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Bookish Agrarian
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posted 23 August 2008 06:03 PM      Profile for Bookish Agrarian   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I am happy to help. Even if it is just with some recipes. We produce jams, relishes, and some other things for farmers market sales.

If anyone has access to Tomatillo's we have a fantastic salsa recipe. Also we often just put quatered tomatoes in a jar with some various spicing for the taste of fresh tomatoes in the winter. We grow 26 heritage varities so we are always looking for things to do with the ones that aren't nice enough to sell to others.


From: Home of this year's IPM | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 24 August 2008 12:53 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Please do share the tomatillo recipe, BA, I haven't grown any but saw some at the supermarket the other day and was tempted to buy some and go looking for something to do with them.

Last night we ate the first two proper-sized eggplants I've grown. I used a variation on a Marcella Hazan recipe -- cut them in half, cut cross hatches in the flesh with a paring knife, stuffed the cuts with garlic slices. Then I browned the cut side in a fry pan with olive oil, then turned them to let the backs cook, covered, for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I made a sauce with peppers and tomatoes (also from the garden). I then put the eggplant in a baking dish cut side up, layered with mozzarella slices, sprinkled with fresh basil (from my herb bed!) and spooned the sauce overtop, then baked the whole shebang until the cheese was runny and the eggplant cooked through.

I have several butternut squashes growing, but they won't be ready for a while. There are some great fall recipes I will use them in. Our potatoes are not as good this year, I don't think, but will do okay. Lots of carrots and the beets are doing well. I think our beans and peas are done for this year, so I need to pull them up and start a compost pile. Tomatoes are going like mad. I will have to can some, probably tonight.

Oh, and I have a one-jar-at-a-time pickle recipe if anyone's interested. Super easy, even my 10 yr old makes her own jars of pickles.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Frustrated Mess
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posted 24 August 2008 12:57 PM      Profile for Frustrated Mess   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by RosaL:
I think maybe I'd like to make pickles too. Sign me up for the course!

I made my first pickles this year. Can't wait to try them.


From: doom without the gloom | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
RosaL
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posted 24 August 2008 02:27 PM      Profile for RosaL     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:

I made my first pickles this year. Can't wait to try them.


Do you have a good recipe? I like them really sour!

I'm also interested in Bookish Agrarian's tomato recipes - and anything else people think might be good.

(Recipe posters: Please describe things in detail: nothing is too obvious to mention. )

[ 24 August 2008: Message edited by: RosaL ]


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alisea
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posted 24 August 2008 02:43 PM      Profile for alisea     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Sharon, the Mid-east Food Centre at Agricola and North has all sorts of pickles. I love browsing there :-)
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Boom Boom
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posted 24 August 2008 02:52 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Timebandit:
Oh, and I have a one-jar-at-a-time pickle recipe if anyone's interested. Super easy, even my 10 yr old makes her own jars of pickles.

I'm interested! Please post.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sharon
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posted 24 August 2008 04:21 PM      Profile for Sharon     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Sharon, the Mid-east Food Centre at Agricola and North has all sorts of pickles.

Thank you, alisea! I shall definitely go a-browsing. (And will buy much more than we'll ever need or be able to use.)


From: Halifax, Nova Scotia | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
sandpiper
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posted 24 August 2008 06:04 PM      Profile for sandpiper     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
That sounds amazing Sharon. It would make dial-up internet (a first for me this fall) worth it.


quote:
Originally posted by Sharon:
sandpiper, I'm trying to get organized to start a babble pickling thread/workshop which first came up last winter sometime -- when harvest seemed so far away.

Michelle and writer -- and others (I'd have to look back) -- were interested and because I have lots of experience, I said I'd direct the workshops.

I don't think we got so far as to figure out how we were going to do it, however. But it sounds like fun.



From: HRM | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Frustrated Mess
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posted 24 August 2008 06:09 PM      Profile for Frustrated Mess   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Do you have a good recipe? I like them really sour!

Me too. In London at the Western Fair farmer's market there is a guy who sells kosher pickles so sour your face will turn inside out.

I don't know if I have a good recipe yet. Not until I taste them.

I've added oregano, sage, and rosemary to the dill, however. We shall see in about 5 weeks.


From: doom without the gloom | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 24 August 2008 10:03 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Last night we ate the first two proper-sized eggplants I've grown.

OK, I hate you.

My aubergines are blooming nicely. The flowers are incredibly intricate and lovely...but they aren't producing any fruit!

I tried growing tomatillos from seed last year. I managed to plant a couple of wee sprouts out in the garden, but they croaked within a week or so.

I have a stack of zucchinis that look like they ought to be loaded onto a Gotha bomber, if anyone's interested.

The carrots are stubby and tasteless this year.

I'm considering emigrating to Perigord any season now.

[ 24 August 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 25 August 2008 06:45 AM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:

I'm interested! Please post.


For a quart jar: Take a clean, sterilized jar (you can heat or just wash with soap, water, and a smidge of bleach and then rinse well with hot water - I use this method for jam, pickles and bottling mead) and add:

1/4 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon pickling salt (the coarse kind)
dill, garlic, peppers or whatever you wish to flavour the pickles

Stuff jar with whatever veg you are pickling, cukes or beans or carrots or whatever -- works for anything. Top up with boiling water and put the sealer lid on immediately. As they cool, the lids should "pop" as they seal.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 25 August 2008 06:52 AM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
quote:
Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:

OK, I hate you.

My aubergines are blooming nicely. The flowers are incredibly intricate and lovely...but they aren't producing any fruit!

I tried growing tomatillos from seed last year. I managed to plant a couple of wee sprouts out in the garden, but they croaked within a week or so.

I have a stack of zucchinis that look like they ought to be loaded onto a Gotha bomber, if anyone's interested.

The carrots are stubby and tasteless this year.

I'm considering emigrating to Perigord any season now.

[ 24 August 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]


Aw, I hate you too, Al Q!

I only put in one plant -- my cukes died (3 times I planted cukes!!! And they produced SFA), and I saw eggplants at the greenhouse when I went to replace them, so this was purely experimental. We love eggplant, so I may try a few more next year.

It's been a rough summer for gardening out here. Everything has been off kilter - raspberries, strawberries late, beans and peas slow. Must have been the cold, dry spring.

It's time to start baking zucchini cake and freezing it. I believe you posted the recipe I use, Al Q, a couple of years back, courtesy of Mrs. Bong. Thank her for us, it's become a regular around here.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 25 August 2008 07:21 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
I'm going to either have to change my soil, modify it, or just not try to grow certain items. The stuff that doesn't grow here includes corn, melons of all kinds, cucumbers (I get nice vines and flowers, but no real cukes), strawberries, and potatoes (soil too acidic I think). I have green tomatoes, but not very many.

The stuff that grows really well in the soil here includes lettuce, carrots, beets, cabbage, radishes, and all varieties of turnips. Lettuce is by far my best crop - they're huge, and delicious.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
scott
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posted 25 August 2008 07:40 AM      Profile for scott   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
The lists that you have provided can be described as "plants that need heat" and "plants that don't". I would guess that being coastal your site is not warm. I would concentrate on the cool weather crops.

I have given up on growing things such as potatoes that are really cheap when they are in season, or are not very productive, such as corn, and now I concentrate on things that are never really cheap such as soft fruits, tomatoes and cucumbers.


From: Kootenays BC | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
remind
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posted 25 August 2008 08:00 AM      Profile for remind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Boom Boom, boron issues may be your problem with the non-production of products from plants with flowers that need pollination. Boron is necessary to produce pollen.
From: "watching the tide roll away" | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
Farmpunk
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posted 25 August 2008 08:38 AM      Profile for Farmpunk     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
The market garden is mixed this year. Rainy weather, not a lot of strong sun and heat, until recently.

First year growing celery. Been interesitng. Celery grows very slowly and can be hard to manage in a dry year because it likes regular moisture. Otherwise they go hard and bitter.

Tomatoes are awful. I won't be putting any out by the road because they look like shite and the taste just isn't there. Should still have enough to do some canning. Next year I'm going to experiment with potted organic tomatoes grown in a greenhouse.

Eggplant was really good. Fruit a little scarred, but big. Fun plants to grow, very pretty and freaky. Unfortunately I can't sell the damn things, so they might get cut out of the rotation next year.

Cabbage. Doing well.

Beets. Doing okay. Not the size I like.

Sweet corn (probably three and a half acres). Has done well. A little later starting harvest than I like, but can't help that. Good rain helps corn on this sandy loam. Bugs not a big issue. But the last week of hot and sunny weather is accelerating the maturity process and the plants are dying fast. Something seems to be affecting the late season plantings, too. Stunted growth. Possibly due to my hack weed control program in the later plantings. Corn is selling well.

Peppers are okay. Nothing special. Jalapenos are good, drying some in the greenhouse as I write. Peppers don't sell by the road.

Onions are large but with thick necks. The whites are doing better than the reds. Storage may become an issue with this year's crop.

If I find the time, I'm going to try and pickle beets. I've been on a beet kick lately and I want that taste in the winter.


From: SW Ontario | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged
bigcitygal
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posted 25 August 2008 08:50 AM      Profile for bigcitygal     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post
Long thread.
From: It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent - Q | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged

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