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Post by jocelyn on Feb 16, 2020 11:26:30 GMT -5
10 years, maybe 20, depending on Hubby's health....then, yes, any permies in Canada are welcome to some.
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Post by jocelyn on Feb 16, 2020 10:12:26 GMT -5
How about perennial crops? I am looking at nuts, regia walnuts and ailanthifolia walnuts in particular. We don't get much rain in July and Aug, but trees grow down to the water table and feed us. I tried tepary beans, but they are short day beans and I don't get a reliable crop. Nuts, on the other hand, are a reliable protein crop here. I've got 30 years of selecting hardy walnuts that crack with relative ease. Who am I going to send those to, when it comes time to downsize and move to Town?
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Post by jocelyn on Jan 25, 2020 5:27:37 GMT -5
Ah, sounds good. I think Flowerbug is right too....Defiant is semi detirminant, meaning it's listed as detirminant, but grows into a huge sprawling, open, bush. It lasts several years from slips. Mountain Magic does too. Indigo Rose does, several years, but they don't tste all that great:(
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Post by jocelyn on Jan 5, 2020 7:24:13 GMT -5
Yes, think you are right with the tomatoes. Most years I take cuttings before a frost and root them in the house. Some plants root and go for several years. Some root and die after a few months. I don't know what the difference is. Some seedlings have grown for 3 years before dying. I have a landrace going, based on open pollinated Defiant, Cherokee Purple and Mountain Magic....plus some I forget. I do have some selfed Defiant seeds, and those ones will winter over in the house for several years and even bear tiny fruits. That's where I get the selfed seeds.
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Post by jocelyn on Dec 20, 2019 6:51:54 GMT -5
www.westcoastseeds.com/products/clancyI might add that blue potatoes can have good blight resistance. I am the second generation with a blue landrace. My Uncle kept the LBR ones for years and gave me some of the seedlings:) That gave me quite a bit of help.
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Post by jocelyn on Nov 2, 2019 5:49:41 GMT -5
Those blue ones are often late blight resistant. I have some pooled genetics, based on Russian Blues, Uncle Dawson's blue/blacks and whatever open pollinations happened over the years. Nearly all are blight resistant, so nice in a bad blight year. Yours looks really great too. How does it taste? Is it good?
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Post by jocelyn on Sept 26, 2019 4:14:22 GMT -5
Sorry about the squash carnage MsKrieger. It'll be fun to taste your mystery squashes and see if you can guess what they are. How are the days to maturity on yours? I've been shrinking days here, as first killing frost is unpredictable this far north. The Hubbard influence and the Hopi Green influence really lengthened days, but brought in lots of disease resistance and a hard rind to deter the mice. There was a slight bitterness in the Hopi Greens, which I think I might have bred out. Final taste testing won't happen till late Oct and last a month or so. I'll freeze some of the pieces after cooking, as Hubby doesn't like squash. It takes me alone quite a while to eat a big one. Frozen pieces zap OK to warm up later. I think the squashes liked the stone raised bed we made, all that extra heat and thermal mass to store it for the colder nights.
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Post by jocelyn on Sept 18, 2019 12:45:07 GMT -5
Plus one predicted tonight, so cut all the squashes. Not a bad crop off 7 plants; some salmon hubbard types, some lime green hubbard shapes, some round warties, some tiny green/blacks, some pastel hubbard/buttercup crosses, and a few Hopi greens. Some are open pollinated, so next year will be fun. All are mildew resistant this year, and have rampant vines. I cut two large squash out of the bushes, and found one UNDER the elderberry, having pulled off its stem under its own weight. Just like Easter, hunting for squashes, grin. Only had maximas this year, had maximas mostly for quite a while now. Maturity seems to be about 110 days for the lot of them, all had some wartiness of the stems. Not sure where the round wartie came from, seems buttercup like, but with warts.....did have warted hubbard a few years back, must check it for the hard rind later on.
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Post by jocelyn on Jul 16, 2019 8:42:49 GMT -5
There is a tiny watermelon growing. It is twice as big as the other day, so I think it's pollinated. Both plants had male flowers. This is going to be fun:)
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Post by jocelyn on Jul 16, 2019 3:42:15 GMT -5
Those who grow even a portion of what they eat are saving the transportation portion of the fuel needed to produce that food, even with a tiller, grin. Nothing is all good or all bad. If you still have space for trees, consider food trees. They take very little inputs if adapted to your area. We like nut butters on our breakfast toast, and have a nut butter grinder....and several buckets of nuts down cellar. This week, I'll shell out hearnuts and we'll have heartnut butter. Yummy. Most years we have enough nuts to get through to new crop. Next week I might shell out hazel nuts.
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Post by jocelyn on Jul 15, 2019 17:31:18 GMT -5
No hens in the squashes this year and small fruits already. Stroking and/or physical damage not necessary if the transplants are well started in good soil.
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Post by jocelyn on Jul 15, 2019 17:22:28 GMT -5
You know, just saying, we put about 9 calories into the ground to get out one calorie in industrial agriculture settings. Every garden tended by hand, every fruit or nut tree that is tended by hand, saves most of those 9 calories in...
Plant a peach pit, tend by hand, eat the peaches starting abut year 4. Not so bad. We need a change in focus, just not there yet...........
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Post by jocelyn on May 28, 2019 8:03:12 GMT -5
Yah, me too, just munch them up.
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Post by jocelyn on May 27, 2019 8:05:01 GMT -5
I don't mind if they are not the same. I'm doing this for fun, to see what they do. If they ripen here and are tasty, I'll keep them going. They are a small seeded type, or the parents were, so not hard to eat as is.
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Post by jocelyn on May 26, 2019 17:21:18 GMT -5
Well, 2 plants from 4 seeds. They are a bit small but seem to be growing nicely. When they get a bit more size on them and the danger of frost is past, I'll put them out. It will be fun to see what they do:)
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