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Post by templeton on Feb 6, 2014 16:22:04 GMT -5
You might need to encourage them to cross a bit, k. T
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Post by templeton on Feb 5, 2014 18:06:37 GMT -5
Ray, I've read somewhere in the last few days that PLK is an ancestor of Cream Gold. Not sure if CG is a selection, or if PLK was bred with something else - I've searched back but can't find it. T
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Post by templeton on Feb 5, 2014 16:02:29 GMT -5
Hi, L2G. Where are you? As for avatar, go to profile on the header menus, It will open in the summary tab, on the right of the profile window is an edit profile button, this will take you to the avatar tab of your profile, allowing you to upload an image. T
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Post by templeton on Feb 5, 2014 0:57:11 GMT -5
Richard, just the info that was in that link I posted, <http://www.onionsaustralia.org.au/research-database-docs/OA%20Vol%2019%20antique%20seed.pdf>
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Post by templeton on Feb 4, 2014 16:56:55 GMT -5
They look great, Richard. Pukehohe (or Pukekohe) are only brown, here, I think. Yates NZ have seed www.yates.co.nz/products/seeds/vegetables/onion-pukekohe-longkeeper/and an interesting story re the rediscovery of old genetic material here <http://www.onionsaustralia.org.au/research-database-docs/OA%20Vol%2019%20antique%20seed.pdf> Your red line probably came from the old original material, perhaps, Richard.
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Post by templeton on Feb 4, 2014 0:12:09 GMT -5
T, I'll have to check the ROL out, I just looked it up and like the way it looks. Mostly we grow lettuce here in the winter, but it's really in the heat of summer that I crave it. I've been toying with the idea of growing it inside as a micro-green in the air-conditioned house under my propagation lamps in the summer. Sort of like Coleman's season extending ideas in reverse. I grow a lot of lettuce under shadecloth.
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Post by templeton on Feb 3, 2014 23:24:01 GMT -5
FW, my favourite lettuce is royal oakleaf, for its resistances to dry, bolting, and bitterness.It can almost wilt away, then come back with a bit of a drink, and still not try to flower. It still needs water, it just seems more robust than others. Unfortunately I've been letting them self seed in the garden for a few years, so I might have unconsciously selected for a bit of bolting. There must be other lettuces around that will do the job, I just found this one so I stick with it. Strela from Wild Garden Seed is also good, but not quite as good on each criterion as ROL. T
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Post by templeton on Jan 31, 2014 19:30:39 GMT -5
Not on topic, is there anything we can do to help you in Oz fight this? . Not a whole lot. Relatively new govt, elected on an"Australia, Open For business" platform. Very little detail in their manifesto, but this is par for the course. The aproval of the port expansion a month or two ago flagged that they would take this next step. Mining interests, flagging chinese economy, with knock on to Aust, and the promise of 15000 jobs, very canny flamboyant billionaire mining magnate who just got elected to parliament, and who looks slike holding the balance of power when they change over in 5 months... this early in an election cycle and the hard headedness 'tough guy' image of the conservative side of politics means they won't pay a lot of attention to protest. I gnash my teeth, and console myself that it is a huge reef, annd this is a smallish area, outside the coral zone... global warming and acidification are more of an issue... t
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Post by templeton on Jan 31, 2014 1:06:22 GMT -5
You guys EAT cats? I haven't even heard of people keeping them for milk...
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Post by templeton on Jan 31, 2014 0:55:56 GMT -5
I have a plastic pot full in an exposed spot that has received no water all summer - the ground is dust, so the pot must be incredibly dry. The topsetters aren't thriving, but neither are they dying. This is truely an onion for tough times. t
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Post by templeton on Jan 30, 2014 20:31:38 GMT -5
JBT is PL, pretty robust in my garden, looks a bit like a big roma with a swollen bottom. Nice robust taste, doesn't have a huge bench life, can go a bit floury after a few hot days in the kitchen. My favourite black tomato. Came out of a research institute in Siberia, I think. None ripe yet, so no new pics. Will post some when they ripen. T
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Post by templeton on Jan 30, 2014 15:51:13 GMT -5
That's a great onion, Richard. I'd be happy if my normal onions grew that big. Do they keep well? Do you primarily grow them for the tops as salad onions, or for the bottoms as bulb type cooking onions? Just a suggestion, plant a dozen or so bulbs in a row, and dozen of the top bulbils beside, to see what does best. From other threads here, you might get more little bulbs from big single bulbs (like true shallots), and fewer larger bulbs from the little bulbils. And another suggestion (full them this morning ), if the flower heads look like totally succumbing, your could try the cut flower method, snip off the head and put in a vase on the windowsill, change the water daily. I'm trying this with spud onion head that got accidentally pruned, and the seed capsules are at least still a bit green while rest of the stalk is drying off. Probably should have given it a feed. Recommendations for cut flowers in water is a bit of sugar for food, squeeze of lemon to adjust pH, any a tiny bit of bleach to prevent tne water going scungy. Trim the bottom of the stalk daily to keep it fresh. T
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Post by templeton on Jan 29, 2014 20:33:11 GMT -5
Around here, the 'commercial' way to bottle jams and pickles is to heat the solution to boiling and then pour it in jars. That creeps me out, and I won't buy from the lady that does it that way. She lost dozens of bottles the last time she came to the farmer's market, cause it was a rather hot day and a lot of her inventory unsealed. It wouldn't add hardly any extra work to her process to run them through a boiling water bath for ten minutes. Oh well. Health wise they are probably fine, because she follows tested recipes on low-risk foods. I think the few extra minutes would go a long way to ensuring an even safer product and make errors in procedure more forgivable. I do it like she does, boil your jam for 20 minutes to get it to setting point-at that stage it must be sterile. Pre heat the jars to sterilize them. Pour the jam in the jar, and put on the airtight screw on lid. As the jam cools, the lid pops down, as the cooling jam contracts. Vacum sealed. Never had an issue with any sort of infection or mould. I thought the whole point was that the osmotic pressure (?) of the high sugar content made it impossible for bugs to survive, meaning all the sterilizing was really a belt and braces approach anyway. Thinks, candied peel, prosciutto, salami, dried fruit, sun dried tomatoes, quince paste, etc etc. T
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Post by templeton on Jan 29, 2014 17:24:33 GMT -5
A most intersting discussion, as usual. Got me thinking about some of our other foodstuffs. I do recall a discussion on another aust forum with a member originally from the USA concerning jam making. No way was she going to trust just boiling up the jam, and jarring it with a lid. It then had to be processed for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. She pointed to a considerable number of official food safety sites from the US that recommended just that. Made every cook book on my shelves a health risk. Litigation-shy, or one of those (unjustified) pieces of accepted wisdom like throwing away the shellfish that refuse to open when cooked, that just gain traction by being repeated so often? And don't get me started on the constant water drinking fad... T
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Post by templeton on Jan 28, 2014 16:54:27 GMT -5
There was a listeria recall of cheese products here a couple of weeks ago. I think the issue about regulation vs overregulation is when the consequences are prety dire, and the risk might not be apparent, -thinking of my 85 year old mum, for example. I must say I have little sympathy for heroin addicts - who doesn't know that heroin is addictive? But I can imagine someone (my mum) picking up a bottle of 'raw' milk, and thinking 'that must be healthy, unprocessed = good'. That said, there are a number of other at risk foods that don't seem to get the same policing as raw milk. t
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