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Post by steev on Mar 7, 2017 20:32:53 GMT -5
I don't know what the condition of your planted trees was, but I lost so many by planting out bare-roots in late Winter, when they hit the stores; I still buy bare-roots, but I pot them into 5-gals and keep them in Oakland under supervision at least until the next Fall's rains look good, so they get a good root-system and go out with all Winter and Spring to establish; no South slope on the farm, which is flat as piss on a plate, but it gets very hot, always breezy, and drains like a sieve. Trees that survive 4-5 years, barring voles, are mostly good, irrigated or not. Mulch is a great help.
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Post by steev on Mar 10, 2017 2:02:44 GMT -5
A neighbor of ~20 years opened a shop relating to art; the window included a poster for "Machete", starring Danny Trejo; one of my favorite movies (a total cholo wet-dream), very funny! I asked him what it would cost; he said $400; I think my face told him what I thought of that. Yesterday, he saw me working on a neighbor's yard and told me he was giving it to me, gratis. He's just gotten a place on my "free organic produce list".
My landlady thought a friend of hers had left it on the porch (we having shared the DVD recently; the friend having spent years living in Montana and only recently being reintroduced to SF Bay Area men/values: not quite so macho, it would appear, poor thing); I clued her (the landlady) in that it's MINE, pointing out that I'll prolly frame it and put it on the wall with a shelf under for candles, as befits a shrine, especially an Hispanic one; one wants to be culturally appropriate, even if one isn't in agreement, n'est-ce pas; por supuesto que si!
I went to a local landscape/rockery to buy DG pathway fines, telling the clerk I wanted half a yard of DG blue fines; she got on the intercom and ordered "una media de blue"; I asked, "don't you mean una media de azule"; she laughed, saying "Spanglish". I took a course in Linguistics, in which it was noted that in the South-Western US, there has developed a "creole", termed Spanglish, which I think should be termed Espanglish: a commonly understood blend of two languages, not a "pidgen" ("no tickee; no washee", being that sort of minimal non-reciprocal communication). I think the common usage of that "creole" is exemplary of why the south-western US is not so accepting of the current administration's paranoid Hispanic-bashing. Those who live here realize that we all live here. One might even expand that attitude worldwide, if one were fearless enough. Fear is the mind-killer. The current administration peddles fear like heroin. It's getting cheaper than clean food, though not nearly as nutritious.
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Post by steev on Mar 12, 2017 21:23:54 GMT -5
Pruned the grape arbor (so late); planted and mulched the last of this year's stone pines and the last in-hand spuds (yes, even the ones that were all shriveled and mealy-buggy); cut the late-blooming Narcissus buds for my sweetheart (I'm pleased that the late ones include some small daffodils she'd planted years ago and most of the varieties that aren't common yellow daffodils, not that I don't enjoy those and have a large quantity of them); transplanted three daffodils that were along the road (no idea how they got out of the critter-corral, seed or apparently-rotted bulbs tossed out); did some minor fence repair.
Noted that critters have cleaned out the parsnips I'd planted for seed; must score another bag of mark-downs; must repair the leaky well-plumbing, so the pump-house doesn't flood all Summer; must catch my tail, so I can stop spinning.
Coming home Sunday, I stopped by farmermike's to replace the Joseph's Cherry Sweet I'd left last week (apparently snaffled by some critter/someone, my having left it on the porch while he was out of town); I hope it's not unwelcome that I note he has a beautiful wife, two beautiful children, and two lovely dogs; if it is; my bad.
Scored three 15gal Chandler walnuts to plant out; sure hope these don't join those I've killed in the past.
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Post by steev on Mar 26, 2017 22:39:42 GMT -5
Having high hopes for those walnuts (the past ones were all bare-root, whereas these have been container-grown and are larger, so they have good root structure), I started planting them; did some tilling; planted two rows of field peas with a row of mixed carrots, beets, and chard between them; I figure the peas will shelter those, for better germination.
I note that some apricots are thick with lentil-sized fruit; the plums seem to have suffered a lot of weather-damage to the bloom; Asian pears and aamonds are welcoming numerous bees. I was gonna cut some Patience dock, first produce of the year, but it started to rain, so I closed up and came home.
Think I've settled on a name for the house I expect to build on the farm: "Miwitz End".
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Post by reed on Mar 27, 2017 4:44:04 GMT -5
I was eye balling my Patience Dock yesterday, pretty stuff, much bigger right now than it's wild cousin. How do you prepare it? I'v been munching on turnip flower buds, very tasty, time to leave them alone so I can get my pods and then seeds. I was gonna transplant some to a new spot but just tilled around the biggest patch, I'll just leave them be and then plant tomatoes there later.
Been wanting to fry up some dandelion buds but it's hard to find and gather up a good mess. They are going ahead and blooming without growing a stem first. Flowers are good but unopened buds are better.
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Post by steev on Mar 27, 2017 11:24:57 GMT -5
I consider that dock as a cooked green or a pot-herb; I want to dry some to powder it as a flavorant in dough.
Today having been lovely Spring weather, I finally got around to grafting some cuttings: an inter-species plum (enormous yellow fruit, sweeter than my taste, but others may like it) and an apple that keeps very well in refrigeration; one of the perks of working as a gardener is occasionally finding new toys. In my ex-yard, I had an apple of nine varieties and an Asian pear of six, as well as a Fuyu persimmon. The people who bought the house, to flip it, ripped them out, of course, but they left the enormous, worthless grapefruit tree, which produces 100's of pounds of useless fruit (the climate in the East Bay doesn't sweeten them up at all).
Thinking about that Patience dock; I'm thinking that and some onion, spring or dried, in a biscuit; damn!; gotta get off this 'fore I drool on my keyboard.
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Post by steev on Mar 31, 2017 2:09:35 GMT -5
Lordy; I've gotta do fencing on my sweetheart's front yard (so her cats have access, but neighbors' cats don't; ever notice how some people treat cats like people, instead of cats? I love cats; don't like people all that much; can't imagine why I'd want to turn perfectly good cats into poor simulacra people).
Also, I have weed issues that need attention, so if I can get help, I'll work in town Saturday; fence Sunday; go to the farm Monday (blowing off a day's income) to finish planting those walnuts (not to lose $60); see what else I can plant; check whether farm-neighbors want a large play-structure that one of my clients is done with, and so home, to resume routine maintenance on Tuesday. Eventually, I'll get too old for this grind. Why do I do it? What else would I do; play golf? I'd rather sit in a hot tub, open a vein, and start writing my memoirs, ala Petronius.
Speaking of whom, I first read (surreptiously) his classic "The Golden Ass of Apulia" when I was nine; in my late teens/early twenties, I was struck by how many of his jokes were cited in Playboy, the page after the centerfold; who'da thought Playboy was so educated in the classics!? Unlike so many, I never read it for the articles.
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Post by steev on Apr 5, 2017 0:13:01 GMT -5
Had an emergency to handle for a client Monday, so went to the farm today; got those walnuts planted out; harvested Patience dock (even the sour dock looks especially good from all the rain), Spring elephant garlic (for use like leeks), and a mess of bud-shoots of wild mustard; I'll braise these all with some chicken-parmesan sausage.
Ta-daa!; first harvest of asparagus; never took more than one spear before, but the plants yielded a couple pounds today, with plenty of stalks left for growing on. Most of the harvest was NLT finger-thick; I don't know what that "pencil" crap is about; immature/weak plants, I suppose.
Noted that the Service tree has much more bloom coming than last year, so maybe I'll get some fruit.
Saw that I need to rip out bindweed before other weeds hide it; the farm is really not practical as a weekend job, at least not for one old guy. I gotta get "customer support" to track my damned clones; they're prolly chilling in Baja, dirty bastards; not that I'd expect much other from clones of me; I'm just not sure I have time to wait for them to get serious.
That asparagus? So tasty!
Saw that an herbacious peony I'd planted years ago has returned again; I no longer have any idea what it blooms; something to wait for. Maybe I'll plant more; I am a slut for pretty, but they take so long.
I'm stock-piling plastic bottles for pea-cloches.
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Post by steev on Apr 7, 2017 23:08:26 GMT -5
Off to the farm tomorrow to plant some purple fingerling spuds (I've no idea what their variety is; they're very skinny), deliver recycled narcissus, and dump mowed-grass clippings (the combination of copious rain and stretched mowing schedule has really led to an abundant supply; all great fertilizer).
I'll return tomorrow night, so I can finish my sweetheart's cat-fence on Sunday.
After work Monday, I'll be the token goy-boy at her Passover seder; I went to six markets today looking for horse-radish with beets (the tasty stuff; 'kay, maybe they were just all bought out, having stocked inadequately); finally found it in a Chinese grocery; just goes to show who knows the market (or gets fewer kosher buyers).
See; I had to ask an Asian (Chinese?) clerk,; who asked her Hispanic produce worker; who knew they had it and where it was; mission accomplished. Damn, I love a multi-cultural environment; so much more fun to be had; always an adventure!
As I have told my best Guatemalan worker, when he was worried about English: there are many rules to language: the first is communicate, the second is desire to co-operate, for mutual gain; everything else is exactitude and prettiness.
I think I'd have loved to live on the Silk Road, aside from the Mongols, of course.
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Post by steev on Apr 8, 2017 23:57:21 GMT -5
Tilled a long lane and planted two patches of Joseph's Cherry Sweet: one seed from all-red ears and another seed from the blue/yellow ears, separated by ~75'; I think I can fit in at least six patches of various corns with adequate separation; I don't recall ever planting corn before the end of May.
Field peas, spuds, beets, and chard are sprouting.
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Post by mskrieger on Apr 12, 2017 15:38:48 GMT -5
I dug some garden beds, which led to a bumber harvest of dandelions --> made dandelion-mushroom cream sauce for matzah Also planted beets and chard into the now dandelion-free beds.
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Post by philagardener on Apr 13, 2017 20:06:44 GMT -5
A new twist on the traditional dandelion whine! I guess you have them beet!
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Post by steev on Apr 14, 2017 0:37:32 GMT -5
The drought in Cali has led to many of my clients' lawns being very infested by dandelions; suggestions for using that weed will be welcomed; note that I'm not a big fan of bitter; artichokes, cardoon, and milk-thistle pretty much satisfy my need (I don't even drink much beer; cider has no hops).
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Post by steev on Apr 16, 2017 16:39:58 GMT -5
A client had me dig out two shrubs; rather than discarding them, I stuck them in on the farm yesterday, where they're being rained-in today; pulled T-posts that were no longer needed for tree-support; I need to re-stake some of the cages around out-lying trees, as the horses use them for scratching posts.
Sowed two furrows of farro (Furrows O'Farro, sounds like an Italo-Irish exotic dancer, prolly has a "manager" named Harry Vetch).
Scored a prime-condition used stainless-steel drop-spreader, just the thing for spreading MAP.
There must have been a very cold wind come through, as the tender new growth on walnuts and grapes was fried, but not much close to the ground.
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Post by richardw on Apr 17, 2017 1:15:24 GMT -5
What kinda shrubs Steev.
The huge amount of rain over the last few weeks and stripping lead paint off our house has seen the weeds take over the garden, what a prick of a job using a heat gun, full face mask and covered in overalls. Lead paint is falling onto a cover, then what do i do with it?
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