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Post by oldmobie on Mar 15, 2016 23:57:03 GMT -5
Yes, very brown, but welcome to the Dark (Composty) Side; you get some green waste on that, it's all good (pee on it); what else would you do? Send your garden waste to a municipal green-waste facility (from which you could buy it for fertilizer?); flush your nitrogenous waste to a municipal processing facility, from which it can't be reclaimed? Local production, local use; that's the ticket. Live long and prosper! Under the wheat straw (which is below the bean straw) is year old sheep and goat manure. |
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Post by oldmobie on Mar 18, 2016 17:05:49 GMT -5
I was given a very high domed seed starting "greenhouse" by an older lady who no longer had a use for it. Not wanting to waste the gift, I put my little Jiffy greenhouse inside it. (I'm not using the dome that came with the Jiffy.) A few days ago, I just got the feeling my little tomato seedlings in there could use some air movement to strengthen the stems, but I didn't want to leave the dome off. (Don't wanna lose the micro-climate temp increase or the humidity!) Today, I learned a new advantage to that high dome: room for a tiny fan.  |
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Post by steev on Mar 18, 2016 23:27:08 GMT -5
That is a very sad notatian from Robin Williams, of whom we will see no like, nor any replacement; the unique bear no imitation; we are fortunate to have seen them; they will not recur.
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Post by oldmobie on Apr 28, 2016 18:58:57 GMT -5
Harvested the first radishes today. I'm afraid the harvest will be small this year; the cat thought that bed was a litterbox. The dog thought it was a different kind of bed. (The electric fence now has new wire and a new charger. Must be working; I haven't seen the dog or cat in there since I plugged it in.) Anyway, some of the radishes look good. These are from my own saved seeds, with the exception of one French Breakfast. These are the earliest, and so far, the biggest. No cracking. I'll try to get my wife to taste test a slice from the side of the root. If they taste good and aren't pithy, I want 'em for the seed bed.  Also, most of the peas are up. Just the general population; the proto-heat tolerant aren't planted yet. Last year's turnips overwintered and are bolting like crazy. Same with the collards. Two swiss chard made it and look like they'll bolt soon. This is how to get seed, and how to improve adaptation to my garden. It is not how to make space for this year's plants. The Red Chesnok garlic bulbils kazedwards sent me have overwintered, grown through summer, and overwintered again, all in the same spot. I'm gonna have to lift 'em and replant at better spacing if I'm to get any size from them.  ↑Turnips & Garlic ↑Collards & ChardThe clover I sowed as a cover crop last year finally got big this spring. It's actually shading out the grass. (As it was growing, I'd pull out the grass that got tall enough to see over it.) I thought it had killed the grass, but we cut the clover back the other day and found grass in it, with seed heads. We'll let the clover grow up again. Maybe it'll kill the grass with more time.  ↑CloverAlso I'm finally getting good growth on some wheat. It's volunteered from a bale of straw I mulched with last year. That's a start. After I get reliability and seed increase, maybe I ca n get it to cross with some others for diversity.
↑Wheat
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Post by oldmobie on Aug 4, 2016 12:59:58 GMT -5
The Red Chesnok garlic bulbils kazedwards sent me have overwintered, grown through summer, and overwintered again, all in the same spot. I'm gonna have to lift 'em and replant at better spacing if I'm to get any size from them. I finally decided to use some of that garlic. Here's the result of leaving it crowded.  Seems to me the cloves are about half normal size. I guess if it were allowed to grow to it's potential, there'd be more of them?  By the way, I have a few bulbils to share. Message me if you want some.  |
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Post by oldmobie on Aug 20, 2016 20:42:13 GMT -5
 About 1/2 done harvesting the ~4'X12' bed. Nothing to brag about, but a fair return, considering the neglect they endured. I had to whim-wham waist high bermuda grass before I could rake back the straw. When I'm all done, I think I'll sow buckwheat to fight the weeds for me. |
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Post by steev on Aug 20, 2016 21:47:13 GMT -5
Some nice food, there, as well as a supply of "seed" for next year; I'm gathering my seed spuds as I harvest, looking to plant half of any variety this Fall and the other half next Spring; having a warmer Winter than you, I worry that Fall-planted spuds may sprout only to be cold-killed, but I have enough seed-tubers to give it a try, regardless; I'll plant the smallest as potential sacrifices, of course. It's starting to look like I can expect enough marble-sized spuds to use them as a vege in their own right, rather than just "seed". Preferring not to peel, I value "puny" spuds.
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Post by oldmobie on Oct 31, 2016 4:33:52 GMT -5
My boys were given some... pumpkins? Squash? I'm trying to identify them for edibility and possible seed saving. I spent a little time on Joseph Lofthouse 's " Visual Guide To Identifying Squash", and I have a hunch they're pepo. I thought the stems could've been pepo or moschata, but I guess the orange skin rules out moschata. Opinions?    |
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Post by philagardener on Oct 31, 2016 5:48:27 GMT -5
Those look like gourds (most likely C. pepo). They typically dry to hard shells (with little flesh) and can introduce genes for bitter taste into your stocks, so folks saving seed will often grow them as a isolated patch. I'd try a taste test before you include them in a landrace.
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Post by oldmobie on Oct 31, 2016 7:13:08 GMT -5
Those look like gourds (most likely C. pepo). They typically dry to hard shells (with little flesh) and can introduce genes for bitter taste into your stocks, so folks saving seed will often grow them as a isolated patch. I'd try a taste test before you include them in a landrace. That's what I was thinking. I grew potentially poisonous pepo gourds once before. They were my only pepos to surive that year. Joseph gave me instructions how to let them cross with other pepos and safely eliminate any poison from the patch. Knowing it exceeded my vigilance, I just gave the seeds away and started growing lagenaria gourds. I'll taste test these before cooking. I'll probably toss or give away the seeds, based on the result. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 31, 2016 19:12:12 GMT -5
Yup. Pepo.
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Post by steev on Nov 1, 2016 1:50:22 GMT -5
Well; that was succinct.
Joseph don't beat around the bush.
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Post by oldmobie on Apr 9, 2017 20:44:59 GMT -5
Just got me a new "action hoe". It's what I always learned to call a hula hoe or stirrup hoe. I think I'll like it, if I don't break it or kill myself before I learn to use it right. Right now I'm wrecking my back and feeling the burn in my arms. I think I'm trying to substitute brute force for finesse. Sure clears a lot of ground, though! I've found lots of surviving garlic, a few volunteer radishes or turnips, and what I hope is some volunteer wheat. (What do you guys think?)  I'll probably sprinkle some radish and carrot seeds tomorrow and plant peas in a day or two. Gotta find a home for spuds and onions. |
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Post by steev on Apr 9, 2017 21:34:29 GMT -5
Maybe, if there's been wheat there before,
Radishes, yes; forgot to get those in.
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Post by oldmobie on Jun 7, 2017 13:20:46 GMT -5
what I hope is some volunteer wheat. (What do you guys think?)  Yup. It's wheat. Looks like the birds are taking a bunch of it. Are the seed mature? How do I know? If I cut it and hang it up, will the seeds mature? Or will I need to cover it to keep birds out, while leaving it intact? |
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