Gardening.

[egor]

Sounds like you had quite the day, especially with the water line. Looks like you're going to have one awesome garden. I feel so lazy and unmotivated though I did practice piano for 2 hours today. I worked hard yesterday though preparing for our first choir rehearsal in 14 months.

I know what you are talking about, but I don't see you as lazy. When I was an active research assistant, I would rather have 10 days collecting data and setting up for surgery or getting supplies, then dealing with the mental fatigue from analizing the data and writing the paper for the research for just one day.

 

[egor]

I was at the feed store yesterday looking for canning jar lids, and needed to replace one tomato plant that did not survive transplanting. So I came out with no lids, a San Mazono Tomato, Brussels sprouts, Broccoli and chive plants. I had one area that was filled with potting/planting soil mix but not fully recovered from weeds, so i cleaned it up and planted the new stuff. I did that after I helped the city water department by bleeding the air out of the line that a repair crew did not do before they opened up the main. So I was out for and hour attempting to over water my garden while the whole time I was spurting high pressured air with some water, up until about the last three minutes.

I need to add the note of what my wife calls a stalk of Brussels Sprouts.

Stalk of Brussels Sprouts = Balls of shit on a stick. If you couldn't guess she does not like the smell of them raw cooking or after they are cooked, let alone the taste.

I on the other hand love them fried in olive oil and drizzled with good balsamic vinegar.

 

[Angelapinks]

I need to add the note of what my wife calls a stalk of Brussels Sprouts.

Stalk of Brussels Sprouts = Balls of shit on a stick. If you couldn't guess she does not like the smell of them raw cooking or after they are cooked, let alone the taste.

I on the other hand love them fried in olive oil and drizzled with good balsamic vinegar.

Fried with bacon and onions, my whole family requests I bring lots of these every Christmas.

 

[dogboy]

Haha....yes, I can see Brussel sprouts being and to me, tasting like balls of shit. My father-in-law grew them in his garden at the lake house in Canada. The problem was that he believed in controlling the entire ecosystem around the cottage which meant killing with his shotgun, badgers, mink, skunks etc. and they get turned into the garden soil as fertilizer. It was hard to be a good son-in-law and eat those cadaver Brussel sprouts but I did it. I never told the kids what I saw in the garden. Sounds like a B horror movie.

 

[egor]

I just cam in from picking my first picking of blueberries.

Gone be a good year.

In the past I have gotten maybe two pints of berries(BFB= Before that fucking bird) and the first picking has been maybe half a small coffee cup.
Last year I did not get a very good set at all and few berries. This year I just brought in 2 pints and the bush is still loaded and they are all good size.

 

[dogboy]

I love blueberrys. Who doesn't I suppose. When I was a very young kid, my parents and I would go to this sanding place in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and pick blueberries. You would pay a fee for the basket and then you'd fill up the basket and take home your berries. We always picked enough blueberries and huckleberries so my mom could bake two blueberry pies and one huckleberry pie, from scratch. Ah.....good times.

 

[Azie]

One thing i have always done with berry plants is grow them in cages and use window screen nets weighted down with rocks to keep the birds off. Works pretty well for the three blueberry plants my stepdad has. I don't mind sharing with the birds, especially with the wild berries around the farm, but if I plant plants for me, I expect a good picking. They can have at it after the first picking.

 

[Angelapinks]

I just cam in from picking my first picking of blueberries.

Gone be a good year.

In the past I have gotten maybe two pints of berries(BFB= Before that fucking bird) and the first picking has been maybe half a small coffee cup.
Last year I did not get a very good set at all and few berries. This year I just brought in 2 pints and the bush is still loaded and they are all good size.

I love blueberries and have them with breakfast about three times a week. We don't get them near me but there is a farm about 60 miles away and when I go I buy lots to freeze so I don't run out. I can also buy frozen Canadian wild blueberries in shops near me so I don't often run out. Blueberries are very good for you. I also get Cranberries as they are supposed to be good for preventing UTI's which is something diaper wearers may be concerned with. I only ever had one but it is painful in the groin region.

 

[egor]

I just cam in from picking my first picking of blueberries.

Gone be a good year.

In the past I have gotten maybe two pints of berries(BFB= Before that fucking bird) and the first picking has been maybe half a small coffee cup.
Last year I did not get a very good set at all and few berries. This year I just brought in 2 pints and the bush is still loaded and they are all good size.

I got two great pickings off this 6 year old Blueberry bush (about 5 pints) and was figuring that I should get around 3 more pickings and possibly about 6 to 8 more pints.

That was until I went out to pick last night. The first time it was below 95 at 7:30 or so. With three days of record heat, 115 degrees on Monday, the blueberries where fried. The green ones turned tan and falling off the bush. The farther along ones where either shriveled up or brown mush.

The Tomato Plants and Chili Pepper plants doubled in size, but that was because I deep watered them every three days and I watered them the first night of the +100 degree heat.

I was at a local produce stand this afternoon and they lost the first picking of raspberries and are not sure if the green berries will recover. They also lost a freshly planted Strawberry field.

 

[dogboy]

That sounds terrible. So will they produce more berrys so there would be a second picking?

 

[dogboy]

That sounds terrible. So will they produce more berrys so there would be a second picking?

 

[egor]

That sounds terrible. So will they produce more berrys so there would be a second picking?

It depends on the plants and how they respond to the stress. They either grow more from the apical meristem* or they shut down and protect the crown for next year.

* The botanical knowledge I got from 6 years in College for that big word and $1 will get me the Sparkling water I like at 7-11.

 

[egor]

Well today is a day to do it or move on.

Things have not got to schedule this year because of my knee and I am suffering the consequences.

The beds where worked but not the way they should and sure enough the crab grass survived. I have 6 months worth of things to do inside and out so the outside is last thing.

The heat got to be a problem, but I did keep it watered and the tomatoes and peppers did good. So did the crab grass.

I unfortunately had a problem with my corn meal corn seeds and I lost the crop. The pumpkins I planted with them are doing ok, but the crab grass has taken over there and in my onions. The potatoes are doing ok but they grow like a weed anyway and they produce chemicals/gasses that will kill plants near them. I learned that the hard way the year my pepper plants did not do well planted next to the potatoes.

So It is at that point if I clear a bed and replant the corn I may get some mediocre half fertilized corn cobs or bag it and plant a "recovery crop".

So to day I took the plunge and bought 60 broccoli plants just to hold the soil and get at least something to store for the winter. I will put that into the first couple of beds and the other ones I may plant a fall crop of snow peas.

The produce stands in our area are having just as much of a hard time. They lost crops from the heat and other things stopped growing and they don't know if they are going to get a crop or not. Then other things just started ripening earlier then they should and not sure if it will be good or just OK.

 

[Wettiguy]

Well since the change I guess I will just do blogs instead of the groups.

In the Foodie Group I had a thread on gardening.

So the garden for the year has started.

I have been working on getting the "wild Blackberries" trained for this years crop. It has been going slow because of several reasons, but it is coming along.

I still need to get out and start turning the boxes to ready the soil and hopefully reduce the weeds.

But the garden is officially started. I had some full yet not in use pots so I planted the potato sprouts off of some big russets. I noticed yesterday that two of them took.

I have never bought potato starts since I started growing them. I always seem to have potatoes that sprout in the storage bind. It is funny though how some will grow and others will not.

I watched a show on Big food companies and how they control the Seed stocks. Monsanto Will not allow farmers to keep a portion of the crop for seed stock and run them out of business if they try. So I may wind up with Big Food Giants after me if they see what I have done.

Some are treated with chemicals to stop them sprouting when in storage.

 

[dogboy]

The weather is always a problem for farmers and those who grow their own. It seems like every summer is hotter than the last.

 

[egor]

The weather is always a problem for farmers and those who grow their own. It seems like every summer is hotter than the last.

Until you get the mild one and nothing grows great. we had one like that in 2011.

 

[dogboy]

Yeah, you'r up north enough that your mild winter is probably colder than mine here in Virginia.

 

[egor]

Well I hit a hard decision point on the garden tonight.

I have been canning peach jam today and needed to go out and water the garden and was going to do some weeding. I walked through the garden and my back started hurting so bad. I checked out the blackberries and looks like I might have enough for 1 batch of jam. So I went over to the neighbors and looked at the blue elder berry and was very down hearted.

The plants are burnt from our 115 degree record breaking heat, but worst of all is the fruit did not set.

The MAJOR problem we have in this neighborhood is that there is very few bees. the mason bees are long gone, because they only "free fly" as soon as the temp gets to 50 degrees and thrive for about two months and make the nest for next year larva then die of old age. So they are not around for the summer pollination. The wild bees are gone because of the three weeks of sever poor air quality last fall. The information I have from one of the big fruit growers in the area is that 90% of the wild bees where killed off, so there just is not a lot of bees to do residential pollination.

So the lack of blue elder berries was one thing, but I have some beautiful pepper plants, but not a single chili on the 14 plants and my tomatoes are not setting lot of fruit either.

So I am going to go into saver mode and put energy into things that are growing good and not struggle to get other things done.

 

[dogboy]

That's all you can do. I've heard on the news many times that there is a dangerous bee shortage. They've given as reasons that pesticides have killed a lot of the bee population. We need to find better ways to control the bad bugs but not hurt the good ones.

 

[egor]

Harvested all of the Concord grapes today. Filled my needs for raisins and jam and sent 60 lbs off to a home wine maker.