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Accessible Gardening: ...so what are you up to?, 1 by seacanepain

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seacanepain wrote:
Sorry. Computer issues. Kay\'s system bit the dust and I\'ve been trying to co-op all her data and programs on to my system. Still haven\'t worked out all the glitches, but we are limping along.
The crepe myrtle is dropping its leaves, but that is the only sign of Fall so far. Well, temps are a little cooler at night. It\'s still up in the 90\'s during the day. I still miss all those glorious reds, oranges and gold\'s. The mellow yellows and purples from the surrounding sweet gums have started to grow on me and the coral and pinkish red foliage of the southern blueberries is delicious eye candy even if it isn\'t quite the colors that take me back to the autumns of my childhood. I\'m looking forward to seeing what my Japanese maple and the chalk maple Kay gave me do in October. I have to give the chalk maple wood ash to keep the soil as sweet as it likes, but it is worth it to me if I can get more fall foliage color.
It\'s tree and perennial planting time for us. The spring bulbs and cool season annuals go in next month. After this year\'s bulb giveaway I thought I wouldn\'t have to worry about bulbs, but Kay wants some hyacinths. (eye roll)
Figs are still producing. The golf-ball size fruit of the unnamed variety is my new fav. It\'s a variety that evolved locally. I picked it up on the 70% off table at the nursery just because there was an open spot in the fig orchard. It\'s turning out to be the best $7 I ever spent.
We will be planting artichokes and cardoon tomorrow. This will be our first year growing cardoons. We are handing the reins over to Nadi and food plants will be her focus. Cardoons and opunctia known for their fruit are good food plants for the xeric line, a long bed on the eastern boundary where it is hard to water. I think we should start out with only 8 carddoon plants until we can gauge their potential for invasiveness. We might decide we don\'t like the taste or that they are too much trouble. since they have to be blanched. Another name for cardoon is artichoke thistle and they are reported to taste like artichokes, but it is the stems that are eaten instead of the flower buds. We grow the real artichokes closer to the water faucet. They grow best with supplemental water.
In spring, we will add Egyptian spinach to the xeric line for summer salads. I associate it more with the desert southwest, but I saw it growing in the vegetable beds last time I visited the DABG, our closest botanical garden. It\'s in the mallow family and members of that family do well here so I guess I shouldn\'t have been surprised. I\'m just locating a source of the seed of it for now. It\'s very much a hot weather plant and won\'t go in until late next spring. I never thought of using the xeric areas for food plants. Learning that I can is cool.


(Jim)

Pix: The package said \'Grandpa Ott\'s\', but it turned out to be a \'Blue Star\' morning glory. 2) Schoolhouse Lily, Oxblood Lily ( ). 3) The DABG is getting ready for the Peanut Festival.