Vickie, we're just glad you are okay. When I called and discovered your number was no longer in service, I feared the worst. Hang in there!
Are you still headed for Cancun this weekend, Carrie?
Thanks for telling us about Dragon fruit, Katie. I picked up a couple plants at the RU. That, some African aloe and some yucca have led to the creation of a new garden space.
We came home from the RU with more plants than we left with. I scored some sweet little mini hostas for the deck rail planter and Kay received some fragrant varieties. Also, many people shared new fragrant and textural plants with us. Amargia will be made much more interesting by the new additions. Kay was half asleep and trying to function with only one hearing aid, but it was still a blast. We are already planning what to bring next year.
DD#1 is doing a 30-day observation stint in the hospital. She won't be a good candidate for a liver transplant until the Depression is under control. She is still learning the difference between accepting fate and just giving up.
Iris are blooming. The simple, elegant white ones are taking center stage now. After a couple of weeks with the big, bold yellow German giants dominating the landscape, the demure white ones are a nice change.
We had sweet and sour Russian cabbage soup yesterday. The 'Golden Acre' cabbage seeds you sent are heading up nicely, Vickie.
I wasn't sure how practical growing peas in containers would be, but I'm sold on the idea now. Harvested enough for a meal for all of us from only 3 plants. That doesn't include what MK rinsed with her water bottle and munched in the garden. lol.
Harvested the last of the Kohrabi. We will start more of it this fall. It is so tasty and easy to grow I think it will become one of our cool season staples.
I will be entering a pain management program upstate soon and starting some courses at the local tech school. Melissa Kay will take over the writing of Amargia's contributions to this thread. She and Nadine are always looking over my shoulder correcting my spelling and grammar anyway. One of them might as well be doing the actual writing. lol. Darn spelling and punctuation Nazis! The pain management program last about a month and the course is a simple one for small engine repair. So, like The Terminator, "I'll be back!"
Ugh. Don't get me started on taxes. We get a small amount back but I like to use it to get ahead of the game. But it never works something will inevitably break or happen to require most to all of it. LOL (Jim)
Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeers #16
Seems like I keep bouncing up and down with this ugly depression. My counceler and doctor tried to get me into the hospital but there is a waiting list unless I attempt suicide. Suicide is against the law in Arkansas and I could also be put in jail. I honestly could'nt handle jail. Am spending as much time outdoors as I can. May even take up fishing. I do injoy workng in my big flower pots. And build a little campfire at night in my fireplace table. Bought some tomato plants (Arkansas Travelers,grape tomatoes,and a bush tomato)2 kinds of cukes,catnip,marigolds,petunias and coleus. It is supposed to rain today so may stay in and do housework.YUK!!!
I have 2 new young cats. both strays,one came here, the other came to my daughters in Texas.I named him Texas.He is the most loving gentle cat ever. The other will have kittens anyday. They will be neutered ASAP.
I have'nt decided what to do with the kittens yet. DD wants one. Do any of you guys need a cat?
Still hanging in there.
Vickie
DO NOT ATTEMPT SUICIDE VICKIE!!!! OK, just don't.
Thank you. No cats, thank you. I like gardening in pots too!
Right now I am having nursing, OT and kids at home. My 31 yo DSD is living with us and my 19 yo DD will be home tomorrow. Interesting dynamics. They both live in the same room, for one thing. I guess we'll have to buy a bed for DSD, which makes me mad!
Hey, Vickie! Sorry to hear the Depression has got its claws in so deep. Contact us if you want to chat or blow off some steam. I know it is hard for you to actually talk when it gets so bad. I'll leave our Email address in your Dmail. Writing is sometimes easier than talking. Don't hesitate to contact us. Hugs and prayers.
Actually, I would like a kitten, but I don't think the post office would let us send one through the mail like chicks and once again I have to cancel my trip out that way. Anyway, I wouldn't want to be the one to take a cat out of a box after such a trip even if the post office allowed it. . A hive of bees will forgive a trip via post after being sprayed with sugar water and their queen has been released from her separate shipping cage. Cats, on the other hand, hold grudges! If you make it down this way, by all means bring us a couple kittens. I've given up selling MK on getting a ferret. She doesn't like the way ferrets smell.
I've been making myself get outside and work with MK at least an hour every day to cope with the Depression and deal with the frustrations. MK is right. Weeding is a good anger management technique. I don't know if I can keep that up once real summer temps arrive, but I'm enjoying it outside in the unusually cool temps. (It got down in the 40's a few nights ago. Very strange weather for us.
I saw some ripe dewberries while I was out so Nadine has started scouting out our stands of dewberries, an early ripening, vining cousin of blackberries. (By some trick of topography, Amargia is about two weeks behind the surrounding area in blooming and ripening times.) Our attempts to domesticate the dewberries and blackberries did not work out. They were simply too rampant. I will try some of the thornless nursery variety, but Nadi will no doubt continue to forage on the edge of the woods. She is convinced the wild ones taste better.
I just put up a tall, woven wire fence across the front of the property. MK is already busy covering it with plants. Muscat grapes and dragon fruit are already there along with tomatoes to give her a season to think about what she wants there long term. Heaven forbid our fence should go naked.
I'm spending a lot of time with field guides getting myself up to speed on the native plants of the tristate area. MK can tell me the growing habits and traditional uses, but can rarely provide more than a common name. I'm shooting for as many plants as I can manage from the
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center's "Recommended" list for this region with an emphasis on goodies for the bees. I was surprised to discover how many things on the list we already have because MK considers them good "land rehab" plants or Nadi considers them tasty. lol.
MK's computer reading program is giving her grief so I guess I'll be around a little longer. (Jim)
We enjoy you Jim, although I miss Kay. Hugs to her and to Nadine. I am struggling with a speech-to-typing program, 'Dragon Naturally Speaking.' The IT doesn't want me typing, transferring, or basically doing any of my AD Ls with my right hand.
Daylilies are Blooming. but after they finish blooming, I will move them to form a border for my WildPower garden. they can join the riot of color there. (Jim)
Pretty wild, Jim. I like the purple!
A purple to die for! Where can I find one?
Vickie
Hi, Everyone! What's the news? It's Kay back from the unwired world. Well, it is now Melissa Kay, if you want to get technical about it. I started going by Kay because there was another Melissa in residence at the time. Now, I'm expected to respond to Melissa again because there are others around named Kay. I was complaining about always being the one who was asked to alter my name to avoid confusion. There was talk of resurrecting my childhood name of Sissy to keep things simple. I stopped complaining. No way, no how am I going back to responding to Sissy . I loathed being called Sissy even as a child. It is so-o-o stereotypically southern. As an adult, with strands of gray in my hair and wrinkles around the eyes, it would be absurd. Almost as bad as being a mature woman named Bambi
Summer has arrived in earnest. The gardenia are blooming. There are small fruit on the tomatoes and peppers. Corn is about thigh high. There are new daylily blooms to see every day. The gnats are horrible this year though. I work outside in headphones to keep the little beasties out of my ears. Listening to a book is just an added bonus. Old Creek lore claims that when gnats gather like this in almost Biblical plague concentrations, the coming hurricane season will be especially bad. The season is certainly starting early. The hurricane readiness jingle goes "June--Too soon. July--Stand by! Hurricane Andrea must not have heard that little ditty and is coming unfashionably early.
I'm missing Fenny-dog. She's been at the vet's office for several days. There was a cancerous growth in one of her paws. The vet said if he removed only the growth it would come back. They amputated one of her toes. I'm anxious to see if she will be happy to be home and have the pain in her paw gone or if she is upset over the loss of her toe. I pick her up this afternoon.
Photo #1: I hope the blooming of the lemon lily isn't a fluke of the cooler-than-usual weather. Some sources rate its heat tolerance only to Zone 7, but Debra (lovemyhouse) sent some for me to try. I would like a drift of them for fragrance impact. Fingers crossed.
Photo #2: We were given some 'Atkins' tomatoes at the April RU. They are performing beautifully! 'Atkins' looks like a keeper.
Wow, Kay, welcome back!!!!!
Yes, i was forced/asked to change my name a few times as a child....no fun, confusing and upsetting. Just because we're relatively more mature, should we NOT have a temper tantrum and throw ourselves to the floor, screaming?
I had been called "Carrie" from Day One, but my legal name is Carolyn. When I got to 1st grade, there was another little girl (named Kerry or Kari or Carey or something) and I was told that my real was Carolyn. I had to copy "Carol" from another girl's paper and add "YN" to the end. HUMILIATING. I got switched back to "Carrie" in 3rd grade. Horrible experience for a little kid. Plus, Kay, I know two other Melissas, so I'm afraid I'll be calling you "Kay." Sorry.
One of the Melissas I know was called "Missa" as a child. My sister used to be "Honey" I think, but that may just be a childhood memory. I liked knowing I could go as Carol or Lynn or Carola or whatever, but I didn't like being pushed into it and I didn't like getting to be 6 years old and nobody told me my "real" name.
Hi all,
I use that greeting so I can include those who are lurking in the background; something I do often.
At one time there were 9, Paul Smiths, in the local phone book, so I know your pain. Even now,
when I go to the Veterans Clinic, there are 3 Paul Smiths, one with nearly the same social as mine.
So I go by Lonejack, a mountain in Idaho, where I was raised.
Today I purchased and replanted the broccoli in my wicking boxes. We had a Great harvest, so it
is time to start a new crop. Six standard plants and six Rabb broccoli.
I don't know if any of you have tried Rabb variety of broccoli in salad. It has a cilantro taste, quite
different from the standard store-bought broccoli. It also doesn't grow in a single head but, rather in
small flowers all over the plant.
My wicking boxes are doing great as well as the straw bales. Looking forward do a great tomato harvest.
Will take som pictures tomorrow and forward them.
Well if it has a cilantro taste, I'm staying away, although if you hadn't said that I might have tried it.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/4224/
I tend to really like those strong cruciferous/broccoli-cabbage type flavors. Just not cilantro.
And welcome back, Lonejack!
Hi, LoneJack. Always good to see your post on this forum. I'm a Smith also, but I only became one seven years ago. I was thrilled at first because, for the first time in my life, no one asked me to spell my last name. I've learned the downside of being a Smith over the years. As a Jim Smith, it is even worse for DH. Melissa is unusual enough to save me from ID confusion most of the time.
I want to try broccoli rabe this fall. I've been told it is a little easier to grow than broccoli. I haven't had a lot of success with broccoli.
The summer heat means we have to get more creative with our salad fixings. We had a salad that included herb fennel and daylily blossoms Friday. It tasted great with a raspberry vinaigrette. The DL blossoms added a slight sweetness and a crunch like iceberg lettuce. The flavor is unassertive. Fennel and DL blossoms will both find their way into the summer salad bowl more often.
My attempt to grow lettuce throughout the summer indoors is going okay, but not great. My kitchen window has a westward exposure. Perhaps that is why my results haven't been what I imagined. A different lettuce variety might help also. I still like the idea. My windowsill lettuce taste better than what is available in the grocery store in summer and I don't have to be concerned about chemicals. I could live off nothing but salads during the summer. My sister tells me in Vermont lettuce will grow outside all summer long . I think she is exaggerating a little to make me jealous. Facing NE. Tongue sticking out. Thumbs in ears. Waggling fingers.
Happy Birthday, Vickie! (BTW: Is it Victoria on your birth certificate?) I'm going by memory and that is a chancy thing to do for someone on my side of the half century mark. Your b'day is in June, isn't it? You don't have to give us a year, just a month. lol. I'm keeping my secret until I become a septernarian.
I figure by then the game is up
Kb, do you know how big dragonfruit plants really get? The smallest and largest sizes I've read about are so far apart, the info isn't very helpful. I gather they survive the winters there so it will be different here, but at least I will have a ball park figure. Are there different cultivars or varieties? Is that why the height and spread figures vary so widely?
It's a rainy day. I should do some housekeeping....or maybe I'll go talk to the Google Cleverbot. I try not to think too much what it reveals about my personality that I have fun talking to Cleverbot. Have any of you spoken to him/her/it yet? If we are going to create entities like Cleverbot, we really need to create new pronouns appropriate for a non-gendered intelligence . E and em might work. Example: "I posted to Cleverbot today and asked em about creating a new pronoun. E said....." An electronic intelligence that can learn and adapt could make a real difference in the lives of deaf ,blind and elderly people. "May you live in interesting times." Isn't that an old curse in Arabia, or China...or somewhere?
This message was edited Jun 13, 2013 8:41 PM
Hi All,
As I planted my broccoli, I noticed that I had been missspelling Raab broccoli. I finally read the label; typical male, when all else fails, ask directions and read the label.
For summer heat, have you tried Malibar Spinach? It isn't a true spinach but is grown in the tropics where true spinach will bolt to seed in hot weather.
I know when I was in Haiti, they grew Malibar as a peranial. It tasts the same as spinach if you pick the leaves while they are young.
Here are the pictures I promiced:
The first picture is the grow tower at the front of, "The Lyons/Smith Manor," a name chosen by the grandkids. A plaque will soon adorn the front door.
This is a clothes hamper from Big Lots, turned upside down, lined with a Hefty garbage bag and filled with garden soil. I cut the bottom of the hamper out and save it to replace as a topper sometimes.
This year I added a cup of all purpose fertilizer in a kneehigh panty hose about 4" down from the top. As the tower is watered it runs around the fertilizer, feeding the system.
Wave petunias in front, catching the sun. Impatians in back in the shade and geraniums on top. These get only morning sun so the geraniums should do great.
I have yet to poke purple bean seeds in the empty spaces. These will green up and provide little purple blossoms and well as beans.
These are drip watered each day for 1 hr with a one gal dripper in the top.
The second picture is a different grow tower by the side fence. This has about 10 or 12 different plants. I love to nack on peas, strawberries and purple beans. I have added some painted steel flowers and butterflies for color. That is a wooden snake made in a 3rd world country. The glue is not weather proof. Again, the grandkids get a kick out of it.
That is a wicking box with a crop of Raab broccoli about ready to cut. Sorry for the weeds, as you can see, weeding is not my strong suit.
Maybe tomorrow.
Nice--very cool "grow towers" Lonejack. We won't say a thing about the spelling thing, and speaking of things men aren't good at: I was in the grocery store with DH yesterday. The man does NOT do well in stores. I can see why it never works to send him with a list. He kept panicking that I would ram into somebody with the little freebie electric cart.
Does your DH fear you will run over other shoppers by accident or that you will experience the electric shopping cart equivalent of road rage and go on a rampage? lol. My knees are getting so bad Jim and I need a tandem electric shopping cart. I use the handles of his w/c almost like a walker. Jim is propelling and navigating himself, but it freaks other shoppers out because it looks like he is being push around by a blind woman.
Thanks for the reminder, Paul. I want to get some Malibar spinach seeds. (Hope it isn't too late in the season.) I am trying some purslane for summer greens this year also. Until someone on the Florida Gardening forum set me straight earlier this year, I thought Malibar spinach and New Zealand spinach were different common names for the same plant. I've grown and eaten New Zealand spinach.,but, I would only rank it half a step above survival food. It wasn't too bad libally spiced with soul seasoning and pepper sauce. Jim refused to try it cooked after sampling it in the garden raw. I still have NZ spinach in the garden because it grows well in damp conditions and looks good trailing over a retaining wall.
I'm not big on cilantro either, Carrie. It has a soapy flavor to me. DD#1loves the stuff though. She jokes that someone must have made a mistake in the maternity ward. Supposedly, only a genetic minority detect a soapy taste in cilantro. The weeds are really getting ahead of us. .working outside is wicked with temps in the upper 90's and humidity at 65%. It really is a jungle out there.
I harvested zucchini and yellow crook neck squash from the CanDo Garden yesterday. I turned the zucchini into bread. I used almost half the amount of sugar the recipe called for and used half whole wheat flour in place of white flour. It was a pleasant surprise when it still went over well with the others.
Photo #1: These flowers are getting comments, but I'm not sure what they are. DD#1 planted the seeds while she wasn't kicking in on all four cylinders so she can't remember what she planted. (lol. Only at Amargia.) The plants feel like okra plants. Okra is actually in the hibiscus family and the flowers are very pretty. We will watch and learn.
Photo #2: Shamrock flowers? I've never paid much attention to the shamrocks after St. Patrick's Day.
Btw, it's NOT only at Armagia! Article on Amaranth coming Tuesday. I'm going to the Ladybird Johnson wildflower place today, I hope. An article about that for July and I actually have one planned for eventually about having a bunch of seedlings and then finding the list of what I planted yeas later. About having stuff grow with no recollection of what I planted and trying to recognize the seedlings, and then when I found the list of what I had planted, it all made sense.
Looking forward to the amaranth article. We have 'Hopi Red', 'Giant Golden' and "love Lies Bleeding' growing, but this is our first year with amaranth. The Giant Golden variety is doing especially well for us.
It is comforting to know that we are not the only ones that have trouble keeping up with what is planted where . We did finally come to a decision in the "to label or not to label" debate. Since Amargia is a multi-user garden and we all have different areas of garden interest, labeling is a must for us. Although, if we ever get around to doing that formal garden we keep talking about, I'm sure the labeling debate will surface again. We are still looking for the perfect labeling system, but we have learned a few things.
Block letters written in paint pen work best.
If using labeling tape for print or Braille labels, we have to use a super glue sort of stuff in addition to what is on the back of the tape. The peel-off sticky isn't enough to keep the label on in a humid climate. (Man, I hate working with that glue, but I haven't come up with an alternative.
If using recycled plastics for labels, not all plastics work well for the job.
Completely ignore that interior voice that says, "I can remember." and the one that says, "I'll do the labeling later." Slowing down to do the labeling is our biggest problem.
I listened to that interior voice when it told me to keep on with what I was doing. I could get one of the others to put print labels on the pots later." As a result, I gave away some seedlings at the local RU that only had a Braille label. Luckily, Jim has picked up a rare knack for a man with normal vision. He can read Braille by sight. He was able to translate a photo of the Braille label. That had to be a first. ROFL.
There was an attempted break in at the local vet's office. The would be thief was going for the animals meds it is assumed. Most thieves know to avoid houses when there is a dog in residence. Who in their right mind would try to break into a place with dozens of dogs in residence. There is a person around 24-7 to look after the animals at our vet's office. I think that is true for all vet's offices and animal clinics.. Anyway, the dogs raised the alarm and the person looking after the animals that night called 911. Nothing was stolen. Fenny is okay and recovering well from the surgery.
I caught myself humming "Summer Breeze" several times yesterday. It got into the mid-90's, but the wind made it tolerable. Best of all it seems to have blown the gnats elsewhere. YES!!!.
Have you had a good Father's Day, Paul? Instead of making Jim the German chocolate cake this year, Nadine bought him German chocolate cake flavored ice cream. He is very happy with that.
Pretty day lilies! Day lilies are one of the plants we do not label. Most of the others, we onlyhave one cultivar, but day lilies we have tons and they're all anonymous. this phone won't let me make 'day lily' as one word!!! It keeps correcting me.
Armagia, don't expect great things from the amaranth article. I've never actually grown them!
Hi, Special Friends!!
I have really enjoyed listening to these two links of Panflute music.
Please enjoy over 2 hours!!
Google Panflute and see what it is and who plays it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SapQ2oswDVA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4fXTEh1Jjo
This message was edited Jun 17, 2013 8:57 PM
I got A new knee, I got a knew knee!! 3 weeks post op martial left makoplasty. 1st 2 weeks ghastly, but effective pain meds. Now great and can't wait for the right one to be done!!
Lost you guys some months ago.
Yay, that's fantastic, Sheri. My mother had her knee replaced a few years ago and she agreed with the statement, "it takes a year before you're really glad about the surgery." That's wonderful that you're feeling glad already. And I am very glad you're feeling better already. Hurray!
Jim and Kay did shifts. Nadine vanished. Really great to have you back--it was lonely.
Now for the hARD part....building back some strength and endurance. I can barely walk 30 ft without sitting or nearly passing out. I'm setting bby goals so that I set myself up for success. My prayer is that by the summer 2014 I will be ready to go on a tour somewhere. I will of course have to win one as I am practically a pauper. I would so love to go with my church to Jerusalem in 2014.
Sheri
Hey, welcome back, Sheri. That trip is something to aim for. I'll say a prayer you get to make the trip.
Wonderful music, Paul. I've got lots of potential music in the garden. Maybe, this winter I'll play around with all the pieces of bamboo and wild cane I must cut in the summer. I have bundles of bamboo and wild cane drying already and the summer has only just begun. (Both make good plant supports after drying.) I spoke too soon when I wrote we had gotten rid of all the seacane. There has been more sprouting with the recent abundance of rain. When I get the stand of it on the front slope under control, I fined the stand in the far NE corner has re-sprouted. I don't think I'll ever get rid of that stuff so I might as well learn to use and enjoy it. I have it under control now at least...if I don't blink. Researchers in CA, where it is invading waterways, had an idea that Arundo donax might be a potential bio-fuel. Few other plants produce so much bio-mass. But, the research wasn't going well last I heard. Oh well, I can always build myself a bamboo hut and roof it with wild cane...and learn to play my handmade pan flute. Carrie, if you tried to grow every plant you wanted to write about, you wouldn't have time to write. ;-) I liked the article, but now I want the Joseph's Coat variety you mention in the article. I'm afraid I'm going to end up as addicted to amaranth as Jim is to daylilies. We try to keep Jim's daylilies labelled, but I have species daylilies so there are seedlings. We either have to give up labeling the DLs or make up names for the new ones.
My hearing aids are in for repair so I've been christened the "garden ghost." Actually, I am very much in this world when I'm gardening.I simply don't acknowledge the other people sharing it with me. lol. I guess I should start working in my "Deaf, Blind and....Brilliant" t-shirt. I miss hearing the bird songs, but otherwise it doesn't hinder my work.
We are finally getting a real taste of summer. Tomato sandwiches and cantaloupe for lunch today. It is enough to make me forgive summer for the bugs and the heat
BTW, Nadi says she reads over my shoulder so we had better say only nice things about here. lol.
If you can make a flute, I would like to place my order for one.
Oh, tomatoe sandwiches....mmmm..mmmm..good!!
Yes, I would LOVE a tomato sandwich about now! if I Dmail you my address, can you send one please? Maybe by FedEx, s it's not too, too soggy.
Nadine, of course we only say wonderful things about you. (Wink, wink.)
lol. Only an heirloom tomato sandwich would rank FedEx, I think.
Photo #1: 'Giant Golden' is a grain variety of amaranth, but I love the color and stature. It is about 7' at maturity. This is a young guy.
Photo #2: Another fragrant yellow daylily. (Most scented daylilies tend to be yellow. Note the dog fennel in the background, Paul. I actually cultivate weeds. lol. I like the fine foliage of dog fennel, and the scent in autumn is incredible.
Photo #3: Yummy Red Raspberries are Tasty.
Hi - I've been away in Ca. seeing my doctor and my ghuru. Celebrating that I am almost pain free in the knee that was replaced.
Can't be much help on the sie of dragonfruit plants. Mine are growing huge but that's our hot and humid climate I think. Many of mine began as cuttings from the dragonfruit group in So. Ca. They have an active group at Yahoo and may be able to help more. We got lots of flowers about a month ago but I don't think any fruit has set. We have some native dragonfruit plants growing locally. They are not very big but the occasional fruit is fantastic.
I have a cold. Back later.
hugs, katie
Dragonfruit? Feel better, Katie!
Thanks, Kb. Each dragon fruit has about 15' of growing space. It should be okay. I hope you are feeling better.
Poor Fenny is having it rough lately. She was bit by a snake and the vet is keeping her a few days for observation. Jim is snake hunting which, for him, means capturing it and taking it far, far away from human habitation.
Maybe, I'll join the new knees club myself this winter. I don't think I can put it off much longer.
Jim puts on the photos for me. I just noticed he sneaked in one of his raspberries. lol.
Hi! Hi!! {{Jumping up an down waving at Katie Bear}} I am 3 1/2 weeks post-op left unicompartmental Makoplasty. Feelin better each day & grateful fOr effective pAIN MEDS. So sad that eventually we may hVE TO PART!! I am so happy to hear your reports of all progressing well, on yours. Did you have total or partial??
wing waves,
BirdieBlue
We’ve spent the last few days doing those boring but necessary garden tasks. The mystery plant from the June 13 post appears to be Hollyhock. You don’t see those growing in this area very often.
Daylilies are still doing their thing.
Pix1: Brown Witch
Pix2: A unidentified one I'm looking up.
Pix3: Moma's Cherry Pie
I hope everyone is having a great Independence Day. Most of the celebrations have been postponed until the weekend in our area due to heavy rains and flooding. Say "Hello" to the sun for us. We haven't seen it in a while.
I've been doing great until I fell this morning. I didn't land hard or on my new knee, but it sure does hurt. Have Dr recheck apt on thursday
We're seeing a little too much sun here in TX, although it is much more pleasant than last year at this time.
The peppers have been extremely productive this year. Tara has made pepper jelly and pepper flavored hummus so far and we still have peppers we need to do something with. Poppers for dinner and some salsa, perhaps.
The first summer pie pumpkin has ripened. I will plant more pumpkin to have around Halloween and Thanksgiving, but the summer pumpkins are always the best in this region. Late summer is bug and disease season. The pumpkins ripening now don't have to struggle through all the late season challenges.
Something here loves Loves Lies Bleeding amaranth. I haven't found the culprit, but it turned the leaves into lace work. Didn't touch the leaves of Golden Giant amaranth. After sampling the leaves of both, I'm with the bugs! LLB taste much better. GG amaranth is definitely a grain variety!
Jim has a competition going with a spider as to who can catch the most tomato horn worms. So far, the spider is 3 worms ahead. I have no doubt Jim will still make jokes about tearing down all the spider webs in the garden around Halloween so we can put up decorative faux spider webs for our Halloween party, but he has now seen for himself why we leave the spiders alone the latter part of the growing season. We wouldn't be harvesting much in the late summer or early fall if we didn't partner with the local arachnids.
Picture #1 Red Four o'clock
Picture #2 Pink resurrection lily
Picture #3 Pink Hollyhock
kay, do you make pies out of pumpkin or out of cushaws?
i've always wanted to grow hollyhocks! i tried once about 10 years ago but the spot was too shady. and 'sun' dowm here is a totally different concept. also, because they're biennial--you have to know where you'll be living in 2 years. but such a pretty color!
we go for a walk every day--well, DH walks and i roll. my dss actually started thinking about putting a ramp on his door! after 15 years, you'd think he'd notice that i use a chair. i guess i'm making progress, though.
Oh-h-h-h, I want cushaw seeds! The green and white stripes got ohs and ahhs from the visual crowd. I honestly don't taste much difference between sweet potato and pumpkin pie. I would love to try something called "sweet potato squash." What we are currently growing are the classic little Cinderella pie pumpkins probably not much different from what you saw growing in New England. We simply have time to get two harvest from them. I hope pumpkin pie is what the kitchen crew has planned for the pumpkin. I love pumpkin pie at any time of year.
It has been raining virtually every day for weeks. We are under flood watch. I complain about the problems of living halfway up a slope, but now I'm glad not to be in the richer bottom land.
Picture of our pumpkin.
I think cushaws AREN'T orange to look at, like jack'o'lantern pumpkins.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1673/
Hi All, This bad penny has turned up again!!!!
Glad to see you seem to be doing well. And am so very proud of your gardens. My tomatoes were totaled by tomato worms in one night,(all 4 plants) The blooms fell off my beans. My Daylillys are doing great,hurrah!!! Decided veggies in containers are not the greatest idea in the world. I've put netting over my fig tree to at least confuse the Blue Jays and just maybe be able to get a couple of figs. Have been injoying plums. A deer came up next to the house and ate a daylilly. She will literally be dead meat this fall. Even tho I complain I still love the wild life here.
I think sweet potatoes are more moist than pumpkin. But I will eat both down to the last bite.
So glad to see KB and the bluebird back.
My memory keeps getting worse. Figure I must be doing pretty good since I can still find my way to town and back. LOL
Vickie