[gardeners] Friday and Saturday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 27 Nov 1999 08:19:40 -0600
Got a light frost yesterday morning, nothing damaged but it spurred us
into working in the garden and greenhouse. I repotted some rosemary
plants I had layered and taken from my large rosemary and then decided
to layer some more. Used "clothes pins" made from 3 inch pieces of wire
coat hangar and pinned some lower limbs down, about 15 or 20. While I
was doing that I found some already started and decided to leave them
until spring.
Repotted some brugmansia (sp?) cuttings I had started in a one gallon
pot. Those things grow like weeds evidently. A friend had pruned her
Angels Trumpet and gave me four pieces of limb, all four are growing
well and making roots and leaves. The cuttings are from the white but
she also gave me seeds from a purple and a yellow. Think I'll plant them
under the lights in January and see how they do.
Miz Anne mulched the main garden with newspaper and then covered that
with mulched leaves and a little compost. All of the fall/winter crops
are coming along nicely. The broccoli, in particular, is heading up and
should be ready to eat next week. Cauliflower and cabbage will take a
little longer. The "White Globe" radishes are certainly performing to
expectation, large radishes with a good, mild flavor. The surprise was
that the leaves are really tasty. Each time we harvest radishes we have
a little mess of radish greens to go with dinner.
Today I'm going to prune back the boysenberries and the raspberries. The
boysenberries get selectively pruned and the raspberries get whacked off
at ground level. Thanks to Barb Rothenbergers hubby, Ray, I now prune my
berries with great confidence. Go to the U of Missouri web site and look
in the ag section for Ray's treatise on pruning brambles. It's very well
written and highly understandable.
Yesterday I transplanted three sage plants that I have nursed along all
summer. I don't have good luck with sage, probably because a normal year
here is pretty wet. These plants are planted high on the slope of the
herb garden and should drain well. Additionally they are protected by
the overhang of the house on the north side.
Checked the layered Mexican Mint Marigold today and we now have an
additional six plants. Miz Anne has some friends who are wanting starts
and now they are ready. I'll transplant them to pots today and she can
hand them out when she's ready.
The Gingers are dying back for the winter so I went ahead and harvested
a full hand of root from the "store" ginger and have it frozen now.
Since most of my recipes call for a "half-inch of fresh ginger" I have
frozen the stuff in half-inch sections for ease of use. The same goes
for the juice of the Ponderosa Lemons. Two ice cube trays of frozen
lemon juice are now in a container in the small freezer atop the fridge.
One cube is equal to two tablespoons of fresh juice according to my
calculations and measurements.
Sent the daughter home yesterday with two of the very large lemons and
still have six more in a bowl on the dining room table. The scent of the
lemons permeates the area with a nice smell and, as they get a little
riper, we will harvest the zest, pulp, and juice. Thing is, there's
still about twenty lemons or more on the tree to harvest yet. Looks like
there will be lots of hot lemonade this winter to chase colds and
sniffles away.
Gotta go, front flower bed needs weeding and cultivating. Have to be
careful in there as it is full of Shirley poppy seed and little viola
plants. Most of what grows there is reseeded from the previous years
crop and we're not always certain what will come up. Kinda like
"surprise" gardening. <VBG>
George