[gardeners] Saturday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 19 Feb 2000 14:05:48 -0600
Miz Anne, Sleepy Dawg, and I have been out messing around in the gardens
since about noon. Bright sunshine and a cool NE breeze made it a joy to
be out and around. Cleaned up the greenhouse and watered the plants in
there and then moved on to the main vegetable garden. Cut about 5 quarts
of broccoli and it's only been a few days since we cut 10 quarts. What
we picked today was small sideshoots and some are showing signs of
blooming already. Reckon we have about had the last of that. Cut a
couple of kohlrabi about as big as baseballs to snack on and the Swiss
chard definitely needs cutting again.
Miz Anne picked a mess of carrots last evening and gave some to a friend
who had dropped by to visit a bit. Tomorrow I will probably pick enough
carrots to can 12 or 14 pints for later eating.
I'm not going to have to plant NZ spinach this year as we have enough
volunteers up to give us all we want or need. Gonna pick a bunch of
leaves of that plant tomorrow also. They will be dehydrated for later
use in soups and stews. While we like the NZ spinach cooked as a green
we like it better rehydrated in soups.
The iris are starting to bloom, so far the bronze Louisiana beardless,
and a bearded near-white have bloomed. The near-white has a very faint
lavender tinge to it so I am waiting for the true whites we got last
year to bloom as a comparison.
The calendulas are glorious, various shades of yellow and orange and a
bed of them about 50 feet long is blooming like crazy. Miz Anne is
saving the seed heads for later planting. The blue salvia is still
growing but not as well as previously.
The Ponderosa lemon tree is covered with blooms and buds and the scent
is delightful when you're downwind of it or working in close proximity
to the tree. The fig tree is budding out as are the blueberrie bushes.
The other fruit trees haven't bloomed yet.
Yesterday I visited a nursery I had not been to before and bought Miz
Anne a Fuyu persimmon she had been wanting. Every where I had priced
them they were priced at 18 to 30 dollars each and I found them for
$9.95 plus tax. The tree is about 5 feet tall and appears to be very
healthy. Now we're trying to decide where to put it as they get tall and
we don't want the garden shaded out. The nursery also carries composted
pine bark at a reasonable price and we may go up Monday and get about 3
yards to use in various beds throughout the yard and gardens. We still
aren't making enough compost on our own to satisfy our needs (wants?)
for the stuff.
Think I'll go back outside now. Life is good.
George