Re: [gardeners] Saturday in the garden
margaret lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 04 Jun 2000 09:42:58 -0600
At 09:28 PM 6/3/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>They're day bloomers with white flowers and I, also, believe it is a lack of
>pollination. I haven't seen a bee of any kind in about a month. Usually they
>will come to my bird bath for water and none have shown. The efforts of
mosquito
>control have either killed them, although they fog about 10:30 each night, or
>they're just gone.
>
>Tomorrow, bright and early, I'm going to rip out two of the vines and then
>pollinate the other vines flowers by hand. These vines have covered almost a
>hundred square feet and are still going. In the future I'm only going to
plant
>one seed.
>
>I dug up some chafer grubs and june beetle grubs today that were dying. I
guess
>the beneficial nematodes are working. Got to mix up some Bt and spray the
corn
>tomorrow, something is eating on the stalks and leaves and the stuff is just
>tassling out.
>
>Last time my daughter was here she brought me half a dozen seedling purple
>hyacinth bean plants. Reckon I'd better get some of them in the ground
tomorrow.
>Think I will plant some where we took out the Seven Sisters roses that never
>bloomed, that way they can grow on the fence.
>
>Don't know if I mentioned it or not but put up 5 quarts of caponata
yesterday.
>Caponata is made with eggplant, tomatoes, onion, chopped green olives, and
>capers and is about the only way I like frozen eggplant. Froze another 4
quarts
>of tomatoes today, wash, dry, toss in the bag and vacuum seal, put in
freezer.
>Easiest way in the world to put up 'maters for later cooking.
>
>Margaret, the Burbank and Early Large Red are really producing. The Burbank
>fruit is even bigger than the Early Large Red, some run upwards of one pound.
>The Hungarian Paste are starting to come along now and have a really good
>flavor.
>
>I have 6 quarts of chiles in the freezer at the moment and when I hit 10
quarts
>will start processing them for hot sauce. Makes it easier to do if I big
batch
>them. The amazing thing is that all of the ripe chiles I'm getting at the
moment
>are from plants started in January 1999 and over wintered. The ones
started this
>year are full of fruit but none has ripened as yet. I may have to buy another
>crock when all this stuff comes in.
>
>Got the front yard mowed this afternoon and will do the back tomorrow.
Took my
>time and stopped and rested when I felt an angina pain coming on. Sleepy
helped
>by sleeping in the shade nearby. Now I've got to dump some dirt in a hole
that
>is appearing in the front yard. Probing with my 6 foot steel rod tells me
that
>the builder buried a tree stump 26 years ago and it has finally rotted and
>collapsed. Has already taken 4 40 lb bags of dirt and will probably take 4
or 5
>more to fill completely.
>
>Gotta go make my bed if I want to sleep in it. Washed everything in sight
today
>and finally got it all folded and put away. Anyone up for doing some ironing?
>
>Life is good.
>
>George
Bill Loke is the original source of the Giant Hungarian Paste seeds. What a
find! I'm also glad the Burbank and Early Large Red are doing well for you.
Chuck planted my 'maters yesterday, and I've really scaled back. I have
about 34 varieties instead of 70. With more air and space between plants,
maybe our white fly population will be somewhat less. Ag suits were
predicting a grasshopper invasion this year, but knock on wood, I don't see
it.
chuck is planting chiles for me now. I haven't scaled those back much.
Think I have about 50 plants, probably 30 different varieties. Still have
more room in the garden, and I'm going to plant kale and figure out how to
use it this time (I'm told kale contains as much calcium as a whole glass
of milk).
My cardoons overwintered, and are huge and gorgeous. Some are ready to
blossom, and I think that will be outrageous. My leeks are going to
blossom, too, so with the Shirley poppies in front of the garden, it'll be
a blooming success. ;-))) I'm also planting some red/purple amaranths when
they get a bit bigger. I have hops growing against the back fence, and
they're already up and over the fence, but a friend tells me the commercial
hops fields 50 miles west of me only have them up about a foot.
OTOH, my Asian pear tree has a very bad case of jaundice. Weather is too
hot for foliar iron additive until Tuesday. Sigh. Life is indeed good,
though. Margaret L