[gardeners] Saturday in and out of the garden
Shirley,George (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 11 Nov 2000 08:23:09 -0600
It's chilly, overcast, Sleepy is burrowed up under her "bankie", and the heater
is running. It's really bad folks, I actually had to put on long pants this
morning. <VBG> Miz Anne has a cold so she is bundled up in flannels and sweats,
eating cough drops, drinking herbal tea, and using lots of tissues.
Today we hope to get the east flower bed cleared out for about 20 feet. Removing
torenia, zinnias, cleome, and other assorted pesky reseeding plants (which
normally we love). Our reasons are valid though, this is where we want to move
all of our shade loving gingers. This bed gets sunshine from about 0900 to 1200
daily and that's it. The rest of the time it's in full shade. Should be
excellent for gingers. So, once it's clear in goes the variegated ginger, the
culinary ginger, and the Boswellian Hidden Ginger (named in honor of the famed
astronomer, gardener, and bon vivant from over Mississippi way). I'm undecided
about the Red ginger (real name unknown). The hummingbirds like the small red
blooms and I like to watch the hummers from my chair so it's a toss up. Probably
will move them though.
Also need to pick the chiles again, both hot and sweet. This cool weather has
done them a lot of good as they are blossoming, bearing, and maturing almost
faster than I can pick them. Chopped, froze, and vacuum sealed another two
quarts of sweet chiles yesterday. Think I've got enough to last until next crop
so will probably start giving them away. Got a neighbor or two who really like
them so it won't be a problem. Have three quarts of hot chiles put up in the
freezer for the DIL. That gal eats chiles so hot they make my eyes water when I
pick them. Soon as she's recovered from giving birth to our latest grandchild
I'll haul them over to her. Another 2 gallons of hot chiles are in the freezer
awaiting chopping, salting, and storage in the crock to complete the fermenting
process. As I recently bottled 200 fluid ounces of hot sauce I may be able to
let this batch age for a year or more and get really good. I'm thinking of
buying an old refrigerator to put out in the carport just to keep my fermenting
chiles in. Maintains an even temperature at a level where mold has trouble
forming. This is the best I can do as I can't afford to buy an old salt mine.
The cabbages are heading up good, the chard is getting up to about 4 inches high
now as is the lettuce. The radishes are getting ahead of us so I may pickle a
few pints tomorrow. They are right tasty pickled and chilled, particularly with
a small hot chile and some garlic in the jar. The green beans are blooming and,
barring a frost, should be bearing lots of green beans before Christmas.
Gotta go to the Zigler Museum in Jennings, LA and pick up Miz Anne's painting
that has been on exhibit there for the last month. The show has closed and I
think she has a buyer for the painting. She sold one yesterday that was in a
small show at the library of our local University. I'm toying with the idea of
scanning some of her small paintings and printing them out in color on card
stock. Might make a nice Xmas card to send to friends this year. Anyone ever do
this and, if so, how did they come out?
George