We’ve reached that point in the year when my thoughts turn to gardening books and seed catalogs. That frigid, gray landscape outside my window will someday peek through with green and a myriad of colors.
And I cannot wait.
The other day when I did a piece on the downturn in the richflation market, we were talking quite a bit in the thread on the things that readers are doing to economize. And one of the things that kept coming up over and over again was the idea of putting together a bit of a kitchen garden.
We talked Square Foot Gardening a little bit in the comments. But it occurred to me that with all the folks who were talking about flowers and vegetables, there are probably a whole lot more great books and ideas and plant suggestions and such that we could all share. Or, for that matter, lots of recipes for what you do with the things you grow — or buy at the farmer’s market.
So, let’s talk about some of the things we do when the weather is better, and the garden is green and lush and ready for more planting. I’m feeling the need for some sunshine. Pull up a chair…
Here are some of my recent favorites:
– Lasagna Gardening. Good one for a quick start on bad soil.
– Gertrude Jekyll’s Color Schemes.
– Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving.
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good morning.
Good morning! This winter I put in my third 4×4 raised bed and added about 6×6 feet to the asparagus patch I started last year. I’m hoping the tomatoes do better for me this year. Last year they struggled and finally died. Maybe the drought? The herbs, on the other hand, almost took over the world. What are you planning on planting this year?
Flowers! Good Morning Christy!
conjuring up the fragrances now
… starting with roses and jasmine
Good morning. I was watching a gardening show at 4:30 AM .This year I am going to start a Victory Garden in honor of the recession(depression) and to celebrate the progressive victories this coming fall.
hmmm, I seem to have the place to myself.
This could very easily turn out badly.
Nothing brightens up a dark winter day than thinking of the flowers to come.
Elliot, you would love Savannah in the spring when the jasmine blooms. It’s heavenly! I planted some along the back fence, and it spreads a bit every year. I’m hoping that this year it really takes off. What they say about it down here is the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps and the third year it leaps. I’m hoping for some leaping this year!
Good morning, Christy. Lovely post idea, particularly @ the end of a tough wk.
Here’s a really nice veggie stew recipe. I never exactly follow this recipe- just throw whatever I have the most of in it. Roasting the vegs. 1st give the stew a unique flavor:
Roasted Veggie Stew
It’s funny, I’m the opposite. When I am strapped for cash I downscale my gardening b/c it seems frivolous to spend money at the garden center (where for me, everyday is Christmas)
In some ways those are the building years b/c I focus on dividing my perennials and rooting cuttings from shrubs I like. I have successfully multiplies a gorgeous variegated hydrangea sitting in my front yard and now have colonies of it all over the property. Just from air layering lower branches. The leaves are more spectacular than the flowers, so it gives me color spring till frost.
That sounds absolutely delicious. I’m going to have to try that soon.
To New Englanders, we’re still lookin’ at snow and usin’ the wood pile to supplement oil heat and visions of gardens are merely dreams to be put off till March( to even begin starter plants inside).
I envy you.
Great for using all the extra veggies once the neighbors are saturated w/the overload ;-)
Good morning.
I did some canning & preserving last September. I found Preserving the Harvest has much better recipes than Ball’s book. Made pear butter, celery soup, pumpkin soup (key ingredient is parmesan cheese which cuts the sweetness of the pumpkin), chicken a la king, frozen & canned tomatoes, basil-shallot mustard.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book…..038;sr=1-1
It does sound Heavenly! I like that: first it sleeps, then it creeps, then it leaps
have driven past the Savannah exits on I-95 ninety-five times, always wanted to stop by. Now I won’t be able to pass it up, I’ll be lured in by the scent of jasmine – if it’s in bloom – otherwise, the smell of biscuits :)
Same here. Snow and cold for another two months at least in Quebec. I love our garden, but am a terrible gardener. We have one come in to do the dirty work for us. Someday I’ll learn how not to kill plants.
Good Morning, well I still have parsley and rosemary alive. Never thought I’d have fresh picked herbs in January.
I don’t make much effort to grow vegetables. Peas are easy to find at the market and Sweet Peas smell prettier.
Good morning, Christy, hope you’re enjoying your seed porn catalogs :)
Oh, goody! A growing thread….
Planning to try my hand at something called straw bale gardening this spring. Bought maybe a half-dozen bales of wheat straw back in the fall so they would have time to start deteriorating a bit; instructions indicate you have to give them a ten-day treatment with some kind of chemicals if you start out with fresh straw. Supposedly you can grow most anything in them other than root crops. Google and you’ll find quite a lot of info including what’s needed if starting with new bales. Seems like a wonderful way to avoid trying to augment beach sand tho’ use life is projected two years at most.
New seeds from Thompson & Morgan arrived several weeks ago: mini iceberg lettuce (supposed to have tennis ball sized heads – perfect for one serving), a reduced spines zucchini, spinach medania, sweet cherry tomato variety for basket/container, AND alyssum. Last year was the first time for alyssum and I’m madly in love with it. Expected it to bloom and be gone but it lasted well into the fall (and that’s in a hot, humid climate). Worked beautifully in containers and, if it hadn’t gone a bit too dry several times, it should have been even nicer.
Marion -
Is that Carolina jasmine or Confederate jasmine? Havn’t had much luck with the Carolina at the beach but the Confederate has definitely started leaping. Am gonna have to cut it back to a nub because it’s planted against some decking/railing that has to be replaced so will miss at least one bloom season. When all the deck is completed am gonna plant LOTS more; the fragrance (especially in the evening) is to die for.
I have never been able to grow anything with any success. Animals i can do, as in pets to adore and love and they tell me when they need something. *grin* Plants? Never have stayed around long. *sighs*
I’m feeling the need for some sunshine.
Sun = Sanity here. Some years I slip away for a couple of weeks in Sarasota for some serious beach time. This year, however… the Magic Eight Ball says – “You’re joking, right?” I try again – it says “Finances say No” Need a new Magic Eight Ball – or something.
Summer in a downtown apartment – lots of bicycling, watching other people mow lawns, attending the different cultural fairs in the park across the street, gettin’ back in shape, sitting on the imaginary porch that I’ve told the front office I built outside my window, and most certainly not subjecting anything green to the deadly touch of my black thumb.
I do know a place out in the country though, about an hour from here, with the world’s best sweet corn – amazing how long I can live on a corn-on-the-cob diet.
I was listening to a gardening show on the radio and they were saying that storebought ginger can be planted when it gets roots. I think its too cold here for it to overwinter but they were talking about the wonderful smell the blossoms have.
plein air ala prima landscape painting in the warm and cool hues of the summer :D
Waccamaw, I’ve got Confederate jasmine, hoping for leaping this year.
Ugh. Gardening talk when it’s below zero and snowing here!
Heirloom tomatoes will be my newest experiment this year. I am tired of the varieties from the local nursery. Last year I cultivated in pots two chilepin plants that I dug up from a ditch in south Texas. We dry the tiny peppers and put them in a pepper mill and they are killer hot.
I tried that last year and it started to come up, but I planted it too early and a late cold snap killed the shoots and the rhizome didn’t produce any more. I’m trying again this year, waiting until it’s warmer. My guess is that it should overwinter here, like canna lilies.
Cherokee Purples are a great heirloom, they are a beef stake variety and one of the more prolific producers.
American Ginger is a great addition to a natural garden beings that it’s the native version of ginger here.
Beautiful and clean deep green leaves for the shadier side of the garden. The flower isn’t anything special and if you don’t look for it you won’t find it. But plant it in the right place and it’s a carefree ground cover.
here’s a picture and description from a nursery that’s out of stock (*g*), don’t know where the best place to get it is, I got mine at a local nursery.
Thanks and I will add that one to my list. I am tired of tomatoes without any taste. I remember when tomatoes actually had taste and were more acidic. Or maybe I am imagining it. And I misspelled chiltepins.
You’re not imagining it. And Cheorkee Purples do taste good! One thing you’ll notice right away about heirlooms is how thin the skin is on them. You can peel them very easily.
Modern tomatoes have been breed to have a thicker skin for shipping and storage purposes.
Have patience though, heirlooms can be finicky. They are well worth it.
Tomatoes are the only thing I grow. There’s no garden, per se, I just put a few plants in the landscaping against the house. Well, hubby complains a bit so last year I grew them in pots. Didn’t work out too well. This year (if I do it at all), I’m going to have to disturb the landscaping again. One year, I accidentally grew cherry tomatoes. They weren’t big enough for the tomato salads we love but I did have enough to add to green salads for the entire summer. And enough to share. I may go back to that.
All right. That settles it for me. A tomato with a skin you don’t need a hacksaw to get through? That’s for me. Um, how finicky is finicky?
I used to go to Savannah every year for a big St. Patrick’s Day rugby tournament. What a beautiful city.
Not a gardener, for complicated reasons about the soil at our place. My flowers come through wild flower identification walks in the NE high places (ok relatively high) and when I am lucky , boggy ones. So I can’t add much, but can always ask:
What are your favorite Heirlooms. Our farmers markets in the BlueBay now offer seemingly endless varieties way into September.
Got a busy morning, so no more ‘talking’ but I’ll be lurking from time to time.
I wish I was good @ growing Heirlooms- cherry, plum, beefsteak tomatoes are the ones I always have the most success with. A husband/wife team of local growers keep me supplied w/Heirlooms @ the farmers’ market. Their Cherokees are smallish but really tasty & their green Zebras are wonderful for salads.
All the posts on flowers have me longing to visit my favorite parks & gardens in L.A. when I get home. Folks who think the City of Lost Angels is bereft of great floral displays & greenery should visit these places when they go there; even in the winter & very early spring a lot is blooming. Seeds available yr. round from their shops:
Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens
Descanso Gardens
L.A. Arboretum
Ill look for the ginger.
It is snowing a bit here in East Tn and i have been getting my seed order together. Did you know that Fedco Seeds doesnt use Monsanto or any off shoot of Monsanto.
Sounds like we’re sharing the same imagination…I long for childhood tomatoes that actually had some *bite* to them. Breeding out all the acid has resulted in red blobs = a product that won’t put up a good fight against a heavy slatter of mayo in sandwiches.
What I really want to grow is watermelon. They’re mucho expensive and we reallly like them, but I don’t know if you can grow them in central NY. How long do they take to mature?
Ruth Stout wrote the original No-Work Garden Book.
I just checked Amazon and it’s apparently out-of-print, but available used; pricey there, but cheaper on http://www.abebooks.com/ – search “No-Work Garden Book”.
OMG seed porn. That’s what we call around the office!
My law partner already has his desk piled high with catalogs and the further we get into Spring the more goofing off he will do just sitting there making lists and emailing his orders. He usually has his bulbs and summer bulbs delivered to the office and the boxes he gets are so huge he has to take the contents home in batches.
Consequently visitors to my law firm get treated to a very unprofessional looking giant box of bulbs sitting in our reception area every Spring and Fall.
Yes, thin skinned like some names who come to mind :)
Finicky in that they are uneven in production oftomatoes, some plant produce, some don’t. Some grow very well, some don’t. They are very uneven. The thing to keep in mind though is the less tomatoes a plant produces the more tasty it is.
Please ALL FDL’S watch this and tell me what you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQEQ7qHvgM
Thank-you for your time
I’m no gardener, but I am looking forward to watching other people’s azaleas explode into color. I’m also looking forward to some outdoor painting as per tw3k @ 23.
Lasagna Gardening was written by the woman who runs the gift shop in my mother’s town in upstate New York. Especially for an urban gardener, it’s a terrific idea.
I’m in love with Seeds of Change, which has heirloom and untreated organic bulk seeds and plant sets. We bought our irrigation system from them. Also my Rubbermaid compost bin.
Don’t forget two major resources, one for preserving, the other for growing. The first, ‘The Joy of Pickling’ has everything necessary and most things desirable about pickles and all that entails. The second is http://www.davesgarden.com – absolutely vital for the beginning gardener because information targetted to the grower’s location is available almost instantly.
And as well, the Master Gardeners Program, sponsored by state extension services nationwide, is something that everyone should be aware of, support and use.
Solai? You might be able to grow watermelons in NY if you had a greenhouse. But in order for them to ripen – for all melons to ripen – they need a prolonged period of heat and sun – some varieties as much as 80 or more days. Instead, you might want to try some of the Armenian-variety cucumbers (which are actually melons).
Five-gallon plastic buckets apparently make good pots for tomato plants; I used to have a friend in Manhattan who grew them on the roof of her apartment building.
Someone’s probably written a book called “Mud-bucket Gardening” (as in sheet-rock mud’).
Now I will not be able to get acidic tomatoes out of my head. My grandmother and I would eat simply sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper for lunch. I remember them still being warm from the sun. I need a tomato garden this year.
Oh. Dear. I can’t say that I’m in the least surprised, though. I’m off to adjust my tinfoil hat again…
Let me know if you find a variety that meets our standards. *g*
GWPDA, thanks for the info. That’s what I thought.
Have also heard about people cutting an opening in a bag of potting soil and planting one tomato/bag. Seems like it also involved punching a few holes in the bag for drainage.
It is a deal. The hunt is on.
solai, I planted an heirloom rutger tomato plant last year and had over 100 tomatoes on it. Got it at Meijer Thrifty Acres (their union workers). It was my pride and joy.
Morning all — Mr. ReddHedd got up with The Peanut, so I got a sleep in this morning. Ahhhh…warm comforter ona cold morning, and now a fresh cuppa coffee. Now, if it weren’t so freezing ass cold outside…
Christy asks for sunshine…here I be *g*. I’ve a hybrid book to recommend, combines two of my favorite “vices” aka necessities of living a good life:
Songbirds in your Garden [mods, I pulled this off amazon, you may need to tweak it so it links via FDL. Thanks!]
Gardens feed our bodies, yes, but they also nurture our spirits. And are best enjoyed when shared with all God’s children…the feathered and the rest of us….
Now back to read thru what the rest of you are thinkin’ about today.
~ Prairie
Don’t Blink
I remember my father complaining about the “hot house” tomatoes in the grocery stores 40 plus years ago. The folks very rarely purchased tomatoes in the winter but loved raw or broiled beef steak tomatoes.
Note: I cook with tomatoes and tomato sauce but do not care fro them as a stand-alone item.
Real estate brokers in Paris put out brochures showing the latest offerings. I like to bring one or two back, I call them my Paris Porn.
Don’t see why that wouldn’t work.
For success in containers, you really do have to use a prepared potting mix, garden soil won’t do. You won’t have the right drainage or the right aeration. And like I said the other day, containers need more water than garden beds, and hanging plants need even more, they should be checked frequently.
CHS sleeping in? Why the hell not. So much is going on later, & you’ll be right on top of it, as per always :)
Have to go catch a flight. Read you all later, & thanx to FDL for the Sat. morning pick-me-up off the dusty floor.
Hi Christy!
it’s freezing ass cold here too, almost chipped the tip of my nose off after my walk this morning. Thanks for the wonderful thread of dreams to warm the day.
Do you have a special planting combination for window boxes?
I would just like to tell everybody that my tomato and bell pepper plants are doing wonderful. Its so nice to have a good homegrown tomato when they are 2.99/lb at the grocery for a tasteless, green thing. BTW, i’m in South Florida.
707!
The master gardening program is fantastic. We have friends who have done it, and learned so much. And our county extension agent is a great resource — most places have one, and advice and information is geared toward your particular locale and planting zone, not just generic, so it’s incredibly helpful.
My brother-in-law has a commercial strawberry business, and he uses that technique. He puts the bags in hanging racks, so his employees don’t have to squat to work on them, and when the growing season is over, he puts the plants into the bag, for additional compost. I think he uses each bag twice, then he empties them into his fields. He says after several years he will be able to grow organic crops in those fields.
neat!
making the most of it.
Turning to perennials, my very favorite is the forget-me-not. I just love the wispiness of them. They’re the first flower to pop up in the spring and I take walks around my house just to enjoy looking at them. They’re also my greatest success. I barely know what I’m doing but those babies just took off. Last year we dug some up for friends and family who also love them. They think I’m a proficient gardner. Hah.
Last year, my plants were really pitiful. I had a lupus flare just at planting time and couldn’t get even my usual pots on the porches planted in…and then, we had a summer-long heat wave and nothing would root in well with the drought and the heat. (Our poor grass scorched entirely. Was awful.) This year, though, I’m going to repeat what i did a few years ago if everything is working: lots of butterfly and hummingbird plants — salvia, lantana, alyssum, geraniums, flowering tobacco (nicotiana), petunias, and a canna or two in the larger pots. Add in a few herbs sprinkled in for greenery (and cooking!), and maybe a sweet potato vine or two for color…and, voila! Instant entertainment for The Peanut and I.
Ooooh, I could get into some Paris real estate porn myself. *g* One of these days, I’ll get to visit Paris. It’s on my list of places that I must see.
I am so jealous, Glen — I was craving a fresh, sun-warmed beefsteak tomato with fresh basil and mozzarella, and that yummy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Ahhhhh…summer.
they were my first success too! an enterprising neighbor kid came by selling seeds and when I planted them they actually grew! I was just a little kid then. I’ll love them always!
I love forget-me-nots. I’ve been trying to locate some balsam — it’s a sort of impatient, but a perennial sort that is a little more hardy. My granny used to grow it every year when she was alive, and I’ve been missing her a lot this year — so I’d like to plant some around our front porch in remembrance, or maybe out back where The Peanut and I play on the back patio near her playhouse.
I’ve never been fantastic at starting anything from seed, but it would be worth it to try for some balsam. (Oh, look! An excuse to look back through my seed porn catalogs today…hehehe)
Hothouse tomatoes were pinkish and tasteless and would not ripen after they were picked. We used canned tomatoes when I was young (you mean right after the French and Indian war as my children say) both home canned and store purchased. We are going to have to go back to seasonal and regional food consumption with rising energy prices.
Veggie-wise, as we were talking about in the economy thread the other day, I sort of intersperse my veggies in and around my perennials and annuals. This year, I’m going to definitely plant some tomatoes and peppers, but also cucumbers, a zucchini mound, fresh herbs, some swiss chard (this “Bright Lights” variety is lovely in and among flowers, actually.) And who knows what else, but having fresh produce just outside my door is wonderful — I missed it last year so much, that I don’t care how hard it is for me to plant, they are going in this year.
perfect! the chartreuse of the sweet potato vine is special imo
I think Dad used Hothouse as a generic term for any tomatoes grown in greenhouses out of season.
Was just mucking around in teh Google and found this guy:
http://nctomatoman.topcities.com/
He’s into heirloom seeds plus in my state. Will contact him shortly to see if he has an idea of what variety(ies) my father might have bought as seedlings back in the 1950’s…that’s the tomato that’s stuck in my taste memory. Unfortunately, doesn’t mean whatever Poppa grew hasn’t had the acid taken out since then, tho’; he should certainly have some recommendations for high acid content.
We are so lucky the past couple of years — a local farm has started a produce stand and there are a couple more that also sell local produce as well. We used to have none, and now we have several. The problem is that in the winter everything gets trucked in for them, except for the few things that can be greenhouse grown. But by next spring, we’ll be back in tasty business.
I tried to buy into a share of an organic farm co-op, but the only ones near here are several towns away (as in an hour and a half drive away), and that seemed silly to do for a box of veggies (plus they sold out of shares, so the decision was made for me in the end).
If you are looking for heirlooms, I love Seeds of Change. They have some amazing varieties. Seed Savers Exchange is great as well (talk about your seed porn!), but it’s a bit above my gardening level at this point to save seeds carefully — will get there one of these days. (Used to help my granny do that every year with her tomatoes and pole beans, but I have to relearn it, it has been so long…)
Marie’s roasted veggie stew sounds perfect for this nippy North Country weekend. Shhhh, don’t tell her, I’m going to slip in a bit of leftover braised chicken from last night’s dinner.
This time of year I really miss my Gurney’s seed catalog…they were swallowed up, by Burpee I think, and then spit out into the dustbin of never to be seen again.
Interspersing veggies with the flowerbeds is the only way to do things, I’ve decided. We have a little lamppost garden anchored by an oregano plant that’s been coming back for years now. Outlasted even the prairie perennials like coneflowers that should survive these winters easily. Add in some tender basil and it’s instant Italy memories in one deep inhale.
I live in-town in mid-coast Maine and have been thinking about putting a hoop-greenhouse in my back yard to extend the growing season; I need to get to know more of my neighbors to share the work and the bounty.
Helen and Scott Nearing were able to grow hardy greens like chard and kale right through the winter in this climate, in fact when winters used to be much colder here.
More Seed Porn
Supporting the Ethical Development & Stewardship of Seed
Organic Seed Alliance
This a wonderful organization dedicated to seeds.
This Gurney’s? Or a different one?
Am fortunate to have a produce farm only about half an hour away; nothing organic but at least local. In the spring they open the field so you can pick strawberries at half the regular price and in the fall when frost threatens, you can do the same for tomatoes. They had the most beautiful spinach last fall and in the summer, a triple sweet corn that is to die for. I just opened a frozen pack of the corn last week and ate the whole thing in one sitting… triple drool. It’s so wonderful knowing there’s none of the unpronounceable synthetics found in the store-bought stuff.
Seeds for Peace
Meant to also share a couple of my fave veggie-based cookbooks. The Vegetarian Times one is great — the veggie potstickers in the appetizer section are fantastic and very easy with wonton wrappers. If you haven’t seen this one, it’s a great whole foods primer: The New Laurel’s Kitchen. It’s been around a while, but I reach for certain recipes in it all the time.
This time of year, 12 Months of Monestary Soups gets a lot of use from me as well. And here’s one we got as a wedding present from a great aunt that has some yummy recipes — and some great philosophy on being conscious of how much you are using — The More With Less cookbook.
The original Gurney’s was a company in South Dakota.
I think these guys got the name, alas…. I don’t think they’re the real deal. May be a great company, but not the original.
This in the fine print at the site:
“Copyright ©; 2008 Scarlet Tanager LLC, d/b/a Gurney Seed and Nursery Co. All Rights Reserved
Gurney’s trademarks are registered trademarks of Scarlet Tanager LLC”
Helen and Scott Nearing inspired many a fresh-cheeked gardener back in the day. Thanks for triggering a great memory!
Chrsity
Balsam Seeds Here
Banjo Boy whining about how divisive Bill Clinton is because he’s talking about all the shit the Republicans have done since the 80s, and how we should all be talking about unifying America.
I guess he missed the FISA debate this week.
you evil tempter!
Sigh. Sorry…
Kinda like the evil version of Johnny Appleseed I suppose.
Oh lordy. When, oh when, will one of these idiots be called out for the hypocrisy at the time it is being uttered — right there on camera? SIGH
Thanks for reminding me to start drooling for fresh homegrown tomatoes. I grew a number of heirloom tomatoes last year in a raised bed and had good results with Rutgers and Granny Cantrell. The Rutgers aren’t big but are tasty and dependable. The Granny Cantrell are a beefsteak type and I got a couple over a pound each.
Just about time to get the seeds started down here in Atlanta. There is also a variety bred in West Virgina for you Christy and I think they are Aker’s West Virgina you should at least put in one or two.
I spent a fortune on peat pellets last year. This year I’m making newspaper pots. At step 2, rip the paper in half again so you have a 1/4 sheet and they’ll end up being the perfect size. Tip: tear them against a sharp table or workbench edge.
I have a seed catalog from Michigan Bulb. Has anyone had experience with them?
There’s a great looking “Topsy-Turvy(TM) Upside Down Planter”
that looks wonderful for growing tomatoes, flowers, peppers, etc.
This year I want to find some lemon balm. What a wonderful scent! Good for putting in tea, too.
What happened in NH may very well happen in SC. Indeed Zogby has a huge (false?) lead out there for Obama, making many to want to give their vote for Edwards in the hope he can edge out Clinton. (Just like those who left Obama for McCain in NH). Also Boston Globe notes the Clintons never stopped campaigning there – their advertisng budget stayed high, and Hillary has been on the ground.
What a cool idea! Thanks for sharing it.
My pleasure! It does take a bit of time to make a lot of them so it’s a perfect project for a cold drizzly day. Once you’ve folded a couple of them, you won’t even need to look at the directions anymore. It’s mndless, so you can do it while watching the Sunday bobbleheads, another mindless activity. ;)
OT, but now running. For Beefartliberal and other floridianas.
new evidence of 911ulianni’s willful disregard for public security that torpedos his claim to be the uberprotector.
My question. Once he tanks as candidate, can the progosphere help keep the facts out there so it takes down his business cred as well?
My Mom used to order from them. They stock is good, the bulbs were very young for lack of a more specific word. They took a few years to really get going.
Lemon balm is great in salad dressing also. It can be somewhat invasive. I have a collar of plants around an oak tree.
Here’s a good resource: http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/
Read the section about “Our Books.” Eliot Coleman has been raising food organically for years, and he was recommending Slow Food before it became a fancy term. If we are going to need Victory Gardens, he’s as good a source of information as you can find.
Tres cute. Hate those flimsy black plastic multi-packs for seed starting…insufficiently strong to reuse so they just add to land-fill bulk.
Best thing about the newspaper pots is you drop them right in the garden and they decompose. Most newsprint is soy ink these days.
Ahhh…my favorite subject…what a relief…
Now is the time to really amend the soil and prepare the bones of the garden. It’s a good time to do any hardscaping too without all the tangling of weeds and stuff.
When you go, announce it here, it you would want any advice. I can claim to long long long experience with the city and some knowledge of its history.
Also know some practical suggestions for how to avoid lines when going to the big museums.
Happy to share the latter any time with any pup. I am here every morning when Marion puts one of her delicious breakfasts on our virtual table.
I used a woven polycarbonate fabric to enclose my shade house this fall. I got it from a Canadian company that has warehouses on both sides of the border. They use it to extend the growing season in Manitoba. A lot of people do hoop gardens with it. Very good product. I will find the website and post for you if you are interested.
If you are limited for space, always think “up”. As in pole beans instead of bush. I’ve even grown cucumbers up the side of the shed. And flower beds aren’t only for flowers. I planted onions amongst the rose bushes last year because they’re supposed to be a good companion.
You must be a genius to garden in Florida, all we have is sand, not soil.
Anybody ever planted tomato plants in bales of hay? Someone told me about that the other day.
I don’t grow many vegetable crops because of where I live. Farmers markets are prevalent during the growing season, which is March through November in South Central Texas. And I finally gave up lusting after the peonies, lilacs and tulips of my youth in New England (it only took 20+ years). I now lust after succulents and cacti (as well as orchids, but that is a different story to tell.)
btw, all — we have a real treat for everyone for Blue America today. For you Florida folks, it’s Alan Grayson from FL-08. Should be a fantastic chat today.
Great post…nice to get back down to earth it is so reliable. Unlike politics.
I am a cabinet gradiner. Legumes need sprouting it is winter fun for all ages and only take two or three days. Beans and lentils get soaked in water.
Take some shallow bowls and you find which ones are viable. You get them at the health food store where organic legumes are mostly sproutable. Then you know which will grow for you. Put them in pots in windows, green house or platic covered beds outside to harden off.
Sprouting to life is worth a google. I do not bother growing them. I eat them mixed with cooked chili beans I keep in the frig. Pour out a cold serving in the microwave, add 7 or 8 varieties for mineral and enzme content and munch away a small me. It is concentrated do you will bulk down on serving size.
The rest can be partners for existing potted plants. For plant food nothing goes in the disposal it is composted for plant food. Vegie matter is hard on sewer and septics so it’s a smaller eco-carbon footprint.
No trouble if no caninet space the garage or closets work fine. Sprouts are very tsty and crunchy packed with vitamins and minerals and good snacks.
Tip; After sprouting put in refrig or cool space rinse once in a while.
Wheat, barley, peas, etc of course are all fun to see what your body craves…as you sprout to life your metabolism demands change. See JI Rodale Prevention magazine, Rachel Stone Silemt Spring for all at risk of cancer and other immune dificiencies.
Sprout to life and have a healthy active rest of your life. Tkaes a little eperimenting to get the hang off. Good on soups yummy.
See my #19.
Do you ever get the Cacti to bloom, I think they are the prettiest and most delicate flowers, I have ever seen?
What a great thread for a Saturday morning in January. I am saving all of this terrific information. Sometimes we need a diversion from politics, so since this is an election year, this can be the year of the tomato.
As a lot of my friends here know, I have spent the past week in Florida. Most of it at the World Orchid Conference in Miami, but now in Tampa for some board meetings for a foundation with Mr. Gnome. I love driving through the neighborhoods and seeing how people either adapt to what nature gives them or try to bring in their old world (like I used to do.) Florida is nothing but sand! But I love palms and in deep south Florida all the tropicals.
Did Bill Clinton miss the FISA debate this week?
I didn’t see one of the Clinton’s running for the co-presidency whose mamma paid a lot of tuition for Yale law school let out a peep yet on arguably the most important 4th Amendment vote in the history of Congress. Did I miss that? I’ve seen the same luke warm statements from Senator Clinton that I’ve seen from the tactical champion of Immunity Harry Reid.
How about these Democratic Bush backers of Wiretapping who voted the SSIC version out of committee in October and have continued to support it on Friday?
Bill Nelson Florida
Sheldon Whitehouse
John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman West Virginia
Dianne Feinstein California
Evan Bayh Indiana
Barbara Mikulski Maryland
How about the egregious shell game Feinstein borrowing an Amendment from Sheldon the Whitehouse has played? Her disingenuous amendment which I always call “The Immunity Disguise Amendment” would put Immunity front and center, leaving it up to the FISA court. The Whitehouse-Specter amendment wants to give blanket immunity to the companies, and let the government parade the State Secrets argument through the very submissive appellate courts.
I think you should remember two things:
Thus far the federal appellate courts, including the Ninth Circuit once, and the D.C. Circuit twice, have embraced State Secrets. That’s where the Whitehouse/Specter amendments would take us.
The FISA court thinks so much of your informed right to know their opinions and have meaningful oversight that it will not make public orders and legal papers pertaining to the scope of the government’s authority to engage in the secret wiretapping of Americans.
ruled in this opinion
The country you live in is now keeping their court’s opinions secret from American citizens:
From Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project:
This is a really good companion planting resource.
Here’s some instructions with some pictures:
http://www.hvtd.com/?q=node/1957
Oh yes. Where I live, the prickly pear can be and invasive. Except when it blooms. Usually it blooms yellow, but there is one patch as you climb the escarpment to my parents’ house that blooms orange. It is lovely. A friend gave me a tub of little barrel-like cactus that were popping out of their pot. I set them in the ground and they bloomed fuchsia. I’ve also got a bunch of weird succulents (mostly from south Africa, I think) that I let bloom to see how weird they are. (You’re not supposed to do that with succulents – takes away from the plant.)
This place looks intriguing, and I may get some of their seeds. I used to sprout alfalfa seeds — easy and yummy. Thanks for the reminder and start down the sprouting path again!
Most of you probably already know that Dr Dave Weldon (R-FL) announced his retirement, yesterday.
Also, his daugther who is now 21 and Weldon spent the last 14 years in Congress in Washington. Strange Family Values.
Also, voted against expending S-Chip.
Yesterday, it was announced his daughter was arrested for misdemeanor assault with a shoe. Just kid stuff.
So, anyone voted already in SC today? How has turn-out been, if so?
Sandman, I hope you’re not positing that people with minor children shouldn’t serve in Congress?
??? Shades of Khrushchev…
Do we have anyone in SC? I was just going to ask Marion, but then remembered my geography. oops!
If we’re going to talk FISA a bit, let me just say that I still don’t know what the hell happened. I’ve read the summaries but I think there’s something we don’t know. I don’t believe the repubs want failure. Cheney wants immunity NOW. And, fwiw, I think all of our our calls should be going to Reid. He’s the key. I’d love him to worry about a primary challenge.
Speaking of growing, this bunch of pups are chock full of fertile ideas.
A splendid firepup meetup in NYC last night welcomed some new firepups to our little group. Thanks to eCAHNomics for organizing our get together, and to all firepups for braving a cold NYC evening to be there.
We’re right across the river from SC, but we’ve got to wait until Super Tuesday.
Is waccamaw here? He’s from SC. I’m still hoping for an Edwards miracle. At least for 2nd.
Hard to be a good parent if your a thousand miles away. Just my opinion.
Thanks for the pics! It’s always fun to have a face to go with the names we know so well.
Thanks good site. Go down the aisle in the health food store and see bin after bin with displays of seeds and legumes all sproutables. The variety is amazing. I have 10 or more different sprouts going mix in salads or keep out as snank or oer derve for parties prettyamazing you’ll feel incredible energy in a few weeks like the rest of the grazing animals.
I thought Waccamaw was North Carolina?
Recently I bought a bunch of exotic hybrid cactus at a store that will-not-be-named, but only because they were half price. They were left over from Halloween and had stupid eyeballs glued onto them! I snipped the eyeballs off. (You must use heavy leather gloves, and even then . . ) and planted them in pots of their own and now they are gorgeous. My favorite is a miniature prickly pear that is covered with seemingly innocent downy white hairs. (I forget the name of them. They are the worst kind of “thorns” to try to get out.)
Dave Weldon’s daughter is now 21 and he has served in Congress for 14 years. Assuming she can not remember anything before the age of 5 years old, for almost her whole life, he was in Congress.
Anyone have any favorite nursery or seed catalog resources for zone 8 or central Texas?
Re: Edwards, I got an email on Thursday from the campaign.
Now I’m not sure one day of polling indicates a trend, but that would be wonderful if it did!
I assume that she has stayed behind in Florida? Or did she move to DC, like some families do? The problem may not be an absent father, it may be a sense of privilege.
Now that I own my first home, I will be planting lots of flowers & shrubs in the spring. Can’t wait! I’m thinking, since I’m not a large landowner, I will use two large pots for some tomatoes. Mmmmmm, mmmmmmm.
So the choice for politicians with young families is to leave them in the home district and never see them or bring them to DC where they can grow up to be mocked as adults for attending privileged schools in the DC area?
Reality is, a whole lot of families have one or both parents working long hours and are virtually invisible, even if nominally in the same area. And many families that are all together have children that do stupid things when they’re twenty-one.
I truly doubt that Rep. Weldon having been a Congressman for 14 years is all that much of an excuse for his daughter’s behavior.
Now this reminds me of something a friend once did that I have been meaning to try. He grew potatoes, not in bales but in straw nontheless. He just planted the eyes and when they came up he placed wire cages around them. I think he used 40″ rabbit wire that he made giant tubes from, about 30″ diameter. Then, as the potatoes grew he would add the straw. Potatoes grew some more, he added more straw. Up and up. Then all he had to do was reach in the sides through the wire and grab the potatoes, no digging.
Granted, I have not tried this myself, but it sounds plausible and I think I might just give it a go this year.
Digg in the garden
Don’t forget that this is an R congressman and for most of his seven terms, with teh Rs in charge, they worked three days a week. Meaning he was most likely home more than he was in DC.
Hi Christy and all.
Cloudy, 20’s, flurries, and a blanket of snow on the ground here.
Come on over to our garden and help me rummage under the snow for some fresh carrots, sunchokes & green onions; pluck the last of the sweet-tasting brussels sprouts; paw around under the protective snow blanket for sprigs of oregano, thyme, spearmint, et al. Probably some choy and chard lurking also, even though I didn’t do a thing to help them – just depended on the snow – for shame… p.s., don’t forget to grab a sprig of fresh catnip under there for the kitties. Ours are THRILLED when I pull that trick in mid-winter!
I once read a ludicrous-sounding suggestion that one can cut a whole branch full of ripe and unripe tomatoes and store it in a cool place, just as is.
I tried it, laughing at the silliness of the whole exercise but, by gum, we had fresh ripe tomatoes from our own garden with our Thanksgiving dinner that year, and even a few left for December holiday dinners. ;->
High country gardens in Santa Fe. Like all catalogs you have to know what you can grow, but they help you by telling you whether the plant can take heavy clay soil and high temps, which is our problem in Central Texas.
That sounds like a great idea.
Good morning, all-
How wonderful to contemplate the tranquility of green growing things..Gnome, allow me to say welcome to Tampa!
You found summaries?!?! MSM around here ignored it. Thot I dreamed the whole thing. *grinding teeth*
Great — thanks for the tip.
Just to be clear I did not name Republicans, the Family Values Party, the Republicans did. Also, misdemeanor assault with a shoe is a very minor crime, she bonded out with $500. A young adult’s mistake nothing serious.
Sorry, I didn’t make it. I was at an opera dress rehearsal in the afternoon and decided to head home rather than kick around NYC all afternoon. Did you have the profiteroles?
My very most favorite, in Bee Caves west of Austin.
John Dromgoole’s The Natural Gardener.
Thank you. I am sitting on my bed looking out over Tampa Bay. I hear we are supposed to be invaded by pirates today!
Here we were getting ready for the trickery of the election to find they have started early, in the primaries. Is the GOP choosing our candiate? I fear we would lose an election with Clinton and all her baggage. I believe Edwards is who the GOP fear the most and that is why the MSM ignore him. He has the lawyers on his side that could unravel some of this mess they’ve made.
Bev Harris is my hero. I think diebold would have given the GOP the permanent Repub majority they had been touting if not for Bev. I actually didn’t believe they were going for a permanent republican majority till I saw it on C-Span. It just sounds of dictatorship and what American in their right mind would want that? What’s in all those vitamins the mega churches are selling their sheep?
About 2003 I came across a far right wing web site that was looking for 1,000 people to move to NH just so they could vote in the primaries. When they say NH takes the primaries seriously, I guess they mean it. I wonder what the migration rate in and out of that state before and after a presidential election is?
Those people who traded a Nader vote in a state he was on the ballot for a Gore vote in a state that Nader wasn’t on the ballot, I wonder if they regret it. Has there ever been any info on how that changed the election? I wonder how many were convinced their state would go blue, swapped votes and their state went red? I wonder how many were hood winked because the other party didn’t keep their promise. I wonder if that is/was GOP trickery.
Give me a sec and I’ll dig them up. Jane did one. Be right back.
I have yet to make it out there. My daughter in law loves that place, but my route usually takes me by The Great Outdoors on South Congress. They have Senior discount day on Wednesdays and my mother keeps saying she wants to go. After April Fourth I will qualify for their senior age too, but I bet they will card both of us, as neither of us looks our age!
There are all sorts of valid reasons to trash the Rs and their “branding” and use of “family values.” I don’t believe the arrest of one of them at age twenty-one fits that area however.
Every time a new pup arrives I get that opening a present feeling.
New members are always welcome.
What opera? I saw H.M.S. Pinafore last night.
She be here but NC, not SC.
Stephen Parris, CPA is from SC iirc but haven’t seen him around for donkey’s ears. Raven’s from GA. Oh, yeah, tanbark’s in SC.
It was Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with Karita Matilla
Yes! You have managed to arrive in Tampa the one day that one of the oddest cultural festivals I know of occurs…the Gasparilla Pirate invasion and parade…great fun if you like huge street parties, thousands of drinking/drunk people partying…I used to go every year. The best way is to come in on a boat with the pirate fleet. If you can avoid driving and having to park, worth taking in…
There’s this by Jane.
Good morning.
Great to see photos of the pups! Thank you.
We all passed on the profiteroles, as the conversations were quite filling.
You were missed, but maybe next time. Hope rehearsal went well.
Hello and good morning to you!
Gnome, how long do you plan to be in Tampa?
You’re quite welcome. Always great to read you.
solia @29
I agree we should concentrate our calls on Reid, after all, he choose to bring this to the table at this specific moment in time and (supposably) controls the strings.
And I also think we should call candiates Obama and Clinton back to DC and show us what kind of leadership skills they have. If they can’t convince other dems on this issue it would be nice to know that NOW.
Someone at a feed & seed store was talking about a guy who did something similar (info was kinda sketchy) but it sounded like he did that in a trench vs. moving upward. Said it was great not having dirty potatoes. *g*
That must have been great. I hope to be able to see the matinee performance in mid-February at the movies, but I am on the road that weekend, and may not be able to go.
Don’t forget my frequent suggestion in other threads, folks, for those who are unable physically, or otherwise disinclined (e.g., lazy like me) to make those fancy schmancy raised beds for veg gardening.
It works JUST FINE, no. REALLY! to ignore all the “rules” about carting in extra soil, surrounding all the planting beds with heavy boards, etc. etc.
I use the same concept in our veg. garden, simply by raking the soil up into a raised bed wherever I want it, usually planting things “bed”-style, rather than in rows, raking &/or hoe-ing carefully around each planted bed to make a simple, shallow trench to catch the rainwater but keep the beds from becoming to sodden in the planting area.
I make each bed just big enough so I can reach into the center of it from all sides, for weeding and thinning. Then I never never never walk on the bed during the planting season. There need be no rhyme or reason to where you walk in the garden plot, just so long as you don’t step on the planting areas. If the resulting maze gets crazy like ours, it’s a good idea to mark planting bed corners with stakes, though, ESPECIALLY if other folk are apt to want to “help” you garden just on occasion when it suits them. *g*
Of course, it’s a given that we add compost and other goodies to the soil at every opportunity. We also mulch with whatever’s handy; even a handful of lawngrass clippings can be handy, if it’s not laced with weedkillers or other noxious bad things.
I love that place! What is their “senior age”? I might be getting close…
WE fly out Sunday evening at 7:30. We (Mr. Gnome and myself) may be looking for stuff to do tomorrow afternoon.
Very kind of you!
55
Thanks. But linkie no workie for me ;-(
A few years ago I got a chance to go to the invasion down by the river at one of the restricted areas for condo owners and such. I got a fair colleciton of beads that day.
In just a little over three years, then.
Gnome, if you and Mr. Gnome would like to have lunch or something with myself and Ms.D, we’d love to meet you guys somewhere, or give you a recommendation if you’re short of time.
When I found out about the discount I was standing in line with a woman who I thought was probably pretty near my age. I asked her what the age was and she told me, “55. You’ve got a long way to go, honey.” Hee, hee. Little did she now it was only a year away.
Let me find out what we might get committed to today. I am not attending the board meeting, which is going on as we speak, although I may sit in after lunch. A few of the members are staying on a day or two (the ones from the New York area, of course.) How do I contact you? I am in facebook. Or e-mail me at “m underscore poss at sbcglobal dot net.”
Some years back I had the occasion to sail in with the fleet on a friends boat…it was a 28′ deck boat, all open space forward…so we set up the band on the foredeck and played live classic rock to accompany the invasion. Great fun.
This is well worth it to see. Karita was fabulous. it was the final dress rehearsal and after Levine worked a long time with the orchestra. I left after that.
The sets are to die for in Manon. If you can see it, do . You won’t be disappointed.
Another really cool place is Big Red Sun on East First.
Gnome, I’m not on facebook, but feel free to mail me at RonDRbc AT gmail.
NYC pups are you into a sailing meet up this summer?
My daughter calls that place Big Red Ripoff. They are expensive. But they have really cool ideas that I often use in my container gardening.
Here’s a cool slideshow of some of the Big Red Sun stuff…love that place:
http://www.bigredsun.com/cd_po…../show.html
It took me a while to understand. You can defend the Clintons here, but criticism of them is being consistently blocked.
When will the name change to clintondoglake or cdl? Which Clinton is giving the concession speech tonight?
Agreed on the prices! I did splurge on a $36 pair of green rubber boots with smiley frog faces on them.
Please rest assured that I haven’t disappeared. :)
My sister, who lives in Portland Oregon has all that kind of cool stuff. There it is at Costco, so it is cheap. She got me a pair of brown and black hounds tooth checked rubber boots plus a hot pink rubber apron for working on my orchids. You should see me. I am the essence of style!
I’ve got my sea legs…sounds like fun.
Oh and thanks for the recommend of century of self.
Where are you gonna sail out of? We used to have a boat out at City Island years ago.
gotta love the green frog :)
gotta love the green frog
forgot the part about linkin’
Oh, wizard! Have been worried about where you were keeping….what’s happenin’ in your world these days?
Here’s the boots.
:)
Wow, it’s so consistently blocked that your bizarro and false comment got through. ;-)
You haven’t been reading much FDL lately, have you? Res ipsa loquitor.
We tried to plant a garden a couple of years ago, but found out that we were #1 on the deer hit parade.
If you all have some suggestions on deterring them, we might have a chance at growing something…
-S
I haven’t been there in years, but I love the mirror mosaic spiral staircase.
A very tall fence?
Outstanding boots.
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention the deer problem. That is the other reason I don’t garden. Anything I want to grow that the deer love, grows inside the fence where the dogs roam. So then I have to figure a way to grow stuff so that the dogs don’t roam over them. Everything outside the fence is deer-resistant, which means it is either a sage, artemesia, cactus or variation thereof.
Good morning from Los Altos California where it’s raining!
Cynthia Sandberg’s Love Apple Farm is a biodynamic farm in the Santa Cruz mountains that supplies produce for Manressa Restaurant – (2 Michelin stars!). She specializes in tomatoes – and has gorgeous pics of zillions of tomatoes for your drooling pleasure as well as lots of gardening tips.
http://loveapplefarm.typepad.c…..index.html
We keep our boat in Shelter Island / Greenport.
I must have missed that memo. Here, allow me to spell out the policy here: criticism is welcome — nasty name-calling is not, nor is picking fights in the comments just because someone’s opinion happens to differ from yours. Avoid the latter and you can do the former all you like.
That goes for every person criticising every campaign. And it’s been our long-standing policy in order to encourage discussion and not flame wars. It mystifies me how a request that people use some semblance of common sense and manners becomes a whine of “you support X.” Discussion, comparison, contrasting records and statements — all good. Being deliberately rude by repeating something inflammatory over and over again even when asked to stop it by the person who runs moderators for us? Well, that should be obvious on its face that it’s just being deliberately rude for personal and not substantive reasons.
It’s very simple: stick to substance, and knock off the bullshit when asked, and we all get along a lot better. As for Clinton criticism, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, for starters just from January 13th until today alone…
We don’t have a fence. We may have to get one. They’ll be the most expensive vegetables we’ve ever grown ;-).
I can’t offer seed porn, but I can offer garden porn… Ciscoe Morris is a master gardener and very famous in the Seattle area. His “Gardening With Ciscoe” is a joy. He’s so funny and charming that those of us who don’t garden listen to him for fun. http://www.ciscoe.com/
-S
Christy, he’s been around from time to time and never does anything except whine, complain and pick fights.
Pot gardening on a second floor deck works *real* well; I grow all my lettuce and spinach that way. *g*
Seriously, I feel yer pain. The suckers will even chew rose bushes down to the nub. I’ve used bird netting over snow pea vines. They really love Indian hawthorn shrubs and bars of soap (Coast iirc) tied in the bushes does seem to help; maybe placing shavings about is worth a try. Some people claim shattering dog/human hair around plants will deter them…it’s compostable and you can get groomers or hair dressers to save it for you.
Where are you? Deer are a problem in many urban and suburban areas, and they eat different things not just because of regional differences, but because they don’t all read the same catalogs! Deer down at my house won’t touch stuff that they munch happily on at my mother’s. And she only lives 1.6 miles away!
Marion, you’ve been around a while as well — and you know as well as I do that we’ve always had that same sort of policy for comments. Since we were on blogspot even. It’s not new, and it’s not directed at any one candidate. Conspiracy theories may be fun in the abstract, but they do not apply here — especially given some of the enormous criticism that has been levelled at Sen. Clinton for years from posters here. And at Obama and Edwards for that matter. It’s about the policies, not the individual people — by choice, because that gives us more progressive leverage to work with. Why people insist on reading their own biases into shit, I have no idea, but there you are.
Yeah, TexBetsy and I were talking about him the other day at lunch. We just skip over his rants. Don’t even read ‘em. Nothing there.
FDL’s policy in this regard is one of the main reasons I’m here. I’ve had disagreements with folks here, but we manage to be friendly and civil. This dude just doesn’t seem to “get it.” I agree with Gnome de Plume — he’s eminently ignorable.
A way late Postscript from Prairie for Christy [given the aggravation of some commenters, may be just what the “sunshine” ordered]
A Writer’s Paris
Just back from a chilly run to the local library, hot soup a callin’.
You know, I completely get being invested in a particular candidate. Have been there from time to time when I found one that I thought was fantastic on a local level here. (Doesn’t happen as often as I would like, I have to say!) But it can lead to the sort of “my candidate is Jesus and yours is Satan” blind spot that I talked about yesterday evening.
We try to be very careful to avoid that where we can, and try and consciously spread around critique and praise among a large smattering of candidates — when they earn it, either way. Manufacturing the sort of idiotic faux balance that the media does is not an interest of mine, and so I deliberately don’t gin it up just so there are equal mentions ginned up for no reason whatsoever other than to head off the “you are biased” faux criticism. It’s been a growing whine of late, and I don’t know how to deal with it other than keep doing things the way we have ALWAYS done them — and I think it is more an outgrowth of growing primary pressure than anything. I so understand why Digby decided to give her comments a break for a while (some of the e-mails I get are textbook whinery, truly).
But I think there is great value in real discussion, as well. Real discussion, not just people talking past each other.
What’s happening in my world these days? It has been quiet here although, paradoxically, there have been an abundance of things to keep up with. I haven’t posted comments frequently because FDL has devised an alternate means of posting news tips, which comprise a majority of the comments I have posted.
One of the “tricks” to growing plants that you and the deer love is to plant them inbetween plants that they hate. That is why my front yard is full of “stinky” stuff – sages mainly. But I have favorite roses tucked in as well as other tender things they like. When I find a nibble taken off of something I get out my “Deer Away” or something like that. It is a foul smelling spray that gags you until it dries. The deer can still smell it, but I can’t and it does work. My standard poodle also loves it. When I accidentally over spray into his part of the yard he comes running, drops and rolls in it. You then can’t get near him until it either dries or I bathe him. It is that awful.
One of the women at work is plagued by deer that actually come up onto her deck. She uses that spray and says she has to go inside and take a shower every time she uses it. It must REALLY be vile! I’m lucky that I’m not that far out of town, so we don’t have deer. Every cat and dog in the neighborhood, however…
Beautiful area!
My Great Uncle used to build a largish Chicken wire cage around plants while they were younger to give them a good start — but the deer couldn’t get to them, even though water and sunshine could. Works if you don’t have a constant deer issue, but I don’t know what it would do if you had a persistent one. Maybe build really large cages that you could remove for tomatoes and peppers and such to pick and then replace when you finished?
We’re thirty miles east of Seattle in a rural area. (For those who’d like some political discussion, we’re also about ten miles north of Darcy Burner!) Believe it or not, we have deer that come right up to the door. I came downstairs one afternoon last year, and a doe had her nose pressed up against the sliding glass door, looking in at me.
I’ll have to try the scary deer-b-gone stuff.
Pray for me. ;-)
-S
Christy, I applaud you every time you take on a problem like this. You do it with terrific aplomb. You wield the knife (pen) well. As this campaign season gets heated, I too have a real problem with a lot of the antagonism that has been creeping in the comments as of late. I also have stopped reading some other blogs because of the horrible way they have been treating Hillary Clinton. I will vote for John Edwards in my primary, but I will gladly vote for whoever the democratic candidate is. I am getting more and more distressed at the hate that is being spewed around on our side. We need to do everything we can to calm it down so that we don’t end up with a surprise Republican victory.
Still lots of room for news linkys, best I can tell….and yours were always interesting. It’s one of the blessings of the Lake – lots of eyes/ears on the ground means sources one might not see otherwise.
Hear, hear! It distresses me when people yell that it’s their candidate or they’ll stay home. That’s no way to win an election. None of the candidates are perfect, but any one of them is better than anything the other side will barf up.
Speaking of Darcy, Strategerie — I too worry about all the invective being tossed around all over the place during the presidential primaries. Because if it causes a big rift between now and November, getting “more and better Democrats” into office in Congress becomes more difficult. And if we are to see any progressive impact, that is where we need to concentrate a lot of effort. Which becomes hard to do if it’s all nastiness and factional infighting…
Liquid Fence. That is what the stuff is called. I buy it by the gallon. I don’t use that much, but my mother sure does.
Here is their website: Liquid Fence
It has really been on my mind this presidential race as well.
I really wonder if losing the race and a SCOTUS seat would help in getting better candidates. Sometimes things must get worse to get better.
I have no idea how they could possibly get worse than they are now, and the prospect of having the Republicans in power for another 4 years curdles my blood with horror. However, I do think we should do everything in our power to find better candidates for Congress instead of the crop of lickspittles that are in there now.
Agreed. One of the harshest lessons of 1968 was the rift that didn’t heal and left us with Nixon. Must give voice to that lesson of history at every opportunity.
For myself, it’s a chance I’d really rather not take. Given the evisceration of the Constitution and the anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-”little people” rulings that have already come down the pike from the Roberts court, there is far too much damage that can take decades to undo, if another Federalist society member takes a seat on the SCOTUS and tips the balance further to the right.
I’m onboard for the building of a progressive majority.
Thank you, Gnome de Plume.
There may be home-grown vegetables in our future yet!
-S
I am seriously considering a square foot garden but I’m at a loss as to what to plant.
Regarding books, here are a couple of my old favorites:
The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping
Perennials for American Gardens
[Mod Note: highlight the words to be linked before using the link button]
Why didn’t the links show up? Oh, well:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete…..0871562782
http://www.amazon.com/Perennia…..038;sr=1-1
Christy, Darcy is wonderful. I am wondering, though, if the GOP will not be dumping the sheer amounts of cash here that they did in the last election. Reichert is so unpopular here now that it would be a waste of their money.
We’re also facing the return of one Dino Rossi running for governor. He also does not seem to realize that most of us have long memories of his behavior in the last election. His squeaker loss to Christine Gregoire was a fluke in that the numbers were so close in the first place; I can predict a stunning loss for Mr. Rossi this time around.
-S
Not a total loss, I have some in mind, I don’t want anything that requires huge amounts of attention and that I will actually use.
8)
I like Darcy and Rossi needs to get over himself.
The guy is carrying a serious grudge and as you point out, we remember his almost phsycotic behavior last time around.d
Yes it is and I hope that the pups take me up on a sailing meet up. I can do 10 people on board comfortably, no sweat!
July 4th is out… we sail to Newport for the fireworks every year… but if we plan early maybe we can make it happen.
Wify got some of her colleagues of the clinic she work at (from da bronx) and they all had a blast and want a re do.
Frankly, sitting around drinking in a bar is not terribly appealing to me.
Bustednuckles, I was in a closed-door meeting with a group of other electeds four years ago when Rossi said that a family of four making $32,000 a year and on Washington Basic Health (catastrophic insurance for those of lower income here,) were “gaming the system”. The moment those hotel double doors closed, he went straight for the GOP red meat.
I can’t WAIT for the LTTE the first time Mr. Rossi starts mouthing off about health care.
-S
Catching up on this wonderful thread late. I purposefully did not turn on the computer till late, spent some time hanging out with my kid, including an hour playing Halo3. Jeez it’s hard game, and the pressure!
RE: deer. We have em in spades here (Vermont) but it’s so darn lush everywhere that they don’t bother my garden too much. I do have about a 3.5 foot fence of chicken wire around my back garden (in the back field) and that keeps them out.
Besides, I love them. Last summer there was a wonderful doe who was out there every day when I went out to work. She had twin fawns, and briefly was caring for a third fawn. I kept forgetting to bring my camera but would just stand quietly, murmuring to her across the way and appreciating how watchful she was of her babes.
My hound, Lou, was banned from coming out with me. He got scent of her fawns through the tall grass and went to investigate and the doe leapt out of the woods and thundered after him with murder in her eyes. And he, of course, ran straight for me. I stood there going “holy cow”, then as they quickly closed the distance to me at a gallop and I saw her hooves and eyes bearing down on ME, “HOLY CRAP!” and ran back into my garden (with dog) and slammed the little gate and she came to a stop a couple feet away, panting and GLARING at us. My knees were knocking.
I apologizied profusely to her, and led the dog back to the house in disgrace, that is, after I got up the nerve to leave my garden, (with a tomato stake in hand, as a weapon if needed).
Got to respect mother nature…
About gardening: been doing veggies and flowers for years, and last few years, as things look grimmer, been concentrating on subsistance crops. Grew potatoes for the first time (not in straw, just dirt hills) and was thrilled, thrilled, to dig into the dirt come September and see … Potatoes! I swear I almost broke into Gaelic, and my Irish and Polish ancestors were cheering.
This year I’m also trying bush beans – the drying kind – hard to find suitable for this climate. Also tons of squash, cabbage, lettuce galore, tomatoes, basil, carrots, green beans etc.
My flower garden is my reward for working hard with the veggies.
I’m working on the storing end too. Trying to construct a root cellar (as my real cellar is too creepy for words … dirt floor, spiders the size of bats, I’m not going down there unless there’s a nuclear war); and I’ve been canning for the last few years, tomatoes mostly, and going to try apples and berries this summer.
But this is all inside thinking for now. Lots of snow, temps below zero, and a couple months more of skiing in the meantime.