Text 8313, 107 rader
Skriven 2008-06-04 00:44:08 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Dave Sacerdote
Ärende: Re: Any gardens?
========================
 -=> On 06-03-08  13:21,  Dave Sacerdote <=-
 -=> spoke to All about Any gardens? <=-

 DSac> So, anyone growing a garden this year?

Pots on the deck -- can you call that a garden?  You know what our rear
yard is like.  I will say that I finally have some grass coming up,
albeit spotty with frequent clay spots showing through.  But I've long
ago given up growing anything that requires more than filtered sunlight
back there.  We have those planters that sit on the deck rails.  Most of
them have flowers of various sorts, all shade plants like impatients and
begonia.  One of them I put in some basil plants.  They started out ok,
but the last two weeks of May we had a lot of rain (more than 10 1/2
inch for the full month, almost a record).  One of them drowned totally,
and the other three are just now coming out of their waterlogged droop.

I also put three varieties of tomato in pots in the corner of the deck,
near that bird feeder.  They do get some sun.  They have grown to about
four feet tall (started at 1 1/2) and have flowers and a couple of small
fruit beginnings.  We shall see.  The single plant I had there last
summer yielded less than a dozen tomatoes -- but they were good!

 DSac> For the first time in my life, I have a large, sunny enough yard to
 DSac> have a garden virtually as large as I could want.  It's roughly double
 DSac> our former garden size, and I have the luxury of generously spacing
 DSac> the plants as well as growing more stuff than ever before.

You have a larger lot than we do, and a lot fewer trees.

 DSac> So, we've got:

 DSac> 10 tomato plants in various varieties, from the very early Juliet, to
 DSac> the late-yielding Mountain Queen.  The farmer I bought the Mountain
 DSac> Queen seedling from tells me that it could yield well into October if
 DSac> the frost holds off, and any greenies remaining can be wrapped in
 DSac> newspaper, put in a paper bag in the cellar, and will ripen ready to
 DSac> eat for Thanksgiving. We'll see, eh?

I wish!

 DSac> 6 eggplant

I could do without that:-}}  We are not fond of eggplant.

 DSac> 4 20-foot rows of Silver Queen corn

Trouble with that is that they take up so much room, and come in over a
short time span.  We tend to eat only two moderate sized ears at a meal,
and can usually find good ones locally when they are in season.

 DSac> 1 hill of zucchini (more than enough!)

Unlike the eggplant, Michael Loo is of the same mind as we are on
those:-}}

 DSac> pickling cucumbers

That would be nice.  Are they better than what you might buy in a store?

 DSac> 4 sweet bell peppers
 DSac> 2 sweet multicolored cuban peppers
 DSac> 1 habanero pepper

Ditto on those -- how do they compare to store bought?  To farmer stand
bought?

 DSac> 1 15-foot row of peas

Gail would eat those straight off the vine.  Many of them would never
make it into the kitchen.

 DSac> 6 Blue Lake green beans

Ditto, but more would make it in.

 DSac> 6 Lima beans

I like them, she tolerates them -- but seems to be learning to like them
once in a while.

 DSac> 1 15-foot row of strawberries (might be nothing from them until next

What about a stawberry barrel?

 DSac> year) 2 hills of pumpkins (for the kids on the street)
 DSac> 2 hills of Blue Hubbard squash

 DSac> I'm psyched.

I can imagine.  Sounds like a good job you will enjoy for years to come,
especially with your fruit and berry plants as well.

What do you need to do for your soil there?  Back when I was attempting
to grow stuff, it took a lot to turn our clay fill into dirt.

Too long for a recipe, I owe you one:-}}

                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)


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