Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 42) October 28

To: who knows what evil?

Boy, are you efficient. I haven’t begun to look at a catalog yet.

81 posted on 10/28/2011 7:36:10 PM PDT by tillacum

I don’t wait for catalogs...I troll the internet early and watch my favorite sites for new offerings...I save seed; so I generally only order something new that catches my eye...especially tomatoes and peppers. :-)

82 posted on 10/28/2011 7:45:32 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)

To: afraidfortherepublic

Thanks! It started off really sucky with the buckets of rain which turned off like a switch in July just when it started to get hot. But the fall came thru with some beautiful stuff and they aren’t talking freeze till at least another week!

83 posted on 10/28/2011 7:54:10 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead.)

Good luck with yours.

Just heard there’s going to be a slight freeze tonight. Hopefully, it’ll be ok and I just pick what’s there tomorrow and be done with it. I just don’t want the bother of wintering plants. I’ll just wait until spring and start some seeds early for transplanting.

84 posted on 10/28/2011 7:58:39 PM PDT by bgill (The Obama administration is staging a coup. Wake up, America, before it's too late.)

They all should survive under the snow very well, it acts as insulation and protects the plants while improving the flavor. Most brassicas can handle down to 27 degrees or so without getting burnt too bad.

85 posted on 10/28/2011 8:01:56 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead.)

Thanks. I tell ya one thing I’ve learned from all the gardening - never give up on it. All the rain then all the dry, but most things came out of it and I had a great fall garden. Hope at least some of the stuff I sent you guys produced for you.

86 posted on 10/28/2011 8:05:50 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead.)

Yep! That is the same one!

87 posted on 10/28/2011 8:09:39 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)

To: Library Lady

here in Eastern Washington, no snow yet, but its been dang cold for several days, in the 20's and we haven't started up the wood stove yet....trying to not be so anal about it....thinking we can't use our perfectly good furnace...but I imagine we'll be "lighting" up in a few days....

luckily for me, I did manage to plant some garlic and some onion sets earlier this week so I'll have a start for next spring...

already planning ahead...

oh, and I pulled all my tomatoes that I've been freezing and cooked them all down and canned them these last two days...I use a hot water bath so it takes a long time to do...

88 posted on 10/28/2011 9:27:22 PM PDT by cherry

89 posted on 10/29/2011 12:03:55 AM PDT by tdscpa

To: Red_Devil 232

If I had goats!

Which I ain't gonna get (due to the city zoning code) :( --- but which I need to eat my kudzu.

Maybe I'm a lonely non-goat herd...

90 posted on 10/29/2011 4:41:51 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (When I grow up I'm gonna settle down/ Chew honeycomb and drive a tractor, grow things in the ground.)

Oh, it did! Fabulous turnips, vibrant red-red-red beets, and luxuriant leafy Asian greens were my favorites. Thanks to God who sends the sun and rain, and YOU who sent the seeds!

91 posted on 10/29/2011 4:45:35 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (When I grow up I'm gonna settle down/ Chew honeycomb and drive a tractor, grow things in the ground.)

To: Red_Devil 232

We had a nice dusting of snow friday morning but we still have not had a killing frost! Rather late for us here in the Catskill Mountains, We are expecting lots of snow today but still no frost...that should make the carrots and chard VERY good!

92 posted on 10/29/2011 6:11:03 AM PDT by 95B30 ( The Professional Left: "Their morals are crooked, their take logic is flawed, their honor is stolen)

Welcome to the start of a life time of pleasure. I started with Rodale (sp) books 20+ years ago. Fed a family of five by gardening, canning and storage and hunting with a monthly trip to a grocery store.

93 posted on 10/29/2011 6:19:42 AM PDT by 95B30 ( The Professional Left: "Their morals are crooked, their take logic is flawed, their honor is stolen)

To: Red_Devil 232; Diana in Wisconsin; JustaDumbBlonde; tubebender; Black Agnes; fanfan; greeneyes; ...

A little Saturday humor:

The Wisconsin Department of Employment, Division of Labor Standards claimed a small farmer was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent out to investigate him.

GOV’T AGENT: “I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them.”

FARMER: “Well, there’s my hired hand who’s been with me for 3 years. I pay him $200 a week plus free room and board.

Then there’s the mentally challenged guy. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night so he can cope with life. He also sleeps with my wife occasionally.”

GOV’T AGENT: “That’s the guy I want to talk to - the mentally challenged one.”

FARMER: “That would be me.”

94 posted on 10/29/2011 9:20:56 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic

To: afraidfortherepublic

LOL! I’ll have to send this to my husband’s brother in law. He’s a retired 5th or 6th generation farmer. Thanks for sharing.LOL.

95 posted on 10/29/2011 9:39:34 AM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)

To: afraidfortherepublic

96 posted on 10/29/2011 9:54:31 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)

To: afraidfortherepublic

97 posted on 10/29/2011 10:06:19 AM PDT by tubebender (She was only a whiskey maker, but I loved her still.)

I saved that website... some good recipes there.

Why not post your favorite on the FR recipe thread?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2799654/posts

All: If you aren’t on the recipe ping list, I highly recommend it

98 posted on 10/29/2011 10:31:10 AM PDT by hattend (If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. - Cameron Connor)

To: afraidfortherepublic; Red_Devil 232; who knows what evil?; Sarajevo; Dacula; tubebender; ...

Y'all may remember that I started my beekeeping adventures this past Spring with two things in mind: 1) improved and more certain pollination in my garden; and 2) adding a source for food and sweetener to my overall self-sufficiency plan. Little did I know how joyful, interesting, and satisfying beekeeping would become! And, it turns out that the bees provide so much more than the two things I originally had in mind!

Last week I needed to add a new box to one of my hives, so I took the camera along so that I could share some photos with y'all. This first photo is the inside of the hive as it appeared when I initially took the top and cover off of the hive. Many of the bees had gone back into the hive because I smoked them a bit. The comb that you can see built between the 10 inner frames is not ideal. But it happens when the hive is growing faster than the person trying to keep up with them.

The next photo is the box with one frame removed. Every frame in the box is full and it a little past time to be putting a new box on the hive. They filled it so quickly. It was only about 10 days ago that I checked and they had a ways to go before needing a new box.

This photo is of the frame that I removed. You can see the glimmer of honey in the cells on the left-hand side. The cells that appear white are honey that the bees have 'capped'. When every frame in the box is full and capped, it would be time to harvest the honey. This box, however, is the stores that the bees will utilize to survive the winter.

Next is the new box of frames that will be stacked on the hive. It is so amazing that I don't have to do a thing to secure this box in any way. The bees will glue it to the remainder of the hive with propolis. It takes a sharp hive tool whenever you go to open a hive. The bees glue everything in place.

Here is the hive after placing the new box and putting the cover and top back on. If the bees fill this box with honey before the winter, we will harvest it for us. It will contain a couple of gallons.

This hive is the youngest of the 3 that I currently keep. For the Spring, I have ordered 2 colonies from a man in Brandon, MS, and I'll drive over there to pick them up when the time comes. I don't know how many colonies I will pick up by capturing swarms and removing colonies from the homes, sheds and barns of people in my area. All three of my hives started out being a colony that we cut out of homes.

Garden-wise, I've got several bushels of green tomatoes to process and have been collecting recipes other than the green tomato relish that I can every year. I actually made a green tomato cake a couple of days ago that is remarkably good.

My peppers are also producing like crazy and I've canned about 12 quarts of candied jalapenos in the past 2 weeks.

Shelled 2 bushels of speckled butter beans yesterday. That will probably be the last of the beans, but we've been picking them since early September, so I can't do a bit of complaining. The still have new pods with beans to fill-out, but cool weather is upon us and I doubt that they will do anything further.

I'm off to swap the SD cards in all of my trail cams and try to determine where I will hunt this evening. Which reminds me: prayers for my bee mentor, my good friend and fellow hunter, Mark, would be greatly appreciated. He fell 20 feet from a tree stand and broke his back Thursday night. He had surgery this morning that went well, but he has a long way to go. Still in ICU, but he does have movement in his feet. I humbly ask that you lift him up in prayer.

99 posted on 10/29/2011 10:47:40 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)

To: JustaDumbBlonde

How do you harvest honey when ready? Just cut it out of the frames or do you melt the beeswax and the honey flows?

I’ve always considered learning beekeeping but I guess I’m too afraid to do it. I hate bee stings.

100 posted on 10/29/2011 11:10:28 AM PDT by hattend (If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. - Cameron Connor)

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794