Posted on 12/16/2011 5:47:03 AM PST by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. I hope all of you are doing well and wish you a Merry Christmas. Today’s thread will be the last one I post as the host of the gardening thread. Thankfully the thread will continue to be posted by Freeper JustaDumbBlonde. Not only is she is a very experienced gardener, she and her husband run a large acreage family farm growing corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans and various other crops. Her large kitchen garden is so successful she has set up a roadside stand to sell her produce. I am confident the Gardening Thread will be in very competent hands. She gardens and farms in Northeast Louisiana and has been a member of the gardening thread since Freepers gardengirl and Gabz started the original thread in January 2008.
It has been my great pleasure to host and post this thread every week for the last couple of years. I actually learned to garden from this thread and have enjoyed my garden and reading the posts and meeting new Friends on this thread every week. I will continue to read and post on the thread if I think I can add to the conversation. I hope all of you have very successful gardens next year.
If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.
Thanks so much Red for all the threads, and thanks JADB for keeping the tradition going. I look forward all week to Friday because of this thread.
We have warmed up to 34 degrees today, so I’ll be harvesting some lettuce from the winter garden. I have a lemon indoors nearly ready to pick, and 5 buds starting. A new batch of spinach is coming along. Still eating end of season tomatoes wrapped in paper to ripen.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Thanks for the seed link!
Thank you for your kind words.
There are many sources for heirlooms-do a search and see what you find. The two sides to getting several catalogs- it is such fun to go through to see what is out there. The flip side is making decisions about what to actually plant. So many choices.
One thing- this catalog explains about this bean or that tomato- a different catalog has a different write up on the same plant- by the time you have read several, you really have a better idea about the seeds you are buying.
Years ago I sort of got disillusioned with Baker’s- they were pretty left leaning. Perhaps they have changed, or at least not so obvious about their political leanings.
Meanwhile snow is on the ground, gardens are slumbering at least where I live, and there are sugar plum dreams about the next growing season that is coming.
Good luck Red Devil and thanks JADB.
Mornin!
While I am looking forwrad to hosting the thread, at the same time I am sad that you will not be doing so. This thread is the first thing I go to on Friday mornings with my first cup of coffee.
I wish you, your lovely wife and your furry children the very best of life in your new home!
Planted Bantam for a number of years. Heirloom corn is not as easy to grow as they make it. The soil needs to be rich and you can’t plant them closer than 6”, and 8 or 9” is best. I’ve even taken to hilling my rows to give them more dirt. Any heirloom corn is going to follow that rule. I put lots of grass, compost, and manure in my corn patch to get good yields. Some work but worth it IMO.
Bantam is about the only heirloom yellow corn out there. Shumway’s does carry some yellow sweet corn that isn’t heirloom but is open pollinated: http://www.rhshumway.com/dc.asp?c=168 as does Fedco http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds.htm but I have not planted any of those.
If you’re into white there are alot more choices: Stowell’s Evergreen, Country Gentleman, Howling Mob, Boone County White, among others. I’ve planted Country Gentleman and it’s productive, and got seed for Boone and Stowell’s to plant this year to see what it does.
Forgot to answer on the canteloupe - Old Time Tennessee is my absolute favorite, and I love Jenny Lind and Ananas Amerique too.
I kind of figured they where left leaning,but they don’t wear it on their sleeves at least in their catalog.
Hi Polly! Fancy meeting you here!
I know you will really enjoy hosting this thread there so many good and helpful FReepers that will help out and respond to others that you can’t get to if you don’t have the time. I have always enjoyed reading and watching how the thread just evolves on its own and going places you will never expect a gardening thread to go. A FReeper will mention something that inspires or jogs the memory of another FReeper to remember something about an Opera House or Steam Engines or Beer or Wine or a Recipe or just anything. The thread can wander and it is absolutely fun.
Have a good time! Oh, and do let me know when the thread reaches the 500 mark. I think it is close to being one of the largest ping lists on FR.
Thanks for hosting the garden thread Just. Red, best luck with the move and all. Not much to report, but we did get more rain this past week and some ig getting into our hurting lakes.
In earlier years Baker’s would have little inserts here and there very much leftist. I finally decided there are so many good nurseries out there- so many options for quality seeds/plants and heirlooms I could do without them. Others might be also but I guess if I don’t know, I can support them. At least if they are, they keep their opinions out of their catalogs.
Our farm chemical rep just dropped off 5 lbs. of cracked pecans and 25 lbs. of satsumas. Just when I think that I'm done canning for the year, it is satsuma marmalade time! And a fresh pecan pie tomorrow.
I stirred-up a question in my own head last night. Prepared a big pot of curried butternut squash bisque and was putting away the leftovers, and I wondered if I could pressure can the bisque since it is a labor-intensive meal. Normally, this would not present a question, but I prepared the bisque from some butternut squash that I had canned last fall.
Bottom line: is it okay to can a soup made from a vegetable that was canned? I don't see why not, but I look forward to finding the answer.
RD 232, thank you for hosting the thread. It has helped me with my gardening. Hope you continue to check in!
Heirloom sweet corn is touchy about when it’s harvested, and how long it sits before eating. From what I’ve read, you pretty much have to have the water boiling before you go out to pick it, and you have to pick it the day it ripens.
I should probably mention that it’s been a while since I grew sweet corn. The last corn I grew was baby corn, and the squirrels were the ones that planted it.
I have thoroughly enjoyed these get togethers with you every week Red and you have never missed a deadline on posting them. I look at my life as a book with thousands of chapters and as this one ends so begins another with my favorite Farmer/Gardener/Hunter/Jane of all things JADB. I do hope you are not abandoning us or gardening and that you check in at least once a week when you get situated down yonder...
The NW is experiencing some most unusual weather with only one night of rain in several weeks and brilliant sunshine as the Redwood trees allow. I spend a couple of hours in the garden or yard most every day plus I cut up some pumpkins for Lady Bender to steam and freeze for pies and nut breads plus I did one for our daughter’s MiL. Today I cut back a bed of Bearded Iris, cleaned up 2 beds of Lucifer ________ and annual flower beds and we usually do that during the false spring we get in February. Attending a company Christmas dinner and 50th anniversary party tonight.
They still do, sometimes their catalogs can get pretty preachy. And their prices are rather high.
I’m still building my collection of heirlooms, so I’m still ordering from them when there’s a variety I want that I can’t find elsewhere, but I’m saving seeds so I’ll only have to order each variety once.
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