Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 3, January 20, 2012

January 20, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Blueberries make a nice hedge, and there are so many varieties these days that you should be able to find the one that is perfect for your area. They have developed a hazelnut that is a shrub. Fig trees also make a nice, dense barrier all the way to the ground.

If you can put a sturdy top rail across some fence, muscadines would do well and you can make some kickin' jelly, syrup, juice and/or wine with those. You could train some blackberries or raspberries to a fence as well. We have several fence lines covered in blackberries because the birds have deposited them there.

[tob2]

I use it in recipes which call for spinach. Have none available right now. FYI, Swiss Chard is very bitter when eaten raw and needs to be cooked. A simple recipe is the take the leaves and saute them with fresh garlic in a small amount of olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

[Darth Reardon]

Got Aquaponics?

No, but it's something I really want to look into this spring. Care to share some more info, maybe with pictures?

[tbw2]

Is gleaning fruit from a source like this practical?
http://neighborhoodfruit.com/find_fruit

[Darth Reardon]

I have some lettuce, pole beans, black eyed peas, and a couple types of okra seeds that I have been growing repeatedly (often unintentionally). Also a sweet onion which I haven’t tried yet, but the package says heirloom. Send me a mail with your address if you want to try any.

[LomanBill]

>>Care to share some more info, maybe with pictures?

Heh. Absolutely plan on sharing soon FRiend.

Got the heat exchanger reworked today ;-)

Next weekend I’ll get ‘er painted and presentable. Right now looks like a WIP Construction zone... which it is.

The bugs are pretty much worked out of the system; and my intent is that when I do the presentation, the system will be be in a proven and stable state that folks can duplicate relatively easily with off the shelf components.

Stay tuned.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I don't know what all is involved. Any source of local bounty seems to be a very good idea.

I am in a very rural area that has been farmland ever since, well forever. There are many old home sites, generally no house anymore, but you can tell the old sites because there will be a group of trees and shrubs in the middle of open farmland.

There is almost always old pecan trees, a few fig trees, a plum or two, peaches, and sometimes a quince tree. With permission, I can get more fruit and nuts than we could use in 4 lifetimes, and I do canning and preserving a full 3 or 4 months every year.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Mark and I completed the cutout of the bee hive today, and Mark's wife and my husband went along. We were carrying a manlift on a 30 ft. gooseneck trailer and with Mark still injured, my husband drove and Mark's wife kept him company while Mark and I were up on the lift removing the bees.

We have photos and I'll get them sorted and post a couple of them tomorrow. It was a small hive of probably 40,000 bees and we got almost all of them, including the queen.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Hope the dental appt. went okay. Thought you were gonna check back in and I thought about you today.

[tubebender]

Shhhhh...can’t you see I’m watching the 49s...

[Gabz]

You’re right, I did say I would check back in...............in a way I did because I read - but I should have posted. My bad.

Dental appointment went as well as could be expected. She is learning her lesson that not brushing holds VERY serious consequences.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

shhhhhhhhh ... sorry! So am I ... they are in trouble.

[Gabz]

So am I - but I’m not really happy here. I really do not want to be rooting for the Giants in the Superbowl.......

[Gabz]

EGADS..............root for the Giants? ACKKKKKKKK

I was born and raised in NYC and have NEVER rooted for the Giants..........

[tubebender]

Serves me right, they lost! Looking forward to your photos but who owns the man lift or do you use it to look over the top of the corn?

[JustaDumbBlonde]

A friend of the youngest son has a steel building construction business and owns several lifts. We have borrowed this one before to peek over the corn, and to trim some of our trees. Since Mark couldn't climb scaffolding, I borrowed the manlift.

Here Mark (left) and I are beginning to remove the wood shakes. Very little room up there, we have the bee vacuum, a hive box, and we hung the buckets for the honeycomb and the shop vac on the outside of the bucket to make room.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I was in a tough spot ... don't want to root for the Giants, but didn't want to root for SF 'cause they beat the Saints and I'm still pouting.

Thanks for letting me know everything was okay.

[perchprism]

I live near Raleigh, 7B. This year we’ll try to plant cabbage a couple weeks earlier than last, because we got bad worm damage right at harvest time last year, unfortunately. So we’ll plant our cabbage and brocolli nearer to the beginning of February than the middle, like last year.

Can’t wait. The garden’s ready to plant.

[Gabz]

I know how you feel - the Giants beat the Packers.

This was a really tough game for me because I am a Saints fan.

I think the yung’un has learned her lesson - she had a tooth pulled 2 weeks ago. But she’s not done - she’s got another appointment in 2 weeks.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good luck this year! Nothing better than home grown cole crops ... they have so much more flavor than those that you buy in the grocery. Do you intend to start your seeds inside now, or are you planning to direct sow?