Hoyt-Clagwell Tractor. Ping me if you get the joke.
We had the Turkey dinner at supper time this year, and several really good desserts to go with the pumpkin pie. The newest member of the family (grand daughter's hubby) fixed my technical problem with the Netflix/BluRay, so now I can watch Netflix on the large TV screen again.
Watched the first season of The Crown, and really enjoyed it. Lettuce and greens are doing well under the row covers. A bunch of cherry tomatoes are now ripe on the indoor plants. Lemons are almost ripe.
Have a great weekend. Prayers up for all. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
Dreary Fall Days here...but not too cold, Thank Goodness!
I have a potted Meyer lemon, but it’s not blooming much the last year, and it fruits very lightly - too much blossom drop. I try to hand-pollinated when it blooms inside. But any suggestions to bring it into flower and get it to bear more heavily?
In spite of the frosts, there were still some salvias and aromatic aster to make a bouquet for the table, but I haven’t planted any winter crops. Too much sickness in the family this year; the garden languished. Say a prayer for my son if you will.
Hello Garden FRiends!
I have experimental results to report on Wine Cap, or Garden Giant mushrooms.
I planted two identical plantings of Artichoke starts on a sunny slope by my house. Both were mulched with a couple of inches of wood chips, however one was mulched with six inches well inoculated with King Stropharia, or Wine caps aka Garden Giant mushroom spawn.
Both were on a thrice weekly sprinkler to insure their soil was kept damp.
Both grew to the same size, however the Artichokes with mushroom spawn were slightly greener cast.
However the Artichokes yield was quite different. The wine caps produced 5 artichokes on its plants, 3 large enough to eat, the other produced none.
Besides having a few flushes of awesome tasting mushrooms.
The wine caps were a resounding success. I put them to bed for the winter by dumping 4 inches of oak chips on them today. I will add another 4 to six inches in the spring.
One basket of wine caps sold for $20 bucks at the local food co-op.
Best tasting musrooms I have ever eaten!
This next spring I hope to mulch my fruit and chestnut trees with Wine Cap beds.
Thanks for the tip on the movie, it looked like it my be a girly-girl movie. I’ll give it a look. Ate my last tomato yesterday and savored it. That is the last time I’ll try to dry Chives in the house, lol. What a smell.
Gobble Gobble...
Lady Bender does a excellent job for Thanksgiving dinner and all the trimmings. Our two children, their spouses and the two grandkids and their spouses plus the great grand daughter in waiting (due Dec 25) were here.The vetch ground cover is doing great and we have lots of winter birds but no mushrooms at this time...
Thanks for this thread. I used to garden a lot, vegetables, roses, perennials, flowering shrubs. Currently don’t live in a place I can really even have pitted plants so I hope to relocate in fish months and maybe be able to do something then.
I think my first 4 lemons are almost ripe too! They are YUGE! and starting to yellow on one side. Still got a bumper crop of peppers on various types of pepper plants and my maters haven’t had frost yet so they’re still on the vines :) From the current forecast I have at least one more good warm week. I’ve got lettuce and spinach mixes, some swiss chard and cabbages but that’s it.
I Had some nice romaine too, until the bunnies showed up!
All that’s left is some volunteer cilantro, and the onions, Swiss chard , and carrots I’m letting hang out until next year to see if I get seeds from them.
I’m enjoying the down time because the garden, my first full-sized one, was exhausting last year! I’m going to plan better next year. And more fully implement Black Angnes’ suggestions. I’m saving newspapers, leaves, and grass clippings! And the bleach solution saved my tomatoes and I got more tomatoes after the plants recovered than I thought possible.
Thank you green eyes, and the many posters here that shared your knowledge and advice!
My youngest brother lives about 2 hours away, in a slightly milder climate than where I am. Little did we know when he was growing up that he had a green thumb. He has had small yards at all of his houses, but he has some large yields in those small spaces. In the last couple of years, the two of us have found a lot of enjoyment emailing pictures of our gardens back and forth and a week ago, he sent me pics of his very last “crop” of tomatoes that he’d harvested (climate being milder, his garden starts earlier than I do & finishes later). He grows enough tomatoes to be popular with the neighbors who get the overflow & he loves hot peppers - grows habaneros, cayenne (grinds his own cayenne peppers), etc. I think he had some ghost peppers, too.
This year, for Christmas, as a result of taking up canning this summer for the very first time, I am giving all canned goods to family members, except for two. For my gardening brother, I am also including a copy of The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. I loved the Victory Garden TV show way back in the good old days & Marian’s cooking segments. This book has all the vegetables in alphabetical order. For each vegetable, there is:
A beautiful picture
Fairly detailed information on growing
Special Information section which typically includes the topics: Yields, Storage & Preserving, Hints, Microwave &
Leftovers
Marketing - where to find, especially if not a common vegetable
Cooking methods for that vegetable: baked, sauteed, steamed, blanched, & anything else that might be used for that vegetable
Recipes - Marian’s recipes for that particular veggie & she has some dandies.
The book new was $29.95 (I bought my own copy new, years ago) - it’s a large size (8.5 x 11) and almost an inch thick. It has a nice appendix which includes ‘growing essential herbs’, batters, sauces, pastry, clarifying broth, mirepoix, & much, much more.
On Amazon, I found a used copy - it has a few age spots on the sides of the pages, but the binding is perfect & the pages are unmarked - a good reading copy. The only “blemish” is somebody’s name was written in it (marked out) with the notation “Chrismas 1995” so the book is 21 year old - amazing that it survived in such excellent condition, obviously not used much if at all. It was a good deal at $9.99. I think my brother will love the book - it will be in the gift bag along with homemade salsa, hot pepper butter, chutney & maybe some wine jelly (still figuring that last item out).
If you are looking for a present for a veggie gardening friend, I can highly recommend this book - one of my very favorites. I’m really excited to give it to my brother & see his reaction because I think he’ll love it & it won’t stay in almost-perfect condition for long after he gets it. :-)
Our family had a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving. I have a new grand niece, born prematurely a few months ago, but doing great with no disabilities. Her smile lights up the room. All the elderly folks (80’s, two in 90’s) are still with us - what a blessing yet again. With the exception of two family members (one by marriage), we are all very grateful for the election result & there were a few quiet toasts. The food was delicious, as always & the family time was the BEST. Hope everyone else had a blessed & happy Thanksgiving as well.
Hoyt-Clagwell Tractor. Ping me if you get the joke.
We did Turkey Day on Friday. Fried one and smoked one. All the kids and grandkids made it except for #3 Son Taylor. He’s in South Korea with the Army for the next little while.
Didn’t do anything in the garden over the weekend, but the green beans that Mrs. Augie picked before the frost a few nights ago made a fabulous casserole for Thanksgiving dinner.
We’re spending this week in Branson with #2 Navy Son Clint and #1 Marine Daughter Leah. We’re going to hit a few of the local attractions, try to catch some trout and do a bit of relaxing while we’re here.