Free Republic

Good morning to all of you gardeners. I hope all of you are doing well this first week in November. This past week has been beautiful here in Miss. Highs in the mid 70’s, clear and dry. Great weather to clean up the yard and add to my compost pile but I just could not get motivated to do it. The indexing/archiving of this past year’s posts is still on going. Please let me know if there was a particular post that you found helpful or just interested you.

Good morning gardeners! Happy Halloween. Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour Sat. night! Since things have slowed down I thought I would revisit this years threads and try to locate and archive some of the great posts, advice and info you Freepers have given out over the past year. My objective would be to then put all the posts in to categories like; Fertilizer, Gardening Methods, Flowers etc. And then post all of this info in one thread at the beginning of next year. What do y’all think? Also I would like your input. Let me know...

The skin of that pumpkin you carve into a Jack-o'-Lantern to scare away ghosts and goblins on Halloween contains a substance that could put a scare into microbes that cause millions of cases of yeast infections in adults and infants each year. That's the conclusion of a new study in the current issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. In the study, Kyung-Soo Hahm, Yoonkyung Park and colleagues note that some disease-causing microbes are becoming resistant to existing antibiotics. As a result, scientists worldwide are searching for new antibiotics. Past studies hinted that pumpkin, long...

LYONS, Colo.—If you're a gardener or an avid farmers' market customer, suddenly it's all about winter squash and stuff that grows underground. Those trying to eat a local diet might have a dim memory of grandma's root cellar, or they might know a homesteader type who has buried a barrel in the yard and covered it with insulating materials. Turns out, if you want to be chowing down on some Colorado squash in February, you don't need a rig near that complicated. An unheated basement where the temperature stays relatively constant—50 degrees or so—works well in the state's dry climate....

Good afternoon to all of you gardeners. I apologize for the late post today. Well the last days of October are upon us and the garden is finally tilled for the last time this year. I seeded it with an annual rye grass. I also started rebuilding my compost pile. The oak and pecan trees have yet to drop their leaves so I will have to wait for their contribution to the compost pile until November.

egislation granting the Food and Drug Administration new powers to oversee the nation's food supply has elbowed its way onto Congress' crammed calendar with bipartisan support and rare agreement between consumer groups and an industry stung by product recalls. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), would require the FDA to step up inspections of food facilities and to issue new rules to improve the quality of imported food and to combat contaminants in fresh produce. The measure also would give the agency authority to recall products on its own, instead of relying on industry cooperation. "Hardly a...

I make really good soup. The only reason I'm thinking about it now is that we're going from hot, dusty haying to cold and wind-blown leaves. That brings out the need for warm, homey food, and nothing fits the bill like soup. I make such good soup that complete strangers have asked me for my recipe. That's where the problem arises. I don't have a recipe, and there's no way that this week's soup is going to be anything like next week's soup, no matter how hard I try. If that statement sounds familiar based on other things I've written,...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. It looks like the rains have finally passed by my area at least for the next week. October is typically one of the driest months here in Mississippi but we have had rain from 4 to 16 inches above normal. It will take a couple of days for my garden area to dry out before I can get in there and clean up a little more and then till in my compost.

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Running a little late with the post this morning. My garden area is now clear of plants. If the daily rain showers will just by pass me for a few days I will do a final tilling and remove a few more of the roots left behind. To all of you with Fall/Winter gardens I wish you the best.

So as it turns out, even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has its own SWAT team. You don’t need to know. You can’t know.” That’s what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search. The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris’ longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. The six agents, wearing...

A little more than three weeks ago I chopped a pile of garden cabbages and embarked upon another potentially dangerous kitchen experiment. I was determined to make sauerkraut. The recipe called for a pail (or crock), shredded cabbage and Kosher salt. It's easy. Simply layer the cabbage in the pail, sprinkle with salt and repeat. And allow the thoroughly natural process of decomposition to commence. As an aside - I would remind my 46 readers that you can do this yourself at home with little risk of injury. Other than chopping with a big, sharp chef's knife you will run...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. I started the clean up of my garden this past week. I am taking my time doing it. I started with my tomato plants and decided not to use them in my compost pile. I do plan on pulling up my landscape fabric and saving it for next season. I would like to plant winter rye grass in the garden but would like other advice from y’all. What would be a good cover for this area until spring?

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. first lady Michelle Obama is to kick off the 40th anniversary season of the children's TV show "Sesame Street" with a segment encouraging kids to plant gardens and eat healthy food. Obama, who is planting a fruit and vegetable garden on the grounds of the White House, will appear in the November10 season debut of "Sesame Street" -- the educational show for kids that is broadcast in more than 120 countries around the world. Producers said on Tuesday that Obama will teach the furry "residents" of Sesame Street about the benefits of growing a garden...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Rain! Rain! Rain! Constant trains of thunderstorms have brought my gardening to an end for this year. My tomatoes could not handle all the water and they have drowned. My other garden plants have succumbed to the big wet also. Once things dry out a bit I will be digging up the garden and concentrate on building up my compost pile. I will miss the fresh tomatoes but have more than enough canned to get through the winter months. I enjoyed my garden very much and will now work to make next years...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. For most of us this summer’s gardening season is almost over and some of you have started fall/winter gardens. I thought it would be interesting to find out what you have planted in your winter gardens and also what you are doing now to prepare for next springs garden. If you have a favorite recipe for the foods you have grown or just a recipe you would like to share please feel free to post it.

Much was given, many were lost on this day, A man of terror tried to take our spirit away. Do not let our new found spirit and unity fade, As you look on this flag, remember this day ... 9-11-01

Not all gardeners are no impact gardeners. Organic gardeners do their best to leave a positive impact on the environment. There are many ways of working toward leaving no impact. Here are just a few green gardening suggestions. Try to think of your own ways to leave no impact in the garden as well. Natural pesticides Organic gardeners are sure to use nature friendly pesticides that leave no impact on our water supply. This step will also protect beneficial insects such as honey bees and lady bugs. Go here for organic pesticide recipes. Barrier pest control Another good organic gardening...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. A couple of FReepers have sent me alerts to threads posted on FR that many of you gardeners might find informative or interesting. I have posted links to them below the Gardening Banner. Thanks to Freepers tubebender and Califreak.

Good morning to all of you gardeners. It looks like the weather, rain and unusually cool temperatures, or heat and drought have been big factors for many gardeners this season. Diana in Wisconsin reports that her 4th of July tomatoes finally ripened on August 26th! MtnClimber reports his 4th of July tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes and he is worried about them not ripening before the first freeze. Tells us where you are located and how your garden has done this season.

Not long ago, the first lady planted the first seeds for the White House's own organic garden. Now the Obamas want to expand the idea to set up a farmers market just outside the White House. One aim of the market will be to help local farmers deliver fresh produce to D.C. school cafeterias, to encourage kids to make healthier choices in their diet. The president announced the plan at an interactive health care strategy meeting yesterday:"When it comes to food, one of the things that we are doing is working with school districts...Let's figure out how can we get...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Hopefully everyone has had some success with his or her gardens this year. I ran across a nice web site a few weeks ago that lists Pick-Your-Own farms by state and by county. It also has Illustrated Canning instructions and recipes for just about any fruit and vegetable. A link to the site is below the Weekly Gardening banner.

Hillard Green has the right idea. The old adage "Waste not want not" applies for sure in these days of exorbitant food prices. And those of us who grow our own have always known the value of preserving nature's bounty for off-season use. Since tomatoes are easy to grow and often plentiful, you may find yourself up to your ears in the ripe, scarlet fruit as frost approaches—and a few hints on the preservation of the harvest may be welcome. I've also taken the canning jar shortage into account in preparing this article, and have included some guides to the...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. It is Mid August and so far the gardening thread has been a nice success. I hope those of you who have experienced some of the weather extremes that have plagued many regions are getting some relief. I am in Central Mississippi and we have experienced some nice weather this summer after having a very wet spring. My garden is doing quite well.

Despite some really eloquent speeches to the contrary, our “for sale” House of Representatives passed the Food Fascism Act….euphemistically called a food safety act, by a margin of about 140 over the naysayer’s. True to form, Rosa DeLauro spoke about things she knows nothing about and couldn’t care less; Rosa just loves her some Monsanto! And that exclusion for farms??? Gone! And that includes you organic idiots who thought you had kissed enough behinds to have your industry excluded. The newly revised bill that appeared overnight after the original was defeated 29th of July, now includes all those farms we...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. A lot of you in the North and North East have been experiencing an abnormal cool and wet summer this year. These weather conditions are ideal for Late Blight in tomato and potato plants. I have posted a link (below the Gardening Banner) to the web site “Cold Climate Gardening” which has pictures of what Late Blight looks like in both plants. The web site also has information on what action to take if your plants have Late Blight and links to other sites with more information.

Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December 31, 2009, and not a word has been spoken in main stream media about this threat to humanity. Yet, according to the projections based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a minimum of 3 billion people will die from the Codex mandated vitamin and mineral guideline alone. Former Nazi is...

The FSA ignored pesticides, the main health issue, in its report on organic food, says Geoffrey Lean.What's with the Food Standards Agency and organic food? It just can't leave it alone. Not, of course, in the sense of wanting to wolf it down, but in trying to persuade the us not to do so. The agency says it stands for "safer food". But while it has a mixed record on additives that cause hyperactivity, toxic dyes, illegal GM foods, or pesticides, it has, from the start, campaigned against organic food, which no one claims to be dangerous. Indeed, in 2005,...

CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) - Armed with pruning shears and a paper bag, Nance Klehm walks along a Chicago sidewalk, pointing out plants and weeds that can make a tasty salad or stir-fry. She snips stalks from a weed with downy leaves and white powder commonly called goosefoot or lamb's quarters. "I collect a lot of this," said Klehm, 43. "It's indistinguishable from spinach when you cook it. I never, never grow spinach or other greens except kale. Everything else I forage." Klehm is among a small group of urban foragers across the United States who collect weeds and plants from...

New homes are full of questions and possibilities. What color to paint the walls? How to arrange the furniture? What to plant in the garden? The Obama family must have asked a lot of those same questions when they moved into the White House. However, the first lady's dreams of growing an organic vegetable garden have been dragged down by a previous resident that refuses to leave: sludge.

Alfred Hitchcock, the master of dramatized horror-suspense, once told me that the greatest scares came in broad daylight, not in the dark. So it might be with "Food, Inc.," a documentary that opens our eyes to what we have been conditioned to feel was a "safe place" in life. We still go to grocery stores that feature pictures of rustic farms that suggest Americana. We notice that a double cheeseburger is cheaper than broccoli. We are in a rush. We buy cheap and save time. We may be fooling ourselves. "Food, Inc." shows the over-controlled world of food production, a...

The House has passed a far-reaching food safety bill requiring more government inspections and imposing new penalties on those who violate the law, reacting strongly to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts that killed at least nine people. The legislation would require greater oversight of food manufacturers and give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to order recalls. It also would require the FDA to develop a system for better tracing food-borne illnesses. Food companies would be required to create detailed food safety plans. President Barack Obama praised the bill soon after it was passed, calling it "a major...

When First Lady Michelle Obama planted an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn in March 2009, she hoped to both set an example of healthy eating and to grow tasty edibles for her daughters and husband. But Michelle's organic dream has been dashed by a nasty toxic legacy lurking in the soils of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It turns out that a previous Presidential gardening team had used sewage sludge for fertilizer

Good morning to all of you gardeners. The last day of July and I am wondering what August has in store for us weather wise? One thing I do know is the weather will continue to do what it wants and the only thing you can do about it is to accept it or move somewhere else. Of course once you move the weather there will change.

Good morning to all of you gardeners. There is only one more week left in July and hopefully everyone is enjoying their summer gardens and enjoying the harvest. If you are planning a Fall garden now is the time plan what you will be planting and when to plant. The key to successful winter gardening is knowing the average date of the first killing frost in your region. You then plant your winter crops early enough to let them reach their full maturity before that killing frost. Local garden authorities can give you information about the timing of first frosts...

HR 2749 is being rushed through Congress, and the house may look to suspend the rules and fast track the bill at Obama’s request. Just what can we expect from this legislation? A lot more of the following: Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville to harbor beneficial insects, an alternative to pesticides. He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind. “I was...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Well it looks like the weather is going to be cooling down in the Midwest, East Coast and parts of the South starting today and continuing through the weekend. Wow it is looking like September in July! Our plants are going to be confused!

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (KCBS) -- Once a darling of the Marin County good life, high-end garden retailer Smith and Hawken will go out of business by the end of the year. Liquidation is already underway at the company's six Bay Area stores.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms, U.S. plant scientists said on Friday. "Late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the United States," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York..... This year's cool, wet weather created perfect conditions for the disease. "Hopefully, it will turn sunny," McGrath said. "If we get into our real summer hot dry weather, this disease...

The insect world living in Colorado gardens looks much different this year, thanks to the cool, wet spring. People are abuzz about masses of ladybugs up in the mountains and in the Denver area. "In some parts of the state they're through the roof," said Whitney Cranshaw, an extension entomologist at Colorado State University. "We've never seen so many." Aphids and mosquitoes are also out in force, along with slugs and snails. Spring deluges triggered an abundance of certain insects. But some experts also cite the "victory garden" factor. "It's a phenomenal year for people to be gardening," said Carol...

Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms... "Late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the United States," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York. She said the fungal disease, spread by spores carried in the air, has made its way into the garden centers of large retail chains in the Northeastern United States. "Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Lowe's are some of...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Toward the end of last weeks Gardening Thread there was a short discussion about saving Heirloom Tomato seeds. Many of you might have missed the information so I thought I would start this weeks thread on that topic.

Good morning to all of you gardeners. I hope every one of you have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend! Since just about everyone grows tomatoes in their vegetable garden I thought I would share some information I stumbled across concerning when to pick your tomatoes.Every tomato lover knows fresh, “vine-ripe” flavor is by far the best.At the same time, many don’t know what “vine ripe” means. So, whether growing or buying tomatoes, they may be limiting their access to the top flavor of the season.Tomatoes develop their optimum nutrition, color and flavor when they’re in the full...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says its high-profile garden on the South Lawn has tested positive for lead although it is not at dangerous levels. White House spokeswoman Katie McCormick-Lelyveld said Thursday that tests on the soil in the White House garden detected lead levels of 93 parts per million. Soil is considered unsafe for growing vegetables when it reaches more than 500 parts per million.

Good morning to all of you gardeners. It is time for some of us to start harvesting the fruit of our labor. Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Eggplants, Zukes, Cukes and Hot Peppers! What wonderful veggies have y’all harvested so far and what veggies are you anticipating the most?

Obama detractors are suggesting that the garden on the South Lawn (planted by Mrs. Obama and schoolchildren in March) is fake. The conspiracy theorists claim that, despite a lot of compost and a very rainy spring, the vegetables harvested by the first lady and those same schoolchildren last Tuesday could not have grown so big in just 90 days. These critics surmise that the White House substituted mature plants for immature ones - in the dead of night, I guess - in order to fool the American public. An actual-dirt dirty trick that would live up to the name Watercressgate....

Good morning to all of you gardeners. This Sunday is the official beginning of summer. Here in Mississippi the heat of summer has been around for weeks and will continue into October. Daytime highs are in the mid to high 90’s with nighttime temperatures in the lower 70’s. Meanwhile at the White Hut - Michelle’s garden has produced 90 pounds of produce including lettuce, snap peas, beans, kale, collard greens, chard, broccoli and green beans and one beautiful eggplant. Michelle and a bunch of kids picked an additional 73 pounds of lettuce and 12 pounds of peas last Tuesday.

So today, I had the first serious round of my great grandmother Hale’s sliced tomatoes, a recipe from the Hale House tea room in Glastonbury, CT from– I’m not sure– the twenties? It’s simple but guaranteed if the ingredients are exactly right– garden fresh tomatoes and basil, in particular. I’m posting this in part to taunt a regular reader in Maine, where high Summer has apparently not arrived to this extent....

There can't be many First Ladies who would be prepared to get their hands dirty for a White House photo opportunity. Then again, Michelle Obama has constantly proved she isn't an ordinary First Lady. The mother-of-two welcomed a group of school children to the White House garden to pick lettuce and peas they helped plant in the spring. The harvest was the culmination of an ongoing project with Bancroft Elementary School. Many of the students had helped the first lady to plant the vegetable garden in April. She, in turn, had visited the garden at their school in Washington last...

Students join Mrs. Obama in harvesting garden Fifth-graders help pick the lettuce and peas they had planted in the spring Alex Brandon / AP First lady Michelle Obama harvests vegetables with fifth-graders from Bancroft Elementary School in the garden on the South Lawn of The White House in Washington on Tuesday. June 16: First lady Michelle Obama welcomed students back to the White House vegetable garden. June 16, 2009 WASHINGTON - First lady Michelle Obama welcomed fifth-graders back to the White House garden Tuesday to pick the lettuce and peas they helped plant in the spring. The harvest was the...