Conference rdvax::grateful

RE:           <<< Note 250.0 by TLE::ABBOT "J. R. "Bob" Dobbs in 92" >>>
                            -< Grateful Gardening >-

   >    Some favorites I already have sprouted:
   > brussel sprouts, broccoli, tomatoes (of course), a mixture of hot
   


   Alright Scott...If you have any extra sprouts you know where to send them



  Phyllis!  :^)




    

    
    NOT!!!
    
    

    French intensive biodynamic gardening..or "double-dug" gardening. You
    dig down twice as deep and half as wide, the idea being let the roots
    spread in nice loose composted soil and the plant does better, you can
    crowd twice as many plants into half as much garden. We don't grow food
    like we used to, my parents live in Pueblo Colo., the desert region,
    and they can grow anything. Our family freezer is stocked year round from
    them with beans peas squash balckeyed peas okra cucumbers califlower
    broccoli carrots tomatoes greens of all kinds peaches apricots apples
    cherries pears and on and on and on........  
                                       
    rfb who used to use gardening as relaxation alot and now just plays
    with  the grass and flowers

rfb,

Is is dificult to freeze fresh veggies?  I mean, do you just stick 'em in a zip
lock and shove it in the freezer?

We're thinking of doing a little gardening too.

Just curious,

tim

P.S.  Amazing.  A serious question from me.

    No Tim, my parents blanch some veggies like corn before freezing, but
    alot like peas and beans really don't need blanching, although most
    books etc will tell you to. We use zip locks or Seal-a-meal type
    baggies. My mom even freezes tomatoes and peppers whole.
    Check with yer County Extension office (if ya got such as that there)
    for tons of info.
    
    rfb who just had stuffed bellpeppers from last summers fresh peppers. 

	a subject near and dear to my heart!

	one of the first things we did upon purchasing our land
	13 years ago was to pick out a site for our garden.
	The previous owners had cut down some trees at various
	locations on the land - we didn't want to cut down any more
	trees than necessary - one location ended up being the house 
	site, one the garden site.  When we went to turn the "soil"
	the first time, every time the shovel went into the ground
	it would hit a rock - oftentimes a BIG rock.  We built a
	2-3 foot high rock wall around the perimeter of the garden as
	we turned the soil. (I ended up at the chiropractor's office
	after a weekend of that!).  Through the years we've added
	manure and compost and continued working the soil every spring
	(it seems more rocks show up somehow after every winter), until
	now when I turn the soil, more times than not, I will stick
	my shovel into nice dark earthwormy soil and it's rare to hit
	a rock anymore...

	I love in the midst of summer to walk out to my garden and
	say 'mmm, what shall I have for dinner tonight' and commence
	to pick a fresh-as-fresh-can-be dinner.  I mostly eat 
	vegetables and there's nothing like just-picked veggies -
	so delicious.  In the winter when I buy produce, I try to
	buy organic - and that is quite expensive here in New England.
	But in the summer, I know exactly what went into (and what DIDN'T
	go into) my food.  It is all organically grown.  Besides the
	manure and compost, I mulch.  I can't sing the praises of this
	method enough - I MULCH, MULCH, MULCH!!!!  This past summer I
	was only home 3 days out of every week and that was when I found
	out the true benefits of this method.  After the seedlings start
	sprouting, I surround them with mulch - hay or grass clippings or
	leaves or even pine needles.  I knew this would act as fertilizer,
	but it also keeps down weeds and it keeps moisture in.  So, even
	though I had little time to tend my garden last year, it did great.

	Besides my vegetable garden, I have lots of flower gardens, a
	kitchen herb garden, fruit trees and bushes.

	Gardening is therapeutic to me.  I enjoy getting out and digging
	my fingers into the soil.  I marvel as I begin to see new growth.
	I tend my gardens with purposefulness - the good energy I give
	to them I hope to have returned.  My vegetable gardens feed my
	family.  My herb garden adds spice to my life ;-)  My flower
	gardens feed my soul - I love fresh cut flowers around my house.
	I enjoy giving flowers as gifts.  The bees they attract fertilize
	my other gardens and fruit trees.  The hummingbirds are just
	plain miraculous to observe.  I love being directly in touch
	with the cycles of nature...

	That said...I have had a tough time this year getting into
	gardening (or anything for that matter)...I'm suffering a
	mean case of the blues these days and haven't been able to
	quite snap out of it.  I'm working a sh!tload of hours for
	Digital, Guntis is STILL helping his brother build his house
	which means he's gone from Thursday till Sunday each and every
	week, I usually go on vacation this week every year (my kids are
	off from school and we pack up the bus and head south for a week
	of camping) - because of where my group is in our schedule, noone
	can take vacations now (I NEED IT!) - well, we decided that instead
	of taking a week now, we would go see the Albany shows and take
	the week after to do our family camping trip, but NO!, I get
	shut out of Albany...the proverbial straw...:-(

	That said, ;-), I actually HAVE started working my garden this
	week - if I don't do it now, I'll have to contend with black
	flies.  Guntis has started all the seeds inside, and I have
	planted everything that can go in the ground now - I got peas
	in and swiss chard and spinach and lettuce.  Now it's all under
	two inches of new snow!

	Debess

    ya but that 2 inches of snow is just what the chard and peas need! 
    
    keep da faith......
                       rfb

	this beautiful weather we've experienced this past weekend
	has turned my thoughts, like deane-o, to skiing...NOT!...
	i've been out working my gardens.  glorious weather and no bugs!

	actually, this year we're trying to take back some of the wild
	land from the blackberries and create a new rock garden.  so
	i was outside pulling tons o' pricker sticks out of the ground
	by the roots in hopes they won't return (Hah!)...I just -couldn't-
	bear to cover up, so today i look like i was in a fight with a
	nasty cat...and i lost!

	lots of raking away old leaves to find sprouts coming up...
	every year I still marvel at nature's rebirth.

	my family created a "Jerry garden" last August...some physical
	mourning...build a rock retainer wall, filled it with soil and 
	then planted some annuals...but this year, we'll probably plant 
	perennials.  I am still in search of the perfect work-of-art to
	put in the garden...something to reflect on, something symbolic...
	for now I have created a little rock "sculpture"...it got busted
	by the snow but I put it together again yesterday...

	got lots of seedlings coming up in the greenhouse...some will
	go into the ground soon before the blackflies descend.  Already
	got some peas and spinach in the ground.  (Scary thing happened
	over the weekend - the south wall of our living room is entirely
	glass from floor to sealing - 5 windows - as we were eating 
	breakfast yesterday, we noticed that one window had "fallen out" -
	the sealant had given and it was tipped out of place slightly,
	not broken - but these are Big windows - scary if one had fallen
	out onto someone).

	our new field came back lush and green - will be more than ready 
	this year for volleyball at Oktoberfest !

Debess, how about a "chia-Jerry" as the centerpiece of your new rock garden?!
:)))  just kiddin'

Yeah, this is the weather we've been waiting for...softball, and endless frisbee
weather...nuthin like hangin' outside in a t-shirt and shorts, sun, music, cold
beeyahs, a warm breeze...

but alas, rotting away in a cube, as Deano would say

>Debess, how about a "chia-Jerry" as the centerpiece of your new rock garden?!

	everytime I'm over at da ve's and see that thing sitting on his
	kitchen table, I think, how would that go in the Jerry Garden?
	but, no, I think I want whatever I'm looking for to be a -bit-
	more subtle ;-)

	Debess

    I've got the answer . . .
    
    One of those spinning whirl-a-gigs that finger picks banjo instead of
    sawing wood (etc.).
    
    You might have to have it custom made, but it'd be worth it.
    
    Jamie

	:-)

I was working outside yesterday and the black flies are ALREADY out.

quick little buggers....
bob

	onooooooooooooooooooo...
	if they're in Milford now, they'll be in Lyndeboro soon.

    I added some begoinas (Scarlet...of course) in my garden, that serves as a
    memorial garden for my Mother.

    the day after Jerry died last year, we had a few people over and 
    Cathysloan brought us a 3' scarlet hibiscus which we proceeded to 
    pretned is a scarlet begonia.  very beautiful and dramatic. I kept it
    alive quite awhile in its pot and then transplanted it to a lvoely
    spot near one of the stone walls in the yard.  thanks cathysloan - its
    still a grate memory.
    
    c  

Anybody know where I could buy hardy hybiscus seed?

Jim

deb and i want to add another 12x10 piece to our garden this
year.  we had a pretty successful beggie gahdin last year, but
it wasn't big enough!  so, this year we'll expand.  being on that
hill in the open field makes for a good place to gardin......

we'll also be planting more trees, hostas, etc...
lotta work to do this summer...

	a terrapin - a dancing terrapin - that's what I want in our
	Jerry Memorial garden...I told this to Guntis and then said,
	now all I have to do is find one!  and he said "why not have
	Lara make one" - PERFECT!  Lara is the creative, artistic one
	in the family - she is psyched to do it - I am psyched to have
	her do it - we went out yesterday and bought a bunch of fimo,
	she's making a mold out of aluminum foil - he dances! his
	arms thrown over his head and one leg lifted up as he prances
	with joy! - now she's covering it with multicolored clay...
	this is just so excellent ;-)

	Debess

Just thought I'd mention an interesting visual treat...fill your
wheelbarrow with water and roll it across a bumpy lawn...lots of
dynamics, wave patterns, standing waves, refraction (if it's sunny),
and you have to be careful to not get too wrapped up in it that you
don't walk into something by mistake.

Dan

    coulda used you this weekend Dan.  we put in 5K of lawn over the
    weekend and were reminded how old we are.   coulda used someone
    who was into rolling a wheelbarrow  :-)
    
    
    

>   coulda used you this weekend Dan.  we put in 5K of lawn over the
>   weekend [...]

Wow!  5 Kilobytes of lawn!  Is that a lot?

Dan

    >wow!  5 Kilobytes of lawn! Is that a lot?
    not quite a lot ... it's close to 1/4 acre aaaaahahaaaaaa
    
    
    

sounds like about 10,000 square feet - that's a bunch of sod.

Jim

Yard work is my name on the weekends.
let me see... put in a new veggie gahdin.  hauled 4 yds of
dirt by wheel barrow up a hill to the new garden.  that was a lotta
dirt.  that is planted now and we are awaiting anxously.  oh, also
hadda extend the fence around the gahdin too... made a trench for the
fence to keep the hardcore critters out.

dug a 130' trench 2 wks ago for part 1 of my drainage plan.  this
was back breaking work as we have clay, and digging in that you need
a jack hammer.

this weekend... skid at kmart, then, finished myu 130' trench.  at
the top i built a catch basin w/ loose stone and a slotted pipe.  should
cvollect h20 coming out around the foundation.  also seeded the whole
thing too... 9 hrs of labor yesturday.

i like doing it though.
get my butt in shape... i've lost 6# in the last 4 wks, want to lose
another 10#.  plus, i save $$.... BIG $$$ ... hiring someone to do that
work would have been $1000s.

still have a huuuuugge trench to dig int he back to trap and funnel
h20 away from the house that runs from the top of the hill.  this past
spring, we litterally had a river coming down the hill to the house...
so, i'm gonna dig a perimeter drain of sorts to get the h20 channeled
out... 

also: front steps (1997), back steps (maybe 1996), and continuous
landscaping... do it all myself...

	JC, speaking as someone who did those very things 10-15
	years ago - making a yard out of the woods - landscaping
	by hand, lovingly planting perennials,trees and bushes 
	mostly from friends' yards - and now, 15 years later
	(still working at it, but...) enjoying the fruits of our
	labor, so to speak.  I was just thinking this weekend,
	how will I ever be able to move away, now that I've put so 
	much into it!?!

	(if you have perennial gardens, anytime you want some stuff 
	to transplant, come on over!  I need to thin some of my gardens 
	out...)

	Have been enjoying fresh picked spinach and lettuce salads
	lately - and strawberry rhubarb pie!

	Debess

Yup, that is where we are at Debess.
When we got our new home, we had a crappy lawn and that was it.
and part of that lawn was a field too.
i look at how far we have gone to date and it is pretty good.
i've transplanted over 20 trees from Harvard (from my parents land and
friend's land)... they're growing, but, i've had to nurture them.
and, we've lost a few too :-(....

definitely a ton of back breaking work.
by the time the night rolls around, i'm bushed.
deb has a bad arm, so, she can only help me a limited amount.
i tell her to back down from the hard work 'cuz of her
arm... she loves to play in the yard w/ me though.

i might take ya up on the plants debess.  i already got about 35
plants from my parent's house (my mother is a hardcore gardener)
and i'm in need of a ton more.  time time time... if i had time!!!

    
    Put in a perenniel garden last saturday during a steady rain .. really
    good for the plants and for the complexion! But more importantly I
    wanted to tel you al abot the wonderful Scarlett Hibiscus plant that
    Cathysloan gave me right after Jerry died.  I put it in the ground 
    last fall and this spring (very late in the spring i might add), it 
    is back!!! About 12" tall already and showing signs of blooming soon.
    thanks again to Cathysloan for the perpetual memory of Jerry and for 
    the kind gift - oops does this go in the THANKS note? 
    
    carol

my mother is an avid hosta gardener and i guess she
created this hosta somehow, perhaps x-breeding.  anyways,
i have it now... and since it is a new hosta breed, it 
deserves a new name.  she chose "Jerry Garcia" as the
name, last yr, right around jerry's passing

	does it have multicolored stripes instead of just white ones ;-)

	JC - someday I would love to have one - I have JUST the perfect
	garden for it!

	Debess

Debess, i trying to get my mom to 'register' it with the hosta
society or whatever. that woudl be classic.  it is a *huge* hosta,
compared to the others i have.... next time you are over, i'll show
it to ya...   she always asks how Jerry is doing,, and, jerry lives!

ok,  what's a 'hosta'?

thanks,
bob

	some people use them as borders along walkways or driveways -
	they're like little "bushes" of leaves, maybe a foot in diameter - 
	sometimes the leaves are all green, sometimes they have white 
	stripes in them.

	this time of year, they send up these shoots of purple flowers -
	and the flowers are "puffy" - when I was a kid I used to walk	
	along a row of hostas and pop all the flowers - and they really
	do pop when you squeeze them.

	in the winter, they die back but come spring they curl themselves
	out of the ground again.

	bees love 'em.
	I do too!

	ps that is SO cool of your mom to pick that name for her new
	breed JC

    
    Would MUCH rather have that other one that sounds a lot like hosta.

Jerry Garcia, the hosta, is probably 2' tall or close to it and has
a diameter of close to 3' i'd say.
it is pretty huge compared to the others...

The begonia which somebody gave me last year has flourished (especially
since repotting to a larger vessel), and has even flowered...I don't
know that pink flowers can be considered "scarlet", but I'm pretty
happy anyhow.  Also, it has put out a shoot (not sure if that's a
technical term w.r.t. plants...this is the first houseplant we've
had which survived over a month...what I don't know could fill volumes),
and it looks like it might be large enough to make it on its own.

So would anyone like a begonia offshoot?  And would anyone care to
give me any tips/hints/pointers to increase its chances of survival?
Any and all offers welcome!

Dan

and the end of last year, we yanked the remaining stuff out of our
gahdin and dumped it on the compost pile.  that included a lot of
rotten/spent cherry tomatoes.  since then, we move the compost pile
and i create a new gahdin...  so, this weekend, we're doing the gahdin
thing, tying things up, etc. i notice all the tomato plants growing
w/ the weeds from the compost pile!  seems like the seeds sprouted or
something!!!  kinda cool... now we'll have millions of cherry tomatoes!!

>something!!!  kinda cool... now we'll have millions of cherry tomatoes!!

if you ever need help disposing if these millions of cherry tomatoes.. I can
help.. I loooovveeee cherry tomatoes!

 - Josh

I had a six-foot tall begonia house plant - damn thing
wouldn't die.  I guess it's a "succulent", and would go
for weeks without water or anything...it would appear to
die off, but give it a tiny bit of water and it would
come back like crazy.

I finally ended up cutting it up into little pieces and
tossing it in the dump, where I imagine it just grew
into several new plants in the dump....

Kinda like "Little Shop of Horrors"...

> I finally ended up cutting it up into little pieces and
> tossing it in the dump, where I imagine it just grew
> into several new plants in the dump....

Err, Tim, I was looking for tips on keeping it alive, not killing it.  :-)

I actually damaged it quite a bit once already, by moving it out
into the bright sunshine...it got a bunch of tissue thin spots on
its leaves, which subsequently dried up and left dead patches in
the middle of the leaves.  I think I burnt it...should have used
more Coppertone, I guess.

> Kinda like "Little Shop of Horrors"...

I didn't see that one...but I always liked the brooms in Fantasia.

Dan

Josh, i will let ya know.
last season, we have 3 cherry tomator plants and we couldn't
eat all those freakin' tomotoes.  for a while, we were getting
50 ripes ones PER DAY!  must have have 4000 of those suckers.  so this
year, we planted 2 cherry tomato plants and 5 beefstake.  plus we
now have the 'wild' cherry tomato plants...

last night... fresh lettuce & brocolli from the garden plus some
early corn from a local fahmer, ...

>last season, we have 3 cherry tomator plants and we couldn't
>eat all those freakin' tomotoes.  for a while, we were getting
>50 ripes ones PER DAY!  must have have 4000 of those suckers.  so this

goddamn!!  isn't there a cherry.tomato beer recipe or somethin' ? :-)
Hell, Sam Adams has cherry.wheat beer, so cherry.tomato isn't far off, right?
d'oh...... :-)

  josh

    left to ripen well, they do make great grenades...ala the great texas
    colorado tomato wars! 
    
    rfb

                      <<< Note 250.43 by SPECXN::BARNES >>>

>    left to ripen well, they do make great grenades...ala the great texas
>    colorado tomato wars! 

They have a big tomato war in Milford,NH and thereabouts every year....
ha!
incoming!

    Tomato war in Milford NH ?  cool Bobo - tell me more!
    
    I know they have a zuccini (how the hell do you spell that NEWAAAAYYYY)
    festival in Mont Vernon or Brookline (NH) every year to give homage to
    the almighty zuccini.  
    

    Well carol
    the zucchini is god like in the vegetable kingdom
    you can bake it..fry it...make bread out of it..eat it raw with dip....
    just an all around edible

    >Zucchini is also useful in perpetrating various felonies...
    
    ahh yes !  the silent and uncomplaining substitute for a cucumber
    
    
    

    
    i just picked my 1st 2 Zukes yesterday!  
    
    they were of the non-felonious variety   8-)
    
    
    Toby

we picked a bunch of cherry tomats... mabbe 10 or so, p[lus 2 cukes
and a few heads of lettuce.   yum

    we haven't had a garden in several years, since my parents moved to
    Pueblo, 60 miles south of us. They have hotter weather, better soil,
    and my dad doesn't mind paying water bills of over 100$. So we let them
    grow everything, sometimes we help harvest, but they usually "put up" 
    everything. They are two old people that grow enough veggies for the
    whole block. Last week I helped snap Blue Lake green beans and my mom
    froze these rather than canned. We have all types of frozen veggies all
    winter long...greens (us southerners like collards, mustard and 
    turnip greens) beans, brocoli, even berries that my parents order by
    the box fulls to freeze. Freash stuff all summer...zukes, white
    "patty-pan" squash (my favorites), okra!, black-eyed peas!!!, jalopena
    bell, and anahiem peppers, carrots, cukes, TOMATOES!!!!, like 3-4
    different types, green onions, lettuce, spinach......they drop and add
    some things every year. Several years, they've had my sisters come from
    Nevada and AZ., fill their trunks with canned and fresh stuff and
    take it all back. It's a little harder on my dad now, with his recent
    heart attacks and surgeries, but I tell him to just kick back and
    wait...they are only beans and the world won't starve if this
    particular crop dosen't get picked and put up....but ya can't tell him
    anything...
    
    
    rfb
    

                      <<< Note 250.51 by SPECXN::BARNES >>>
>    "patty-pan" squash (my favorites), okra!, black-eyed peas!!!, jalopena

Okra - there's one vegetable you can really massacre if you don't know
how to cook em!  

bob

    re; Okra
    
    most people don't like them "boiled", or cooked in with gumbo or soups.
    kinda slimy...BUT I LOVE 'EM! They slide right down yer throat! and
    gumbo isn't gumbo without okra...I do prefer fried, though...with 
    cornbread, blackeyed-peas and ham hocks, some greens and tomatoes and a
    big slice of white onion or a handfull of green onions. (and some
    toothpaste and mouthwash afterwards)
    
    rfb