|
|
TheConnection Walls
27 walls
|
Members Photos
3 out of 117
see all
|
|
|
|
Gardening &
Landscaping
| |
Mike PHX Ummm...seeing the below, I'm definitely in the amateur ranks. I just started growing some peppers, and now I'd like expert advice on pickling.
Both of my grandmothers were experts at it, but I just wasn't into it at the time (God, for a time machine ).
I would appreciate any recipes.
6 minutes ago .
|
| |
Flaming Sword To avoid the news, I've been spending more time with my Earthboxes. I now have 12.
Has anyone tried the new grafted Mighty Matoes they are selling? I bought a Black Krim and a Mortgage lifter and they are both now about 7 feet tall and loaded with tomatoes and new blooms.
Absolutely loaded. I'm picking ripe tomatoes now . I picked a Krim the other day that weighed 14 oz. and the average is said to be 8oz. There's one I'm waiting for. Green as can be but clearly much bigger than that 14 ouncer.
Also picking green beans,yellow squash and and bell peppers like crazy. Still waiting for the corn and the okra.
May 19 at 16:17 EST .
| |
BirdsNest Wow!! You are WAY ahead of us. Right now we are enjoying lettuces, spinach, and radishes. Peas are blooming, beets are 6" high, onions are ready to eat,strawberries are ripening,picked Swiss Chard for dinner tonight. Beans are up but not growing all that fast.
May 19 at 18:35 EST .
|
| |
Carmen Green with envy! Just yesterday I got my tomatoes and peppers planted. Then in the afternoon with had a wonderful rainstorm to water everything in. The asparagus tastes wonderful right now but we will be sick of it in a couple of months. No blossoms on the peas yet but should be able to pick lettuce and radishes by the end of the weed. Iris and Peonies are about ready to bloom and everything looks wonderfully green.
I love this time of year!
May 20 at 08:15 EST .
|
| |
BirdsNest We have not yet set out tomatoes or peppers. I am a bit gun shy, the temps are still wobbly. Still have to plant squash and watermelon seed and waiting for a bit warmer ground temps for okra seed to go in. Still have about 15 strings to attach to the pole bean trellis and it will be complete. I will get Hagar to snap a pic when it gets completed and once the beans start running up. Those better be darn good beans, there is a tremendous amount of sweat equity in that rig.
May 20 at 09:09 EST .
|
| |
Balogreene I haven't even weeded last year's pots, let alone thought about buying anything to put them in the pots.
May 20 at 21:12 EST .
|
| |
BirdsNest Today's torture was finishing the 4x8 raised bed-filling it with soil and compost, all of which had to be sifted. And I weeded the spinach bed, Have I mentioned I HATE to weed? Picked a few strawberries and 2 red onions for dinner along with some Swiss chard for tonight. Tomorrow's torture is more weeding and spot planting the beans that did not come up.
May 21 at 20:35 EST .
|
| |
Flaming Sword I have a new Earthbox gardening tip.
Do not continue to harvest your yellow squash if you separate the leaves and find a fledgling robin sitting deep in there.
I don't know who was more startled. He just sat there for a bit staring at me. As I tried to gently move away he flew to the ground and started screaming. Then I saw Momma. She was not amused. Love it !
May 21 at 20:55 EST .
|
|
| |
Wrightwinger I may have to get one of these!
 May 18 at 10:50 EST .
1 person like this.
| |
Linder Go for it! I'm not a motorcycle person but do I see a 'little woman' seat. Isn't that what it's called?
May 18 at 22:05 EST .
|
|
| |
Rake King This is not good for my rake business. Ouch!
May 15 at 10:51 EST .
1 person like this.
| |
Rake King click to enlarge
May 15 at 10:51 EST .
|
| |
Surfhut This is ripe for a caption contest. I'm not good at that, but it could be good!
May 15 at 19:29 EST .
 1 person like this.
|
| |
Linder Rake, I'm sure she is a trend setter and your company could very well be selling rakes in disguise of vacuum cleaners in the near future. Throw in the outfit and you've got a winner.
May 15 at 21:48 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Rake King Am I wrong, or is she wearing a fur coat? We don't normally attract that level of customer, but Linder you may be right...I need to send this to our marketing department as a new product.
May 16 at 08:32 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Flaming Sword Quit laughing. I've thought of this. I just didn't want to 1 ) buy that many vacuum bags 2 ) explain it to the vacuum repairman 3 )convince my neighbors I was still safe to be around their children.
May 19 at 16:27 EST .
|
| |
Carmen I don't think that is a vaccuum cleaner - looks like a carpet shampooer. Her grass is really dirty.
May 20 at 08:17 EST .
|
|
| |
Wrightwinger Frost warnings for the next two nights... Brought in all the tender plants... glad they weren't in the ground yet!
May 12 at 18:31 EST .
| |
Rake King Not before Mother's day didn't quite work this year. Mother Nature had winter lock-jaw.
May 15 at 09:25 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
StarFire Looks like last week was our last frost. (knock wood ) We've got the raised beds about 90% planted with vegetables. I'm excited about the dozens of tiny apples on my Honeycrisp tree. The five blackberry trellises are covered in blooms. Two out of three of Tori's artichokes survived the winter and are up 18 inches in the last week.
I'd forgotten how much a day of gardening in the sunshine lifts my spirits.
May 15 at 10:49 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Surfhut Star, I've always said that gardening is my best meditation.
We finally have winter behind us here in OKC. I had a wonderful time planting on Mother's Day.
May 15 at 19:32 EST .
1 person like this.
|
|
| |
Linder Gramps brought his new Dixon zero-radius mower home today. He is retiring this year at 76 and mowing will be his job. He also announced he had bought another rifle today. I told him we were going to talk about him turning over his check book. Not really, he's worked hard all these years and hope he has many more to enjoy.
May 8 at 19:35 EST .
1 person like this.
| |
Surfhut I am seriously impressed with Gramps. Rock on Gramps!
May 8 at 19:42 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Linder Oh, thank you, Surfhut. He really is a lovely man and I know from your remarks that you had one, too. We were married 50 years ago, March 10, and from that day on he has thought the sun rose and set on me and because I know and appreciate that I have never taken advantage. We never know what tomorrow will bring but for today, life is good.
May 8 at 23:41 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
BirdsNest Linder, is Gramps going to be mowing lawns for his paycheck or just your lawn?? Boys and their toys!! Hope he enjoys retirement-keep him busy so he will continue with good health, don't give him a chance to miss work. Like potato chips-guns....you just can't stop at one. "Two is one and one is none."
May 9 at 08:12 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Linder No, won't be going into the mowing business...just our own. Went today for his 3 yr post-bypass check and the heart doc gave him the same blunt advice about retiring. Keep busy or you will die.
May 10 at 23:40 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Carmen We have a zero-turn mower that is about 30 yrs. old and I just love the thing. It's like spinning in one of those neat little scooter chairs!
May 20 at 08:19 EST .
|
|
| |
Magdalene Hope springs eternal, especially this time of the year. As someone who grew up with gardens, had parents who gardened, who spent years on a small farm in Maine with a garden of about a quarter acre, I have struggled with the loss of my physical ability to get into the dirt every spring with varying degrees of success and failure. I go out and buy at the very least a tomato or two, some of my favorite herbs, and something that blooms, every year. Yesterday I did so again. But getting them from their pots into the ground, specifically creating a hole into which to put them, is the biggest challenge I face. I have been blessed in past years with a best friend who had seemingly boundless strength and energy. But she has been laid low this year by her own and her husband's illnesses, and there's no way she can help this year. If I relied on my very busy executive husband, chances of it being done drop from small to none. Alas! what to do!!
May 8 at 13:01 EST .
1 person like this.
| |
Surfhut Don't know, Mags. My grandparents had a quarter acre garden. Until moving to OKC I've almost always had enough yard to do serious work and plant a fair amount of food. I couldn't wrangle a post-hole digger these days even if I wanted to. Now, everything is in pots. I grow one tomato, lots of herbs, lots of lettuce and spinach (until it gets too hot and then put flowers in those pots ).
The patio by my front door is in part shade. I bought a black taro (black elephant ear ) that I'm going to try growing this summer. They used to nearly take over my flower garden in SoCal.
And I've ordered a miniature Satsuma Tangerine that I'm going to try keeping alive both outside and inside as weather dictates.
Good grief. I'm a pot grower! :=}
Hope the ace gardeners around here can give you more advice.
May 8 at 19:54 EST .
2 people like this.
|
| |
BirdsNest It has been a struggle getting things to come out of the ground. Beans are FINALLY up. Strawberries setting fruit,peas look dismal-maybe I should just cut the greens,eat them and plant something else. Last night we enjoyed spinach salad and radishes. I really cannot get over how good homegrown spinach is. It is remarkably tender.
May 9 at 08:14 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
BirdsNest Ate spinach salad again last night with cut up radishes. Picked a grocery bag full of spinach. Looked at the radishes today-I need to pick a bunch more of those! I planted another couple of rows of radishes on Monday, they are already up. In 3 weeks those should be ready to harvest.
May 10 at 10:34 EST .
|
| |
Magdalene I got my maters and herbs in the ground by myself, in the raised bed we put up last year. With hubs' help I got two roses planted, though I'm not too optimistic about their chances of survival. The ground is nearly hardpan out there, mostly Oklahoma red clay, and he was griping about how big I wanted the holes so I could add some organic material. By the time we were done, I was overheated and could barely move. I guess the rheumatologist I saw last fall was wrong when he told me I couldn't possibly have sunsickness; that it had to just be a coincidence that every time I spent time in the sun I had headache and nausea. Missed a PeiWei dinner, but after some ginger ale and rest that was better. But Sunday my back went into spasm and I can't seem to find a fix for it.
May 14 at 13:20 EST .
1 person like this.
|
|
| |
Mike PHX I just had some pepper plants planted. Fiesta Bell, jalapeño and Serrano.
One of the serranos looks like...well...a serrano. The rest are just flowering.
When should I pick?
May 4 at 18:45 EST .
1 person like this.
| |
Balogreene Mike, all I know is I picked a banana pepper when it looked like a banana pepper. It was too early. It was yellow green, not yellow. The next one, I waited for it to get yellow, and someone ate most of it.
Good luck.
May 4 at 19:30 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
BirdsNest Mike....Balogreene has good advice. As for the Fiesta bell-they will make 2-4" fruits, can pick them green but according to the profile they will change to gold. You may want to pick them and enjoy them green to encourage the plant to continue to set peppers. By allowing them to turn to their ripe stage(gold ) it will signal to the plant that it is time to quit.
May 5 at 14:27 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Mike PHX Thanks, B&B. I'm out to start harvesting now.
May 5 at 14:33 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Balogreene Thanks Bird, that is good advice. Besides the squirrels and birds like the peppers, so I have a hard time getting them at just the right time.
May 7 at 19:06 EST .
1 person like this.
|
|
| |
BirdsNest Enjoyed fresh from the garden Spinach last night. I don't mean to brag but with all the work and worry about the weather, it sure is nice to get something back. I may have to make coats for the bean plants!! Feels kind of cool outside this morning. Bought some more pole bean seeds yesterday, they will get planted today I hope. Half the row is already planted with "King of the Garden" limas, the beans we got yesterday are "Calico" pole lima beans. Know nothing about pole beans except that it is a boatload of work getting prepared to grow them and old people don't fare so well using a manual post hole digger. Old people also don't like to bend over to pick veggies, but not everything can be grown up in the sir. Strawberry plants are setting fruit. Flat beans are coming up. Beets finally are coming up in force, the carrots??? Not so sure about them, they take forever to pop out of the ground. How is your garden growing???
May 3 at 07:52 EST .
2 people like this.
| |
Surfhut Bird, I haven't wrangled a post hole digger since I was about 50 years old. That is hard work, even if the ground is soft.
I'm pretty sure we won't have another hard freeze here. Even though it's colder than normal, I think I can start planting the pots on my patio. All I have room for are 2 tomato plants, herbs, lettuce.
Not ready to take my black taro (elephant ear ) plant outside yet.
May 4 at 11:43 EST .
1 person like this.
|
| |
Balogreene Sometime after I get paid the 22nd, and the manual I'm writing is turned it, I want to plant a couple of tomatoes, some hot peppers, maybe some green peppers, and some herbs.
So glad I got perennials last year, don't have to buy flowers this year!
May 4 at 19:40 EST .
2 people like this.
|
| |
Rake King Smart move Balo.
May 5 at 07:47 EST .
1 person like this.
|
|
| |
