Post #160,285
6/17/04 5:32:55 PM
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Harvested my first tomato of the season!
About 3 inches in size, "Better Boy" that I planted around the end of April. Red except for a few yellowish spots around the stem. It will sit on the kitchen counter for a day or two.
This is one advantage of living in the South. In Upstate NY, one could not plant tomatoes until Memorial Day weekend for fear of frost.
It's not so much the savings of growing your own as it is the flavor of a vine ripened tomato.
Alex
Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost. -- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher
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Post #160,286
6/17/04 5:43:12 PM
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And you get more!
It's not so much the savings of growing your own as it is the flavor of a vine ripened tomato.
And you don't have to worry about cooking it either. The heat and humidity in the South take care of that as well!
Cheers,
Ben
To deny the indirect purchaser, who in this case is the ultimate purchaser, the right to seek relief from unlawful conduct, would essentially remove the word consumer from the Consumer Protection Act
- [link|http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?NewsID=1246&Page=1&pagePos=20|Nebraska Supreme Court]
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Post #160,287
6/17/04 5:55:26 PM
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ROFL
We just planted ours! :-P
A bit late, yes... more of a science project for my son than any kind of expected bounty.
However, his garden now sports newly sprouted:
Mexican Sunflowers
Cantaloupe
Green Onions
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Mini pumpkins
Microgreens (salad greens)
We're using raised gardens: 4' x 4' and 18" tall. Only way to garden.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #160,307
6/17/04 7:12:40 PM
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Now that's a garden!
I've just got tomatoes, 3 "Better Boys", 2 cherry, 3 "Roma" tomatoes along a privacy fence.
Alex
Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost. -- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher
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Post #160,308
6/17/04 7:15:22 PM
6/17/04 8:27:26 PM
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We've got two Brandywine plants started.
The heirloom seeds taste so much better than the standard "Burpee" kinds.
The other one was a Burbank tomato. The Brandywines are absolutely delicious, about a pound each, and impossible to buy anywhere.
We have 4 of the 4x4 gardens. It's amazing how much you can pack into them. One year we had peppers, three kinds of tomatoes, beans, summer squash, and several varieties of lettuce.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Edited by admin
June 17, 2004, 08:27:26 PM EDT
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Post #160,311
6/17/04 7:31:54 PM
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I am so sick of chain store produce.
Bred to look perfect and taste blah. Can't wait 'till we buy our own place and can plant some of our own...
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
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Post #160,318
6/17/04 8:25:05 PM
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Hydroponics or window garden?
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #280,250
4/1/07 1:24:56 PM
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What do you do about bugs and critters?
I'm thinking about possibly starting a small garden this year. We've got a family of squirrels living in our backyard, and I feed birds at a couple of feeders. We also have the occasional possum and raccoon.
Is it hopeless to think about small outdoor vegetable gardens with all the critters (without a greenhouse)? Have you tried growing Brandwines indoors?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who realizes vegetables are typically grown outdoors... ;-)
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Post #280,264
4/1/07 4:00:16 PM
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Sounds like our fauna exactly
They don't bother the gardens, for whatever reasons.
I've never tried to grow anything indoors. We don't get much full sun in the house.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #280,275
4/1/07 6:37:12 PM
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Except the rabbits
They get into everything. And one year the black squirrels (do you have those?) dug up 50 newly planted strawberry plants and ate the roots. I was livid. Now I grow them in pots on my deck. I do my tomatoes in pots, too. Works out well.
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Post #280,293
4/1/07 9:17:51 PM
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We battle possums.
They like Dad's strawberrys, too, although they only nick the ripe fruit. He constructed a cage that goes over them, although it's been repaired a few tiems because they figured out how to open an older version.
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
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Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
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-- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. | · my ·
· [link|http://staticsan.livejournal.com/|blog] ·
· [link|http://yceran.org/|website] · |
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Post #280,332
4/2/07 11:34:36 AM
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Re: We battle possums.
We have those, too, but they dont seem to bother the garden, except maybe to dig up the lawn a when they hunt for grubs. The skunks do that, too.
Not too long ago we had a possum playing dead on the trunk of our tree out front. It clung there for the longest time, staring at me with those beady little eyes. I stared back. A battle of wills. I finally poked it with a stick. It snarled, I ran in the house screaming like a little girl.
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Post #280,344
4/2/07 1:28:22 PM
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Yes, they are dangerous.
They have sharp teeth and crushing strong jaws. Further they are tough, kind of like a football partially inflated with water and chicken bones - and they're just too stupid to know they are dead.
I've dispatched plenty of possums with my trusty Swiss army knife, generally at 2:30 in the morning when they've managed to get into the pigeon coop, and believe me I'd rather not. The carbine would be a lot safer but it tends to disturb the neighbors more.
In any case, it is illegal to be a possum in the state of California.
Swiss Army knife.
[image|http://www.clovegarden.com/ke/img/ke_swissarmy01i.jpg||||]
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #280,372
4/2/07 5:39:38 PM
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Had to kill a rabbit last night
It was crossing the street in front of my house as I was coming out the front door, and a passing taxi caught it by the hind end. Broke both its legs and pelvis. I dispatched it with a shovel; while it was still trying to go (which was a truly sad sight to behold), there was no way it faced anything other than a lingering painful death.
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Post #280,396
4/2/07 9:01:53 PM
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Oh my
I dont know if I could do that. Even out of compassion. Then again, I couldnt leave it, either. I dont know what I'd do.
Andrew, on the other hand, sounds like he rather enjoys slaying the possums.
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Post #280,400
4/2/07 9:26:22 PM
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There's a beaver joke in there somewhere
===
Kip Hawley is still an idiot.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #280,403
4/2/07 9:45:50 PM
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Groan. How does your wife put up with you?
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Post #280,408
4/2/07 10:11:43 PM
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Years of practice
===
Kip Hawley is still an idiot.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #280,415
4/2/07 10:30:07 PM
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Any critter that rousts me out of bed . . .
. . at 2:30am needs to realize I'm not going to be pleased and there's going to be consequences.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #280,416
4/2/07 10:31:34 PM
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Okay, now there's a *different* beaver joke in there
===
Kip Hawley is still an idiot.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #280,423
4/2/07 11:02:10 PM
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That's what I say :-)
Smile,
Amy
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Post #280,434
4/3/07 4:44:23 AM
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Swiss Army "knife"? ITYM Swiss Army *bayonet*, n'est-ce pas?
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Post #280,280
4/1/07 6:56:01 PM
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Give up
I got deer - they eat everything.
I give up.
I4 NOW!
Impeach, Indict, Incarcerate, Inject
Bush, Cheney, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld, Rove, Rice
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Post #280,285
4/1/07 7:25:25 PM
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Whachoo talkin bout?
You're growing venison in your yard. You just need to work out the mechanics of harvesting.
===
Kip Hawley is still an idiot.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #280,296
4/1/07 9:43:07 PM
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crap, maters need 2 things
marigolds as a border around them and newspaper moats when they are little to avoid the cutworms. I have deer, am growing corn. They can share one way or the other. I own a crossbow although living in the county as opposed to the city I could shoot em.
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep
reach me at [link|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
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Post #280,331
4/2/07 11:34:18 AM
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Old threads never die!
First post in this thread was 06/2004.
Revived 04/2007.
fwiw, my wife will be trying a garden at the new place. We have: crow, deer, possum, turkeys, coyote, and black bear. Haven't seen the bear or coyote yet, but have heard from various reliable sources (neighbors and vet) that they're here.
Don't know what she plans on planting, all i know is that I'll be doing the digging.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. (Herm Albright)
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Post #160,315
6/17/04 8:17:10 PM
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Had to replant and hope
We've got a lawn cutting crew. They managed to mow down not just the tomatoes but the peppers too.
-----------------------------------------
It is much harder to be a liberal than a conservative. Why?
Because it is easier to give someone the finger than it is to give them a helping hand.
Mike Royko
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Post #160,317
6/17/04 8:24:47 PM
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That's another benefit of the raised gardens... :-P
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #160,326
6/17/04 9:25:19 PM
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blueberries here
for 4 weeks now. Season should be done in another week or two.
A couple years back I planted 3 bushes because blueberries are amongst my most favorite things to eat. There is also quite a bit of savings involved - what I picked most days(4-5 times a week) would cost $5-10 at the store(say $30 a week).
I figure another year's harvest will pay off what it cost me to plant them. The soil here is clay and blueberries require loose acidic soil. For each bush, I dug a hole 2 feet deep with a 5 feet diameter. I then built up a raised bed using [link|http://www.pavestone.com/retail/retaining.html|pavestone]. I filled in the hole with a mixture of dirt, sand and peat moss. I used the "old dirt" to fill in the low spots in my yard.
The birds discovered them mid-season last year, so this year I got some netting. Per the insructions, I just tossed the netting over the bushes; however, it's a hassle getting underneath to get the berries. The netting snags on berries and branches(broke a few even). I'm going to build a frame for the netting next year, possibly using PVC. Blueberry bushes down here are almost like trees, comparied to what I was used to growing up in Illinois and Wisconsin. One of the bushes is already taller than I am.
I did figure out this year that the berries taste best if you let them set on the counter a day. I haven't tried any recipes yet, I tend to just eat them with a squirt of whipped cream. The new [link|http://www.reddi-wip.com/products/products.html|chocolote whipped cream] is very good on them :-)
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #160,331
6/17/04 10:04:36 PM
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Yum!
Alex
Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost. -- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher
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