What Grows In Your Garden Now? ** Happy Autumn

[Guest guest]

Howdy Jennifer,

 

A long one this is .. which is a norm for me. ;-) Since Chris and Kathleen

and Marcia and you and others been writing on this I'll sorta put all my

thoughts and plans into one post. I can blame the Charter Communications

company for me having the time to write this much. We have a good cable TV

system here .. I normally only watch news, Discovery, National Geographic

and such but one of our channels is 24 hours of uninterrupted Classic

Westerns .. how could anyone not watch Jimmy Stewart (damn .. I miss his

character and humor), Richard Widmark, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, John

Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Sami Davis, Jr., Dean Martin .. or any of the

other Greats? And this is just listing the men .. there are a lotta ladies

who have been here and are gone who I consider as being Greats. One never

heard any of those folks talking vulgar .. they laid on the normal curse

words folks use when they get shot in the butt with an Apache arrow and such

... but none of that Mother this and that crap. There are very few Greats

today and there are few Westerns where the good guys win. Anyway .. I got

tied up watching Classic Westerns and hit the rack around 0400 .. and got up

around 1030 .. so I'm into morning coffee and writing now. ;-)

 

(Snipped a bunch)

 

 

> I'm getting ready to fertilize and organize.

> Unfortunately when we should be planting I'm ready for the renfest. and

> don't want to do too much to wear myself out. But I do have multiple

> mints and creeping thyme and Ditany of Crete oregano and marjoram. I

> also have a peach tree, a satsuma orange tree, a Loquat tree, and

> pomegranate and also passion fruit vine.

>

 

I'm not gonna fertilize anything now except some new grass seed I'll be

dispersing on the lawn .. this Summer's draught was rough on grass her so

I'm gonna spread some mixed Kentucky Bluegrass and Fescu. New grass seed

needs to get a kick start before going dormant but anything else in my

garden .. be it perennials flowers, trees, fruit bushes, etc., I would NOT

fertilize now because I don't want them to be inclined toward new growth now

... I want them to start getting sleepy cause they need that long period of

rest they are about to take.

 

I'm gonna mulch around the base of a lotta plants .. including young and

even teenage trees. They need some protection during the Winter .. even in

Tennessee .. in Yankee territory they need it even more. I'll remove (pull

back) most of that mulch come early Spring. And I'm gonna water all

these plants .. including the trees .. and stop watering when they begin to

drop their leaves. Sometimes trees and such have a hard time getting

enough moisture in the Winter .. matters not how much snow blankets

the ground. Especially up in Yankee Land folks need to get that water

below the frost line afore Jack Frost comes around.

 

As for pruning .. except for cutting off a few more small dead limbs from

some mature trees, I've done all I'm gonna do this year .. won't do it again

until early March or so .. long afore they begin to leaf out. I've pruned

my existing Rose, Blackberry and Blueberry bushes and won't touch them again

till mid-March or so .. and the new Rose bushes (and some other bushes ..

yet to be determined) we'll be putting in this month will go in as they are

when I get them from the nursery .. except .. if they are root bound (most

will be) I'll bust loose a bit of the root ball when they go in.

 

There were a couple of dozen Rose bushes here already .. all different

varieties. We moved in on 13 July and none of them bloomed until we cleaned

around them, then watered them well and regular and when new growth started

I pruned them. Did a lot of cutting back because there were a lot of long,

slender branches that couldn't even support the weight of a Rose bud .. much

less a Blossom. In the last three weeks or so they are all blooming and we

can see what we have .. none are the exact same type or color so the feller

who originally planted them had his head in the right place in that regard

but in the wrong place when it came to locating them. Some are too close to

the house .. some were shaded by useless and dangerous trees growing too

close to the house .. they are history now. We're gonna put in another

dozen or so Rose bushes but not sure what type yet .. Tanya is still pouring

over a catalogue and we hit the nurseries around twice a week.

 

Gonna plant some nice smelling night bloomers .. thanks to Kathleen's

suggestion. Not sure what we'll plant yet but for sure we'll have Jasmine.

 

And thanks to Marcia for the tip on treated timber .. I was not aware that

they were using cyanide in them now. Also .. Marcia .. I cut down the

three Red Cedars that were growing right up against the front of the house

... terrible placement .. and hauled them to the back of the property. Then

I cut them into 6 foot logs .. stacked them up. Inside a Cedar log is

mighty pretty wood .. for me its too pretty to use for building a raised

bed. If I had a large number of Cedar around the place I'd be grinning at

the thought of getting them cut into planks but they were the only large

ones I had .. so I'm gonna leave'em stacked up till I get a notion on how to

use them. Just about decided to use the fancy stone colored

cinder/concrete blocks Lowes sells. Though the initial cost is double that

of wood, looking at it long term they'll actually be cheaper than wood ..

they can be used for forty-eleven years or so. They're a lot easier to

place (no construction required) and they look nice. Two stacked rows is

enough for a raised bed .. I figure it oughta cost around $3 per linear foot

to use them .. it would be around $1.35 per foot to use wood and a lotta

labor involved.

 

Come Spring, I'm not gonna use only raised beds .. maybe just 300 sq. ft. or

so of them .. gonna load them with vegetables that need cultivating by hand

... Green Onions, Radishes, Carrots and Leaf Lettuces and so on. Gonna put

Peas, Sweet Corn, Collards, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts and a few other

things right on plowed ground .. and tomatoes and cucumbers in a plowed

patch off to the side .. in some wire enclosures the original owner built

from fencing wire. When I left for Turkey back in 1988 it would have been

foolish to waste garden space on Sweet Corn .. one could buy it for $10 a

bushel then .. but this year it was 25 cents an ear .. danged expensive.

We can grow and put up 500 or more ears in just two 150 foot rows which

won't take up but about 450-500 sq. foot of space. Collards (one of my

favorite greens) used to be 20 cents a pound .. now they're around 80

cents. Green Peas are still cheap but I wanna harvest Snow Peas. As for

Cucumbers .. folks around home used to give them away .. and one year when I

was in high school my step-father and I raised an acre of them .. had a

contract with a local pickle company. Had to pick them every day and if you

missed one two days in a row it would get too big to sell. Helluva job that

was and I'll never forget the prices we got .. forgot the measurements but

the smallest went for like $20 a bushel .. up to the largest (but not

pithy) that were like $3 a bushel. We would pick 4-5 bushels a day from

that one acre.

 

Gonna raise our herb garden in a natural rock raised bed that the original

owner used for some kind of plants I have yet to identify .. but they're all

gone now .. I jerked them out.

 

I SERIOUSLY pruned my fruit trees already .. they were a neglected mess.

Tied up some limbs to try to train them but they might not listen to me.

;-)

 

As for planting things bushes and such here now, I grew up 50 miles NE of

Paris, TN .. in Guthrie, KY .. planting was easy cause we had soft, rich

loam .. spit a Watermelon Seed on the ground and you had to jump back to

keep from being hit by the growth .. not true here in Paris. We have a lot

of clay .. acidic soil it is. I BS you not when I say it took over an hour

to plant each of my new Blackberry bushes. Maybe I overdid it when digging

the holes but I wanted to make sure .. so I dug 24 " by 24 " wide holes and

twice as deep as the root ball .. needed to loosen that clay and reinforce

it with peat moss and commercial composted cow manure .. and I avoided

putting the cow manure too close to the roots. Using a heavy grubbing hoe I

was able to dig maybe 3 inches deep at a whack so it was a heckuva job and

my lower back and upper legs feel like I've been in a duck walk race with a

100 pound pack strapped to my back. ;-) Clay has a lot of nutrients in it

but you gotta break it up and keep it loose.

 

Feller at the next place gave me a buncha Yomatoes this year .. they were

small but nice. Reason they were small (I learned) was that he limed his

entire garden .. Tomatoes don't need lime .. they like acidic soil .. that's

why the Blueberries here did so well .. they thrive in acidic soil. Folks

gotta pay attention to what likes sweet soil and what likes sour soil ..

just like tending four laig critters, we gotta adjust our thinking and

actions to create an environment that plant critters feel more comfortable

in. Learning what kind of soil or sun conditions this or that

plant/vegetable likes is easy .. nurseries and Lowes and other places that

sell plants have books on it .. County Extension Services give free advice

... and the I-Net has all kinds of info but as is the case with use of EO ..

we gotta be sure of the source when we use the I-Net.

 

I don't have a pickup truck now (which everybody else here has) .. or a

trailer (and most have that too) so I gotta have a 5 ton truckload of top

soil brought in and dropped in a pile .. I'll use a ton or more of it on my

raised vegetable beds .. the rest will be used to level out some pieces of

ground and to spread over the area I'm gonna have disked up for the open

garden .. plus folks need a pile of top soil laying around in any case.

;-) Also gonna hire a truck to bring in a load of composted cow manure

cause buying it in 40 lb bags for $2.99 each is not smart .. I need a ton or

more and I can get that much brought in for $100 or so. Pushing a

wheelbarrow ain't my thing anymore .. this week I'm gonnna buy a small 6

cubic foot trailer from Lowes for $99 .. it can be hauled behind my

tractor.

 

We've bought one 21 CF freezer and will get another one next time a good

sale goes down .. got this one now cause I gotta put some venison in it this

year. Deer population is out of hand here now .. an d when that goes down

disease creeps in to regulate .. and contrary to what the anti-hunting folks

would like to hear .. its almost always a case of overpopulation when such

diseases come forth to thin out a herd. Blue Tongue was rough here this

year .. its a hemorrhagic disease caused by a virus spread by a gnat .. the

gnat bites the deer and soon the deer's head, heart and lungs swell ..

hemorrhaging occurs .. the deer has breathing problems, gets thirsty, heads

for water and usually dies right there .. in a stream. It can kill in 2

days .. but those who survive develop an immunity to the virus and that is

passed along to offspring. This gnat and the virus goes away in cold

weather .. and the virus can't live outside the host .. plus it doesn't

affect humans. Game Warden buddy here says he has walked the streams and

counted as many as a dozen dead deer in a 3 mile walk. Still .. they are

overpopulated here now .. conservation agencies recommended and the state

approved doubling the limit this year.

 

Also been saving 1/2 gallon and gallon pickle jars .. Alexander is a Pickle

Monster so we use a lotta pickles. Gonna have to research canning cause

personally, I've never done it. Watched other folks do it but that was

long ago. Tanya has no experience with canning cause its not something

they do much in Russia .. they pickle things we've never thought of pickling

and they use deep cellars to store potatoes, cabbages, beets, onions and

such .. anyone who does not live in the city will live in a house sitting

over a cellar.

 

We're still working hard to get settled, while taking it easy inside and

putting most effort outside. All of the house is in tip top shape except

for my office .. its a mess with papers spread on the floor .. ain't had the

time or desire to put together all the furniture and book cases, etc., for

my office. Even when it rains I prefer to sit on the front porch and watch

it .. outside is my thing and glad I am that Tanya and Alexander prefer the

outside .. otherwise, we'd spend less time together. ;-) When it

gets cold I'll worry about the office .. but even then I'll sit outside a

lot .. got insulated underwear so beating the cold is not a concern. When

it gets real cold I'm gonna show Alexander how to live trap (totally without

harm) Cottontail Rabbits, Squirrels and Bobwhite Quail .. using only those

things Mama Nature gives us .. not commercial or nailed together

crap. We'll release them after catching them .. unharmed except for maybe a

bit of stress but all creatures including man are stressed from time to time

and the Cotton Tails, Quail and Squirrels around here gotta be stressed big

time anyway cause we have no shortage of Bald Eagles and Foxes and other

predators trying to eat'em. Gonna teach him the basics of shooting a kid's

bow and arrow this Winter .. let him know that its not a toy .. its a tool

for sport and hunting. We will make it a fun thing but a bow & arrows are

not toys! Come Spring gonna show him how to catch fish without a line,

pole and hook. He will not become skilled at doing any of these things

right off .. he's but a mature 18 + months now but he pays close attention

to anything I do and tries to do it himself .. he's not too young to be

exposed to new things because youngsters have the advantage of not having to

unlearn old things to pick up on new ones. I believe that all younguns

need to learn how to survive using just their wits and what Mama Nature has

provided .. unfortunately, most kids never get the opportunity to learn this

... and though its not likely .. its possible that such skills might be

needed some day. If that were not the case then Boy Scouts oughta be

learning patchwork quilting. ;-)

 

Jennifer

>

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

WHAT?!!! NO GARLIC!!! While Tanya is pouring over those seed catalogs, tell

her to check out Varieties of Garlic... No Elephant Garlic, Large but pretty

blah... there is a REALLY pungent and tasty red garlic, I believe it might

be Korean...

 

Also, when you're learning to pickle... Pickled Peaches and Pickled

watermelon rind.... The peaches were always my favorite and mom hauled them

out every year for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.... They didn't

last long.

 

One of my favorite times of the year would be around February when all the

seeds started showing up and of course there would be freebies included...

got a free dogwood once. Was doing fine until the rotten dog decided it was

his pee post. .Sigh<

 

Oh, and you mistyped, it's arsnic not cyanide.... makes no matter, it's

poison... Himself built the back deck and we NEVER let the kids out while he

was sawing up the boards... I'm not happy having the left overs in the side

porch area.

 

Sounds like you're having a ball...

 

K

 

 

On 9/25/07, Butch Owen <butchowen wrote:

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Cheers!

Kathleen Petrides

The Woobey Queen

Http://www.woobeyworld.com