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Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

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bill_g
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#226

Post by bill_g »

Patagoniagirl wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 4:14 pm I had a pitiful harvest of tomatillo this year. That made me a bit sad because I had wanted to make tomatillo salsa. But now, end of season, I have a bushel of nice green tomatoes and found some recipes for green tomato salsa. Anyone done that?
My neighbors do. I'm not a fan, but they love all the green maters I can give them every year. They waste nothing. They put them in a blender and freeze them in small batches so they can make fresh salsa anytime.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#227

Post by Patagoniagirl »

bill_g wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 5:18 pm
Patagoniagirl wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 4:14 pm I had a pitiful harvest of tomatillo this year. That made me a bit sad because I had wanted to make tomatillo salsa. But now, end of season, I have a bushel of nice green tomatoes and found some recipes for green tomato salsa. Anyone done that?
My neighbors do. I'm not a fan, but they love all the green maters I can give them every year. They waste nothing. They put them in a blender and freeze them in small batches so they can make fresh salsa anytime.
I'm canning. The mix I have thrown, witch-like together is:

Roasted jalapenos
Roasted tomatillo
Roasted garlic
Cilantro
Chopped up Green tomatoes
Lime juice

Big pot. Threw it all in and simmered. Used the immersion blender when the maters were soft. Tweaked the salt and lime. Added more cilantro. It is -so far - warm, but not flaming, which suits me. This might be nice for an enchilada casserole this winter. Or nachos.

I had a well-seasoned comal when I lived close to the equator and had to leave it. I used it in the fogon, my outdoor kitchen in Panama, cooking over my three-rock burner on coffee wood. I miss it. Melancholy.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#228

Post by MsDaisy »

I've picked and canned 24 pints of green beans since yesterday! :faint:
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#229

Post by bill_g »

MsDaisy wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 10:24 am I've picked and canned 24 pints of green beans since yesterday! :faint:
Nice. My breen geans are about done. It was a good year. We canned a bunch, ate a bunch, and gave away a bunch. I have a small third planting that are still producing. I pulled all the first planting last weekend, and the second planting, intended for seed, is about ready to be plucked.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#230

Post by MsDaisy »

Yep, ours are still coming too.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#231

Post by bill_g »

MsDaisy wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:24 am Yep, ours are still coming too.
You must have grown pole beans if you were able to gather enough for 24 pints late in the season. I grow bush beans that harvest earlier, and if I pluck them all, they are forced to blossom again. I usually get three or more pickings out of 20ft giving us fresh beans almost all summer. I was never able to do that with pole beans.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#232

Post by MsDaisy »

bill_g wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:44 pm
MsDaisy wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:24 am Yep, ours are still coming too.
You must have grown pole beans if you were able to gather enough for 24 pints late in the season. I grow bush beans that harvest earlier, and if I pluck them all, they are forced to blossom again. I usually get three or more pickings out of 20ft giving us fresh beans almost all summer. I was never able to do that with pole beans.
Yep, pole beans. We have a big trellis on the side of one of the veggie beds. Picking requires a step stool for the vertically challenged like myself. :lol:
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#233

Post by Azastan »

I was visiting with one of my neighbours yesterday and she showed me the damage to her pole beans from the elk. Pole beans were about 10 feet tall, completely stripped of leaves except for the very top foot. Looked like feather dusters, but no beans!
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#234

Post by Azastan »

Firesplash Oct 5 2021.jpg
Firesplash Oct 5 2021.jpg (92.71 KiB) Viewed 954 times
Firesplash.

It's getting nippy here, so dahlias will be coming to an end soon. I am working at getting them all properly labeled. This year was awful with mislabeled dahlias. Nurseries were having problems getting competent help what with COVID-19, and it really showed.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#235

Post by MsDaisy »

Azastan wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:53 pm I was visiting with one of my neighbours yesterday and she showed me the damage to her pole beans from the elk. Pole beans were about 10 feet tall, completely stripped of leaves except for the very top foot. Looked like feather dusters, but no beans!
:lol:
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#236

Post by bill_g »

MsDaisy wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:11 pm
Yep, pole beans. We have a big trellis on the side of one of the veggie beds. Picking requires a step stool for the vertically challenged like myself. :lol:
It's a problem for non-vertically challenged too, especially if tipping the head back yields a little vertigo. Good times there. I got tired of waiting all summer for something to pick, and wanting something without strings. I couldn't seem to pick the Blue Lakes or Kentucky Wonders early enough to get them before strings formed. So, I went back to Ed Hume's French Fillet bush beans which harvest earlier, are super bountiful, and almost impossible to get strings. Of course I traded that for dirty knees kneeling in the dirt and a sore back bending over. Totally worth it.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#237

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

Firesplash :lovestruck:
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#238

Post by bill_g »

Azastan wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:53 pm I was visiting with one of my neighbours yesterday and she showed me the damage to her pole beans from the elk. Pole beans were about 10 feet tall, completely stripped of leaves except for the very top foot. Looked like feather dusters, but no beans!
They either put up a tall fence, or plant a lot of climbing roses, or let the blackberries make a hedgerow.

Or all of the above.

I opted for the fence / rose combination along with some English Ivy and Kiwi. After 30 years it's pretty impenetrable.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#239

Post by Sequoia32 »

I planted a whole row of green beans too. They're circled in red.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#240

Post by bill_g »

Your zukes look good though.

Beans can be finicky. The bell pepper liked it, and the chives seem to be kind of okay. The beans may not have appreciated the lack of soil structure in the potting soil. They want some silty clay, a bit of sand, and only a moderate amount of well decomposed organic matter.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#241

Post by Azastan »

bill_g wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:33 pm
They either put up a tall fence, or plant a lot of climbing roses, or let the blackberries make a hedgerow.

Or all of the above.

I opted for the fence / rose combination along with some English Ivy and Kiwi. After 30 years it's pretty impenetrable.
She's got the blackberries, but they just crash right through it. The pole beans are literally right outside her patio door and they come right up to the door and eat.

She's decided to plant more dahlias instead of the beans, since the elk don't eat those, and she's going to move the vegetables up to her second story deck.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#242

Post by Phoenix520 »

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:32 pm Firesplash :lovestruck:
:yeahthat:
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#243

Post by Sequoia32 »

bill_g wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 6:27 pm Your zukes look good though.

Beans can be finicky. The bell pepper liked it, and the chives seem to be kind of okay. The beans may not have appreciated the lack of soil structure in the potting soil. They want some silty clay, a bit of sand, and only a moderate amount of well decomposed organic matter.
I've always had a garden, until we moved here. I have been reduced to the Earthbox, a bag-thingy of potatoes and an Aerogarden:
IMG_2191.jpg
IMG_2191.jpg (73.47 KiB) Viewed 858 times
I'm going to try in the tiny back yard. I had a guy cut back trees over hanging it but he didn't cut back enough. I's still too shady, I think. I had him tear out some useless ornamentals and I plan to put in blackberries, raspberries & grapes along the back fence and an orange tree. Right outside the patio door on the side where the Earthbox is, I plan a lemon and lime tree where there used to be Nandina bushes. They will have to be pruned into hedges pretty flat against the fence. Everything will be put on drip.

If I am successful with those, I want a small raised bed for veggies, some lavender, maybe asparagus and rhubarb.

Here's a typical harvest from before I became disabled and had to move here:
garden bounty.jpg
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#244

Post by Phoenix520 »

I saw a cool hanging garden once at a friend’s tiny condo yard. Pallets, hardware cloth and hanging supplies plus handyman to put it together.

This link has examples.

https://savvygardening.com/vertical-vegetable-garden/

ETA link :oopsy:
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#245

Post by bill_g »

Sequoia32 wrote: Sat Oct 09, 2021 5:55 pm
I've always had a garden, until we moved here. I have been reduced to the Earthbox, a bag-thingy of potatoes and an Aerogarden:
IMG_2191.jpg

I'm going to try in the tiny back yard. I had a guy cut back trees over hanging it but he didn't cut back enough. I's still too shady, I think. I had him tear out some useless ornamentals and I plan to put in blackberries, raspberries & grapes along the back fence and an orange tree. Right outside the patio door on the side where the Earthbox is, I plan a lemon and lime tree where there used to be Nandina bushes. They will have to be pruned into hedges pretty flat against the fence. Everything will be put on drip.

If I am successful with those, I want a small raised bed for veggies, some lavender, maybe asparagus and rhubarb.

Here's a typical harvest from before I became disabled and had to move here:

garden bounty.jpg
Mornin Sequoia - Is that a celery I see growing out of the black box? That's impressive. I can't get them to grow in the soil I have. The soil predators take them out every time. I grow everything else in your excellent bounty photo (except the squash). I have a neighbor that grows her own limes and lemons in pots. They seem to do well.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#246

Post by Foggy »

Can't wait to see your before and after photos, Sequoia32. :lovestruck:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#247

Post by Sequoia32 »

It's not going to be anything fancy, Foggy. It's dirt, gravel, wood chips and rocks now.

It's going to be dirt, gravel, wood chips, rocks, berries, grapes and citrus trees.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#248

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

https://www.treehugger.com/agrivoltaics ... gy-5205559
Agrivoltaics Is a Win-Win for Clean Energy and Sustainable Agriculture
Combining agriculture and solar panels can bring new revenues to small farmers, save water, increase soil health, and help pollinators.


Welcome to Jack’s Solar Garden, a Colorado farm pioneering agrivoltaics—a system that involves growing food crops under solar panels.

Over the past year, this 24-acre family farm in Boulder County has been producing clean energy through 3,276 solar panels that generate enough electricity to power around 300 homes, all while growing sustainable crops. It also hosts several research projects into the synergies that are established when solar energy and food production are combined, making it the largest commercially active agrivoltaics research facility in the U.S.

Agrivoltaic systems are simple. Panels are installed at a higher level to allow for plants to grow underneath. The topsoil is left undisturbed and a diversity of crops is planted.

Agrivoltaics is not suitable for large-scale farmers that need heavy machinery to cultivate their land, but for small-scale growers, the benefits are wide-ranging. Native plants attract pollinators, such as bees, that can help improve crop yields, while their roots help keep the soil moist at times of drought, and prevent water runoff that could potentially contribute to climate change-induced flooding.
IMG_20210809_102736-771f2daca7f24d3d890c33d8b17f917f_kindlephoto-5731589.jpg
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"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#249

Post by Sequoia32 »

The "bounty" from my LOL garden:
LOL bounty.jpg
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Zook is 6 1/2" long. I felt around in the potato bag and that is the only one I could feel.

Looks like I might get 2 small yellow crookneck squash in a week or so.
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Re: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance

#250

Post by Patagoniagirl »

Okay, I'll go next. Last year all I got was "baby reds". This year its Alien Spuds.

Last year not enough basil. This year too much, even after using, freezing and trying to give away. The most frequently used herbs and spices in this neck of the woods are salt, pepper and ketchup.
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