Hi Tom and List...thanks for this
post and all our gardeners' posts. One of the additional beauties of this
global List is how the summer part of the world can inspire the winter
part throughout the year. Always a garden yielding bounty somewhere.
No matter
how big or small or in what time of year, I personally love hearing how people
relate to their gardens, what they plant, what they find, how they work the
soil, what thoughts or feelings their gardens inspire, etc etc. No doubt
the human population generally has lost awareness of its' connection to the
planet. Perhaps more gardeners and their musings might help bring some of
that awareness back and in so doing also restore a bit of lost sanity.
Again,
thank you Tom and all our gardeners who post. Mike DuPree
PS We
harvested our basil several weeks ago for making pesto. I really need to
learn more about building up the soil and most immediately what I should do now
in October in Kansas to prepare the soil for next year.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 8:26
AM
Subject: [Biofuel] Opening the garden --
Uruguay
Hi All,
Greetings from the deep South. The black raspberries are in flower as are
the lemon trees. If it wasn't for the manure it would smell mighty nice.
The mustard that overwintered is producing lots of seed. I found some good
tangerine seeds that I'm hoping will sprout soon. The same is true of
some pecans. They got 45 days in the refrigerator. I don't like the nuts much
but I really want the wood for smoking meat. I haven't found much linseed
oil in these parts so,' have farm will grow'. The plants are up about 5
centimeter. I wasn't sure if the seeds would germinate so I'm pleased so far.
My daughter in the U.S. has tried to send me some open pollinated snow peas
but I think they got stopped at customs. Lots of hybrid seed for sale here and
no GM allowed so far. I'll probably pull the strawberries this weekend. They
went in way too late and really haven't taken off. I've got an insectiary
hedgerow started along with some herbs. I had good luck attracting hover
flies, parasitic wasps, and a couple of lady bugs. I'd really like to see some
ground beetles though. I suppose it is a bit early. The carrots are in the
ground but I probably planted them too deep. I got caught in a thunder shower.
Lots of other jobs to do this season. I need to put in a new gate, rainwater
drainage, and a well.
Tom
From: Jesse Frayne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To:
biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:40:16
-0300 Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Closing the Garden - Ottawa
version
Hi gardeners, Our yard at home is small, in the middle of
the city, and shaded by a big tree. So we were looking for somewhere
to grow vegetables.
In the last three years we have had some space
on public land that was contested over, puzzled over, dog-run over by
our differing neighbourhood uses. We have put in years of meetings to
secure this greenspace.
We dug deeply through the sod and put in
manure from the downtown farm (it used to be a zoo), turned over our
little square, put in an apple tree and two grape vines...
etc.
Okay, the earth is pretty great. LOTS of worms and although
in Toronto we surely have clay, not so bad, put the mulch in there for
three years and it's starting to break up nicely.
Okay, here's the
deal. This is a public place, there are dogs, school kids and everyone
else walking past the garden. I saw a guy walking away with a
big grocery bag of my roma tomatoes. I say to him, "Hi, I hope you're
enjoying my garden?"
He says "Oh, I thought it was school-kids put
this in." Like that would make it okay, humm, and he keeps walking.
Interesting.
So my daughter put up a sign: "Until we have dug a
big enough garden to feed the whole neighbourhood, could you please leave
the produce to the gardeners?" (She has a thing that if anyone would
be so hungry as to take food from someone else's garden, it must be
okay.)
Guys, I'm thinkin', this is the way it's going to be. I
feel cranky now.
Our new sign, for next spring, is: "Here are 5
tomato seedlings. Plant and tend them and enjoy
your gardening."
I don't want to fence. I want straight-ahead.
But I'm wondering what is coming.
Thoughts?
Jesse
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
Appropriately, I spent a few hours on Thanksgiving > day clearing most
of > the plant matter from the garden and putting it on > the
compost pile. > > Robert, your recent posts have been an
inspiration. > Thank you. > > Our garden did not fare as
well this year as in past > years. Mostly due to > lack of
attention on my part, although not enough > rain followed by
too > much rain wasn't helping either. Still, we had more >
tomatoes than we knew > what to do with, even after giving them away
to > neighbours and taking them > to work for barbecues and so
on. The yellow cherry > tomatoes were a > special success. So
sweet. My son took away a good > haul of carrots, > which he is
enjoying immensely. Enough beets to > make into baby food for >
my grandson, several feeds of peas in the garden and > enough yellow
beans > to even make it to the dinner table a couple of > times
(after some serious > consumption in the yard first). Squash was
a > disappointment - lots of > fruit, but none big enough to
justify harvesting. > The radish and lettuce > either drowned
or were scavenged by local fauna. > The spinach did not take >
at all. The jalapenos were bountiful, and I had > been told I couldn't
grow > those this far north. The raspberries did well in > the
spring, but no > autumn crop to speak of. > > I think the
squash needs more sun, which means I > need to find some >
vegetables and fruits that can do with less sun for > certain parts of
the > garden. I'm also going to have to trim back my > beautiful
maple tree (a > rescued weed from years ago), to let more sun
reach > the garden. Still, it > will continue to provide good
shade over the park > bench we have outside > the fence so
neighbours can sit and rest if they so > desire. After reading >
Robert's posts, I wonder if I should have gone for a > fruit tree
instead, > perhaps cherry. > > However, the responsbility
for the failures is all > mine. The garden > simply did not get
the time it needed, as I elected > to focus on other > things
much of this year. (Perhaps more on those in > days to come - I
have > already told you about the electric bicycle victory, >
and a related > campaign has already been joined.) > >
This year, I have been reading the Square Foot > Garden by Mel
Bartholomew > (Rodale). So full of small truths, I think it
will > transform how I garden > from now on. The line about
typical residential > gardening just being > industrial
gardening on a small scale really hit > home. I have not >
finished the book yet (priorities again), but > already I feel
comfortable > recommending it. As did the being overwhelmed by >
harvest when it's ready, > but having nothing fresh to eat before and
after. > > While I'm making compost, I'm still hauling it in
by > the pick-up truck > load each year to continue amending the
soil. And > at least two trips a > year go to gardens other than
my own. At least the > truck is now running > on 20% biodiesel
from a local supplier. > > This summer, we managed a vacation
in Nova Scotia, > with a quick trip to > Prince Edward Island.
We visited Vesey Seed, and I > have a whole array of > new seeds
to experiment with for next year. > > Any recommendations on
materials to build the raised > beds (4 feet square > and a foot
high)? Cost and appearance are both > concerns. > > Too
wet now to go out and finish the job, and rain > is predicted for
the > next five days. Time to work on other things. Like >
sending out overdue > e-mails. > > Darryl >
> > >
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