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Keeping in Touch:  Danger of Extinction  |
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peapicker
True Blue Farmgirl
716 Posts
texas
USA
716 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 10 2009 : 11:22:30 AM
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| I bought several heirloom tomatoes and they seem to be holding up ok in the heat. I have rigged up a little shade for them since it been mid 100's here for a while. They taste great. I have been concerned about the seed stock too. Just now gettng started on going to the heirlooms and trying to save seed. |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 10:30:04 AM
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Hello all you garden sisters. Is anyone else having a slow garden besides me this year? I have 6 1/2 rows of green beans that are beautiful healthy and tall and full of flowers and a few beans but every time I think there should be bushels there are only a few. I am bumfuzzled about this. This time last year I had already picked truckloads.
I did go out last night with my granddaughter Kansas and picked a few shirtfuls of okra. She is about a head taller now but I told her in a few weeks they'll be taller than her. SO the okra is doing good. And the field peas. I've gotten a few tomatoes so far. Squash and zuc are keeping on, too. Corn should be ready in a week or so. I picked one ear for Kansas to see what it looked like. It's a bit small but she likes raw corn. That kid can eat a dozen ears by herself raw
I saw a rabbit out in the garden last night and went to look where it was. I saw that they like cucumber leaves. They've been nibbling away at them. There are flowers and little tiny cucumbers so far. I hope they don't like those. I wish they liked okra leaves. I hate those big ole leaves.
Happy gardening, ya'll. Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 10:38:06 AM
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I have been picking raspberries for two and a half hours. I got 1 & 3/4 gallons of them.
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
Planting Zone 4
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 11:52:06 AM
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You know, I was just thinking- We are working towards saving heirloom seeds but sometimes once the garden is planted- well I think we get a bit complacent about the whole situation. I just re-read the title of this thread and though "The world can be pretty scary when even with the wars and other such horrible things are set aside- that we could be losing our food sources and not even noticing!" Sometimes even worry can get commonplace- you know what I mean? Or am I maybe just rambling a bit! LOL
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
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Lanna
True Blue Farmgirl
330 Posts
Lanna
A little town in Idaho
330 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 2:05:09 PM
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I've just been gestating and feeling, well, yeah, over here. Been getting a pint or two of raspberries a day or so. Have a few tomato plants setting fruit, so we have a handful of little dime-sized green tomatoes, yay!!! Not all my kidney beans sprouted, grrr. My early lettuce has bolted, despite being in lots of shade, as has some Umpqua broccoli. Saving seeds from both those. Also have some celery and purple carrots going to seed.
My very-early planted peas (Laxton's Progress #9 if you're curious) are going nuts, so I have a bunch of little pods still filling out and bunches of flowers. The experimental peanuts are starting to leaf out, but I haven't seen the little pegs yet...
Been working on weeding and re-mulching the tomatoes when I'm not feeling so barfy, and been harvesting other stuff. Got strawberry stuff done a week or two ago, now it's cherries (dehydrated and canned cherry limeade concentrate and cherry fruit leather) and raspberries (jam, canned raspberry lemonade concentrate) and so on. Apricots should be making their appearance before too long. It's pretty much wait and see with my garden because it stayed pretty cool for a bit there in June here.
And, as a nice kick in the pants, we may have to move away from our house and garden that we've put so much work into. Ironically, the place we're hopeful that hubby finds a job at has an even shorter growing season - supposedly 50 days. I'll be getting creative with greenhouses if that's the case, that's for sure.
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Lanna, mama to three little monkeys |
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marcy jo
True Blue Farmgirl
453 Posts
Marcy
Wawaka
Indiana
USA
453 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 2:52:47 PM
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I have been getting a few peas here and there and the cherry tomatoes are flowering. I grew them with the carrots and they took off! Did get a few carrots..Dh says "you cant grow them here" so I said watch me!! They arent prize winners but they are carrots!!
The weeds and I are battling it out every week! And I too have had a sluggish garden this year. Last year it just went crazy but this year I have had to add lots of love and patience!!
Marcy #257
http://marcysmarket.blogspot.com |
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graciegreeneyes
True Blue Farmgirl
3107 Posts
Amy Grace
Rosalia
WA
USA
3107 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 7:52:44 PM
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Oh, yeah, weeds.....
I used red plastic mulch around my tomatoes to encourage growth because it gets really cool here at night - turns out that under the mulch is the ideal growing environment for morning glory, the weed - who knew? So I have to go un-strangle my tomatoes.
In better news I did a modified square foot gardening, with newspaper and straw between the rows and in the part of the garden where I got that established early it is really helping,
My peas, melons and cukes have blossoms, the tomatoes are all very healthy and bushy looking. My onions are straight out of an onion catalog this year, beans too.
Everything else, sort of spotty - oh well, there's always next year, and the winter. I'm going to get the book by Eliot Coleman "Four Season Harvest" and do some winter growing - anyone else tried this? I think it would be fabulous to have fresh chard, kale and spinach through at least part of the winter.
I love this time of year, love it!!!
Amy Grace
Farmgirl #224
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
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ruralfarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
4309 Posts
Rene'
Prosser
WA
USA
4309 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2009 : 8:34:48 PM
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I was out in my back yard tonight and thinking what a huge difference a year makes.. well not even a year. Last fall we were dumping truck loads of dirt into a pool to restore the back yard. This year, I have chickens, a garden, rasperries, apricot tree, blue berries, huckleberries and more.... UN-Real!
Rene~Prosser Farmgirl #185
http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/RFBlog/
www.twitter.com/RuralFarmgirl
www.ruralandraw.blogspot.com
Circumstances made us FRIENDS; MaryJane's has made us SISTERS :) |
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gspringman
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Gail
Bonanza
Oregon
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2009 : 4:56:59 PM
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Most of the garden is doing well now since our weather has gotten hot. Now, who can tell me how to save heirloom seeds and how to choose the plants to save them from? Don't know that I will get many but would like to give it a try. I know some use paper bags and the tomatoes are done differently, but when do I begin and how, I'm not sure. Any help anyone can give me is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Gail
Farmgirl #486
Planting Zone 5
http://grammasladybug.blogspot.com/
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marcy jo
True Blue Farmgirl
453 Posts
Marcy
Wawaka
Indiana
USA
453 Posts |
Posted - Jul 22 2009 : 3:17:03 PM
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Gail can you get ahold of the book by Lynn Coulter--Gardening with Heirlooms?(I think thats the title--someone please correct me if I am wrong) it is the bible to this whole thing!
Amy I have been wanting to get that book and try it..I think I looked at it before I stumbled into the farmgirls!
My garden is coming along..amazing what a few days can do. I got two baby zuchs and 4 pickling cucs the other day. Its starting!! Yippee!! I have to get the tomatos blossoms covered so I get true maters and I think my spinach seeds might be close! If I keep the weeds in the garden at bay I lose the battle in the rest of the yard!! You just cant win with those guys!!!
Marcy #257
http://marcysmarket.blogspot.com |
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gspringman
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Gail
Bonanza
Oregon
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 11:43:17 AM
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Marcy thank you, I do have this book but cannot find how to save some seeds. I have, however, ordered the book Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth and hope it arrives soon. Some seeds I've collected already, it's just I'm not real sure on others. Time for me to get educated so I can really collect from my best plants. Wish me luck.
Gail
Farmgirl #486
Planting Zone 5
http://grammasladybug.blogspot.com/
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
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Tina Michelle
True Blue Farmgirl
6948 Posts
Tina
sunshine state
FL
USA
6948 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 01:56:53 AM
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yes, time to plant things like lettuces, greens like collards, mustard, turnips, radishes, spinach, and so forth... also some beans can be planted for fall.still time to plant as long as you make sure of your first frost date for the late Fall/early winter. Most beans take about 55 days so you can get a quick crop of those in if you want. greens like collards like a light frost and will taste better for it too.
I'll be working this weekend on cleaning up my cottage garden and raised bed areas. the cottage garden flowers have finished out from their summer bloom and all mostly gone to seed now. the raised beds will have the strawberries removed and put into window box planters, and I haven't yet decided what I'll be planting..some sort of greens ..maybe mustard greens or turnips in one of the beds and maybe some lettuce mixes or beans in the other..decisions, decisions.:0)
~I Dream of a Better World..where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned!~
blogs:http://gardengoose.blogspot.com/
and http://thevictorygardener.blogspot.com
magazine: www.stliving.net
etsy shops: http://GardenGooseGifts.etsy.com
and http://myvictorygarden.etsy.com |
Edited by - Tina Michelle on Jul 25 2009 01:58:08 AM |
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Lanna
True Blue Farmgirl
330 Posts
Lanna
A little town in Idaho
330 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 02:13:42 AM
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Whee, I'm in full-on harvest season. Gotten about 13-14lbs of goodies from the backyard so far, and another 104+lbs of other goodies through my kitchen via u-pick places and such. And I'm only getting started. Just waiting, waiting, waiting for that supposed second trimester energy to at least make an occasional appearance - that would be very nice. I did snag about 2lbs of shelling peas from the yard today with my 5yo's help. Then my 3yo decided just before dinner that he was hungry, and wandered off into the backyard to pilfer from the raspberry canes. Ah well, at least he's getting way better at the ripe vs. non-ripe thing. Can't fault him for going after the yummy stuff.
We've been hitting various u-pick folks at times here as I have time and room in the kitchen (right now I've got seedless raspberry jam cooling), and have done one forest trip and have 1-2 more planned to pick huckleberries. Yum. At the end of the season or whatnot I'm totally going to snag some of those bushes and try to plant them in the yard, or at least in containers we can take with us. I'd much prefer to stay here, but who knows what's going to happen anymore.
So, the two tomato varieties that I'm the most excited about? Are kicking rear end so far - I even have little green tomatoes and a bunch more blooms! So exciting, especially for me. The kicker is that all these plants are from seeds I saved last year - Purple Russian and Kootenai.  Very, very cool. Now to figure out how on earth to actually get some melons to actually happen here - that shall be my next challenge after I work out the tomato thing. Oh, and I think Sub Artic Plenty, direct-seeded is doing okay as well - I have several golf-ball sized green tomatoes on those plants already as well. It's just so exciting to me... 
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Lanna, mama to three little monkeys and growing a new little sprout |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
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Huckelberrywine
True Blue Farmgirl
1607 Posts
Michelle
Rosalia
1607 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 08:38:31 AM
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Oh, Lanna, you might as well leave those huckleberry bushes where they are. My great-grandmother lived close to huckleberries and tried so hard to get them to grow in her garden with no luck. And she was a heck of a gardener! There is a place here that sells wild plants propagated from carefully collected seed, but when I asked them about their huckleberry bushes, they said if you were lucky they would grow, but if conditions weren't just right, they will never set fruit. They suggested that they sell mostly to the forest service to re-plant places where known huckleberries need to be re-established, or to extend known patches. They said that if I didn't already have huckleberries on my place, to choose something else to plant. They are a bit of a mystery and that makes them all the more special. They simply refuse to be domesticated. Hope you enjoy your wild outings!
We make a difference. |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2009 : 10:51:29 AM
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Does anyone have any of the Cayote Prolific cherry tomatoes? They are an heirloom yellow cherry. They are so good. I got one to survive. I'm afraid I'm going to eat them all and forget to save some seed for next year! They are just too good.
And only 2 of the Ga. tomato made it. They look good, though.
I don't think I have ever seen a huckleberry. Are they like a blueberry?
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Corinnelouise
True Blue Farmgirl
957 Posts
Corinne
France
957 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2009 : 11:03:29 AM
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Kris, to answer your email, the Citre are the winter heirloom pumpkins we make jam with here in France.
I've sent some of the seeds to some of the Mavens, if you want any let me know and I will put them in the mail. They are easy to grow and make wonderful jam.
I am going to save some zinnias seeds for you, they are awesome.
To all the Mavens, hope you got the 2 emails I've sent yesterday and the day before.
Happy sunday to all.
Corinne
Sister # 101
'Heaven on Earth' is a choice you must make, not a place you must find.
Dr. Wayne Dyer |
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levisgrammy
True Blue Farmgirl
9667 Posts
Denise
Beavercreek
Ohio
USA
9667 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2009 : 4:12:26 PM
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Hi Corinne,
It has been a long time since I have made it over here to this thread. It has been an extremely busy summer but alas, no garden this year. I had high hopes that we would have time to get started after the wedding was over but there just aren't enough hours in the day right now.
Glad to be reading and gleaning for later use though.
Denise
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
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Huckelberrywine
True Blue Farmgirl
1607 Posts
Michelle
Rosalia
1607 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2009 : 07:35:47 AM
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Kristin... Hi!
Huckleberries look like blueberries, but the taste is like...if a blueberry suddenly woke up happy on a mountainside? I don't know, but it tastes more real, more alive, more complex. Some years they are small, others, they are like the size of a thumbnail. A friend of mine said she got into some this big (making a nickle-sized circle) but I can't quite believe it. :) The flavor is so intense it puts a few people off, and some cooks will cut pies, jams, etc. with apple to extend the berries (which this year have been going for $50/gallon...or try to find your own and watch for bears). I have never done this, but I'm told you can't even tell it has been diluted. I don't know, but being a blue/purple wild fruit, I suspect they are full of antioxidants and all sorts of healthy goodies. I have loved them since my great-grandmother took me picking with the whole family on a mountainside in northern Idaho at about 4 years old. When we got home, she made a pie out of them. I was hooked.
We make a difference. |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2009 : 4:43:22 PM
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Thanks, Michelle. I have not seen any around here. That's alot of money for a gallon, but I guess it takes a long time to get a gallon. I bet the wine is really good, too.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Jul 28 2009 : 06:19:35 AM
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It does take a while to pick them, first it's hard to find a good stand, and people protect their sites and keep them like family secrets, kinda like a good ginsing patch, if you know what I mean. It took me an entire day to pick a gallon once, and I had a flat tire out in the boonies to boot!
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
Planting Zone 4
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
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gspringman
True Blue Farmgirl
387 Posts
Gail
Bonanza
Oregon
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - Aug 09 2009 : 08:46:35 AM
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I am sitting by waiting paitiently to collect my heirloom champion radish seeds. Sure takes a while for the pods to dry on the plant. This may be one of the few seeds I will get to collect as I have so much to learn on heirlooms. My tomatoes are just starting to ripen. With the weather we've had, it will be a miracle if everything keeps growing. It almost feels like fall.
I thought about picking huckleberries but don't they need lots of water to grow? Like the kind of rains you all get in WA?
Gail
Farmgirl #486
Planting Zone 5
http://grammasladybug.blogspot.com/
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22944 Posts
22944 Posts |
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Keeping in Touch: Danger of Extinction |
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Danger of Extinction
