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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 8:41:09 GMT
I don't think I had ever seen tod's wonderful vegetables either. Almost a chlorophyll overdose!
I'll keep an eye on Bixa's buckets.
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Post by chexbres on Feb 20, 2017 14:04:47 GMT
I just bought a very healthy "citronnier" - a yellow lemon tree, which has one fruit left and is flowering like crazy. I keep it on the balcony during the day and bring it in at night, for now. I'm hoping for great things when next winter rolls around and the fruit rolls in. It smells wonderful.
Went crazy and bought other ficus, palms and a monstera... This week, I'll have to find some way to gather all the soil and pots I'll need to re-pot them.
Then, it will be time to start picking out things like lettuces and tomatoes, eggplant, and so forth. Not certain how they will do with Northern exposure, though.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2017 5:45:43 GMT
I had a terrible thing happen with my little garden. The dirt I bought was heavily cut with sawdust and god knows what. Anyway, it compacted horribly and any happy little plants transplanted into it wouldn't develop roots nor develop period. I since amended it as best I could with compost and manure, but lost lots of stuff. The biggest bucket shown above had to be completely emptied and re-done. *sigh* Since it's started raining some things are doing okay. I picked my first cucuzza tonight and had it for supper! I've been watching it closely and I swear you could see it growing. Here it is still on the vine, earlier today. It was still smallish, but I wanted to get it while it was young and tender ~ Just after being picked and on its way to the pot ~ Bubbling away. You can see it was perfect, with the seeds just barely formed. Some more garden jewels ~ Basil Tomatoes from a plant which volunteered out of the compost ~ I just adore tomato plants. Closeups here from a plant a friend gave me -- some kind of heirloom tomato from the US ~
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 27, 2017 9:15:01 GMT
Fabulous Tod...I wish I could grow such splendid vegetables. You must have astonishing soil and care for them very diligently...do you talk to them? Bixa dear...been there. The number of times I've bought compost that turned out to be full of twigs and rubbish ...usually claiming to be 'organic ' by which they mean expensive and untreated...( I thought organic just meant carbon based but what do I know?)...hopefully your skill will save the day...lovely tomato plants btw. All I have so far this year are 7 pots of potatoes, one tomato plant, one courgette plant and a few cucumbers... apart from the taters it's all grown from old seed...which is probably why I only have one tomato plant
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Post by mickthecactus on Apr 27, 2017 14:21:51 GMT
What's a cucuzza? Is it the cousin of a cucumber?
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2017 16:24:07 GMT
Thanks, Cheery! For me when something like that happens, I tend to blame myself so it's good to know that it can happen to even skilled gardeners like you. Well, not good, but you know what I mean! Mick, it's a squash. You cannot believe the nostalgic joy I had eating it last night. It was something always grown in home gardens in Louisiana, with people sharing the fruit and the seeds. From Nichols Garden Nursery:Lagenaria siceraria 'longissima" Open pollinated. 65 days. Heirloom. Cucuzzi Squash does best if trellised and allowed to climb, fruits grow up to 4', normally harvested when 6"-25" long. Italian vegetable used like Summer Squash if picked half ripe. Has a rich full flavor. I posted these pictures the other day in the Vines thread, but since they weren't met with praise and shrieks of delight, I'm going to assume that no one saw them there. Taken at night ~ Male flower: Female flower: Here is a picture I took in a Palermo market showing really looooooong longissimas ~
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Post by mickthecactus on Apr 27, 2017 17:17:31 GMT
Not much chance of them growing in our climate I would think.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 27, 2017 19:42:31 GMT
Beautiful
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2017 19:54:01 GMT
Not much chance of them growing in our climate I would think. Well, the package -- which I bought in Paris -- is also marketed in the UK. I imagine the trick would be to start the seeds indoors. Beautiful Um, that's like that typical British understatement for "shrieks of delight", correct? (Thanks, Cheery!)
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Post by bixaorellana on May 3, 2017 6:11:15 GMT
Can you all tell how thu-rrrilled I am with the heirloom tomatoes? The flowers finally opened ~
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2017 7:32:41 GMT
Can't wait to see the progress report in a couple of weeks!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 7, 2017 11:03:16 GMT
Wow...
I've bought a grafted tomato plant because my seed (old) failed to germinate. I only grow one tomato plant because of lack of space in my greenhouse and I'd heard that grafted tomato plants have a higher yield...we shall see.
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Post by mickthecactus on May 10, 2017 12:49:22 GMT
So far I have tomato, cucumber, courgette plants and have sown broad beans, radishes, carrots, chard and spring onions. Potatoes planted in tubs.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 10, 2017 17:48:29 GMT
Ooo ~ you will feast this summer! I am in a dither because everything in my little patio plot has put on growth spurts, with lots of promised tomatoes, eggplant, and cucuzza. I even havw some peas that are about ready to climb the trellis strings. But I won't be here to harvest!
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 25, 2017 9:00:13 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 1, 2017 7:25:34 GMT
Cucumbers and courgettes-
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 15, 2017 13:50:06 GMT
We also have a home grown vegetables thread. Should we combine them?
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 15, 2017 15:10:19 GMT
Link, please!
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 16, 2017 7:27:17 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 16, 2017 15:26:20 GMT
Thanks, Mick ~ they are now a melange of vegetables.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 23, 2017 12:17:44 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 23, 2017 14:57:26 GMT
Toothsome little beauties!
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 23, 2017 16:40:12 GMT
Not been a great tomato year.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 24, 2017 20:12:18 GMT
Our harvest wasn't good this year, largely my fault. I didn't water enough I'm afraid, I'm usually very vigilant but got distracted with family matters and the new dog. I'm sure that next year will be much better.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 24, 2017 20:35:42 GMT
I got very little of my cucuzzi, due to not being here. When I got home, there were only two well past due-date eggplant hanging on. I cut them and set them aside for seeds, then tidied up the two plants and added some compost. I'm now enjoying many long slender decidedly not-bitter eggplant. They're so flavorful that I only sauté them in olive oil with a little salt, then either eat them that way or toss them with pasta. The basil hangs on, but is not pretty nor full. The cutter ants attacked both my gorgeous stand of parsley and the out of control oregano. , but both are returning. For what it's worth, I planted the parsley from seed next to the climbing rose, which is in a huge pot. The parsley must like the richer soil and the extra water the rose gets, as it looks like something from a seed catalog. The big performer, despite crappy soil, sporadic watering, enormous heat and whatever happened while I was gone has been the anise hyssop, Agastache rugosa Alba. I got it in a pot, put it in a big pot with other plants and it took off. It is tall, blooms continuously, and even though it looks rather fragile, is undaunted by high winds and slashing rains.
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Post by amboseli on Aug 24, 2017 22:14:59 GMT
I am furious (and not just me). We own a piece of land (not near our house, but on a private dirt road a few kms from where we live) where my son grows vegetables. He puts a lot of time and effort (and money) in his garden and it looked as if this year's crop was going to be fantastic. Last weekend he went there for the usual weeding and to pick ripe vegetables. Then he saw that more than half of his crop had been stolen. At least 25 pumpkins, and just as many zucchini and eggplants, more than half of his potato field, all the carrots, etc. Plants had been destroyed, probably to take as much as possible in the shortest time. Why do people do this? Why do people lay their hands on something that isn't theirs? I am furious and so very disappointed. And sad for my son, who puts his whole heart in his garden. Sorry for ranting.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 25, 2017 7:43:25 GMT
I know just what you mean Amboseli.
Some years ago it happened to me on my allotment and I have never been so livid. All that effort so someone else can walk in and ruin it
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 29, 2017 16:46:23 GMT
This is probably common everywhere. At my grandparents' house in Lorraine, they discovered one morning that all of the green beans had been picked stolen in the plot behind their house in the middle of the night, only about 20 metres away. When you think of all of the effort put into a vegetable garden, it is disgusting for this to happen. But when you think of the extremely low commercial value of the items stolen, it is perhaps even more disgusting. It is not at all like the secret raids on truffle farmers or oyster beds, where big money is involved.
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Post by amboseli on Aug 30, 2017 15:25:28 GMT
The thief was kind enough to leave some pumpkins for my son (and there are some other varieties still growing).
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Post by tod2 on Oct 14, 2017 18:15:57 GMT
This amazing pumpkin patch was photographed at Manston,Kent - just as you drive out of the Spitfire Museum. We passed it several times and even got up the nerve to find a broken one and filched some seeds. Bixa, please would you let me know here - or a PM, where you found Cucuzzi squash seeds in Paris? Did you get any other seeds? imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/924/PeYJc8.jpg
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