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Post by lola on Oct 14, 2010 15:54:47 GMT
On the vegetable front, it's been a good year for peppers: orange, red, yellow and green bell type, poblano, hot and mild banana mostly. My green beans might have one more batch altogether. I've been preparing them with a garlic sauce, similar to this: www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1750,128188-249196,00.html Eking out a few more ripe tomatoes, then I'll make pickles with the rest. Surprisingly successful: macandcheesereview.blogspot.com/2006/11/green-tomato-pickle.html
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Post by tod2 on Oct 15, 2010 10:59:06 GMT
Thanks Lola! Now I get the picture My second order from Baker's is on it's way and this time I ordered flower seeds as well. This morning I planted into tubs the following: Bluebell Creeper (Sollya Helerophylia or Heterophylia or neither,,,I can't quite make out the seedsman's handwriting) but it is from Western Australia, as are all the others. Red & Green Kangaroos Paw, Pink and White Everlastings & Coral Creeper. From Singapore: Vegetables: Chinese Greens ( Sawi Hijau) and Pakchoi White. Asia White Hyacinth Bean(Baker's) The Western Australian wildflowers are the hardest to grow and most need Seed Starter - I only have two small packets left so wish me luck!.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 15, 2010 11:11:56 GMT
Bixa - I don't know what you think but when I look at the flowers of the Wild Dagga plant and compare them with the Kagaroos Paw, the petals look almost identical, even down to the way they open at the ends into little tubular bells. If my Kangaroos Paw seeds come up and grow to flowering I hope to make an onsite comparison!
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Post by tod2 on Oct 15, 2010 11:15:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2010 11:16:50 GMT
When do we see a photo of your garden, tod? Spring is in the air in your part of the world.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 15, 2010 12:21:37 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Oct 15, 2010 13:38:22 GMT
Kerouac - I am aiming to do some photos this weekend ( if the rain holds up for a while) as 'before' and then in a couple of weeks the 'after' photos when my vegetables are more mature. You will see how very clever we were in our youth to design 'a garden for old age' ! While doing some prep of vegetables in my kitchen today, I watched Raymond Blanc telling some enthusiastic restaurant owners how his father used to take him out 'hunting and gathering' mushrooms and ....wild asparagus! I yelled across the kitchen at the TV "Liar, liar your pants are on fire" - Kerouac says there is no such thing as wild asparagus!!
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Post by tod2 on Oct 15, 2010 13:43:26 GMT
Mick - How did you cultivate them then? I see you are from Herts in UK. Give me some tips please, pretty please..... Oh, and what colour do you have?
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Post by tod2 on Oct 15, 2010 13:49:15 GMT
Oh sorrrrrrry Raymond Blanc....I see Kerouac mentioned 'Wild Broccoli' not asparagus... I take it all back! ;D
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 15, 2010 14:07:23 GMT
Mick - How did you cultivate them then? I see you are from Herts in UK. Give me some tips please, pretty please..... Oh, and what colour do you have? I grew them from seed originally which was a bit tricky as they were like bits of grass for ages and I didn't let them dry out. They seem pretty easy to me though. I grow them in quite big pots, don't worry too much about watering them, bring them back into the greenhouse for winter as they aren't truly hardy here, water them maybe a couple of times in winter, cut the tatty leaves back in spring then off we go again. Flowers are green and red and can get about 3' tall.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 15, 2010 15:28:45 GMT
You all know everything! I never heard of kangaroo paws before, and after looking them up must conclude that they are varied, oddly beautiful and would give some fun challenges for proper placement in the perennial garden. This guy went on vacation to western Australia & fell in love with kangaroo paws: blog.livedoor.jp/alexgarden/archives/cat_50011189.html
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 15, 2010 15:54:52 GMT
I have A. manglesii but I would really like flavida.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 15, 2010 16:04:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2010 17:26:00 GMT
Everything on my kitchen windowsill has died, so I don't really have any right to participate here.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 16, 2010 7:57:41 GMT
Oh heck Kerouac... please try again in spring! Was it lack of water or sun or both? Were the plants herbs?
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Post by tod2 on Oct 16, 2010 8:05:30 GMT
Bixa - Those photos of his garden are fabulous! The shot of the water droplets just clinging to the underside of the flower.....beautiful. I recognised 2 other plants. The bush of thin leaves in a pot is called a 'Blackboy' - when it gets bigger it has a black stem similar to a cycad. Very slow growing as well. The other plants I recognised in the background to some very pale green Kangaroos Paws was 'Smokebush' with it's feathery white plumes. I too fell for the Kangaroos Paw when I went on Spring Flower trip in Western Australia! Mick - Thanks! I have high hopes now
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 16, 2010 14:12:36 GMT
I love that kind of garden picture sequence because it's so inspiring. Even if I don't have access to the plants shown, those pics spur me to arrange & augment what I do have.
Lola ~~ was the weather different enough this year to account for the good yield of peppers? My stepfather was so frustrated because the endless days of over 100° heat kept his pepper patch from flowering & setting fruit.
I LOVE that recipe for green beans. I always steam mine with garlic, but that method would give the intense garlic flavor so perfect with string beans. The way parts of the recipe are presented as options is great, too.
Do those pickles come out crisp? That's a pretty long cooking period.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 19, 2010 14:43:27 GMT
Kerouac - Here is my vegetable garden. In the tub are Longbeans bought at grocers near Chapelle metro. As you can see I've lost one or two to snails hence the blue sprinkled stuff you see scattered about. In the raised beds under shade roof: lettuce & parsley other veg planted: Swiss chard, aubergines, more longbeans(chinese mosaic), chinese greens (Sawi Hijau) One lonely swiss chard has already given us three helpings of spinach, but nothing in the lonely climbing bean volunteer!
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 19, 2010 15:22:04 GMT
Those raised beds! They're so beautiful, so sturdy, so well-made! That dirt looks good enough to eat. Do you turn and replenish the beds every year, Tod?
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Post by tod2 on Oct 19, 2010 15:30:22 GMT
Yes Bixa, we add a whole bunch of new compost (my own kitchen veg peelings & lawn cuttings right from the very bottom of the pile). This is done in winter because I don't go in for cabbages. sprouts and the like. I like the fast growing veges! We built those raised beds when we built our house. We must have seen them somewhere and thought 'now that looks like a good idea!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2010 13:40:22 GMT
Hey, I didn't see this yesterday... and I'm not seeing it now because I am still at my photo-impaired office. I rush to take a look in a few hours!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2010 16:49:54 GMT
Ah, I can see it now. Excellent visions of early spring! It's a shame that snails are so intrepid -- in the abstract, it would seem as though raised beds would give extra protection from pests.
What is the grill 'roof' for?
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Post by tod2 on Oct 20, 2010 17:32:07 GMT
Actually no Kerouac, No protection from the slimy shelled thing (which the French nation love so much Ha!Ha!) It climbs up anything. I guess it's radar is on "Lettuce Alert" etc.etc., Have I got news for snailey! The raised beds are for two old fogies who want to pick everything at hip level. No mud on my shoes, only a basket full of......well, we will see won't we?
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Post by tod2 on Oct 20, 2010 17:35:48 GMT
Oh, forgot - the grill roof. Hunted around in the garage for something rigid and found these abandoned grill things from a display for haberdashery - Got the gardener to construct a little roof protection from the sun over my lettuces and parsley.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2010 17:40:57 GMT
Ah, I was wondering if it was protection from birds or protection from excess sun.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 20, 2010 17:54:53 GMT
Definitely from excess sun - also, I have planted a different lettuce to any planted out before - The leaves remind me of the lettuces I bought at Marche d' Aligre recently. We'll see what developes.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2010 20:49:54 GMT
Those are fabulous raised beds,my god!! I would kill for soil and beds like that. I guess I could do but,frankly, don't have the energy right now. In the midst of a severe drought here,five weeks and no substantial rain,rain barrel is dry,and everything looks pretty sad,I'm afraid.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 21, 2010 5:13:11 GMT
We have only just had our Spring rains - so long awaited it made headlines on the local newspaper posters! Overnight lawns have turned green and seedlings are sprouting. It has been at least 20years since we had that terrible drought caused by the Elnino, but have decided to re-install rain tanks again to cut down on water usage from the tap.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 22, 2010 12:05:38 GMT
In the middle of ny vegetable garden I have a small pond. In the pond are just 2 fish but a good number iof frogs plus at least 1 toad that lives somewhere in the garden. Between them they have made a great job this year of polishing off all the slugs and after the early spring I have not had to resort to chemical means. Hardly a nibble on the veg.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 24, 2010 2:25:01 GMT
You have happy hoppies, Mick!
The lady who has the store next to where I'm moving was outside today slitting open dried luffa to get rid of the seeds, which look like watermelon seeds.
I know young luffa can be eaten as a vegetable. Has anyone here grown & harvested them for food?
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