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i need some inspiration during the dark days... i get so
moody in the fall.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 9:46
AM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Opening the garden
-- Uruguay
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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