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Topic: Tell me about your garden
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PlutoSurvivor Knowflake Posts: 2406 From: USA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted June 20, 2015 11:07 AM
@ SnowWhite : Absolutely L O V E your duckie stories. Keep them coming IP: Logged |
PlutoSurvivor Knowflake Posts: 2406 From: USA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted June 20, 2015 11:11 AM
quote: Originally posted by Jo B:
I love gardening, it's very therapeutic and really gets you "into the moment" spiritually as well as getting you back to nature.
I love digging in the Earth. Gardening is therapeutic for me also. Thanks for joining us, Jo B. you must have a good size patio for all those tomato plants. Good thing you have a plot of land where you can plant. How are your French beans doing. I planted bush beans and only 3 seeds germinated. IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 23, 2015 12:38 PM
quote: Originally posted by SnowWhite: Chickens can hatch anything! She's hatched turkeys for me too (and incidentally, the turkey hatched a chicken later on LOL). Ducks can hatch chicks too. But it's better if they don't as regular duck breeds will lead their babies to water and that never ends well with chicks.However, especially since Muscovies aren't super crazy about getting in the water, it's great for a chicken to brood them. And they'll have the protection of a mama. If the Muscovy hen I had right now would go broody, that'd be the best, but she doesn't.
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Jo B unregistered
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posted June 23, 2015 03:07 PM
quote: Originally posted by PlutoSurvivor: How are your French beans doing. I planted bush beans and only 3 seeds germinated.
Similar lack of success here PlutoSurvivor! Normally nearly everything I sow comes up but the french beans were really hopeless. About a quarter of what I sowed germinated even though I sowed them indoors in pots in good conditions. So the long row I was intending on my allotment is currently a pathetic short batch. It's strange though because I had success with them several years ago when I had another allotment. I keep thinking with my tomato plants on full view by my busy neighborhood on the back patio, I'm going to go out there one day and find them all stolen! So far so good though! IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 24, 2015 02:04 PM
French beans must be tough to grow.IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 25, 2015 01:31 PM
I could never grow watermelon here.IP: Logged |
SnowWhite Knowflake Posts: 104 From: The High Desert, California Registered: Jun 2014
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posted June 25, 2015 01:40 PM
I grew watermelon successfully *once*... but picked it too soon (I KNEW it was too soon but no one listened to me) and so it wasn't very sweet. I grew the "moon and stars" variety.Corn is another one I have issues with but I'm trying again this year and have a 4x4 raised bed full of Silver Queen. I've grown purple bush beans quite successfully before (they turn green when you cook them) but my most successful beans have been the Kentucky pole beans and they look very pretty when you train them up teepees or fences. IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 26, 2015 03:00 PM
Mine would rot before they could mature.IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 27, 2015 04:33 PM
Maybe some critters got to them?IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 28, 2015 04:27 PM
Tomatoes grow easy here, though. They taste so much better than at the store! IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 29, 2015 03:34 PM
And cucumbers, too! So sweet!IP: Logged |
Jo B unregistered
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posted June 29, 2015 07:00 PM
quote: Originally posted by Randall: And cucumbers, too! So sweet!
I just planted out 15 of them earlier this evening Somehow I think I'm going to be eating cucumbers for the rest of the year. Dug up some early potatoes too. They weren't fully grown but baby potatoes are yummy. We've had pretty hot weather over here in UK and I was actually feeling anxious last night because I hadn't had a chance to go for a few days to water everything. I got there just in time I think tonight, another day and those cucumbers would have wilted. It's funny how you get attached to your garden/plot. Once I had to go abroad to do some work for two weeks and I was really missing my plot back home and worrying about everything dying. IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 30, 2015 01:08 PM
How do you cook your baby potatoes?IP: Logged |
Jo B unregistered
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posted July 01, 2015 01:41 PM
quote: Originally posted by Randall: How do you cook your baby potatoes?
I just boil them for a bit (not too long though as they go soft pretty quick), then serve them either hot or cold with butter, maybe some salad cream and a side salad. I've been eating them for the last couple of days and I can definitely taste the difference between my own produce and shop-bought stuff. They seem much creamier. IP: Logged |
PlutoSurvivor Knowflake Posts: 2406 From: USA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted July 01, 2015 05:53 PM
Homegrown is A L W A Y S better than store bought !!! especially cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, string beans...the list is infiniteIP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 02, 2015 01:39 PM
Yums!IP: Logged |
Jo B unregistered
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posted July 03, 2015 12:04 PM
Desperate for rain here in UK! It's great for sunbathing but... I really don't want to spend half and hour hose-watering my allotment tonight. I'm putting my tomato plants in over there now although I think there might be a chance of blight. IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 04, 2015 09:16 AM
What do the store-bought do differently?IP: Logged |
PlutoSurvivor Knowflake Posts: 2406 From: USA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted July 04, 2015 12:03 PM
Randall, try growing buds on a potato, for instance, or planting a seed from a store bought fruit... Nothing happens because of GMO and/or pesticides and preservatives.Ever see the same produce on the shelves turning browner day after day, or get wrinkled by the end of the week... and how they only stock shelves at night. It sits and sits and gets handled extensively, yuk. Ever go to buy during natural growing season and see boxes of fruit or veg shipped from half way around the world when it's ripe in our own back yard? Ever eat "fresh" fruit that was picked weeks ago unripe and gradually ripening in cargo containers... Need I say more? IP: Logged |
PlutoSurvivor Knowflake Posts: 2406 From: USA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted July 04, 2015 12:07 PM
JoB, it doesn't take that long to water a garden, even a large one. I used to take 1/2 hr to water my neighbor's huge backyard garden when they were away. I learned with my own garden that if you cut out the bottom of a large, firm plastic flower pot ( or x-large can with both ends removed) you can bury it part way into the earth around your seedlings when you plant them, and then as they grow you just fill up the container and let the water seep down into the roots. You don't waste time and water soaking the entire plot. Would that work for you?IP: Logged |
PlutoSurvivor Knowflake Posts: 2406 From: USA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted July 04, 2015 12:07 PM
dpIP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 05, 2015 02:59 PM
Understood! quote: Originally posted by PlutoSurvivor: Randall, try growing buds on a potato, for instance, or planting a seed from a store bought fruit... Nothing happens because of GMO and/or pesticides and preservatives.Ever see the same produce on the shelves turning browner day after day, or get wrinkled by the end of the week... and how they only stock shelves at night. It sits and sits and gets handled extensively, yuk. Ever go to buy during natural growing season and see boxes of fruit or veg shipped from half way around the world when it's ripe in our own back yard? Ever eat "fresh" fruit that was picked weeks ago unripe and gradually ripening in cargo containers... Need I say more?
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SnowWhite Knowflake Posts: 104 From: The High Desert, California Registered: Jun 2014
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posted July 15, 2015 02:59 PM
Well! After saying that my female duck isn't a good broody, she's decided to sit. She has 12 eggs under her and has made a nice little nest. And nearly took my hand off when I went to get the unfertile chicken eggs she also had there. Ducks, don't peck, like chickens. They bite. And hold on. I literally have a blood blister and a bruise. Yeesh! But if all goes well, the chickens will hatch out all 7 duck eggs they're brooding and we'll get most if not all of her eggs hatched. (I've found that duck eggs tend not to be as reliably hatched as chicken eggs, and that may be one of the reasons they lay so many before sitting. Not all will hatch and not all will survive if they do.) I'll keep y'all posted IP: Logged |
Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 16, 2015 01:33 PM
quote: Originally posted by SnowWhite: Well! After saying that my female duck isn't a good broody, she's decided to sit. She has 12 eggs under her and has made a nice little nest. And nearly took my hand off when I went to get the unfertile chicken eggs she also had there. Ducks, don't peck, like chickens. They bite. And hold on. I literally have a blood blister and a bruise. Yeesh! But if all goes well, the chickens will hatch out all 7 duck eggs they're brooding and we'll get most if not all of her eggs hatched. (I've found that duck eggs tend not to be as reliably hatched as chicken eggs, and that may be one of the reasons they lay so many before sitting. Not all will hatch and not all will survive if they do.) I'll keep y'all posted
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Randall Webmaster Posts: 190286 From: I hold a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Legum Magister (LL.M.)! Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 17, 2015 01:39 PM
That's a dozen duckies!IP: Logged |