songbird's roost

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by songbird, Sep 26, 2013.

  1. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    haha, yes, but then harvesting becomes a challenge if you
    have to use a pick axe to get them out of the ground.

    we've had a little rain this past week, but are still about 35-50cm
    behind normal. the ground is rock hard in any locations that
    i've not amended or heavily mulched. that means that my two
    week project is stretching way long and it doesn't matter
    because all the other projects are in that same soil so until we
    get some rains...

    the weather set records for most of the week before this one
    we were up into the 32+C which is very hot for this late in the
    season. if we can get another few weeks without frosts i may
    even get another crop of lima beans.

    the rest of the beans are mostly empty pods. it's not been a
    great year for them. i do have a harvest, but small, about 1/3
    of what it would be for a normal season. one good thing about
    planting so many different varieties is that some manage to
    produce no matter what. i picked dry pods yesterday so as to
    beat any rains that are in the forecast. more coming along but
    not too many left now.

    some fun new crosses have shown up including a few that i've
    been aiming for (by repeatedly planting blocks of certain varieties
    next to each other). will take several years to see how they work
    out.

    tomatoes and peppers did well enough. i just picked another 18L
    bucket's worth of red peppers. not many left now out there. i've
    been eating and giving away quite a few. will have to roast some
    more.

    my current project is about 2/3 done (renovating the first strawberry
    patch). of course it has turned into yet another project (filling in an
    area next to where the lima beans are growing) -- but that is ok as i
    do need a space to move the extra subsoil and it is about 1/5th the
    distance and effort of where i was moving the stuff before (but that
    is all full now).

    pictures eventually...

    peace... :)
     
  2. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    ok a few pictures of some bean crosses that have shown up that will be
    interesting to see what happens as i try to grow them out in the coming years.

    Pink Pinto

    from two of my most reliable beans (Red Ryder and Pinto).

    [​IMG]

    and another cross (Red Ryder and a selection of the tan Goats Eye beans from a
    blend called Peregion). the pattern on these is hard to see unless you scan them
    in direct sunlight. i may have some in the red beans from previous years and not
    even noticed them. so the next time i have a chance to go back and scan what
    i have on hand i'll see if i can find some more to try growing further.

    Red Goats Eye

    [​IMG]


    my garden project turned into three or four more projects, but i'm getting there...
    hope to finish at least the digging and transplanting tomorrow before forecast
    rains show up... we'll see...

    cheers :)
     
  3. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2009
    Messages:
    1,665
    Likes Received:
    94
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    s/e
    Location:
    South Waikato New ZeLeand
    Climate:
    Cool mountain
    You have inspired me this year to grow more beans.
    I have my Great white northern beans that come up every year, now. I grow these for drying and love them in my winter soups and casseroles.
    I have had sprout before sowing some of the others cos its been a couple of years since I grew them. Luckily most of them have sprouted. the painted lady, Purple king, Carols' heirloom purple and black turtle beans.
    i'm still waiting to see if my cannelinni, roquefords, top crop,Jackson wonder (lima type) and king of the blues are still viable.
    One of the problems I had with the chook dome was that thins didnt self sow but i'm not sure if that was because the chooks scratched and dug everything too deep or that the mulch I added buried everything too deep to grow back.
     
  4. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    there are so many different kinds of beans. :) i don't grow many white beans
    because we grew up eating mostly just a few types. i now grow so many kinds
    that i doubt i will ever have enough time in my life to eat all of them after getting
    them to grow out. and i'm finding a new network of bean people to trade even
    more with. and then i'm also cross breeding and having new ones show up each
    year. so it will be a fun continuing project...

    fun link:

    https://www.abeancollectorswindow.com/


    what i have found so far is that most beans do have a distinct flavor and that
    in combination with the texture and different growing habits makes things fun.

    i'm trying to focus on just the bush beans and a few of the other smaller
    stature plants. not that i won't keep some growing on the fence but i don't
    have a lot of space like that. plus we really like the bush lima beans so
    i'll keep growing those too.

    my harvest wasn't all that great this year. will survive, but hope for a better
    year next time around. will keep going no matter what anyways. i am still
    having too much fun. :)

    i wouldn't worry about germination problems if you haven't been storing
    them in a high heat/direct sunlight type of location. i do try to grow some
    of each in my collection every year to refresh the seed supply, but overall
    i'm not finding problems with them other than the animals which want to
    eat them as they sprout (certain ones seem more noticed than others) and
    of course, the trouble with weather which every gardener has to work
    around.

    in other news...

    my strawberry garden project was finished and i did take pictures:

    https://www.anthive.com/project/tasks/

    the next year or two i'll redo the other part and level that out too. i
    don't like having to climb and walk on that mound for picking. there's a
    lot of goodies buried under there that should be ready.

    i'm finishing up the gardens as i can. we went from drought to too much rain
    in about a week's time. it has been raining quite a bit since. i have odds and
    ends now to do up until the ground freezes and even after that i can get out
    and trim bushes/trees back. a major recent task was trying to get the back
    fence put back up or fixed to keep the easy deer access problem down. they
    had trampled through a fence that was overgrown with wild grape vines. we
    had some old fencing that was donated but hadn't put up yet.

    of course a simple project becomes more than that, cutting out the wild grape
    vines. dealing with a groundhod den, cutting down a large honeysuckle bush
    that i'd wanted to get out of the ditch for the past ten years. etc. my shoulder
    was hurting from digging, i pulled it somehow and am trying to take it easy
    so it can heal up before i make it worse. having that happen before a project
    where i'm going to be sawing and lopping branches and having to put up the
    gardens wasn't the best, but i think i'm getting through it ok....

    as i keep telling myself "that which doesn't kill me... hasn't been trying hard enough..." :)

    i'm still taking a break for the beginning of this week because we've had so much
    more rains the ground is mud. i'll do some light stuff, but nothing too major.

    we also had the roof chimney reflashed to try to take care of the intermittent leak
    that has been going on for six years since we had the roof replaced. with a lot
    of rain through this past weekend the leak is still there so we'll call them back Monday
    and hope they can get it taken care of... no rain due this week, but it is deer hunting
    season and coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday so, we'll see...

    otherwise, reading books, sorting beans a little, i'll get back to it once i'm stuck
    inside more, and some music editing, a short trip away, well, pretty much life
    as usual is keeping me busy enough. i sure don't ever feel like there is a shortage
    of things to do... :)
     
    9anda1f likes this.
  5. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    ok, new website page up (me going on about one of the gardens):

    https://www.anthive.com/project/ne_garden/

    probably still needs some editing and final polish, but at least i finally
    got something done. :)

    cold and some snow here (for all you peoples in the southern
    hemisphere or in the tropics). an earlier start to the hard freezes
    and cold spells than the past few years. that is ok with me i
    needed a break, but at least i was able to get about 1/3rd of the
    above garden gone through and always good to be able to see
    how the soil has changed over the past 6 years back there...

    [​IMG]
     
  6. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    Bryant RedHawk likes this.
  7. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    (yesterday) going through and selecting beans for planting next season... took a few pictures. the first Yellow Eye selections are done. these are all from the Yellow Eye harvest from a cross which finished earlier than the rest. i'm not sure if they finished earlier because of the drought or what, but it will be interesting to see how these selections do this coming season. i divided the harvest into four selections:

    Regular (little to no speckling - regular shape):

    [​IMG]

    Large Speckled:

    [​IMG]

    Flat Speckled:

    [​IMG]

    Round Speckled:

    [​IMG]


    more verbiage on webpage (at the bottom):

    https://www.anthive.com/project/beans/


    (today) selected four others for pictures...


    [for scale the E on the board is 1cm long]


    Yellow Soldier

    [​IMG]


    White End Pinto

    [​IMG]


    Red White

    [​IMG]


    White Black Small

    [​IMG]
     
  8. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    where oh where has everyone gone?

    seems very quiet here lately... i miss you all!

    ok, recent news, more pictures in the bean page...

    i had some sunlight the other day and these pictures pick up some of the hints i'm trying to capture, but still not showing what i see.

    and i like pictures of beans... :)


    you can see the hints of red along the edges and at the ends. wish you all could see these in person they are so purty...

    [​IMG]


    again you can see the hints of yellow, it is a very bright yellow. it will be interesting to see how far i can select for this to strengthen the color.

    [​IMG]


    the lavender color faded on most of the beans, but for some reason these selected ones didn't fade as much.

    [​IMG]


    i've never seen this light olive on anything i've grown before.

    [​IMG]


    i just like the patterns and colors of these.

    [​IMG]

    in other news, finally got new PC parts on order. i've been talking about it for years.
    finally did it. now just have to wait for delivery and then have fun putting together and
    moving stuff over and all the testing and changes. a good mid-winter project.

    otherwise, things going well, snow, cold, some sunshine here or there. pretty much
    normal. :)

    hope you are doing well.
     
  9. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    new PC up and running. last parts got here Tues afternoon. very nice to
    finally be in the modern era.

    as far as permaculture goes, it is a low power CPU, one very tiny fan on
    the CPU which i will eventually replace with a heat sink and no fan at all.
    the power supply is fanless. some day i'll have to get a power meter
    and see what it draws, but shouldn't be much at all. maybe 50-80 watts
    including the monitor and backup disk drive when it is spinning. when
    playing music might be a bit more but not sure how much that adds.
    most of the time when i'm not playing music it shuts down that part
    of the system anyways (the main house stereo is a much bigger beast).

    my old machine was very loud and well overdue for being replaced.
    Mom will be very happy when i finally get rid of some of these piles
    of old computer parts.

    now i have some projects still to get wrapped up before the conversion
    is completed, but it has gone pretty well. *whew*

    while waiting for computer parts i did some sorting on the beans. took a
    few pictures when the sun was out. then with still a ways to go until i
    can get back to it i left it where i was, boxed up the sorting cups and
    put them away:


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    been a bit too warm here (above freezing some days).
     
  10. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    new computer is up and running well. spinning off plenty of projects so i'm busy with those too. sorting through old stuff to recycle or shred for worm food.

    the past few weeks have also involved possible jury duty. which i've never been through before.

    yesterday almost selected for a small jury but was one person away from the cut off and thus sent home with half a day's pay.

    today i find out they don't need me the rest of the week - i am done for this summons and have no idea if i will be called again sometime - supposedly all up to random chance.

    recent pics...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    i am glad the colder weather and snow has returned. it is too early for spring... :)
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2018
  11. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    the weather is gradually turning, still cold at night (below freezing),
    but the daytime temperatures are finally getting warm enough we
    can get outside to do some gardening things and get ready for the
    coming growing season. it is still several weeks too early for most
    things. we usually don't plant warm weather crops until the end of
    May. some others we can do a few weeks before that.

    *being patient* ...
     
  12. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    the early flowers are finally starting to show up. we've had a lot of sun the
    past few weeks even with the night time temperatures well below freezing
    some have decided to arrive.

    :) :) :) :) :)
     
    9anda1f likes this.
  13. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2009
    Messages:
    1,665
    Likes Received:
    94
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    s/e
    Location:
    South Waikato New ZeLeand
    Climate:
    Cool mountain
    I envy you with such dramatic seasons.
    Snow looks so beautiful and peaceful...but I just know its cold too.....brrrr

    Isnt it amazing that you can have so many different varieties of beans.
    They taste similar but they look so different.
    I have kept up with my Great white Northern beans but have added a Lima bean type, a Pean and black turtle beans.
    I thought I had done quite well til I saw your lot again.
    Still, I've got the makings of dinner for over the winter drying quite nicely.

    I am so looking forward to winter, I've had it with our overly hot summer. Cant wait to be cool.
    i've decided not to work the winter season this year so I can actually get to have a sort of holiday for a change.
     
  14. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    yes, cold. a few nights ago it was -6C. we are now getting some sorely needed rain. without snow cover the ground gets so dry and we've not had snow or rains for several weeks.

    i managed to get ouside for a little while yesterday and finished getting the remains of last year's climbing beans off the fence so it is ready for this coming season. was a bit too cold and windy to do much else. one thing about living here in the middle of open fields is that the winds can get pretty brisk. we have the cedar trees now big enough to provide a lot of protection, but out back in some places it is still pretty open (and i want to keep it that way so we get the full sun).

    as for beans. while they may taste similar to each other they are distinct flavors and textures for many of them. when i cook them i just boil at a very low simmer in water. i only add spices/toppings after i've sampled them for ones which are new to me. when used with other things i'm usually using one of my bulk beans so i'm already familiar with their taste and texture. i've found some really nice small beans which stand up well to cooking for hours at a time. they are great in chili and add a more hearty and chewy texture. it takes time to shell them out and sort but i like that part of the process anyways, especially in the depths of winter when not much else is going on.

    so far i'd say there are easily 50 different kinds of flavors/textures in what i have been growing here and perhaps more that i've not had a chance to grow out enough yet to cook some up. then there are those that i like to eat fresh or at the shelly stage. which are whole other layers of complexities and factors to evaluate along with their growth habits, colors of flowers and pods and disease resistances. if you ever need to find other varieties let me know i may have contacts in NZ already.

    for me the shelling and sorting when they are dry is like picking stones off a beach, it appeals to my tactile and visual OCD type things. if i need something to do in the middle of winter like that i'll sort beans again because they do change colors as they age. some i find that i've put in some groups no longer really belong there... :)

    to grow all these selections out, i'd need a lot more acres and more minions.
     
    mischief likes this.
  15. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    groundhog duty the past few weeks. i plugged some holes up last fall and was hoping that would be the end of it, but they have returned this spring and are trying to get back in there. so i've had to pound some stakes in and pile rocks on the area to keep them out. i really don't want a groundhog den only a few feet from the fenced garden area... one reason a garden should be in zone 1 is that you are more active there and can keep a better eye on things and defend it. we've essentially got our main vegetable gardens out in zone 2 or 3 and the fence isn't good enough to keep all creatures out which need excluding.

    snow and rain forecast today/this week. still well below freezing some nights. spring is gradually coming, but this year the temperatures are well below average to start.

    in good news, i hope i've found someone to knock down the brush in the back part of the lot. i was going to do it all by hand gradually, but that kind of time is hard to find during the growing season. for a price but if it saves me 80hrs of work back there it will be well worth it and i can keep my efforts aimed at the front part here with all the gardens and the other projects. hope it works out...
     
    mischief and 9anda1f like this.
  16. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    we've gone from frosts overnight to 27C in two days. i'm not sure yet we are done with
    frosts, we still don't plant any warm weather crops until towards the end of this month
    anyways. cucumbers we may try to get in earlier. maybe some peas and onion seeds
    will get planted...

    lacking rain. finally started a light rain last night and this morning and is well appreciated.

    projects stacking up as usual and more compressed because of the extended cold, but
    that is ok, it's good to be moving and busy again. :)

    was pushing to finish the edges of one garden i started expanding and cleaning up last
    fall, it was the other part of the first strawberry patch redo where i had lima beans growing
    in a single row. the rest was covered and pretty much wasted space that i still had to
    keep weeded. i tell myself if i'm going to weed a garden i'd like to get something from it
    so i took out all the covering mulch and black plastic and moved the subsoil from the
    strawberries in there to fill it in some more and raise it up a bit more. some of the
    rotting wood chip mulch was left behind to help the soil out and that was where i was
    stuck for the winter months.

    this past week we got the borders set up and moved rocks (we do that a lot around here
    :) ) to hold things down. using some strange material from my brother's warehouse he
    was trying to clear out. we hauled it last summer/fall and left it near where i was going
    to use it until i could get back to it this spring.

    remind me to put my glasses on when taking pictures, i didn't notice the edge had
    fallen over until i was editing picture this morning. lol :)


    [​IMG]


    also took a few flower pics while i was out there...

    bee and flower

    [​IMG]

    beetle and flower

    [​IMG]

    in other news, beekeeper finally put hives out back again. he did put them further back from
    where they were but he still is blocking our access through that side.

    luckily the other neighbors are good people and didn't mind when the guy with the brushhog
    and then a bit later he got out his backhoe to clear the back field. that has probably saved
    me a a huge amount of manual work and he did it in a few hours time. many of the bushes
    in there were thorn bushes and it would have been quite a bit of bloodletting to get in there
    and cut them all out by hand. he also managed to get some of the bushes and trees from
    along the edge of the large drainage ditch so that also saves me a lot of work this season...

    which is probably a good thing... ;)
     
    mischief likes this.
  17. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    well, so much has been happening since i last updated here:

    the garden shed did get finished:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    at a great cost to me. while putting up all that glue, tile and grout i severely pulled a
    tendon in my arm. almost my entire summer i've been gardening at very limited
    capacity.

    the garden shed is not a garden shed any longer. :) the new tile looked so nice that
    we decided to not drill holes through it or put up new shelving and instead moved all
    of Mom's fabric supplies for her quilting into there and then cleaned out the garage
    and put up places for the garden tools and supples there instead. best idea i've had
    in a long time. no more mices or bees can get into the walls through that shed and
    the garage also looks much nicer too.

    eventually i sold my car. a big weight off my shoulders. it was getting to the point
    where it would have needed a lot of things done to it and the mice kept getting in it.
    the guy i sold it to was mechanic enough that he had no trouble wanting it when it
    started right up. he didn't care about anything else as he'd be able to fix most of it
    himself. that's also a major expense for the insurance i no longer have. simplification
    is continuing. i'm liking it. by weight and volume this means i got rid of about 50%
    of my material possessions, but by expense about 98%. i did need some glasses
    fixed and so that is where some of the $ went... nice to have that all taken care of
    at last...

    in garden news, slowly getting this weeded through:

    [​IMG]

    we had a vacation last week for a few days, my sister was in town from out west visiting
    and we had a great time, but right before she was due to arrive i managed to pull my
    achilles tendon. weeding of all things. something i've done thousands of times before.
    same method, same muscles as usual, don't know what i did, but sure hope i don't do
    that again.

    my fencing project is on hold until my arm and leg get well enough. also the NE Garden
    has been left where i stopped planting the beans (about 1/10th of what i was hoping
    for back there, but i just couldn't get it done). so one day, knowing that Mom hated
    how it looked back there with all those weeds i got out the mower and was able to
    knock it all back. that didn't involve any twisting of my arm. so now we've just kept
    mowing it until i can get back to it (next year i hope). the same with cleaning up all
    those rotting pallets that are caving in... and the fence and taking care of the River
    Nile erosion gully that is forming at the end... all things i need to get done eventually
    but none of them emergencies.

    the gardens themselves are doing well this season. we've had a recent dry spell the past
    several weeks and then the last week it has rained about 25cm. earlier in the season we
    had one of these:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    the recent rains haven't been that heavy all at once to where we've flash flooded,
    but i've been worried about the dry bean harvest.

    yesterday i was able to get out and pick some of them and i hope to make a good
    dent in them today and tomorrow now that the weather has cooled off.

    tomatoes coming in lately, put up about 40L of tomato chunks last Sunday and will
    have plenty more to do in a few days. we gave an 8L bucket of Roma's to the neighbor
    out back and will have plenty more of those too...

    cucumber season was great here:

    [​IMG]

    we did about 95L of dill pickles and then i asked if we could pull out the plants since we
    didn't need any more. 13 8L buckets later we finally did get the plants pulled out.

    the red pepper patch was hail damaged and many of the peppers were spoiled
    by that. i did have a few meals from the patch, but i wasn't all that happy with
    the flavor of the peppers. i had so many still in the freezer from last year that
    it wasn't a hard decision on my part to pull those plants and let the worms feast
    on them. next year i'll go back to the red peppers i know i like or try some other
    varieties.

    so the main tasks for the next few weeks will be to keep chipping away at
    whatever projects i can get done, finishing up the tomato harvest, getting
    the dry beans kept up with as they finish, any weeding i can do and trying
    to avoid further injuries.
     
    9anda1f likes this.
  18. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2009
    Messages:
    1,665
    Likes Received:
    94
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Gender:
    Female
    Occupation:
    s/e
    Location:
    South Waikato New ZeLeand
    Climate:
    Cool mountain
    Beautiful job on the tiling!!
    I expected you to say....its not just a garden shed now, its my shower room. hehe

    Mate!!! tendons needs rest, you arent doing yourself any favours by pushing yourself like this.
    I've had to slow down due to straining tendons in a finger, of all things.
    Patience isnt one of my virtues, but I dont have too much of a choice right now.

    That is still a serious amount of rain, going by your pics.
    What are those poor plants that are just about under water?
     
    songbird likes this.
  19. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2009
    Messages:
    2,457
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Occupation:
    Farm manager/ educator
    Location:
    Hunter Valley New South Wales
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    warm temperate - some frost - changing every year
    Great to see your bean growing - we are doing more here too in a hope to provide more of the dry goods with chick peas and beans added to the mandalas to extend our range and reduce our reliance on the supply chain.
    We could sure use a bit of that flooding rain here in the Hunter Valley.
     
    songbird likes this.
  20. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2013
    Messages:
    1,791
    Likes Received:
    148
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
    Location:
    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    there's no water and no heat in that space so it would be a lot of work to get fixed for that.
    also, no air vents or electricity. i'm quite happy to have it as very mouse and bee proof
    extra storage. this house is pretty small and lacking for storage space... too bad i can't
    use it as a cellar or pantry, but it isn't insulated space and it gets very very hot with the
    morning sun.

    ok, other topic, tendons, yes, they do need time to heal. my arm is going along much
    more slowly than my leg, but the past week i've been able to get all the bean gardens
    gone through and have started to get more shelling done. sometimes my leg hurts
    more but it is healing a lot faster. i don't think i pulled it as bad as my arm.

    the rains have not let up much at all and the next week continues in that trend. last
    month we had 4x normal precipitation and are about at normal for the month already
    and it's just the 3rd day. the ground is saturated. i'm not doing any weeding or digging
    or picking for the next few days. i do need a break and rest for my leg, plus i have
    a lot of beans to sort out and shell. :)

    the plants in the water are beans. they've done pretty well this year in that garden
    even in spite of being flooded out - in fact that garden has taught me that some of
    my varieties of beans don't do very well in other gardens due to the soil being very
    very poor (which i know already, but i didn't know it made that huge amount of
    difference it does). a few of the varieties grown in that garden have produced very
    nice beans this season... :) now i have to figure out how to get the same decent
    soil in all my gardens. a long process when i don't have an easy way to bring in
    materials or the $ to do it...

    ah, well, the season is progressing for sure...

    we did about 24L of tomatoes last night after i picked beans all day. my leg is going
    to appreciate a day or two off...
     
    mischief and 9anda1f like this.

Share This Page

-->