On 5/25/2014 3:35 PM, songbird wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
> ...
>> I picked four cucumbers and two tomatoes earlier this morning, now 0751
>> CST. Lima beans and cukes are at the top of the four feet tall
>> trellises, hoping they start blooming soon. Lots of baby yellow squash
>> and there are four Acorn squash on the volunteers along the fence. Looks
>> like this may be a good year for us, depending on rainfall. The new
>> soaker hoses are working well so we're happy.
>
> we have been growing the fordhook lima
> beans which are bush type. i try to find
> extra spots behind other things to wedge
> them in as they are the last to finish.
We are growing Hopi red lima beans this year for the first time. Forgot
where I found them but it was a Native American Heirloom seed outfit. We
just barely can walk around our tiny backyard, I mow it with the weed
eater. Thirty-two feet long by four feet wide raised beds plus two feet
wide beds around 64 feet of fence and another bed under the windows of
the house. Doesn't even cover the roll around potting bench on the
patio. Then there's flower beds in the front of the house with veggies
growing behind the flowers plus a pear tree in front and a fig and a
kumquat tree in the back. As we age we're trying to cut back on acreage.
>
> i have to remember to get the squash seeds
> planted. they are on my list in my head, but
> where they go is far enough in the back that
> out-of-sight-out-of-mind may happen for a bit.
> we'll need to cage them as there are woodchucks
> and wabbits about.
We've been eating summer squash for three weeks now. Big difference in
climates.
>
> got the potted plants in (red and green
> peppers, onions and tomatoes) and that was
> enough. the rest of the planting i have to
> do will go much faster and easier as i don't
> have to get up and down to plant things -
> just scratch a line with the hoe, drop seeds,
> cover and water... oh, well, maybe not as
> i have another nine buckets of worms/worm
> castings to put down as fertilizer, still will
> go faster to plant than to have to put in
> potted starts.
>
> we used soaker hoses for the tomatoes last
> year and while they worked i still wasn't
> all that happy with the flavor of the tomatoes.
> i'm going to do things a little different this
> year and see how things go.
>
>
> songbird
>
It's always better with natural rain, the rain brings down meteorite
dust and nitrogen from the atmosphere, helps everything green. Saw a
news program the other day that the meteorite and volcanic dust in the
atmosphere has bacteria with it and helps with the rain. We don't
fertilize but a tiny bit, the rest comes from compost. Wish we still had
rabbits, best fertilizer there is, put it on the garden straight from
the rabbit and it doesn't burn. Been many years since we had the
rabbitry but we did have wonderful gardens back then, cow, chicken, and
rabbit manure all composted nicely. About two acres of gardens and six
acres of grazing pasture. Lots of work but fun in our twenties, which
were a long time ago. Plus we had two kids to work with us. They both
still garden. But neither cans anything, to busy I guess, both have
careers as do their spouses.

George