Book lovers discussion

Jo....I grow all kinds of peppers...jalapeno, cayenne, hungarian yellow wax, habernero....I also grow basil and cilantro and grape/cherry tomatoes....I haven't planted them yet for the season though...last year I had a great crop!

It's a rainy day today, so I was out in the flower gardens transplanting volunteers. Some annual flowers, like marigolds & cosmos, I haven't bought in several years. I just keep spreading their seeds & transplanting what comes up during the spring. Days like today, when it's sprinkling, but not super wet, are perfect for it.

My vegetable garden isn't much, just a couple of tomato & pepper plants plus the asparagus bed. I generally put in a squash plant or two, but not this year. The past 2 years I've gotten a borer, so I'm taking a break this year. Occasionally I'll try something else, but we don't seem to use it all that much. Either Marg doesn't like it, I'm not good at growing it or too much of it grows. Cucumbers are a good example of the last. No sense in growing a plant when we eat a few & just give most away. I planted a Concord grape vine on the wire I put up for beans.

Me too Jo. All the usual, spud, tomatoes, cucumber, peas, beans, spring onions and carrots but I have a thing for slightly odd varieties. Loads of fruit too, apple, pear, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, tayberry, blackberry, loganberry, gooseberry, blueberry, cranberry, rhubarb, melon, red/white/black currants and jostaberry fruiting this year for the first time, excited to try that one.

Wow! You grow all that, Bill?!!! That's got to be a ton of work. I keep thinking about putting in a fruit tree, then read what all I'd have to do & stay away in horror. How do you find the time? I've never even heard of a tayberry or jostaberry.

I know, sounds a lot doesn't it. Surprised myself!
Mostly doesn't take much especially the fruit. Amazes me every year when they reward me with armfuls of fruit for very little input from me. Josta is new (fruit) for me this year, I didn't expect it to fruit until next year, it's a gooseberry/blackcurrant cross. Loganberry is a blackberryXred raspberry and a tayberry is a loganberryXblack raspberry. Watering is the only real thing, and that's only pots etc, the bushes in the ground don't get watered by me. Get yourself a nice pot Jim and give it a go.

All in pots? That's really neat. I don't have a place for that right now & I'm not sure if we will with the winds that we get. Sun is also a problem. The front porch doesn't get enough (east side) & the back porch (west) just cooks everything. I keep toying with the idea of putting up some sort of trellis & shade, but it will be a lot of expense & work the way everything is situated.

We have tons of wild blackberries around the place that I don't do much with & should. One swiped my shirt off the tractor while I was mowing on Friday. I hang my shirt on one of the turn signals, so it's about 6' off the ground. That gives you some idea of their size. Elderberries also grow wild, but I've never seen them ripen enough. They get going well & then we get the summer drought & they die off. They're out in some brush in the north field, so getting water to them is a tough job, but I have a 55 gallon drum that fits into the back of the pickup & have cleared out the honeysuckle finally. It was choking the berries, too.

On top of that, my wife is allergic to most fresh fruit & we're not much on cooking. Survival cooking is more our line. Occasionally I'll get a wild hair, but I'm also spread pretty thin. Mom used to make the best jams, bread & butter pickles & tomato relish. Maybe some day, but I'll have to give up some other hobby first.

IOW, I have nothing but admiration for people who do it & love to eat the results, but all I have is excuses for not doing it now.
;-)

Jo, both of my orchids are now dead and gone. The basil is on its way out and the Sage is a goner too. All I have left is my Aloe plant......that's in the cactus family. SOooooo i think I will stick with cacti from here on out. :\ FAIL

Our tomatoes & peppers are still going strong, although they're starting to look a bit bedraggled. I just got 2 bags of tomatoes off of one plant yesterday, though.

My aunt has the most amazing green thumb. This last Sunday (for family dinner) we had sliced beef steak tomatoes that were so gorgeous they looked fake and tasted amazing. They were topped with fresh basil from her garden and balsamic dressing. We had salmon with fresh rosemary and lemon (also from her garden...except for the salmon ;)) and for dessert we had fresh figs. And I can barely keep a cactus alive. :( I am supremely jealous of both (Jo and Jim) of your green thumbs.