Groucho: Thanks for the link for Poetry

I just went out and watered our garden,picked 3 nice size zucchini and gonna have some with breakfast.Were in such a heat wave it's already in the 80's and it's early.

Any post Off Topic will be deleted.

My tomatoe plants are doing well! So are the slugs crikey! They are quite big! The tomatoes I mean not the slugs.

Mousetrap: My tomatoes are finally turning red.I picked a few and put them in the window.

Foxy Lady: Tomatoes take so long here to grow large enough to pick (in Eastern Canada) I start mine indoors in March and still have to wait until the end of August to get nice big ones.. sigh lol

Rose: Our Summers here are very short.I hit the Farmers Market while i wait for mine to ripen.Right now were in a bad heat wave and my lettuce is all wilted.I buy my plants already started,i tried starting them in the house.Didn't work the dog got to them.

Foxy Lady: Next year I may either start my tomatoes in January or buy ones already started in April. Not the same as starting from scratch tho!

We don't really have a in ground garden but we planted a bunch of
tomato plants in big pots and put them on the deck.  They are all
growing well and we'll have tons of em!  I love fresh tomatoes  :)

We also have a Cherry tree and this year we got a bunch of cherries.  I need to learn how to purne it though. 

Groucho: mmmmm cherries!
Now I wanna dash to the farm market and grab some fresh fruit!

Rose: I hate the waiting for veggies so i buy them and than i have mine lol.

Now because I've read all your posts over our winter I'm glad to say the first daffodills are out at our place and spring will be just around the corner.... I can't wait.. LOL

can anybody identify this flower for me...we found cuttings at the local dump and I have never seen it before....Looks as though it could belong to the ginger family.

view the pics here and they will take a while to load

http://www.geocities.com/tropicalspleandour/query.html

BerniceC: Is there any root attached to the plant? It certainly looks like a ginger.

BerniceC:
Ornamental Ginger
AFAIK

I'll look into it

skipinnz: Where do you live? Were going into Fall here soon,i am anyways.I'm in Central New York State.

BerniceC: Whew it sure does take time to download.

New Zealand

skipinnz: Thats some distance,so your coming out of Winter? Do you have a Garden being your going into Spring?

Foxy Lady: Yep, mine's full of winter vegies at the moment, Brussel sporuts and silver beet etc, can't wait to get tomatoes/cucumbers started in the glass house for spring.

skipinnz: Our winters are to brutal here to grow anything except snowmen.

Foxy Lady:We don't get the snow but it gets cold enough. We can grow vegies all year round, they just slow down a bit in July.

I have tomatoes...both Grosse Lisse and Cherry...have Cues, Capsicum, Zucchini,10mil silver beet plants LOL...beans..both Green and Butter, potatoes, and am putting in sweet potatoes over the next week. My soil is a very sandy loam and anything will grow....we have just taken 1/2 of my 1/4 acre and are turning it into a tropical rainforesty type thing....I have before pics, and will also get pics when it gets a bit more established....we have already planted about 200 plants (including moses edging and mondo grass)...have about 50-60 more cuttings to plant when they establish a bit more....but will give pics when i am able to.

Foxy sorry about the down load timing of the pics but didnt have time to doctor them as geo cities is a bugger of a sight to upload anything to these days....not like the olde worlde days LOLOL

I found a grove of elderberries....mmmmmm

nobleheart:

mmmm elderberry wine?

skipinnz: I'd could do without the Snow,and would love veggies fresh all year.

BerniceC: It's the webbie and i hate waiting for anything to download.

Foxy Lady:It's not only the vegies it's also the fruit. We virtually have our own fruit all year round.

ajtgirl: was thinking of that,I have my grandfather's old recipe

skipinnz: Oh wow are biggest fruit coming up is apples in my area.Usually around the end of August

Foxy Lady:

My grandfather owned an apple orchard in Missouri and we spent summers there waiting for the apples to ripen.  They were great right off of the tree.  He also had an apple press for making cider.  I can still smell the workroom where the laborers sifted through the apples to ship out or keep for making cider.

Foxy Lady:we're eating citrus at the moment and might look at making some marmalade, Mandarins are nearly finished and they are sweet.

ajtgirl: Ahhhhhhh fresh sweet cider,i love it.We have an apple orchard here thats called Twin Orchards and they have every kind of aple you can think of.They also make fresh cider.

skipinnz: Mandarins i love in a salad with chicken and almonds.I wish i could grow a few of those trees here.

this was built yesterday and today Im going to get a motor to run the waterfall part of it :)
http://www.geocities.com/tropicalspleandour/pond.html

BerniceC: got the motor and the underground power is being installed as I write LOL

it works just great and is such a soothing thing to have in the garden.

BerniceC: Awwwwwwww , that looks so doody

BerniceC</b>: I love that pond! I could paddle in that!

BerniceC:

Ponds are so peaceful with the trickle of the water going in the background.
I'm sure you will love it.
Invite Mousetrap over sometime and he can use it as a swimming pool!

BerniceC: I love Garden Ponds hmmmmmm you gave me an idea.

I have a black walnut tree in my yard that is mature enough to have the nuts. Several people have said oh just leave them for the squirrles they are messy to work with and get brown stain everywhere when you try and crack them. My Question is "Doese anyone here have personal experience with them? And is it just as they say not worth the effort?

amandalove:Juglens nigra is mainly grown for timber, but nuts are edible, most people grow the european walnut for the nuts. They are worth the effort, as a mature tree will produce quite a few kilograms of nuts. Once the fiberous skin rots off they need to be air dried for a few weeks. Then cracked ready to eat & there shouldn't be any staining if they are dried properly

amandalove: Some more info for ya.

http://www.treesforyou.org/Planting/TreeCare/Healthy/blk-nuts.htm

amandalove: I agree with what skipinnz said about drying them. My Dad would spread them on a screen for air circulation until the outer skin dried. Then they can be handled and cracked.
They really are quite good!

discovered this veggie this weekend,thanks to some japanese friends:

Chinese spinach = hiyu = hon-toi-moi = yin choy = een choy = amaranth = hsien tsai

Notes: This is similar to spinach, only it's prettier, tastier, and more nutritious.tastes maybe a litle like asparagus.Look for it in Asian markets.

nobleheart: I looked up your spinach since i stir fry alot and found this.
http://www.foodsubs.com/Greenckg.html

Looks like Fall is on it's way were dropping down into the 40's now.We got our garlic drying and most of the garden picked except some tomatoes.I did get lots of beet greens and little beets .Guess we need to work that area better since the soil is clay.

Foxy Lady:Do you turn your green tomatoes into pickels or relish?

skipinnz: Neither we fry them yummy.I love green tomatoes fried,first we batter them.

Foxy Lady: ty foxy its really a delicious veggie...