Seed Lists and mutual advice swap

[Aggie]

Oops, posted with Aggie. I'm under the impression that most vigorous vines need plenty of water. I wouldn't worry about the morning glories in the wind, though. They should be fine, once they get a grip.

I am going to try to set up some kind of a low-tech drip system for when I'm away; it's the (lack of) air humidity rather than soil dryness that I think might be an issue. 

Thanks for the tips & links!


PS isn't Kudzu tasty?  I don't have to worry about anything tropical getting invasive here due to -30 C winter freezes.

[anthrobabe]

yes you can eat Kudzu---- and it will eat you

ok I've warned you about the Kudzu--- (Chatty-- tell 'im will ya, I'm going to have to bonk 'im on the noggin bout this stuff    )

it's been spotted doing very well in Illinois USA  --- garden zone ? but it gets darn cold.
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22374

Albany NY @  -28 F   yep it has survived it  Here

so you see it is actually on it's way-- just sit still and listen for it rustling north.

[Aggie]

Don't worry, I'm not actually looking to plant kudzu.   

[Sibling Chatty]

There's a little bitty town in southern Mississippi that was evac'ed for a hurricane back in the early 80's. The gub'mint was remiss at letting folks back in--over a week!

Kudzu had almost covered every building in the town--all 32 of them. The houses nearest the edge of where they'd been beating it back were completely covered.

On an optimal growing (spring) day, with an open space?? The rate of growth can be monitored in  centimeters per quarter hour. Yes, visible to the (patient) human eye.

However, you can go to places covered in it, rip it down and form vine wreaths of it quite easily. The problem is keeping them from rooting until they're dry. (All those "grapevine" wreaths in craft stores?? Betcha at least half or more are kudzu.)

[Aggie]

So, how do we make biofuels out of it?  Better than all this silly corn ethanol that's driving up food prices. 

[Sibling Chatty]

I'm sure it's possible.

If biofuels can be made of garbage (and they can) then kudzu should be no problem. The problem is that ADM and all the other corporate "farmers" can't make a profit off of kudzu.

I'm rapidly becoming a raving socialist--or at least in favor of nationalizing the economy-raping corporations just long enough to break their death grasp on us.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

Oh well , it looks like everything I'm doing this year has been covered . I have so much in my little plot that everything is running wild .

I hope to start some organic foodstuff going in large containers this year as opposed to in the yard . ( So cat doesn't fertilize the stuff )

[Aggie]

I'm rapidly becoming a raving socialist--or at least in favor of nationalizing the economy-raping corporations just long enough to break their death grasp on us.

Start with the banks.... 

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I have something growing in my yard that must have come from the compost . One tough plants that is sending out some tenacious runners .

It is about 6ft. tall and produces (few) berries that are very sweet , I'll have to take a picture of it .

I'd like to know what it is , the fruit resemble baby blackberries .

[Aggie]

Oooh....  sounds like blackcaps (black raspberries).  My FAVORITE Rubus species...  they are rare back home so I know the location of individual bushes various places around the region.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

Rare? Really ? Heck I have one growing out front that refuses to go away . It is growing out of a crack in the concrete , I've cut it right down but it comes right back , year after year .

[Aggie]

In BC, anyways.  Mom and Dad have quite a few bushes at the beach near their house, but other than that, I think I know of 3 other patches in the whole area.

If it's the same thing, the berries are similar to raspberries only black and a bit 'flatter' and very sweet...  I think it might be a different species out east, but similar:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_leucodermis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_occidentalis

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I'll have to get back with a photo sometime later in the season .

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Raspberries (ever bearing and some other variety--can't remember)
Bachelor's Buttons
My lovely little spice bush (Calycanthus occidentalis)
Four O'Clock
Golden Girl tomatoes
Other tomatoes--need to get out to the nursery to pick some out (we have a ridiculously long growing season out here, March to about November)
Peppers (anaheim and a few others)
snapdragons
morning glories
watermelons and honeydew
more lupins (god, how I love them)
Rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, lemon grass
Blood orange (which is looking much better this year)


Going to try to get berries out of my manzanita bush (Arctostaphylos viscida is my variety, I think) this year, too.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I never had good results with melons , mainly because i forget to start them indoors , and another problem is getting enough direct sunlight .