Seed Lists and mutual advice swap

[Opsa]

My friend is my sister's partner. I wish there was a better term for it. "Partner" sounds like they're in business together. Technically, he is her common-law husband, and we love him like a brother, if not a brother-in-common-law. He's a really neat guy, an incredible artist. He used to live on a farm and misses those fresh-picked veg.

I would suggest the topsy-turvy bag, but that would put the tomatoes too low to pick from the window and too high to pick from the ground level. Plus, there would be the looming threat of being hit by a falling tomato and feeling like a bad actor.

[Aggie]

When I was a lot younger I lived down a country lane, at the end of which were a number of nurseries growing cucumbers, etc. A friend's father ran one of them, so I had the privilege of eating cucumbers straight off the vine on a number of occasions. They are so much better this fresh, than when they've sat in a supermarket's warehouse for several days.

Everything is!  I consider gardening to be prep cooking taken to extreme lengths.

Speaking of edible flowers, I just twigged onto the fact that violets are edible. I'm making mango-coconut pudding for breakfast (over rice) and will garnish with violet flowers.  I think I'll try some violet leaves in the chickweed salad I'm planning for lunch, too.

[Opsa]

Wow! That sounds yumtastic! I gotta find some use for the violets now blooming in my yard. I especially love the white ones.

[Aggie]

I keep finding out that the weeds in my garden are edible.  Latest find: Ground ivy.  Between that, the chickweed, some dandelions and young violet leaves (and flowers), spring salads are there for the taking.  I had my first taste of rhubarb yesterday; one little stalk about an inch or two long with a snapped-off leaf. 

Hmm... I wonder if I can find any stinging nettles around that have poked their heads above the ground? They are my favourite wild spring green, aside from feral asparagus and spring beauties...

[Opsa]

Ah yes, I think I heard a pack of feral asparagus howling the other night.

_{Could have been the burritos I had for dinner, though.}

[Aggie]

 

I can heartily recommend the book Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons; it's a classic and I daresay euell love it!

Technically, it's feral here as it's not native to North America.  We usually get it popping up in May, and there's usually some competition over the easily accessible patches.

[Roland Deschain]

Mmmm, wild asparagus. Sounds delicious.

Aggie, you've never had rhubarb before now? Wow, I hope you liked it. I remember dad growing rhubarb by the barrow. Once it gets going, it doesn't stop!

Try this link for some info on edible flowers - List of Edible Flowers

[Opsa]

Excellent link there, Roland.

I'd like to try candying flowers one day. There are several on the list that have that as a suggestion, and they do look very pretty on cakes and breads. Anyone done this?

We had a freeze warning last night, but the sprouts seem to have weathered it just fine.

[Aggie]

First taste this year.  Although, this is my first very own rhubarb patch, and I've three HUGE plants.

I finally got around to chickweed salad this morning, just fresh-picked chickweed with a squeeze of lemon, and twist of pepper and a little roasted hazelnut oil.  WOW that stuff packs a powerful hit of aliveness! Total superfood potential, IMHO. Highly recommended.

Off to battle the bindweed...  It takes a while to clear a bed, but should be worth the effort.  Too bad that stuff isn't really edible... I've pounds of roots pulled already.

[Roland Deschain]

Is that Hedge Bindweed (large white flowers) or Field Bindweed (small white and pink flowers) you have there? Both look really nice when covering something you want them to cover, but they do tend to go mental if not pruned back regularly. They're a bugger to get rid of too, as their roots can regenerate from the smallest piece. They're what I like to call "Nucular Proof".

I've never candied flowers, but I do know that they look wonderful on cakes, and taste delicious!

Due to unpopular demand, i've finally taken photos of my indoor herb planters. I've blacked out most of what can be seen through the window, as it highlights the plants nicely:-

Herb Planter 1



The picture through the window is reversed so it matches with the two angles taken from inside.

Herb Planter 2



The picture taken from inside is from a strange angle, as there's something in the way that I couldn't be bothered to move. The picture taken from outside is reversed to match the one taken from inside, but the light makes it a crappy picture, so please forgive.

Hint: Click pictures to view full-size.

[Aggie]

Field, I suspect... the little stuff.  I'm going through the beds with a fine-tooth claw to get out any sizeable roots to about 1 ft of depth. I've heard the roots can go 30 ft deep, so I'm not trying to follow them all the way down.

[Roland Deschain]

Field, I suspect... the little stuff.  I'm going through the beds with a fine-tooth claw to get out any sizeable roots to about 1 ft of depth. I've heard the roots can go 30 ft deep, so I'm not trying to follow them all the way down.

Good luck with that. I can understand not wanting to follow in the footsteps of Snorri Sturluson and Professor Von Hardwigg (aka Lidenbrok).

[Aggie]

Based on the bed I'm currently working on, which is approximately 3 ft wide, I'm removing enough roots to fill a bucket equal in volume to 1 L/linear foot of bed (i.e. for a 15 ft raised bed, I've pulled out a 15 L bucket of roots. I'm also starting to suspect that the previous gardener was trying to correct an iron deficiency using bent nails...

I decided to get the raised beds done first, because the main bed I'm converting from flowers to veggies is approximately 6 m by 4.5 m.  Based on rough estimates of soil mass, I will likely be shovelling, raking and re-raking upwards of 20 tonnes of soil (I haven't considered the side or front beds in this total, which will probably not be as vigorously combed through).

The upshot of this is that I get to literally run my fingers through all the soil in my garden. 

[Opsa]

There are some weeds you never can eradicate, and bindweed is one of them. You can get the upper hand, though, and it sounds like Aggie's doing just that.

I have autumn clematis in my rugosa roses, and I can't dig it out without messing up the rose roots, so I just pull it all spring and summer until autumn, then I let it go ahead and and make flowers.

Nice looking herbs ya got there, Roland.

I have cabbage sprouts in my mini greenhouse, and portulaca and cosmos and basil so far.

[Aggie]

Well, a garden is not supposed to be a sterile wasteland with a few desirable plants growing in it; it's a living ecosystem.  I figure the best way to minimize the less-desired plants (and insects for that matter) is to let the more-desired ones get the upper hand and just outlive the rest of 'em.  

I am not going to be on much of a weed warpath this summer, either; if it's not significantly decreasing yields, why bother? I have room for a surplus of food, so a 20% yield reduction is more acceptable than spending hundreds of hours rooting out weeds through the season.  I'll just cut them back as they pop up for composts (before flowering, and after a trip to a planned solar death chamber).

I am experimenting with using clover as a cover crop in pathways and along non-intensive beds (i.e. around large plants and perennials) to keep the weeds back and enrich the soil.  I don't care if it gets in the lawn, which will be a pumpkin patch anyways. It's nitrifying and good for the bees.

Oh, built a proper hoop-house over my two planted raised beds last night.  It needs some refinement, but it's better than the temporary H-braced cover I started the season with.