Some of us live in apartments, some in smaller homes, some in HOAs that dictate our every move. The common denominator though is we all like to eat. We may have different preferences as to what we like but we believe our choices should be and are healthy. Some have a garden where they grow their own veggies, maybe even a fruit tree, depending on the size of available space. Some of the townies remember going out to Grandpa’s farm as a kid, either to work a little but always to enjoy the meals Grandma would make for us. We are a generation or two from the agrarian society that has made this country such a freedom loving powerhouse.
I’m one of those country boys that still has the cow manure between his toes.
My name, translated from Latvian, is Gardener. When it came time to retire one of the most important things I wanted was a space to have a garden and I got lucky. The not so lucky part was the soil (dirt we call it) is predominately sand, like the kind you find on a beach. The pine trees grow well here, gardens don’t, without a little or lot of TLC, the more the better.
My wife is a small farm village girl and lived where gardens grew year around so she knows and understands the importance of fresh from the garden produce. She has her own flower beds here around the house with the herbs and flowers she likes.
Because I am a notorious cheapskate I like to start my own plants. This time of the year I dig out all my last year’s seeds and test them for viability. I’ll take about 5-10 seeds of each variety and put them between wet newspaper, keep the papers damp until I see if the seeds are going to sprout. I’ve tested squash and watermelon seeds already, seeds that I saved from my own plants from last year. (They tested good.) I did cabbage and broccoli seed tests from store bought seeds that were dated 2016/17, they tested well. I’m testing about 8 varieties of pepper seeds now, some have sprouted, some haven’t but they can take 3 weeks or more for some varieties, I’ll keep testing. Those that don’t sprout I’ll throw away and not waste time next year.
Then about the end of March I’ll set up my grow room, a big table, grow lights and in a warm area (next to a wood burning furnace). I’ll start pepper and eggplants first, ’cause they are slow starters and grow slowly. Then mid-April the cabbages and similar brassicas, including kale. About May 1st the tomatoes, nothing is better than a garden ripe tomato, the green house ones look great, no taste. I’ll start watermelon and cantaloupe plants about the same time. I’ll have about 250-300 baby plants growing inside. Towards the end of May I’ll harden them off, taking them out in the sun on the warm days, bring them in at night.
In the meantime I’ll till up the garden, it’s fairly easy because the soil is light but takes a few hours. Now it’s getting towards the first of June, I’ll already have planted the daikon radishes and the carrots. I’ll be looking at the moon phases, not for some mysterious revelation but if there is a full moon, a clear night in the first 10 days of June, a frost is possible so I’ll be watching weather forecasts and hoping for some warm nights in the first ½ of June. 2019 we had a devastating frost on June 13th, froze the tomatoes but fortunately I had mulched heavily and only the tops were froze and they regrew but 2 weeks later than I’d hoped but still not a loss.
While I’m waiting for the weather to warm up I can plant the potatoes, since they’ll be underground if it gets chilly. Cabbages etc can go out ’cause they can tolerate a little cold weather. The frost danger being over I can plant the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and melons. Corn can be planted after the ground has warmed up. At first everything needs to be watered if there is no rain. The soil dries out in a day so watering is imperative. Fortunately I put in a well nearby so I can irrigate with a garden hose.
I buy a truck load of black dirt, about 7 yards, and use that as an amendment mixing with the soil around the plants. I will toss a small handful of 10-10-10 commercial fertilizer with each plant, later I’ll re-fertilize again, about mid summer. The only chemicals I use is on the cabbage plants, they seem to get worms regardless. I might try wood ashes on the beets, they get some kind of bug in the beet. I love pickled beets but not fresh ones.
In a matter of a few weeks, 3-4, we’ll be eating green mustard, kale and radishes. My wife likes the green mustard in stir fry, it is really bitter but I eat it. Kale is fresh or stir fry, we like kale in a salad. Cucumbers grow prolifically and are eaten like a banana or in a salad or will end in jars of refrig pickles.
Then the good times, corn picked before the meal and eaten right away. Tomatoes, cukes and corn, X2 a day, as long as they are productive. Lots of stuff to give away. All this time the bees have been friendly and buzzing around the garden, enjoying themselves. Then I see a melon that I’ve been watching for two weeks and it’s ripe (I hope) and it’s not quite ready but a few days later they are ripe and I’m the proverbial hog in heaven. Eat the fresh produce until it freezes. The day before I believe it’s going to freeze I’ll pick all the melons, tomatoes, and cukes. After it freezes I’ll wait a few days ’til the potato and squash vines dry and then harvest the taters and squash. I’ll leave the cabbage until it gets really cold, pick them and wrap them in newspaper and store them in an extra refrig. This year we were still eating cabbage ’til mid January and I was getting a bit tired of coleslaw by then.
For me the garden provides therapy as well as food. The time spent out there is a bonus and doesn’t count against us. A few deer flies, sometimes mosquitoes and an occasional varmint. All the garden needs is sun, water, fertilizer and me. Every year I learn how to do something that works better than my old way.
If you’ve never had a garden and have the space, even a small one, a little creativity and you will amaze yourself, seeing what you can do, with a little help from nature.
I’m going to plant a couple apple trees in the garden, inside the fence. I may never get to eat one but one day maybe someone will say, “Sure glad that Old Guy planted these trees, the apples are good.”
If I tried to set up a garden, I’d be suspected of a weed growing operation, since it’d have to be indoors.
If it was ‘weed’ grow in the basement and cover the windows, make enough cash to shop at Whole Foods.
I’ve been thinking about this the last few days. I’ll be putting cold weather vegetables in the ground next month, which means it’s time to fork and amend the beds. The garlic planted last October is starting to come up.
Beautifully written, Fourscore!
I’m testing about 8 varieties of pepper seeds now…
Leap and I are very grateful!
Did you know that most pepper plants are perennials. I took four hot pepper plants inside last fall and have been keeping them alive under the lights with my other plants over the winter. I expect them to be huge and prolific this year.
Most pepper plants are also not supposed to grow in Minnesota.
I live in Calgary–much tougher climate to grow stuff in.
So you’re putting in a lot of effort for your peppers.
You probably even have an indoor spot with a friendly microclimate to winter them in, dontcha?
I know if they don’t freeze they’ll keep growing. I really don’t have a good place to keep them growing, I’d need my grow table set up all the time and the grow lights aren’t the answer. When I put the plants outside in the sun to harden off they really take off a-growin’.
I have four sets of six sets of grow lights running all winter. I overwinter my wife’s Martha Washington germaniums, succulents, and cutting from trailers like verbena and bacopa. I start my tomatoes inside March 1 (very short growing season here). I start my other veggies and flowers inside in late March or early April after I move the geraniums out into a pop-up greenhouse with a little heater. It’s extreme but it keeps me from doing nothing but drinking and watching hockey all winter.
You’re doing it right. A country boy can survive!
Good article. I wish I had space to have a garden the size of yours. My primary garden is a circle with a diameter of 25 feet. (Herbs are raised in boxes and the fruit trees are scattered around the property.)
What do you do for weeds?
I hate weeding, but my garden seems to like growing them.
I have a shuffle hoe, its different than a regular hoe in that it scrapes the weeds off at ground level off a little below the surface. OTOH if the roots haven’t been killed they’ll grow back. With that hoe I can do a lot of work in 45 minutes, I’m out every day enjoying. I pretty much carry the hoe around as I check and mostly keep up. By July the plants have outgrown the weeds for the most part.
Landscape fabric!
I used to do that but gave up after the frost heaves tore the ass out of it. Now I use a heavy mulch and my hoes*.
*If you know what I mean. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
We don’t have a garden, but we have pretty extensive landscaping. I never, ever use that fucking fabric, either. Every other year I bring in 22 yards of mulch and just re-do it.
It keeps weeds down and makes it simple to move plants.
Also this stuff.
I use Preen organic in the garden and regular Preen on the landscaping.
We put a section of fabric down in front of the house several years ago where it’s just mulch. Has minimized the weeds growing and makes them easier to pull out.
I used the mulching method on the vegetables to limited success. Grass was the hardest to keep in check, even in a raised bed. I’ve only used fabric in flower beds, but I find it does its job well. I usually get 6′ tall poke weed in all of my beds, but the fabric keeps it at bay.
I keep some around the edges of my gardens to keep the lawn out, but it’d just get in the way of other garden maintenance tasks, in my opinion. I’ve never really used a hoe (I guess because I’m a square). Might have to give that a shot. Any particular kind the best? I’ve got a dark brown to black topsoil that can get pretty stiff.
I’ve never really used a hoe (I guess because I’m a square). Might have to give that a shot. Any particular kind the best? I’ve got a dark brown to black topsoil that can get pretty stiff.
Paging HM!
The Thai variety is highly thought of, although in recent decades the Russian type has dominated the worldwide market.
Ames has been providing Americans with hoes since 1774.
And they’re great products, IMHO.
They make the action hoe, which I call the shuffle hoe. Same item, different manufacturer (maybe?)
I’ve been getting catalogues for a few weeks, I’m starting to get excited, but I feel like It took a lot of work last year to do, with kind of mediocre results, especially because I fucked up the hardening of the stuff I had started indoors.
My grandfather, the farmer, loved his gardens. Flowers and vegetables. He’d finish milking and come up to the house and spend a couple of hours in the garden.
The Farmer’s Almanac is more accurate than NASA supercomputers.
The FA predicted lots of snow and serious cold for us. It was 1/2 right, the snow part. Of course, that’s an easy prediction to make here.
Your soil sounds like the soil I have here in NH. Sandy and acidic. As well as pine trees, potatoes do well. However, I want to eat more things than mashed potatoes with pine needle tea, so I have to amend the soil just like you. People in more hospitable climes have no idea the dedication it takes to get the earth to provide in places like this.
I had a garden in TX, heavy clay and 100 degree days. All the grass clippings went on the garden to keep it cool and try to hold the moisture from running off.
Blueberry soil.
Raspberry bushes too. I have a few growing wild in my backyard.
I have a yellow raspberry that grows bigger and sweeter than the reds I used to grow. Some people have black berries, I tried them from a friend, his were huge plants, mine were pathetic. He had black dirt mixed with his sand. Blueberries are wild here but need a forest fire to get them growing. The wild ones are too tough for an old guy to pick. Walmart makes a cheap HFCS and corn starch pie that I’ll substitute but I never get that far into with drawal.
Have you tried Haskap berries as a substitute for blueberries. They grow well, ripen early (late June, early July here), and taste similar.
Also if you are getting apple trees may I suggest the Honeycrisp (bred at University of Minnesota). My brother-in-law sells trees and plants to greenhouses across Western Canada and into the Northern States and he swears by it.
That’s what I’m looking plus another one. Honeycrisp are also quality eating apples, had one for lunch, store bought though. Someone here recommended Haralson (Kinnath, maybe?)
I think you can grow Gold Rush too. Those are a new-ish variety, but my current favorite.
I’ll look for them and look on line. Thanks, NA
Go west, young man.
A few years back, I had a pretty good garden. But then it stopped being fun and became work. Now, I no longer garden much except tomatoes in a small 5×5 area. A couple of lessons I learned:
1) We are very lucky to be able to buy fresh veggies and fruits from around the world 365 days/year, and all at a very cheap cost vs doing it myself (if you value your time)
2) Gardening takes a shitload of time and you have to stay on top of it.
3) While a few things come out tasting superior (tomatoes especially), some things can’t compare to professionally grown items (for me, Bell peppers – they were always small, and often would burn from the sun)
4) Automatic watering is a necessity.
5) Weeds suck!
6) Gardening would make a nice retirement activity, not so much when your time is limited.
I’m giving up on vegetables in my small garden. Never had any luck with tomatoes or cucumbers – maybe too much shade. I think I will plant a few raspberry bushes and see what happens. I’m also going to plant another apple tree this spring.
I think I will plant a few raspberry bushes and see what happens.
I’ll tell you what will happen. They will thrive and most of the berries will be harvested by wildlife. If you happen to get them before the birds, you will be scratched to hell and then, when you finally tire of them, you will find that they are impossible to eradicate.
Fuck rasberries.
So like the mint I planted long ago?
Oy. I remember a mint plant that escaped its container in WI. I dug it out, it came back. I Roundupped, it laughed (audibly). I wound up basically doing surgery on the damn bed, digging out what wound up being a huge pit until I had “clean margins” (as the surgeons say when excising a tumor).
What was really stupid is I had acres of wild mint on my property. All kinds of different flavors, too. Mixed in, hilariously, with feral hemp.
I have the best luck with Japanese cucumbers. They, or any other hybrid, that climbs a trellis etc. produce very well and take a fraction of the space. I have a few in the garden and two climbing the garage wall by the lilikoi (passion fruit).
I grow Persian cucumbers for pickles. I typically get six gallons out of one plant.
I grow both the Persian and a Japanese variety. When I give away a Persian the people are in awe and after they eat one they come knocking on the door, figuratively speaking. Got some refrig pickles of both left.
“for me the garden provides therapy as well as food.”
Amen to that! And for you apartment dwellers, a cheap window box is a fun way to start. When I broke my leg and was pretty much housebound years ago, I got a small window box and planted seeds from my spice rack—not even kidding. They all grew! It’s a great activity with kids too.
My spice garden now is dominated by rosemary,thyme, and chives. The apples have blossomed, as have the plums and apricots. As long as I have to pay California taxes,I’m making the most of the lovely climate.
I spent a lot of time in the garden, looking, a little digging, waiting, learning. When the stuff begins to grow suddenly you are inundated with fresh veggies. Ex: I like kohl-rabi in my salad, just a peeled and a slice, cubed up. One average kohl-rabi will last 4-5 meals like that, but there are 10 ready at the same time. If they aren’t picked when ready they’ll be woody in a week. So much gets ready to eat at the same time. Neighbors don’t complain…
I wish other fruit would grow better here, I like most kinds.
If you haven’t already, try adding some lemon thyme. It’s really nice with chicken and various veggies that like thyme & a bit of lemon.
I swear by rosemary for chicken, although best for pork chops and roasts.
I luvs me a good pork roast!
In general, I’m a fan of rosemary, but for a pork tenderloin, it’s easy to go too far. A little rosemary with most any meat, though, for sure. Ground beef and steak are probably my only exceptions.
Fresh herbs are awesome.
You’re basically who I want to be in the future, fourscore.
My single biggest regret about the current house is that there is no good place for a vegetable garden. I’ve been stuck tending a small group of berry bushes and wishing that my trees would all crash down every windstorm.
At the last house in TX, the smartest thing I did was cap off a zone of the sprinkler system and install a faucet next to the raised beds. No more worrying about remembering to drag the hose out and watering the vegetables. Next house will be picked with gardening in mind.
We have six smallish raised beds in our suburban backyard. As gardening novices and with only the two of us, we stick with a few things we know we’ll use – mainly tomatoes, bell peppers, and a few sugar snap peas (which I love but have no great desire to preserve.) We’d love to grow broccoli but have had a hard time getting heads to form.
I now mostly leave the gardening to the retired Mr. GT, having realized I lack the patience to plant seeds and wait for them to do something. I’d rather knit – take yarn & needles, do this, do that, and voila! A stitch! Repeat ad infinitum.
OT: This just seems pathetic to me.
https://www.axios.com/dating-political-trump-apps-okcupid-086d17c1-2f8e-4132-ab87-03dd2ba36c8b.html
Let’s just keep polarizing people and pushing them further away from each other. Nothing bad will come from that.
Oh lawd Jesus! I can’t even imagine the gender ratio on that one.
Seems like there’s a market opening for an app that hooks progs and MAGAs up for hatefucking.
Also for GlibertariansOnly.com
Normies just don’t get it.
No need. No one ever dreamed of being tied up and ravaged by a liberal. Proggie women aren’t actually interested in Mr Soy, and proggie men aren’t attractive to rightwing women.
The first dating app for the Outrage era.
I wonder who is happier, the women who don’t care about this or the women who do? And which has more dates. It’s a good screener though, to avoid the most toxic feminist types.
It’s a good screener though, to avoid the most toxic feminist types.
It is.
It’s hard to believe they weren’t doing that all along. I swear I remember questions about this stuff when I joined Match a couple decades ago.
They have.
It’s ramped up compared to what I remember from the last time I tried OKCupid.
Looks like I have about the same size garden as you. Our soil is hard clay, but we have a neighbor who brings his John Deere over in the spring and tills down a few feet.
Never had much luck starting indoors. The plants I start inside tend to be thin and don’t survive outside.
I agree, there is nothing like a fresh garden tomato.
Tomatoes! That’s what I should do with my remaining empty raised garden bed.
Maybe hot peppers too. Yum.
Off topic: if you’d like to contribute to Yusef’s fundraiser, here’s the GoFundMe link.
Yes, I doxxed myself.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/bobs-farewell-to-wendy?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=
Holy Cow! Hayek, I’ll call you later if you don’t mind, I’m getting the details in a short while,
Yusef, I’ve been absent the last few days and missed your news until this morning. I know it’s not much, but I’d like to add my condolences.
Sure, you can call!
Huh, Winston’s mom donated. I wonder if someone could goad Krugman into matching it.
X 1 multiplier
Nah, Krugnuts is all about taxing you to redistribute to those he deems needy, with the appropriate skim for his pals, not reaching into his own pockets.
I lol’d.
Krugabe would prefer to tax the crap out of us, let the bureaucrats take 30% off the top, then delay handing out the money until it’s no longer helpful.
Cuz the government knows best.
Is it just me, or does 4Score get a special font now?
The only way to garden at Casa Dean would be raised beds, either behind the wall around the backyard or surrounded by razor wire (effing javelinas). Might also need shade fabric over it, and would definitely want to hook up to the drip irrigation.
So, no garden here.
Why not a small greenhouse/quonset hut?
Are javelinas tasty?
They are called “skunk pigs” for a reason. I think if you had a choice between rancid Gila Monster and javelina, you might go with the lizard.
Why not a small greenhouse/quonset hut?
Probably an option, but it would still have to stand up to 80 pound javelinas and the the Tucson summer sun. And Mrs. Dean has a strict prohibition against razor wire on the property. I don’t want to garden anywhere close to that bad.
BBQ javelina can be okay. But that is about it.
I had a garden in Tucson and raising tomatoes was tough in the heat. There was a type of spinach that did really well. (Sorry I don’t remember which.) In the front yard, which was desert, I grew Devil’s Claw, aramanth, and mesquite for food.
I admire your physical and mental stamina for this activity. I tried. I can’t keep my attention on any one thing long enough to accomplish it; in short, my followup skills are teh suck.
Really, I absolutely admire anybody who has followup skills.
1. We have hard clay also. I do not have a tiller and I’m not strong enough to till anyway.
2. I find that the farther back the to-do list goes, the less I can keep my enthusiasm for the project. “I want to do X. But before I can do X, I must do V. Before I can do V, I must do U. Before I can do U, I must do T,” and so on backward toward the beginning of the alphabet.
3. And then I find that I should have done A 6 months ago.
4. Also, I hate vegetables, except for green beans. Mr. Mojeaux like roma tomatoes. The kids like fruit, particularly grapes and cherries.
5. Also, the fruits I would like to raise take years of investment.
6. Also, I want a lemon tree so badly, but this is not a citrus climate.
7. XX loves watermelons. I designated a patch of ground, got her seeds, instructions, and netting. I said, “There are the tools. Go to it.” She didn’t. I don’t blame her.
The honey store here sells lemon tree honey. I think it’s my favorite.
The also sell some honeys from WI and MN — blueberry, cranberry and others I can’t remember off the top of my head.
When I lived outside of Tulsa, melons were ridiculously simple to grow, and apparently the seed packages came complete with insect eggs sice we’d always get bugs that we’d never seen before in that area.
We can get avocado tree honey here. Thick and dark, not overtly sweet. My fave, if you can find it.
I know 4×20 (and others) swear by buckwheat as a honey source, but imo it tastes too much like molasses for me to spend the money on buying it instead of just buying molasses.
I call my honey “WildFlower” ’cause I don’t have a pony. It has sugared very quickly and slightly fermented. Man, the bouquet, the taste on a spoon, wow! I do like the buckwheat though, it is strong flavored and dark but not enough to buy it.
My TX niece works for a bee/honey company in Rogers, TX. I tasted one of their flavors, I forget what they called it, unusual but not bad. They have several varieties sell internet and all of it expensive.
I just found out that two other guys on the hazmat response team with me are also beekeepers. I had no idea it was so popular.
Most beekeepers are friendly, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you watching them when they do some work. We invite folks but no one wants to be involved, except at Honey Harvest time. Smart people.
I learned what little I know from my grandpa. My (commie) uncle keeps bees for a local educational farm that does regular classes. Very inviting hobby.
My mom has a lemon tree in her southern Minnesota house.
They are self pollinating so you don’t need two trees, but you do have to help the tree sex along.
Do you hire a tree fluffer or what?
Something like that
For the winter, I cook cabbage with butter until it turns brown. So flipping good. Then again, I suspect that I might be among the humans that have coevolved alongside canids and brassicas.
I grow cabbage every other year and turn it into sauerkraut. There is no comparison to the store bought stuff. The secondary heads are just big enough for small batches of coleslaw throughout the summer.
I plant 2 cabbage plants together, one will become dominant, cut when ready and you have another one ready to start growing. Saves space, work. My secondary rarely get big enough but my method solves the problem.
Try cooking bacon in the pan instead of using butter. It will change your life.
Sometimes we add slivered apples near the end too.
Oh yeah, I use bacon, ham, pretty much any kind of flavorful fat.
Never water.
I also gut it into “noodles” and stir-fry.
The typical thing in Romania is to cook a whole duck on a bed of cabbage.
Also there is cabbage cooked with animal fat, which may be similar with the butter thing you do, it also turns brown. Pig or duck/goose fat.
also cabbage is pickled round these parts
Duck fat is the shizzle. I buy cans of smoked duck and reserve that fat, which is even better.
I love some stuffed cabbage rolls.
I was thinking of trying sort of an inside out cabbage roll with brussell sprouts inside meatballs.
That sounds evil and cruel and something you’d spring on an unsuspecting guest.
“Hey, can I interest you in some meatballs?” *snickering*
I have to agree, UCS, I like that stuff but don’t cook it (‘cept stir fry).
My fave way to use cabbage when I want a change from sauerkraut or regular slaw:
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/indian-coleslaw
Good hot or cold; recipe is very forgiving to change and varying ratios. Good hot or cold. Yum.
I also like to fling potatoes, cabbage roughly chopped, and pork sausage into a skillet til browned. Sometimes I eat that plain, sometimes I use it to stuff Bierox.
Ok, I’m hungry now.
I do that, or if I have no potatoes, serve the cabbage/sausage mix on rice.
I started pepper seeds last weekend. I lika da spice!
My problem is that they get so spindly by the time they’re ready to transplant. The wind tends to break them off at the base.
Any advise?
A windbreak? Either a structure or earthen berm to deflect the worst of the wind?
Its a chore, and may not even be much of an option where you live, but put them outside as soon as possible on days when its above freezing, even if you have to move them back in at night. They need to “learn” to grow sturdy enough stems by having the wind actually blowing on them.
Have a neighbor who grows them. It works really well.
They need more light, sunlight preferably. I have the same problem with tomatoes/ peppers, etc. Harden them off slowly outside for a week, starting with a few minutes, then an hour and so on. The grow lights just don’t have the complete light spectrum. We have some cold, windy days and I’ll bring the plants in and they’ll be in bad shape. Plants lots, hope to get a few.
The grow lights just don’t have the complete light spectrum.
Are you using T5 fluorescents? Some of the newer LED lights are better at getting the full spectrum (and staying there).
Maybe, not sure. I just use whatever I have available, household tubes.
It’s a bit pricey, but there are special plant bulbs for the normal fixtures. The spectrum is substantially better than regular “daylight” bulbs.
I know but my Mr Cheap rep is at stake.
Put the lamp as close to the seedlings as you can and put a small fan blowing across the trays to remove the extra heat. Be prepared to water more as you lose water to evap
I have no garden but my mom has. The soil was clay at the beginning, but it got improved. You pay the gypsies to bring a wagon (actual horse drawn) full or two of good dirt – dug up from some forest usually – and a wagon full of animal dung. But the dung needs to be old and fermented or something like that otherwise it is to acidic or something I dunno. Long story short, a few years later the soil is fairly fertile.
Now she grows tomatoes, peppers, herbs, string beans, celeriac, and recently asparagus. And a few more things I suppose. There were some local squash thing and cucumbers back in the day but it was not worth is. Nothing like good fresh picked tomatoes. Zucchini or shit like that you can buy and it makes no difference.
and recently asparagus
Uh-oh. That stuff can be as bad as mint for spreading and taking over.
there is mint among the herbs. And basil, parsley, dill, lovage, sorrel, patience dock and tarragon and a couple more. And in other place in the garden, beneath the fruit trees, horseradish. It has really large leaves.
Only time you have to lock your car doors here is when zucchini season is upon us. You’ll find your neighbors that really don’t like you.
We grew zucchini once or twice, and a friend gave me a recipe for zucchini brownies (the zucchini is peeled & grated, and of course, no seeds please. The brownies turn out moist & wonderful!) Then one year all the baby zucchs withered on the vine. Don’t know if it was squash bugs or worn out sail from planting them in the same bed. Either way, it was humiliating – who the hell can’t grow zucchini??
(“sail” s/b “soil,” of course. Duh.)
If you think it’s worn out soil, try some crop rotation.
I’m not sure what the best fill might be, but it’s bound to be cheaper than fertilizers.
Peas and beans.
i hate squashes. the only way I ate them was when my grandmother made a sort of patty of a mix grated squash grated cheese egg and dill which was the fried in lard.
Last night I made some pretty good spaghetti squash to go with spicy Italian sausage from the meat market.
It’s too much nitrogen, actually.
I don’t have any good fencing, animals eat everything I plant. Last year I put some peppers in planters on the lawn, that seemed to help keep the rabbits from them, and the deer don’t come that close to the house. But I caught a cat chewing off the leaves. I got a few handfuls of peppers out of it.
I use chicken wire. Obviously won’t stop the deer, but you can fence off a pretty big area for relatively cheap with that (use sticks or those bamboo poles pushed into the ground to keep it upright). Anything with a bigger hole bigger will mean the rabbits get through, they’re surprisingly malleable.
I had sheep wire and used pine fences posts. As they rotted I replaced them with treated posts. The deer would find a low spot, jump in, get scared and keep running full bore in to the wire until the fence was down. Then I realized that the seedling pine trees I’d planted 25 years earlier were blocking the sun.
Finally moved the garden, got a chain link, looks good, strong, keeps the deer out and sunshine. So far the ‘coons, skunks and woodchucks haven’t found out the move but they will. Last year I captured 2 ‘coons and 2 skunks before they discovered the garden. They are no longer with us.
Quarantined Cruise Ship in Japan May Now Be The Best Place to Study the Virus
Surprising that the Japanese even let it dock instead of ordering it anchored a mile offshore. The cruise line can go ahead and write that ting off the books and call their insurance carrier. Maybe they could sell it to the navy for target practice when this is all over.
I heard NPR this morning talking about how the ship was in “”Yokohama, near Tokyo” because rubes who have never heard of Yokohama will know exactly where Tokyo is.
They don’t know where Tokyo is, but they’ve heard of it.
They just have to let the ship sit unoccupied for 2 weeks, and it will disinfect itself.
4 weeks max if this hybrid strain is more animal than human.
US closes case against ex-FBI boss McCabe with no charges
But Roger Stone needs to do 9 years in federal prison for… whatever it is he did.
Yeah, another guilty corrupt fucker pays no price. And in fact profits off of his wrongdoing. The fuck is wrong with Barr?
Just looking after his own. What doesn’t Trump understand about putting his own people into power?
Disappointing.
The Swamp abides. We are learning that it is too late to reform it or root it out.
Wasn’t that fucker’s signature on some of the fraudulent FISA applications? If that doesn’t get jail time, what would?
Theoretically Durham could still indite him, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Not on lying to investigators, which is exactly what they are stringing up Kelly for.
Fuck you, you fucking fuck. You got a taste of exactly how your agency treats every single subject of the US (I don’t think we’re really “citizens” any more), and you have the balls to bitch about it. After you die, I hope I get the opportunity to piss on your grave.
So much this.
OT: Anothe swamp weasel skates scot free.
I’m going to plant a couple apple trees in the garden, inside the fence. I may never get to eat one but one day maybe someone will say, “Sure glad that Old Guy planted these trees, the apples are good.”
You and Suthen, providing for future generations whether they deserve it or not. Oh, and holy crap, that is an impressive garden you have there.
Those apple trees will draw deer, too. So they may put more on the table than just fruit. I walked out my front door in WI to go to work one year and the little crabapple tree in our front yard had a ginormous buck scarfing them down. Sadly, it wasn’t shotgun season. Also had an old neglected apple orchard just off our yard, where I shot my first deer ever (sitting on the back porch drinking coffee after freezing my ass off in the early morning hunt.
Yeah, my crabapple trees are outside the fence but the new ones will be inside. The deer enjoy crabapples but somehow the trees out grew the deer and now they have to wait ’til the apples fall. We pretend we’re doing fair chase on the deer as we walk 200 yards to the deer stand.
Bootygig’s father was an outspoken Marxist and not shy about it.
Empty suit. Marxist father. Little to no worldly or political experience. Mom jeans. He really is white Obama.
I dunno. A lot of folks tell me they root for a national populist, but are still “libertarian”.
Practical politics are practical. Plus moving the needle in the right (heh..) direction. Plus the entertainment value. Plus exposing all the frauds, particularly the msm for being the hacks that they are.
Yeah, libertarian is a tendency, a direction, and shouldn’t be regarded as providing a fixed purity test. Anyone is free to not vote for anyone, of course, but if a libertarian says he will cast a vote intended to do have the most libertarian effect (however minimal), I’m not going to drum them out of the movement.
While I welcome anyone who loves liberty, any future “libertarian” political party that isn’t firmly rooted in principle is doomed to the same shortcomings of the two pathetic choices currently available.
I get what HM is saying there, but I think it’s fair to ask “rooting against whom?”
If there were an actual libertarian option, who here wouldn’t be behind that person? Rand had dropped out by the 2016 VA primary but I wrote his name in anyway, and I voted for Gary Johnson in the general despite the presence of the reprehensible Weld on the ticket.
When you’re talking about Trump v. Dems, any Dems? That’s a much different proposition. Particularly when the Dems are likely to nominate a no-shit Communist this time. I will unreservedly vote for Trump over Bernie fucking Sanders and not have to think twice about it.
I for one am confident that a non-rigged primary would deliver a Bernie nom via a plurality, but not a majority. And probably would have last time, too.
It’s not polite to list names.
But we do keep the list. It’s in OMWC’s special “folder”.
None of the people featured in his special folder are old enough to run for president.
If by “president” you mean “6th grade class president”, then yes.
Ok. So how is Rhywun’s complaint/observation not just the pot calling the kettle a cooking implement of color?
There is a difference between voting for the populist qua populist, and voting for the instrument of higgledy-piggledy and potholes on the road to serfdom.
Of course, I can vote for whomever for whatever principled or selfish reasons since my vote is utterly meaningless here.
In a way, it is very liberating. Local politics is much more important, but seems to be tending towards total dem control too, at least where I am.
Thus my point being why is it so hard to imagine a neo-con ‘Never Trumper’ supporting the non-Bernie Democrat over Trump? Trump has already whiffed on “regime change” in Syria and Iran. You think someone like Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil’s Son-in-Law would have “squandered” that chance?
I would absolutely believe that a neocon would. I must be missing Rhy’s response.
I was questioning why a “Never Trumper conservative” would even consider voting for any of the Democrats on display – I didn’t see or say anything about neo-con so I’m not sure why that came up. I suppose one can argue that Trump is not a conservative despite some of the steps he has taken in that direction, but to actively oppose him in favor of the decidedly not conservative options is, yes, unfathomable to me. Most people in that situation I would imagine just sitting this one out.
Never Trumper conservative
Not sure there are any, really. The NeverTrumpers are mostly beltway “conservatives”, as near as I can tell, who went NeverTrump because they hang with, and are funded by, beltway swamp creatures, lefty media outlets, etc. “Conservative” was a brand, a pose, a business, for them – good money to be made as a token conservative as part of the DemOp machine, basically.
“There ought to be a law” brand of libertarianism.
https://mobile.twitter.com/justinamash/status/1228010178412412928
Justin Amash
“Drafting a new nondiscrimination amendment would allow us to enshrine our modern understanding of equal protection as preventing all arbitrary discrimination by government, and it would allow states to consider the proposal without being under a constitutionally dubious deadline.”
This continues the long held Koch tradition of reciting and accepting the demands of the Left verbatim without making any principled reason why you are demanding “there ought to be a law”. But, no, Amash is very principled and anyone who questions his “evolution” on multiple topics is obviously just a Trump lackey and/ or a Russian bot.
How about a instead of nondiscrimination bullshit, a recognition of the right to free association, which includes the right to not associate.
Raycissssss
You’re not libertarian-ing right. Opposing nondiscrimination laws is the exclusive realm of the few conservatives who are willing to say so.
I continue to believe that Amash fled for the protection of the Swamp because he’s up to his eyeballs on overseas corruption, and knows that’s where corrupt politicians go for safe harbor.
Fuck you, you fucking fuck, etc.
Judging by his voting record and his incessant need to dodge dicey votes, you can rest assured that Amash will vote “present” if such a resolution is brought before the House again. And then he will take to Twitter to criticize the president for not supporting the amendment that he had just voted “present” on.
If you think this is far fetched then look-up the little game that Amash played on the votes on Yemen and Syria.
Absolutely agree.
What the hell happened to that guy? Are we sure he wasn’t replaced by a pod-person of something?
We still have Massie. For now.
“Nondiscrimination” of whom and by what means?
Does this mean no more affirmative action or quotas for “female-owned businesses”…? Good luck getting even one state to get on board with that.
Amash was a libertarian/conservative until it hurt his bottom line, then he wasn’t. Screw that guy.
It’s too bad. Tekton really seems to be doing a decent job of producing tools, particularly labeling where they’re made. Maybe his late conversion is part of why they’re doing well.
I thought free trade was a central libertarian principle.
Are you willing to be heavily taxed on whatever materials you use in your business just so senile Boomers can feel nostalgic?
nondiscrimination amendment
Freedom of association is for squares, amirite?
As a 12yo boy, Fd’A and his 8yo brother were used as slave labor for our father’s (save money) garden. We were the rock pickers, shit haulers, planters, weeders, harvesters, freezers and canners for a plethora of vegetables that we, pretty much, hated to eat anyway. Four glorious acres in PA, three of which were sweet corn to sell to the local (((summer camps))) and another acre for everything else, which included…potatoes, squash, cucumbers, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomatoes (20+ plants), pumpkins, cabbage, green beans, peas, beets, rhubarb, peppers and I’m probably missing some.
Every day, when he was off to teach summer school, we had a list left on the kitchen table of what needed to be weeded, in the 1000 degree Pennsylvania sun (150% humidity), before he got home.
Let me assure, each and every one of you, that there is NOTHING fun, relaxing or therapeutic about gardening.
Change Pennsylvania to Iowa with no (((summer camps))), and you have my childhood. My father used to say “what’s the use of having dwarves if they can’t pull weeds?”
As a young Quarter Eagle I lived on a working cattle ranch. That is one big reason I went into the infantry. It was less work than ranching was.
That’s not gardening, that’s farming.
I spent two summers trying to grow Roma tomatoes with no luck. The goddamn filthy tree rats that some people call “squirrels” ate almost every single tomato. I started shooting 3/8 steel pellets at them with a slingshot and even killed one, but nothing changed. There are just too damn many of them. I also tried all kinds of natural and chemical repellants; still no results.
My only option is to either build a giant chickenwire cage (which sounds like more effort than it’s worth) or grow things that they don’t recognize as food. I had good luck with collard greens last year, although fighting off the worms was a lot of work. I might also try lettuce, potatoes, and basil next summer.
The only thing that survived the animals up here (mainly squirrels, chipmunks, and deer) was hot peppers. Even then the damned chipmunks tried at least two of them. Both peppers were on the ground with a single little nibble taken out of them.
Serves the little bastards right.
Yeah, we have a tree rat problem too. Luckily, we have a couple of independent contractors (tommy cats) who do outside work. Both of ’em are murderous hunters.
“Drafting a new nondiscrimination amendment would allow us to enshrine our modern understanding of equal protection as preventing all arbitrary discrimination by government, and it would allow states to consider the proposal without being under a constitutionally dubious deadline.”
Fuck you and the so-called modern understanding you rode in on.
I haven’t been around and I assume drugs will fall out of my ass but Holy Moses, what good news:
https://apnews.com/fa41245d47d48332b10c8aeadcd6cb73?utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow
Are we finally getting out of Astan?
Maybe, if the morons over there would stop shooting for a year or so while we wind down…
I’d imagine it’ll be a rocky road but it’s an indication of seriousness on our part and on the Taliban’s part as well. We’ll see how it goes obviously but thank God.
Too late. It’s what people do when you let them have guns. And they probably have Indiana guns by now, so no hope of the shooting stopping ever, even after all the humans are dead.
Can you say “Peace with Honor?” It took the Taliban a long time to learn from the commie North Vietnamese.
Hell, the US hadn’t cleared the runway in Saigon when the tanks were rolling up to the embassy.
We’re slow learners, too, repeat and rinse. There’s the whole of Africa to meddle in yet.
There were a a couple of years of relative quiet before the NVA invaded again. The rubes in the South thought we would honor the commitment Nixon made to support them.
Evul Orange Man and hiz warmongering!1!!!
I’ll believe it when I see it, and maybe not even then.
Correct.
Oh man, that is REALLY gonna piss off the Bill Kristol Gang.
A truce with the Taliban. Hahahahhaha, very funny. You know, I mean they’re very honorable and would never tell a lie and all that.
Anyway, if it gets our troops out of that shithole, then yay!
The day after, they will all be back to their 2000 year old tribal war, with the Taliban in it up to their eyeballs.
The real problem is probably that they aren’t centrally led – it’s hard to get a loosely aligned group of loons to all stop shooting.
“The real problem is probably that they aren’t centrally led – it’s hard to get a loosely aligned group of loons to…”
Yeah, I know, I post at Glibs too.
Allah Akbar!!!
You’re harshing my buzz bro.
I thought the 2nd sentence would have helped.
Ass tans are more Q’s shtick.
OT: UEFA just hammer-banned Manchester City. Two-year ban from Euro competitions.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51510284
See, I just knew Spurs would still earn a CL spot.
*snort* Doubt it will stick.
Financial Doping? Financial fair play rules? I know nothing about soccer, nothing about what they did or are accused of, but based purely on the terms used to describe the ‘wrongdoing’ I’m on Manchester City’s side. No rule that can be described in these terms can possibly be reasonable or fair.
Creepy Porn Lawyer Guilty. So he’s now Avenatti, Extortionist, without any liable risk (pending the inevitable appeal)
*without any libel risk
This guy is like the perfect democrat candidate. Is there still time for him to declare his run? He’ll just need to get on his best commie and he’s set for the nomination.
I thought he already has declared and dropped out.
Not sure if he officially declared or not, can’t remember. But it’s time for him to re-enter. Being an actual convicted criminal will give him a huge advantage with the left. Maybe he can even hold off Hilldawg’s re-emergence.
You know what makes for good reading,
Cremation Authorization documents,
It’s quite detailed,
Ack. SP has strict instructions to just dump my body in the remote desert.
After I die, of course. I had to make that explicit.
you’re not requiring her to set a thumper too?
It’s a bizarre thing to read, I read every word, tick, and joggle
Virginia House passes bill to award electoral votes to whoever wins the popular vote
I know this was posted before, but I’m curious if this tips an election to the Democrats, will it result in an open revolt?
People keep phrasing the headline that way, but I thought they merely passed the unconstitutional NPV compact. Which is it? Did they pass a law that unilaterally hands off their electoral votes? Or did they pass the nascent compact?
If by revolt you mean court challenges that will likely overturn the law then yes.
Oh, that’s completely unconstitutional. No way that survives a court challenge. Man, these guys are trying to out commie everyone all at once.
Also, if Trump happens to win the popular vote this time, which wouldn’t surprise me, they’ll quickly try to say they were just kidding and it doesn’t count. Complete disregard for the law, it’s the lefty way.
If the blue-state compact were in effect this year and Trump won the “popular vote”, he would win 50 states plus DC. Epic lulz.
But only cuz Russians!
There is a long-winded brief arguing its unconstitutionality that I have yet to read past the intro. I suspect it culminates in the fact that the States make up the common government among them and not the people of the state. IOW nation popular vote is not recognized in the constitution.
Yeah, saw that. Haven’t read it either.
The best solution, of course, is for Trump to somehow win the popular vote. Which is a helluva longshot, really, since the idiot Repubs have done nothing to prevent voter fraud. I suspect there are over a million illegal votes in CA, and over the rest of the country probably another million. And it will only get worse until something is done to attack the two main sources of fraud – dirty voter rolls, and vote by mail.
Both are big growth categories for this coming election, as a few states have flipped to complete democrat control.
If Trump loses, this will be part of why. Wouldn’t be surprised if he loses Florida, now that felons can vote.
If Trump loses, this will be part of why.
Yup. There is definitely a good sized chunk of the electoral college that could be flipped by fraud. I am flabbergasted that the Repubs have had their head in the sand on this. Even in Repub-controlled states, nothing much is being done, other than a few that are trying to clean up their voter rolls.
Which the Dems, for some reason, are fighting like hell to prevent.
No, but it might if it tips an election to the Republicans. Kind of like the first time a Republican won the White House.
It’s a truly idiotic idea. Like the Connecticut Compromise, the Electoral College is an attempt at balancing the power of the big states with the concerns of the smaller or less populous ones. Why would “flyover” states let themselves be ruled by the coastal masses?
“Why would “flyover” states let themselves be ruled by the coastal masses?”
Because it’s best for you deplorables, duh!
For the glory of the Party? See the Iowa Caucus non-sense, DNC set it up and the IA Dem party power brokers went along. The ruling elite will reward them in the end.
Though Trump didn’t win the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election, he was able to win the contest after gaining more electoral votes than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite her earning nearly 3 million more votes than him at the ballot box.
Not the rules of the game. And there is a reason that it is the United STATES of America, nor the United people…
Hillary outspent him 2-1, mostly in states that she was already going to win.
And despite her husband telling her it was a losing strategy.
Those pics make me jealous. I’m a long time gardener, stuck now in an apartment for 12 years. We’re getting out of here this year though, finally. I have 3 mater plants in front of my patio doors with a 70W LED panel to supplement the light. Started those from cuttings of patio tomatoes I had on my deck last summer. I’m also going to start some seeds for different varieties. I’ve been stuck with the little ones, cherries, grapes, pears, and some patios. But Feb is the time to start seeds indoors.
Do you post on any gardening sites?
I can’t wait to get back into full scale gardening. I might not make it this year in full because we aren’t moving out until June, but by the next year I plan on getting back in full force.
I read a few things when I have questions of my own but mostly I just plod ahead, repeating the same mistakes, over and over.
The only thing we can grow here is rocks, cactus, and scorpions.
Hence, your all peyote diet.
We have the HATE Birds coming through right now, Shitting all over the park,
I’ve been told that the best way to grow tomatoes is in compost. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that this is true.
Your garden looks good Fourscore.
We had a garden growing up. It was a mixed bag. The outdoor cats did a great job keeping the varmits away.
Thanks, DEG.
I think there are hydroponic tomato growers too but somehow tomatoes need outdoors and sunlight. Sure, why not mulch. I see potatoes growing in bags, etc.
Get ready for a nut punch.
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/k7ege9/a-6-year-old-girl-in-florida-was-committed-to-a-mental-health-facility-after-she-threw-a-fit-at-school
The police officers were actually rational!
But yes, show this video to any public school teachers in your life who wonder why (or even deny) why minority families flock to charters.
When I was space and soil-constrained, I got one of these from Amazon.
Very good if you can’t get bend Down easily or want to keep the bunnies out. Smallish but big enough that I grew large tomatoes and peppers in it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07RSXQV6G/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Plastic tubs from Walmart work just as well. Maybe not as chic.
If a person worked for the gov/library system might be some unattended, oops, excess library carts around. I have one in my garage with a chop saw on it. Had a friend that worked for the state of MN. Wish he was still with us, for other reasons as well.
Just received an invite to a wedding… what do people think about kid-unfriendly weddings?
They are fine. If I get invited to one, they will get a No back on the RSVP.
This
Odds of bridezilla skyrocketing.
My own hot take:
The purpose of marriage (to me) is to help in the raising of children. It is silly to keep the reason for getting married away from the wedding itself. Plus, people have kids, it is a family celebration, what do hey think will happen if there is a kid there? Obviously, it is their party (literally says party of the RSVP, which I find a bit flippant, maybe) and they can exclude who they like, but I’ve always said I wouldn’t go to a no-kid wedding.
Its the kids in the divorce that bothers me the most.
No doubt. Definitely scarred my step kids when their mom divorced their Dad when they were 8 and 10 yo.
Giant red flag that you have a bridezilla problem – somebody wants a wedding that is picture perfect without the disruption of noisy, smelly, sticky children running around. Either the bride or her mother.
Damn it I need to scroll down. I was in a bridezilla wedding. I was a groomsman, even though I barely knew the groom, but was friends with bridezilla. Then when I argued with her about the wisdom of a very new associate and her (who was a 2l at the time) dropping $10k plus on the dress and having the reception at a 4 star downtown hotel, when they had better than $300k in student loan debt already, and were borrowing everything above $30k which they were offered by the grooms family to pay for the wedding or “hint hint” to use as a downpayment on a house if they kept the wedding reasonable, I was demoted to usher.
Like at a stripper bar or something?