Pokeberries
Despite the cold morning yesterday, the afternoon was not too bad. I cleared the fence line beside the garden so that I can prune the grapes. The neighbor has a jungle at the back of his yard and it sends fox grapevines, honeysuckle and poke salad my way. He doesn’t even eat the poke salad. We don’t let ours grow anymore, we just poach his. The freeze had turned the plants to mush so it was easy to just pull them off. My gloves, my sweater and even my hands inside the gloves turned purple. The juice on my hands washed off. Who knows what will happen with the clothes?
The grapevines really grew a lot for their first year. They will need to be pruned way back. A little research will be in order before the clippers go to work. The asparagus did extremely well for a first year too. It was difficult not to harvest a few. Deep compost and mulch should make them even stronger next year. The strawberries filled in pretty good. Hopefully they will do more next year. They will get deep compost and heavy mulch as well. A little rock phosphate will go in the compost.
The eggplants and the castor oil bean plants finally bit the dust. I was able to harvest seeds from one of the castor oil bean plants. The other is so big, I will have to chop it down with an axe.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Gardening in 20 Degree Weather
Gardening in 20 Degree Weather
It is 20 degrees Fahrenheit now. Yesterday when I went home it was 40 degrees; but the wind was blowing hard, sending its icy knives into my tender body. I did not work in the garden long. Today I will garden in the comfort of my warm office. I will layout next years perfect garden and order seeds for the greenhouse. My favorite source for seeds is Renfrow’s hardware in Matthews. Unfortunately they don’t have their seeds in for the next season. I will order from Burpee’s.
Some seeds of course are saved from the garden. I only do the easy ones. Beans, peppers, tomatoes and squash are easy. The problem with squash and other cucurbits is that they interbreed and you may not get a seed that duplicates the vegetable it came from. It can be fun to plant a few and see what you get. I have had more luck with cucurbits planting them in the garden directly. Transplanting seems to stunt them. Seeds from hybrid plants either do nothing or revert to one of the parents. The results may be unsatisfactory.
It is best not to skimp on seeds. Think about what even an expensive seed costs compared to the time and other costs of raising the plants. I have only had a problem with Burpee seeds one time. I planted some tomatoes that did not germinate. After 2 weeks it was obvious. I called and they sent new seeds that arrived the next day. I lost almost no time at all.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
It is 20 degrees Fahrenheit now. Yesterday when I went home it was 40 degrees; but the wind was blowing hard, sending its icy knives into my tender body. I did not work in the garden long. Today I will garden in the comfort of my warm office. I will layout next years perfect garden and order seeds for the greenhouse. My favorite source for seeds is Renfrow’s hardware in Matthews. Unfortunately they don’t have their seeds in for the next season. I will order from Burpee’s.
Some seeds of course are saved from the garden. I only do the easy ones. Beans, peppers, tomatoes and squash are easy. The problem with squash and other cucurbits is that they interbreed and you may not get a seed that duplicates the vegetable it came from. It can be fun to plant a few and see what you get. I have had more luck with cucurbits planting them in the garden directly. Transplanting seems to stunt them. Seeds from hybrid plants either do nothing or revert to one of the parents. The results may be unsatisfactory.
It is best not to skimp on seeds. Think about what even an expensive seed costs compared to the time and other costs of raising the plants. I have only had a problem with Burpee seeds one time. I planted some tomatoes that did not germinate. After 2 weeks it was obvious. I called and they sent new seeds that arrived the next day. I lost almost no time at all.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Freezing Nights, Falling Leaves, Fig Trees
Freezing Nights, Falling Leaves, Fig Trees
We finally had our first freeze while I was in Orlando. I think it was the morning of November 10. It did not hurt the eggplants or the peppers or the winter crops. It did kill the baby figs and knock the leaves off of the fig trees. It seems that the leaves are falling off of a lot of other trees too. I have been picking up a pickup truck load of bagged leaves from the side of the road every day since returning to Charlotte.
We are getting a lot of greens, eggplants and salad greens; but there has been no rain to speak of. I had to set up the irrigation system again. There is a light rain falling this morning. Tonight I hope to lay in bed and plant my perfect garden for next year. I have some really great new ideas. Tonight the garden will be planned. Tomorrow seeds will be ordered for the greenhouse.
The neighbor’s fence is so grown up with vines and junk that I cannot get to my grape vines to prune them. Clearing that fence will be this weekend’s project. Maybe I will have time to prune the grapevines and fig trees. The fig trees are even bigger this year than they were last year. There is a lot of pruning to do. The castor oil bean trees are still living. One of them has seeds this year. They are over 20’ in the air. I won’t be able to harvest the seeds until the tree dies and I cut it down.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
We finally had our first freeze while I was in Orlando. I think it was the morning of November 10. It did not hurt the eggplants or the peppers or the winter crops. It did kill the baby figs and knock the leaves off of the fig trees. It seems that the leaves are falling off of a lot of other trees too. I have been picking up a pickup truck load of bagged leaves from the side of the road every day since returning to Charlotte.
We are getting a lot of greens, eggplants and salad greens; but there has been no rain to speak of. I had to set up the irrigation system again. There is a light rain falling this morning. Tonight I hope to lay in bed and plant my perfect garden for next year. I have some really great new ideas. Tonight the garden will be planned. Tomorrow seeds will be ordered for the greenhouse.
The neighbor’s fence is so grown up with vines and junk that I cannot get to my grape vines to prune them. Clearing that fence will be this weekend’s project. Maybe I will have time to prune the grapevines and fig trees. The fig trees are even bigger this year than they were last year. There is a lot of pruning to do. The castor oil bean trees are still living. One of them has seeds this year. They are over 20’ in the air. I won’t be able to harvest the seeds until the tree dies and I cut it down.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
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