Post a peek of yourself here...

Hi Liz. Neat that it's Spring there and Fall here!

: o

Well, Bob - it is still kinda warm here, but a lot of overcast and rain too. It's roughly 10 C (50 F) here and getting colder. Next week's supposed to be real chilly.

So, making cracks about my banana stem peeling, eh Bob? Go ahead, have your fun then. Wasn't it you who told me about misting?

: P

Seeds from some of the lime fruits, would be cool too. You know how I love my seeds. Cuttings will be awesome though as well, so they should fruit real fast.

: )

 

Thank you for the welcome Liz, NSW is someplace I would love to visit Queensland too! What kind of plants do you grow down under? Any Musa Banksii by chance? I ask because I have one with a yellow flower that is fairly rare here. I believe the purple ( or is it pink) flowered variety is the most common although none of the Australian bananas are seen in the trade here. I don't smoke all that often but a mutual gardening friend of Hollyberry and mine from Malaysia had just passed away at the time and the cigar and durian were in his honor.

Hollyberry, you know I am a big proponent of keeping the humidity high and misting is one of the ways to accomplish this, although some might prefer a humidity tray or just a humidifier as was suggested to me by a friend in Ecuador.

 

oh I LOOOOOOOOVE Duran we used to climb in the trees in near DJAKARTA when I was living in Hong Kng and went to Indonesia many times. For those who don't know it tastes as good as it smells bad. and when you open it the best way to get rid of the smell on your hands it to rub them AGAINST the inside of the peeled skinn. In Indonesia they used trained monkeys to get the ones that grow on the smaller branches not reachable by humans. The trees get HUGE like 30-50m ..The Monkey turn the fruits till it cracks and let it fall...The fruit is VERY tough actually I have not seen one that craqued open on the fall. But my Indonesian friend tells me that industrial collecting provides nets under the trees.
Well I gues NOT Durian growing in Vancouver where the Automn is as ugly as the summer was nice
QUESTION . Swiss chard does it die in the 1st frost or can I extend the living with small plastic green houses? 2x1m ?
Still NOT ONE ANSWER on the curly Kale will it dye down or not in winter. the new leaves in the center seem to not grow anymore and get light green yellow and seem to die
I have cut back 99% the RED RUSSIAN kale the stem was nearly hard as wood and I hope now it will grow again before the harsh part of the winter
should I put fertilizer ?
Anyone out there KALE SPECIALIST Hello ..
again same question> I have RED RUSSIAN KALE seeds can I plant them outdoors now
or must I grow seedlings indoor ( but then will they survive when I put them outdoors in the winter?)
I also have KG of BROCCOLI seeds...I don't know why the Broccoli NEVER made anything to eat ONLY Flowers and mountains of seeds
I did cut the first flowers back but still got more and more flowers but no BROCOLLI veggi to eat.
Thanks all.

 

Uh huh - if only they knew about the real way you reacted when ((((((((((I)))))))))) told you about misting! You little bugger.

: P

Hi Vic. You'll like Vic, Bob - he's a terrific gardener.

: )

Yes, Vic, Swiss Chard loves to grow in coolness, so I'd say your greenhouse might work out. Not a kale specialist, but with your mild B.C. temps, I think your kale will grow all winter long - especially dwarf scotch curl! Did I send ya seeds for that kind? Sounds like your broccoli bolted (went to seed) - likely because it was sown at the improper time.

 

Vicarious, I don't have a kale answer but have to wonder if you had eaten any"Pisang Ambon" bananas in Indonesia? These were the original strain of Gros michel which by the way was the original Chiquita banana until the mid to late (depending on location) 1960's and were much superior to the Cavendish varieties we endure today.

 

Sorry Bob
I am in Victoria further south than QSLD and NSW.

We actually get snow here so bannanas would' nt be happy. I think people may occasionaly grow them down in the suburbs.


Vic

Re kale, chard they are winter vegs here so maybe your real winter might kill them off so a hot house should work.

The fact that you grew them all your summer without them bolting makes me think that where you are they grow best in summer and will turn their toes up in winter if left unprotected. Any way try and see what happens be a scientist.

Liz

 

Here, our Winter would surely kill Chard and Kale, but B.C. is much more mild - especially certain areas.

I say experiment, Vic - that's what gardening's all about. You'll find trial and error are the best teachers. Kale can even withstand frost, and is actually much sweeter when touched by it, so give it a try, Vic, and fertilize with a high nitrogen formula.


: )


P.S. Hope you saw this...

 

Sherr, I think you meant a higher potasium(K) fertilizer. Nitrogen would just cause faster green growth that would be more susceptable to frost damage.

 

Nope, I meant Nitrogen (N), which is what I've always fed Kale with. Feeds the leaves and makes them luxuriously green. You want tons of leaves to harvest, so lots of nitrogen will encourage accelerated foliage growth.


Kale likes frost, so that's not an issue. I've even had my Kale with snow on it, still not be damaged.
Our bitter winters though, eventually kill it off.

: )

 

Fair enough HBL, we agree to disagree! Shock there. If I liked Kale( I don't but love winter harvested greens) I'd use the cold frame with a layer of remay or other horticultural spun bond fabric directly on the plants for the coldest months. On some years here in zone 6 we can have fresh greens year round though last year that wouldn't have been the case.

 

Well, don't get me wrong - my Kale gets a good dose of Potassium as well, but I like more nitrogen than anything, because it really encourages lots of leaves, and after all isn't that why you grow Kale? Especially with MY mom around, who is constantly trying to devour leaves quicker than they can grow!

Also too, worth noting...

If you leave the center, instead of pulling the entire plant, both Kale and Swiss Chard will continue to produce leaves. Even Broccoli, will produce florets after the main head is harvested. Just thought I'd pass that on to ya, Vic.


: )

 

DONT GET ME GOING ON THIS "Pinsang Ambon" I do not dink Alcohol my whole life BUT .. one exception. I just adore and used to love to put like 1cm of "Pinsang Ambon" liqueur into a huge glass of fresh Orange juice or even any icecream banana mil shake. The perfume is absolutely DIVINE. I used to buy then but I must say I could not find it anywhere in Hong Kong, South African or even Vancouver even with the Indonesian shops here......Can I order some by e-mail :-) ?
After that comes Indonesian deserts colored with vegetable colors green I love it.
My favorite place is PULAU SERIBU 1hr off Djakarta. I used to grow many plants in HKG I would bring in the seeds from Indonesia I had a 1000m2 garden but did not do the gardening myself then and now regret it .. I grew Papayas galore then we grate them green and make marinated pickeles with white and ordinary carot loads of peppers and green, yellow and red bell peppers.. the Philipino way. I love nature in Indonesia do you live there ?

 

You bet you can! I got mine here:http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-3273.aspx I live in New Jersey in the United States but I enjoy travel and reading quite a bit. You've been to South Africa? Ever try the Amarula cream? Very good. By the way the bananas in the pic are "Manzano" along with some homegrown tomatoes and store bought longan fruit.

 

Yummy:-) Yes we lived in South Africa 10 years before moving to Canada. West > East >South > North> whats left .. ? As long as there is a garden..I'm fine. NO all the Amarula etc I rather smell them lying on the bottom of the trees. I leave the Elaphants to get drunk on. Generally I am anti, alcohol, tabacco, tea and coffee.

 

Unfortunately I'm with you o the bubbly as I get migraines and the two just don't do well together.
BUT VIC!
Perhaps this is old hat to you being so experienced a photographer...
As I was browsing in my garden for pics of some plants to post in the 'what looks good in your garden thread' in photography, and to keep watch on things,
I noticed that the water in the fountain was flowing a particular way and making
Bubbles, so I got down to take a few photos of it/ them as there were two or more at a time.
I got a laugh about 15 pics in as it took me that long to notice something there,
so,
I thought to post it here in this thread.......
what I found in the garden today that surprised me!
A pic of myself of course!
And where else but in the garden.

How grows it?

D

 

Hi Dana Nice...Yes "reflection" photos in water or drops only is quite a popular macro subject.
I sort of staged a heart reflection for Valentines with one of my Vancouver grown roses with a water drop I discovered hanging in there in limbo between two petals .http://bit.ly/2ou4Vr I held up a small heart shaped helium balloon (bought in a shop) and attempted a reflection holding it up at the right place glued to a tiny stick.
Thank's to think of my photos Dana. There are many more better than me and making a real living of it I am still trying to do so. On my site only there are 150.000 other photographers and on the Net.. I would say many more tens of millions. It becomes more and more difficult to make a difference unless being outragious etc.. I also show on JOG magazine http://bit.ly/24KXOI if I would upload everywhere I wanted I'd be doing this 24/7 and no more gardening.

HL... I had to bring the 4 Toad lillies indoor (2 per tall terra cotta pots)due to temperature. It took forever to grow them from seeds. Now the leafes were about 4-5inches tall. But the cat nibbled 1/2 of the length off. snif snif:-(.
Now I had to raise them even higher up 1 foot from ceiling but still seeing south daylight, where the cat can't hopefully reach (I thought where they were they were safe) do you think they will grow further, now that 1/2 the leaf length is gone.
Why do they grow soooo slow like 3month to germinate 3month to grow only 4inch leaves. Was that your experience also?
The other 2 blackberry leaves are like 4inch across and about 1inch tall only.. those the cat are not interested but also growing sooo slow. Well lets see how they do indoors I hope it was not all for nothing. I have soo little horizontal space for plants ( AND) safe from the 2 cats.
I also have a HOYA ..if I spell that right... it is supposed to make strong smelly flowers and wind along a wire but it seems to take for ever to grow this indoor marvel mine only grew two leaves in 4 month. Every one tells me it grows fast .nothing the like here
http://www.flowershopnetwork.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/hoya-flower-leaf.jpg what am I doing wrong ...it seems i do not have green "indoor" hands

COMPOSTING Questions

For those who know my garden by now from photos. I had to cut down all the RED RUSSIAN KALE as it was so infested by aphids I could not eat it anymore.
So i cut it down to the earth with the hope that it will make new growth by the next month...
Had to cut down also part of the curly Kale as so infected. Soapy water etc did not help in the long run.
Question 1/
is now I put all the cut off in one empty flower bed..I would like to know IF I cut it all in small pieces and bury it in the earth of that flower bed. Will it be rotten and falling apart by spring? My big black municipality plastic composter is 80% full and I want to keep the space for my kitchen veggies cut offs for winter.
Question 2/
I did put to many needles from the pine ( maybe one 8th of the whole composter)
I wonder what can accelerate the compost. I did add the comfor leaves that I was told accelerate the composting but see no big change when I turn. I still can see
things 99% as they were say 1month after..
I do turn it and add moisture etc....NEver knew it was so difficult to compost and the Racoon is trying now and then to have a go at it. but has not managed yet.

Thanks for reading this far.

 

Vic I don't know if this will work for you might depend on climate. I just have some big bins with a holes in the bottom directly onto the soil. I then layer the house hold bucket cooking scraps with wood shavings in my case. You could use yr. pine needles. Stripped newsprint or card board is also a good layering medium.. My large black ex chemical bins last 3-4 years. They are full of worms and I just keep a lid loosly on them. I make sure it does not get too much rain into it but has it's own moisture. My normal compost I just throw on a heap or leave branches and weeds where they are to do their thing. Probably not a good solution for a small neat garden but I have plenty of room to leave things break down on the mulch. Blackberries are usually removed onto a paddock heap for the goats to recycle into pellts :)

An ordinarly large plastic rubbish bin works. If it gets too cold there insulate it with poly styrene or similar. Bubble wrap might work or even the bin inside a wooden box and everything stuffed with newspaper or pine needles or shavings. You can even insulate the lid.

Liz

 

mmmmh Liz
We are getting new AUTOMATED bins next month and the municipality was going to collect all the old ones. Maybe I should keep the old ones. Racoon are a problem they love foraging in anything EATABLE.. I have enough space 12x 8m on an upper area next the back lane let me show you a pic on google earth haha can you believe it the mapped our street by driving the back lane. How stupid is that ?
http://maps.google.ca/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=49.31297,-123.140959&panoid=t-nC2GCvprCZ9Z102cPhrg&cbp=11,10.85,,0,0.8&ll=49.310351,-123.125153&spn=0.111917,0.441513&z=11&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-ca-bk-svn&utm_term={keyword}
The black BIN lying on the road is mine I have 4 of those! I can't go out NOW and take a photo so what a nice way to send you one
Funny isn't it have they mapped your area yet
several of my friends in Canada told me that their BACK lane was mapped instead of the road .
I could easy drill holes on the bottom side and some on top
but the bubble paper etc with -10C etc I don't think will do a thing ...
I have a large 2 car garage but really don't want compost in there ..
Thanks for your kind advise

 

no it really needs to be in the garden with a hole the size of a dinner plate to the ground. I keep mine under a shady bush. In your case it probably needs sun. Could you get hold of a heavy wooden machine case or some pallets to make a box to sit it in to keep Racoons out, 4 pallets and some metal fence stakes and you would have a solid corral. Use another pallet to make a lid over your bin. We can get pallets from factories for nix as rubbish. I have built several goat shelters with them as well.

This is what I am talking about
http://www.westendpallets.com/page2.html

http://www.farmstock.com.au/Classifieds/sale/49318.html

Liz

 

Yes, Vic, if you bury thin layers of the trimmings in your garden, it will likely be rotten by Spring and you can turn it over again. It a great thing to do, especially with things like cornstalks, because it puts all the nitrogen that was fed to the corn, back into the earth. Leaves are great for mulch. Then you can turn them into the soil, to break down over time.

You can even turn a small plastic container into a compost bin - equipped with worms and all. It just depends on how much compost you need, that will determine the size of your bin. It can even be done indoors!!! Patience is all that is needed, because it can take time for the material to break down, and if there are no worms, even longer.

Yes, the Blackberry lilies grow slowly, but keep in mind they are a perennial, so they will return from year to year. I planted mine in the garden, early in the season, so they will return next year, bigger than ever.

Good luck.

: )

 

Hi Bob and Welcome.

I planted some blackberry seedlings this year in my garden, that i grew, and the foliage did really well, but there wasnt a single flower on them this year and i was told that they wouldnt bloom the first year.

 

Nice shots, Dana.


That's right, Penny - no flowers until next year, with the Blackberriy Lily. It's because they're grown from seed.


The same with my 2009 perennial columbine "Double Winky" (aquilegia) that I sowed from seed this year. The leaves are gorgeous, but no flowers until early Spring. I can't wait because this is what they'll look like...


: )

 

Thats gorgeous Sherry, columbine is one of my favorites, its so pretty in any garden!

 

Thanks, Penny.


Yes, this is a new Columbine but it doesn't really look like one. Alot of people questioned whether it really was an Aquilegia, until I posted a shot of it's leaves. The blooms look more carnation-like really.

This new 2009 variety is also unique because it blooms in early Spring, and into early Summer, unlike other Columbines, that usually only bloom for a couple weeks.

I plan on ordering some more of the seeds again this year...

: )

 

Good point, at first glance i thought it was a small dahlia of some sort.
Its really pretty though.