From: boron_elgar@hotmail.com   
      
   On Thu, 15 Jul 2021 21:21:59 -0400, songbird    
   wrote:   
      
   >Boron Elgar wrote:   
   >> songbird wrote:   
   >...   
   >>>  always some new adventure...  :)   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >> I consider your last statement as something that should be printed on   
   >> every gardener's t-shirt.   
   >   
   >  one reason i really enjoy gardening is that it puts you   
   >in close contact with the world and if you're observant you   
   >can really have a lot of fun figuring out how to get a crop   
   >from various plants.   
      
   I do not always grow, intending to get large returns, as there is only   
   the two of us and I probably have enough jam to last a lifetime. I am   
   not fond of canned tomatoes and do not even bother with pickles these   
   days. I do vac pack and freeze.   
      
   By goals focus on growing weird things. I have some of the strangest   
   tomatoes ever growing this year, because I seeded a bunch of   
   "heirloom" cherries in the early spring and planted those seeds to see   
   what I got.   
      
    I'll plant anything from seed or that I think I can grow.. Right now   
   I have some rambutan pits that have started to come up with shoots,,   
   two date palms starting from packaged dates I got at Trader Joe's, a   
   chunk of galangal that is coming up, so that I have some fresh all   
   winter.   
      
      
   >  my own biggest things to enjoy planting and growing are   
   >strawberries, beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, squash,   
   >melons and peas.  add in some greens and you've got a   
   >pretty good chance of getting something to work out and   
   >you can often pick varieties that will survive bug damage   
   >and diseases and other things that happen.   
   >   
   Squash and melons are all in the past. The critters get them, even   
   when a rise them in bets onto frames. Too much effort and too much   
   disappointment. Breaks my heart, but I have learned to live with it.   
      
      
   >  i've been gardening most of my life and as of yet while   
   >some issues are a challenge we've not had complete failures   
   >because we do grow a variety of things and also because we   
   >have fences.  if we didn't have fences the deer would do a   
   >lot more damage to the vegetable crops.   
      
   I have had failures due to critters- like the just-before-a-frost   
   Brussels sprout stalks stripped clean by the groundhogs. I now do   
   almost all my growing in tubs up on the deck. It cuts down on some   
   predation, but not all. Mouse and rat traps placed around likely   
   targets scare off some critters.   
      
   One of the most wicked diseases, though, is the wilt that I get on   
   cukes and tomatoes. I am diligent about keeping leaves off the soil   
   and watering, but I cannot control the heat, humidity and rain. I   
   experiment with varieties each summer and save seed from plants that I   
   think do best.   
      
      
   >  i work mostly with growing and cross-breeding beans.  i   
   >have a lot of different gardens and different soil conditions   
   >so that makes me able to evaluate a lot of different varieties   
   >and to try things out.  this past spring someone from Poland   
   >adopted two of my cross-breeds so this has been fun to see   
   >my babies blooming on another continent.  :)   
   >   
   >   
   >  songbird   
      
   I have seen your many posts about the beans you grow. They are always   
   interesting reads.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)