From: T@invalid.invalid   
      
   On 10/26/23 05:42, songbird wrote:   
   > T wrote:   
   > ...   
   >> What were they spraying?   
   >   
   >    herbicides and pesticides.  i'm sure they   
   > also were also applying the usual chemical   
   > fertilizers needed for corn when they   
   > planted that.   
      
   Conventional corn uses a boat load of nasty chemical.   
      
      
   >> I harvested my last tomatoes and gojis   
   >> I also planted my garlic.  Picked a few   
   >> onions too.  The rest I am over   
   >> wintering.  They seem to like the   
   >> cold so far.  My green onions adore cold.   
   >>   
   >> It was about 35F all day, wind howling, and   
   >> a slight drizzle.  It was cold!  The   
   >> wind was so bad that any rain drops that   
   >> got me were quickly evaporated.  It was   
   >> a bit miserable.   
   >>   
   >> The worst part was picking all the cat scat   
   >> (not my "exact" word) out of garlic bed.  I   
   >> added about 40 toothpicks, points up, to the   
   >> bed to run the cat off.  And a good water in.   
   >>   
   >> Oh and I did not user up the entire bag of   
   >> planting garlic, so I took the remainder   
   >> to the kitchen for food.  (I paid a lot for   
   >> them, so I am not going to let them go to   
   >> waste.)   
   >   
   >    find a spot off to a side someplace where   
   > you can poke it in a flower garden or wherever   
   > and use it as a backup source for replanting   
   > if needed - they may not grow great but it can   
   > be a help to not have to spend money again for   
   > garlic.   
   >   
   >   
   >> I under watered my garlic last season and got   
   >> marble sized bulbs.  (You diagnosed it for   
   >> me based on a picture I posted,)  How often   
   >> in the winter should I water?  And should I   
   >> water through snow or just consider the snow   
   >> to be the watering?   
   >   
   >    yes, snow is watering and certainly do not   
   > water through the snow unless there's a good   
   > reason to do it (like it bone dry underneath).   
   > basically if there's some snow cover that is   
   > better than no snow cover because it will keep   
   > the soil moisture from evaporating plus it   
   > provides some insulation against the cold.   
   >   
   >    basically during the growing season you want   
   > regular watering during the dry spells and then   
   > ease off the last several weeks before harvest.   
   > the usual amount of moisture here that works   
   > well is about an inch to an inch and a half   
   > per week.   
   >   
   >    for us the garlic quality was so poor this   
   > past year because we had a really dry spring   
   > up until the mid-summer and then it rained   
   > quite a lot so the bulbs didn't dry down very   
   > well and had a lot of marks on the garlic from   
   > too much moisture.  we can just cut away a   
   > lot of those but on the whole it's probably   
   > the worst year i've seen for quality.  the   
   > added complication of growing in heavy soil   
   > makes it tough at times.   
   >   
   >   
   >    songbird   
      
   Both my eggplants tried to product new leaves after   
   the first freeze.   
      
   Yesterday I noticed that one had three flowers on the   
   new growth.  Made me feel both proud of it and sad   
   for it for what was coming that night.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)