Gardening

[cineater]

omg, this morning's newsletter from the MG group has people building teams.  The social media team, workshop team and on going education team.  Holy shit, they took to my organization.  My name is all over this and you know I have my fingers in everybody's pie.   Our education person is not going to let me out shine her and I've been shining.  I'm okay with that, woke her up and she is great.  I'm so excited, together our group kicks ass.  Now if we don't fall into the creek or get our ass blown off the map or die, some of us are getting up there, we're on the move.

[cineater]

And the person who doesn't like for me to out shine her, politely kicked me off her team, lol.  I'm okay with that.  As long as she is up and moving, we are good to go and I can put my efforts elsewhere. Yeah, I don't get offended by somebody else doing the work.  

[soon]

2 hours ago, cineater said:

omg, this morning's newsletter from the MG group has people building teams.  The social media team, workshop team and on going education team.  Holy shit, they took to my organization.  My name is all over this and you know I have my fingers in everybody's pie.   Our education person is not going to let me out shine her and I've been shining.  I'm okay with that, woke her up and she is great.  I'm so excited, together our group kicks ass.  Now if we don't fall into the creek or get our ass blown off the map or die, some of us are getting up there, we're on the move.

Y'all are squad goals, cineater!! That must have been something to receive that newsletter and read it in print: your organization and projects are up and running, front and centre!!

Yes, the falling into the creek and mortality are no fun   Its great that your energy and ideas got the other person in gear. A little friendly competition - maybe even by the sounds of your most recent post - never hurts.

Keep kicking ass 

 

[soon]

14 hours ago, downliner said:

I can't formally identify any of them really, but there's 5-6 different species that have been visiting daily that I enjoy watching I keep their food topped up with a variety of different seeds and suet balls etc, and change the fresh water on the bird table every couple of days.

My next job for the garden is to install a path. I'm trying to keep things as "wild" as possible so looking at mulch/bark instead of gravel or slabs etc. I've a pretty good idea of the route my path will take so might start on this on Saturday.

I also want to introduce more variety of wild flowers and hopefully get a bit more colour throughout the year. I don't really understand the difference between seeds and bulbs so need to read up on this. Right now Im not sure how any new wildflowers will take hold when there's already so much tough grass and huge weeds like cow parsley, which dominates every season even though I keep pulling it out Pretty sure September is when I should be planting bulbs though so I'll get on top of this next month.

Thats cool, all my birds are very tiny and colourful. I liked that yours are big and energetic. Im lucky in that I dont need to attract them, they just come.

Ill be planting some bulbs this fall too. Daffodil, crocus and Liberty Tulips commemorating Canadas roll in liberating Holland. The type of crocus that Ill harvest saffron from. I can picture how beautiful your garden would be with even more wildflowers, hope that works!

[soon]

14 hours ago, downliner said:

Looks so fresh and tasty I'm really jealous as I didn't make much any progress growing my own fruit and veggies yet lol. Think I've had about 2 carrots and a few plates full of mixed salad leaves so definitely need to up my game

Yeah its a real treat to gather a basket like that. Wings were great too! Oh well, maybe next year for you  You've produced a few plates more of homegrown salad than most people, dont forget  I will only be harvesting 2 carrots at best as that is all the animals left me!!  Id give you a duffle bag full of my kale if I could - that stuff is relentless! I will never grow it in this amount again. 

[cineater]

2 hours ago, soon said:

Yeah its a real treat to gather a basket like that. Wings were great too! Oh well, maybe next year for you  You've produced a few plates more of homegrown salad than most people, dont forget  I will only be harvesting 2 carrots at best as that is all the animals left me!!  Id give you a duffle bag full of my kale if I could - that stuff is relentless! I will never grow it in this amount again. 

The Kale and Swiss Chard just won't die off. 

Stopped by the Farmers Coop.  We're having a harsh winter by their accounts.  The purple martins left on time, the 19th.  The Canadian Geese are back early and the young bucks have their antlers 3 weeks early.  Always trust in what your farmers say.

[soon]

They just wont stop!!  Ive harvested that stuff frozen solid in a layer of ice with snow covering half of it... and once prepared its perfect, crisp and tasty! 

Oh my, autumns coming quick!! Go lentils go!!! I better start harvesting the thieves garden before the killing frost.  

[cineater]

2 hours ago, soon said:

I better start harvesting the thieves garden before the killing frost.  

Did he quit?

[cineater]

11 hours ago, soon said:

Y'all are squad goals, cineater!! That must have been something to receive that newsletter and read it in print: your organization and projects are up and running, front and centre!!

Yes, the falling into the creek and mortality are no fun   Its great that your energy and ideas got the other person in gear. A little friendly competition - maybe even by the sounds of your most recent post - never hurts.

Keep kicking ass 

 

It can hurt but I double checked with my colead and another garden friend over that whole situation.  Fortunately the feedback this time was positive for me, lol.  Okay but let's figure out how to work this lady.  She's part of the team and a great asset.

I did get a "that one idea was brilliant" comment from my support group, woohoo.

[soon]

11 hours ago, cineater said:

Did he quit?

Im not sure what transpired. I was just goofing about stealing his harvest because Im still so angry with him! I have seen him there since, right after he was ID'd. Then yesterday I see someone not from the garden stealing from his garden!!  So I let him be until he moved to the next garden at which point I walked him off the property. Karma is something else!

6 hours ago, cineater said:

It can hurt but I double checked with my colead and another garden friend over that whole situation.  Fortunately the feedback this time was positive for me, lol.  Okay but let's figure out how to work this lady.  She's part of the team and a great asset.

I did get a "that one idea was brilliant" comment from my support group, woohoo.

Oh, I see. Im glad the feedback was positive! Yeah it can be good to have that balance between to personalities and approaches - the yin and yang.

You seem to be full of brilliant ideas! Im excited for whats to come!

 

Ive figured out another use for all my kale. The leaves are huge by now. I can lay them over the faces of the people passed out in the morning cooking under the hot sun, to protect them!

[cineater]

I have kale in with my flowers.  They end up looking like little palm trees as I harvest.  It's kind of cute.

The plant I was babysitting went home and I got Strawberry Hibiscus Preserves from Michigan for my services.  Sounds good.

[soon]

Strawberry hibiscus is one of my favourite flavour combinations! I plan to get hibiscus back in my herb garden next season.

Speaking of mixed planters, the hippies who gifted my some chive plants must have mixed in that type of climbing snap beans with the beautiful purple flowers that you told me about a while ago. So they are now suffocating the chives as they climb them.  Ahhhh hippies! 

[cineater]

Speaking of hippies, I tried to watch a new show, Wandering Down the Road.  Omg, I do not have the patience for potheads any more.   It was that or it reminded me of my youth.  I'm hoping islands in Scotland now and Irish Country homes.  I will leave the British isles at some point but not with the hippies.

[cineater]

Quote

At least, that's according to the Farmers' Almanac, which released its extended forecast for the 2019-20 winter on Monday. The annual periodical, which has been publishing yearly weather forecasts since 1818, is predicting a "polar coaster winter," according to a press release. 

"'Freezing, frigid, and frosty" are the exact terms it used to describe the upcoming season, especially for areas "east of the Rockies all the way to the Appalachians," the press release said. 

Peter Geiger, the publication's editor, warned that the season will be a "wild ride" full of unexpected changes in temperature and "some hefty snowfalls."

The Midwest and Northeast will receive the worst of the frigid conditions

So, looks like I'll have time to make those cat planters. 

[soon]

15 hours ago, cineater said:

Speaking of hippies, I tried to watch a new show, Wandering Down the Road.  Omg, I do not have the patience for potheads any more.   It was that or it reminded me of my youth.  I'm hoping islands in Scotland now and Irish Country homes.  I will leave the British isles at some point but not with the hippies.

You were a pothead in your youth?!?! 

reminds me, theres a BBC show with their famous gardener Monty something. I think its called Dream Garden and Monty helps regular folks build gardens in their yards. I enjoyed it. 

6 hours ago, cineater said:

So, looks like I'll have time to make those cat planters. 

Lots of cat planters by the sounds of it!! 

Sounds horrible, Im sure will get it here too. Good thing Id already planed to sit indoors watching new Star Wars TV shows during any spare time!

Theres always a few heros trying to bicycle year round here, gonna be a hoot watching them this year 

[cineater]

9 hours ago, soon said:

You were a pothead in your youth?!?! 

Theres always a few heros trying to bicycle year round here, gonna be a hoot watching them this year 

Where do you think I learned about chicken shit as a good fertilizer?   I wasn't a grower but they told me lots.  Missouri isn't a real good place for good pot from the ground.  It's what we call ditch weed and you only smoke it in August when the supply from the south goes dry for about 6 weeks.   Been a long time but people tell me nothing has changed with that situation, must be a harvest issue.

What is with these people and biking in the snow?  They do that up in Minnesota too. 

We got in our soil.  A 50/50 mix of compost and topsoil.  No manure in the compost.  I'm doing the bean test on it.  Hopefully they are magic beans and grow their little asses off.

[soon]

35 minutes ago, cineater said:

Where do you think I learned about chicken shit as a good fertilizer?  

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! 

Ditch weed - I think I've heard of that. Too bad because August is a great time of year to smoke weed

37 minutes ago, cineater said:

What is with these people and biking in the snow?  They do that up in Minnesota too. 

Nobly fighting against climate change while simultaneously neglecting the fact that the climate is changing, making for extreme weather conditions 

But even in the best of winter conditions its really just... Like what to even say to these winter bicyclists? 

40 minutes ago, cineater said:

We got in our soil.  A 50/50 mix of compost and topsoil.  No manure in the compost.  I'm doing the bean test on it.  Hopefully they are magic beans and grow their little asses off.

Hope the results are favourable!

"The Bean Test" strike me as a good band name.

[cineater]

For some reason I'm thinking The Bean Test would be one of those boy bands.   Very different from the Dead's Acid Tests.

This could be a great class:  Driving Around Town.  Our city does these great mass plantings and I'm sure people see them and wonder what some of those plants are.  One of our members works for the landscape department.  She could show pictures, identify the plants and why they were chosen.  I want to take that class!

So far I have library classes for Compost, Herbs, Pruning Fruit Trees and creating a garden for Birds.  Waiting for confirmation on Veggies, Gardening Gone Awry and Kevin to figure out what he wants to speak on.   I think I've done it!

[soon]

7 hours ago, cineater said:

For some reason I'm thinking The Bean Test would be one of those boy bands.   Very different from the Dead's Acid Tests.

Perfect!  With all the new measles burger options popping up it is almost like we're all dropping the bean test! 

7 hours ago, cineater said:

This could be a great class:  Driving Around Town.  Our city does these great mass plantings and I'm sure people see them and wonder what some of those plants are.  One of our members works for the landscape department.  She could show pictures, identify the plants and why they were chosen.  I want to take that class!

I wann stake that class too! My buddy can ID pretty much every tree that grows here and I think its so cool. There is something that bonds one to the land and I cant put my finger on why thats so special, but I really think it is. The flowers in the planters just the same.

7 hours ago, cineater said:

So far I have library classes for Compost, Herbs, Pruning Fruit Trees and creating a garden for Birds.  Waiting for confirmation on Veggies, Gardening Gone Awry and Kevin to figure out what he wants to speak on.   I think I've done it!

You have done it! Those all sound great - Id take the entire series.

Inspires me to reconnect with anything like that here. I used to attend more garden related stuff. Now that my head is above water, time to get back to it. Nothing as cool as what you got going, but helpful stuff none the less.

[cineater]

I have 7 classes confirmed and 3 maybe's. 

Had an idea for an annuals class.  One of our people works for the city in the planting department.  I'm asking her to do a picture class on some of their more 'in the public eye plantings'.  She can tell them what plants were used and why those plants were selected.  Besides covering some annual plants, she dips into landscape design.  I want to take that class.

[soon]

Maybe 10 classes - thats awesome!

I would take the annuals class too. You've got such a great pool of people working with you.

I sometimes go on guided herb walks around various rural and urban settings to learn about the edible/medicinal herbs in the area. Usually once a year the herb walk will join with a Jane Walk. It would be too cool if the your annuals and city planters classes were part of those walks too.

******

Its autumn weather here. 

[cineater]

I got her!  Except she's on snow removal for the city so if we have a weather event we have to cancel but usually when it snows the whole city closes anyway.

What's a Jane Walk?  You could join the Master Gardener's group in your area.  It's more fun to sit in the training classes but we have an online course you can take too.  It cost close to $200 to take the course, not sure what yours would be if anything.  Our people get their money back in plants, lol.  I'm at the point of do not give me another damn plant, lol.

[soon]

Im so happy that you got her! Yeah, if theres a weather event people might wanna stay home anyways. Thats great!

Jane Walks are named after urban planning activist and author Jane Jacobs. They are annual walks around cities where the history, changes and future of spaces is explored. Its like a museum, but its your normal neighbourhood. So maybe for instance an old tannery factory has been converted to condos. On a Jane Walk one learns about how and why the community transitioned away from industry for its employment. You might learn that lots of old wooden pillars were removed from the tannery and now decorate city hall - just all sorts of little bit of info about where you live and the people proceeding you. Jacobs was critical of urban renewal because she saw it us not serving the needs of the inhabitants, but rather the business and gov. But most Jane walks arent so radical and anti-gentrification as she was.

So, sometimes here a Jane Walk will include a herbalist as one of the guides too. I thought how much Id love for your classes to be included too, about the planters and natives, etc. Even more dimensions of info about the spaces!

I am very humbled that you would suggest I cold become a Master Gardener. Y'all are rockstars. I look at you with awe, with all your skills and knowledge. I mean Id love to. 

[cineater]

It's nice that the University recognizes that people who have gardened all their lives have extensive knowledge that didn't come from a book but the name Master is kind of misleading.  Most of us are just "hands in the dirt" that have to be told it's "soil", lol.  We'd like to change the name to something less intimidating but you're looking at a world wide change.  One of those you goofed in the beginning but we're too far into to it to change it now.  Anyone can be a Master Gardener but the best ones have actually killed a few plants along the way, lol.  (Just slip that into the compost bin and nobody will know.)

[soon]

I always thought that Masters of Divinity had an odd ring to it too... somewhat misleading, haha 

With your support and blessing I will look into it!! Thanks!! I believe the course takes place at the campus nearest me, so in class wold sound like fun.

haha, I’m sure I’d have to turn that compost bin quite often to hold all my secrets 

If I became a Master Gardener and was asked to do a class I could do “the tyranny of too much kale.”

im at my little garden now but am too tired to do anything. I have this raised bed loaded! And so much variety. I guess it’s finally time to sit back and take it in. It is a good garden.