Misc. Stuff

[helwen]

- More on Runnymede... the musicians were wonderful. shalmestre, hudebnik, Deonna Van Aachen (sp?), Isabeau D'Orleans, Efa, and Alison de Winter. As I've said before, our folks are very fortunate indeed to have such friends :) I believe they'll be playing at next year's Runnymede dinner as well. I know Alexander feels fortunate to know these good folk as well!

- M. Eleanore was also able to retain Clan Tynker for some evening entertainment, who were excellent as always as well. They also performed a number of other places, including in the market during Midnight Madness.

- Still feeling a little nervous about bugs just before going to sleep, even though we're back indoors now. Getting better with time.

- Most of the laundry is done. Waiting on the reds and purples until I have a bit more to wash. Thanks goodness for sun yesterday and today, as I prefer hanging linen up -- beats ironing any time!

- The garden is a jungle, sigh. Despite the weeding I did just before we left... L helped out some with uncovering things, and no doubt we'll be working away at it for a while yet.

- Oats look ready to gather in. They've been mostly flattened by the rain and wind but look to still be edible. Harvesting will be more challenging though...

- The Delicata squash might be ready for me to begin harvesting... I need to look at the information I have on them since I've never grown them before.

- I have a good bit of Borage. I mostly grew them as bee attractors for the other plants, but maybe I should harvest some of it... need to look up what it's good for. The only thing I remember is I think the flowers can go in salads.

- The beans are quite prolific; I think I may need to blanch and freeze some.

- Finding all the onions and some of the potatoes may be a challenge.

- My baby hops are doing pretty well. I need to find stakes for them.

Comments

[kellan_the_tabby]

Borage is great for nerves -- it's in my Ease your Nerves Tea, but it also works great on its own. A nice, calming tea.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Right, tea! Thanks :) Especially since my chamomile vanished early on this summer...

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

I've grown Delicatas, and as I recall, I waited until the vines had died completely before harvesting - sort of like pumpkins. They sure are delicious! Enjoy :)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Found my directions.... in theory they should start being ready about now (80 days)... hm. Maybe I should try one and see how it tastes. Possibly this weekend, as I think other things in the garden are more urgent.

I like how tidy they are in their growing habit too, so I think I'll try them again next year. We have summer squash and pumpkin too, and they are going all over the place. One type of cucumbers we tried didn't do well, but the other one is doing all right. Don't know if it's weather-dependent or not, but I think I'll just try the one type of cucumber next year. I'm finding that with all the other things we're doing around here, I have a hard time keeping up with the garden.

It's been interesting growing plants in a new place and seeing what thrives here.

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

Gardening is always fun! I so enjoy it. Have you tried growing your cukes and pumpkins up trellises? Mine do best growing up the tomato cages my XH made from the wire concrete reinforcing mesh (the type with squares about 4 or 5"). I have found pumpkins growing 3 and 4 feet above the ground, quite happily. Keeps bug damage to a minimum, too. Also makes them much easier to find.

Did you see my 'green-ness' post? I think I put it up yesterday... maybe the day before.

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

Hello!

The musicians were indeed wonderful. Everything was wonderful! I can't even begin to tell you how impressed we were, and how delighted to be there. Thank you again.

Re. the bugs... ARGH! I'm so glad you got through your beetle encounter with no permanent effects. This was the first year I'd heard about that particular issue, and now it seems like every time I turn around someone I know says "Oh yeah, that happened to [my friend/family member/acquaintance] too!" I think I'm going to be right there with you in nighttime paranoia-land for a good while to come...

And about the gardening/harvesting -- do you have any use for woodruff? I have a lot growing, no particular need for it, and no one local interested in taking any.

Trellises

[helwen.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't tried trellises yet. I imagine they'd have to be pretty strong? Hm... I did manage to get them pretty well mulched, but it would be nice if they took less space!

This is my first year for squash and cukes. I tried pumpkins when I was a kid, but I think that garden's soil just wasn't up to the job, even with my attempts to amend it.

***
Unfortunately I fell behind on my mulching in other parts of the garden... although the potatoes and onions puzzle me a bit, because they were very neat and tidy when we left. I'll be checking that out either later today or tomorrow sometime. It may be that weeds around the perimeter have simply gotten tall enough to fall over onto them. Two of the potato plants have died back as well, so I should be able to harvest those in another week I think.

***
And yes, saw the green-ness post and have posted :)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome :) We had a lot of fun doing it, too!

Re: bugs, apparently that section of the campground has a higher percentage of the incidents than other parts, so you're probably at less risk where you camp. But a mosquito net can be an attractive addition to a tent... they even come in different colors now, not just basic white.

I love woodruff! I managed to bring some with me when we moved, but I'm sure it would love company. Although we aren't exactly next door neighbors, so perhaps it might be a while before a delivery could happen... we aren't sure if we can make Harper's Retreat, in which case our next event is Bergental's Crestfallen on Sept. 13. We won't be making Coronation because of a family wedding (the one that's local to us, as opposed to the one in October in Indiana :p)

It's a great ground cover, very tidy and lively-looking. Thank you for thinking of me :)

[nq3x.livejournal.com]

Yay! Hops! I hope you planted them within reach of a trellis (for next year)...

[danabren.livejournal.com]

Blargh, I envy you your weeds. Just about everything on the porch died or is struggling :(

Re: Trellises

[gardengirl6.livejournal.com]

I would have thought that the trellises would need to be very strong, too. However, my trellises are just that reinforcing wire, though they're anchored with a 1x3 sledgehammered into the soil at least a foot so they don't blow over. I think anything that wouldn't blow over would be fine, especially for cucumbers. Pumpkins, it might depend on what kind you're growing. Small Sugar would be no problem; Atlantic Giants... not so great. My pumpkins were bigger than Small Sugar, maybe 10-12 pounds or so? I kept thinking that the stems would break, but they were fine.

I had several potato volunteers, plants that sprouted though I hadn't placed any seed potatoes there. They showed up in places I'd grown potatoes before, so I suspect I missed a tuber or two during harvesting. I must go find those, come to think of it! What a pleasant surprise.

Re: Trellises

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Okay, will have to try it next year. I think I'll want to see some first though, as I'm not quite visualizing how this would work. This year things kind of worked out because we were sharing a space with William and I guess we both thought the other was going to plant something between the squash-type stuff and the beans, so there's an open wandering area in-between :D

I should try to mark and/or move the asparagus though. Volunteers from a previous year that I'd like to encourage to come back next year...

Extra potatoes! A pleasant surprise indeed!

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Nope. The plan is to build a support structure for them next year. First step was to see if any of those little seeds would germinate.

And since I have 13 of them, I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to thin out the males next year and still have some hops plants left (crosses fingers).

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Sorry :(

It has been a strange sort of summer for weather, I have to say. Some things fared better than others, but I have the advantage over you of more space to plant, so even with some failures -- like the chamomile, half the peas and most of the rutabagas -- I had a better odds for success than you did. The birds didn't help you much either :P

OTOH, if you would like some of my weeds, you are welcome to come visit and bring some home...

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

I have A Cunning Plan! :) loosecanon tells me she sees you periodically -- maybe I can send some with her. I'll consult with her...

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Ah ha! Well, we'll see what happens then ;)

Meantime, it appears I need to recover the shade garden again... sigh. Fortunately comfrey is a large plant, so I've pointed it out to L in case he ends up helping with the recovery process... I have some babies that need to continue on their journey, now that they've had time to recover from their travels earlier this summer.