A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners
September 18, 2010
Not so much about Aquaponics, but more of just a Garden Journal post.
Planting Peas today. Snow peas, 1/2 lb packs of two different varieties from Johnny's Selected Seeds
Snow Sweet I planted on the East side of the South section of trellis and on the West side of the North Section of trellis along the middle of my side yard along the line of crepe myrtles.
Oregon Giant I planted on the West side of the South section (seeded very heavily I might add) and more normal seeding pattern along the East side of the North Section of Trellis.
I have more of the Snow Sweet to plant today, I did put some in the Aquaponics system and I'll plant more along the Fence on the SE corner of the lot. I still need to prep the planting area though. I better do it quick as the peas have already been soaked overnight and are now coated with inoculant. Ok, that's done.
Ah, now many may wonder why the heck is she putting in trouble to prepare dirt beds for peas when she has this wonderful AP system that requires little/no prep for planting. Well the answer is, snow peas are not just food here, they are my winter privacy screen along one quadrant of my property. See my lovely screen of cannas, bananas and crepe myrtles is beautiful through the summer but crepe myrtles loose their leaves and flowers in the winter here and if we get a freeze the bananas and cannas will suddenly die back in an ugly way. Now while the peas may take some freeze damage, they still grow thick and nice through cool weather and a wall of edible vines makes me happy. I am hoping that with my efforts of this past spring, perhaps I can avoid the post freeze yearly visit from code enforcement that I seem to get every year but I'm still gonna plant a wall of peas. Last fall I planted them in October and we got a cool week right after I planted them and I didn't get very good germination and my wall of peas was really patchy last winter. I'm hoping by planting them earlier, I will get better germination. See garden peas or English peas are an odd plant, they like cool weather but germinate best with warm soil. So wish me luck this winter that we won't have such a cold one with so many hard freezes (cause I want some bananas some day) and between the bamboo line and wall of peas, hopefully the post freeze complaints won't show up this year. And hopefully it's a different code enforcement agent for my area by that time too.
We just got home from over a week out of town a few days ago and the yardlong beans were hanging long and heavy. I love these purple yardlong beans. Red Noodle is the variety I think I planted this past spring and in certain areas of the yard and in the 300 gallon AP system they have been doing beautifully. They do get horribly attacked by aphids that are being farmed by ants (I notice this with southern peas as well) but they still manage to produce more than enough beans for us as well as for the worm bins and chickens that I'm not going to any extra effort to combat the ants or aphids (other than to be careful not to get bit by the ants while picking.)
Yardlong beans are often called asparagus beans, I guess because you can cook them sort of like asparagus and since they are long they might work as a substitute as far as presentation goes. Perhaps some one thinks they taste like asparagus but I've never noticed it. Apparently the young leaves and vine tips are also edible and can be used in salads and stir frys though we haven't really tried that much ourselves (though our chickens and ducks love eating the leaves.) The great thing about the yardlong beans for us is they thrive in the heat giving us a good producing summer crop when few standard garden veggies thrive (other than the okra which has turned into small trees here this year.)
Hum, so anyone have an opinion, Should I try to keep my garden journal ponderings on here? Or is it like pointless drivel that no one really want's to read and I should learn to keep my garden journal in a notebook like an organized gardener should (I have often written down notes about what I've done in the garden but by the time I ever want to look it up, I can never find the sheets of paper I've written it on.)
Planting Peas today. Snow peas, 1/2 lb packs of two different varieties from Johnny's Selected Seeds
Snow Sweet I planted on the East side of the South section of trellis and on the West side of the North Section of trellis along the middle of my side yard along the line of crepe myrtles.
Oregon Giant I planted on the West side of the South section (seeded very heavily I might add) and more normal seeding pattern along the East side of the North Section of Trellis.
I have more of the Snow Sweet to plant today, I did put some in the Aquaponics system and I'll plant more along the Fence on the SE corner of the lot. I still need to prep the planting area though. I better do it quick as the peas have already been soaked overnight and are now coated with inoculant. Ok, that's done.
Ah, now many may wonder why the heck is she putting in trouble to prepare dirt beds for peas when she has this wonderful AP system that requires little/no prep for planting. Well the answer is, snow peas are not just food here, they are my winter privacy screen along one quadrant of my property. See my lovely screen of cannas, bananas and crepe myrtles is beautiful through the summer but crepe myrtles loose their leaves and flowers in the winter here and if we get a freeze the bananas and cannas will suddenly die back in an ugly way. Now while the peas may take some freeze damage, they still grow thick and nice through cool weather and a wall of edible vines makes me happy. I am hoping that with my efforts of this past spring, perhaps I can avoid the post freeze yearly visit from code enforcement that I seem to get every year but I'm still gonna plant a wall of peas. Last fall I planted them in October and we got a cool week right after I planted them and I didn't get very good germination and my wall of peas was really patchy last winter. I'm hoping by planting them earlier, I will get better germination. See garden peas or English peas are an odd plant, they like cool weather but germinate best with warm soil. So wish me luck this winter that we won't have such a cold one with so many hard freezes (cause I want some bananas some day) and between the bamboo line and wall of peas, hopefully the post freeze complaints won't show up this year. And hopefully it's a different code enforcement agent for my area by that time too.
We just got home from over a week out of town a few days ago and the yardlong beans were hanging long and heavy. I love these purple yardlong beans. Red Noodle is the variety I think I planted this past spring and in certain areas of the yard and in the 300 gallon AP system they have been doing beautifully. They do get horribly attacked by aphids that are being farmed by ants (I notice this with southern peas as well) but they still manage to produce more than enough beans for us as well as for the worm bins and chickens that I'm not going to any extra effort to combat the ants or aphids (other than to be careful not to get bit by the ants while picking.)
Yardlong beans are often called asparagus beans, I guess because you can cook them sort of like asparagus and since they are long they might work as a substitute as far as presentation goes. Perhaps some one thinks they taste like asparagus but I've never noticed it. Apparently the young leaves and vine tips are also edible and can be used in salads and stir frys though we haven't really tried that much ourselves (though our chickens and ducks love eating the leaves.) The great thing about the yardlong beans for us is they thrive in the heat giving us a good producing summer crop when few standard garden veggies thrive (other than the okra which has turned into small trees here this year.)
Hum, so anyone have an opinion, Should I try to keep my garden journal ponderings on here? Or is it like pointless drivel that no one really want's to read and I should learn to keep my garden journal in a notebook like an organized gardener should (I have often written down notes about what I've done in the garden but by the time I ever want to look it up, I can never find the sheets of paper I've written it on.)
Comment
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Comment by TCLynx on September 21, 2010 at 11:33am
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I guess I keep rambling then.
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Comment by Lori Platt on September 21, 2010 at 10:22am
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Keep posting! Your ramblings are always chock full of useful and interesting stuff!!
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Comment by M Cosmo on September 20, 2010 at 3:04pm
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remember.. Weeds are just plants we haven't found out what there useful purpose is. Hey does this chat thing work for anyone.
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But anyway, those who have seen my weedy yard will have an idea about my gardening methods and if they wish to follow them or not. I should probably get a few pics of my front yard to show off so people know what they are getting into if they listen to me.
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LOL, my comments might perhaps help one or two people choose plants for their humid sub tropical desert garden but who can get existential about that?
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Now here is useful blog. Some real meat and potatoes as we use to say. Not like that selfindulgent mumbo jumbo from that cosmo guy. Keep up the great blog.
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Comment by Gus Cabrera on September 19, 2010 at 7:32pm
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I didn't read your post through before commenting. My thoughts are: Keep your blog coming. You have at least one reader and reading for me is one of my favorite activities. I like the idea of heat-resistant beans considering I live in the New Orleans Area. We had heat index temperatures in the 100's for several weeks during the day. So, I have learned something which will have application at another time. I enjoy your writing.
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Seasonal, edible, privacy screens. I love the idea.
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OK then
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Comment by Richard Wyman on September 18, 2010 at 8:06pm
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I enjoy your gardening ramblings TCLynx, keep em coming :)
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