Name: aka GardenQuilts Facebook, NGA and the beloved Winston the pug
I found some pictures of the zinnias mentioned in the other thread and other plants for the database. I am sorting them out now. Time of a full backup of everything again, just in case the storm caused computer problems. First my spell checker turned British now I have to recover my pictures. I don't want to risk a hard drive crash. Been there, done that.
I have a story and a question for Joseph
Are cacti hard to start from seed? Do they take a long time to mature?
When I was a kid, our dysfunctional family took a yearly road trip to visit family in North Dakota. This took 3 days of driving from the NYC area. My mother was obsessive compulsive and my father had a temper. My brother was hyperactive, spoiled rotten and on adrenalin like drugs for his asthma. I packed a lot of books and pretended I was adopted. We got to stop and visit various relatives along the way who were even crazier than my parents. We didn't stay at hotels, even though it was always the hottest week of the year no matter when we took this pilgrimage. My parents took turns driving day and night unless we were visiting crazy people or cooking dinner on the Coleman stove at rest areas. No McDonald's for us. My mother made meals ahead, sealed them in the "Seal a Meal", packed a weeks worth of food for a 3 day trip in coolers full of melting ice and stopped and cooked. Some vacation. Don't feel sorry for her - she chose to do everything the most labor intensive way possible. My father would have been glad to stop somewhere to eat. It is amazing that we didn't die of food poisoning.
One year, we took a different route thru the South Dakota badlands so that we could see Mount Rushmore. My mother decided to stop along the way and dig up 'Dakota' cacti to plant under the eaves of the house. The neighbors's cats used the ground under the eaves of the house as a litterbox. My mother routinely dug up the contaminated dirt, threw it who knows where and bought bags of dirt to replace it. Of course, the cats came back and used the new dirt as a litterbox. This continued for years. She tried sprays, pepper flakes, all sorts of things to discourage the cats from going there. Since it was a dry area, facing south along the foundation, the shade plants that my crazy mother planted there didn't grow. No amount of logic would convince her that this was a sunny area because it was under the eaves. I remember her trying to grow pachysandra there. It spread into the lawn, but died in the litterbox.
We stopped every few minutes to check out the native cacti. Of course, each clump she saw was better than the last. There was a lot of digging, replanting and cussing in Norwegian and English along the way. My brother was of that age that he thought it was fun to pee on everything. His other favorite thing was to take a jar out of the recycling bin (which was cleaned, scrubbed and de-labelled with gumout by my obsessive compulsive mother) fill it with pee and hide it somewhere - such as behind the throw pillows on the living room couch before my Norwegian grandmother was scheduled to visit. He also peed in the onion and potato bins before we left on this vacation. My mother spent weeks disinfecting them when we returned. We hauled these prickly cacti to North Dakota and back. Amazingly, we survived the trip without getting arrested and the cacti thrived under the eaves.
Several years later, my brother found and rescued two kittens he found on his paper route. I got good at removing cactus spines from their little feet with tweezers. The neighbor's cats and ours continued to use the area as a litterbox. I assume the cacti are still there.
To make a long story even longer. my neighbors have these dogs....
ok Im on a mission lol I use herbs for health and need to be sure of what I am using. I am looking for P. incarnata specifically for its medicinal properties. Does anyone have this?
Name: Joseph Cache Valley Great Basin Landrace: locally-adapted diversity
I knew that was poorly worded, but was feeling the adrenaline rush of new and glorious seed lists, so I didn't fix it. I grow twenty pounds of popcorn. It only takes a teaspoon's worth to test the moisture content.
If you only want one plant of the kale, it's very simple - just start maybe 3 inside and transplant the healthiest one. Save one in case of disaster until your transplant is well-established. That's what I do anyway. I've lost plants to spring hail. It's a real buzz kill.
Name: Joseph Cache Valley Great Basin Landrace: locally-adapted diversity
Cactus seeds germinate very easily for me. I put them in a seed starting tray, and douse them with fungicide, and water them, and put them in a plastic bag and forget about them. However growing them to maturity is a slow tedious process for me... One variety of cactus in my garden germinated in early spring 2 growing seasons ago. It is currently about 3/8" tall. An earlier planting of a different species sprouted about 5 growing seasons ago. They currently have one pad about an inch in diameter. Next year they aught to grow great and finally start getting large. Once they get established they thrive in my climate, unless they plain old croak from not being winter hardy.
The cactus that I used to grow indoors in a south facing window matured earlier because I watered them more reliably. The ones I grow outdoors get little care.
Yes, it should be. Of course you'd want to verify that with huneybunch, especially since you want to eat it!
Living in Texas, they should be wild in your area. They like sunny, disturbed areas like fields. Although she would agree that the flowers were pretty, my grandmother always disliked them because she remembered having to pull them from the cotton fields as a child. They can be weedy.
Andi, what a funny story, with a scary twist .... your brother peeing in the onion and potato bins! I do feel sorry for your Mom about THAT ONE!
So, Sorellina do you think it is worth my planting one Dinosaur Kale?
Can I just pull off a few leaves at a time to eat?
I googled it and it sounds like something I would love to try this year.
I remember reading that someone had grown the chocolate daisy from last year's swap and had seed available this year, but darn if I can find the post. If any of you have seed for the famous chocolate daisy, I'd love to be on the list of piggies receiving a start of it. Can anyone nudge me in the right direction?
Can someone tell me the oink-per-day limit? I can't remember how that worked, and I still don't know after re-reading all of what Ella wrote at the beginning of this year's trading thread. Since everyone else seems to know what to do, I must have just missed it. 100 oinks total, 5 in a group, and a limit of how many per day?
I was a greedy little piggie yesterday! I'm going to try to restrain myself for the rest of the trade. I'll concentrate on getting my list and my seeds organized!
Name: aka GardenQuilts Facebook, NGA and the beloved Winston the pug
It sounds like cactus is a very slow grower like yucca. I have been babying some yucca seeds along forever. They survive best in a bottom watered self watering pot. Mine are the size of fingernail clippings after 2 years!
If I want to torture the neighbor's unruly pets, I guess I will have to plan a road trip to South Dakota, Utah or somewhere. In the meantime, I'll barricade my patio garden.
I never grew the dinosaur kale, but I frequently cut a few leaves at a time from my regular kale. I just make sure that I leave at least one plant to go to seed.
Name: aka GardenQuilts Facebook, NGA and the beloved Winston the pug
I would love tips on chocolate daisy germination and survival. I tried some last year, got one to germinate, but it didn't survive. Frustrating. I wonder if the plants live up to their hype.
Dayjillymo wrote:I remember reading that someone had grown the chocolate daisy from last year's swap and had seed available this year, but darn if I can find the post. If any of you have seed for the famous chocolate daisy, I'd love to be on the list of piggies receiving a start of it. Can anyone nudge me in the right direction?
Thanks, all!
Critteroligist has the Choco Daisy
I was able to get germination last year, but it all croaked due to the weird weather... too hot, too cold, heavy rains in the spring, zero rain in the summer.
Terese -- Leesburg, FL & Lake Delton, Wi
My Email is my userID at hotmail.com
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