New England Dec 2014

I thought I'd start this thread.  The only thing I'm using this week from my garden are some frozen roasted tomatoes in a sauce for meatballs.  My garden is still buried under the 12" of snow we had the day before T-day, but roads were cleared by THE DAY so we had company as planned and we got our power back after losing it twice on Wed nite and early Thurs morning.  We were one of the lucky ones.  There were still 40 thousand that didn't have power in the state and the whole town of Harpswell Maine was without the whole day. 
I hope everyone is now getting in gear for the winter.  Maybe still growing some pots indoors that were earlier outdoors.  I did that last year and wish I'd planned better for this year so I could be harvesting peppers and herbs right now.   Or maybe you're just scanning the couple of seed catalogs that may have arrived this month and making your new garden plans.
We won't have much to talk about for the next few months I' afraid.  Good luck

Thanks QB! Today it got to 42°F here and was rather a pleasant day. Tonight its getting cold again. The regional 30 day forecast is for warmer than normal. Only time will tell. I don't know that my Brussels sprouts are going to make it to Christmas dinner table.

camprn wrote:The regional 30 day forecast is for warmer than normal. Only time will tell. I don't know that my Brussels sprouts are going to make it to Christmas dinner table.

Yea!  I heard warmer than normal for my area also.  That means mostly 40's.
Camp, can you dig up and bring your brussels inside?


I have a window garden growing now - freckles & romaine lettuces, Champion & Cape Cod collards, ginger, dwarf Blue Vates kale, basil, stevia & parsley:

Also, the cut back and brought in potted petunias & begonias are sprouting, as is my Eastham turnip stumpling, so I started another turnip:
Hope to have flowers on all of them sometime this winter.

All but one still active greens SFG bed has been composted and covered with seaweed:

and the 8 fruit trees & 5 grape vines have been surrounded with it:
I'll compost everything again in spring.

Speaking of compost, the new pile and the 'greens' pile to the right of it, continue to grow:



Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 50's again so I'm taking the day off to get more seaweed and continue with the fall clean up.  It'll be my 5th trip to the beach for seaweed since Sunday!  It's SO nice to be outside again after that crazy cold November!

CC

CapC.....thank you for sharing your pictures.  I love seeing some things still growing even if its indoors.    Your beds will be saying thank you for all that sea weed by next spring.
Thanks again!

'Twas 2 hours before high tide and all down the beach the seaweed was lying right there in my reach.

 The gulls were a'flying, the wind did it whip!  I took a deep breath and my heart did a flip.

Off sneakers, off socks, off coat and my hat.
Sunglasses weren't needed, the sun was like that.

Armed with buckets and fork I trudged to the shore, I shoveled and carried till I could harvest no more.


Then home safe and sound I unloaded my loot, mowed up some leaves, then sat. What a hoot!

CC

Bravo!!    



Barefoot in December?  That's hardcore!

And I am sooooo jealous of your seaweed!

This is old news - happened in November (but only last week!)

I got poison ivy! Thank God it has been cold up here or I'd be a mess. It's on one side of my face, underneath my neck, and apparently, I reached underneath my sweatshirt and scratched my back while the oil was fresh on my hands.  

It's not too bad, because of the weather, but I'm not sure where I picked it up. A friend relocated my restaurant garden to her house, and it was definitely from working there, but I don't know where in her yard it was. And I sure do want to avoid it in the spring!

Oh Martha, that's so sad.  I'm sorry that happened.  The good news is you're not allergic to it.  A granddau of mine is and when she got it, it was hospital time and huge welts but she came home at the end of it.  I hope yours clears up quickly.

Are you going to have any raised beds at your own house this spring?  It sounds like you're downgrading at home.

I hope you are  sure it is a poison ivy rash that you have (I have other suspicions) and that you are well again really soon....

I use glyphosate on poison ivy vine and it's pretty darned effective.

martha wrote:

And I am sooooo jealous of your seaweed!

Uh...  YEAH!  + 23,000!

Great poem too, CC!

This is what your garden's gonna do:

Aw, thanks, you guys. The poem was fun.

Martha, any way you can go back to your friends and see what's what?
BTW,I don't know where Acton is, but with the wind blowing in from the south right now if you can get to the south coast like Rhode Island or Connecticut, there's probably lots of seaweed on the beaches there.

Acton is west of Concord.

Great illustrated poem!

But I will go somewhere sometime and get some seaweed to bring to my friend's compost pile! (I can't compost at home - that makes me really sad.)

Nobody told me there was a December thread! Here I thought everyone was just taking a break.

On the November thread, I mentioned that I'm excited Ray Praxxus' seed giveaway is coming soon, if he's still doing that.

And now I wanted to know if anyone grows Jerusalem artichokes, and if you think the tuber is (edibly) worth it.

Now I have to read the December entries.

PS - Bravo on the writing, cc! LOL. And that beautiful seaweed.... your garden is going to be amazing next summer!

I planted Jer.Art. tubers this year - more for the flowers than for the tubers.  Since the tubers have had a frost,  I'm going to try them for food.  Everything I've read has indicated that they are super gas producers in GI track.  Will let you know!

Will be interested to hear, Judy!

BTW, I think Virginia would have about the perfect climate - longer for growing, but still gets 4 seasons.

NHG.......I get Ray's videos when he makes them and I may have missed it, but didn't see anything particular about his seed giveaway.  I know he said something about putting all the seeds he gets that he can't use in a box and giving them out but not the specific yearly 'giveaway'.
Another giveaway will be an in-the-home composter.
I'm loving watching his chickens in the vids.  He's got one, Tiny Tim, that has a backwards right leg and hobbles around but he didn't 'do her/him in' since its getting around pretty well and eating good tho I notice its smaller than the others.  As I recall, it was hatched that way.
I'm glad he'll be doing more raised bed growing this year.
If I hear about his giveaway, I'll give a shout on this forum.

camprn wrote:
I use glyphosate on poison ivy vine and it's pretty darned effective.

I had to re-read this to realize you meant you use Glyphosphate on the PLANT, not your poison ivy infected skin!!

sanderson wrote:

camprn wrote:
I use glyphosate on poison ivy vine and it's pretty darned effective.

I had to re-read this to realize you meant you use Glyphosphate on the PLANT, not your poison ivy infected skin!!  

Oh dear, yes the poison ivy vine, not the rash.

It's ok - I didn't put it on myself!

I will remember that in the Spring though!

Fortunately, it was a mild case, courtesy of the time of year, and I guess I'm actually glad I got it, instead of being hit hard in the spring.

I would say I have poison ivy paranoia, but reasonable fear isn't paranoia!

camprn wrote:I hope you are  sure it is a poison ivy rash that you have (I have other suspicions) and that you are well again really soon....

I use glyphosate on poison ivy vine and it's pretty darned effective.

Isn't glyphsosate connected with Monsanto's Round-up?

Yep. It's the active ingredient to kill weeds.

Kelejan wrote:Isn't glyphsosate connected with Monsanto's Round-up?

From last year:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/30/glyphosate-toxicity.aspx

Beside people, I guess it's harmful to beneficial insects, too....?