CANADIAN REGION:What are you doing in October 2016

https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-lemongrass/

I found this article about Lemon grass. I think I may put mine in a pot and bring it in over the winter. It looks like it would just go dormant.

Thanks for your response TD. I am sorry to hear that you got less Salsa Verde than you were hoping for. That stuff is delicious. I really enjoyed it when I was in Mexico with my husband in the summer.

Hey! I have put goldfish in a 10 gal aquarium, they would live!  Cheap!  Walmart! They are hearty....

Scorpio Rising wrote:Hey! I have put goldfish in a 10 gal aquarium, they would live!  Cheap!  Walmart! They are hearty....

I used to bring the goldfish indoors and keep them in a 50 gallon aquarium.  But now we just buy cheap feeder goldfish if needed to replace those that do not survive the winter.

Photo of my very rough canning shelf in the basement workshop. Note the grow light above and the mess below. The canning jars will need to find a new home to make room for indoor gardening (microgreens, etc.).

Two of our grandkids are visiting with us today so I will recruit them to harvest the remaining green tomatoes, ripe cherry tomatoes, eggplants and raspberries. Down to 1 degree Celsius on Sunday night so need to get it done.

I am not an expert yet on canning, TD., but I store my canning jars in darkness.  I wouldn't think canning jars would need grow lights?

Anyway, your canning jars look good.

Here in B.C. we are forecast rain for the next six days, some of it heavy.; does not compare with what the poor folk are going through  on the Eastern Seaboard so I am not complaining. Doesn't look as though I will be able to do much, e.g. place compost on my beds. weeds, plant anything.  I am spending time right now clearing up the kitchen.

Kelejan wrote:I am not an expert yet on canning, TD., but I store my canning jars in darkness.  I wouldn't think canning jars would need grow lights?
...

No, no, no!  The jars are temporarily stored on the shelf that I use for growing plants under the grow lights in the winter. The lights are not on. I have to build another storage location for the jars. 

I was kidding, TD.  I knew the grow lights were not on.

We may have frost in Ottawa this weekend- so I am bringing all of my green tomatoes inside. Now I have tomatoes everywhere though. Literally. Check it out:

In the kitchen...


In the living room...


Waiting to find a home...

Nice haul Mimi.

I brought my green Toms in yesterday.  A previous harvest of green Tom's all ripened indoors. We put them in a cardboard box with each layer separated by paper and with a banana in the box to help them ripen.

Today I canned more tomatillo salsa.  Made 7 x 250ml jars.

I am gonna have to learn to can.  So pretty!

Thanks TD- Does the banana help them ripen?

trolleydriver wrote:Nice haul Mimi.

I brought my green Toms in yesterday.  A previous harvest of green Tom's all ripened indoors. We put them in a cardboard box with each layer separated by paper and with a banana in the box to help them ripen.

Today I canned more tomatillo salsa.  Made 7 x 250ml jars.

Mimi2 wrote:
Thanks TD- Does the banana help them ripen?

trolleydriver wrote:Nice haul Mimi.

I brought my green Toms in yesterday.  A previous harvest of green Tom's all ripened indoors. We put them in a cardboard box with each layer separated by paper and with a banana in the box to help them ripen.

Today I canned more tomatillo salsa.  Made 7 x 250ml jars.

That's correct. The banana supposedly gives off something that helps the Toms to ripen. You just have to check the banana from time to time to make sure it does not start to go bad.

Whoo Hoo, Mimi.  Great harvest. I know what you mean about tomatoes everywhere.

You  will have to learn to can next year. It frees up room in the freezer.  I started last year with a small canner advertised on TV. It is a pressure cooker/canner and takes four 500 ml jars (roughly one pint.)

So this year my tomatoes have been eaten in salads and sandwiches, made into sauce and salsa, canned and dehydrated.

I am eating my toms as fast as I can as they are ripening more quickly than I can manage so I will have to make some spag sauce or something. I also gave away quite a lot but people are getting overwhelmed with them especially if they do not do any cooking like a couple of my "friends" who like me to do the work but are very happy to receive the proceeds. At least they do appreciate my efforts, nothing refused yet.

A couple of days ago when I harvested Lemon Grass I kept several pieces with roots still attached for propogation. They are in a small canning jar filled with water. Wow do these things grow fast. In the picture the bright green at the top is new growth. The original cut was made where the dark colour ends.

Did some more canning today. First photo is of the tomatillos and peppers being readied for roasting in the oven. The other photos are self explanatory

I did some more canning today.  Seven jars of plums.  Only tomatoes left to do something with.

Also need to sort out my seed potatoes for next year.  Fingerlings and Yukon Gold.

Re-pot some juniper trees I am trying to raise from cuttings.

cleaned out the beds today.  However I did plant a square of radish and carrots combined, 1 spinach, 1 beet and one lettuce.  The weather is 25 here today.  I am going away for a week so I hope to not get a big freeze and when I get back there will be some leaves on the ground.  My plan is to put a cold frame around it and see what I can get growing, if anything.  Another experiment for me, but old hat to you.

Prepared my garlic bed, and looked at some more sad onions.  Maybe next year I will have better luck with the onions. 

Everyone's experiences here have given me new hope to growing.  I do hope to do a trellis next year and try cucumbers and zucchini.  We shall see

Nice, TD, I am going to can next year.  

P14, you had a good first year!  Planning is part of the fun!  I would love a cold frame.....keep us posted!

P14, I reckon you did well for a first year SFGer.  It will be even better next year now you have this first year under your belt.

Soon you will be instructing first-year SFGers yourself.

P14 Kelejan is right Last year, my first year, was a little disappointing. But I did much better this year. There is so much to learn and figure out. What works best where, how much you need to water, how to protect your harvest from critters, etc Also, many of us start adding new SFGS. I had 3 4x4s last year, and this year I added 2 3x3s. I can't wait to see how year 3 goes

Thanks for sharing. Very neat!

trolleydriver wrote:A couple of days ago when I harvested Lemon Grass I kept several pieces with roots still attached for propogation. They are in a small canning jar filled with water. Wow do these things grow fast. In the picture the bright green at the top is new growth. The original cut was made where the dark colour ends.

O.T. nothing to do with gardening.

Just spent a delightful twenty minutes watching some wild life pass through my garden.  No, not bears this time, but a wild turkey hen and her ten babies.

I first saw the flock of chicken-sized turkeys pecking around on the lawn, then cast my eye back to the bank to see mom standing guard, looking every which way to make sure her little flock was safe.

The group worked their way over to the edge fronting the road, and I must say I was on tenterhooks waiting for them to try and cross and hoping that some one would not come tearing by in their vehicle and mow them down.  At one time the brood was split to five on each side of the road. They made it.

Eventually they crossed back over to my side, me counting one, two, three. etc. then up the bank to next door and out of sight.  I hope they ended up on the hillside behind me so that they were only prey to other wild life.  There is no way that mother can raise all ten of them before winter sets in.  It seems to me that it must be a late brood and I am sure that by now the spring hatchlings would be the size of their parents.

Every year is a learning experience. I love the optimism of gardeners planning for the next year. Bigger and better.

Kelejan ... somewhat timely that you would see those turkeys on Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend .