2024 Market Gardens

[hfm]

Hi hfm... I'd like to see your new cacti. I have always been attracted to cactus, the lady at the nursery told me it was mostly men who bought cactus from her. I don't know if that holds true in all areas or just here. They are one of my favorite plants and there is considerable variation in them. I love the south western states with there assortment of cacti. You might even be able to compete with your collection of cacti.
I use to live with a woman from Ohio that lived here in BC, she made a trip to California before I knew her and she had brought back to Canada a cacti she collected wild in California. She gave me one about 30 years ago I still have a clone from the original. It survived outside here until it hit minus 25C.

OH, just heard some thunder. Only hope no forest fires get started. My wife just told me there has been 50 strikes in the area.

I enjoy birds, insects I don't know much about insects but like many living things in life they are full of unusual behaviour and capable of great feats.

I know the Ruby-throated, Rufous and the Anna's Hummingbird show up here for sure. There are others but not as common. I was surprised when I learnt that bears and hummingbirds have something in common. They both can go into a state of torpor.
I feed peanuts to the Steller's Jay most days, not a lot, but enough that they show up looking for them. Then they fly off looking for a place to hide them. Right now it's just a pair but soon I suspect the young ones will be following their parents about. You can always tell the young ones because they are always screeching at the adults.
The Steller's Jay is good at mimicking sounds it hears. It can sound like animals, birds and even machinery.

Take care hfm

Hello oldman,I will do a big update and answer you back.

Super busy framing and doing a bunch of drywall for mouse proof storage and a solid lung to pull from also took my two 5'*7.5'*10' rooms and pulled the wall out for a single 10'*7.5'*10' room.I hope things are going well with you and yours .Best regards!

 

[hfm]

Hi hfm... I'd like to see your new cacti. I have always been attracted to cactus, the lady at the nursery told me it was mostly men who bought cactus from her. I don't know if that holds true in all areas or just here. They are one of my favorite plants and there is considerable variation in them. I love the south western states with there assortment of cacti. You might even be able to compete with your collection of cacti.
I use to live with a woman from Ohio that lived here in BC, she made a trip to California before I knew her and she had brought back to Canada a cacti she collected wild in California. She gave me one about 30 years ago I still have a clone from the original. It survived outside here until it hit minus 25C.

OH, just heard some thunder. Only hope no forest fires get started. My wife just told me there has been 50 strikes in the area.

I enjoy birds, insects I don't know much about insects but like many living things in life they are full of unusual behaviour and capable of great feats.

I know the Ruby-throated, Rufous and the Anna's Hummingbird show up here for sure. There are others but not as common. I was surprised when I learnt that bears and hummingbirds have something in common. They both can go into a state of torpor.
I feed peanuts to the Steller's Jay most days, not a lot, but enough that they show up looking for them. Then they fly off looking for a place to hide them. Right now it's just a pair but soon I suspect the young ones will be following their parents about. You can always tell the young ones because they are always screeching at the adults.
The Steller's Jay is good at mimicking sounds it hears. It can sound like animals, birds and even machinery.

Take care hfm

Hello oldman,I hope things have been good! We got super busy here.Thats interesting about hummingbirds and bears.

Jay's are wonderful,so much personality. Used to feed scrub Jay peanuts too .

We have been getting some solid rain, several 3" events during the last few weeks. This country sure floods a lot with some of these big rivers.

Had to feed some epsom salt to one bunch of the outside plants,they all want a little food.

That doesn't surprise me about men being the bigger buyers,though I know of plenty of women with beautiful collections. Mine are still young and a lot are or will be moms to take cuts from. They are wonderful and get quite a lot of one sided conversations with me.

Best to you and yours and to anyone else who might be reading along

 

[hfm]

Here's a few more things going on.
With all the himidity in the air,I can cull for pm.

 

[oldmaninbc]

Hi hfm, looks like your air is dense with humidity ours today is 36%. That darn pm can be a nuisance, I get it first on the columbine.
I see you have some kind of snake in your yard. That's kind of funny because the wife pointed out a garter snake to me a few days ago on our front walkway, it was laying on the warm concrete. She said that is the first one she has seen here since moving in here, a number of years ago. She likes snakes, me I know they have a place but I tend to favor furry critters.

I am a fan of sunflowers and that is a bold colored sunflower you have there, very pretty. I usually grow a few varieties of sunflowers but this year only one. With having my hernia surgery so late in the growing season, I am fortunate I got done what I did with yard plants. But I like most flowers, they have a much greater appeal than say grasses.

It looks like you have a bunch of packages(chanterelles and tea) for the market, good thing about dried goods, if you don't sell them today there is always another day. Your packaging looks quite suitable for commercial sale.

Our summer air here is starting to become smoky, there are many wildfires(250) burning as of today.
We will be hitting the 40C this weekend. The hot dry weather will only multiply the number of fires. There is a complete campfire band across the province.

It appears things are OK with you, that is good

 

[xtsho]

The tayberries and raspberries are done and now the blueberries are producing. The Seascape everbearing strawberries are putting out some nice berries despite the heat. Just starting to pick the beans and squash. Cucumbers will start being ready in about a week. It's going to be at least a couple more weeks for any of the beefsteak tomatoes. I do have some sungold and grape cherry tomatoes that are starting to ripen.

I'm getting better over the years at cramming a lot of stuff into a small space. If I didn't have dogs I'd probably take out the rest of the grass in the backyard and make the entire yard a garden.

 

[oldmaninbc]

The tayberries and raspberries are done and now the blueberries are producing. The Seascape everbearing strawberries are putting out some nice berries despite the heat. Just starting to pick the beans and squash. Cucumbers will start being ready in about a week. It's going to be at least a couple more weeks for any of the beefsteak tomatoes. I do have some sungold and grape cherry tomatoes that are starting to ripen.

I'm getting better over the years at cramming a lot of stuff into a small space. If I didn't have dogs I'd probably take out the rest of the grass in the backyard and make the entire yard a garden.

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Very nice a well tended garden.

 

[xtsho]

Very nice a well tended garden.

Thanks. This is my favorite time of the season. Everything's growing and all that needs to be done is water and eat the produce as it becomes ready.

 

[hfm]

The tayberries and raspberries are done and now the blueberries are producing. The Seascape everbearing strawberries are putting out some nice berries despite the heat. Just starting to pick the beans and squash. Cucumbers will start being ready in about a week. It's going to be at least a couple more weeks for any of the beefsteak tomatoes. I do have some sungold and grape cherry tomatoes that are starting to ripen.

I'm getting better over the years at cramming a lot of stuff into a small space. If I didn't have dogs I'd probably take out the rest of the grass in the backyard and make the entire yard a garden.

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Nice garden! Those berries are beautiful!

 

[hfm]

Hi hfm, looks like your air is dense with humidity ours today is 36%. That darn pm can be a nuisance, I get it first on the columbine.
I see you have some kind of snake in your yard. That's kind of funny because the wife pointed out a garter snake to me a few days ago on our front walkway, it was laying on the warm concrete. She said that is the first one she has seen here since moving in here, a number of years ago. She likes snakes, me I know they have a place but I tend to favor furry critters.

I am a fan of sunflowers and that is a bold colored sunflower you have there, very pretty. I usually grow a few varieties of sunflowers but this year only one. With having my hernia surgery so late in the growing season, I am fortunate I got done what I did with yard plants. But I like most flowers, they have a much greater appeal than say grasses.

It looks like you have a bunch of packages(chanterelles and tea) for the market, good thing about dried goods, if you don't sell them today there is always another day. Your packaging looks quite suitable for commercial sale.

Our summer air here is starting to become smoky, there are many wildfires(250) burning as of today.
We will be hitting the 40C this weekend. The hot dry weather will only multiply the number of fires. There is a complete campfire band across the province.

It appears things are OK with you, that is good

Wow Man 36% and hot too sounds like a great time for a dip in the lake if your surgery has healed up enough .

I love all the critters but reptiles and amphibians are some of my favorites.Had a little stripped garder snake (about 18-20 inches) going after a big frog on the porch.The frog seemed highly annoyed by something so small being so bothersome.The snake couldnt really slitther well on the concrete and the frog was a leopard frog so big hops.It was all quite amusing.

Thanks on the sunflower We love our sunflowers too! They bring in the big predatory wheel bugs that really eat all the pest bugs in the garden. If you have any pictures of your sunflower that would be wonderful.

The packaging-Thanks, we work on having presentable products.She's out at the FM today selling some things and trading around.

Hopefully you are able to shade up or hunt a swimming hole,best to you and yours

 

[xtsho]

Here's a few more things going on.
With all the himidity in the air,I can cull for pm.

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That tea is cool. I make my own herbal tea out of what's available growing in my yard. I use lemon balm, mint, mullein, fermented blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry leaves. I get big pieces of ginger from the Asian market and slice, dry it and break up into small pieces. I also use dried citrus zest, lemon, lime, orange, etc... and mix it all up. The berry leaves are loaded with antioxidants and they make a nice tasting tea.

I see you have some chanterelles. I'm going to try and get out this fall and pick some. I haven't been shrooming for years. I'm an hour away from some prime locations in the coast range. I've picked 10-15 gallons at a time during good years and could have kept picking but I already had all I needed. I don't really care for them that much but I like being out in the woods hunting for them though. Some places the entire forest floor is covered in orange. I've also picked matsutake and I like those better but more difficult to find. Plus there used to be some crazy commercial pickers that were aggressive so I stopped picking those years ago after a couple shootings in the areas where I would pick.

 

[hfm]

That tea is cool. I make my own herbal tea out of what's available growing in my yard. I use lemon balm, mint, mullein, fermented blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry leaves. I get big pieces of ginger from the Asian market and slice, dry it and break up into small pieces. I also use dried citrus zest, lemon, lime, orange, etc... and mix it all up. The berry leaves are loaded with antioxidants and they make a nice tasting tea.

I see you have some chanterelles. I'm going to try and get out this fall and pick some. I haven't been shrooming for years. I'm an hour away from some prime locations in the coast range. I've picked 10-15 gallons at a time during good years and could have kept picking but I already had all I needed. I don't really care for them that much but I like being out in the woods hunting for them though. Some places the entire forest floor is covered in orange. I've also picked matsutake and I like those better but more difficult to find. Plus there used to be some crazy commercial pickers that were aggressive so I stopped picking those years ago after a couple shootings in the areas where I would pick.

Teas are wonderful, sounds like you brew some yummy stuff up . They're some of our best selling items.

We love our mushrooms! One thing that we do is dehydrate them then powder them for any stew, soup, beans or anything else that you might add a starch to thicken up. We also throw heaps of super greens that are dehydrated and ground up in. Makes for a nice natural thick without some starchy aftertaste.If anything is bitter we throw some stevia in to block it.

Violent pickers thats a bummer! We've seen some of that.You have some excellent mushrooms on the coast.Ever hunt truffles?

 

[xtsho]

Teas are wonderful, sounds like you brew some yummy stuff up . They're some of our best selling items.

We love our mushrooms! One thing that we do is dehydrate them then powder them for any stew, soup, beans or anything else that you might add a starch to thicken up. We also throw heaps of super greens that are dehydrated and ground up in. Makes for a nice natural thick without some starchy aftertaste.If anything is bitter we throw some stevia in to block it.

Violent pickers thats a bummer! We've seen some of that.You have some excellent mushrooms on the coast.Ever hunt truffles?

I've hunted truffles before. Didn't do too well but got a few. But those chanterelles are all over the coast range and easy to spot because of their orange color that really stands out.

 

[oldmaninbc]

Wow Man 36% and hot too sounds like a great time for a dip in the lake if your surgery has healed up enough .

I love all the critters but reptiles and amphibians are some of my favorites.Had a little stripped garder snake (about 18-20 inches) going after a big frog on the porch.The frog seemed highly annoyed by something so small being so bothersome.The snake couldnt really slitther well on the concrete and the frog was a leopard frog so big hops.It was all quite amusing.

Thanks on the sunflower We love our sunflowers too! They bring in the big predatory wheel bugs that really eat all the pest bugs in the garden. If you have any pictures of your sunflower that would be wonderful.

The packaging-Thanks, we work on having presentable products.She's out at the FM today selling some things and trading around.

Hopefully you are able to shade up or hunt a swimming hole,best to you and yours View attachment 19035568

Hi hfm, it's cool and kind of rainy today, I could almost have a shirt on over my T-shirt. Tomorrow the weather shifts from the cooler weather we have had, back to hot summer weather. I can appreciate summer weather and the longer hours of sunlight but this old body not so much. Swimming is not something I can do, because of the asbestosis I have, a few swim strokes and I'd be out of breath and drown right there on the spot. That does not mean I couldn't enjoy some beach time or hanging out by the river, more of a spectator than a participator.

Did you finish up your work projects you had going on, something about changes to a room and mouse proofing.
Mice can be annoying for sure and even carry disease. When covid happened it seemed that we had switch from mice to rats. Since then we have only caught 1 rat and an exterminator has been out here and placed traps around the area. I was recently told that mice and rats will not cohabitate. I have not seen any of them around lately. Thank goodness. I don't like them getting into things and stinking up things.

Off to the city tomorrow, it will be nice to get out and have a change of scenery. We usually go for lunch when we are out, tomorrow is all about the stores so there won't be time for the beach or the parks. That is too bad, will have to make another trip just for fun.

My small yard garden is moving along, everything was planted very late and the ground was never worked like it should have been. My sunflowers are only about 36"plus, there is still time for some more growth. I think I have 10 sunflower plants. The small birds will love them, they always do. We can only water 2 days a week on Sunday and Wednesday from 6-10 AM or PM. We have water restrictions.

Hope all is well in your lives

 

[hfm]

Hi hfm, it's cool and kind of rainy today, I could almost have a shirt on over my T-shirt. Tomorrow the weather shifts from the cooler weather we have had, back to hot summer weather. I can appreciate summer weather and the longer hours of sunlight but this old body not so much. Swimming is not something I can do, because of the asbestosis I have, a few swim strokes and I'd be out of breath and drown right there on the spot. That does not mean I couldn't enjoy some beach time or hanging out by the river, more of a spectator than a participator.

Did you finish up your work projects you had going on, something about changes to a room and mouse proofing.
Mice can be annoying for sure and even carry disease. When covid happened it seemed that we had switch from mice to rats. Since then we have only caught 1 rat and an exterminator has been out here and placed traps around the area. I was recently told that mice and rats will not cohabitate. I have not seen any of them around lately. Thank goodness. I don't like them getting into things and stinking up things.

Off to the city tomorrow, it will be nice to get out and have a change of scenery. We usually go for lunch when we are out, tomorrow is all about the stores so there won't be time for the beach or the parks. That is too bad, will have to make another trip just for fun.

My small yard garden is moving along, everything was planted very late and the ground was never worked like it should have been. My sunflowers are only about 36"plus, there is still time for some more growth. I think I have 10 sunflower plants. The small birds will love them, they always do. We can only water 2 days a week on Sunday and Wednesday from 6-10 AM or PM. We have water restrictions.

Hope all is well in your lives

That'd be a tough one for me,not swimming.The beach is good and wading is pretty nice as well .

Mice and rats, hmm. Yeah, they suck! We hadn't seen any evidence since I finished up. Just doing some painting now. Evrything feels a lot nicer.More of a home.Did your lunch go well?We love catching a good meal in town.

Well that's great you were able to get a garden in at all, considering the amount of life going on.

Best to you and yours.

 

[hfm]

So life can get busy in the summer for us.We've been putting up pickles and pickled peppers, aswell as canning noodle beans and tomato sauce. Made a few super hot pepper sauces the other night, the dog and wife were not happy with the fumed up house. She joked saying it was like a casual stroll through riot spray.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

That tea is cool. I make my own herbal tea out of what's available growing in my yard. I use lemon balm, mint, mullein, fermented blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry leaves. I get big pieces of ginger from the Asian market and slice, dry it and break up into small pieces. I also use dried citrus zest, lemon, lime, orange, etc... and mix it all up. The berry leaves are loaded with antioxidants and they make a nice tasting tea.

I see you have some chanterelles. I'm going to try and get out this fall and pick some. I haven't been shrooming for years. I'm an hour away from some prime locations in the coast range. I've picked 10-15 gallons at a time during good years and could have kept picking but I already had all I needed. I don't really care for them that much but I like being out in the woods hunting for them though. Some places the entire forest floor is covered in orange. I've also picked matsutake and I like those better but more difficult to find. Plus there used to be some crazy commercial pickers that were aggressive so I stopped picking those years ago after a couple shootings in the areas where I would pick.

Mullein is good shit. My wife got some and she said it made her lungs and coughs better. I tried it and I think it really does help quite a bit. So now we're both taking it. Maybe I should grow some mullein. I bet fresh mullein is even better than bottled or in pill form. That's awesome you make your own teas. My wife would love it if I could make her teas.

 

[oldmaninbc]

Mullein is good shit. My wife got some and she said it made her lungs and coughs better. I tried it and I think it really does help quite a bit. So now we're both taking it. Maybe I should grow some mullein. I bet fresh mullein is even better than bottled or in pill form. That's awesome you make your own teas. My wife would love it if I could make her teas.

I have seen more mullein growing wild this year than ever. Across the highway where the forest fire burnt a couple of summers back, the hillside is covered in mullein. A friend of mine told me one time he used mullein for health reasons concerning his lungs, said it worked well for that purpose. I usually have a couple of mullein plants growing wild in my yard.
If your out camping and in need of toilet paper the mullein leaves are good for that, "cowboy toilet paper"

 

[oldmaninbc]

So life can get busy in the summer for us.We've been putting up pickles and pickled peppers, aswell as canning noodle beans and tomato sauce. Made a few super hot pepper sauces the other night, the dog and wife were not happy with the fumed up house. She joked saying it was like a casual stroll through riot spray.

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Hi hfm, those loaves look fantastic, there is a photographic beauty to your fresh baked bread.

How nice it is to have the security of food. To know that your own hands planted and nourished the plants that made it all happen. It's hard to say for sure what chemicals are put on our store bought fruit and vegetables. I was reading something the other day that suggested it was impossible to wash off the residue of chemicals on produce and all skins should be removed and tossed out.

That sounds ridiculous to me, is there not a lot of food value in the skin. I eat an apple almost everyday during season. I can visualize this small hill of apple peels going to waste and the dollar value, somethings wrong with that.

I suppose you will have a lot of processing to do yet. Do you have a root cellar?

My wife was in the hospital for about a week, she has considerable scar tissue on her intestine and it caused a blockage. The ambulance came and took her off to the hospital after doing a preliminary examination.

Take care and hope all is well

 

[hfm]

Hi hfm, those loaves look fantastic, there is a photographic beauty to your fresh baked bread.

How nice it is to have the security of food. To know that your own hands planted and nourished the plants that made it all happen. It's hard to say for sure what chemicals are put on our store bought fruit and vegetables. I was reading something the other day that suggested it was impossible to wash off the residue of chemicals on produce and all skins should be removed and tossed out.

That sounds ridiculous to me, is there not a lot of food value in the skin. I eat an apple almost everyday during season. I can visualize this small hill of apple peels going to waste and the dollar value, somethings wrong with that.

I suppose you will have a lot of processing to do yet. Do you have a root cellar?

My wife was in the hospital for about a week, she has considerable scar tissue on her intestine and it caused a blockage. The ambulance came and took her off to the hospital after doing a preliminary examination.

Take care and hope all is well

I hope your wife is ok! Sorry to hear of the troubles!

That would not surprise me about the skins on commercial produce. Store food is questionable at best sometimes.Floating in a bath of insecticide then waxed up for the long hual.

We don't have a root cellar.I finished an area that stays cool enough to try for storage.Just have to put some shelving in.

Thank you on the bread comment,we love our sourdough

An interesting thing about mullien is you can use the seed to stun fish.It's illegal some places, but if you were starving .

Best regards,HFM

 

[hfm]

First are some Giggler F1
Second is a Fall Haze F1
Third is two Jamboree bc1f3 that got painted with Syrian
Fourth is a choc thai,columbian,sea X Giggly Wiggly F1
Fifth is a Purple Punch X Afghan F1
Sixth is a Flora De Risibile F3
Last two pics are Sodbuster F1 with the hungry peppers.

The first four pictures, the plants will all finish end of september to middle of oct.

The others aren't really flowering so much yet but a few are fast to finish and should only leave me with five to run into and maybe past november.