I love to cook with basil--will it be too hot by the time we get there to grow a crop of basil, or tomatoes, for that matter?
#14: Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners
Tomatoes love the heat as long as they are regularly watered. We sometimes grew a fall crop of tomatoes.Our first frost was usually in November.The only problem is the vast amount of bugs that attack late summer.You have to sprey to controll them.
The basil would be ok. anyway you could take it in the house during a frost.
Carrie, I was going to give you the website for Texas A%M bUT THE GOOGLE list was so much fun. I'll just tell you to google gardening in East Texas. I've got to read some of it too. LOL
I know, right? You can get distracted and spend all day there. OK, I will Google E. Texas Gardening.
Carrie, I guess it would depend on what qualifies as “high” heat in the D/FW area this year and what variety of tomato you are trying to grow. Some tomato varieties handle high heat better than others. Once daytime temps are consistently in the upper 90s and it isn’t cooling off much at night many tomatoes sort of go dormant. Grumpy (a.k.a.: Steve Bender, The Grumpy Gardener at Southern Living Magazine.) list a few of the better southern summer varieties here:
http://grumpygardener.southernliving.com/grumpy_gardener/2011/08/show-me-your-tomatoes.html
‘Arkansas Traveler’ is my personal favorite.
Of course, if you are starting from seed, those seeds need to be germinated inside at their preferred germination temp. It is good to remember tomatoes can be started from cuttings since it is hard to find plants in the nursery mid-season. Vickie is solidly on target about diseases and late summer tomatoes in my experience. Early and late tomato crops aren’t as troublesome. That is why many Zone 8ers started their tomatoes in January this year. Having Sept., Oct. and Nov. as part of your garden season will probably take some getting accustom to. We tend to treat the high summer lull like the depth of winter except it is the AC and not the fireplace we hug. It might be possible for you to have fresh tomatoes on the Thanksgiving table!
The tomatoes we put in eBuckets and strawbales are doing better than those in the ground. We will harvest the first fruit from the ‘Livingston’ soon. It is beginning to change color. (Thanks, Vickie! It is from seed you sent.)
I traded for the seeds of several kinds of agastache. The hummingbird mint was the first to put in an appearance despite my neglect. I would put hyssops at the top of the list for good container plants.
‘Moses’ Fire’ is the daylily bloom for today.
Thanks for the picture of Moses Fire. I was going to send Jim one since he did'nt think there were any DL named after men.Maybe I'll send him Which Way Jim. The Travs are my favorites too. Am on a spell of not sleeping again. Been 2 nights. I've got to get some sleep tonight. Gonna take a sleeping pill.
Night all.
Edited- A herd of deer went thru my wild DL last night and stripped every bud but one.
This message was edited May 22, 2012 10:35 PM
Oh no, Vicki, we all need sleep! I haven't been sleeping a lot since DH moved west---we'll be together in 3 days I think. I CAN DO IT!
Not much longer Carrie, You'll be a Texan. We welcome you with open arms and truely hope you'll love us.
I got a night and half a days worth of sleep. DD has made another appointment for me in Fort Smith.
The weather was super nice tonight so I stayed outside till midnight.
Can't wait till the third so i can get more flowers. Guess I'm in an annual flower phase right now. I want every one i see.
Jim, Kay,Nadene, you guys still around? Hugs to you.
Vickie, do you have the kind of Depression that runs in cycles? From tense and can’t sleep to don’t want to do much other than sleep. I feel like I’m on an energy and mood roller coaster sometimes. :-)
The cinnamon basil cookies were a hit. I wasn’t sure when the raw dough turned out to be green. Lol. But, I had request for a 2nd batch. (They aren’t green after baking.) Ran into trouble with the cinnamon basil pumpkin pie. It is too early to find fresh pumpkin even here and the canned pumpkin I found already had the traditional spices added. I’m going to try the recipe with sweet potatoes instead. I’ve heard many say they can’t taste the difference between a pumpkin and a sweet potato pie. Sweet potatoes could be a good substitute and they are readily available.
Papa Jim has determined the size of the Old Soldiers Garden is too much for him to manage. He is cutting the size of the OSG in half. The half he is abandoning has the perfect mix of sun and shade for a Tea Garden. We will start work on that in fall. Most of the OSG plants were in large containers. We were able to move all of them to their new place via a hand truck and lots of sweat. I think the plants will receive better care in their more limited space. ~N~
You seriously cannot find canned pumpkin without the spices and junk added? Oh Lord, what will the outside world be like? In New England, it's hard to find yams or sweet potatoes canned that aren't candied or somesuch, but we have Libby's pumpkin 365 days a year, especially Thanksgiving of course but I use to feed my babies straight pumpkin. Cheaper and safer than Gerber.
I can get plain canned pumpkin at Walmarts here all year.
The depression runs in cycles in that i get it every spring I never transfer over to a manic phase,just bottom out depressed than get better.I do get tense and feel dume come over me and i can't seem to get my act together.Nothing is worth doing and i'd just as soon die as live.but i keep fighting. Right now Restless leg syndrome is giving me fits.Will probably have to up the meds again.
Tomorrow is the day for the doctor.hurrah.
How are you doing Jim?
My flowers are doing ok except a deer keeps coming along and eating DL buds. May have to start sleeping outside.
Vickie, when I see something interesting or something interesting happens, I still catch myself thinking “I will file this away to tell Dad about next time he calls. Then, I suddenly realize that the phone lines I would need for that haven’t been laid yet. Otherwise, I’m doing okay. He and Mom were married over 60 years when she died and he’s been missing her terribly. I comfort myself knowing they are together again. I know he loved my brothers, my sister and I, but Christ and Mom were what his world revolved around. He is certainly happier where he is now.
Try wearing a long, flowing nightgown washed in one of those whitening and brightening detergents when you sleep outside to guard the daylilies. lol. Wait. It will make sense. Jim-sense anyhow. Kay told me deer don’t see red and hypothesized perhaps that was why they don’t eat the DLs in the Old Soldiers Garden. (Almost all the DLs in the OSG are red.) I checked her facts and read a study of what deer see. (They actually gave deer retina scans Kay was right. Deer don’t see red, but they can see much further into the ultraviolet range than we can.. I learned washing your clothes in those detergents that brighten colors make a person wearing them practically glow to a deer’s eyes. (The detergents make clothes look brighter by increasing the reflection of ultra violet light.) You would look like a daylily guardian angel to the deer. ROFL. (Jim)
I haven’t been sleeping well either…as you can probably tell. lol
,) It is like I get right to the edge of sleep and just hover there. While she was in the hospital, Kay was prescribed a med for sleep that was actually developed to treat bipolar depression. Vets with PTSD discovered that, taken at night, it combats nightmares. Desperate doctors have began using it for that purpose even though there are no clinical trials. Kay evidently had some bad nightmares while she was in the hospital. There was a man who came on duty and sat outside Kay’s room door at night. He looked more like he was part of hospital security than part of the nursing staff. She can come up from sleep in full battle mode and it takes her a few minutes to come fully awake and realize where she is. I imagine it was made even worse by the fact they were giving her drugs to keep her asleep. The med seems to work. I get to watch her sleep peacefully for 8 hours and feel envious. I never thought I would be jealous of someone’s snoring. lol
The vining dewberries have given way to blackberries now. Nadine served blackberry cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top today. Good food always cheers me up and I have the belly to show how often I need cheering up. lol.
This message was edited Jun 3, 2012 7:21 PM
OH Jim, I know what you mean. Even after 8 years I sometimes find myself thinking I have to tell Al about this, before I remember.I have no doubt I'll tell him sometime.
When I see a deer I'm more likely to look like a gaurdian devil than angel.LOL wonder how well they see blues(my most comman nightime colors)
Poor Kay. You'd be surprised, quite a few male nurses (Esp ones that were EMTs) Look like male boxers. and they seem to have hearts of gold. At least they used to. Yes I get to the edge of sleep and hang there but I can't handle that long than I get up.
Oh gosh, I know all about insomnia. Ray sometimes says things like "I was up for hours and you were sleeping like a (fill in the blank) on the same nights I'm awake reading in bed until 3a and then wake up again at 6a. For me the only thing that's ever helped has been exercise. Now, I can't even tire myself out any more. Bah!
I am here, or there, whichever. I am in Texas, I guess I should change my nametag.
Armagia---I received 3 healthy bulbs with growth at the top. What are they please?
Sheri
Swamp lilies (Crinum americanum) to the best of my knowledge, Sheri. I was for sending small, more manageable sized plants, but Kay said she isn’t sure the smaller ones are crinum americanum. Looked the same to me and I had already dug them so I put them in the package. ) She insisted on sending you a large bulb to be sure you got the fragrant swamp lily she described. We dug up a garbage bag full of bulbs in the overgrown garden of a very elderly woman who had been gardening most of her life. We stuck them in everywhere when we got home. Surprises are still cropping up from that plant rescue. If the two small bulbs aren’t crinum, think southern heirloom bulbs FOR AN IDENTIFICATION. Welcome to mystery gardening. Lol. I recently read this and liked it. “We should require our politicians to dress like Nascar drivers so we know at a glance who their corporate sponsors are. (Jim)
GREAT quote, Jim! I would post that on Facebook if I knew who said it. Maybe I'll google it.
The moving van arrived today with one million mysterious boxes. The rented house just got to be a little rented house! We bought a sofa a few days ago--something we have never owned in common--and I don't know where they will put it. I will find out about medicaid on June 22nd; can't be soon enough.
Jim, reckon we could get anyone to pass a law for all poiticians to carry a flag with the names of their(owners) LOL
Carrie, You have a house! Does it have a yard? Is'nt it amazing how little a house can get with a few pieces of furniture in it. You'll have it shipshape in notime. Then you can write about the evils of moving.
I'm attempting to really really clean house. Not enthused tho. Rather be outside.
V--"clean house"....what's that??
Thats when I can see all my furniture without 3 inches of dirt on top. When all my books and magazines are in bookcases and racks. When I can find my computer. When i come across my crochet needles that I have'nt seen in 3 months.I come across my cornbread pan that is in the pantry instead of its normal place in the cabinet. When I hear a cat meow and instantly see her somewhere. How good life can be at times.
OT (sorry)- I want all of my friends here and on other threads to know just how much I have learned from you and how special each and every one of you are to me.
It is looking grim on me renewing my DG membership in a couple weeks, I have had much increased medical & pharmacy charges, and find myself hanging on a wing and a prayer.
Much love,
Sheri :-(
Oh, Sheri, don't let $20 keep you away! I'll chip in. We need all of us here--we're dropping like flies....
OH NOOOO! Attack of the mutant tomatoes.
Hummm we are drawing straws to see who taste them Q.Q lol.
I will!!!! The only tomatoes we get come from the store or restaurants which comes to the same thing, green and crunchy. Boo.
Carrie, There has got to be a farmers market somewhere nearby. YOU are in East Texas.LOL
Amargia people, I got fresh peaches!Na Na LOL
Have also got alot of hot temps.100 here and 107 in the valley. Am watering my flowers at night and hibernating in the daytime.All my monster animals are staying inside too.
Had some med tests done yesterday. Will get the results next week. Did'nt pass the short term memory test. Could be depression. They are going to do a sleep test in the hospital in a couple of weeks.A couple of prayers could'nt hurt.
Vickie
Oh, Vickie! A. Fresh peaches is good but failing the short term mem. test is stinky. (((hugs)))
Peaches! Yum! This year I will have to get my peaches from the roadside produce stand since I moved my trees around. I’m just grateful they survived the move and appear happy in their new locations.
Bought a large watermelon and a cantaloupe for a visit from one of Amargia’s children. I’m going to let Jim choose the watermelons from now on. It was the sweetest watermelon I’ve had in years. I think I will pick the cantaloupe, however, since smell is a big part of picking a good one. I thought putting salt on watermelon and a little pepper on cantaloupe were universal. . Discovered some find that odd.
They are predicting a high of 112 as the afternoon high factoring in the humidity. (Actual temp of 103 or 104.) An inside day for sure. Can you imagine what a day like this would have been like for our pre-AC ancestors?
The ophthalmologist found I had high optic pressure and prescribed Travatan drops. The eye drops help, but even with insurance they are expensive. I didn’t realize glaucoma was one of those things people over 50 had to be wary of. I’m trying to make a list of the positive aspects of being old. There must be some. Lol.
We are attempting to keep container plants cool with water and processing herbs today. k*
Picture: ‘Passion for red’
I would definitely have thought that was UNTHINKABLE as a child, salt on a watermelon! Now that I am older and wiser (and put salt in hot cocoa, for instance), it doesn't seem that strange. I don't really like watermelon, but I can see how salt would improve it.
Am one of those silly people that likes everything straight from the garden. Not cold , salty or sweetened.......Raw veggies and fruits. When I was little, liked everything with sugar.
Have'nt been going to group for a couple of months decided it was time to go back. Have missed everyone. Just too depressed to make the effort.
Seems like I'm fighting a losing battle with the fleas. They keep coming back. I may have a plan that might work tho. I have a oneroom cabin that has no fleas. When the exterminator comes back I think I'll take my pets to the vet and let them take care of the fleas on my babies than stay in the cabin till I know the fleas are dead up here. Had fleas once before but the exterminator got rid of all them the first time. I hate nasty fleas. These seem to be super bugs. Yuck!!!!
Ugh, that sounds awful, but I like your plan, Vickie.
Some things I don't like raw (broccoli, squash, onions) but everything else (corn, beans, tomatoes, cukes, along those lines) I will rub off the dirt and eat.
We use Pet Armor on Tater-dog to keep her from bringing fleas inside. It is one of those once a month treatments. Fenny developed her own solution. She suns herself on hot concrete. Being black, she really absorbs heat. Fleas and chewing lice just can’t survive the heat treatment she puts herself through. I suspect fleas and lice are also why she rolls in my Spanish lavender. The only good looking lavender I have is what is in raised beds.
I have planted lots of camphor basil this year for flying insect control around the deck. It is just getting started so the jury is still out on its effectiveness.
My vision dipped too low for my ZoomText magnification and speech program. I’m trying a new access program. It is a freebie called NVDA. Non-Visual Display Access. It sounds strange to have what I’ve written spoken in a British accent. The voice is very obviously computer generated. I was planning to step up to JAWS, but my pocketbook objected to the price and my schedule objected to the special training required to use JAWS. I can adapt to a British accent. Love the way it says tomatoes. Lol.
Sorry you are feeling so depressed, Vickie. Going back to Group sounds like a good idea. Writing helps me. Lately, I’ve felt like I’m losing my mind completely. The doctors say it is called Charles Bonnet Syndrome and affects about 20% of people losing their vision. The doctors keep assuring me its normal, but it sure doesn’t feel normal. I attended high school at a school for the blind so I knew blind people didn’t really live in darkness. The visual cortex still works even when the eyes don’t. I didn’t expect what I “saw” to be so vivid and detailed. This is more than I bargained for. It is like living with a foot in two realities. They say CBS only last a year or two It is going to be an interesting two years!!!
Does NOT sound like fun, dear Kay. As always, you have hugs (as long as they don't leave me smelling like camphor).
Another part of TEXAS I was not prepared for--the regular doctors and such don't take MEDICARE! Medicare has always been my ace-in-the-hole. Even if I don't have Medicaid, I assumed I could just show up somewhere--anywhere--and have Medicare accepted. I know in MA if you accept Medicare, you can't charge the patient more than 20%, and sometimes not even that. At pharmacies (in TX too) Medicare part D is great. Well, I had an old foot pressure sore open up over these last few days so I finally took it to an urgent care place on Tuesday. I saw on their web-site that they did NOT accept Medicare and DH had just finished switching me over to his BC/BS plan, thank goodness, because I didn't mention Medicare at all. They didn't ask and I didn't tell. I tried to get an appt. with DH's new MD with the Medicare--nope, personally turned down BECAUSE of Medicare. Now, I have Medicare (and it's my primary) because I'm disabled. Is this discrimination because of my disability? (Otherwise, I would just use the BC/BS and be set to go.) Is this the ADA lawsuit I've been dreaming of?
Carrie, Did'nt know Texas does'nt accept medicare. I do know my SIL,S sister died in Dallas because She could'nt get help because they would'nt accept her till too late. Maybe my SIL WILL JOIN YOU IN THE LAWSUIT.
From what I hear about Texas health care at the moment, They need a lawsuit in several areas.
The discremation is against everyone who needs healthcare.
Come on over to Arkansas, We got medicare and medicaid.
Yeah, did you hear what Rick Perry said? "Texas doesn't want Medicaid; we're going to take our ball and go home!" (I'm paraphrasing.) Vicki, I wish DIL and grandkids and DH's job were in AR. Or a reasonable state, at least.
I thought fewer and fewer doctors accepting Medicaid and Medicare were a nationwide problem. I’m surprised it wasn’t a problem in Massachusetts. The Emergency Room staffs in public hospitals are always complaining about it. They see patients who just couldn’t wait two or three weeks for an appointment with a doctor who accepted Medicare/Medicaid insurance. The ER personnel feel like their system is getting clogged with “GOMER” cases and they can’t serve real trauma patients (heart attacks, accident victims, etc.) GOMER is an off-the-record term. I think it stands for “Get Out of My Emergency Room” A public hospital can’t legally turn away anyone and I believe they always accept Medicaid and Medicare insurance. My Aunt Marj (one of Mama Kay’s sisters) who is a hospital administrator says the problem is caused by the fact that doctors aren’t getting paid for their services and there is a mountain of Paperwork associated with Medicaid and Medicare. Aunt Marj also warned me that I’m not going to have any more medical transcription work starting soon because ObamaCare requires immediate electronic entry of patient information. Meaning I would have to work in a doctor’s office to do the work. There will be no more at home medical transcription work. I hoping it levels out with ObamaCare meaning I can get medical insurance.
We are teasing Mama Kay because she got a rocking chair for her b’day. Seriously, I want a rocking chair too. There is something about sitting on the porch in a rocking chair in the cool of the evening. We were thinking about a porch swing, but, except for Miss Patsy, everyone who spends time around here is economy sized. Big rocking chairs sound a little safer. ;-)
I was hoping to can some tomatoes or make some homemade catsup or pasta sauce, but so far the tomatoes are being eaten fresh before I have a chance to cook with them. Fresh tomato burnout will set in soon perhaps.
We had to take down the wooden entrance to the w/c garden. Termites attacked one of the upright supports. I’m looking at the possibility of using bamboo. I don’t think termites will eat bamboo.
Daylily: ‘Voodoo Dancer’
Zinnia: light pink
Surprise Lily (I think?)
Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’
Cluster ‘Flying Dragon’ Orange
This message was edited Jul 11, 2012 12:38 PM
In MA I had Medicaid (as a working disabled adult) but I had to pay for it. (The cost, my cost, seemed high but it was WAY cheaper than paying out-of-pocket for home care is, for instance.) Nadine, the health care plan--I don't know any of the details--it has to be better than what we have, or don't have, as the case may be. DD#2 got switched (because our income is too high) from Medicaid to "Children's Health Safety Net" in MA. I think I whined about that already. About $3000 out of pocket so far this year for drugs for her!
Tomorrow is my first appointment with my new neurologist--actually this is only the MD for my baclofen pump. They take Medicare. (I'm guessing that big huge hospital-affiliated practices can afford to take Medicare and smaller individual doctors maybe can't?) But I couldn't sleep last night because I was so nervous about this appointment tomorrow, thinking of what I have to remember to tell her and ask for. For example, I haven't changed my car registration yet--so I can ask her to fill out the form for an HP parking plate.
Happy Friday the 13th everyone. We’ve already received all our F-13th bad luck. I hope!!! Water pump on the truck busted and we given one of Amargia’s children money to get herself out of a fix so we can’t afford to have it replaced at the auto repair shop. No good deed goes unpunished. Lol. The upside was we could afford the new water pump just not the labor cost. We bought a new pump and Jim’s going to do the work himself. I have no superstitions about Friday the 13th. I am very superstitious about July 13th. The worst events of my life happened on July 13th starting with marrying husband #1 on July 13th. :-(
I don’t know how much time I spent looking for a GP who accepted Medixcaid before out community started a family health center. Not a perfect solution, but it is better than it was before. The Boston area boast many top notch health facilities. Perhaps that raises the bar for health care in general.
I just remembered something, Vickie. Look for garlic and brewers yeast tablets in the pet section next time you go to WalMart. They help a lot with fleas on cats and I had no trouble getting my cat to take them. In fact, Catherine, the cat declared war on my ankles if I forgot her med time. She looked upon them as treats. Our local WalMart doesn’t carry the tablets anymore. I have to order them a natural pet supply store online for the dogs. I guess the garlic tabs were so effective and inexpensive people weren’t buying the pricier flea and tick control items.
The tomatoes planted around the rim of the sunken garden are doing especially well. They were not staked or caged, but left to 0tumble down the walls. Those plants are more productive than either the strawbale or Ebucket grown tomatoes. I have an unused topsy-turvy planterI’m going to put a plant in it and see if I get the same effect. It is unused because of the expense. It is very heavy unless very light, purchased potting soil is used.
The odd looking tomatoes with the pebbles on their skin taste fine. I’ve never grown ‘Livingston” before. The plant is very healthy. I’ve assuming it is normal for the cultivar.
I think’ This is a better picture of ‘Voodoo Dancer’.
You can buy both Red Star nutritional yeast and powdered garlic at www.bulkfoods.com. Maybe cheaper than the tablets. My dogs and cats have all loved the yeast and it's very good for them.
It's hot and humid here. I'm trying to clear shelves of fabric so I can brown bag the LAST bedroom wall. Sloow gooing but a little bit is better than nada and I'm making progress
Carrrie, how is liffe in Texas?
I haven't posted here much lately but I lurk regularly.
hugs, katie
Katie!!!!! Hello!!!! We miss you! Every time we go out (not dressed up out but like, today, when we went to the hospital cafeteria) and they have 'catfish' on the menu, it makes me think of dear Steph. I miss her too. I guess I'm a little lonely here--I don't know any bodies yet. I sort of recognize the cashier at Krogers, but I really don't know North from South yet.
So today I had my first official MD appt. They took Medicare (primary) and DH's Blue Cross (secondary). The doctor got me signed up for home care, PT, neurology, and we met a nurse/assistant/person (who was very nice) and a wound care specialist (who was super). The Baclofen pump doc was fine; not a really good listener, but she never met me before and she had reams of pages of history and notes and I brought my MRIs and I have had MS for more than 25 years, more than half my life, which gives me lots of surgeries and drugs and stuff to go through. I am not good at giving a concise summary of myself in chronological order. It was like an audition for us both. I think we passed. I feel SUCH a sense of relief to be hooked into a medical network again. I didn't realize how stressful that was until I stopped sleeping again the last 2 nights, thinking about this appointment today. It was fine!
Kay, are you using a different speech-to-typing system than previously? You have--how do I put this?? An accent? A style? Certain misspellings occur more or less often and this one seems different. For instance, I used to use Dragon Naturally Speaking, and I would dictate letters to my friend Meg, but Dragon would hear "Mack" from "Kerry" or "Gary." I tried changing my pronunciation a thousand different ways; I never could get it to type "Meg" or "Carrie!"