Just catching up here. Been sooo busy. As to the subject of urine in the compost. Urine is pretty much sterile, breaks down to urea (nearly pure nitrogen), and in the case of a lot of browns or hot compost feeds it. No, I do not wait till nightfall to relive myself. I use a bucket in the barn, which Holly find gross. I have read blogs where people dilute it and use it to feed their gardens.
I wish I could grow potatoes as well as we grow cannas. My potato crop this year was meager to say the least, our canna crop was unbelievable though. I'll post a pic, later.
We have one large Asparagus fern to yet go in the GH. It will get a major cut (3"s) and go under a bench, I don't like it biting me when we water. The other thing to yet go in the GH will be a large Boston fern (2'). I will cut it back and divide it to 2-3 hanging baskets. A couple of HBs on my MIL's north facing front porch would be elegant.
The fall clean-up here has been delayed because of travel, but I hope to catch up before the snow flies.
Our beds are so dry I'm going to be dragging hoses to give any new plantings a (hopefully) last watering. I'm also doing our last (hopefully) mowing.
This message was edited Nov 13, 2014 2:42 PM
Yardening #4 - July 11, 2014 and beyond
Ric when I do my T shirt order I will get one for you. They will say
Real Gardeners Pee Outside
Just kidding, I still don't have the nerve to wear that info on my shirt...let's just say there is some 'real gardening ' done in this yard also.........
Canna are edible, and related to ginger!!
http://www.eattheweeds.com/canna-confusion/
Speaking of ginger, we have some nearly 3 feet tall plants growing in our compost pile. They will likely not make it through the weather this weekend. Same for the potatoes, onions, kohlrabi etc.also growing there. Guess I'll harvest the below-round portions of the plant very soon.
I had no idea ginger was that easy to grow, or would grow to be that tall.
Easy to grow from what you buy at the grocery store, but requires close to a year to produce mature roots. Just looked and it can supposedly survive down to 15° F, so if I mulch it really well, perhaps it will return in the spring. A number of years ago a cardamon plant surprised me by over-wintering in my garden in Frederick County, Maryland.
It's an interesting-looking plant, too. I could see growing it for the ornamental value alone.
LOL trying to imagine the startled looks Sally would get with that motto
We brought the huge Boston fern back from Pittsburgh at the beginning of the month... it was extra-large when I found it at HD this spring, and it's really enormous now. I suppose I'll cut it back, but I might wait until it starts looking less magnificent. It's on a "fern stand" in the living room, and you pretty much can't see the stand at all.
It's time to break out the winter gardening gloves, for sure. I did get a few tasks accomplished before the temps plummeted, though, and Martina has helped me with some digging back in the treeline. Got 3 of the 5 sturdy little Inkberry hollies in place, installed three pretty crepe myrtles, wrestled the wild plum tree out from next to the deck and planted it... Mulched around my beautiful tree-form hydrangea and some of the other "newbies," weeded the asparagus bed... there's always an excuse to get my hands (or at least my gloves) dirty. :-)
I'm impressed at all you got done! That's a lot of planting.
My hands were really cold until I got moving around, even with my heaviest gardening gloves. I did a little bit of mulching, cutting back and seed-collecting in my yard, then headed to the forest to plant a Sumac and dig up a Miscanthus. It was a gorgeous day to be outside.
I await some free, sunny days to get more garden stuff done.Too much going on right now...
Our HD Thanksgiving BIG Feast is on Thursday, the 20th. I am contributing 3 dishes.
Lots and lots of dicing and chopping required for all of these...
From the dinner at HD--I will be taking home 2 of the Turkey carcases to make soup
--My sausage stuffing--half foil pan full. It is everyone's favorite!
I have already diced up 6 different loaves of breads and seasoned it all and toasted it all
on 5 cookie sheets. This will fill the biggest of the SS bowl you can buy in a set.
When done--it will fill a half-foil pan heaped full. Saving some for dinner at Aina's.
For the soup (and the stuffing)--I have already boiled down2 fresh turkey necks
and some wings for the stock. All seasoned and ready in my freezer. 5 bowls full.
Stuffing:Two rolls of Bob Evans sage sausage is already diced and in the freezer.
Bacon too...Onions and celery are diced and in the fridge. So are some fresh veggies.
--Sweet and Savory Kale--will fill a half foil pan full as well. A most yummy greens dish.
Still need to buy the kale-tear it in pieces and discard the tough veins.
Need to go get it no later than Monday at Richardsons. Will buy 2 huge bags for this. 4lbs.
OR--pay a bit more and get it at the Safeway. Already cleaned and torn. Hope it is fresh!
--My special Cranberry sauce--lg, bowl full. Made it yesterday--the best batch ever!!!
The Soup: which I have now done for 3 years already. Just MY thing...
Thursday after our big meal at the HD--after I pick the bones clean, I will brown them
in a very hot oven. Then--maybe just put them all in a pot and cover with water.
That is all I will have time for.
It will get cooked starting Friday the 21st --ALL day! Before I go to bed--I will wrap it
in thick towels for the night and then heat it up early in the AM-and take it all to work.
This is something I have chosen to do for 3 years already. I bring the hot soup--a warming plate,
the bowls and the napkins and everyone can enjoy it until it is gone. It is a big HIT!
Will bring it in on Saturday AM so the early lunchers can have some.
SO--you can see that i have been a bit busy--so my garden clean-up has to wait.
I DOneed to rake the leaves--they are all now down and crunchy dry.
Too bad it is going to rain and get them all mushy again...
Not gonna get to them this week--unless we have a warm day. Not likely...I work Sunday and Wednesday. Then--all the food has to get done for our HD feast on Thursday
and soup for Friday. Then I can take a breather for a couple days...
I am just glad i LOVE to dice and chop--so all that is already done.
I find it very relaxing--while I watch TV. My favorite thing to do...
Bedtime! Good night all! Gita
Interesting article Sally, I would try eating slow roasted canna, or may even eat at Cana. I didn't see a reference to cremation.
I have a bit of trouble keeping my right hand warm due to the scar tissue in the thumb and index finger, but the Atlas thermals do the trick and I can play in the dirt for hours.
My harvested cannas.
Nice, Ric! I like the Atlas thermals also. Sorry your hand gets cold like that... guess you'll have to watch out for frostbite on those fingertips?
Gita, I think I like Thanksgiving soup as much as Thanksgiving feast! My brother taught me the trick of simmering stock in the oven... brown the bones, then add water & everything else, keep it going at 300-400'F. I've been known to "scavenge" a second carcass from a friend/neighbor, too... couldn't fit 2 sets of bones in my crockpot, but they go just fine in Grandma's enameled roaster! You don't have to stir as often as on the stove, either.
Hmmmm--good idea, Jill...to keep it all in the pan in the oven.
Can't do it this time--as my soups are always cooke in my big 21Qt. pot.
.Scary if you realize that...21 Qts is over 4 gallons!
No wonder I have no room in my freezer!!!
Making soup of any kind is a lot of prep work. I have been dicing and chopping
for over a week now. I do not use anything prepared and make my own stocks and broth.
Just now--I finished shredding 4lbs of fresh kale. Geez! That almost filled a
kitchen-sized trash bag!
Then--when you cook it down--it goes "POOF" and shrinks down to nothing.
I bought 3-2lb. bags. I may not use one of them--as it does seem a lot.
Usually--as per my recipe--2 bags makes ONLY 2/3 of a half-foil pan-full.
It is yummy--as I "do my thing" with the recipe--as usual. It always gets eaten--
as does my Sausage dressing.
************************************************
Sweet and Savory Kale By: SJRJA --DG.
"This quick and tasty recipe combines vitamin-packed kale with both sweet and tangy ingredients for a colorful side dish."
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil + some diced bacon as part of the fat.
1 small-med. onion--diced
2 cloves garlic--minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons white sugar (optional—see notes)
1-tablespoon cider vinegar (add more!)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (home-made or canned)
4 cups stemmed, torn (and rinsed-if needed) kale
1/4 cup dried cranberries
salt and pepper to taste (I did not add salt)
About 1/4cup diced, smoked ham.
1/4 cup slivered almonds-toasted--a yummy add-on.
Directions:
1--Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard, sugar, vinegar, and chicken stock, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the kale, cover, and cook until wilted.
2--Stir in the dried cranberries, and continue boiling, uncovered, until the
liquid has reduced by half, and the cranberries have softened. About 15min.
The kale needs to be 'soft"--so it may need to be cooked a bit longer.
******************************************
Notes by Gita:…This is VERY, VERY good!
--Kale comes in a BIG bag—so that just about quadruples the amounts here.
IF you cook it all. (Why not?) You can freeze the rest in serving-size portions.
Buy local and as fresh as you can—and it will already be washed and clean.
--Now, as usual, I have to add something to a recipe that, I think, will make
it taste better. SO—I added some diced, smoked ham and diced, thick bacon.
Brown with the onions and garlic-OR- brown the ham or bacon first..
--I like to remove the crisped bacon and set it aside to be added at the very end.
It ads such a nice "surprise" to bite into bits of crisp bacon when eating it.
Kale just needs some smoked meat in it! Amen!
****IF you use the dried Cranberries (PLEASE do!) you can omit the sugar.
****************************************
Note:
The above recipe is for a small amount. For 2-2lb bags of kale, I usually quadruple
the amounts.
Here is the recipe with the quadrupled amounts.
**********************************************
Sweet and Savory Kale By: SJRJA --Large Amount
The below amt’s IF you use 2--2lb. bags of Kale.
Ingredients
--1/4cup Olive oil—plus about 1/2lb. thick sliced bacon—lg. dice.
--4or 5 med.onions—or 2 ˝-3 cups.
--Use about 7 or 8 cloves or one whole head.
--I used half a small jar of the mustard. Or about 4oz.
--4 teaspoons white sugar (optional—see notes)I used about 3Tbs. for this amount…
--I added about 3/4 cup. Taste—and add more if you like.
--Need about 4-5 cups of broth. You can always let it cook down.
--Two full, BIG bags (4lbs total) of Kale.
--About ˝-3/4 cup. They sure add a lot of flavor!
--salt and pepper to taste (I did not add salt)
Just added pepper---about 2tsp. of it. Or—to taste…
--I had at least a cup and a half. Make sure it is GOOD Ham!
--1/4 cup slivered almonds-toasted--a yummy add-on.
It is only for garnish before serving.
**Be watchful when toasting Almonds. They can burn in a flash!
**Follow all other instructions as on first page.
**Go easy on all the add-ons…the ham, the Cranberries, vinegar…
Each year I am getting more and more carried away! Moderation!!!!
Still—very good!!!
Gita
Gita, I often reduce stocks to save on freezer space... Strain out the bones & other solids, then put the stock back into the pot to simmer until reduced by half (or more). Just make a note on the label so you know how much water to add when you use it.
LOL, I guess we've gone off the "Yardening" topic a bit... sorry!
Ok this has nothing to do with gardening but felt the need to share with all of you. Whatever you do, don't waste money to go see the film 'Interstellar'. It was the worst movie I think I've ever seen in the theatre. Seriously it was a huge waste of a precious three hours. It was super boring and just when you think you have had enough and look at your watch, there's another hour and a half left. Just saying.
This may bring us back to Yardening. Has everyone seen Greenfingers? I loved it.
Hey, don't anybody worry over being offtopic on 'my' thread, seriously.
Nothing happening in my yard but leaves.
Wow Seq, truly awful! Thanks for the warning. You should have seen Gone Girl
This message was edited Nov 16, 2014 3:54 AM
What are you doing up at this hour, Ric?! LOL
Never heard of Greenfingers.
We just watched two episodes of Blacklist on Netflix. OK so far.
I've been following Blacklist since it started, and like it. Look up Greenfingers, I'm sure it's on Netflix.
It's not uncommon for me to be up once or twice a night. I rarely can sleep through anymore.
Greenfingers sounds cute
I overwhelmingly prefer waiting until movies are released for home viewing, one of the many advantages being that it's easy to walk away if it's terrible.
And cheaper!
Greenfingers, You will find it on Netflix for those of you that do that. Based on a true life tale
about hardened con Colin Briggs (Clive Owen), a small-time criminal who gets a new lease on life -- behind prison bars -- as an award-winning gardener. Standing out in supporting roles are David Kelly as a prisoner chum of Briggs's who coaxes him out of his shell and Helen Mirren as a world-class horticulturalist who worries when her daughter falls for Briggs. Both Ric and I loved it.
We'll be sure to watch, Holly, thanks.
Hm...find something needed to do inside, or just go outside and pick one of a dozen things I could do outside...
Ric
There's a lot of research being done on using human urine for fertilizer especially in 3rd world countries where people just can't afford the commercial stuff. WOW!! It actually works better than horse, cow or chicken manure and beats the pants off the commercial stuff. In India they actually sell it by the gallon jug. Its recommended that it be diluted 20:1 in most cases. I use it in my compost bin to and it just rots down in record time, even faster than using fresh grass clippings. If its poured over flowering plants just as they come into bud the colors are so much more intense and the blooms are huge. Spray it on your plants and it repels aphids while giving them a liquid feed at the same time.
If you have an issue about handling liquid urine you can always stuff a bucket with straw or sawdust and use that as a potapotty. I find a HD 5 gallon bucket works just fine.
The best thing about it is its free.
Hey Ric, doesn't human urine also help 'repel' deer and other critters? Seems to help break down the more fiberous plant material and I add it to any leaf piles or bags. Yep liquid pre milorganite and I know what's in it and it's free. Why flush it away?
Nitrogen from urea will speed up compost, a given fact, same as green compost but more concentrated.
I may not be able to grow potatoes like my GF, but I grow sweet potatoes like I grow cannas. I got 2-5gallon buckets of SPs from 1 short row. I love SP pancakes and waffles. Now I have to try to come up with a recipe using fresh. The size goes everywhere from 3-4 person serving to a Danver's carrot.
I don't know about urine repelling. It may repel some animals but I used it this past spring and it didn't work for the animal I was trying to repel, which I think was a skunk although it was never confirmed.
I have NOT made the below one....
Sweet Potato Balls
4 large sweet potatoes
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups shredded coconut, sweetened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large marshmallow per potato ball
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
--Bake the potatoes until tender, then peel and mash them.
--Stir in the brown sugar, orange juice, zest and nutmeg.
--In a separate bowl, toss the coconut with the sugar and cinnamon.
--Press mashed potatoes around each marshmallow, creating a 2 to 3 inch diameter
ball.
--Roll the balls in the coconut mixture.
--Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Watch carefully for the last few minutes of cooking;
the expanding marshmallows can cause the potato balls to burst open.
*****I believe she told me she used a few mini marshmallows or cut the big one in 1/2 because they were too big. Sounds good to me!
******************************************
PUMPKIN CRUNCH Cake
( From: “Buttoneer” Carlisle, PA)
***Here's a wonderfully rich cake that everybody loves.
I have made it many times. Easy!
I am sure you could sub SP's for Pumpkin here.
Ingredients:
1 package of yellow cake mix
1 can (16 oz) Solid pick pumpkin (NOT Pumpkin Mix).
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 cups sugar (you can substitute brown sugar, or use both)
4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (See note below..)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts or mix them both.
1 cup melted, unsalted butter
Whipped topping to serve with (optional)..like Cool Whip
or Whipped Cream.
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
Grease bottom and sides of a 9” X 13” pan.
Combine: Pumpkin, eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, pumpkin pie spice & salt
in large bowl. Mix all well--using a mixer or a whisk. Pour into pan.
Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture.
Top with chopped nuts (I like Pecans ).
Drizzle melted butter evenly over the top.
(You can sprinkle some more Pumpkin Spice over all). Yumm..
Bake for about 1 hr. and 15 minutes until pick inserted in the middle comes out clean and top is golden brown.
Cool completely, but it is also great when served warm--
Maybe with vanilla ice cream?
*****************************************
There was a Sweet Potato Casserole recipe I also had saved--but I could not c/p it.
You should not have any problems finding SP recipes this time of year.
DO make the Pumpkin Crunch! It is awesome!
Gita
Thanks Gita.
One can make a really good variation of Waldorf Salad by grating up a raw sweet potato in place of carrot and adding in a bit of lemon juice.
I think we tend to consider urine & feces together, and definitely you wouldn't want to dump raw sewage on your garden... But urine itself is downright sterile, in most cases.
I'm not sure Jim would go for saving it in gallon jugs for the compost pile or flower bed, though... I have enough trouble getting him not to dump the coffee grounds down the dispose-all!
Heh, I mentioned urinating on the compost pile to DH and he thought it was the grossest thing he'd ever heard. :P The oak leaves were taking way too long to break down, but DH had no interest in helping me!
Yeah my wife wasn't too keen on me dumping a bottle of urine in the garden either...LOL
Gardeners just have to keep where they pee in seclusion. LOL
Especially now that the leaves are off the trees. ;-)
Unless you wear a skirt.
As kids we were told that smut growth on a corn stalk indicated where a farmer had reiieved himself.
Many State Parks in Vermont feature composting toilets for visitor use.
I'll remember the skirt suggestion.
Our son Jamie wears a kilt, David bet you would look great in a kilt. LOL
Have you seen that show on STARZ called Outlander? Puts a whole new perspective on men in kilts, just sayin... LOL.
Holly, I do have some Scottish blood in me. :-)