Hi everyone,
I've been avoiding posting because DH has our new camera in Saskatoon at the moment, so I can't post any photos...but realized it was silly to hide! Our garden is doing great; sunflowers have finally come out of hiding, green peppers are almost TOO ripe, and the beans are blooming...hopefully there'll be enough time for them to produce beans before first frost. Also, I brought back some plants from the prairies (carry-on luggage, of course!), and all seem to be doing well in their new home, even though our soil alternates between sand & clay (!). I have a sour cherry tree from the U of S horticulture dept in Saskatoon, and some plants from my mom's yard in Wawanesa, MB: two yarrow plants (only one has survived), two raspberry seedlings and a feverfew plant - all seem to be doing great so far! We'll see what's still around in the spring, though... lol
It's been great to see what everyone else has got going in their gardens, and I'll get some photos on-line as soon as the camera comes back. Hope everyone's well,
Shannon
Just wanted to say hi again
Hi Shannon :)
Sorry it took so long to notice your thread...unless a watched thread comes up we don't always notice that a new one has been started. Sounds like you collected some marvelous new plants...gotta love those raspberries!! Speaking of fruiting trees/bushes have you got Saskatoons growing there?
The threat of frost certainly seems to be in the back of all our minds now.....except, maybe, for dem spoiled BC'ers! :b
Your yard sounds like mine...noticed the sunflower is putting on quite a show now and I'm hopin' and prayin' to see just a good crop of green tomatoes. Last year at this time I had asked weeds, from Lynn Haven, Florida, for her green fried tomato recipe. She sent it and I went out to pick........but only ripe ones were to be found in my garden and green ones couldn't be found for love nor money anywhere in town. This year I don't think I'll have a problem finding one! I'm sure I'll have to wait another year to try her red tomato pie recipe tho. :'(
Hi Pam (? - hope I've got your name right!)
Thanks for the note. I wish I had some Stoons...that would be great! Maybe I'll have a chance to bring some back next summer. Do you have them in your yard?
When I was in Saskatoon in August I went on a tour of the U of S horticulture grounds; they had sort of an open house day. There were a whole bunch of pick-up trucks towing flat-bed trailers with neat rows of hay bales for us to sit on - the grounds are too big for a walking tour. Anyway, it was very, very interesting. Lots of different kinds of fruit & vegetable crops, & research going on. Our tour guide (a horticultural prof) pointed out that there are a couple of areas of research that are no longer being pursued due to budget cutbacks: medicinal herbs, and native plants (eg. pin-cherries, etc.) It's really too bad!!!
That's where I bought the sour cherry tree - a paltry $5. Hope it makes it through the winter.
I had a fresh tomato at supper last night...mmm. Still mostly green though. I tried Celebrity and Super Marzano this year; the Celebrities are ripening first. I don't think I'll be able to go back to supermarket tomatoes after this!
Hello again
Pam is correct. :) I'd be quite surprised if the sour cherry didn't make it in your yard....we grew a couple from tiny sticks to huge bushes in our garden in North Battleford. No Saskatoons in our yard , I've sure eyed them often tho. I met one lady, in N.B. years ago, that just had a couple of named ones and the fruit on them was *huge*. We had a very poor crop of wild Saskatoons here this year.....I imagine frost hit them when the flowers were coming.
Celebrity is one of my favorite tomatoes as was a variety named Floramerica. Unfortunately the copyright was dropped on Floramerica and now anyone can give their seeds its' name. Lois Hole has them growing at her greenhouses in Edmonton, I might try ordering from her next spring. She gives hers high taste rating so her supplier could be getting the correct cross.
It's a shame the University of Saskatoon had to drop the medicinal herb and native crop research, esp. when interest in those areas is getting stronger all the time.
Looking forward to your camera coming home......we love to see pictures!! ;)
I miss going to Hole's! The prices were a bit higher than most, but well worth it. I'll have to content myself with her books until my next trip west.
Maybe it's good that the camera is in Saskatoon this week...gives me an extra few days to get rid of weeds first :-) And groom the cats...I'm promising the pet forum some pictures too.
Well, hope you don't get too much rain today...probably not what the crops need at this point!
No it surely isn't.....saw one heck of a storm last night when we were travelling on the #1 between here and Regina. Good thing it was raining or we would have had an impressive prairie fire. I didn't see any field where the crop had been taken off and only a couple are down. Farmers are praying that the Old Farmer's almanac is wrong and we have a warm/hot/dry September.
I know how you feel about weeds....you'll notice that many of my pictures are close-ups!! ;)
Looks like there's some more lightning activity in central Sask. today. Here at work we have access to some real-time lightning data - I'll try to attach a copy. This will be my first ever photo on DG, so we'll see if it works! lol
If it does work, the green "x"s are negative strikes (electrically speaking), the red are positive, and the yellow are cloud-to-ground. The little white square in southern Sask. is CFB Moose Jaw.
It's pretty interesting to check out, especially when there's a big storm coming - can't attach a link unfortunately, as it's only visible on our LAN.
Hmm....some of the "x"s look a little fuzzy, but you get the general idea. The time in the corner is 4:26 pm UTC (GMT), or 6 hours ahead of Saskatchewan, I believe.
Shannon you have a really interesting set up there. The eletrical storm we saw last night was fascinating.....the kids were *glued* to the car windows and DH wanted someone else to drive so he could take a long gander. The bolts were huge and without the usual zig-zagging. That was one storm I'm glad we weren't under. Looks like some of it might be headed to Edmonton.
You will have to be our early warning system! :) p.s. Where do you work?
Hi Pam,
I love watching lightning storms too! It's very exciting. We hadn't had as many the last couple of years that I was in Edmonton, so it's nice to be where there are a few more...in moderation. Of course I recognize the damage they cause, & don't like that - but sure a great show sometimes.
I'm in the military - the reserves, to be more precise, but I'm working on a full-time contract in support of the regular force. I'm a logistics officer; our trade encompasses all sorts of things from trucks to money to food to paperwork. I'm on the paperwork side of things - I fly a desk ;-) Currently I'm working at the headquarters of the medical branch. People here talk about pandemics, vaccines, combat casualty care - it's fascinating. Very busy though; everyone's understaffed.
My dad in Saskatoon just told me there's a thunderstorm watch (or warning) - it's a busy day!
Shannon I think I'd enjoy working there.
I work in a library and this morning in archives I was helping a patron who was researching family deaths in 1918/19. She had noted a high number of gravestones with d of d in those years and was wondering why there were so many. We then started talking about the Spanish Flu, returning soldiers and the resulting post war death rates in 1918/19. I pulled the influenza file and we read where local Doctors went from denial to being totally overwhelmed in a very short period of time.
I'm so glad times/medicine/coordination/sanitation have improved!!!
Pam,
Where are my manners, I didn't ask where you work! But I am interested. Is it the city library? Did you get a MLIS, or a college diploma, or come into the line of work by other means?
I think 1919 was the only year (aside from war years) when the Stanley Cup playoffs were cancelled, and it was because of the Spanish flu outbreak. Yeah, often we get so wrapped up in how far we still have to go in health care that we forget how far we've come! And how much better off we are than almost everyone else in the world.
A colleague of mine had to go to Haiti earlier this summer (on four hours' notice, no less!) - he said the conditions there were horrific. No medical facitilities, no refrigeration...the kids followed the soldiers around asking for water, not toys or candy.
Lilypon, you work in a library? What a coincidence. I worked in libraries for 15 years before I retired. Only one municipal library, the rest were school libraries. I loved it. Loved the kids. I miss it, kinda. What kind of library do you work in and for how long?
Donna
Hello again......sorry it took so long to come back, I've got a son that *had* to use the computer. Some days sharing here is tough!! ;)
I don't think you were rude not asking.....I just had to shake my head at how your workplace mirrored this *one* day at mine....with almost a hundred years in between.
I have a couple of years of University and a Library Technician course.....I work at reference and in archives at MJ Public Library. I've worked 16 years in the public library system and 8 years between two school libraries. How nice to meet other bookworms/historical buffs! ;)