Straw Bale Gardening (Part 17) - General discussion

No BBQ for me, thats right. Not my thing really. I dont think they actually cook the BBQ there anyway, just assemble and sell it :-) Need to type out a CV tomorrow too, been putting it off. Lugged home another big armful of bamboo poles this evening (after dark!), so I can keep building cages, confuse the neighbours some more. They think Im a little strange anyway I think. Oh well.

Lucky you, having a heated and lit up plant room! Have you tried growing tomatoes in there before? Would the flavour be the same as summer tomatoes? Keep us updated on that one.

Unfortunatley I was trying be mature and responsible in my choice of study program, and maybe appease my Daddy a little too, so Im doing a commerce degree. Just finished my third year of it, so only one to go! I have been doing majors in Finance and Real Estate Valuation. Because Im doing a fourth year, I can fit in another major. Am trying to enroll in Agribusiness at the moment. Really (really really really!) wish I had studied Horticulture instead. Maybe The Ag major will help lead me back to what I really want to do, growing vegetables. I did manage to use up my elective papers on Plant Biology, Ecology, and Biochemistry (?) though. That was fun, and interesting.

I tried to post a picture of my "snow" before but it didnt work. Then I got distracted by what was growing outside and ran away. So Ill try again now. It really does look cold and wintery still doesnt it! Palmerston North in September. Enjoy.

Its after midnight Im off to bed. Goodnight (morning). Lena

This message was edited Nov 28, 2007 7:57 AM

Lena, I like your snow better than mine. We are supposed to get up to 6" of snow tonight. I don't really mind the snow it is the shoveling that is hard, especially since I have angina and am not supposed to lift very much. And also since i fell 2 weeks ago my left wrist is very painful to use.

Do you by any chance know what variety of plums those are, are they green when ripe, anyway they are good looking plums.

Donna

Lena, I enjoy the fact that during our winter, your growing season is going strong, and thank you for your pics of such.

Lena, with all those tomato plants you are growing you better lug home armfuls of bamboo every night. LOL. Maybe your neighbors will think you are trying to root them.

I think it was about May of this year that we were really wishing we had some good flavored tomatoes. We were in a produce department of a large grocery store and the produce manager overheard us talking about it. So he suggested we try the hydroponics that a local (I say local, about 40 miles away) grows in their greenhouse. He told us they really were good. So, even though they were $3 per pound, we bought a couple to try. We were hooked. We ate those until ours kicked in in August.

Now, whether they will taste that good this time of year? We don't know. They didn't have any last time we were at that store. It is 50 miles away so, with the price of gas what it is, we don't go down there just to buy $3 a pound tomatoes.

With your college degree you should be able to be a real estate salesman, but if you do you won't have time to lug bamboo poles around and build pens for your tomatoes. Unless you do it late at night with flood lights. LOL, I have 2 sisters that sell real estate, and believe me, they work looooooong hours.

Jeanette

Lena; Not that it makes much difference, It is easier to do math in 10s.
but Noah new only cubits and built an ark that saved his family and many animals. LOL
But I did look up the formula to convert the temps.. I only listed a few of the temps.

C to F
-34 = -29
-10 = 14
-5 = 23
0 = 32
5 = 41
10 = 50
20 = 68
25 = 77
32.2 = 90
34.4 = 94

At least those are what the conversion table shows.
So when it is 32C we usually start to perspire.
between 10 and 25C is a comfort zone or spring temps.
I don't care about the ease to do the math, When it is hot , it is hot

I just enjoy hearing how your garden is doing and the fact that you are sharing your pics and and progress.
Keep up the good work and you will help us oddballs through the 0C to the -35C season. Hope you will stay with us when your temps are 0F to -35F LOL
Russ
Don't mind me I'm just having fun.

Donna: The plums ripen to a dark dark red/purple colour. They get quite large and meaty. Excellent for making jam, the skins just dissintegrate rather then roll up and stay visible. The tree is bearing another huge crop this year. Im already finding homes for them, I hate to let the excess go to waste. Last year I took a few buckets to the Salvation Army. A group of ladies were making jam and selling it to raise money for the needy.
I suspect its a type of Doris, but Id dearly like to know what they are too! January is the month for them, they are just slightly earlier than the main mob, they all ripen at once and disapear very quickly again.
My neighbour Andrew has lived next door for over 20 years, and hes still in touch with the lady who used to live in my house. She planted that plum tree some 30 or so years ago! Ill ask Andrew to ask her next time I see him. It will give him the chance to make fun of my newest tomato again cage too :-)

Dyson: Hello :-) and glad you enjoy them. Im also very pleased my growing season has started!

Jeanette: I now have exactly the right amount of bamboo, its been carefully counted out and measured. And the tomatoes are all planted or distributed. I kept giving my bamboo away to friends when they came to get a few tomato plants off me. These are mostly young people who dont really garden much, and are only "addopting" a few plants each to keep me happy (Im hoping they will be hooked soon) I didnt want to kill healthy little hand raised heirloom tomato plants! After the blank looks I got when asking what sort of trellis they were going to use, I decided it may be better to give them a few stakes each with their plants. I cut them down from behind the gym on campus, so it doesnt cost me anything. Just need the motivation to go and pick more, which I always seem to find. The last 6 seedlings left yesterday. Branywine, Black from Tula and Golden Jubilee. Its been fun, but Im relieved its over now too. Time to grow up and make fruit!!!
How soon are you starting your winter seedlings? Will you grow heirlooms?

Lena

Thanks Russ! Im forming some sort of conversion scale in my head from that. And Ill definately keep you all posted on how my garden is doing. Its nice when people are actually interested. Not many of my friends are. I can often tell when a friends eyes glaze over with boredom, as soon as I start talking about my garden. Can make gardening quite a lonely activity.

Don't worry our eyes won't glaze over from boredom with news from your garden. We may get overly bored with our winter though, Which seems to have some connection to the depth of the snow. and weather the same snow that falls November is still under the rest of the snow that has accumulated the rest of the winter. We usually get snow in March and some in April . So you know we are nowhere near ready to plant yet. LOL

Lena: just a quick note. I've just finished up my night shift and it's time to hit the rack,but I unwind a little bit by catching up on DG.

Your posts are great. You're going to get us all through our winter.

I loved the phrase "imperial system"! Never heard that one. I'm an Imperialist! I always thought I was a Baptist! :-)

I went on google earth the other day to see just exactly where you are located, or at least the Palmerstown North area. Some good shots from google.

You start showing off all those tomatoes and veggies, then Jeanette, Russ, myself, and Donna are going to get some more DG'ers and charter a plane to come for a visit!

Oh, by the way, be sure to call your local newspaper and get them to do a story on you.

Kent

Kent, you are right would be a good visit. I am thinking about planting a few tom. seeds soon. I planted some Jan. 07 and had 3 or 4 small ripe tomatoes in early June, then they more or less died, but it was and interesting experiment.

Donna

Donna, you are going to have to start hydroponics for winter gardening with Russ and I. I didn't know you started yours so early. Do you grow them in your greenhouse? I didn't think you heated it that much.

About that plane Kent, I don't fly good. LOL Haven't since I retired. I had to travel so much when I worked I swore I never wanted to see another plane or hotel room. However, if Lena were to get some REALLY good looking tomatoes- - - - - - I might be persuaded.

No Lena, I don't think I'll grow heirlooms for my trials. Once I decide to get serious about the hydroponics, if I like it, then I might get into those. Right now, just a few that I am used to.

I planted some seeds in some rockwool but don't know if they are going to germinate in that. May have to go back to the Pro-mix.

Jeanette

Jeanette: I can flap around some but haven't been able to get off the ground yet. I think it has to do with no tail feathers.
I think that would be a once in a life time trip and I think it would fun.
Don't know if we should let Kent do any driveing though. He may get KPH & MPH mixed up, and get us all in trouble HE HE ok Kent your turn. LOL

Jeanette;
Simply Hydroponics and Organics On-line
I found some info here. But will read more

That is very interesting Russ. A couple of them are pretty simple, altho, I did have a problem understanding the one with the holes in the bottom of the bucket. Not really, guess you just have to keep adjusting to get it right. I think with that large a bucket full of Peralite it would take a bit to get it right.

Still think I will stick with the one I sent you as a beginning one. Unless I find something easier. LOL, don't know how much easier you could get tho.

You are right about the trip being a once in a lifetime. Also about letting Kent do the driving. Flying? Oh oh.

Jeanette

Gotta keep him on his toes, Right???

Yes Russ, like now. Kent, under the new forum format, do we get to start new parts still? I am having to wait an awfully long time for responses.

Jeanette

Yes come to New Zealand! Its never too late to learn to fly. Lovely warm weather here at the moment. Ill make sure I continue to tempt you with lots of nice summery pictures... and tomatoes when I finally get them!

Did I tell you, Im going to Germany to visit my family for a whole month in mid January? Before too long, I will taste the extreme cold for myself. Last time I experienced the European winter was about 10 years ago, so I ve been lucky. We usually go over in June/July when its warm (and cold here!) but my Grandmothers 90th birthday on the 5th of Feb is not to be missed.

I just got home from my job interview. Such a nice day, I rode my bike. Interview went ok, now I wait till monday to find out if I got the job or not. There were a few more applicants. This could be my last free weekend for a while! Fingers crossed.

Kent: Oh... and I always thought imperial was the name for the old English measurement system! Haha. Thats what I remember my Daddy calling it when he was explaining it to me when I was young. I used to help him tidy his workshop, sort his millions of drill bits and spanners etc back into their boxes. Some had metric sizes (mm) and some "imperial" sizes on them eg 5/8 or 7/16, funny fractions that made no sense to me at age 7 or 8. I knew what cm and mm were though. Hmmm. Maybe because my dad is German, and has messed up the translation... or I could have messed up the translation too. It is most likely that that conversation would have been carried out in German. What is the American measurement system called then?

Google earth is great isnt it. I enjoy playing around on it from time to time too. I have had a little look around the States recently, get an idea where everything is, and where you folks live. I still cant get over how vast your continent is. And how many large cities there are. We have about 5 cities in NZ, only one of them even close to 1m people. Our total population is only 4m!!! Most NZ shots are not that clear though. Quite rural so they wouldnt bother I guess. Palmerston North is not very scenic anyway.Theres far nicer places, like Russell, Bay of Islands, where my Parents live. That is one of NZs most beautiful spots, with the best climate in the country. You can grow melons, bananas, and other tropical fruits there. Here in Palmy they wouldnt grow.

The newspaper? Do you really think so? Ill have to think about that one. And wait till I have some brilliant results to show off too. Not much to see yet.

Which tomato varieties do you all like to grow? Would be interesting to compare.

Lena

I won't say definite for positive. I have always called it American Standard and for bolts it is either SAE or NF for National fine thread.
Now as we are going into evening. the temp is 0 C or 32 F.
One thing that has always bugged me when we were supposed to be learning the metric system. How come time is still a standard. all clocks are either a twenty four hour military on the face or one through twelve. Or do the Brits have trouble with the math there. ( grin )

Not sure what the Brits problem is (bigger grin) I think the Kiwis have the same problem though, working on 12 hour clock. Im used to 24 hour cos thats what they use in Germany. Or did you mean the brits use 24 hour? Now Im confused

This is my little hometown, Russell, looking out over the bay. Ahh, home sweet home...

Forgot to add, you can see Mums house (sort of) near the water on the peninsular directly above the small island on the left.

This is the view from her balcony back over the bay towards Russell township.

Great pics, Lena! Keep the porch light on! As soon as I can learn to LAND a plane and convince the rest of the group that I know what I'm doing, we'll be right over! :-)

Maybe a cruise would be the ticket if we had the time.

Russ, not sure about the km vs mph conversion, I just floor it and go!

- - - - -

Time to start Part 18!

Click on this link to take you there: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/794151/

Kent

This message was edited Nov 29, 2007 11:38 PM