A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

...
Speaking about pods, I see I have the same rice bean problem this time as I have every time; being able to give a valid answer to the question "are they bush, semi-runner, runner, or pole?" The answer is I don't know, because none of those terms really fit! I'd say "bush" this time, since there seem to be no tendrils, but is it really a bush if there are no real branches and it's only maybe 3-4 inches from the ground level to the top of the plant?

mat or sprawl can also be a valid description of their habit. i'm a big fan of creeping thymes. they can be only a few inches high if you get some of the smallest vertical ones, but they can also spread a foot a season if conditions are suitable.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

mat or sprawl can also be a valid description of their habit. i'm a big fan of creeping thymes. they can be only a few inches high if you get some of the smallest vertical ones, but they can also spread a foot a season if conditions are suitable.

Still higher than Corsican Mint (Mentha requienii). While it is a nice and fragrant groundcover, I am a bit astonished that it is also the mint used to make creme de menthe. Given how tiny and low to the ground it is, I can't see any viable way of picking it en masse short of running a blade along and basically shaving the ground!

 

[flowerbug]

Still higher than Corsican Mint (Mentha requienii). While it is a nice and fragrant groundcover, I am a bit astonished that it is also the mint used to make creme de menthe. Given how tiny and low to the ground it is, I can't see any viable way of picking it en masse short of running a blade along and basically shaving the ground!

it looks like it will vine/drape/hang down enough that perhaps they just grow it in raised rows and let it drape over the edges, so to harvest they could run a machine along which trims it along that edge? just guessing, i can't see any vids of them growing and harvesting that type of mint on a commercial scale.

we have about a half dozen different mints growing here in the lawn. we had to remove them from the gardens when Mom found out she was reactive with any of them. they had escaped into the lawns surrounding the gardens in various spots and they don't bother me when i'm mowing but she has issues. if the patches get too big i take some out. i'm glad the thyme doesn't bother her...

 

[Pulsegleaner]

it looks like it will vine/drape/hang down enough that perhaps they just grow it in raised rows and let it drape over the edges, so to harvest they could run a machine along which trims it along that edge? just guessing, i can't see any vids of them growing and harvesting that type of mint on a commercial scale.

we have about a half dozen different mints growing here in the lawn. we had to remove them from the gardens when Mom found out she was reactive with any of them. they had escaped into the lawns surrounding the gardens in various spots and they don't bother me when i'm mowing but she has issues. if the patches get too big i take some out. i'm glad the thyme doesn't bother her...

We currently just have the Chinese Mint. I'm going to try and put some fresh Egyptian Mint in next spring.

I', just sort of faced with the dilemma that, if I keep it potted, it grows too well and overruns the pot, but if I put it in the ground, it never seems to go anywhere and doesn't come back the next year (plus, anything put it the ground is under threat from the gardeners, who seem to think that it is proper to weed whack everything in every garden to the ground so they can charge us for garden plants as well*

Three white bean plants up. Favas are done (last pod broke off in my hand today), last pea probably a week or so away from being finished, starts of first pods on other bean plants and we have out first tiny tomato starting.

*If you wonder why we don't just fire them, they're actually BETTER than the last batch, who did things like steal our mulch pile to sell us mulch and when we refused, dumped it in front of our house to block out driveway and FORCE us to buy it. Oh and destroy out first cat's memorial stone and then throw the pieces over the wall to hide it.

 

[flowerbug]

... Oh and destroy out first cat's memorial stone and then throw the pieces over the wall to hide it.

wow, that's horrible.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

wow, that's horrible.

Yeah, thought we still don't know if that was clumsiness (like running the lawn mower over it and trying to hide the evidence,) or malice (like deciding animals don't deserve memorials and destroying it for that reason).

Like with the Paulownia, we don't know exactly WHY they started slicing it up with a chainsaw. They took down both of the good Himalayan mountain ashes as well, but at least there they had the defense of maybe not seeing them as any different that the rest of the brush over there.

It sort of all boils down to the same point. I suspect that most of their clients are non gardeners who are content to turn everything related to the landscape over to them, so they are used to being able to do whatever they want with the areas and not having the house owners care.

Quite often, I don't take precautions to protect the stuff because I can't concieve of them doing anything to risk it since it isn't something they'd normally do. When they just randomly out of the blue decide to start weeding your flower beds (pulling up all of the flowers as well in the process) it is unexpected, since weeding isn't something that's a normal part of their job. That cost me my apple saplings back in college, and my chance to grow alyce clover seed to seed a bit later. And we had to put a little fence around the edge of the vinca to keep the Mazus in place (before it flowers, Mazus and one of the local weeds look pretty much the same.) Before I started using the cage, I had to remember to leave the outer three or four inches of the stump garden bare, or they'd kill everything with the mower and the edger (and, if I didn't put some sign of planting there, they'd literally run the mower over the whole thing, since they'd have preferred us let it become part of the lawn to make their lives easier. Ditto the vegetable garden, part of why we stopped using it is they would use it to turn the mower around on (without turning the mower off).

 

[heirloomgal]

Yeah, thought we still don't know if that was clumsiness (like running the lawn mower over it and trying to hide the evidence,) or malice (like deciding animals don't deserve memorials and destroying it for that reason).

Like with the Paulownia, we don't know exactly WHY they started slicing it up with a chainsaw. They took down both of the good Himalayan mountain ashes as well, but at least there they had the defense of maybe not seeing them as any different that the rest of the brush over there.

It sort of all boils down to the same point. I suspect that most of their clients are non gardeners who are content to turn everything related to the landscape over to them, so they are used to being able to do whatever they want with the areas and not having the house owners care.

Quite often, I don't take precautions to protect the stuff because I can't concieve of them doing anything to risk it since it isn't something they'd normally do. When they just randomly out of the blue decide to start weeding your flower beds (pulling up all of the flowers as well in the process) it is unexpected, since weeding isn't something that's a normal part of their job. That cost me my apple saplings back in college, and my chance to grow alyce clover seed to seed a bit later. And we had to put a little fence around the edge of the vinca to keep the Mazus in place (before it flowers, Mazus and one of the local weeds look pretty much the same.) Before I started using the cage, I had to remember to leave the outer three or four inches of the stump garden bare, or they'd kill everything with the mower and the edger (and, if I didn't put some sign of planting there, they'd literally run the mower over the whole thing, since they'd have preferred us let it become part of the lawn to make their lives easier. Ditto the vegetable garden, part of why we stopped using it is they would use it to turn the mower around on (without turning the mower off).

Wow, these sound like gardeners from a nightmarish dimension. Alarming that they take such license to do as they please without fear of consequence.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Wow, these sound like gardeners from a nightmarish dimension. Alarming that they take such license to do as they please without fear of consequence.

I think it's a combo of bad leadership and bad economics. The actual workers probably get paid by the hour, so the longer they work, the more they get paid. And the more they do, the longer they work. If they screw up, it's the boss who will have to deal with the consequences mostly. As I said, most of their clients are probably people who work in the city all day (so they aren't there when the damage would occur), and are too busy during the weekend to want to bother with gardening themselves. To them, workers who will do everything for them so they don't have a lift a finger to make their lawn and gardens look "nice" is a blessing.

We live in a very different world here in the suburbs. It's a world where it makes sense for buildings to hire people to plant hundreds of flowers in their corporate areas, and then dig then all up and throw them out as soon as they stop flowers to put new ones in (My mom only recently started working with a program to get those flowers recycled to gardeners who could actually USE them. It's one where cutting down a hundred year old tree to make way is considered logical (it's against village covenants to cut down big trees that aren't dead, but most of the developers can either swing things with the Village Tree commission or pay the fines as a cost of doing business. In contrast, WE can't take down a dead tree without them coming confirming it (which usually takes them many, many months), even if it's threatening our house (and yes, if it fell on our house or someone else's, we'd still be liable for the damages.) and then running it through a wood chipper and turning it into mulch for a landfill is the next normal step (you have to BEG then to leave some for firewood, and having the things turned into useable timber (since most are good hardwoods like oak) is unheard of (if the oak on our edge ever has to come down, I'm running over with a wagon as soon as they section it. I'm NOT letting that giant burl get thrown in a chipper!)

It's a world where squirrels and chipmunks are "cute" and are not only not to be molested in any way but encourage to be as numerous as possible, where poison baits or traps are forbidden in case anyone's pet wanders in (and where fences or walls are also not generally allowed. Where the village/phone company has complete control over the outermost foot or so of your property all around and can trim or cut down anything whenever they want.

I'm just glad we don't live anywhere even MORE restrictive, where personal gardening is FORBIDDEN and all lawns, houses, gardens etc. all have to look exactly like each other.

 

[heirloomgal]

Couple garden updates.

I learned something about leeks this year. It's been awhile since I've grown them, and even then I've never grown them with regularity. The onion family is not always a success for me either. The transplants I bought this year (so I sadly don't know what variety they are) were utterly pathetic. They were ludicrously expensive too, $6.99 for each tiny little pot.

I actually didn't think they'd make it they were so small and it occurred to me as I walked away with them that buying actual leeks from the grocery store would be more cost effective. The greenhouse that seeded them planted a clump of seeds dead centre in the pot and so they looked more like a wee chive clump than leeks. I destroyed some pulling the clump apart. But I had a semi shady spot and needed something for it, so I chose what I'd consider a high value vegetable. After transplanting the poor things looked like blades of grass.

I didn't bother that much with them, thinking their fate was probably sealed. A week or so after planting they seemed to not get bigger so I decided that I'd cut them with scissors about every 10 days. My goodness, this has worked wonders. They are turning from little grass blades into little pencils. And when I trimmed them tonight the size of their top leaves was nearly substantial. So I think I'm going to keep gently clipping to continue to force the growth downward. I'm already hungry for some vegetable leek soup.

Tomatoes are growing like crazy, peas too. I'll give those tinga peas credit, once they find something to grab they climb quickly. The lettuce and kale is quickly bulking up and getting leafy, even my scented grass is growing well. My beans seem pokey to me. Most bush beans are setting little pods, but the pole beans are just starting to twine or looking for something to twine onto. That seems late to me, but they are very bushy little plants, not wispy ones like I had last year at this time. My hope is they'll start climbing soon and then quickly bring the garden under siege.

I was going to post some pictures but seems like there's a glitch on the server or something because it won't upload files for me.

 

[Branching Out]

I was going to post some pictures but seems like there's a glitch on the server or something because it won't upload files for me.

Are you getting a response that the file that you are trying to upload is too large for the server? That's what I have been getting for the past week, so I too am blocked from uploading photos.