~ MY FAVOURITE FRUIT & VEGETABLE BLOGS & SITES FROM AROUND THE WORLD ~

[Hattie the Hen]

"Summertime" Hattie? We still have a temperature of 39F in the late morning (4C), there's rain, snow and frost in next week's forecast . . .

Hey, that person is a good garden cook, Hattie!

Here's another garden blog I came across. The guy is on the radio in central California. He describes it as, "Sort of like the radio show, only with somewhat better grammar":

The Farmer Fred Rant

Steve

Hi Steve,
SORRY YOUR WEATHER IS SO CHILLY .....ours has been warmer & very dry until a couple of days ago.....now it is raining a lot & it has chilled off a bit but not frosty. I can put my little plants out in my front garden during most days. I bring them in at about 6pm. The tomatoes have tripled in size in three weeks of this treatment & I have some flowers on a couple of "Tumbling Toms" which I intend to put in hanging baskets with some basil & chives.

I think farmerfred is dead right in his advice -- give the man a medal (& you for reminding us all to be VERY CAREFUL as to what we buy, from whom & when........!! ........Otherwise.........

Good Luck to all of us this summer......I have an awful feeling we might need it..!! :coolsun

Hattie

 

[boggybranch]

Here's a pretty interesting one that I just stumbled across.

http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I love this blog; for both her gardening info & her beautiful rugs etc.

http://www.thousandflower.blogspot.com/


We got down to freezing point last night with an air frost !! I am getting sick of this weather as it is still too chilly to put my young plants out. My front hall is chock-a-block with them..........this cold weather is going to last all this week.............

Hattie

 

[digitS']

San Juan Islands and Friday Harbor in Washington State -- do you think you can get out in front of these folks during the growing season, Hattie? It seems like they might have a little colder climate than yours but not very much different. Just how it seems to me from the other side of the state & the other side of the world .

It froze here this morning also. You may see something on that blog about w i n d. Their air came here yesterday!! Very quickly . . . 59mph peak gusts (95 kilometer/hour). Some plants I put out a couple days ago (notably, the China asters) certainly took a beating . The frost may have done little but the wind was hard on the little critters. There are a few more flats here in the yard but I hate to try to replace very many of them . . .

Steve

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I love this blog as it a constant surprise to me -- origiinally it caught my inte rest because I collect information on alternative methods of cooking but I soon found a lot of gardening info which really interested me. For instance this page deals with fruit trees grown on semi-dwarf rootstock. As I am often advocating using these I thought it would be useful to have these good photos around to show just how young trees fruit so well.

http://solarcookingathome.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-garden-2010-update-weeks-three.html

So far my apricot tree is laden with immature fruit & I visit it every day to cheer it on. This is the first year it has set fruit & I am very proud of it. Now to get it through what we call the "June Drop" here............!! So far it has survived some very high winds in the last few days & they have held on, not one has dropped..........!!!

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi Steve,

We are still having DIFFICULT WEATHER here too. Yesterday an air frost in the early hours, luckily this wary & distrustful soul had covered up with my trusty row-cover fleece. I had bundled a whole lot of badly wind-torn pieces of it around my little nectarine tree, only one flower on it this year. It is in a pot at present but I am going to release it from it's prison this year & plant it against the white walls of my house (made of wychert, a mixture of local clay & straw, so a good holder of heat) in my front garden which has sun for most of the day. My fig trees are out there too.

I am very gradually getting rid of the lawn out the front; I am not a lover of the stuff & I have always hated mowing as I am allergic to it,especially while it is damp from the cutting. My strength in my arms is also on the wain so it is a double no-no...!!

I am putting in many more perennials & bulbs mixed with some decorative veg like Rhubarb & Sea-kale, Sweetcorn & Climbing Beans (with yellow or purple pods). For winter colour I will strew plenty of the brightly coloured kales around & maybe some purple Brussel Sprouts. it will be a real old-fashioned cottage garden if I keep well enough to deal with it. I am just doing bits at a time. At the moment it looks stunning as both the white lilac & a weeping white Japanese decorative cherry are in bloom & the Rowan tree has tight flower buds. I have nursed this tree from a 6" seedling & it is now 7ft high & able to look after itself. Last year it had a couple of bunches of fruit but this year I think I will be able to harvest enough to add to my apples to make a few pots of Rowanberry Jelly -- this is great to eat with roast lamb, kid or veal. Actually the tree was planted to keep the bad witches away -- a very old custom here.......!! It was one I needed at the time........ !!!! It seems to have worked......!!

Steve, I hope your little plants survived their freezing & you survived your early outing & watering session............?


:tools Hattie :tools