Farm And Garden Chat

Weather reports, analysis etc. pertaining to Southern BC.
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moonshadow0825
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by moonshadow0825 »

Roberts Creeker wrote: Sat Feb 23, 2019 1:12 am
Bush beans, Dragon Tongue are my favourite, mature yellow with purple stripes and a bit flat, great flavour and unique looking. Easy to find on the plant too.
these sound neat! gonna have to get me some. I do the usual yellow, purple and green but I love the idea of bi-colour!
Leeks, I usually buy already started, you get lots in one package and they transplant really well. Kale, Red Russian, hardy, lives through the winter and produces tons of delicious flower sprouts, like tiny delicate broccoli, in the spring. Also self seeds so you never have to plant it again. Lettuce- Speckled butterhead, I found it highly productive with tender, tasty leaves. I ordered a red oak leaf from Tatiana's tomato base so I'll see how that compares. and flat peas, from my neighbour, I forget which country they're from but they produced really well all the way through summer and have beautiful purple flowers. the pods aren't flat like traditional ones, they curl a bit. Lemon cucumbers! Pick while still green and they're the best cucumber ever, imo. lol

Just a few of my favourites, I love gardening. :tractor:
I did the lemon cucumbers one year and they were fantastic! I like some of the ideas you mention, as I only have a small space and most of the gardening is done in containers I usually have to start planning now.

someone I follow on twitter who is in Ireland (so somewhat similar climate) mentioned https://www.rareseeds.com/ for heritage variety. I gather heritage is really more seeds from the 40's and 50's and a huge variety from Asia but still would be greater variety than what we can get these days.

I'm quite taken by the pink celery and the black magic cosmos
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Roberts Creeker »

moonshadow0825 wrote: Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:11 am these sound neat! gonna have to get me some. I do the usual yellow, purple and green but I love the idea of bi-colour!



I did the lemon cucumbers one year and they were fantastic! I like some of the ideas you mention, as I only have a small space and most of the gardening is done in containers I usually have to start planning now.

someone I follow on twitter who is in Ireland (so somewhat similar climate) mentioned https://www.rareseeds.com/ for heritage variety. I gather heritage is really more seeds from the 40's and 50's and a huge variety from Asia but still would be greater variety than what we can get these days.

I'm quite taken by the pink celery and the black magic cosmos
Ireland! :shock: I would never have thought they would be comparable climate, that would be interesting to see what they're doing differently and the same. I ordered from rareseeds.com this year, they have free shipping, even if you only order one package. They're about the same price as West Coast seeds but you only get 25 seeds instead of 125, which works just fine for me, I don't have any use for 125 bean plants. :lol: :lol:

My distant neighbour ordered pink celery. I restrained myself and only ordered Black Goji and the Crazy Yellow Grape tomatoes. I'm really excited about the Goji, they're already up as are all my tomatoes.

Photos: Tomatoes from my seeds: oxheart, not Black Tula and an orange grape. Fuyu persimmons I started from seed, I'm really excited about them and my brand new seed starting shelves. My wonderful son picked up a second grow light from Costco yesterday for me, now I have enough for all my seedlings.
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by moonshadow0825 »

I didn't end up ordering the celery but did get pineapple tomatoes and the black cosmos. Only 4 seeds but I love black or deep purple flowers. I'm going to put the black cosmos next to the red flame version. Probably a bit late to start seeds so hopefully it will be a longer summer :lsunny: :springh:
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

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Sorry about the pic being sideways!

for those who are interested the West Coast Seeds sale is coming up. Take it from a local, I know it says it starts at 8.30 but they are open and selling around 8.15 or so. I will take pics when I am there and post for those who want to see but can't make it.

decided that while I will get a couple of tomato plants I already have a ridiculous number of seedlings started so will have to be picky this year (which will be torture!) and will focus on cukes, peppers and some more fun stuff like ground cherry and tomatillos
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Zone8 »

moonshadow0825 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:32 am Sorry about the pic being sideways!

for those who are interested the West Coast Seeds sale is coming up. Take it from a local, I know it says it starts at 8.30 but they are open and selling around 8.15 or so. I will take pics when I am there and post for those who want to see but can't make it.

decided that while I will get a couple of tomato plants I already have a ridiculous number of seedlings started so will have to be picky this year (which will be torture!) and will focus on cukes, peppers and some more fun stuff like ground cherry and tomatillos
Thank you for this, I would love to go, :thankufl: I'm sure it will be busy!!
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Roberts Creeker »

moonshadow0825 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:32 am Sorry about the pic being sideways!

for those who are interested the West Coast Seeds sale is coming up. Take it from a local, I know it says it starts at 8.30 but they are open and selling around 8.15 or so. I will take pics when I am there and post for those who want to see but can't make it.

decided that while I will get a couple of tomato plants I already have a ridiculous number of seedlings started so will have to be picky this year (which will be torture!) and will focus on cukes, peppers and some more fun stuff like ground cherry and tomatillos
How did the sale go? Anything really exciting there that you had to bring home?
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

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Roberts Creeker wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:30 am How did the sale go? Anything really exciting there that you had to bring home?
It's not until May 4 I'm afraid but I will bring a full report and pics if I can!
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

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Coyotes have decimated our sheep and ducks :evil: :curse:
I'm starting to learn the ups and downs of farming. Losing animals prematurely is a really crappy thing.
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by stuffradio »

Snowed_in wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 10:34 am Coyotes have decimated our sheep and ducks :evil: :curse:
I'm starting to learn the ups and downs of farming. Losing animals prematurely is a really crappy thing.
Time to get a Llama or two!
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

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stuffradio wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 11:00 am Time to get a Llama or two!
Were looking at donkeys actually but apparently they are expensive. Might be worthwhile at this point.
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Roberts Creeker »

Snowed_in wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 10:34 am Coyotes have decimated our sheep and ducks :evil: :curse:
I'm starting to learn the ups and downs of farming. Losing animals prematurely is a really crappy thing.
:( :( Sadly, one of the first lessons you learn as a farmer, there's a lot of things that like nice easy dinners.

My neighbours have Livestock Guardian Dogs and haven't lost anything since they got them. Another friend has a llama with her sheep and with the right llama, she hasn't lost any, after her first llama died, she lost several to bears and cougars. A bear killed one of her replacement llamas. I don't know anyone who's had guardian donkeys so can't comment on how good they would be.

I have my property fenced with 4' field fence and a strand of electric 'hot' wire on the top, it keeps the bears out and slows the coyotes down. Had a huge bobcat kill a chicken a few weeks back, it climbed up the wooden post, hopped onto the roof of the chicken shed and then jumped down through the gill net covering the run, killed the rooster and then must have climbed a different post, they're only 5-6" diameter, and broke through the netting again and took off with it. I saw it in the morning and chased it off, but it came back later on. Chickens in those runs are locked in at the moment, another week and I'll have time to add another 4' of stucco wire to raise the fence up to 8'. You think you have it perfect and then another smarter or more determined animal comes along and proves there's still a way in.

Good luck with finding a solution.
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Roberts Creeker »

moonshadow0825 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:32 am Sorry about the pic being sideways!

for those who are interested the West Coast Seeds sale is coming up. Take it from a local, I know it says it starts at 8.30 but they are open and selling around 8.15 or so. I will take pics when I am there and post for those who want to see but can't make it.

decided that while I will get a couple of tomato plants I already have a ridiculous number of seedlings started so will have to be picky this year (which will be torture!) and will focus on cukes, peppers and some more fun stuff like ground cherry and tomatillos
How was the sale? Anything exciting and new?
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Monty »

Finally finished planting the garden today. I’m always too busy to get it done as early as I would like. What I planted

Tomato
-sweet million
-black cherry
-bloody butcher
-sungold
-beefsteak
-early girl

Cucumber (I do some by transplant and some by seed as I often find that the transplants don’t take that well)
-Armenian yard long
-English telegraph
-sweet slice
-patio snacker


Peas
Pole beans
Bush beans
Lettuce
Carrots
Beets
Leeks
Zucchini
Sweet peppers
North end of Shawnigan Lake. Southern Vancouver island. 500ft
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Roberts Creeker »

Monty wrote: Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:42 pm Finally finished planting the garden today. I’m always too busy to get it done as early as I would like. What I planted
Looking tasty Monty! Never heard of Bloody Butcher tomatoes, had to look them up. Do the yard long cukes really get a yard long?

I have tomatoes in my greenhouse, some neat heritage varieties I can't remember the names of unless I look them up, a few flat peas, lots of garlic and potatoes. I'm trying something new with them, planting them in the fall with the garlic and overwintering them under about a foot of horse manure. I noticed that the volunteers last year were ready to harvest earlier, produced way more potatoes and didn't have any wire worm holes so I thought I'd copy it this year, the plants are huge, I'm looking forward to the harvest, I have German Butter and a red skinned yellow potato in there.

Getting the beds dug is on my list but with the dry spell we've had and the 4' tall weeds and grass, it's pretty hard digging...and there are so many other easier things to do.
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Re: Farm And Garden Chat

Post by Monty »

Roberts Creeker wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2019 10:01 pm Looking tasty Monty! Never heard of Bloody Butcher tomatoes, had to look them up. Do the yard long cukes really get a yard long?

I have tomatoes in my greenhouse, some neat heritage varieties I can't remember the names of unless I look them up, a few flat peas, lots of garlic and potatoes. I'm trying something new with them, planting them in the fall with the garlic and overwintering them under about a foot of horse manure. I noticed that the volunteers last year were ready to harvest earlier, produced way more potatoes and didn't have any wire worm holes so I thought I'd copy it this year, the plants are huge, I'm looking forward to the harvest, I have German Butter and a red skinned yellow potato in there.

Getting the beds dug is on my list but with the dry spell we've had and the 4' tall weeds and grass, it's pretty hard digging...and there are so many other easier things to do.
I haven’t grown that “yard long” variety before but I hope they are similar to the “painted serpent” kind of grown before. They are both Armenian cucumbers but I think they are actually technically a melon. I picked the painted serpent type at 18-24”, so not fully mature, but they were absolutely delicious. Crisp and juicy. Not bitter at all. Really good.
North end of Shawnigan Lake. Southern Vancouver island. 500ft
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