Well , if it ever ...

[Terry Coombs]

quits raining and warms up , maybe my garden would take off ! I guess I shouldn't complain , we've started harvesting some lettuce and bok choy . The tomatoes have recovered from the freeze that hit the night after I planted them - well , the ones that survived . I had to replace 8 plants , but 4 of those would have survived if I'd left them alone . Patience might be a virtue , but it ain't one of mine ... I replaced the dead/dying with some Roma's at my wife's request , she wants to make ketchup or something . That leaves 4 Rutgers and 7 Beefsteak , so we'll still have plenty for the table . Everything else seems to be doing well , though slow because it's been chilly and wet . Some of my corn is almost a foot tall , all my vine stuff is sprouting , and for the first time I've got strawberries to grow . We had a part-bag of taters , looked all wrinkled and too ugly to eat so I planted them . Might be another first for me !

[songbird]

...

yeah, it's been fairly cloudy, cool and rainy here too, so much that i didn't want to get plants from the green- house yet as the soil will not likely be that warm. we've probably had about six inches of rain the past week or so. plenty enough. the temporary drainage trench and berm along the south got a test and worked as designed.

saw the first hummingbird yesterday visiting some creeping phlox flowers.

sunshine and a nice breeze today, but still a bit cool. gotta get out and get the last of the raised bed gardens turned and then see what else i can get done today. maybe able to do more planting... we'll see how it goes.

songbird

[George Shirley]

Your garden sounds nice, I no longer grow corn because I can't find a source for my favorite, "Trucker's Favorite" an old time fodder corn that is absolutely delicious in the milk stage.

Just harvested six yellow squash about six inches long. Yesterday we harvested another big batch of fern leaf dill, my favorite for putting in dill pickles. We washed towel dried and then dehydrated five trays of the dill. I think we have enough for the coming pickling season.

No ripe tomatoes yet, we have five varieties. We are picking a few sweet chiles (peppers) every once in awhile. We have Carmen, Giant Marconi, Gypsy, Green Bell. We planted a few of a chile that I hybridized many years ago but I think the seed was no longer viable. Rats! It was a cross between a sweet chile and two hot chile's and I found it very tasty.

The Hopi lima beans are getting ready to bloom and are climbing the trellis rapidly as are the cucumbers. Already have baby cukes about an inch long. Will make a goodly batch of pickles of various varieties and also fresh eating.

Beautiful day here in SE Texas, nice wind out of the south and the sun is shining nicely too. I got a new gas-fired smoker yesterday and put it together. I have it "cleaning", ie. getting rid of the oils, etc. from manufacturing. Will heave an eight lb pork butt into it later on today and let it smoke for about twelve hours overnight. I'm a light sleeper so will get up to check it every so often. First time with a gas fired smoker so the learning curve may be a little difficult at my age.

George

[David Hare-Scott]

Here in the antipodes we are having a record late warm autumn. No frost yet. The leaves are just turning now. The tomatos and capsicum are still going but slowly. The winter crops, mainly brassicas, are powering on but I have had to net them to keep the cabbage butterfly off as it is too warm for them to die.

D