Posted by: chapka in trellising, hops on
Jul 31, 2009
Next year, I need stronger twine. The hops grew so vigorously this year that the twine I used didn't hold, and most of the Cascade and Crystal are now on the ground. I'll see if I can hoist them back up tomorrow, but that's a short-term solution. Really it's time to pick 'em and dry 'em.
The first cucumbers of the season finally arrived the other day. The unusually rainy weather we've had here means most of my cukes are off to a slow start, and a couple of plants had disease problems and had to be pulled out. In once case, the cucumber seeds were literally washed out of the bed and started sprouting in a gravel path.
With what I have left, it may be tough to fill up my pickling crock this year. But since my dill is flourishing, I was still able to mix those three early cukes into a fresh preview of what I will hopefully be preserving this fall, which is also my contribution to the current edition of Grow Your Own, the cooperative web project for homegrown cooking. Read on for a picture and the recipe.
Posted by: chapka in zone 6, wineberries, tomatoes, pumpkin, mustard, hops, foraging, Edible gardening, cucumbers, carrots on
Jul 21, 2009
A watched pot never boils, and to the impatient gardener, it often seems a watched plant never grows. But after coming back from a ten-day vacation recently, I got to see just how much can happen in the garden in a week.
The most dramatic newcomer is a pumpkin that wasn't even on my radar when I left, but is now well on its way to bowling ball size--the pumpkin vines have been thriving in this wet spring, unlike most of the rest of the garden. And I really do need to get going on harvesting the hops, which are convinced my house has moved to Seattle.
Posted by: chapka in livestock, law on
Jul 13, 2009
According to the New York Times, the Obama administration has moved to ban the pervasive use of antibiotics on healthy animals to promote growth; some would be banned completely for animal use and others would only be allowed for therapeutic reasons. The Times says the bill is unlikely to get past the factory farm lobbyists, but just its introduction is a step forward.
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