From faithful garden correspondent Marvel:
We’re draining & storing hoses, shutting down the irrigation pump and shuttling plants into the greenhouse (etc. etc. etc.) — several below-freezing overnight temps forecast for the Willamette Valley coming up.
A snapshot out our breezeway this morning… and a haiku to go with.
frosted leaves on fire
slanted morning sun’s cold flame
Winter’s door ajar
***********
My project this week is to get a couple of tough rose bushes properly transplanted before the ground freezes — and to nag the Spousal Unit into doing the same for the lilac bushes he wants in a particular place.
What’s on the agenda in your garden(s) this week?
Betty Cracker
Such a nice photo and haiku to go along with it!
As I’ve mentioned, I’m not the gardener in the family, but hubby has acquired seedling pots and was ordering seeds online yesterday. He reconfirmed my preference for purple tomatoes, so I know they will be part of the planned crop. Usually he’ll start the seedlings during the winter and plant them in containers and raised beds in March, I think.
Since we’re in a subtropical climate, the seedlings mostly live outside, but if we get a cold snap, he’ll bring them in overnight, along with whatever critters are living in the pots, to my dismay. Oh well. The tomatoes alone are worth it!
Keith G
I have fallen in love with BBC Radio 4.
I just finished listening to a grin inspiring take down of the latest American import to Great Britain, Black Friday.
Its coverage of of the Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris has been detailed, thoughtful, and quite balanced. The same with the reporting on what’s next.
And then there are stories being read and dramas being acted out. It’s all so very sane.
gene108
@Keith G:
I bet they moaned about the failure to import Thanksgiving on the Thursday before Black Friday.
I mean what’s the point of Black Friday without Thanksgiving Thursday?
Brits u r doing it wrong.
Keith G
@gene108: They had a very unkind things to say about roast turkeys.
“…and it’s so big. It’s like tossing a child into the oven.”
OzarkHillbilly
Love the haiku Marvel. Is it yours or did you steal it? Either way, the picture is perfect for it.
Had a hard freeze last night (23 right now) so I had to spread the plastic over all my lechugas yester eve. (gotta get the green house built by Feb) Only going to be 30 tonite so I can take it off again today. Other than that my gardening is done. Still a little cleaning up to do. Still spreading mulch in the chicken run for the clover I’m going to plant there. (shoulda been done long ago).
BillinGlendaleCA
@gene108:
Being that we live in the Real America we have Thanksgiving Wednesday night(mind you not the entire day). Madame has to work at Mr. Macy’s sweatshop on Thursday. You Libtards and your quaint traditions, Thanksgiving Thursday…
OzarkHillbilly
Vitter is toast.
Mary G
Got my winter seeds out to plant whenever some rain is forecasted. Who knows when that will be. We have a 6% chance of rain on November 28th.
JPL
Yesterday I mulched most of the leafs. I still need to mow one more time, but I’m waiting for the rest of the leafs to fall.
@OzarkHillbilly: Brrrrr! We are expecting a freeze tonight.
Satby
Beautiful picture Marvel!
I posted late last night (late for me, anyway) that the final snowfall ended up being about 5 inches here in SW MI.
The squeals of delight when the girls woke up and saw the snow sounded like Christmas morning. Valentina made a foot tall snowman, some small snowball fights were enjoyed, they took turns enjoying the novelty of having to clean off the car, and about a million pictures and selfies were taken. And then were happy to come in and get warm!
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I wonder if he’ll be invited back to next year’s Real Men’s conference.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: (grinning) thanx.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: He’ll probably be the star speaker.
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you for vicariously enjoying their delight. Slogging through snow will get old fast for two kids from the tropics, but it was beautiful and sharing that delight was a gift.
Satby
@Keith G: I expect a similar reaction when I start preparing ours for Thanksgiving day.
Satby
@Baud: Nope. Real Men® don’t lose.
NotMax
@Satby
Next, intro to hot chocolate with marshmallows?
Satby
@NotMax: I broke that out the first week it went down into highs of 60s. Because I don’t turn on my heat until the day’s highs are in the 50s. But it got them well acclimated. They like to take selfies with the outside thermometer (C+ F) to show off back home their winter hardened chops.
currants
Marvel!
Posted this very very late on last week’s thread: LOVED that graphic of your plans. That was incredibly helpful. How big are your raised beds? I have 6 4×8 beds, plus a section about 5-6 x 18 for asparagus (moving it in the spring–the asparagus can’t compete with the maple), a 10×15 section that was tomatoes last year but will be asparagus and tomatoes next year, and another 6×10 section that’s–well, volunteer parsley, some perennial flowers, some thyme, and melons, strawberries and rhubarb (which is moving to where the asparagus isn’t growing very well). As the only person gardening (here, also at my daughter and SiL’s), even that fairly small space (compared to yours) is hard to keep up with. Not to mention the failures–yearly. For one, I have yet to grow more than 2 zucchinis–the squash vine borers get them (and I get busy, so they win). For another, this year–dry as it was–I didn’t get the watering system set up until it was far too late. Anyway–Thank you again, Marvel. You’re inspiring, as are all of these garden chats, and the haiku this morning is perfect.
Satby
@Satby: ahh, and I found out regular marshmallows are not halal, because they have gelatin in them. But we now have halal marshmallows.
currants
@OzarkHillbilly:
Story of my gardening life.
Zinsky
In Minnesota, gardening is done for the year. I just yanked out all the old, dead, frozen tomato plants, pumpkins and miscellaneous annual plants yesterday and took them to the yard waste recycling place. We missed the snow that blanketed Iowa yesterday, but our first snowstorm is coming next week. Getting ready for the indoor winter activities – playing more guitar and piano, catching up on some good books and updating the coin collection.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: I was gonna suggest an open fire and Smores.
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Did that too. And enjoyed the stars and Milky Way, which Qunoot had never seen, she’s a city kid.
OzarkHillbilly
Today’s feel good story (really hard to find with all the fear mongering and xenophobia):
Misplaced Craigslist ad leads to kidney donor match
A misplaced Craigslist ad brought together a woman in need of a kidney transplant and a donor who lost his wife to kidney failure.
Glenn Calderbank, whose wife died four years ago, said he ran across the ad seeking a donor while scanning a section of the site for construction supplies. He responded to the ad and is now preparing for surgery on 1 December, NJ.com reported.
“It was like the screen was talking to me,” Calderbank said. “I knew I was going to be a match for her. I thought about it, then emailed them and shared my story.”
The ad came from Nina Saria and her husband. Saria, of Egg Harbor City, suffers from kidney failure because of an autoimmune disease.
…
“I’m scared to death,” he said of the surgery awaiting him. “I’ve never had any medical problems and I am, on purpose, going to have my body opened up and have a part taken out. But I’m doing it because I want to help.
“I want to save this woman’s life because, in this rare instance, I’m the only one who can.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: You’re one of my heroes. (ok ok, a little over the top but hey, it’s the sentiment that counts)
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: aww thanks.
Satby
Hoping I sell lots of stuff this Christmas season, since my last day of work was Thursday and no other job has materialized yet. For all my Balloon Juice tribe, I have a secret sale:use coupon code BALLOONJUICE for 20% off a minimum purchase of $16.97 or use coupon code NOSHIP for free shipping. Pick the code that gives you a better discount, because Etsy only lets you use one ?
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: that’s a great story. Two of my cousins donated kidneys, the rest of the family always were so in awe of them.
Schlemazel
@Satby:
I have veterinarian friends who won’t eat gelatin and so I make things with agar (sometimes found as agar-agar in Asian markets) for them. Yeah, its the stuff from biology lab petri dishes, it’s made from seaweed and is halal and kosher.
Schlemazel
@Zinsky:
It snowed in Minneapolis last night thought it would have been easy to miss. Just a very light dusting & by the time we came out of the arena (about 9:40) the only trace was on car windows.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly: @Satby:
Get a room!
Tommy
Somehow my garden is still producing habanero peppers.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: Nobody’s making you read. ;-)
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
Tell that to Miss Thomczak, not only did she insist we read, she made us stand up in front of class & read out loud occasionally!
Satby
@Schlemazel: thanks! That’s good to know. Halal is hard but not impossible to source here, but it also costs 2-3x as much. So we eat a lot of ovo-lacto vegetarian food, with occasional meat. Fish is always halal, but Qunoot isn’t a seafood fan.
And I’m starting to have wistful memories of pork roast.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: Saw that story. As much hate and fear you see I think we often forget there are a lot of pretty good people out there. I like to think I am a good person but not so sure I’d give a kidney to a person I didn’t know. That is a stellar person to say the least.
Satby
@Schlemazel: dude’s married.
Tommy
@Satby: I would think Halal would be hard to do in most none large metro areas. I’ve not looked at doing it in my area but willing to bet it would be close to impossible.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: dude’s happily married.
Schlemazel
@Tommy:
Being down one from the start I KNOW I wouldn’t give anyone a kidney while I am living. That is a big sacrifice & I admire anyone who would do it, to do it for a complete stranger is an act of kindness deserving a pass for entrance into paradise.
We have had an influx of Muslim immigrants in the Twin Cities over the last decade & halal is not really common but not hard to find. We get goat and lamb from one place & it is excellent. I really want to try camel but don’t know what cuts and its a bit pricey. I have seen halal signs in Rochester, it’s a very international town, but no place else in Minnesota, the Dakotas or Western Wisconsin.
debbie
@Satby:
Will they freelance? This is one of the things I hate most about winter.
bemused
I love the photo.
@Zinsky:
The ground is still snow covered from windy storm last week in NE MN, just enough to make our Samoyeds happy. It started out raining which the dogs don’t enjoy and they had a long afternoon nap. They must smell snow or have some kind of snow radar because as soon as the rain turned to snow, they woke up and asked to go out.
Satby
@Tommy: It’s not impossible if I go over the border to Indiana, because South Bend has both an Orthodox Jewish community (kosher) and a small Muslim community attending or teaching at all the universities.
Satby
@debbie: I expect the novelty will wear off fast, but right now Valentina is doing it again. I had a tire go yesterday, so we’re back on my long abused spare donut. Only vital driving will take place.
If I was a kind person I’d look for other host families for these two. Not sure the fun makes up quite enough for the poverty.
Princess
@Keith G: They’re having you on. Most Brits eat turkey at Xmas. It isn’t like they’ve never seen one.
Marvel
@OzarkHillbilly: Wrote the haiku after I saw the maple ablaze. Some days, the poems write themselves.
Marvel
@currants: Thanks! Most of the raised beds are 4×10, a few are bigger and there’s a large open plot (where we’ve toiled the last six years transforming the ugly, clay-y dirt into loamy soil), about 10×20. Your garden sounds great!