Gardening

[Rudolf Wagner]

Hi Thomas,
England really is a gardener’s dream, and it’s been incredible watching all the gardens of the neighbourhood transform in just the last couple of weeks. Spring is well on its way and there are daffodils, crocuses and tulips popping up everywhere!

The DIY planter video (which I think your post is referring to?) was filmed last year in August so don’t let that fool you – we’re still far away from consistent tank top weather and blooming Marigolds although we did have lots of sunshine and 21C today which was nice and unexpected.

I came across Ron Finley last year when I saw his ad for Masterclass and bookmarked it straight away, so it’s funny you bring him up here! I only watched a couple of videos back then but I’ll look up the TED talk when I’ve got a spare minute.

Our garden isn’t big or sunny enough to grow a lot of veggies but I currently have some garlic on the way and last year was able to harvest some tomatoes, courgettes and broad beans. It wouldn’t get us through Winter but it was a fun experience ????

Happy Spring!

[Tom Fones]

Thanks to Mona for the update.

Since i posted this Jung has started another gardening thread.
I seem to think like a few great minds in the club.

Now everyone get out there and put some roots in the ground.
Cheers

[Jung Roe]

Indeed Thomas, I think we were on the same gardening wavelength.
We even planted some potatoes in our garden. Will have to take some artistic plant and flower shots this spring/summer and post some pics! 🙂 Maybe we can have a competition, who has the most interesting garden. LOL. 🙂

[Tom Fones]

Well Jung we seem to have some cross-pollenation going on,
with Mona as the busy bee in between.

I have a big unfair advantage down here in the Central Valley.
It’s sunny and hot – too hot – all summer.
But i am trying to be a prepper and i tend to grow in bulk
what i can dehydrate and store for the long term.
Also i have too limited space to grow much variety.

But it’s like Ron Finley says …
growing your own food is like printing your own money.

If we all thought like Ron Finley we could save the world.

Here is Arlo Guthrie singing The Garden Song and telling a story about
crossing the Canadian American border. You know Arlo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QTj45cTB4U

[Jung Roe]

Hi Thomas, I’ve heard of Arlo Guthrie but not too familiar with his music. He is a very humorous guy in that video, and nice gardening songs.

I’ve been through the Central Valley area a number of times, Redding through to Sacramento and then into the San Joaquin Valley over the years either along the I5 or 99, some fond memories of those travels in my 89 5.0 Mustang Interceptor. Remember seeing Mt Shasta and stopping into some of the small towns like Corning, Orland, Willows, Chico, Oroville etc that come to mind. Often rested in one of the many motels along that route. Once went off to the coast to Mendocino and Ft Bragg which was awesome too. Always enjoyed the warm and dry climate along there and some beautiful open country.

It is nice and special to be able to eat vegetables grown in your own garden for sure. Tomatoes, cucumber, cilantro, green onions, red potatoes etc.

[Jacki Hopper]

Speaking of gardening… not that my immediate family never really sussessfully succeeded at it…lol… We did have radishes, carrots, onions, beans, one time we tried corn/potatoes , they flopped, the other stuff thrived somewhat better.. We also had raspberries and strawberries… Dad transplanted a bunch of Grandpa/Grandma Hopper’s rhubarb after they had died and the house was sold, they died almost a year to each other. And then for awhile friends of my Dads used our garden to plant stuff, had better luck than we did, and even had wild asparagus that I guess, seeds had blown in the wind and settled in another oart of our backyard property…lol

I tried to have a flower garden in front yard, no luck… Dad accidentally mowed over two rose bushes at side of house, he forgot they were there….lol… the only plants to ever really thrive was the OXALIS plant ( look like huge shammrocks) that had come from my 2 nd oldest bro from a biology project in Jr high or high school… had it for about 20 yrs before it finally gave up…????

[Tom Fones]

Jackie,
gardening has it’s trial and tribulations.
Don’t give up so easy.

The main issue is to find things you like which do well in your climate.

I have it easy here.
All i have to do is make sure plants get water.

Seriously – try again.
(Leprechauns should have a green thumb).
Happy Spring

[Tom Fones]

Jung and Jackie,

Arlo did Alices’s Restaurant way back during the Vietnam war.
His most famous recording was Steve Goodman’s City of New Orleans.

Maybe someday units of measure down here won’t be 2.54cm and 8/5 klicks – eh?

Here is the song author’s version on Am Music Shop w/ Jerry Douglas on dobro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m0LewjkO4s

[Jung Roe]

Thomas, nice performance of that song.

While we converted to metric system in 1977 in Canada, I still have trouble grasping weight and height in the metric system. 178 cm means less to me than 5 feet 10 inches, or 45 Kg is just a number compared to 100 pounds which I have a feel for. I’ve got a feel for distance measurement of KM and KM per hour, but that took a while.

[Roger Penn]

OMG Thomas! I haven’t heard that song in many many years, and I’ve heard a lot of versions including Seger, Guthrie, Denver, and others, but never this one by David and I think it’s my favorite of all of them! Thanks!

[Jacki Hopper]

I live in an apt complex so I only can buy flowers and put in pots outdoors or buy flower bouquets and put in vases/pitchers, also I have outdoor seasonal allergies , certain trees, fresh cut grass, blossoms, flowers I’m allergic too, so gardening is really out of question for me…
However in pre-Covid times in May, in particular I’d enjoy taking photos of the Tulips, around Ottawa during the Tulip Festival, http://www.ottawatulipfestival.ca and other flowers around after tulips had finished…. so , I’m more of a garden admirer than a keeper nowadays….

[Jung Roe]

Jacki, I always enjoyed those spring Tulip festivals. The best one around where I am is just across the border in Washington State, La Conner. Huge fields of Tulips. I haven’t been to it in recent years but soon as the border opens up after Covid, I plan to make a trip possibly next spring.

There are huge fields of purple tulips as far as the eye can see, and red and yellow etc…

[Jacki Hopper]

Jung, now yer talking my kinda language, Purple Tulips…well tulips in general but those Purple ones….????????

[Tom Fones]

Dear Jacki,
we are all doing the best with what we have.
I am very fortunate to have enough land for a garden and fruit trees even though i don’t own the land.
I hope you live near a Farmer’s Market. They are great people to know.

I don’t know if this is helpful Jacki, but i have become a great admirer of The Prepper Princess.
She post lots of ideas about doing well without having money to burn.

https://www.youtube.com/c/PrepperPrincess/featured

Jung – great photos. I hope i remember to post our sunflower fields this summer.

I remember in sixth grade my teacher saying. we were inching toward the Metric System.
It was humor but he meant it too.
I guess Canada made it.

[Jung Roe]

“inching toward the Metric System”, brilliant Thomas! 🙂
Jacki, I think you should try growing some potted purple tulips! 🙂

[David Herrick]

“In Europe, Miles Davis is known as Kilometers Davis.” –Steven Wright

[Tom Fones]

I guess old M.D. got better mileage that way. I know that’s awful.

In kilometers i run at a 10 minute pace. That sounds so much better.

[David Herrick]

Thomas, I think part of the reason that you can run much faster metrically is because you weigh much less in kilograms.

I’m reminded of a passage from my favorite childhood book, The Phantom Tollbooth, where the protagonists encounter a road sign giving the distance to their destination. It’s written first in miles, then it’s converted into yards, then into feet, and finally into inches. One of the group says, “Let’s travel by miles; it’s shorter.” And another one says, “No, let’s travel by inches; it’s quicker.”

[Tom Fones]

David – you are so right.
It’s much easier to maintain a 10 minute pace when you only weigh 134.

Are there any Poco heads out there in the MLTC?
I just discovered this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rIid_Umsjo