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Comment by Randall Smith on November 18, 2015 at 7:20am

Yes, Daniel, experience is the best teacher. And experimenting is the only way to go. I always enjoy reading about what you're doing next. Very admirable. Relax now for several weeks.

As far as my garden soil (and I'm repeating myself), I've been told a barn once occupied the very spot the garden sits. To this day, I still pull up stones, rocks, concrete, nails, etc. When I first gardened, nearly 40 years ago, the soil was basically clay. I added a dumptruck full of sand and have enriched the soil with all sorts of organic matter. I finally have about 5-6" of good topsoil. However, it remains alkaline according to Purdue's soil testing (currently, checked by self soil testing). Besides pine needles, I also add sulfur.  The good news is, my garden is fairly productive. Only a few plants don't survive--blueberries, for example.

Comment by Randall Smith on November 17, 2015 at 7:23am

I now have 3 piles of leaves and pine needles in my garden near my compost pile. Come Spring, I'll alternate them with grass clippings and soil. That usually works to make good compost. My garden soil is very alkaline and needs acidic pine needles to lower the pH.

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 15, 2015 at 1:42am

Having a beautiful weekend. I replanted some more lettuce and kale to replace things that are not developing properly in the greenhouse ... too cold, not enough sunlight. The leafy things perform far beyond my expectations.

A very light rain fell today with individual drops that looked like crystals.

Comment by Randall Smith on November 13, 2015 at 7:02am

Always good to hear from you, Spud. How's your health doing nowadays?

With all this wind we've been having, my pears and persimmons are on the ground. That means I'll have to do something with them--sauce and pulp mostly.

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 12, 2015 at 2:15am

Spud, I bet your backyard is beautiful with all those  yellow Amish pie squash growing. I like the name.

 yellow Amish pie squash also

Comment by Idaho Spud on November 11, 2015 at 1:30pm

Joan, I don't yet know how my sweet potatoes did because I haven't dug any yet, but there were lots of leaves.  I'll try to remember to take a picture when I dig some.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of my yellow Amish pie squash also.   Some of them grew huge.  The vines & leaves covered my back yard.

Comment by Idaho Spud on November 11, 2015 at 1:20pm

Daniel, I also like your atheist ginko story.

Comment by Idaho Spud on November 11, 2015 at 1:17pm

Kathy, muskmelon and cantaloupe are the same thing.  Wikipedia says "Cantaloupe (also cantelope, cantaloup, muskmelon (India and the United States), mushmelon, rockmelon, sweet melon, honeydew, Persian melon, or spanspek (South Africa)) refers to a variety of Cucumis melo, a species in the family Cucurbitaceae.

Cantaloupes range in weight from 0.5 to 5 kilograms (1.1 to 11.0 lb). Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe.^{[citation needed]} However, in more recent US usage, it has come to mean any orange-fleshed melon (C. melo). Cantaloupe is the most popular variety of melon in the United States.^[2]"

Most people around here call them cantaloupe, but I've started calling them muskmelon because I like the sound of that word, and I can remember it easier than cantaloupe.

Comment by Idaho Spud on November 11, 2015 at 1:04pm

Daniel, when do you retire?  Just about a month isn't it? 

If I get the chance, I'll plant some tasty brambles like you have in the part of my yard that gets the least sun.  Sounds like they grow so tall, they will find the sun.  This year, I purchased a thorny blackberry because I understand they taste better.  It took a while to grow much, but it's doing well now, and I should be able to see how it tastes next year. 

I often also would like to see people plant things to eat and ornamentals instead of leaving the ground weedy or bare, or covered with grass.  From what I here, there are more fruit trees in this town that many other towns, but still not many.

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 11, 2015 at 11:30am

Daniel, I like your ideas and I think that is what we will do for Michelle's garden. She has chickens and raises only enough to feed her family of five growing children. She said it takes 18 eggs to fix an egg-based breakfast. Granted, some of the eggs are small.

Randy, I think I may have gotten the idea of a sidewalk forest from your table of produce, I vaguely remember you telling us about it before. Anyway, I will give you credit for the idea in our family conferences. I live on a country road and up a gravel drive about the length of a football field. Country roads offer opportunities for interesting stories, especially when the bottom of the road drops into mud during spring thaw. I remember those events from my childhood when all the roads were dirt and oil. Riding in a car those days was thrilling because the potholes made my stomach tingle. 

Kathy, I had not thought of electric fencing, although it is what L&L did to keep their horses at home. I especially like the idea of a solar powered fencing. We could put up the poles to the heights necessary to keep deer and rabbits out. I suppose that would keep the skunks and raccoons out as well. The old horse barn and pasture is now the new chicken coop. They just put in a chicken wire fence around a small part of the pasture on the old poles used to keep in the horses. I want to put the chickens in my raised beds and a chicken electric wire fence around the perimeter might be a solution. 

L&L (Laura and Larry) and I will discuss these ideas and see what will work for us. I get many good ideas from this group and forget from whom I got them. I will just be sure to let the family know of your ideas at our family meetings. 

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