Re: everybody outside today?

I brought in all the houseplants - early, but there was a frost  
possibility, and no way am I taking them back out. Hope the bananas  
will adjust to the lower light levels (have never had them as  
houseplants before). The weeds are tag-teaming me: first the hot  
weather, drought tolerant ones, now the cool weather varieties.  
Arghhhhh!!
This afternoon the local community college horticultural students  
(most going into the nursery/landscaping area rather than florist/ 
houseplant area) are having a "lab session" checking out my yard.  
Emphasis on annuals and perennials (in mid October!) - you'd think  
that they would organize the school year more logically... Well, I'll  
try at least to give them something to think about - if they use  
their imagination!  DH has started working with a local landscaper to  
create a retaining wall for the proposed garden railroad, and an  
extension of the existing patio for viewing it. Work will probably  
start in 3 weeks. The track is on back order, though, so we can only  
hope it will arrive before the area is done.
Also, I have a killer recipe for a roasted red pepper soup, if anyone  
wants it.

Cathy, west central IL, z5b

On Oct 11, 2005, at 1:52 PM, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSR wrote:

> It's always nice to know I'm not the only one with maintenance  
> issues! And I
> never get as much done as I think I ought to. It's not so much  
> gawking at
> stuff as it is attention deficit problem. You see one thing wrong  
> but on
> your way to get the tool to fix it you see something else, you  
> divert to do
> that because it will only take a minute but then another thing shows
> up...when I'm actually out there I probably spend half my time  
> doing part of
> a job without the right tools because I don't want to get up and  
> distract
> myself.
> Roasted peppers: I take the whole peppers and stick them under the  
> broiler
> until the skins blister, turning as they need it. Usually end up  
> having much
> of the skin turn black. Then I let them sit under a kitchen towel  
> for 10
> minutes or so to steam a bit and cool off. You pull off the  
> blackened skin
> and they're ready for whatever. Anaheims are the easiest, seems  
> like the
> skin blisters in one big sheet very quickly so you're not picking  
> off little
> bits of char. I've considered getting out the propane torch for better
> control, but it seems like it would take longer since you'd have to  
> do each
> one individually.
>
> Cyndi
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net]  
> On Behalf
> Of Donna
> Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 10:58 AM
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Subject: RE: [CHAT] everybody outside today?
>
> Sorry Cindi but I started laughing when I read ---
>
> "Next year I will have my work cut out for me to clear
>
> all
> that. "
>
> You sound just like me! :)
>
> Actually, with everything happening at work and home
> front, I have no time for gardening or anything else.
> I hired two MG to do 'something' with the yard. Got
> most of the weeds out, deadheaded things that should
> have been cut back months ago, and the place doesn't
> look too bad. I was quite amazed at how much they got
> done in a day. I would never have gotten that much
> done. Guess all that noticing and gauking takes up way
> to much time.LOL!
>
> So anyways, told them to come back after the frost
> (which could be any day now) and finish off the rest.
> At least next year I will have a head start!
>
> So roasted peppers? baked them? fried them?
>
> Donna
>
>
> --- Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSR
> <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil> wrote:
>
>
>> October here is almost always gorgeous and so it was
>> this weekend, it was in
>> the 80s. Great gardening weather, too bad I didn't
>> do any. For the second
>> weekend in a row I managed to tweak my back so that
>> I can't move very well.
>> Last time it faded out just in time to go to work on
>> Monday, great huh?, but
>> this time it's taking a lot longer to go away. I
>> can't tell if it's from
>> overdoing at my yoga class last week or if I've
>> pinched a nerve somehow, it
>> doesn't hurt in the same place as two weeks ago. So
>> Saturday I tottered
>> around doing laundry, Sunday we went to a little
>> local festival where I
>> walked very slowly, and yesterday I did manage to
>> get into the vegetable
>> garden and get a lot of peppers.
>> Picking without bending at the waist is tricky but I
>> did okay, although at
>> one point I stepped into what I thought was a bare
>> patch in the middle of
>> the plants and it turned out to be a huge hole!
>> There is either a very
>> active gopher or a small rabbit out there. But I had
>> to do something, first
>> frost is in about 3 weeks and the peppers are still
>> good. Zucchini is
>> producing still and my tomatoes have come back to
>> life. No chance they'll
>> ripen but I'll get plenty of green ones. The
>> cantaloupe died all of a sudden
>> last week, don't know what that was about - one day
>> there was a huge patch
>> of leaves and ripening melons and the next day, dead
>> as could be. Maybe the
>> gopher? I picked what was salvageable and the
>> chickens will eat the rest.
>> In the ornamental garden, all the salvias are
>> blooming - especially the
>> germander sage (salvia chamaedryoides, I think). The
>> russian sage (not a
>> salvia) is really starting to get invasive, I'm
>> going to have to be ruthless
>> about pulling it this winter, but the bees are
>> having a great time on it. I
>> have asters, roses, still some blossoms on the crepe
>> myrtle and a couple of
>> the lilacs got confused and have put out a few
>> blossoms. The gaillardia and
>> coreopsis would be blooming, if I'd deadheaded at
>> all this year. Mostly what
>> I have is weeds. Next year I will have my work cut
>> out for me to clear all
>> that.
>> Anyway after I got all those peppers I figured I'd
>> do some canning, I can
>> stand up while doing that. I roasted and peeled
>> them, then pickled them. I
>> got ten half pints and would have had a lot more
>> except I ran out of jar
>> lids, so it was roasted peppers with chicken for
>> dinner.
>>
>> Cyndi
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net
>> [o*@hort.net] On Behalf
>> Of Theresa
>> Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2005 6:53 PM
>> To: GardenChat
>> Subject: [CHAT] everybody outside today?
>>
>> I certainly was!  Rearranged more plants in my
>> garden and just dug
>> several up to give away (like a huge knifophia that
>> was destined for
>> world domination).  Also went to a plant sale at
>> Cornflower farms and
>> got a helianthus, some kind of ornamental grass
>> (already forgot which
>> one) and a lovely white Echinacea hybrid. I twas
>> gorgeous here today.  I
>> didn't even break a sweat- only in the high 70s-
>> perfect gardening weather.
>>
>> What's everyone else been up to?
>>
>> Theresa
>>
>>
>>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> To sign-off this list, send email to
>> majordomo@hort.net with the
>> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>>
>>
>>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> To sign-off this list, send email to
>> majordomo@hort.net with the
>> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index