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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Thu 22 Jul , 2021 5:53 pm
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I just googled "plants that attract ladybugs" - the most interesting results were chives and lavender.

I have chives in another part of the garden - maybe I should transplant some of them in the blackcurrant area? They're very hardy, and come back every year. I also like the idea of surrounding the blackcurrant bush with lavender.

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nienna
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 23 Jul , 2021 6:51 am
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Worth a try - as you say, particularly the lavender!

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 23 Jul , 2021 1:42 pm
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Could you buy ladybugs?

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 23 Jul , 2021 2:33 pm
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I don't know. But I think I'll get the lavender and marigold first, and see if that works.

If I have to buy them, it makes sense to make it worthwhile for them to stick around!

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laureanna
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 23 Jul , 2021 4:47 pm
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I used to buy ladybugs and praying mantises from my local garden center. They had mesh bags full of them in the fridge. Yes, most of them left my garden for the rest of the neighborhood, but it was a fun thing to do anyway.

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 23 Jul , 2021 7:50 pm
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Yes! It does sound fun! Jude, I hope the plants work out like you want.

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sat 24 Jul , 2021 9:54 pm
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I bought and planted a lavender plant right underneath the blackcurrant bush. I did prune some of blackcurrant branches to give it more space, but even so I'm it might not get enough sunlight. We'll see how it does.

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sun 25 Jul , 2021 1:22 am
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My lavender keeps putting out offshoots, which we transplanted around the front yard. We now have about six where we used to have two.

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Thu 29 Jul , 2021 1:07 am
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There are quite a lot of apple trees and crab-apple trees around my neighbourhood. During tonight's walk, I noticed a tree that had fruit that kind of looked like a cross between a pear and an apple. Like an apple was aspiring to develop into a pear by evolving a little know on the top. I didn't have my camera with me, but I've got to go back and check it out. It would be cool if there were a tree I could actually pick pears from!

My grandmother used to make crab-apple jelly. I wonder if anyone in the family still has that recipe? I've got to ask around...

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laureanna
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 30 Jul , 2021 4:17 am
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Quince, maybe? They are yellow and look somewhat like an apple.

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 30 Jul , 2021 8:10 pm
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I went back and picked a couple, and I think they look more like pears than quince.
[ attachment ]
Pears.jpg (105.05 KiB) Viewed 10234 times

I tasted them and the texture is dry and almost wooden. Maybe because they're not ripe yet? It would be really cool if we had a real pear tree in the neighbourhood. But unless they ripen and improve, they're basically inedible.

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nienna
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sat 31 Jul , 2021 7:46 am
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They look a bit litke Comice pears, Jude, certainly the one on the right! Will be interesting to see if they ripen to a golden/brown colour.

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Estel Dúnadan
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 06 Aug , 2021 8:31 am
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Yup, they look like pears, and from what you've said, I agree, they're probably green. It's a bit early for pears, surely - it must be late summer there. Pears are an autumn fruit, although I think they're a bit earlier than apples.

Melbourne is pretending it's spring, and while the people know better, some seeds are tricked. I was given some broccoli seedlings that self-sowed and came up too early, and they survived transplanting. My planting potatoes, stored in the cellar, have started to sprout, but I'll hold off planting them. I've planted some pumpkin and spaghetti squash already, because the last two plantings of pumpkin have taken about three months to sprout, so I only had one small one from them. I'm hoping they'll have enough time this year, and that the spaghetti squash comes up at all (the seeds are from a squash bought for eating, so they may not be ripe enough).

Is anyone here familiar with hugelkultur? (Forgive me if I've said this before.) I heard about it and tried it, but found the sloped sides difficult to layer, so now I fill regular raised beds hugel-style (layers of wood and sticks, then nitrogen-rich material, then dirt). I'm not sure I'm doing it right, because rather than the fungal decomposition the articles mentioned, the nitrogen layer seems to have composted down all over the wood, but maybe that's the first stage? But if they end up being long-term composting-in-place beds, that works too. They seem quite effective already so far, but they do sink down with time, so I'm mulching last year's beds thickly.

At one stage in the building of the hill bed, the mound of wood and sticks was about the size and shape of a filled grave, and my other half joked, "If anyone asks, we murdered an Ent." !!


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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 06 Aug , 2021 1:04 pm
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I like the way your other half thinks!

I hadn't heard about Hugelkultur until now. Looks interesting.

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 13 Aug , 2021 2:22 pm
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See this berry? This is the sum total of my blackcurrant harvest for this year.
[ attachment ]
blackcurrant.jpg (165.56 KiB) Viewed 10149 times

Let's hope I have better luck next year. As of now, I don't see any aphids on the leaves. Did I succeed in getting rid of them, or will they return in the aphid season?

Based on the size of this plant, under normal circumstances I should have more than enough to make a batch of jam.

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Fri 13 Aug , 2021 2:28 pm
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Well, did it at least taste good?

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sat 14 Aug , 2021 4:01 pm
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It was so good it left me wanting more!

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sat 14 Aug , 2021 4:01 pm
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Lol!

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nienna
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sat 14 Aug , 2021 6:43 pm
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Poor little blackcurrant bush...I do hope your perseverance and positivity pays off and you have luck getting a decent crop at some point.

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Estel Dúnadan
Post subject: Re: Gardening
Posted: Sun 15 Aug , 2021 10:19 am
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Aww, poor little blackcurrant, not even able to unite with its brethren by being eaten. :D

By the way, I previously missed Jude's question about crabapple jelly. I have an apple jelly recipe that should work just the same for crabapples (although test the sweetness of the result, as crabapples are often less sweet than other apples). I'll copy it here for you:

Ingredients:
2kg apples
juice of 1 lemon
water to cover
1 cup of sugar for each cup of juice

Method:
Leaving apples unpeeled and uncored, cut into pieces and place in saucepan with water to cover (and presumably the lemon juice, although the book doesn't say). Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until fruit is quite tender.
Strain fruit through a sterilised cheesecloth and leave to drip overnight. Do not squeeze the cheesecloth, as this can make your jelly cloudy.
Measure liquid (tip: use digital scales to weigh it as it goes into the pot), and add an equal volume of warmed sugar. Heat juice and sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves, then cease stirring.
Boil rapidly until jelly sets when tested. Start testing after jelly has been boiling for ten minutes.
When setting point is reached, remove scum before filling sterilised jars.

I like to test the jelly with a cold plate/saucer. I keep the plate in the freezer until the test, then drop a teaspoon of jelly onto it. If after one minute, the jelly stays put when the plate is tilted, it's ready. I think there's a method involving dropping a teaspoon of jelly into cold water, but I haven't used it.
Jars can be sterilised in various methods. If you use a water bath, be sure the jars are completely dry before putting the jelly in, or they can crack. I prefer to sterilise my jars in the oven (set it to about 120 C to allow for any variation from thermostat temperature, and leave in for ten minutes or until you need them). Be sure to only put hot liquid into hot jars.

The tips are advice based on me not knowing what you already know. If you have your own way of doing those things, feel free to ignore mine.


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