The AM Forum

We're having a warm and dry early spring here. Opposite of what you Easties are getting. Been in 70s already, snow long gone.

So after having mixed a couple tractor buckets of compost into the garden area, I planted the greens today- Kale, Chard and spinach. Soaked with hose and covered with a sheet of 2-mil plastic. 10 days ahead of usual.

You know, it felt good doing that. Almost as good as building a new transmitter.

Good for you Bill! The ground is still way too wet here at 700ft elevation to work.

I still have frozen ground here in Tum Tum....But........Snow is gone and it is thawing...

My dad always had a huge garden, but he has gone on to his final reward 16 years ago.  Now that I have been a bachelor for a few years, I have started to cook a lot more.  I think this is the year I try my hand at some vegetable plants.  I bet some fresh tomatoes will be AWESOME in that spaghetti sauce I learned to cook.. mmm mmm mmm ....

I'm going to try organic and containers.... wish me luck!

Alright.  Got my garden started yesterday... going to find out how green my thumb is!  8 bushy type tomato plants planted in 5 gallon buckets in the full sun.  Gotta start somewhere!

Nothing like a fresh picked home grown tomato!

Dave said:
What ya gotta do here sonny is, take a few of them tomatoes and cube them up at about 1".
Then you pull some of them yellow onions you planted and slice them up, see.

Then get yourself a nice deep salad bowl, yayaoou know the stainless steel kind, and toss the pieces parts in thair with some Wishbone Zesty EYEtalian dressing and a few smashed garlic cloves and give it a good shaking, deeair!

What ya end up with is a nicely put together salad that'll make anyone .... sing for thair supper!!

Man! Yer making my mouth water!!! I'm gonna try that with some hot cornbread :D :D :D

Mike

    I think I could live all summer long on home grown tomato sandwiches. :D

25 deg F, 6 inches of snow today in Lewistown, MT :(

It's still 4 to 6 weeks before I can put in tomatoes, peppers and the rest. But the greens are all in and covered with plastic sheeting.

I have had real good luck with the pear-shaped Italian cooking tomatoes in the past. They seem to be more resistant to garden problems than the traditional Big Boys. They're the ticket for spaghetti sauce.

Then you get your big green tomato hornworms. Bud could probably nail one with a .22 at 10 yards.

Ahhh Yeeeassss! now what ya do there is slice'em up at about 1/4" thick and lay'em on some nice homemade bread!

Then you git yourself a BRICK of Velveta cheddar and 1/4" slice some of that! Slpatter a good thick layer of Miracle Whip on the bread, smack that cheese on there. Then ya take the tomato slices and put them on thair with a good doushing of black pepper, don'cha know.

Slap the other piece of bread on top and dig in!

Then ya have a quart fruit jar full of home brewed ice tea with store bought ice in it . Hoooeeeee !!!!!!!!  :D :D :D

70s-80s here for the last week or so, a few days in the 60s. Supposed to be around 82 today. Just got done mowing the east side of the property. Grass hasn't really come in yet, but all the weeds and wild onions have.

The irises in the front garden started blossoming a week or so back, took a shot of them this morning. Several trees have bloomed and are moving on to the leaves. Got one plum and pear tree still in bloom.

Really hoping to get at least some tomatoes in this year. That's one thing you can never have too many of, fresh tomatoes. They go well with or on so many things.

Back home they got 6 inches of snow yesterday. Nope, don't miss it a bit.

On them things 10 yards is a bow shot! Give me a challange Bill.
How far is it from your back porch to the bugs?

Started some stuff yesterday. Garden on the south side of the house next to the solar room. Sun reflects off the glass this time of the year heating the ground below.

Still too wet to plow....

Just remember that the grass is always greener over top of the septic tank.............

  :o  ::)  ;D  ;D

Last night this tree guys calls and offers to buy two dogwood trees in my yard for $500. Sure come on over just fill in the hole. Then I'll go in the woods and plant two more saplings. They were getting too big anyway.

Why would they want the dogwoods?
Someone elses landscaping project?

Yes Bud, He can sell them for at least double to some yuppie who wants instant pretty yard. They were getting too big and shading the garden.
I'll dig up two more small ones in the woods and move them to the yard.
I've given away dozens of small ones. Small ones go for around $100 in the garden shops.

Amazing what some some small tree specimens will bring...we have seen small Japanese thread leaf maple saplings go for 30  bucks plus - we have them all over the place near a big one we planted here over 30 years ago, we've given some way but never sold them.

Frank - I wonder how healthy the roots were on those dogwoods that were taken out.  We had a  real big one that Diane planted 28 years ago the day before Ben was born keel over in a nor'easter last spring. When I cut up what was left and took out the stump most of the big tap roots were rotted out, which it why the wind was able to knock it over.  The wood from the trunk and branches had an extremely fine grain, which apparently is why dogwood was used to make gears and other small parts for wooden clock movements back in the day.

Nah, the drain field.

always warmer over the tank

The real sign of spring is the yellow jackets setting up a nest in the propano regulator cover.....


klc

So far so good...

(http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj131/kx5jt/tom.jpg)

Señor JT:
Que es eso, por favor?

This was here at 7AM on Thursday. In the fog and overcast.

Oh that's my first tomato fruiting a couple days ago against the sunset.