Mrs. XJDano wants a garden

"XJDano" (xjdano)
04/20/2020 at 20:15 • Filed to: Dinnerlopnik

So I give her a garden.

It’s not complete, but it’s done for today. Who knows if any of this will even grow. I tilled until I was hitting the gravel laid out when the home was constructed about 2004. Also efforts are being made to recover the dirt around our house to have a lawn. Aeration and fertilizer and seed have been spread, it’s up to the watering of the lawn & Mother Nature to get me accepted into the “good lawn” club around the neighborhood/HOA. (That’s something I JUST made up because my other neighbor has standards...)

The results of my grilling outside and the Mrs. side dishing inside.

Hickory smoked charcoal grilled T-bone, spaghetti squash, & butternut squash risotto.

DISCUSSION (27)

TheRealBicycleBuck > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 20:24

Good job!

I inherited a small tiller like that. I love that silly little thing. It takes a bit of concerted effort to get it started, but even for being 40+ years old, it still runs like a top.

Brickman > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 20:36

A t rellis would spruce up that side of the house. Grow blackberries, or beans, even cucumbers climb.

jminer > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 20:37

Very nice! My wife and I started gardening about 5 years ago and have very much grown to enjoy the fresh food it generates.

DipodomysDeserti > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 22:18

I’ve been growing stuff in the Sonoran desert just using the soil in my yard. Just have to find what likes your soil and climate. I started with native stuff that the natives have been growing along the Salt River for millennia and went from there. Lotta squash and some beans. Zucchini grows like a weed. Planted some quinoa a few years ago to see what would happen. It now comes in annually as a weed every year. The neighborhood birds love it.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 22:25

Spaghetti squash?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
04/20/2020 at 22:26

I’ll have my own gardening PSA here in a week or so, shelter in place and all that...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Brickman
04/20/2020 at 22:26

Bro: do you even fold?

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/20/2020 at 22:32

Gardening is one of those things that you can sink a ton of time into but in general is pretty easy.

I grew up on a small farm so I had zero interest in gardening for the longest time. There’s not much better in terms of product though than plucking perfectly ripe tomatos, green peppers, onions, and so on with zero pesticide and eating the hell out of them.

We don’t save any money over buying groceries but the quality is way better.

XJDano > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/20/2020 at 22:48

So, from just a question I’ll assume you may have never heard of it. So here is the wiki page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_squash

And some recipes if you care to explore.

This is very similar to how my wife prepares ours:

https://www.loveandlemons.com/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squas h

And she’ll even make a chicken parm with it. The squash is like a crispy noodle, but vegan... it’s hard to describe but delicious in taste with only some slat, pepper and olive oil.

XJDano > jminer
04/20/2020 at 22:52

So we are just starting.. again. Only thing we did before was an orkra plant and one single stalk of corn we got one husk off of and shared that around the table. It was 1/3 the size of the 2/$1 ones at the store but it was ours damnit. ( Did before as i n it’s the only thing that grew, or that we planted )

Brickman > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/20/2020 at 22:56

I folded some towels earlier!

I thought about it, but I dont like to leave my PC on while I am away, plus it’s my only PC incase it cant handle dem proteins.

XJDano > Brickman
04/20/2020 at 22:56

For now we got the sides set up. Need to buy a lattice. So that’s on a list of to do things.

On one hand it’s neat to get started in this, on the other a letter from my HOA may tell me to get rid of it all. ... but it’s tucked behind the garage so I may be ok.

jminer > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 22:57

It doesn’t get warm enough here for okra, I’ve tried it before.

Going to plant a batch of corn too for the first time in a while so hopefully it turns out.

Brickman > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 22:58

Damn HOAs

XJDano > DipodomysDeserti
04/20/2020 at 22:59

We have just started, so possibly next year we will gone in on what the local soil favorites and how to exploit that, bit for now... it’s not grass.

XJDano > jminer
04/20/2020 at 23:02

Okra plant we had grew 5’ and very little effort. Many fruits but we weren’t sure how to harvest it and they grew too big and most were spoiled. We were just astonished we didn’t kill it off the bat.

XJDano > Brickman
04/20/2020 at 23:05

Yes, damn it. I’ve learned lessons these first two homes. Don’t rent to family (in-laws) & don’t go into a neighborhood with an HOA.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > XJDano
04/20/2020 at 23:38

Oh, yes, we’ve had it around here a few times. Sometimes just with butter on it. Other times with homemade spaghetti sauce. Looks like you know how to eat over at your place. Also, good plan making the garden for Missus . Quality points.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
04/20/2020 at 23:39

Growing a bunch of peppers this summer jalapenos and others.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
04/20/2020 at 23:41

Missus really does the gardening. I just get to do the projects around building the garden and making it nice. I built a place to grow the peppers in buckets. I’ll post pictures of it all once I get my gate finished on the fence around the garden. We have this nutcase four-legged animal that may or may not be a dog that came from outer space and jumps like a kangaroo so maybe it came from Panet Australia. Wants to go in the garden and dig up the fresh soil and eat the manure.

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/21/2020 at 00:09

Yeah I cannot grow anything but flowers inside our fence or the dog digs them up. All gardening goes outside the fenced in yard. Right now we’re still in seedlings as in Missouri we just passed frost risk - still a small chance of it but increasingly unlikely. I’ll probably put some plants in the ground later this week or the weekend.

I have 2 beds that need rebuilt as well - knew that was coming so bought some lumber before the lockdown.

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/21/2020 at 00:10

Tasty! W e started growing peppers 2 years ago and love them.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
04/21/2020 at 00:11

We hit a hundred million.

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/21/2020 at 00:14

I kept refreshing the stats page and was about to make a post but then saw yours!

This is exciting!!!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
04/21/2020 at 00:14

We eat a lot of jalapeños and I am constantly surprised at how uneven they are from the store and the produce stand. Probably only about 1 in 10 really have any heat. We grew some serranos two years ago that turned out plenty hot, but I like the flavor of the jalapeño better.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
04/21/2020 at 00:18

Yes, it is. I had a reply today from someone who is bring a fresh 1070 online. I sent someone your way today with a question...

Ttyymmnn installed F@h as an administrator in Windows 10, but it doesn’t seem to show up for limited users. Do you know of a configuration in Windows that promotes an app so that it’s accessible to all users? Sometimes during installation you’re asked if the given app should be available to all users.

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/21/2020 at 00:31

I’ll give it a test tomorrow and see if that works with Folding at home under a non-admin user.