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Hubby put me some cold frames over the strawberries and spinach. :D

Would you believe I picked a ripe strawberry the other day?! Got spinach coming in now, but something is chewing up the leaves. Can't see any worms/caterpillars. I know it's not deer. Pulled the turnips up and gave them to some people for Thanksgiving. Peppers got a frost last week so they're gone. Tomatoes that came up on their own aren't looking so good now either.

Warmed up again but we're starting to have some cooler weather. Going to get some more frost by the end of the week.

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Daelith...hope you aren't near the TN fires... :blink:

 

 

A strawberry......even one is a marvel in late Nov. :sigh: We've gone below zero multiple times at nite already. Beautiful up here but.....y'all remind me of how much growing season I'm missing!

 

 

MtRider :pc_coffee:

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Been one thing or another so the leaves are still in the bags waiting for us to empty them into the garden area we want to extend :-( Still need to get the game cams installed. Mr wants to hide them in a breaker box (with the face partially cut out) and paiint the brezker box white so it will match the garage metal.

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Stopped in the city on the way home from mom's house. Many of the Starbucks don't save the used coffee grounds during the winter time. Something about gardeners taking a break. :laughkick:

 

I hauled away three more bags and a kitchen bag of used coffee grounds. I need to start spreading them again as the front door looks like my family has been O.D.ing on coffee again. :hapydancsmil:

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I need to start spreading them again as the front door looks like my family has been O.D.ing on coffee again. :hapydancsmil:

^Snip^

 

:coffeescreen:

 

Thanks for the smile, I needed that. :happy0203:

 

Replaced the straw in the hen boxes and spread the soiled straw in the garden.

 

None of the wheat I planted sprouted. Some of the 'sprouts' are growing, to be turned into green mulch. The potatoes are looking good and the chili plants I transplanted seem to be doing well. A couple of the cabbage seeds have sprouted too. The beans, beets and carrots are doing well also.

 

I put the two tomato plants, that are in pots, in my office window and they are thriving. :thumbs:

 

I am not sure if I am going to plant anything else until January, due to the colder than usual weather.

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Between the not feeling good, the dreary weather and Mr working...the garden awaits. We may end up having to just do the new beds this spring and use the soil & compost we stocked up on and add the leaves then. Hoping Mr can build me a shelving unit to start my own plants this next year.

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I finished off the trailer of horse manure by adding it to the leaves on top of the garden rows. Then, I topped each 4x50 row with Starbucks coffee grounds. That should juice up the sandy soil so I can till one more in the Spring and start planting.

 

In the past, I have added leaves in the spring and tilled them in. Many of my beds weren't started right away, and even 2 weeks of microbial activity helped in my former Indiana garden. The more you chop them, the more surface area they present to the microbes and worms. Another trick I've used is to plant the garden and use the leaves as mulch. Not too thick as they can mat and prevent the rain water from soaking in completely.

 

I ordered most of my seeds last week so will use my winter downtime to design the gardens on paper. I'm looking forward to planting the new gardens next spring and doing battle with the deer and rabbits. :hapydancsmil:

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Finally got the bags of leaves (a whole lot!) hauled to the area we want them but will have to wait on dryer weather to mulch them...it's supposed to rain tomorrow etc. We want to empty them out and then run the mulching mower over them. Was truly surprised to find some parsnips in one of the beds and the table onions in another :-) Will pull them tomorrow when we go over there. DOES ANYBODY KNOW IF YOU CAN EAT PARSNIP GREENS...besides juicing them...cooking them like other greens?

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Parsnips, the roots are edible but the leaves and stems, sap, no. They can blister the skin like hogweed does......

 

 

 

This is an excerpt from wikipedia on the toxicity on the parsnip.

"

Toxicity[edit]

While the root of the parsnip is edible, handling the shoots and leaves of the plant requires caution as the sap is toxic.[36] Like many other members of the family Apiaceae, the parsnip contains furanocoumarins as a defense against herbivory,[37]photosensitive chemicals that causes a condition known asphytophotodermatitis.[36] The condition is a type of chemical burn rather than an allergic reaction, and is similar to the rash caused by poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans). Symptoms include redness, burning, and blisters; afflicted areas can remain discolored for up to two years.[38] Although some reports of gardeners experiencing toxic symptoms after coming into contact with foliage have been made,[39] these have been small in number compared to the number of people who grow the crop. The problem is most likely to occur on a sunny day when gathering foliage or pulling up old plants that have gone to seed. The symptoms have mostly been mild to moderate.[40]

The toxic properties of parsnip extracts are resistant to heating, or a storage period of several months. Toxic symptoms can also affect livestock and poultry in parts of their bodies where their skin is exposed.[41]Polyynes can be found in Apiaceae vegetables such as parsnip, and they show cytotoxic activities.[42]

See also[edit]
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Picked up 30 more bags of leaves this morning (2 truck loads) after the rain quit. They're now at the homestead waiting for further instruction :-) Stopped at Aldis to pick up some bananas...none, oranges....none worth eating...apples...Gala ok. Eggs...none. Orange juice...picked up a couple of quarts. Ended up stopping at Sav-A-Lot. Bananas...all green and not worth buying. Oranges...ok. Plugged the dorm frig back in and put a quart of the orange juice , the apples and the oranges in to keep them cool. Normally they keep cool enough on top of the deep freeze in the enclosed back porch, but we're heating it a bit more than usual since Mr hung me two lines so I can hang our clothes to dry instead of using the electric dryer. We're both still sniffling, coughing and sluggish so ended up taking Clarintin and using cough drops. Feeling better. Wrapped up real good while we were out though. I may have looked really cute with my bombers-type knit hat on my head with the flaps down over my ears and Mr with his fleece cap on...but...you do what you have to do. Told Mr "it's amazing to see how many people are running around in this cold, rainy-wet weather with no head coverings and some with no coats". Guess they figure they'll catch a cold and share it with those of us who accidently run into them :-(

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This was a very important and interesting question, WE2. Glad for Annarchy and Sass who looked this up. I hadn't had a chance to . I've eaten parsnips and like them a lot. But due to our short season, never grew them.

 

It rather sounds like the adverse reaction to them is varied. Like some folks REALLLLY react to poison ivy, etc and some don't. Anyone with high sensitivity should certainly wear gloves when picking them. Others...maybe not so much.

 

But....I don't think I'd eat them with all the bad press from too many folks. I suppose cooking might take out the sting...like one can eat COOKED nettles but certainly not raw. Not yet being in a survival situation....I'll stick with turnip and beet greens. :feedme: An turnip is kinda strong taste.

 

 

WE2....did you have any reaction on your hands from harvesting them?

 

 

MtRider ....always learning things here at MrsS! :lois:

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I looked it up too and found a lot of people saying not to eat them. They said the older the parsnips were the worse the toxic effects were and that cooking them (greens) did not remove the toxins. Wiki had the best info. Glad you pitched them We2.

 

I like my greens, and cabbage, boiled to death with bacon grease added.

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I think my gardening season has come to a close. All those mounds are huge piles of leaves/grass/manure, ready to cook throughout the winter. I've started ordering trees and bushes for food, screening from the road, and wildlife cover. They should arrive in April from several different sources. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to plant about 400 seedlings in a short period of time. :0327: Impossibilities have never stopped me in the past, though. :thumbs:

 

 

post-35-0-49030000-1480906826_thumb.jpg

 

post-35-0-33011900-1480906534_thumb.jpg

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I think my gardening season has come to a close. All those mounds are huge piles of leaves/grass/manure, ready to cook throughout the winter. I've started ordering trees and bushes for food, screening from the road, and wildlife cover. They should arrive in April from several different sources. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to plant about 400 seedlings in a short period of time. :0327: Impossibilities have never stopped me in the past, though. :thumbs:

 

 

attachicon.gifP1020838.JPG

 

attachicon.gifP1020843.JPG

:

thumbs: sure is pretty though!

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We now have about 50+ more bags of leaves that made it half way to the garden area today :-) We're still overcoming the cold/flu? so didn't want to be huffing and puffing cold air down into our lungs and through our noses. We have facial masks but just didn't figure it was that important right now. Tomorrow we're going to the homestead to try to get our game camera's up. Mr is painting them white, then putting them into breaker boxes (painted white) and then mounting them way up high on each side of the garage...which is white so they they'll not be quite so visible. I want to buy another one to mount right near the front door where they can quickly see "smile, you're on candid camera".

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  • 2 months later...

Picked up a large bag of potting soil today. Time to start some seeds inside. I have plenty of pots, but if not I have a bag of styrofoam coffee cups that have always worked before :-) We'll be starting all our own plants this year instead of buying any. I haven't started plants for years and years, so this will be a sort of "experiment". But...I did pick up two containers of mint; one of sweet mint and one of peppermint. They're forcasting snow for Saturday! But it won't stay. My garlic chives are coming up nicely :-)

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Good luck with your plant starters. I'm no good at starting plants from seed. I kill them every time. I think I over water. I can get them to the spindly stage then they fall over dead. :sigh:

 

We are still having snow flurries here and it's only 23 degrees right now.

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