Amjad Khan

I saw some videos on youtube where people talk about goji berries' tendency to sucker. I have a plant that I'd like to plant out into my zone 6a garden in London, Ontario, Canada this year and would like to be proactive about eliminating future work thinning suckers. I would like to plant the goji bery in some type of metal tube that will block suckers from going through. Will this work? How deep would I have to have the tube go down to block any suckering? I was unable to find this type of information elsewhere so I thought I'd tap into the vast knowledge that is permies.com.

Thank you in advance kind permaculture community!

Amjad

I'd like to see more please!

General protection from the sun's direct rays can also be addressed: sunscreen and sunglasses to protect exposed skin and eyes, and hats as was mentioned, all go a fair way as preventative measures. I think that frequent breaks from the heat (getting to shade or even air conditioning), and constant hydration are probably the best ways to avoid getting too hot.

Importantly I think we should get more in touch with listening to our bodies. It will tell you when you've had too much. Often we push past these natural reminders and that can be when issues begin.

Stay safe, and stay cool!

This link is to a webpage that talks in detail about heat-related illness

Terri Matthews wrote:Oh, tonight's meal was GOOOD!

We had garden green beans cooked with a bit of bacon fat, cole slaw from my cabbage, BBQ pork, and something called an "apple kuchen" that is made with cake mix with butter as a bottom layer, chopped apples with sugar an cinnamon as a top layer, and sour cream with 2 egg yolks (from my eggs) drizzled on top.

The kuchen was too sweet for my tastes but otherwise excellent, and everything else was flat out delicious.

Is that a German dish? the 'kuchen' part sounds like some items we had from Germany: Christmas baum kucken, and flam kucken (excuse my incorrect spelling).

Your garden sounds like a very wholesome project for you Terri

John Weiland wrote:Just wanted to add this inspirational video link and story....from way north of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I'm amazed by the interest the children have in gardening. I'm very happy projects like this are being done in Canada. I hope the rest of the world is doing similar things. Thank you for sharing that video John!

Where are you from John?

In my experience, unless yogurt is fuzzy, or has taken on an unnatural tint, it should be fit for human consumption still. If it's past the point where that is an option for you, I'm sorry, I don't know which of your alternatives is the best use.

Just a thought: isn't putting dairy into compost usually not recommended because of how it attracts animals? I think watery yogurt in the garden might do the same thing.

Sorry if that's not very direct advice, just my two cents!

Jay - I thought I might be adventurous one day with the pomegranates but I'd like to have a more firm handle on the things I have at the moment. I think we are fairly well protected here. I have fence on the back and one side that blocks the wind, and the last two sides are semi-open with a shed and house, while the last side is open to the neighbour's yard.

The kiwi vines seem to be really vigorous growers and can tolerate up to -25C. They are susceptible to early frost damage but regrow with a loss in fruit production. They like sun and can be a handful to manage. I've never grown them, or eaten one, but they are supposed to be hairless and grape sized with no seeds to worry about. They also do that male female plant division, with one male fertilizing several (5-7 depending on where info is from) females. It's another layer in the food forest to be productive!

I haven't grown the cactus either, I wasn't sure that it was real. I'm going to focus on keeping things alive and improving soil right now. I also don't have any money for new plants... so I'll take it easy. Let me know if you get the cactus please. I'd like to know how that goes.

You're right about the persimmon. They should be ok in our climate... it was exactly those winters that had me worried. At least everything is rabbit proof now.. just have to watch those blast-freezer-cold nights.

Congrats on the pawpaws. I went out and immediately checked mine, but maybe this is the year of transplant shock still. They do seem quite happy though.

The very top of my peach tree, and some of those branches that had fruit on them died back. I also lost all the fruit. I'm not sure if it's heat/water related. We've had a really hot, rainless few weeks here. As long as the tree doesn't die I can always hope that next year is a better one!

I found a website that walks us through the calculations of buoyancy: http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Buoyancy

You can modify the volume of the floats to find the exact upward force required that will lift your plug.

Hope this helps!

Jay - I actually have no idea how long until I will get persimmons... I'm just hoping it can take some of our colder winters.

You have quite the collection of figs there! I had a few 'learning experiences' with this Chicago hardy fig tree. It's my third year with it, and the first time it has produced any fruit. I don't have any ideal storage locations for it over winter, so I made this above ground box with a lid, which I stuffed with leaves last winter. It worked well, but the tree is too big to fit this year. I haven't really figured out how I'll over winter the tree this year. With your escarpment proximity I think you might be OK with keeping a fig in the ground. I've heard so many different ways of storing them over winter. If I remember correctly, some even die back all the way to the ground through winter, and can come back and produce in one season.

I just have the one peach, a garnet beauty. I didn't do any research into specific cultivars before I bought any of my trees. Another lesson learned. I hadn't even heard of peach leaf curl until after I saw it on the tree and looked it up. Those can be expensive mistakes with the trees.

I hope I get something from my annuals this year. They are all pretty stunted so far. It sounds like you had quite the success with those patty pans and the other squash! When I get a bit more settled and rebuild this falling over shed, I would like to get grapes and kiwis to range over and around some features. Maybe even some of the established trees if they can tolerate the deep shade.

We used to use cape gooseberries all the time in our hotel as an exotic garnish in the pastry section, it kind of blows my mind that they grow here. I always thought of them as coming from some tropical place, especially because of their particular, tangy flavour.

As a fellow Ontarian, have you heard of the Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus?

I heard about pomegranates in our area from The Freedom Farm video (It didn't let my link to the specific time work... pomegranates starts at approximately 16m 32seconds):


Andrew - I didn't even know there was a nocturnal kind of squirrel. I don't mind them so much, it just got a bit frustrating along with the other set backs I've had this year. You can't ask a squirrel not to squirrel...can you? heh

Can anyone please explain what the man in the video means by, "They can take minus 20 like a fig," at the 18:00 minute mark in the video? I didn't know that figs could take minus 20. I was told not to let them get much lower than freezing while dormant.