It's spring and have been working a bit in my very small garden so I just wandered if you guys garden and if anyone here grows anything weard or unusual.
I'm thinking of growing some Fava beans this year just to try them. My folks tried a few years ago but the darn little duckees just loved the shoots, flowes etc.. so not much luck. But the plants and flowers were kinda kool looking so I thought I'd try them this year. Otherwise my garden will have some tomatoes, some greens and a few flowers. I also have herb bed and am dabbling with them; sages, oregano, dill, parsley, thyme, celantro and a South American herb I can't recall the name of right now. it's kinda like celantro.

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Radishes and parsley

Bananas (two varieties), oranges, tomatoes & peppers (several varieties of each), mayhaws, figs, and loquats. Later on, okra. Lettuce, spinach, and turnips have all bolted and are now composting.

Lots of flowers. Various tree and shrub species all on a small suburban lot.

And that's why they call me, "Botnst"!

In the summer my neighbors will change my name from Botnst to, "That ********* who never does yardwork".

B

Tried beefsteak tomatoes in pots last year, but the Golden Retriever thought they were delicious off the vine. Taking a break this year, just sticking with some thai basil, rosemary and some other herbs. Good luck on your planting.

Can't emphasize proper soil prep, good aeration and conditioning enough. A good sense of humor helps with gardening too.

That's funny. My neighbor gave me a lawn mower for free last summer. Hint, hint but of course i didn't get it and my landlord chopped my prerie down. It was looking really good too.

Lettuce wilted? It's barely coming up here.
What kind of figs? those are some of my favorite. white or purple inside? I don't know the varieties just the colors. When I was a kid we had a few fig trees in our yard along with some oranges. that was all pretty kool.

So tru. Unfortunately the soil in my yard s*cks bad but since I rent I really don't want to rehabilitate it too much plus I may move later this year so that's kinda bummer on the gardening but I still will put out some stuff. I do have a great mulch pile though.

I don't lough while gardning neither do my plants but we do enjoy each other's company.
It's definately a relaxing hobby though.

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72 W114/M130

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Figs = purple on inside. Its an Extension service release. Don't recall the name offhand but if you're interested I can find it. I don't think it'd interest you because its selected for humidity/moisture tolerance. Older selections are susceptible to a root rot and leaf wilt.

B

BOTNST - you can do Banana's in LA? Special variety?

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Felder Rushing wrote a book entitled something like, "Handmedown Plants" (Rushing is a neighbor of yours in Jackson, a bright, knowledgeable, funny man). That's what this banana variety is, a hand-me-down. I don't know the variety. It is not frost hardy so it usually dies back in Lafayette, though many years only the external leaves die while those in the sheath emerge immediately when the soil warms in late Feb, early March. Also, the hardier varieties, which may occassionally produce fruit are diploid--they produce large, stoney seeds (though the meager pulp is edible and sweet). Bananas grown for fruit are triploid--no seeds.

The banana "tree" grows quite tall compared to the ornamentals that survive in Brandon from rootstock. Yours may get 7-10 ft while this one gets 15-20ft. The fruit is not "Chiquita" shaped. They are less curved, proportionately fatter and shorter. The ribs are more angular and the faces are irregular, occasionally inflexed. The fruit is very sweet and less firm in texture. Tissue sloughs easily and is sticky-slippery. The flavor is more intense. A friend has the same variety and harvested a few hundred pounds several years ago. I usually get 20-30 pounds but it all depends on how severe a winter its been. Often I get no bananas. My friend (also a botanist) made a banana wine that was not awful.

If the only bananas you've eaten are the commercial varieties available in the states and if you ever chance to travel to tropical lowland Latin America, I hope you'll arrive when local (non-export) bananas are harvested. There are a huge variety ranging from starchy plantains to small, sweet-sour reds ones. Flavors vary from bland, insipid, cloying, lingeringly unpleasant musky on one end to intensely flavored vanilla, apple, and pineapple flavors. I'm sure Europa could give you some excellent pointers in his neck of the woods. Guatemala, I think?

Bot

Ahh - Felder dba Mississippi Gardener Actually have one of his books trying to ID some of the plants we have on the newly aquired property.
I will now consider you a Banana expert - and I do get the opportunity to visit the "Banana Republics" - and have sampled a few varieties . I am very much into tropicals and your reply was very interesting to me - thanx

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Several fruit trees if that counts, and they all put out very well. A couple of years ago I put out a few of those three in one trees, a plum, a cherry, and an apple. Looks like they ready to produce this year. I’m not sure how these Frankentrees will work. Always tomatoes in a wine barrel, but no full on garden. I’m thinking of getting some old telephone poles, building a large raised bed, and doing melons. I’ve seen a three tiered circular raised bed with a sprinkler in the center that I think would be great for strawberry’s, and could be a neat landscape feature. Lot’s of stuff I could do, little that I really will.

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"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius

One-eyed man rules the kingdom of the blind.

B

Hey, I'm a gardener or sorts.

Being an interior landscape contractor, I have little desire to do any gardening at home. My landscaping is very simple and requires very little maintenence.

I would like to grow some herbs, like cilantro, basil, etc... for the fun of saying "I grew this"

I know I guy who grows mary jane and just got robbed of all his crop, does that count?

Easy come, easy go.

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