Central Texas Hearts.

[Worth1]

Started seeds last night 12/25/11 and added Virginia Sweets to the list.
Then I thought about it and added Sun Gold, Azoychka and Costoluto Genovese.

Seems as though another raised bed is in order.

Now if only the mud would go away.
I have clover seeds coming up that didn't sprout from last years drought.

Worth

[Tracydr]

I'm thinking about growing Brad's Black Heart. Any opinions on this one? How does it do in heat and drought? How does it do in early spring, with cool nights and warm sunny days?
So, Worth, do you winter in TX and summer in Alaska? Do you haul plants back and forth, start some to take with you, how do you work the gardening side of things?

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

So, Worth, do you winter in TX and summer in Alaska? Do you haul plants back and forth, start some to take with you, how do you work the gardening side of things?

Tracy,
I put in around 75,000 miles a year flying back and forth from Texas to Alaska.
I fly one way or the other every 2 weeks when I left the last time it was 31 below zero.
As for the plants I have it is very stressful.
All I do is worry like a mother hen about the plants, when I call my wife it is not to see if she is doing ok it is to ask how the plants are doing.
She is not nor will she ever be anything close to a plant person.
Many times I have to come home just to nurse my plants back to health only to leave and come home to do it all over again.

I come home to rotten tomatoes she hasn't picked.
Plants that are covered in bugs.
Plants eaten up with horn worms.
All kinds of crops not picked.
One time I came home and their was some store bought lettuce on the counter and I had a garden full of butter head lettuce ready to harvest.
At first I got really ticked off but now I just blow it off, there is no use getting mad.

Now I look at it as a challenge to overcome.

I envy you guys that are at home all of the time you have no idea how lucky you are.

Worth

[Tracydr]

I can't even imagine store bought lettuce when there is fresh lettuce in the garden. Sounds like you have your hands full commuting. I don't envy you, I used to commute to another state and I hated it. I have dogs and horses. I could never feel comfortable boarding my horses, it always seemed like things went wrong while I was in the other state.
My husband would never consider trying to keep a garden alive, although he does go out and harvest his own tomatoes and peppers when he wants them for a salad.

[Worth1]

The first to sprout, drum roll---------------------.
Orange Russian in 5 fays from sowing.

Worth

[Zana]

WTG!!!!! I'm green with envy wishing I could start mine this early.

Zana

[Worth1]

Virginia Sweets just sprouted.

Man this plutonium is really doing the trick.

I have to get my lights hooked up.


Sorry folks but I took a hiatus from tomatoes last year and am a little excited.

Note Virginia Sweets is not an Ox Heart.

Worth

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Virginia Sweets just sprouted.

Man this plutonium is really doing the trick.

I have to get my lights hooked up.


Sorry folks but I took a hiatus from tomatoes last year and am a little excited.

Note Virginia Sweets is not an Ox Heart.

Worth

Right, Virginia Sweets is not a heart variety, it's a lovely gold/red bicolor.

And since Worth was making a comment about Wes, I ended up sending him some older Wes seeds with instructions on the best way to wake them up and also added Linnie's Oxheart, Fish Lake Oxheart ( new seeds from 2011 since the ones I offered last year didn't germinate well) and Granny's Heart.

Worth, please let me know when they arrive and I sure hope you can get them sowed before flying back to the tundra.

IS there any chance of finding a job closer to home than Alaska? I don't know how well I'd do making that long commute every couple of weeks, but I suppose your job is secure and the pay good as well. Do they pay for your flights back and forth or is that out of your pocket?

Just an anecdote.

I called yesterday for fuel delivery. The woman who writes up the tickets is related to Freda, who does so much for me here at home. Last delivery was Nov 17th. I use A1 Kerosene with my Japanese wizard Monitor with electric baseboard backup heat and if the power goes off there's a big German Weso woodstove in the large front room.

I was really upset about the last delivery b'c I thought the price of kero was way too high even though Julie said they were comprable with others. When Marcus made that delivery we talked and he said Carolyn, we may not agree with the pricing policies of the owner but we keep our mouths shut b'c we have a job.

So yesterday I was pleased to hear that the price was down a bit and told Julie that and said that I hoped John, the owner, was able to skim enough off from profits to finish the almost total rehab he's been doing with his home, using his employees in the summer to do some of the work. She just burst out laughing, which was GOOD.

This is a small village that I live near and everyone knows what everyone else is doing, so there are no secrets once someone starts buying large amounts of stuff from the hardware store or the lumber store, or heavens forbid Stewarts, the excellent convenience store chain here in NYS and adjacent VT, which is THE gossip center.What a pity that I can't get down there to sit in Stewarts and get all the gossip first hand, but Freda knows all, and so I rely on her to tell me all.

And yes, there are folks here willing to do almost anything to find a decent job; and there are many of them still collecting unemployment benefits and hate it b'c they've worked their whole lives and it's a job they want and nothing less.

When the unemployment benefits give out I honestly don't know what some of them are going to do to pay for fuel and food. NYS has siginificantly lowered fuel benefits and the local food pantries are mobbed. I've tried to help out with money donations, as have others, but it's never enough.

All to say that I feel very blessed that I worked long and hard my whole life and have enough money in retirement to allow me to live a comfortable life.

[Worth1]

Carolyn I will let you know when the seeds get here and yes I hope I can sew them before I leave.
I have to pay for my own tickets to Anchorage and back but the pay more than offsets the ticket price. No there is no way I could find a job that pays what I make up there, here in Texas.
Sure, I could make it but it would be a struggle, “I don’t want to struggle I have had to do that too many times.
The thing that bothers me the most is the garden and the plants, it is unnerving this time of year while I am up there.
And no social life as most people make friends from work I have none to speak of anymore except from work up in Alaska.
So we text each other and send pictures back and forth.
I have never been one with a need to be surrounded with friends so it doesn’t bother me that much.


Worth