--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00000 Date: 12/29/97 From: BARBARA BUCKANTZ Time: 11:19pm \/To: ALL (Read 2 times) Subj: poinsettas Never had a poinsetta before, never really cared for them, besides have had cats most of my adult life, so couldn't keep that type of plant till now. I wouldn't have bought one myself, but someone gave me one. I need to know how to take care of it. What type of sun does it like or dislike? Any special watering tips? --- GAPNet Enhanced * Origin: QUACKERS BBS - Cleveland, Ohio (1:157/443.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00001 Date: 12/30/97 From: BARBARA HAZEN Time: 09:49pm \/To: SANDRA PEAKE (Read 2 times) Subj: Re: A second use .... Hi Sandra Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. Our local bbs has been down and I just got all my mail for the past week in 1 large lot. -=> Quoting Sandra Peake to Barbara Hazen <=- SP> I love that stuff, but I don't dare add it to my list of hot drinks. SP> The last thing my (poor) health needs is another addiction to a SP> proscribed food or beverage. >:-( But if my hubby gets one... SP> SLURRRRP! I got some capichino mix from hubbie. I have never tried it other than from the stores. I'll keep you posted. SP> Now flour I keep stored in the freezer. That way, if I don't bake SP> for a month or two, it stays fresh, and all I have to pitch is a SP> small canister upstairs. This is especially needful for whole wheat SP> flour, which loses its vitamins and goes rancid shortly. That gives I had never thought of that. Thanks. (grin) SP> My best storage containers are glass - I have numerous restaurant SP> pickle jars left over from my milking days, and a couple are SP> permanent incubators for my Kombucha cultures. :-) Please explain your milking days? And what kind of cultures? I am always looking for new ideas both to save money, and to use things I already have, or to experiment with new info. I also hope you had a good holiday season since I did not get a chance to wish it to you before. Barb ... It isn't hard to meet expenses...they're everywhere! --- GEcho 1.00 * Origin: Blue Beam MailServer Stoney Creek Canada (1:2424/3120) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00002 Date: 12/30/97 From: DORIS DIGNARD Time: 10:14pm \/To: LINDA MILLER (Read 2 times) Subj: T'was the night before LM>Wanted to share this with you and whomever...this was read to us >during our church lamplight service tonight... LM>'Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house >not a creature was praying, not one in the house. >Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care >in hopes that Jesus would not come there. ....................snip................... Now that is certainly different. Thanks for sharing it. Doris Dignard dorisdignard@better.net doris.dignard@capcanada.com * 1st 2.00 #9125 * Nouvelle Cuisine: More on the bill than on the plate. --- PCBoard (R) v15.3 (OS/2) 5 * Origin: FidoNet: CAP/CANADA Support BBS : 416 287-0234 (1:250/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00003 Date: 12/30/97 From: MARILYN BOISSONEAULT Time: 10:31pm \/To: ROB PRINGLE (Read 2 times) Subj: cuttings??? -=> Quoting Rob Pringle to Marilyn Boissoneault <=- Hi, finally got a chance to get to my replies. Hope you remember what we were talking about! RP> You can also try leeching out the accumulated "salts" by simply RP> running water through the pots for a few hours. In the compost RP> any nitrates will eventually be converted to nitrates - very good RP> for most growing things that need it. Well I replaced all the potting soil with fresh. I have the old soil sitting on plastic in a big pile while I decide what to do with it. I had added some dolomite to it, but not sure if I added enough. Maybe I should just till some in to each row that's vacant. I won't be planting for a month and a half probably. That would give it some time to work or whatever. I guess having self watering pots does make it hard for those "salts" to do anything but build up over the years. I hadn't thought of that till things quit growing and I started looking for the reasons. I guess ph and salts probably. The pots have wicks but guess I could every now and then just run some water through them without the saucers. RP> Sounds good. I expect you can count on perhaps a ten percent RP> failure rate - but that can vary a lot. Doggoned if I know why - RP> sometimes there are no losses at all - and sometimes it seems RP> everything will die. The impatien cutting we were talking about before is now growing! So I felt encouraged and started several others. I stripped most off the leaves from them and put in soil like the first one. RP> gave up on that a couple of years ago when someone showed how easy RP> and better it was using a rooting medium. (No soil, basically - RP> just vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss). I have done perhaps RP> forty or fifty (perhaps more) with african violet leaves since last RP> May - and the losses have been far less than ten percent. (And many RP> of those were because a certain ancient dog wanted to make a bed in RP> a nice warm rooting flat) Grin. Oh, when I say soil I'm not talking about garden soil but a mix like that with vermiculite etc. I don't think I'm ready for African Violets yet. I better stick to the easy stuff! MB>I suppose I could experiment, put a few in soil in pots, MB>and a few in water and see what happens. I haven't had much time so haven't gotten into experimenting. I guess the water part will have to wait. But I'll try to keep you posted on the ones I just planted in soil mix. Marilyn ... I can say anything I want because nobody reads taglines. ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Alexi/Mail 2.00 (#10000) * Origin: Space Coast REACT, Melbourne FL <407> 255-9069 (1:374/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00004 Date: 12/30/97 From: MARILYN BOISSONEAULT Time: 10:31pm \/To: ROB PRINGLE (Read 2 times) Subj: bake-sterilising soil -=> Quoting Rob Pringle to Marilyn Boissoneault <=- MB>If you are having cold temps and your furnace MB>running you might not like having to open the windows to get the MB>smell out. RP> You might not like it - but from my previous experience - it was RP> the only way to survive... Grin. I hope we can hear from somone RP> that has done it correctly so we can see what their experience has RP> been. If not - well I guess I will just have to try it myself. RP> After hearing horror stories on the smell I've never had the urge to try it. I have just heard that it's better to do outside, perhaps on a barbeque grill. But I think I'll pass on that too! Marilyn ... My computer has a nut loose on the keyboard. ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Alexi/Mail 2.00 (#10000) * Origin: Space Coast REACT, Melbourne FL <407> 255-9069 (1:374/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00005 Date: 12/30/97 From: MARILYN BOISSONEAULT Time: 10:31pm \/To: MARIA VAN RYMERSDAEL (Read 2 times) Subj: Canning/preserving -=> Quoting Maria Edelhausen to Marilyn Boissoneault <=- ME> Like you describe a kale, it must be surely the same as my curled ME> cabbage. I found that name in an English dictionnary. Good, finally got it right! ME> At this moment I don't grow Sprouts, but I've been growing them ME> several years ago. One year I had nice sprouts and the year after I ME> only got very small ones. Just as for Kale, Sprouts need also to get ME> some frost, to tast much better. Well most years I don't get the frost, which is fine with me. I have quite a few tropical plants and prefer not seeing frost! MB> I imagine heating would be far too expensive but at least you can Marilyn ... I started out with nothing. I still have most of it left. ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Alexi/Mail 2.00 (#10000) * Origin: Space Coast REACT, Melbourne FL <407> 255-9069 (1:374/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00006 Date: 12/30/97 From: MARILYN BOISSONEAULT Time: 10:31pm \/To: DEBBIE FORD (Read 2 times) Subj: Knobby Trees -=> Quoting Debbie Ford to Marilyn Boissoneault <=- DF> Thanks Marilyn...but the problem is that I have never seen one DF> around here before nor heard of it. The "parent tree" is in southern DF> Calif. and I live in northern Calif. a big difference in climate and DF> all. Sorry I've been so long replying. I can imagine that the climate is very different than in Southern California. I live in Central Florida and there are things I can't grow that can be grown just a little ways further south in the state. So I hope your knobby tree will make it through your winter. Marilyn ... Make Windows go fast: drop it from a balcony. ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Alexi/Mail 2.00 (#10000) * Origin: Space Coast REACT, Melbourne FL <407> 255-9069 (1:374/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00007 Date: 12/30/97 From: MARILYN BOISSONEAULT Time: 10:31pm \/To: SANDRA PEAKE (Read 2 times) Subj: bake-sterilising soil -=> Quoting Sandra Peake to Marilyn Boissoneault <=- SP> He is. Non-bakers might prefer to pour boiling water through small SP> quantities of soil, let the soil settle, and decant off most of the SP> excess water and let the rest dry for a few days, then add DRY soil SP> amendments such as sterile perlite or peatmoss, etc. The boiling water method sound a lot easier, but don't know that it would be as effective. I'm lazy and just buy a mix. I have one brand I prefer, that does well for me. SP> After trying both methods, I preferred baking. Nowadays, though, I SP> buy a fair bit of prepared soils, particularly those formulated with SP> compost, and rarely have reason to complain. (Had a big batch of SP> weeds, once, and received a free large package directly from the SP> company, located 20 miles from here, after I wrote to complain.:-)) I've had trouble with weeds in bought topsoil, compost, and the cow manure. I don't buy those anymore. I also have brought home horse manure from a local stable. I learned to NOT put directly in the garden or I would end up with great pasture grass! It is good to add to the compost pile though. Marilyn ... Incoming Fire Has The Right Of Way ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Alexi/Mail 2.00 (#10000) * Origin: Space Coast REACT, Melbourne FL <407> 255-9069 (1:374/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: EG^00008 Date: 12/30/97 From: MARILYN BOISSONEAULT Time: 10:31pm \/To: SANDRA PEAKE (Read 2 times) Subj: Canning/preserving -=> Quoting Sandra Peake to Marilyn Boissoneault <=- SP> Broccoli, a cole family member, flowers and goes to seed easily in SP> the same year. As long as it doesn't get too hot, too fast, the seeds SP> should be viable. Broccoli can actually be set out after well SP> hardening off, as a small seedling long before frost ends. Although SP> timing is everything, you might be able to start broccoli seedlings SP> anytime, and set them out in Feb, or whenever your expected big SP> freezes are over. Not frost...freezes. (Whenever the temps dip below SP> freezing and remain there for several hours.) That's true, I'd forgotten about broccoli, it does flower quickly. But I usually use a hybrid so no point in saving seeds there. Actually January is the last planting month for broccoli here. Spring usually arrives about the middle of Feb, then starts warming from there. SP> If you don't expect any of those, why not set your broccoli out SP> shortly, and you'll be hopefully harvesting a crop in two months, SP> just when everyone else is thinking of starting some. :-) I do usually put some out in Jan to replace the stuff I ve had in the ground since Sept. I might be a little late though since I forgot to start the seeds! I seem to be behind schedule in everything! SP> But you MUST harden it off quite well, being prepared to lug the SP> seedlings in during that period if a heavy frost threatens. After SP> they have spent several days in full sunlight, and maybe a couple of SP> nights as well, they can be planted in prepared soil and mulched. For SP> your peace of mind, if a heavy frost threatens, you can always toss a SP> blanket on them for overnight. :-) Well I don't have to worry about the hardening off with broccoli, I just start those in little 6 packs outside. The wx is usually perfect for them. I need to start my tomato, pepper seedlings soon though. Those have to be inside and then hardened later. Things are kinda diff down here in the sub-tropics. Marilyn ... It works! Now, if only I could remember what I did... ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Alexi/Mail 2.00 (#10000) * Origin: Space Coast REACT, Melbourne FL <407> 255-9069 (1:374/710) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: F1100000 Date: 12/30/97 From: LAIRD KELLY Time: 11:19pm \/To: CHRISTOPHER GREAVES (Read 2 times) Subj: seedless cukes CG>How do they propogate seedless cucumbers? CG>I just noticed that the latest "cuke" I brought home has no CG>seeds! Couple of possibilities: 1. A *sterile* hybrid (i.e. a "mule") 2. A fruit-setting hormone was used to produce fruit without pollination Hope this helps, Laird * SLMR 2.1a * Looossseeeee! You got some 'splainin' to do! --- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 * Origin: Knight-Line! (1:138/239.0)