sudsmaster
Well-known member
Here's what I've been working on in my free "off-line" time:
What's going in in BACK of your house today?
- Thread starter sudsmaster
- Start date
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Delicious figs
The birds like them too
The birds like them too
jasonl
New member
Figs
I feel like that sometimes.
I feel like that sometimes.
sudsmaster
Well-known member
They droop when ripe
And a perfectly tree-ripened fig is like honey.
And a perfectly tree-ripened fig is like honey.
I had my first tomato just about ripe for the pickin but some varmint pinched it off last night, took a few bites and left it.. 
58limited
Well-known member
I wish my camera hadn't conked out - I could show my grape vines - lots of grapes, but the birds are gettin' them. If I get around to putting a net over them, I should be able to get enough grapes to make 10 gallons of wine this year.
Otherwise the back yard is cluttered with my truck (stuck on the grass until the ground dries after 10 inches of rain last week), the half finished storage building and construction materials, and other unfinished projects.
Otherwise the back yard is cluttered with my truck (stuck on the grass until the ground dries after 10 inches of rain last week), the half finished storage building and construction materials, and other unfinished projects.
Mostly weeds, with a few mosquitoes and some Zoysia.
washertalk
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2006
- Messages
- 837
WooAAHH Wow !!
Rich, the garden looks AWESOME.
I am truly envious. I wish I could have done that this year. I enjoy gardening but too often lately, other things are happening.
Do you have probs with rabbits? I planted lettuce like that once it looked great and then next morning it was gone. upsetting.
looks great. I bow my head sir !
I will get there.
Rich, the garden looks AWESOME.
I am truly envious. I wish I could have done that this year. I enjoy gardening but too often lately, other things are happening.
Do you have probs with rabbits? I planted lettuce like that once it looked great and then next morning it was gone. upsetting.
looks great. I bow my head sir !
I will get there.
We planted a couple of grape vines this spring so not expecting any harvest this year. Ones a Niagara white and the other is a Concord.
Here's a pic taken a month or so ago of two trespassers aka my mom and the other half.
Here's a pic taken a month or so ago of two trespassers aka my mom and the other half.
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Washertalk,
Thanks, no problem with rabbits or gophers here. The property is well-fenced. The birds however really fancy the figs, so I've had to hand lots of mylar reflective tape on it to scare them off. The few they get I toss in the pond, where the turtle and koi devour them.
Snails are a real problem in this area but I've been pretty diligent in going out at night and collecting them, feeding them to the turtle, and they haven't yet made their way back from the neighbors' yards to the lettuce patch ;-).
This year I was happy to be able to plant when it did (in May). I had to wait a bit because I decided to remove a persimmon tree that used to be in the middle of what is now the vegetable patch. Although the tree trunk was only about four inches in diameter, the roots had to be about 10 inches diameter. Last year this time I was recovering from multiple broken ribs from a bike mishap... didn't get a garden planted until July last year.
Petek,
No tomatoes as yet (unless you count a single tiny Mama Mia paste tomato I spied this afternoon) but I think there will be a good crop. I set up eight 5 foot tall cages (made of concrete reinforcement wire grid): Early Girl, Big Beef, Beefmaster, Better Boy).
Your flowers look lovely, and the little hut in the lawn area very relaxing.
Thanks, no problem with rabbits or gophers here. The property is well-fenced. The birds however really fancy the figs, so I've had to hand lots of mylar reflective tape on it to scare them off. The few they get I toss in the pond, where the turtle and koi devour them.
Snails are a real problem in this area but I've been pretty diligent in going out at night and collecting them, feeding them to the turtle, and they haven't yet made their way back from the neighbors' yards to the lettuce patch ;-).
This year I was happy to be able to plant when it did (in May). I had to wait a bit because I decided to remove a persimmon tree that used to be in the middle of what is now the vegetable patch. Although the tree trunk was only about four inches in diameter, the roots had to be about 10 inches diameter. Last year this time I was recovering from multiple broken ribs from a bike mishap... didn't get a garden planted until July last year.
Petek,
No tomatoes as yet (unless you count a single tiny Mama Mia paste tomato I spied this afternoon) but I think there will be a good crop. I set up eight 5 foot tall cages (made of concrete reinforcement wire grid): Early Girl, Big Beef, Beefmaster, Better Boy).
Your flowers look lovely, and the little hut in the lawn area very relaxing.
Snails, ugghh. We don't have enough of them to be a problem but I remember years ago visiting a friend of mine who had moved to SF and got a place on Portrero Hill <sp>. It was pretty ramshackle at the time and the back yard was pretty much a wasteland but I can so remember the snails, it was infested with them and what seemed like thousands of dead ones littering the ground you crunched your way across.
Have you tried the saucer and beer trick to catch and kill them. Always wondered if that really worked?
Have you tried the saucer and beer trick to catch and kill them. Always wondered if that really worked?
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Another view
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Petek,
I have tried the beer saucer method but in my opinion it's kind of pathetic. I'd need a bathtub of beer to handle all the snails! And then the dead snails foul the beer. I have a better use for it ;-)
Instead, I use a good strong flashlight and some flower snips. Those snails I don't capture for the turtle, I just snip their heads off in place. Sounds brutal but it's either the garden or the snails. And it's a lot cleaner than stepping on them. I also periodically scatter some "Sluggo" non-toxic snail poison (ok for pets). It sort of works on those I can't find at night. I have learned that snails like certain types of weather. When the humidity and temperature are just right they tend to flock to certain places. When you find one, chances are there are more nearby. The places change depending on the nanoclimate. Weird, I know, but that's what I've found.
I have tried the beer saucer method but in my opinion it's kind of pathetic. I'd need a bathtub of beer to handle all the snails! And then the dead snails foul the beer. I have a better use for it ;-)
Instead, I use a good strong flashlight and some flower snips. Those snails I don't capture for the turtle, I just snip their heads off in place. Sounds brutal but it's either the garden or the snails. And it's a lot cleaner than stepping on them. I also periodically scatter some "Sluggo" non-toxic snail poison (ok for pets). It sort of works on those I can't find at night. I have learned that snails like certain types of weather. When the humidity and temperature are just right they tend to flock to certain places. When you find one, chances are there are more nearby. The places change depending on the nanoclimate. Weird, I know, but that's what I've found.
In my area have slugs instead of snails-welcome the ducks and geese from the nearby lake to come to my yard and eat the slugs-ducks and geese LOVE them-they will eat snails too.the duck and goose "poop" isn't pleasent-but goes away after the next hard rain.I have watched the ducks and geese "patrolling" the yards around my house-no slugs or snails after they have gone!Those guys eat them ravenously!
veg-o-matic
Well-known member
Ick slugs
We had 'em at my old place. They'd leave so many trails of slime in the garden, it looked like I'd hosted a circle jer...uh...
Ortho "Slug Getta" worked best for me. Dunno if it hurt the little beasties but I didn't care a whole lot!
veg
We had 'em at my old place. They'd leave so many trails of slime in the garden, it looked like I'd hosted a circle jer...uh...
Ortho "Slug Getta" worked best for me. Dunno if it hurt the little beasties but I didn't care a whole lot!
veg
We're lucky not to have been in THIS back yard...
From The Washington Post.
A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old guest.
"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he demanded, according to D.C. police and witness accounts.
The five other guests, including the girls' parents, froze -- and then one spoke.
"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, blurted out. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"
The intruder took a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupéry and said, "Damn, that's good wine."
The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder, described as being in his 20s, to take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the bottle. The would-be robber, his hood now down, took another sip and had a bite of Camembert cheese that was on the table.
Then he tucked the gun into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants.
"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said, looking around the patio of the home in the 1300 block of Constitution Avenue NE.
"I'm sorry," he told the group. "Can I get a hug?"
Rowan, who lives in Falls Church and works part time at her children's school, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Then it was Rabdau's turn. Then his wife's. The other two guests complied.
"That's really good wine," the man said, taking another sip. He had a final request: "Can we have a group hug?"
The five adults surrounded him, arms out.
With that, the man walked out with a crystal wine glass in hand, filled with Chateau Malescot. No one was hurt, and nothing was stolen.
The homeowner, Xavier Cervera, 45, had gone out to walk his dog at the end of the party and missed the incident, which happened about midnight June 16. Police classified the case as strange but true and said they had not located a suspect.
"We believe it is a true robbery," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, who is in charge of patrols in the Capitol Hill area. But it's one-of-a-kind, she said, adding, "I've never heard of a robber joining a party and then walking out to the sunset."
The hug, she said, was especially unusual. "They should have squeezed him and held onto him for us," she said.
Rabdau said he hasn't been able to figure out what happened.
"I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of casualty," Rabdau said this week. "He was very aggressive at first; then it turned into a love fest. I don't know what it was."
Rabdau, a federal government worker who lives in Anne Arundel County with his family and lived on Capitol Hill with his wife in the 1980s, said that the episode lasted about 10 minutes but seemed like an hour. He believes the guests were spared because they kept a positive attitude during the exchange.
"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau said. "Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned -- like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?"
After the intruder left, the guests walked inside the house, locked the door and stared at each other. They didn't say a word. Rabdau dialed 911. Police arrived quickly and took a report. They also dusted for fingerprints -- so far, to no avail.
In the alley behind the home, investigators found the intruder's empty crystal wine glass on the ground, unbroken.
From The Washington Post.
A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old guest.
"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he demanded, according to D.C. police and witness accounts.
The five other guests, including the girls' parents, froze -- and then one spoke.
"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, blurted out. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"
The intruder took a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupéry and said, "Damn, that's good wine."
The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder, described as being in his 20s, to take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the bottle. The would-be robber, his hood now down, took another sip and had a bite of Camembert cheese that was on the table.
Then he tucked the gun into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants.
"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said, looking around the patio of the home in the 1300 block of Constitution Avenue NE.
"I'm sorry," he told the group. "Can I get a hug?"
Rowan, who lives in Falls Church and works part time at her children's school, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Then it was Rabdau's turn. Then his wife's. The other two guests complied.
"That's really good wine," the man said, taking another sip. He had a final request: "Can we have a group hug?"
The five adults surrounded him, arms out.
With that, the man walked out with a crystal wine glass in hand, filled with Chateau Malescot. No one was hurt, and nothing was stolen.
The homeowner, Xavier Cervera, 45, had gone out to walk his dog at the end of the party and missed the incident, which happened about midnight June 16. Police classified the case as strange but true and said they had not located a suspect.
"We believe it is a true robbery," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, who is in charge of patrols in the Capitol Hill area. But it's one-of-a-kind, she said, adding, "I've never heard of a robber joining a party and then walking out to the sunset."
The hug, she said, was especially unusual. "They should have squeezed him and held onto him for us," she said.
Rabdau said he hasn't been able to figure out what happened.
"I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of casualty," Rabdau said this week. "He was very aggressive at first; then it turned into a love fest. I don't know what it was."
Rabdau, a federal government worker who lives in Anne Arundel County with his family and lived on Capitol Hill with his wife in the 1980s, said that the episode lasted about 10 minutes but seemed like an hour. He believes the guests were spared because they kept a positive attitude during the exchange.
"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau said. "Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned -- like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?"
After the intruder left, the guests walked inside the house, locked the door and stared at each other. They didn't say a word. Rabdau dialed 911. Police arrived quickly and took a report. They also dusted for fingerprints -- so far, to no avail.
In the alley behind the home, investigators found the intruder's empty crystal wine glass on the ground, unbroken.
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Something doesn't make sense.
Why couldn't they get the fingerprints off the wine glass? It's a classic ploy to get someone's prints.
Why couldn't they get the fingerprints off the wine glass? It's a classic ploy to get someone's prints.
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Most of the snail/slug poisons like Bug-getta contain metaldehyde, which is quite toxic to cats and dogs. I have two cats, so I no longer use it. "Sluggo" is just iron phosphate, which has low toxicity. The problem is that it doesn't seem to work all that well.
Ducks and geese would be good, but they'd probably eat a lot of the veggies too (lettuce esp), I imagine. And I wouldn't want them in my koi pond.
Ducks and geese would be good, but they'd probably eat a lot of the veggies too (lettuce esp), I imagine. And I wouldn't want them in my koi pond.
I don't want toxic pest products around either-have lots of feral cats that I leave food and water out for.If the stuff is toxic to bugs,slugs,cats and dogs-its going to be toxic to you.There is noting in my yard the ducks and geese will hurt-yes if you have a koi pond the ducks and geese would be a problem.
sudsmaster
Well-known member
A few years back a pair of ducks like to visit our cul-de-sac. I think they were attracted because a retired neighbor would spend his days throwing bird seed out into the street for any feathered friends to consume. He'd chase away the squirrels. The mallard duck pair would fly in, eat a little seed, and then move down to my driveway and start squawking in the general direction of the house. Never did figure out why, but once the male picked up an empty snail shell and dropped it and glared at me. LOL. So I figured they liked to eat snails.
Anybody know how to make a fig pie or torte/tart? I have a few pounds of fresh figs in the fridge. Going to slice them, layer in sugar, and freeze until I can figure out what to do with them. Had to pick them before they spoiled and/or the birds got to all of them. Really tasty fresh, but there are only so many figs I can eat in a day, and they don't keep more than a couple days in the fridge.
Anybody know how to make a fig pie or torte/tart? I have a few pounds of fresh figs in the fridge. Going to slice them, layer in sugar, and freeze until I can figure out what to do with them. Had to pick them before they spoiled and/or the birds got to all of them. Really tasty fresh, but there are only so many figs I can eat in a day, and they don't keep more than a couple days in the fridge.
I find that the granulated snail & slug bait that comes in a round shaker can works better than anything else and it lasts longer after getting wet. My partner came home with a box of Corry's pellets and that stuff is useless. The snails blew right past it and chowed down on a 1-gallon heliotrope that was new from the nursery and completely defoliated it. They also made short work of an amarylis that I think is now a lost cause since they apparently ate part of the bulb as well.
Our cat doesn't go near anything but her own food so pellets have never been a problem, but granules are even less of an attraction to domestic pets. I'm going to have to get out and buy reinforcements soon as the snails are going to be out of control otherwise.
Our cat doesn't go near anything but her own food so pellets have never been a problem, but granules are even less of an attraction to domestic pets. I'm going to have to get out and buy reinforcements soon as the snails are going to be out of control otherwise.
gyrafoam
Well-known member
Oh, the drought has wrecked my garden this summer. Can barely keep the tomatoes, and herbs going. The poor fig trees are just putting out a few pitiful examples. I had hoped to can some figs this summer as it has been a few years. Oh well----
I do find the bird-netting I get at Lowes does help with the bird problem. Takes two nets to cover a good size tree.
The best thing is once the figs get to the ripe stage start going out early every morning and collecting the ones that are ready to pick. You will notice the birds like to peck at them later in the day-----and you won't want to use them then!
No telling where that bird's pecker has been, anyway.
I do find the bird-netting I get at Lowes does help with the bird problem. Takes two nets to cover a good size tree.
The best thing is once the figs get to the ripe stage start going out early every morning and collecting the ones that are ready to pick. You will notice the birds like to peck at them later in the day-----and you won't want to use them then!
No telling where that bird's pecker has been, anyway.
sudsmaster
Well-known member
It generally doesn't rain here in any appreciable quantity from May to at least October. All the veggies in the garden are irrigated with drip hoses - usually the perforated 1/4" type. I use well water but could use tap water as well. The fig tree doesn't seem to need any irrigation beyond the water it gets from the winter rains, but I did direct the discharge from flushing the fish pond filter in its direction a couple months ago. There is no way to grow veggies in the summer in this mediterranean climate without some sort of irrigation.
mickeyd
Well-known member
"a few pounds of fresh figs in the fridge"
MAKE FIG NEWTONS.
Never had a fresh one off the tree. Heard they're orgasmic. Can you describe the taste, or likenesses?
At first blush, the first pic looks like a marijuana garden; better watch out for Cheney cams.
The figs look incredible.
PS. The thread is now gone, but I've been keeping a vintage metal hand grater in the laundry room (GARAGE) to grate Ivory, Dial, or Irish into the machines. Quicker and easier than processing or water-mushing. Try it. Got my eye out for a bar of Fels. Now THAT will be a smell !
Happy Beautiful Sunday, All
MAKE FIG NEWTONS.
Never had a fresh one off the tree. Heard they're orgasmic. Can you describe the taste, or likenesses?
At first blush, the first pic looks like a marijuana garden; better watch out for Cheney cams.
The figs look incredible.
PS. The thread is now gone, but I've been keeping a vintage metal hand grater in the laundry room (GARAGE) to grate Ivory, Dial, or Irish into the machines. Quicker and easier than processing or water-mushing. Try it. Got my eye out for a bar of Fels. Now THAT will be a smell !
Happy Beautiful Sunday, All
sudsmaster
Well-known member
Well, these figs are Desert King variety, so my description would be for them only. When fully ripe (when they get soft on the tree and with a yellowish tinge) they are very sweet, almost like honey. They have a bit of a crunch from the immature seeds inside (this variety doesn't need pollination to put out fruit). There is only one crop, in the late spring/early summer. Other fig types generally have two crops, spring and fall, but I like having the main crop in the spring when other fruits still haven't matured.
The recipes I've seen for fig newtons use dried figs. I haven't tried drying these, but I suspect since they are so juicy they might be difficult to dry.
Re: grating soap. I use a KA stand mixer with a fine shredding attachment. Works very well. Glad you're getting good results with yours.
The recipes I've seen for fig newtons use dried figs. I haven't tried drying these, but I suspect since they are so juicy they might be difficult to dry.
Re: grating soap. I use a KA stand mixer with a fine shredding attachment. Works very well. Glad you're getting good results with yours.
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