July 10, 2008


Dear Clusterflock

What do you grow that you eat? (Besides fingernails)

comments

15 Responses to “Dear Clusterflock”

  1. Cindy Scroggins on July 10th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    Okay, I’m visualizing Daryl’s garden–let’s see if I get it all:

    Herbs - basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, spearmint, chocolate mint, Mexican tarragon, sage, Italian parsley

    Vegetables - leeks, tomatoes, yellow and green peppers, okra, scallions

    Fruits - pomegranates, figs, blackberries

    Did I miss anything?

  2. Daryl Scroggins on July 10th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    That’s most of it. There’s also the bay tree, lemon verbena, and dill. And I just planted some ginger, but it’s barely sprouted. The only other thing is the pecans–which I don’t really grow, they are just here and have been, and every other year I get way more than I can shell.

  3. jandek on July 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    Currently we have english thyme, three types of tomatoes, basil, rosemary, mint, and pumpkins.

    Pomegranates, figs and blackberries? It’s like the Garden of Useless Delights over there.

  4. Rick Neece on July 10th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    Sage (a plant Mom brought me, oh, five years ago or so, just keeps acoming year after year. Newly planted basil (sweet and purple curls), a couple sprigs of rosemary, and chives. We’ll be lucky if they “make” in another month. (I’m so late with everything this year.)

    Two weeks ago I finally got things planted, the herbs, the containers on the patio. I nearly missed the season, all the annuals were “half-off” price-wise and pretty picked over, still it turned out OK, I think. I’m going in to get the camera for a couple snaps to post in a few (I sort of promised Ms. Ryan I would when I had finally planted.)

  5. Daryl Scroggins on July 10th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

    Oh I do hope you post pictures, Rick. Growing some of what you eat, or at least what you use to flavor dishes, has long struck me as an implicitly hopeful thing. I think it is possible to get so far removed from things that grow as to stunt something in ourselves without knowing it.

  6. Erin on July 10th, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    I’ve just got herbs in barrels: basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, purple sage, mint and lemon verbena. We tried vegetables a couple years ago, but lost to the damn gophers. (So we got a cat, but he can’t keep up, even at a rate of two or three a week. DAMN gophers. Our yard looks like WWI No Man’s Land, with all the gopher hills that pop up every single day.) There IS a mini-tomato plant in a barrel, though, squeezing out one weensy tomato at a time. I bought it from a man at the Farmer’s Market, because it’s name (type?) was Juliet. I don’t think I’ll be taking pictures. Oh, there’s dill growing wild all over our lot. I love that. Apparently the gophers don’t.

  7. Tracy on July 10th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    squirrels

  8. Dave Vogt on July 10th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    tomatoes, some kind of peppers, and millet (damn messy birds)

    apartment living doesn’t allow for too much planting, unfortunately.

  9. Cindy Scroggins on July 11th, 2008 at 8:36 am

    Fuck you, Tracy.

  10. Daryl Scroggins on July 11th, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Erin– I know the frustration of gophers. Only down here they have bushy tails and climb trees. They will go over to a tomato plant, pick a green tomato and bite it. Nope, not ripe–better taste another one just like it. Nope, not ripe…. We have cats too; they chase the beasts but turn and run if the critter tires of being chased. Do you think they make miniature tranquilizer darts? I hope Cindy didn’t see me say that.

  11. Cooper Renner on July 11th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    I don’t grow anything at the moment except older and tired. In my little RV paradise in El Paso, I was partial to rosemary and thyme (among the edibles) and petunias and iceplant (among the presumably inedibles). I didn’t eat the rosemary or thyme, for that matter. I just rubbed them and smelled my hands. I loved doing that. Or cutting snips of the rosemary to scent the RV. If I get to move into the RV park in Alamo, later this year, I hope to get into rosemary and thyme growing again.

  12. Sheila Ryan on July 11th, 2008 at 11:40 am

    Grow ye not wiser, Cooper?

  13. Erin on July 11th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    Daryl, we also have “ground squirrels” here in Cali. Most vineyards have poison traps set, which makes us pretty nervous about the pet factor, but so far our cat seems uninterested in the traps and their victims, so, phew.

    Also, I advise skipping the tranquilizer darts and going directly to the shotgun.

  14. Tracy on July 11th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

    mmm. and brussels sprouts. they proudly share a kabob with even the lowliest of squirrel.

    Hey Cindy.

  15. Cindy Scroggins on July 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am

    Oh, Tracy. Tracy, Tracy, Tracy. You live in Iowa, right?

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