Garden Report and Kansas City Trivia
The Kansas City Royals made it to the world series (baseball). That's nice. No skin off my nose if they win or lose the series. That's all.
Kansas City, MO is actually the home of the Royals. This confusing nomenclature almost guarantees that many residents of at least two states are fanatically loyal to the team--both Kansas and Missouri.
Kansas City, Missouri was named for the Kansa Indian tribe that populated the area. That is exactly the same reason Kansas was chosen as a state name. Missouri named their city before Kansas named their state. For the way I'd like this story to go, this is inconvenient. Kansas thought Missouri should change their city name to Missouri City, especially since a city had developed on both sides of the Missouri river at the same spot, and Kansas really wanted the city name and state name to match on their side of the river. They also seem to have wished to ride on the coattails of the Missouri city's success and larger size. So they gave their city the same name as the state name. It worked! The city on the Kansas side grew and prospered.
Together, the two cities make up one of the larger urban areas in the nation. Divided, each city is one of the larger cities in the states in which they are located.
The Kansas River comes from the west (through Kansas) to join the Missouri River at the site of the two "Kansas City" towns. North of the confluence, the river forms the border between Kansas and Missouri. South of the confluence of the two rivers, the border follows a meridian line near 94 degrees west longitude.
This border also divided the two areas in other significant ways. West of the line became Indian Territory at one point before statehood, and settlers were moved out (e. g. the Ingalls family of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books). East of the line later became slave territory, and west of the line was a free state.
********************
On Saturday night we had a light frost, and the cantaloupe and cucumber and winter squash vines noticed, but nothing else in the yard and garden paid any mind. Weather Watchers (Facebook group) is predicting the first big freeze on November 8. We'll see.
That hoped-for rain did not materialize here last week. It all fell south and west of here. The necessary lift was not present, and the storm system fell apart--whatever that means. Disappointing.
********************
I keep carting in beautiful heads of broccoli from the garden, but the cauliflower and cabbage are still biding their time. Chinese cabbage has some fat heads, and the mustard Hiromi harvested once for pickles has grown out again and is ready for a second harvest.
I have only one kohlrabi plant and one carrot that came up in the row where I had planted them. I'm letting both of them grow till the first big freeze to see how the timing might work out for another time, when germination will hopefully be better.
Spinach also germinated poorly, but now has huge "heads" wherever it grew. I'm enjoying arugula in sandwiches. Hiromi leaves it all to me. "Too strong," is his pronouncement.
The Italian kale is almost entirely smooth-leaved, with leaves up to 2 feet long. The plants are more than a yard wide.
I'm trying to work up the courage to harvest all the beets. I'll need some mighty big kettles to cook them all, or I need to repeatedly re-use the ones I have. Years ago I once canned diced beets in a mixture that contained water, vinegar, and sugar. When I opened the jars, I drained the beets and used them to make a salad similar to a potato salad, with the beets substituting for the potatoes. I liked it. It had a shocking pink color. Recently I made something similar without pickling the beets first, and it was too sweet for my taste. Does anyone else use beets in a creamy salad? How? I've forgotten what I did.
Last week I planted garlic and winter onions. The garlic sets came from Dwight's potluck, and the winter onions were from the little bulblets at the top of the onion leaves on the mama plant. I hope to have green onions in early spring from this planting, while leaving the mama-plant to do its multiplying thing next year again.
***************
I started this post almost a week ago, and intended to add more wrapup content to it. I never got back to finishing it, so now it's outdated, but I'm going to publish anyway.
Several updates: The winter onions are coming up. I do have several sizable cauliflower heads out there now--all in the Snow Crown row, and at least one cabbage head worth harvesting. Most of the cole crops should have been planted earlier, but the broccoli was nearly perfect. We planted all of them on July 26, direct-seeded outdoors. Next year, with the ability we now have to control the seed-house temperatures during the summer, I think I will seed the heading cole crops indoors around the first of July, and perhaps seek to germinate some of the other seeds indoors as well--like spinach, for example, that much prefer cooler soil temperatures for germination. According to this germination temperature chart, not many seeds are happiest with soil temperatures in the 80s, and we're very fortunate if ambient temperatures in July get down to the 80s.
This week we've had a 31-degree morning that really zapped the green beans. I think the tomatoes are still OK, and all the cold-hardy cole crops certainly are. Hiromi has pulled up all the plants for the vine crops. He's attempting to destroy the hiding places for squash beetles and other pests. I'm thinking that the mulch we decided to leave in place in that area will still provide abundant hiding places, but far be it from me to interfere with any tidying-up activities anyone around here wishes to undertake.
Our new puppy, Barney, thinks the cauliflower bed containing a double row of the huge plants is the coolest hiding place ever. We love how the cat and Barney are co-existing--if not happily, at least peaceably. The cat has the good sense not to run from Barney, thus depriving him of a taste of the thrill of a chase. She also has the good sense to hiss at him when he gets too vigorous with his sniffing activities in indefensible spots. Detente is a good arrangement between dogs and cats IMHO. Close friendship is probably too much to hope for in most cases.
We're still puzzling over how the hind quarters of a freshly killed rabbit happened to arrive near the back door. The cat has been known to kill rabbits (she's a big cat!). Did she present it as a gift to Barney? Did Barney find it and drag it to the back door? We don't think there's any chance that Barney could have killed a rabbit by himself. He's too inexperienced and unskilled for that. We do hope his skills develop in that regard, however.
Kansas City, MO is actually the home of the Royals. This confusing nomenclature almost guarantees that many residents of at least two states are fanatically loyal to the team--both Kansas and Missouri.
Kansas City, Missouri was named for the Kansa Indian tribe that populated the area. That is exactly the same reason Kansas was chosen as a state name. Missouri named their city before Kansas named their state. For the way I'd like this story to go, this is inconvenient. Kansas thought Missouri should change their city name to Missouri City, especially since a city had developed on both sides of the Missouri river at the same spot, and Kansas really wanted the city name and state name to match on their side of the river. They also seem to have wished to ride on the coattails of the Missouri city's success and larger size. So they gave their city the same name as the state name. It worked! The city on the Kansas side grew and prospered.
Together, the two cities make up one of the larger urban areas in the nation. Divided, each city is one of the larger cities in the states in which they are located.
The Kansas River comes from the west (through Kansas) to join the Missouri River at the site of the two "Kansas City" towns. North of the confluence, the river forms the border between Kansas and Missouri. South of the confluence of the two rivers, the border follows a meridian line near 94 degrees west longitude.
This border also divided the two areas in other significant ways. West of the line became Indian Territory at one point before statehood, and settlers were moved out (e. g. the Ingalls family of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books). East of the line later became slave territory, and west of the line was a free state.
********************
On Saturday night we had a light frost, and the cantaloupe and cucumber and winter squash vines noticed, but nothing else in the yard and garden paid any mind. Weather Watchers (Facebook group) is predicting the first big freeze on November 8. We'll see.
That hoped-for rain did not materialize here last week. It all fell south and west of here. The necessary lift was not present, and the storm system fell apart--whatever that means. Disappointing.
********************
I keep carting in beautiful heads of broccoli from the garden, but the cauliflower and cabbage are still biding their time. Chinese cabbage has some fat heads, and the mustard Hiromi harvested once for pickles has grown out again and is ready for a second harvest.
I have only one kohlrabi plant and one carrot that came up in the row where I had planted them. I'm letting both of them grow till the first big freeze to see how the timing might work out for another time, when germination will hopefully be better.
Spinach also germinated poorly, but now has huge "heads" wherever it grew. I'm enjoying arugula in sandwiches. Hiromi leaves it all to me. "Too strong," is his pronouncement.
The Italian kale is almost entirely smooth-leaved, with leaves up to 2 feet long. The plants are more than a yard wide.
I'm trying to work up the courage to harvest all the beets. I'll need some mighty big kettles to cook them all, or I need to repeatedly re-use the ones I have. Years ago I once canned diced beets in a mixture that contained water, vinegar, and sugar. When I opened the jars, I drained the beets and used them to make a salad similar to a potato salad, with the beets substituting for the potatoes. I liked it. It had a shocking pink color. Recently I made something similar without pickling the beets first, and it was too sweet for my taste. Does anyone else use beets in a creamy salad? How? I've forgotten what I did.
Last week I planted garlic and winter onions. The garlic sets came from Dwight's potluck, and the winter onions were from the little bulblets at the top of the onion leaves on the mama plant. I hope to have green onions in early spring from this planting, while leaving the mama-plant to do its multiplying thing next year again.
***************
I started this post almost a week ago, and intended to add more wrapup content to it. I never got back to finishing it, so now it's outdated, but I'm going to publish anyway.
Several updates: The winter onions are coming up. I do have several sizable cauliflower heads out there now--all in the Snow Crown row, and at least one cabbage head worth harvesting. Most of the cole crops should have been planted earlier, but the broccoli was nearly perfect. We planted all of them on July 26, direct-seeded outdoors. Next year, with the ability we now have to control the seed-house temperatures during the summer, I think I will seed the heading cole crops indoors around the first of July, and perhaps seek to germinate some of the other seeds indoors as well--like spinach, for example, that much prefer cooler soil temperatures for germination. According to this germination temperature chart, not many seeds are happiest with soil temperatures in the 80s, and we're very fortunate if ambient temperatures in July get down to the 80s.
This week we've had a 31-degree morning that really zapped the green beans. I think the tomatoes are still OK, and all the cold-hardy cole crops certainly are. Hiromi has pulled up all the plants for the vine crops. He's attempting to destroy the hiding places for squash beetles and other pests. I'm thinking that the mulch we decided to leave in place in that area will still provide abundant hiding places, but far be it from me to interfere with any tidying-up activities anyone around here wishes to undertake.
Our new puppy, Barney, thinks the cauliflower bed containing a double row of the huge plants is the coolest hiding place ever. We love how the cat and Barney are co-existing--if not happily, at least peaceably. The cat has the good sense not to run from Barney, thus depriving him of a taste of the thrill of a chase. She also has the good sense to hiss at him when he gets too vigorous with his sniffing activities in indefensible spots. Detente is a good arrangement between dogs and cats IMHO. Close friendship is probably too much to hope for in most cases.
We're still puzzling over how the hind quarters of a freshly killed rabbit happened to arrive near the back door. The cat has been known to kill rabbits (she's a big cat!). Did she present it as a gift to Barney? Did Barney find it and drag it to the back door? We don't think there's any chance that Barney could have killed a rabbit by himself. He's too inexperienced and unskilled for that. We do hope his skills develop in that regard, however.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
10:33 AM
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