Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Oct. 19

Happy Autumn, everyone! We have a special treat today:

Kibbutz Ein Gedi is situated above the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel. About 60 years ago, the kibbutz began planting its botanical garden, which essentially covers the kibbutz’s open areas. From Wikipedia:

The kibbutz operates a 100 dunam (10 ha, 24.7 acre) botanical garden housing over 900 plant species from around the world. It is the only populated botanical garden in the world, with 500 residents. The garden joined the register of the Botanic Gardens Conservation International in 1994. The garden includes date palms and Arecaceae, tropical and desert flora.

Mrs. BD, myself, along with daughter and grand pups in tow, strolled the grounds last week. If I recall correctly, there are over 40 types of palm trees planted throughout the kibbutz.

Here are a few of the pics I took:

Regards from Jerusalem,

Biden’s Dog

Truly a remarkable place, considering that there are 500 people living in the kibbutz. I recognize some of the plants, but certainly not all of them. I read that it's hot there, and isolated, but there's a spring.

Thanks for these fascinating photos!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

I missed this last week:

Hi,

Sorry, I bailed out early on the thread. Most of the time no one replies to me, so I leave.

Anyway, We live in LV and it gets hot in May. We're still getting 100 plus temps for at least the next week. That's usually fine because I drape that green outdoor netting over the plants. Maybe it's because I used Miracle-Gro stuff. I'd seen a story a while ago that their stuff wasn't any good.

We planted cherry tomatoes, and Early Girls in a different bed than last year. We had the tomatoes all over the place last year and got bowls full of toms. This year, the plants wouldn't even grow. One or two green ones that shriveled up. I pulled them. A second bed had two zucchini plants. The flowered, but it seemed we got only a couple female blooms. One set and started to get good sized, then we saw it turned yellow on the end. There were a few more, but they all yellowed and shrunk after a couple days of good growth. On a third bed we planted two rows of carrots. They grew up, then stopped. I'm not sure, but maybe the watermelons nearby took all the water. The melon plants grew well and I kept them trimmed. Had a few good sized ones and waited and waited for the yellow spot that indicates ripeness. Cut one open and it was completely white inside.. Some of the others were the same way. The last one was overripe. I pulled everything out after that.

I planted garlic, marigolds, and basil in between most of the plants for pest control. That part worked at least. Couldn't get very many bees or butterflies to pollinate. So, I don't know if it was over or underwatering, poor soil, or no pollinators. I'll amend the soil and deepen it in the new bed to see if that works. I'll put the tomatoes back where they were last year. I'll keep trying because you never know how the economy will be in the next few years.

Thanks.
OrangeEnt

A couple of things off the top of my head:

1. You don't need pollinators for carrots or tomatoes. You do for zucchini or melons, though you can hand-pollinate zucchini.

2. Miracle-Gro potting mixes vary regionally and by specific mix. Check locally for recommendations. Some of the icky kinds may be government-mandated.

3. Methods for testing melon ripeness vary by variety. It's easiest to tell if you choose one that slips from the vine when ripe.

Any other tips for OrangeEnt?

Grapes of Wrath

I missed yesterday’s Gardening thread. Oops!

Last week, I went up to our vacation home in Israel’s north Galilee. Because of the war, we have stayed most of the recent time in our home in Jerusalem. However, there are things in our vacation home that have to be maintained every now and then.

One of my tasks early last week was to bring back grapes. They’re organic.

Normally we would have started picking them about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Since then, they began to overripen on the vine. I’ve attached a pic of what I found in abundance.

I don’t know what variety of grape this is. When they’re just ready to eat, they have an almost tropical flavor, with hints of passionfruit and mango. Once overripe, they are super-sweet.

“But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken.” – Michah 4:4

Regards from Jerusalem,

Biden’s Dog

Makes me sorta misty. What a wonderful thing. Sounds like a great variety, too.

Ah, Nature

Chinese infiltrator warning

Hi
I was out on my little terrace and spotted a bug. I have very loud crickets that keep me up at night so went to step on when it spread its wings and turned into something beautiful. I took a picture intending to send it to the garden thread for ID when my phone told me it was an adult spotted Lantern Fly an invasive species from China. They are really gross. Aside from damaging crops and trees, they feed in large groups producing a sickly sweet by product called honeydew which leads to fungal diseases.They are swarming right now in the DMV. So if you see one, step on it. Don't take a picture.

Sharon(willow's apprentice)

Pretty for a fly. Too bad it's a baddie.

Puttering

From Miley:

The peeling of the 1st Luffa

Looks kind of non-technological. We will be interested to hear about the other processing steps for your luffas.

Decorating for the holidays? A couple of quick tips to remember:

How old were you when you learned this?pic.twitter.com/3k7VZ1rNV4

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 18, 2024

How to avoid paint drips from the brush

[📹 TIPCentric]pic.twitter.com/rTYU5mG8yP

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 18, 2024

Adventure

Re-thinking gutters. Scroll down one to seen an underwater view. Ready to visit Japan?

A street in Japan where a roadside channel is like an aquarium
pic.twitter.com/4LOxyvAOGF

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) October 18, 2024

Gardens of The Horde

post-Helene okra devastation

Hi KT,

Don't know if you can see the blown-over okra here, but the zinnias don't care - they're still flowering like crazy. At one time you couldn't see the black water barrel in the okra forest - a few of the burgundy okra were 8' tall.

It's a nice pic of the layout. I prefer the back porch because all you see are the trees (none of which fell).

-Miley

Things look better near the house than in the garden. Nice to see your layout, even if in terrible circumstances. Your zinnias are tough!

Hi KT,

This is Mama Publius' front porch rocking chair (her daddy made it back in the 40s). The moonflower vine has crept from the garden trellis, along the wall of the house, and is now climbing her rocker!

Miley, okravangelist

Great photo and story. Thanks.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Oct. 12

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.