What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Congratulations on the successful closing @ Sueby. Best of luck with the new property @karenerwin. Is this the property you were going to fix up? Thanks for the input on the Jerusalem artichokes. I will cross them off my curiosity list. I have enough problems with two species of invasive butterfly bush. They are lovely and attract butterflys and hummingbirds, however, they are invasive so I won't be intentionally adding another invasive plant to the property. My main tomato is a Roma. I like to can sauce, however I want to find a better variety for canning whole tomatoes. I'm finding more often I like to use canned whole tomatoes over sauce. All in all I'm really hoping for a better yield this year. Last year was rough. Knock on wood, we're having a mild January so far. My contractor has requested to hold off on finishing up the interior painting until we get a bad weather day so his crew can focus on exterior projects. I'm ok with that. I'm hoping to get started on removing the wallpaper in the living room next week so I can paint the walls. Next on the kitchen renovation list is getting an exhaust hood that actually vents outside installed. I may have to replace my electric range so I'm on the fence, leaning toward replacing it with a gas stove. I know that would make canning a whole lot easier. Decisions, decisions! LOL! I got one of my apple trees and my peach tree from Jung. I think they are in Michigan (?). I can't give them a stellar referral since I've not harvested anything from them, but that could be user malfunction.

 

[Sueby]

I would KILL for a gas stove!! Cooking on gas is so much better. I was trying to talk DH into getting a whole home generator which would run on propane & then I could get a gas stove! It all seems a bit silly to do, we have no place for a propane tank, we have 2 extremely large generators already that run the entire house & my current stove is only 2 years old & I do love it. But WHATEVER, I want gas!

 

[littledog]

After living here for the past 10 years, the first time I've ever had a garden space of my own or a gas stove, I never want to move!
For years I was never that much interested in cooking, until I worked in a restaurant during college and learned a lot. Growing a garden made me even more interested in healthy food and now my gas stove has helped make most of my cooking attempts successful. Love the gas!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I totally prefer gas stoves over electric. I need to get estimates on the whole expense, but rummaging through the FAQ’s on the utility website it may not cost me anything to run the gas line from the street to the house. That would lower the overall cost.

 

[Acre4Me]

couple plum trees, a couple hardy apricots

These are on our list for this year too. I ordered from Grandpa's Orchard this year, so hopefully a good source.

We ordered from Stark Bros last year, and got two Asian Pear trees. They are so far healthy. However, I find that a lot of things are out of stock at any given time on their website, but maybe they will have what you want.

Nature Hills Nursery,

WOW - you aren't kidding! $$$! Hopefully a healthy and great looking tree!

Sometimes it pays to spend a bit more and get a good tree. In our last house - suburbia, large residential neighborhood, we wanted a nice Maple to replace an unhealthy dogwood (wrong spot for the dogwood). So, we purchased one from a native tree sale put on by the parks department. Well, our tree came with an invasive weed. It took 2 different lawn companies and about 3 years to get it under control. We had planted this tree in our front yard - closer to the road (our front yard was pretty big and was on a hill, so it was a great location for a focal tree). But that invasive weed was threatening to take over our whole front yard. So, it was a bad decision to go with an inexpensive native tree from source unknown because we certainly paid for the equivalent of a few good trees in lawn service/weed treatment costs. Chances of us buying from a native tree sale are zero! And, no, I don't remember what type of weed it was - too long ago.

 

[Sueby]

If I had gas at the street there would be no question! So jealous!

 

[Acre4Me]

Gas stove - something we've talked about. The gas line is accessible and would only need to be run 25 ft (approx) to stove location. But, don't think we would do it until we remodeled the kitchen sometime in the future.

If I had gas at the street there would be no question! So jealous!

One of the selling points for this house was the fact that it has natural gas hookup. There was a big factory put in after this house was built, about 3 miles or so to the North. They needed gas. So, it was run up this street (as the story goes), and at the time they were running it, they allowed the homes to opt in. Apparently homes built after this line was installed cannot tap into the line - I guess bc of it going to factory? I really don't know bc I wasn't here then. There is a new home currently being built just south of me, but also south of a large business. I would assume same gas line as it is on the same road, but not sure - wonder if they will get natural gas or not? so far haven't seen any evidence of either propane or natural gas going in that home, so will have to see.

 

[WthrLady]

They only catch one at a time though and they are cost prohibitive to take care of a population of mice.

They are pricey, but the investment has been worth it. We used regular traps along side them for about 3 months to knock down the population, and were emptying both several times a day. The number of misses by standard traps was staggering. Now we only have the electrics and the population is down to where we only have to empty every few days, meaning a kill. I'll show you this past year's record when I go out to the barn today.

 

[WthrLady]

at all of you wanting gas so badly. I mean re-read those posts before your first cup of coffee.
Heck, Sue even wants gas on the street.

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But seriously, one of my first requirements for my forever house was a gas range at least. Gas heat would be nice, but a cooktop was a must and a deal breaker.

We run on propane, and have gas heat, (98% efficient) a gas range, and gas fireplace; but the water tank and oven are electric.

It's grand unless it's a high demand year, in a high fuel cost year. Tank fill ups can go over 900$ and you can do it 2-3 times a winter in a bad year. But the good years make up for it. We are currently in a low cost and low use year, and I just got topped off for the winter for 272$. That should hold me until next October.
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As for tomatoes I prefer the SanMarzano hands down. I'll do a couple of cherry for DH and a couple slicing, but the bulk of my 50 plants are SMs.
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BTW I built my greenhouse last night in my dreams, but when I was done and stood back to inspect my final handiwork, I couldn't see where it was on the acreage.

Foggy, icy, snowy, slick here today. No idea what I'll get into.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I know gas is better for cooking. But I can’t stand the smell. I’m also rather scared of accidentally blowing something up. I don’t like regular electric stoves either. I prefer a glass top stove. What I’d really like is an induction stove. It cooks and heats faster like gas but is safer and more energy efficient. The cook top never gets hot so it’s safer with kids and pets. It’s also a lot easier to clean than gas or electric since any spills don’t get baked on.