BTW. Nylon string strung from the cheap metal posts for a 4' high trellis? Big disaster!!!

Even pulling the string as tight as I can get it without pulling up the temporary posts the weight of the 6+ foot vines makes em sag. Is terrible to harvest the flowers.

Next year? Cow panels on good heavy duty posts with more room to walk between....

I figure about 6-8 rows each over 50 feet long.

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I am what I am! Acknowledging this is the beginning; and my growth is yet to end.

Ahh the joy of discovering the medicinal value of plants. I love herbalism! Plants are amazing.

Be aware though that passion flower (whole plant not just flowers) can cause problems with excess testosterone production so using that much may cause her some little side effects like sprouting some unwelcome facial hairs That's a pretty high dose using a half cup per dose. I usually use a couple heaping tsp per cup of tea.

I love the smell of the dried plant, smells sort of like the tobacco we used to grow when I was young.

I just planted strawberries after reading last month about fall planting them on this forum. Let you know in May how it turned out.

We grew that Peruvian blue corn I asked about earlier in the year. It made huge huge plants, taller than hickory king. But didn't make ears! Only one or two that I've found so far. I think struggling through the extreme heat and drought caused it because once it got water it grew so well.

Got some Lacinato kale growing now. I also want to plant some of that in my front flower beds because it's so cool looking, but I might have waited too late.

Started some comfrey from roots I got from Rick, those are doing great. I'm happy to have them and my goal is to get more medicinal plants started.

Grew some of the big salad purslane but didn't have many seeds so it wasn't enough to eat much of. But it's making seeds now so I have plenty for next year. I love the tart taste of purslane and it's very nutritious.

I've got some boysenberry plants that I stuck in the ground years ago then basically ignored. This year I transplanted the little remnants of them that had rooted around in the grass and am seeing what they will do. I don't like how they try to run down across the grass every time they get a chance, it's a lot of work to keep them tied up it seems. They should bear some fruit next year, we'll see if it's worth it.

I never liked the thornless blackberries I'd tried in the past so have been putting up with an old thorned variety that came from my grandmother years ago. But a local you pick farm has some thornless ones that are pretty good. I want to find out what they are and plant some and get rid of these thorned ones next year. Or work on getting rid of them anyway, it's really difficult. Maybe I'll fix it so I can turn the goats in on them...

ETA - also started an unknown old variety of topsetting onions that mommathea was kind enough to share.

Cliff, she only uses the leaves so might not be a problem. Do you know which part of the plant has the most testosterone in it? I might try it for some extra energy myself. Yes we like to make all our stuff stronger than normal. Tea vs. infusion (or even tincture vs. extract) is like a glass of Nestea vs. a cup of black coffee.....All my extracts are dark green almost black...

bak2tn, save your strawberry leaves. They are medicinal and good for arthritis!! Once you harvest your fruit snip the plants off at ground lvl and hang to dry....

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I am what I am! Acknowledging this is the beginning; and my growth is yet to end.

I bought 2 small fig trees last fall and they're growing in my high tunnel right now. Noticed last week that I have figs!

Chris

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Chris DeVries
Common Ground CSA
http://csa.amandadevries.com

It doesn't have testosterone in it. I think it causes an increase in testosterone production and release, I'll have to look it up again. That could be good or bad depending on your particular body I guess. Btw I think the testosterone effect has something to do with the name of the plant

I'm still a beginner gardener really, so everything is new to me. But this summer I have a packet of seed peanuts to plant - I have my heart set on making my own peanut butter. I'll put them in once it warms up a bit more, then cross my fingers and toes!

This thread has been a joy to read. And I love it when people post photos of their gardens - it's so inspiring!

Passiflora incarnata (the whole plant) is well known for it's relaxing properties when dried and used as a tea. I hadn't heard of any connection to testosterone. Are there references available?

Many - google passion flower and testosterone.

Will this kill the plant?

I planted delicata squash and sugar baby melons. Both for the first time. I just wished, I planted more than one plant each.

I will plant both again.

Peanuts! I saw a packet of peanut seed from the Ontario Seed Co. this spring and bought it on a whim. I had no idea that peanuts would grow in our area, but the seed packet said they would, so I thought I'd give it a try. Not many seeds in the packet, just enough for one 8-foot row. They came up, and they flowered, and then they didn't seem to do anything else. I had read up on peanuts and they are supposed to throw "pegs" out which arc back into the soil and that's where the peanuts grow. Well, I imagined these "pegs" as large (or at least visible) shoots, and I never saw any... So I figured they hadn't made any... We've had a bad, bad drought all summer, and I didn't irrigate the peanuts, I just gave them a couple of gallons of water a few times during the worst of the drought. So I figured they hadn't "set fruit" (or in this case, nuts).

This afternoon when I was picking the ripe tomatoes (yes, our tomatoes are still ripening in mid-September - we've had a rough year!) I decided to pull one of the peanut plants, just to see. The book said to leave them until the leaves turned yellow, and mine are still green, but curiosity finally got the better of me and low and behold - there were peanuts! Just a few (I pulled one of the smallest plants), but actual honest-to-goodness peanuts had grown in my garden! I'm totally thrilled, and will be planting LOTS more next year. The best part is that they grew with hardly any irrigation in a summer of severe drought. Since our local climate seems to be getting hotter & drier in the summer, this is so good to know!

I make all our jams & jellies, but we buy a fair bit of peanut butter and roasted peanuts. Knowing I can grow our own peanuts makes me feel like I'm one baby-step closed to self-sufficiency. We have hazelnut and walnut trees that should start to bear in the next couple of years, so with peanuts and sunflower seeds (which I know I can grow) we'll be all set for reasonably reliable non-animal protein

Opalaka paste tomatoes...wow, these are like steaks on a plant! Good crop even with our drought. 4 o'clocks all thru the garden which really brings the hummingbirds and butterflies.

HINT--peel,cube,salt and steam your butternut squash. You end up with more to eat than roasting. I add a touch of honey or brown sugar and butter. Yum. Freeze bags of it...do have to buy as bugs here are totally agin me having squash of any kind although they do allow my favorite canteloupe Ambrosia for some odd reason!

Strictly container gardening, very hot and dry climate. Tried pole beans of several varieties, made a fairly serious try with maybe several dozen plants grown from seed spread over a couple dozen pots. Not much to my surprise, the very low humidity seemed to just suck the life out of the runners despite shading and watering. Will not try again. However, based on OK results from a few bush beans tried last year planted mid-July, I shifted all the pole bean containers plus a lot that had had squash in them to bush beans of several companies and varieties, planted from early to late July. Any sprouts that didn't make it, I just shoved a few more beans into the soil until a decent number of pots had several plants growing each. Had to use old sheets for shading for maybe a month to month and a half, putting them up and down each day was a pain but leaves toasted quickly if I didn't. Anyway, beginning a week or so ago I started picking decent-sized pods and look to have maybe 40-50 plants to work with, it'll surely be warm enough for another month and a half for production. Also tried a supposedly heat-adapted bush bean from a local seed-saver group but got diddly from those dozen or so plants with spring germination.

Tried several of some sort of black beauty-type eggplant starting as a Bonnie's pot, put each into a huge pot to cover good growth. Got a few fruits that were tasty enough, but they seemed to toast and shrivel a lot in the outer branching through August, not blossoming at all through August despite sheet draping. There seem to be some flowers now again, so just possibly I might get the best production over the next month and a half? Ichiban/ oriental style grow great through the heat (as does okra), but they get a bit boring... suppose I'll do several of the bb's again next year.