WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD JULY 21, 2017

freerepublic | JULY 21, 2017 | greeenyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds.

From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[greeneyes]

I certainly feel better most of the time too when there’s fresh food just a few steps away.

[greeneyes]

Yes, we have a big bunch of volunteer poke that comes up every year. I hate it, but hubby loves it. I’m sure it’s great nutrition though.

[DuncanWaring]

If you try it, remember those are “sugar beets”, not those red things people normally think of as “beets”.

[MomwithHope]

LOL I use the same nozzle settings for the same purposes.

[MomwithHope]

Fresh dandelion salad is the best. I grew up on it. You have to pick the youngest leaves. Toss with some bacon bits and slices of hardboiled egg and a vinegar and oil dressing. Lots of minerals.

[tillacum]

Well it took care of that fireant hill and the ants. I saw it on the ‘puter. The directions are on the ‘puter too. I’ve forgotten the address, but I’ll bet if you just go to “melting aluminum” you may find it. It looks simple, I think he used concrete blocks for the “stove”. But it did take a lot of cans. I want to try it, but hubby thinks I have a lose screw between my ears. What a decroateive piece it would make.

[TEXOKIE]

Oh wow! Thanks for that tip! I’ll go get a couple of pounds of it today!! Wonder how/why it works? On the face of it, it would be easy to try to make a case that it would actually be a food source for them.

[TEXOKIE]

LOL! If I were dealing with fire ants, I probably would dive in with all four feet to try it! In a previous post, greeneyes said cornmeal worked for her. It might be a good idea to try something like that before getting out the nucs!

I wonder if boiling water would be effective to pour over the ant mounds?

I agree about the aluminum decorative piece. That would really be fascinating! I wonder if by the same token you could pour hot wax in there and get the same or similar effect without having to collect all those cans! Might not kill the ants, but you could get a cast of their nest, I would think.

[TEXOKIE]

Darlin and I are reading a book by Dr. Joseph Mercola called “Fat for Fuel.” He explains that not only is there insulin resistance, but also leptin resistance. He also explains what he has learned about the physiology of the the mitochondria which are the generators for producing energy for the cells and the entire body. Modern carb based diet DESTROYS the mitochondria, and for that reason, even if a person is thin, they should consider moving toward a more fat-fuel based diet rather than a carb-fuel based diet.

Not necessarily easy to do, but worth considering. I am learning so much so far from just the Intro and Chapter One!

[tillacum]

A couple of our neighbors use gasoline then torch it. I’ve tried cornmeal, but....I’ve head of boiling water, but haven’t tried it. Hot wax may get rid of the ants, but they may be difficult prying them lose from the cold wax. Golly that’s an idea...boiled fire ants coated in chocolate or salted. No, that’s not quite a good idea, they carry in their bites the same close to rattle snake venom. So that’s not such a great idea. Now when the grasshoppers begin to invade our gardens, we could capture them, cook or fry them, some friends went to Oaxoaxa and visited an open market saw the grasshoppers for sale. She wouldn’t try one, but he said they weren’t bad, with salt.

[MightyMama]

I actually really enjoy them - a lot of wild greens are nutritional powerhouses, because nobody’s bothered domesticating them and breeding them for size and shippability. Chickweed is my absolute favorite - it shows up in mid-February in zone 7, and it tastes mildly peppery and SO GOOD when you’re craving something really fresh. (That’s the problem with gardening; you get spoiled about fresh food.) The leaves are too little to be worth harvesting, but the stems are soft, so I just chop it up and toss it into stir-fry. Deadnettle is the one that I harvest for cooking with - soft fuzzy leaves, so not really good fresh, but it dries well. And lamb’s quarter I *adore* but is kind of hard to find where I live - we had an accidental patch sprout up last year and now it’s my favorite part of the yard. It’s mildly tasty but insanely useful.

[Melian]

I’d like to try but my son-in-law wants them eradicated...

[TEXOKIE]

LOL!

Garden patch is near a gas main. I figure Darlin might have something to say about me firing up the patch next to that puppy! It’d be great though, wouldn’t it?

LOL! It is an intriguing question: how to get rid of the suckers the most efficient and clean way!

I’m glad I’m not dealing with fire ants but just the tiny little black sesame seed sized ants. They definitely get your attention, though if they bite you!

[tillacum]

You’re lucky you aren’t dealing with fireants. They are everywhere here. We were invaded by some piss ants, in the kitchen, but I put some mint oil in their area and haven’t seen any since. I’ve read ants and rodents don’t like mint.

[tillacum]

Thank you, I’ll try that. Great idea with the silver dollar idea, give it a try.

[Augie]

Crazy weather in Central Missouri over the past week. Africa-hot with terrible humidity, 3.5" of rain early Sunday morning accompanied by one of the most amazing electrical storms I've ever seen, and today back to more normal temps.

The rain came hard and fast, but it couldn't have come at a better time. I've been running dripline irrigation in the pumpkin patch 24/7 for a couple weeks now, and I was able to shut that down for awhile at least. The pumpkins are in full bloom and should be setting fruit soon. The butternut squash are all loaded with little baby squashes. Cucumbers are suffering in the heat.

I picked the first ripe tomatoes over the weekend. There's nothing like a BLT made with fresh home-grown tomato. Green beans are vined 10' up the arbor and blooming like crazy. Cabbages have pretty much folded up from the heat, and the lettuce is toast. I expect that I'd find my pepper plants loaded if I could find some time to clean up the weed patch that has overtaken them.

Rocket's coondominium is almost done. #1 Daughter helped me on that a bit yesterday. We got the wire up on two sides. Need to finish the wire wrap and build a cubby hole on the inside and she'll be able to move in.

[TEXOKIE]

I do count my lucky stars that we don’t have the fire ants in our yard!

Did not realize that about mint! Thanks for that tip too!

[TEXOKIE]

Hi greeneyes! You and tillacum have supplied me with a number of ideas on how to approach my ant problem. I’m going to try the cornmeal solution first.

Have just obtained a big sack of cornmeal. -5 Pounds- Affected plot is about 4x4.

How did you apply it, greeneyes? Was it surface only? Or did you work it in? Lightly sprinkled, or heavy snow of if?

My okras and sunflowers in the plot are losses, I believe, and so I guess this is my year to recondition the plot! I harvested the two what-I-had-thought-were- garlic, but turned out to be onions which remained in the plot. One of them had gone to seed and exploded. That’s ok. Maybe they will volunteer next year to be an onion patch - if we can persuade the ants to leave!

I’m still wondering how it works!

[TEXOKIE]

Just did a quick search - apparently the cornmeal alone doesn’t get them, but mixing it with boric acid does.

http://www.gardenguides.com/127543-kill-ants-corn-meal.html

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/cornmeal-rid-ants-86655.html
Did you do something like that?

Another article says that cornmeal GLUTEN will starve the ants over time.

Hmmmm interesting. Wonder how to get THAT!

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/organic/cornmeal-in-the-garden.htm

I’m very interested in your take on this! THANKS!