Posted on 03/03/2017 7:29:22 PM PST by 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.
We have done a bit of yard work, getting leaves into compost pile. Indoor tomatoes have some flowers! LOL I might actually have some tomatoes before summer.
I have received an article today regarding food shortages. Some rationing is going on. Lettuce, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil specifically in London and Europe. Argentina and Mexico are also having issues.
University of Michigan states that price of water will go up and become unaffordable for 1/3 of the population. If the California Dams break, that can also have a negative impact.
Augason Farms had quite a few dehydrated food items on sale for 30-50% discount, so I picked up some cans of stuff that I have difficulty growing. These are great with 10-30 year shelf life. Good to help fight inflationary food prices as well as for emergencies.
Hope all is going well. Prayers up for everyone and restoration of our Republic. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Back to seasonal freezing temps here in new England. The February thaw was particularly lovely this year!
English peas are up, Irish potatoes, too. Lettuce and cabbages planted, broccoli goes in tomorrow. I have to put up the deer fence, too.
Great weather for planting!
Pinging the list.
I can’t really have a garden or plants currently, but I know this time of year is coming up on Maple syruping time for my brother and his family in lower VT. Good stuff when I’m able to get a taste of it.
Thanks for your threads they remind me of the fun and challenges I had veggie, rose, perennial etc gardening in years past in various climates.
Any nice day in winter is quite a welcome gift.
I have some winter lettuce and spinach. Will be planting potatoes around 4/01/2017.
Glad you enjoy the thread. In the past, I have just grown one pot of nicely scented flowers when I didn’t have a space to garden, but was lucky enough to have a window.
I’ll be moving in a few months and it will be a place I can at least have a potted plant, maybe even flowers :)
Do you have a link to the articles you mentioned? I was trying to look up about the water, is it a local, national, world problem the U of Michigan was taking about?
It was a notice from Emergency Essentials, forwarded to me by a friend. I believe that the water cost was for the USA, and was related to the replacement of aging pipes.
Need Advice for Milling Corn. For a couple years now been saving and drying field corn from my garden which I enjoy grinding for cornbread, grits, etc. Have yet to find a grinder I like. Have seen some hand grinders for $400 which is way out of my price range. Can anyone recommend a good hand powered grinder please? Thanks.
I grew up in Ohio & my father would go out into the woods & tap maple trees. The smell of it cooking down was so good. He also made amazing whole wheat bread. Great memories. Hope you get some of your brother’s syrup.
We are having a warm spell here in Colorado. The high temp here at MC Ranch in the Rocky Mountains was 37F. Down in Denver I think it got up to 55F. Right now it is 32F. Seems time to get early starts going indoors. Just have to find space in front of windows.
All I have done is think about stocking up on food, not actually doing it. Will check out the auguson farms you mentioned.
HI, from Missouri. We have peas planted. I have been able to get the new drip system put in on the top garden. I have experimented with various way to water the raised beds and have finally broke down and ordered hose with emitters installed. I’ve had the same hose down for 8 years on the fence line and it’s held up well.
I have 192 seedlings started between peppers and tomatoes. Some of them for mom and my brother. My wife calls me insane for growing so much but the neighbors like me HA.
Seven kinds of peppers planted, 3 bell and 4 hot. I scrounge old rungs to put between the trellises to keep weeds down. Gardens are fenced to 4 ft and up to 8 ft with electric fence to keep deer out too. Solar fence chargers.
Hope you didn’t use those jiffy peat pots with the little pellets- I planted a bunch of pepper seeds couple of years ago, several varieties, and NONE sprouted. Then I found out that peppers won’t sprout in those peat pots, too acid. Good luck.
I bought a 4 inch start of Black Cherry cherry tomato about a month ago, and it’s about a foot tall, with several blooms (I’m in Central TX). Today I bought a couple of Mortgage Lifter (beefsteak) tomatoes that are supposed to get huge, a couple of Cherokee Purple tomatoes, and one Black Krim tomato, another beefsteak type. Gambling on the beefsteak types and the cherry tomatoes, the Cherokee purple are one of the best tasting I have ever eaten. Also bought a couple of Gypsy peppers, they are reliable profuse sweet peppers.
The best corn grinder I’ve found is a “Moulin a Mais”, which I think I got for around $15 from shopgoodwill.com several years ago. Normally, there’s a lot of competition for grain mills at that site, but because the person writing the listing didn’t translate the name, it slipped under most people’s radar. It’s a brand popular in Haiti, at least according to a quick web search. How it ended up in Wisconsin I’ll never know.
I like the fact that it’s solid steel, with a cast iron burr. It does need bolting down, the clamp doesn’t hold well enough. But once bolted in place, it handles my flint corn like a dream.
I found out why it’s called flint corn when I tried to grind it in my Wonder Junior. It was like grinding gravel! I swear it left dings in the burr.
The Wonder Junior is better for softer flours.
I don’t really have great options. I picked up on sale a coffee grinder that has several settings, and that is what I use. Sometimes, I use a blender. I do have a hand cranked mill on the shelf in case of long term electrical outage.
I don’t bake very often, so only need to do a cup or so at a time.
Sounds like a good thing to do.
I got some from Walmart on line, and some from Amazon too. I hate to use Amazon, but sometimes they have stuff others don’t and sometimes it’s cheaper.
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