Weekly Gardening Thread – 2009 Vol.9 – July 10

FreeRepublic | 7-10-2009 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Toward the end of last weeks Gardening Thread there was a short discussion about saving Heirloom Tomato seeds. Many of you might have missed the information so I thought I would start this weeks thread on that topic.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Geeze! That’s a LOT of nitrogen...but it most liklely will work.

High Nitrogen IS needed for corn, and the sweet corn field (700 acres) around me WAS side dressed with injected (into the soil, but I got a few wiffs!) Anhydrous Ammonia, fer Pete’s Sake, and despite a lack of rain, that corn is lookin’ good and doing just fine. Nice and green :)

My co-worker runs the fertilizer area; I’ll get back to you at the end of the day on Wednesday when he gives me a recommendation, OK?

Ping me on Wednesday, lest I forget!

[who knows what evil?]

I will...thank you very much!

[abner]

I even had a Great Horned Owl roost in the coop one night; it was late fall and chilly, so the hens just cuddled right up to him on the roost, LOL! Simply amazing! (And solid proof that they’re not all that smart; sleeping with the raptor enemy? Come on!)

That is the most awesome thing I have heard in a week. Thanks!

[tubebender]

(Heck, I’D crawl into a trap for peanut butter!)

I wondered who was getting my Peanut Butter on Lettuce bait from my traps. I got the surprise of my trapping life last year when I caught my first Possum. Possums are plentiful way out in the hills but have finally made their way into Eureka. I caught 2 of them and one had babies in its pocket and I gave that one to a person to relocate way out yonder...

[chris_bdba]

Still too early here for tomatoes. We did see our first Jalepeno pepper on the vine today and the green tomatoes are everywhere.

[Gabz]

The highest mortality rate I had was a few years ago when I had a rouge, pregnant female raccoon getting into the coop and killing hens.

"Round these parts "rogue raccoon" means one thing and one thing only: RABIES. They are dispatched quickly, and there are no hav-a-heart traps involved. Foxes and coyotes are also dealt with similarly.

As a guy from Game and Fisheries (or whatever the department is called) told my neighbor --- Stick with the 3 S routine. Shoot, shovel, and shut-up. Rabies is such a problem in this county they don't have the time or man-power to handle ever call about suspicious critters. Of course my other neighbor, the real-deal crazy cat lady, was appalled at that, even though a coyote had recently made dinner out of one of her cats.............

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yep. Trapped her, then shot her. Then shoveled. Haven’t said nothin’ ‘til now. ;)

There have been two other rabid raccoon and one rabid gound hog over the years.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

He was gorgeous...and didn’t kill a one of them, which was simply amazing. Any port in a storm, LOL! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

For such a gentle creature (the world needs ‘garbage men’) they sure are scarey when cornered! The dogs had one cornered once, and when it opened its mouth to hiss, I’d never SEEN so many teeth in one critter, this side of a ‘gator, LOL!

[Gabz]

We were talking about possums recently, because the only ones Jax and I have ever seen (except in the zoo or on TV) have been street pizza...........

[Diana in Wisconsin]

‘Street pizza,” LOL!

[djf]

Now I was at the store and they had some squash plans and cucumber plants that were pretty big and they were cheap so I bought about 8 of them.

After a few days, they started to show alot of white spots on the leaves and the leaves turned yellow. I gave them a bit of fish fertilizer, but it didn’t seem to help.

So I hit the Google and found out it is a fungus called “powdery mildew”. Not uncommon, but will stunt the plants, reduce yields, and in some cases kill them. It hits squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, etc.

Now here’s the goofy part. It says it can be controlled with...

MILK!!!

A 20% solution of milk w/water sprayed on the leaves and stems! So this morning I sprayed and will report back. I hope it works cause I love cukes and acorn squash.

http://www.cib.espol.edu.ec/bivir/papers.asp?tco=5B5D595A5F4F4F4F4F4F4F4F4F

[tubebender]

You could try baking soda... http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/qt/PowderyMildew.htm

[djf]

Thanks!
I’ll give it a shot if the milk don’t work.

The web articles and studies I’m reading are all seeming to say that milk is a better fungicide than 99% of the store bought brands.
Just hope my garden doesn’t end up smelling like something a baby urped up!

[Petronski]

So Diana, I told you about how cyborg and I got Barred Rock hens and a turkey, didn't I? Well, we told our farming friend to pick out all hens, but he got his turkeys straight run and so just gave us the smallest one, presuming it was a hen.

Today cyborg and I went back to our friend for a second turkey from the same run (for cyborg's mum) and again he gave us the smallest one hoping to avoid a tom.

Well, when we put this new turkey in the dome with the other turkey and chickens, the original (now gargantuan) turkey puffed all of his feathers and fanned his tail for a bit of strutting and dancing:

Do you suppose that means she is a him?

[tubebender]

Well I finally got the gumption to fix my newest compost pile that was not heating up so yesterday morning First Wife and I took the pickup and a couple of pitch forks and went over to the public horse stables a couple of miles east to get a load of stall bedding and the commercial composter had just cleaned out the big bin. We were able to get about a yard and came home to take apart the compost bin and put it in the isle and layered it with new grass clippings, garden soil and that bedding. Today I was going to put it back in the bin when a friend from our Church called to report someone had broken off a faucet and it flooded the north lawn and was running down the street so I ran over there to take a look. He had called a landscaper and they were there getting ready to fix it so I came home and got sidetracked putting weed and feed on the big lawn.

I started on the compost operation afternoon and notice steam coming from it and checked the temp and it was 140 degrees in 24 hours!!! I got most of it back in the bin and added a little more of the horse bedding and it should be 160 to 170 degrees in a couple of days. It was quite a achievement for me as I have lacked my stamina for the last 8 months. It felt like chronic fatigue that people describe. We had a damp morning 4 days ago and the Red Gold Potatoes are blighting however they are about ready to harvest but I see the blight in the Yukon Gold now and they need 2 or 3 weeks more...

[HiramQuick]

I am a compost fanatic. A physicist by formal training, I can't stop tinkering. An avid woodworker hobbyist as well. A constant problem for woodworkers is that on occasion we need a high volume source of compressed air, but generally the large compressor sits idle with a tank of moist, corrosive air. I plumbed my compressor to “dump” periodically through a manifold system build into my compost. Instant aeration ... I often hit temps of 180 degrees. And if I have a lot of “green” in the pile it will sustain 180 degrees for a week. Makes for quick compost.

A word of warning .. go lightly with horsemanure and make sure it composts thoroughly and at as high heat as possible. Disgetstive systems of horses are not to efficient ... they pass ALL weed seeds intact. If your compost pile does not heat thoroughly .. at least 160 .... you are going to be sowing weed seeds as well. And .. those weed seeds germinate quickly and grow rapidly in that rich compost host.

Been there .. done that as the saying goes. Tool me 5 years to get weeds somewhat under control in my perennial beds.

A better idea. Still use you horse manure .. but isolate it in its own compost bin using garden weeds you might be pulling or cutting. Kill two birds with one stone. None of my weeds ever go into my main compost .. I compost them separately. Weeds are always a problem, but I have cut production of them down by 75% since I started this.

[tubebender]

I need the Urea in the bedding for a source of heat and like I said it was working instantly. That is a great idea about the compressed air injection but my compressor is 130 feet away from the piles. My mother was a original subscriber to Rodale’s organic farming and gardening and we were composting in the early 50s. The stables are just stalls and they are fed mostly grains. The only weed we have encountered is Pig Weed and it pulls up easily. Thanks for the tips...

[metmom]

I need some advice.

I grew garlic this year and the leaves are already looking like they are ripening.

Hoe can you tell when garlic is ready to harvest and what should you do to cure and store it?

[tubebender]

I knew we had a RABIES PROBLEM in the Fox population around Humboldt Bay but I did not know it was this bad!