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Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 23) June 17
Free Republic | 06-17-2011 | Red_Devil 232

Posted on 06/17/2011 5:12:35 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232

Good morning gardeners. My tomato plants are struggling to survive these hot brutal sunny days. Their leaves are all curled up trying to save water. Temperatures are consistently in the mid to high 90s. My winter and summer squash along with all of my hot and sweet pepper plants are doing great. It does not look like any of my Opailka or Viva Italia paste tomatoes will make it through so I have restarted some more seeds in the hopes I can get them transplanted in time for a late harvest. I have about 4 Marion tomato plants that are in the rear of my garden that are doing well for now. They get some shade in the late afternoon so I will put my new paste tomato transplants in that same area of the garden. I may be down but not out!

If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: garden; gardening; recipes; weekly
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To: afraidfortherepublic
We had a cattle panel out in the equipment shed, and I dragged it out about six or seven years ago to plant cucumbers on it. The year before I had grown cucumbers to make pickles and harvesting them killed my old back, and the cucumber plants were quickly covered by morning glories and harvest resembled an egg hunt with a stick, trying not to be bitten by a snake.

All I know is that I will never, ever, ever, plant a running vegetable without a trellis. It saves on space as well. The panels will never wear out, and my husband rigged up a thingee that pulls the rebar up out of the ground. I also use rebar for my tomato stakes, so I have over 200 pieces total to pull up.

Being country folks with a farm, I am blessed to have a variety of trucks and trailers to go fetch my panels and rebar from the store ... but all I really have to do is call my local hardware store/lumber yard, and they will deliver them out to the garden shed at no extra charge. (they like me and the owner is a neighbor of mine)

201 posted on 06/23/2011 8:33:53 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

Well it is a brilliant solution and much better and cheaper than Mel Bartholomew’s (the Sq. Ft. Garden guru) arrangement with pipe, joints, and nylon mesh. I don’t think my farm store would deliver, although they would rent me a truck. I just never considered it for one cattle panel.

Instead, I manipulated it so that my neighbor brought home a cattle panel and a swing set too. Now, it’s a matter of getting that swing stained and placed in my yard. Of course it’s been raining all week, but the grandchildren are already here and have already discovered it in the barn.

But, my husband and I are tied up with the accountant today, closing May.

You know that ad on cashing in annuities (J. G. Wentworth) that they play continuously on TV? “It’s my money and I want it NOW!”

Well: It’s MY swing and I want it NOW!

(Patience is not one of my virtues.)


202 posted on 06/23/2011 9:59:38 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: fanfan

They used to serve ice cream in the Shite House during the days of our Founding Fathers. I forget which First Lady introduced it — maybe it was Dolly Madison who was noted for being a great hostess and who saved George WAshington’s portrait when the British burned our White House during the war of 1812. They had to paint the President’s mansion white to cover the soot left behind by the Brits, which is how the house got its name! I have often wondered how they arranged to have enough ice on hand to make the ice cream.

I know they used to have ice houses down on the rivers in many towns where they tried to keep ice over the summer by keeping it covered with straw and wood, etc., but I have no idea how that actually worked. It seems a little iffy, doesn’t it?


203 posted on 06/23/2011 10:07:59 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic; fanfan

That should have said White House. Shi-ite!


204 posted on 06/23/2011 1:39:19 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic; tubebender; FRiends

LOL! Sure you did.

Ice houses would have been a great idea for the time. If the blocks were well insulated, and big enough, and were stored in a well insulated building, it just might last the summer. Unless they sold out. I imagine that the less ice they had, the harder it would be to keep it cold.

It’s pouring rain here right now.


205 posted on 06/23/2011 4:40:40 PM PDT by fanfan (Why did they bury Barry's past?)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

It must have been the FResno County schools because I didn’t the learn spiell cheke rootine either...


206 posted on 06/23/2011 5:37:08 PM PDT by tubebender
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To: fanfan

There are still places in the world that the men go out on frozen lakes with saws and cut block ice for the ice house... but you knew that ...right?


207 posted on 06/23/2011 5:51:40 PM PDT by tubebender
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To: Betis70
Tomatoes growing healthy, corn is doing well, bush beans (bolida) are coming along, and my lettuce is almost ready for picking.

What's your secret? With all the rain up here many seeds aren't taking well where they thrived last year. Tips?

208 posted on 06/23/2011 6:12:57 PM PDT by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
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To: DTogo

I waited to plant till that warm week after Memorial day for the summer crops. The corn, peppers and tomatoes I started in pots, but since I wrote that (with this week of rain), the lettuce is exploding and the chile peppers and tomatoes are looking just so-so. The beans are still doing good. They are the only items I started in the beds from seed, and seem to like the area pretty well. I got them at Comstock & Ferre, if you know where that is.

I also use a liquid fish & seaweed based fertilizer before and after any transplanting. I also have raised beds with plenty of mulch on top and peat moss mixed in with the soil.


209 posted on 06/23/2011 6:37:10 PM PDT by Betis70 (Bruins!)
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To: DTogo

My sister gardens just south of FResno and went out the other day to check on her tomatoes and came nose to nose with a big old Gopher Snake laying in the shade under one of them. I told her snakes like tomatoes too but she wasn’t buying that so she had her GRAND DAUGHTER haul it way out in the vineyard and the next day it was back on her patio. I don’t want to know what happened next... LOL


210 posted on 06/23/2011 8:50:53 PM PDT by tubebender
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To: Racehorse

Thank you very, very much for all the info. It’s very helpful.


211 posted on 06/25/2011 6:33:18 PM PDT by ANKE69 (German Conservative and proud of it!!!)
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