WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 17 APRIL 17, 2015

freerepublic | 4/17/2015 | greeneyes

[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.

[Marcella]

“When we get power back on, I'll do something on my home-page to show my setup. All I did recently was replace the dead battery.”

greeneyes, Johnny didn't say how he got that battery replaced and what else happened that day.

This happened a little over a week ago. We went to his house, and took him to the VA clinic. He had paperwork to do there to get an ID card. We sat in the waiting room for a while, until his number came up and he got that done plus a doctor visit scheduled.

Actually, I should report on how we are seated in the car when we go some place with Johnny. I am demoted to the back seat and Bob and Johnny are in the front seat. The rule is, I keep my mouth shut about driving, and only speak when Johnny turns his head toward the back and says something to me. They normally made fun of me about something/anything, and that destroys my weak ego - sure, it does.

So, after VA visit, we go to a battery store and Johnny buys a new heavy battery and small rechargeable batteries.

After that, it's hit Taco Bell for take home food. We eat at Johnny's house.

All this time for these hours, Johnny is walking and up and down in chairs, going here and going there, using his own power, no wheelchair. That is the important part of telling what we did.

It is a pleasure for us to be part of his life and it is never dull - we have a blast together.

[JRandomFreeper]

Bob and I have a lot of fun teasing you. That's us. ;)

I may tend to understate what actually happened, but yes, you guys were nice enough to give me a ride to my appointments and then to a battery shop.

It wasn't too heavy. Less than a third of my body weight. Barely.

I had a good time with you guys here. Ya'll are easy to get along with, and lots of fun.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Hope you guys are safe and sound.

That was a pretty rough storm for our county.

I've got the battery bulk charged up enough to let the charge controller and panel take over.

I think I've got it set right. The worst that could happen is that everything could burst into flames. Did I ever mention that I hate aligning equipment? ;)

/johnny

[MomwithHope]

I love a good deal. Sounds like you got one. I am happy with mine. I like having a composter that is in contact with the ground. This one has a "floor" but large perforated holes.

As far as the walking onions, our start forming seed heads about July. Picking them is a good way to control spread. The heads are easy to give away as starters. The larger seed heads I peel and use like shallots. I've even thrown them peeled and whole into pickling banana pepper rings.

[JRandomFreeper]

Great pictures, thanks for putting them up. I just love looking at work I didn't have to do. LOL!

/johnny

[MomwithHope]

My romaine lettuce. I scatter sow it in a large container, always start it Easter weekend. I keep it covered with a sheet of Plexiglas and a brick unless it is in the 50's or warmer. It doesn't look like it's that far along if you are in a warmer climate but it's always a good head start for me. The green onions ring all my pots, these have been in for a week. It's going to be in the 60's and low 70's this next week so I expect a lot of growth from here on in. When it's a couple of inches tall I transplant it into rows in the big garden.

I do use more than a few large containers. My best tip I came up with for containers holding flowers. - Most large containers are nice and deep for veggies but too deep for flowers. I usually have at least one big pot of salvia for the hummingbirds in addition to my feeder. I didn't like filling it up with dirt (heavy) for flowers that didn't root deep anyway. So I would stuff a flake of straw (always used oat straw) in the bottom of the pot, it would usually take up a third of a large pot. Then the rest gets soil and I plant the salvia. It doesn't weigh very much if you need to move it around or dump it out in the fall. The flake of straw slowly rots and the salvia, instead of looking tall and spindly by the end of the summer sinks little by little in the pot and always looks good.

[Daffynition]

I love your story.

Were our parents more patient....more forgiving? I dunno, it seems so.

[greeneyes]

I’m with you. I hate doing anything like that to the point that I really don’t know how to do it, but my Hubby, and Daughters do. And they all owe me bigtime.

I don’t even like to hook up VCR or computer or printer. While I can do it I usually get one of the tech savy kids to do it.

In my defense, I have noticed that anything I can do efficiently somehow becomes my job to do it. So I avoid overload by not knowing everything, but I do have some general idea of how to do stuff, so I could muddle through if I had to.

[greeneyes]

I just bet you do. I get a blast hearing about it too. Thanks for the updating and additional details.

[greeneyes]

I was afraid that you weren’t able to get a basement there.

That hall way could be made even safer by “hardening” it or using a Tornado Shelter safe room. Since we have a basement, I have not really researched them. I have seen them from time to time in the Springfield Mall along with brochures.

I’ve even thought about getting one to put in the safest corner of the basement, but really we should be safe with what we have now. Course all bets are off if the New Madrid has the “big” one.

[Ellendra]

There is a mushroom known as the False Morel. Here’s a website with comparisons: http://www.michiganmorels.com/morels2.shtml

[MomwithHope]

I’ll have many more pictures this summer. This will be one summer I am not behind for a change. If you look closely in the lettuce I just realized you can see the 2 year old goat poop. They have droppings like deer.

[JRandomFreeper]

I really try to be nice when I have company. ;)

I've updated my FR homepage so you can click on my screen-name and see what I'm using for emergency electricity. I'll be adding battery to it in the future.

/johnny

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the information. With all the “blowup stuff” it does make one wonder if you are trying to hasten your departure, just so you can annoy the doctors by departing in an alternate manner from what they predict.

I got to bbsit tonight. Had the last couple of weekends off. Yowsa. I think the great grand kids gained 5 lbs each. My back is killing me. I have the bean bag pillow and rice socks heated up covering my back.

Not going to last in this chair for much longer.

[greeneyes]

Thanks. That’s right - that was what I was trying to think of. False Morel. Yep. I’d probably wind up with those.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've never managed to hurt myself (badly) with any of the 'lektrikity stuff. So that may not be exactly it.

But I still give myself about a 80-20 on leaving like they said I would. Maybe, probably.... but then again, there are accidents. ;)

/johnny

[greeneyes]

Still praying every day for the Dr. to be surprised by your miraculous recovery!

[JRandomFreeper]

I haven't recovered yet. I'm a long way from that.

I still haven't quite made it to chemo yet. I've got the radiation done, but we're waiting on the chemo. Maybe the 1st. I've gained some weight, and it looks like I will be gaining more. I'm over 4000 calories a day now. 110 pounds would be nice. ;)

But yep. I would like to make some phone calls on the 2nd annual anniversary of my surgeries.

Right now is my 3rd month after brain surgery. Pretty lively for a guy that wasn't supposed to last a month. ;)

/johnny

[MomwithHope]

There’s always some gardening to be done and I’m sure I speak for many when I say we are glad you are still here with us. Thanks for keeping us posted. Gaining some weight before chemo sounds like a good idea. 4000 calories a day - that sounds great. Me I’m trying to get back to 900 a day. Want to drop some weight before next fall, and counting calories is essential. God bless brother!

[JRandomFreeper]

If it wasn't for the spread sheet and the bar-code reader I'm not sure I would have kept up with it as well as I should have.

I am very grateful to be here.

When I wake up and get out of bed every morning, I tell the foot cat that I made it through another night. It genuinely surprises me. We've got a day to rejoice and be glad in.

Good thing I don't speak cat....

/johnny