Posted on 07/15/2016 3:20:00 PM PDT by greeneyes
Posted on 7/8/2016 3:32:57 PM 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.
LOL! We have had a lot of chipmunks in years past, and in past several months we have also noticed a pride of feral cats in and around our back yard. The chipmunks are not as much a problem now, which is a relief! They had done a lot of damage to our garage roof a number of months ago.
I had a white fig yesterday that was better than anything i can remember ever eating. The skin was blotched brown over yellow like an overripe banana, and the eye was an open pool of honey. Inside was amber flesh immersed in syrup. When a fig is dead ripe even the skin is sweet....So you see i knew it was special before the first taste...
~ ~ ~ ~
Good heavens! That reads like food porn! (That’s a term I use for descriptions of luscious food.... always a problem for someone like me who has to fight the calorie wars!)
Gorgeous pix, FRiends!
Great looking corn! What variety is that?
Oh wow! Save some dinner for me! I’ll be right over! LOL! :-D
It was a surprise to me too, to be able to find these! Our local nursery was closed by the time we drove by their store, but we saw the signs of 50%-75% off and plan to show up on Monday! They had some plants Darlin was interested in!
I was very happy to find the herbs. I could have bought several different kinds of tomato plants, but truth to tell, I just don’t have the energy right now to deal with that. Mr. Dillons grocery store has a REALLY good gardener! ;-D
I’m hoping to be able to buckle down and get the garden prepped this fall so it can sit and simmer until spring!
Glad you are enjoying your Diana time!
Gorgeous corn... and quite a contraption! Also.... beautiful pix!
I have in recent years grown concerned about GMO strains. I’ve heard that even just consuming non-GMO strains can make changes in human DNA. It has also been my understanding that it is very difficult to raise non-GMO corn since it interbreeds with neighboring plants and does not stay uncontaminated from the doctored genes. It is for those reasons I have hesitated to learn to grow corn.
I am not a purist; I do eat corn which I’m certain is GMO. But it still worries me that non-GMO is reportedly getting scarce because of the difficulty in assuring the seeds are not tainted.
Darlin and I have obtained some non-gmo seeds, but have not sought to plant them because there is a LOT of GMO corn grown around us.
It’s my understanding that corn is not the only staple affected by the people who have done amazing things to cause plants to be able to grow abundantly, but which may, as a result, have unintended consequences.
What a world!
The garden soil we have was heavy on the red clay so I went to the dairy and got three pick up loads of manure and tilled it into the soil back in March.
The production has been prolific. I’m sick of eating squash and my neighbors and family have been getting the surplus.
The patty pan squash are a hit, better than crook neck for frying, IMO.
We actually got a few meals worth of broccoli which is an improvement over last year’s attempt.
Red skin potatoes have done great.
The Dipper Gourd arbor is covered and fruiting nicely.
The Bradford watermelons are finally producing. They took forever to sprout and get to the vine stage. So far I’ve counted three the size of a football and many more that are fist sized. I planted two hills then two more hills 3 weeks apart. The 2nd planting hasn’t fruited yet.
Several giant sunflowers are now 10’+ tall and are covered in honey bees, a good sign considering last year the bees were few and far between.
Cherokee Purple tomatoes are getting to be full sized with no blight—yeah! About 6 have ripened. They make the best fried green tomatoes I’ve ever had.
The grape tomatoes are flourishing and taking forever for a cluster to fully ripen. The top ones are ripe and the bottoms are still green. Maybe in another week? Oh, I tried fried green grape tomatoes. Yuch! Won’t do that again.
Okra is A OK.
Zukes got buried by the pumpkins and it’s hard to get into them. Put off picking them for a week and had to toss out several that were as big around as my arms.
Basil is starting to go to seed already, need to top those.
I tried the square foot method in a 4 x 8 raised bed with different types of lettuce, parsley, catnip, carrots, and radishes. The radishes, lettuce and carrots were successful but the rest of the stuff got overgrown with weeds and it was difficult to distinguish the weeds from the sprouts so I ripped up those and put in more basil.
A couple of bird bottle gourd volunteers from last year are like some kind of plant from a japanese sci-fi movie. Had to put up bamboo tee pees to keep them from running all over the garden.
The brussels sprouts didn’t do much. I’ll plant them again in august hoping for a fall crop.
Green beans out the ears.
Many pumpkins.
About a dozen mortgage lifter tomato volunteers from last year are fruiting but they are in the blight area so I’m not hoping for much.
All this in a couple of 4 x 8 raise beds and an 1800 square foot area.
Looking forward to trying the bradford watermelons.
Used peach wood on grill a couple of weeks ago for some chicken. Mighty tasty!
The corn is Revelation from Parks. It is a shorter season variety due to our cooler temperatures. Average summer highs of 68 to 70 and nights of 56 to 58 degrees
Thanks, found it.
http://parkseed.com/revelation-hybrid-corn-seeds/p/05537-PK-P1/
Not currently in a location where I can grow corn. Enjoy yours!
Took advantage of the relative coolness and shade to clean up the gardening pots. Applied Seven dust where necessary, pruned what was necessary. Transplanted the lavender plant to a larger pot. When dry, the tomato plants fall over because their pot is way too small, I’ve never transplanted tomatoes this late in the season, so will continue to monitor the need to water twice a day. But it is looking good for tomatoes!
Kudos on the report and your success in the garden. Would love to see a photo?
Cabbage heads will begin to split when they are fully mature, especially true of 'early cabbage'.
There is no control once the heads split.
Another contributing factor to cabbage is if they suddenly get a lot of rain, causing a sudden intake of moisture.
If excess rain is the issue , commercial growers give each head a 1/4 turn to break up some of the roots, or , cultivate closer to the plants to break up some of the roots
thereby restricting water intake.
You might consider planting some catnip mint under, or out by the drip line of the peach tree.
Catnip will encourage any feral cats or neighborhood cats to come visit which will reduce your bird and squirrel threat, and might dissuade any woodchucks from visiting.
Consider the catnip as a 'trap crop', unless you like catnip (relaxing) tea with camomile .
I consider the "Ball Canning" guide almost as a 'Bible' to home food preservation.
In olden days, low-acid foods were canned using additional treatments such as : brining, salting, pickling, smoking, and fermentation.
Me personally, I have not taken the canning class at extension service, but I have followed .. "when in doubt, use pressure canning".
Check out this article:
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/trees/hgic1009.html
In particular:
When a large crape myrtle is in a spot where a low, compact plant is desired, there are two options: (1) dig up the offending specimen and then plant a dwarf or smaller cultivar that requires little to no maintenance, or (2) prune the stems back to about six inches above the ground each year. Severe pruning will not kill or injure a healthy crape myrtle.
You linked to a picture that is in (probably) your yahoo email account, so you can see it but we can’t.
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