Posted on 08/26/2016 3:57:46 PM PDT 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.
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My cuke plant is about done for - two weeks ago it was looking healthy and grand. It did yield a case of kosker dills and some slicing cukes and refrigerator pickles. That's a lot from one plant in a 6 inch pot.
Not sure what disease or bug hit it. Haven't seen any beetles, but something ate a few holes. Many of the leaves developed yellowish spots, and others simply wilted. There's a few cukes left that may mature, so I'll keep watering it a while longer before I take it to the burn pile.
I have a batch of cukes, zukes, and several batches of potatoes waiting for processing, and they have been waiting several days.
I need to do some research on side dressing for corn, but went ahead and gave a dose of Miracle Grow all purpose for veggies in the water this AM. Have a few more Yukon Gold to dig up.
I have a plateful of really red Cherry tomatoes to go on salad, and 3 orange beefsteaks wrapped in napkins and waiting to ripen on the shelf. Next year, I am going to focus on Cherry tomatoes and Romas in buckets.
Weather was really nice today-yesterday was typical August heat and humidity. This weekend is looking like rain on Saturday and Sunday.
We got an upgrade to our DSL - now have 10mbps. It has helped the computers, and for the first 2 days, helped the Netflix streaming from our TV. However, I fell asleep, and the system signed off(per usual Blu Ray and TV do that).
Now when I punch the Netflix button on the Blu Ray Remote, it just goes to nowhere. The panel shows it has gone to the network, but the TV screen is blank instead of showing that it is accessing and authenticating etc.
So I have been doing searches on the problem, reading the manual, and I don't really understand 1/10th of what I read. I think if there was someone who knew how to do all of this electronic stuff, they could make a good living coming to people's homes and fixing stuff like this.
Hope everyone is doing well. Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
I have some errands to run a bit later, so can't stay long today, but I'll check back in sometime before next Friday.
The lilies are mostly done. And the hibiscus that survived the winter is wonderful. But the only two that did survive were white. So I bought a magenta one today and got it planted.
Still no ripe orange tomatoes.
Top Ten! Is it Friday, already? :)
Pinging the List.
Re: Orange tomatoes. Have you tried the variety, ‘Chef’s Choice Orange F1?’ It’s an AAS Winner I will NEVER be without!
Man, it’s AWESOME! I grow in Zone 4 and it has performed wonderfully for me for the past three seasons; weather be d@mned.
http://all-americaselections.org/winners/details.cfm?WinID=556
My front flower bed has gone to ruin. Hubby thought it would be great to put some wild petunias in there. The flowers are pretty, but the plant is ugly, and has crowded out almost everything else.
I don’t like anything too tall there, and had some hyacinths for spring, several miniature rose bushes for the rest of the season and violas for edging. All with yellow, purple, and white theme.
So I’m wanting to plant somethings that are edible, pretty flowers, and smell good. Lots of research to do this winter for that.
I only blinked once, and slept one hour and it was Friday! I don’t know where all the other hours and days went. LOL
I’ll have to try it. My beefsteaks are actually red when ripe, but I picked them when orange to keep the critters from getting them. I rinse them in warm water, let them dry, and then wrap in newspaper or napkins to ripen.
A general question:
If I buy remaining “2016” seeds on clearance, vacuum-seal them, and store them in the freezer, how good is their germination rate likely to be next spring?
I got a tomato!
ONE.
Tomato.
(((Oh Well, I have lots of herbs)))
I buy seeds at a discount each fall, and almost always have some left overs from the spring order. They all germinate very well, and I don’t even try to do much of anything to preserve viability.
I just throw them in a zip bag, with the date, and throw them in a card board box on a shelf in the basement where they don’t get wet.
One of my tomato plants only gave me 3, but it was a volunteer that came up in a tiny pot, so I wasn’t expecting much. LOL
Our produce this year is lots of pickled cukes, zukes, and some green beans, and taters. So far we only have 1 edible melon.
Ping Ping Ping ...
I collect my seeds each year and put them in a small brown paper bag and mark the the type seed and year on the bag. I never put them in the fridge or freezer but they always do fine the next year.
My brother in law says he once found some seeds that were in his kitchen cabinet that were at least five years old and he planted them and every one of them came up.
I am aware that most people say to put them in the freezer though.
I got lots of yellow flowers that may or may not turn into zucchini and cukes.
Due to the drought, I water them by hand every day, but I guess it isn’t enough.
Oh Well.
Getting ready to plant some garlic, if that is, I can keep the garden from being driven over by every vehicle in the immediate vicinity.
We shall see. . .
Do NOT freeze seeds unless you are 100% certain they are 100% completely dry.
If not, freezing will crack the seed and it won’t germinate. Keep them dry and in ziplocks or lidded Mason jars and they’ll be fine.
Rule of thumb: The LARGER the seed, the sooner it loses it’s viability. So, seeds for green beans, pumpkins, summer or winter squash and sweet corn should be replaced every few years. You’ll STILL Get SOME germination, but not as much as with fresh seed.
Tiny seeds like lettuces and poppies can last quite a number of years.
And don’t buy those 10 for $1.00 seeds at Walgreen’s, other than for ‘weedy’ flowers like Bachelor Buttons and Cosmos. Their germination rates are terrible. ;)
SCRATCH THAT! The video is called “Hummingbirds play in homemade birdbath”
You asked about buying seeds, and this article is about saving seeds, but there is information on shelf life that you may find useful:
http://www.southernexposure.com/growing-guides/saving-seeds-home-use.pdf
There is a bunch of good stuff on that site if you poke around a little.
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