WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD SEPTEMBER 2, 2016

freerepublic | sept 2, 2016 | 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.

[MomwithHope]

try some Dr. Scholls Tri Comfort insoles. My internist recommended them several year ago and I have pairs in all my shoes. also or walking my podiatrist approved of my walking shoe choice. I buy roomy slip ones with tubular bottoms. K-Swiss and Sketchers make some. The more cushion on the sole the better.

[Qiviut]

August has been a rough month. A dear aunt of mine had laparoscopic shoulder surgery Aug. 1 that should have been a nonevent, other than the weeks of PT she was going to need. She ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks after a trip to the ER Aug 9, diagnosed with pneumonia in one lung and worsening heart failure. Wednesday, her very weak, damaged heart gave out & she died suddenly from a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. She was a person of strong faith, as is the rest of the family, so that is what is comforting us now - we are going to miss her something terrible, but know that we will be reunited with her again. One thought that is on everyone in the family's mind - treasure the time with those you love and don't take it for granted - you can be here one second and gone the next (literally, this is what happened to my aunt).

Last night I got in the garden - first time in 2 weeks. My peppers finally started producing and I wanted some to turn red. It was quite a nice harvest & this weekend (with my new canning pot), I'll be processing Jalapeno Pepper Jelly & Hot Pepper Butter. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Here's a picture of the peppers I harvested last night - another "still life" photo - love the colors. The peppers are jalapeno, hot banana peppers, Giant Marconi and Big Berthas.

[trisham]

I’m so sorry for the loss of your beloved aunt, Qiviut.

Beautiful peppers!

[trisham]

I like Clarks and Sketchers. That’s all I wear these days.

[sneakers]

The deer and one stupid groundhog got everything this year, except my Brandywine tomatoes and the tomatoes and green beans in our greenhouse. Sweet potatoes re-established themselves after the leaves got eaten off, but probably not in time to produce any decent sized tubers.

I did get a lot of raspberries in July and am in a second picking. Also will have horseradish. That’s about it.

I’m about ready to give up......

[CottonBall]

I’m glad to hear that! I have too many to eat and more turning red on the plants, so I will definitely do some canning this week!

I love how meaty the SM’s are so I imagine they’ll can well. I buy the DOP San Marsanos in the can, and those take me back to a pizzeria in Italia ;)

[tubebender]

It took me 10 days but I finally caught the Mole destroying the new lawn in my friends front yard…

[tob2]

Hurricane Hermine is over with here. I had stowed away stuff which could blow away and secured the gardening pots to the best of my ability. When I went outside this morning it was easy to see how the plants had been beaten down by the wind and rain. Straightened out what I could and in the process discovered that several large, ripening tomatoes have vanished! Looked around on the ground and in the vegetation to no avail. Three things could have happened: 1 - a human took them; 2 - an animal took them; or the wind blew them away. At any rate, it is a mystery what happened to them. Ate my first tomato last week. Very tasty

[Qiviut]

It's "adventures with wildlife" around here. Last night, around 1 p.m. (yes, I was up - couldn't sleep), the motion light at the front of the house went on. I peeped out the window & saw something moving in the shadows so I opened the front door. Staring at me from the sidewalk was big fat raccoon. It was headed in the direction of the garden so I shooed it off .... it went grudgingly at first, but when I threatened to come off the porch, it changed direction & scuttled off quickly.

Friday, while harvesting peppers I noticed this caterpillar that has been parasitized by wasps (Braconid, I believe). The first one I saw like this, two years ago, I got rid of, but supposedly you should leave them since the hatching wasps are beneficial caterpillar hunters. This caterpillar moved slightly when I took the picture a few minutes ago so it's not totally dead, but it's no longer eating anything either. Nature is pretty amazing.

[tubebender]

The caterpillar looks like a Tomato Hornworm? We had a skunk spray outside our BR window about 11:30 last night...

[Qiviut]

Tomato hornworm is what I was thinking - I had 4 of those big green rascals on my tomatoes earlier in the season, just chewing up plants like crazy. None had been parasitized so I ended up removing them ... permanently.

This may or may not apply to your skunk situation .....

Why You Are Smelling Skunks This Week
http://blog.nature.org/science/2016/08/31/smelling-skunks-season-summer-behavior-ecology/

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

NTHockey :" I’m already making my list of things to do in fall, winter and spring. Would be interested in knowing what others think of not rotating crops (assuming good dose of nutrients)"

Crop rotation is a good idea :
to minimize bug infestation
to minimize plant diseases
to allow the soil to recover from nutrient deficiencies from previous harvest
using cover crops to redistribute nutrients, and allow the soil and microbes to "rest".

Examples of crop rotation:
Crop Rotation Made Easy (Pictograph- easily understood)
https://bonnieplants.com/2014/11/crop-rotation-made-easy/

Organic Maintain Healthy Soil with Crop Rotation (with explained sequence of crop rotation for maximum production)
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/healthy-soil-crop-rotation-zmaz10fmzraw.aspx

Organic Life- The Key To Keeping A Rich Vegetable Patch (includes cover crops and arraingment according to plant families)
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/key-keeping-rich-vegetable-patch

No dig garden - Succession Planting in your Vegetable Garden (according to plant fmily; ie. heavy feeders vs. light)
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/crop-rotation.html

[tubebender]

Thanks for that info. This area is experiencing wild animals with Rabies in various wild animals including Skunks…

[Qiviut]

A story ..... some years ago, we had a rabid fox problem in the county (& some surrounding counties) that was very bad. There were quite a few incidences of rabid foxes coming into yards and attacking pets, going after people, etc. We had a mama fox on the farm at the time who had a litter of kits in an old groundhog hole under the barn. My dad wanted to do away with all of them (worried about the rabies), but we talked him into letting them be .... she seemed fine, was not exhibiting any weird behavior & we made sure the dogs were all up on their rabies shots. Poor thing was so skinny from nursing the kits ... she decimated my SIL's flock of chickens (from 20 to 3) before we all figured out exactly what was going on. Anyway, my SIL took pity & put out some dog food for her every day to help her with the kits. We would sneak around the barn & watch them play with old dried out horse poop balls - too funny. They carried the balls around and would pounce on them like mice when they dropped them. Dad went in the barn one day & looked in a horse stall - all the kits were lined up against the back wall, snoozing away. As far as I know, she raised the kits (maybe one didn't make it - we thought she had 5, but only saw 4 as they got bigger). My brother said that once fall came & the kits were adults, they were fair game although we never killed any. That was years ago, but we are now catching a large fox coming through the yard about once a week on the game camera (at least it's not coyotes). The skunk population isn't what it used to be around here - we used to see them all the time & they were digging up the yard looking for grubs. The last skunk I spotted in the yard was September a year ago.

We took a bunch of pics of the kits ... can't find but one (& yes, that's a horse poop ball it's carrying):

[tubebender]

Trade ya…

[Qiviut]

LOL! No thank you! :-)

We had a bear down the road a few weeks ago - my SIL was driving by and saw it climbing over a privacy fence into someone’s yard along the road. So far, nothing on the farm, but after hearing about that bear, I dreamed that I went out to the garden one morning and everything was gone and a bear had come around and turned over all my raised beds. I woke up in a panic because it was a very realistic dream .... fingers crossed it doesn’t happen in reality.

[Ellendra]

Foxes are the cats of the canine family :)

[Augie]

It was warm and humid in Central Missouri over the holiday weekend. Between the dry weather, lawn mowing, garden cleanup, and neighbor Dave mowing hay in my front pasture yesterday my allergies have been giving me fits.

Saturday we picked the last of pumpkins and mowed the vines, tore down the cucumber fence, pulled the posts and weed mat, and mowed down the Roma tomatoes. The slicing tomatoes are still going strong making ugly tomatoes.

We picked 15 gallons of green beans on Sunday. Cleaned three gallons to keep and gave the rest away. Picked the first Sugar Baby watermelon yesterday. It was perfect. Okra is going crazy. Might make some pickles from that later this week. Picked about five gallons of peppers yesterday. Gave most of those away.

And now that September has come it’s time to start building my pile of stovewood for the winter. There’s just no rest for the weary.

[MomwithHope]

Wallpaper worthy, beautiful. Love peppers!

[MomwithHope]

MUSHROOM ADVICE??

Found these growing in my black compost bin. Tiny spore clusters on the outside start out looking like bumps. Can't find this anywhere. Snow white. Closest I found is a Hawaii mushroom which might have made it over on a watermelon. Any help identifying would be appreciated. Upended a couple to show the gills, attached and no frill on the stem. Had to darken the picture quite a bit, they are so white that the spores didn't show up well.