WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD JUNE 23, 2017

freerepublic | June 23, 207 | 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.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

LOVE! :)

[Black Agnes]

Nah, these are ‘O’Neal’, ‘Tifblue’, and others. Southern highbush and Rabbiteye varieties. IIRC we planted 3 or 4 different varieties 11 years ago when we moved in. I kept them watered regularly the first couple of summers and now it’s like gallons and gallons of free food, just show up with a bucket and pick.

Wish we could grow the black raspberries down here. We have exactly one locally adapted red raspberry variety that makes buckets but isn’t great fresh, it’s more of a cooking/canning raspberry.

Your mailperson has it easy. Fire ants decided to build a 3ft tall ant bed around and on our mailbox post. It was ginormous and appeared nearly overnight. They’re dead now though :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Girlfriend! Don’t hide your light! Post pictures of the chicken coop that YOU built! It’s AWESOME! :)

(We know one another in, ‘The Real World.’)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Well, I DID smother it in Blue Cheese dressing with some BACON on top!

And...Thanks for the reminder about my health! It’s Friday Night! Wheeee! Mommy gets her Dirty Martini for being a Good Girl all week. For, ‘Medicinal Purposes Only,’ of course!

Be Right Back...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Re: Ants!

I had to take an ‘ant bomb’ to the mailbox a few weeks back. For some reason big, black Army Ants decided our mailbox was a GREAT place to make a home!

Well, I showed THEM!

I know insects outnumber us about a million to one, but luckily, *I* am the one with the opposable thumb...and a brain bigger than a micro-dot!

Insects ARE amazing, but they NEED to know their place in ‘my’ world. Just sayin’...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We had, 'Broccoli-Palooza' earlier this week. I had planted 12 heads, and blanched and froze 11 - we ate one chopped fresh with dip during the course of the week. Yum! Chopped, blanched for 2 minutes, ice bath, drained, frozen on cookie sheets then into the zip lock bags. We'll eat it all before it gets freezer burn, or I would've vacuum sealed it.

[MomwithHope]

I would say yes,I could do 3 crops of the baby bok choi each year. West Michigan. It grows fast. This is the variety - it is not the regular bok choi picked early. It’s an Asian variety. I just spent a half hour looking for my new gardening book where I taped the empty seed packet to reorder and I must have put it someplace good because I can’t find it. Pretty sure it was a baker seed. Although I went to their website and could not find it exactly. It does not grow a big fat stalky bulb but slim stalks with branches growing up like tree branches. The stalks are very tender. The word baby is in the name and it is definitely an Asian variety. If I every find that new gardening book I’ll write you. ((SIGH))

[MomwithHope]

Nice! I had 3 packages of last years broccoli, still in the freezer we use a foodsaver. Had one bag and it tasted fresh picked. No kidding.

[Maudeen]

Thanks for your tips.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A squirrel or two got into our raised bed tomatoes, despite having a raised frame around the bed and bird netting (wish I could post pix.)

We had some spare netting and built an “overhead” wrap of net and this seems to have put a stop to the raids.

Jalapenos and other peppers are doing great.
We had a snack of stuffed jalapenos last week.

Life is good.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We, ‘Food Saver’ a LOT of stuff - mainly wild game and fish. I MAKE Beau eat veggies every day...so I don’t worry about veggies and freezer burn too much. ;)

As for the meat? We had venison from 2015 on the grill earlier in the week that was in Food Saver packs and it was awesome; not a thing wrong with it.

Glad we invested in that; Beau even bought me my own set up back when he was Courting me. And...he eventually won me over on ALL fronts...Dammit! LOL!

[Black Agnes]

That’s my hubby’s philosophy wrt fire ants.

I see now Jungs is previewing fall stuff. *sigh*. It’s not good to seed/plant shop while hungry...

[MomwithHope]

I waited on getting one and about 5 years ago they came out with the one with the canning jar attachment and I jumped. Use it for flour, nuts, rice. I even chop up my extra green onions and do them in small packets to add them to dishes, especially soups. Also save dill dry and fresh so I can do some early pickles before my dill is ready.

[tubebender]

This plus This = This…

[American in Israel]

Hello again. I did another dummy move. I really wanted a teabush so I let my desire speak before I researched it. After I ordered it I talked to the local nursery about getting another and was told, oh, those don’t grow here...

Deep sigh.

Then I researched... the zone is ok, it’s the humidity. Seems the tea bush will go dormant at 90 degree days and low humidity then sheds it’s leaves.

So I built an automatic fogger that activates at 80 degrees and using mister nozzles fogs the plant for 10 seconds every 15 minutes. So far so good, hit 105 last week and it seems to be hanging in there. Anyone else have experience with this?

[daniel1212]

Here in MA we have a month to go to see any squash or many ripe tomatoes, but what are missing are the bees. I saw only the 2nd one this month, after a below average cool May.

Meanwhile,

Farming robots get to grips with weeding at Harper Adams

6/23/2017, 11:05:53 AM · by Rebelbase · 17 replies

BBC ^ | 6/23/17 | David Gregory-Kumar

Researchers at Harper Adams University in Shropshire are trying to sow, look after and then harvest a field of barley using only robots and autonomous vehicles. No humans are allowed into the pilot-plot at all. We covered the project when it started and again here. They call it "Hands Free Hectare" and in the office we call it "Robocrop". Long story short the team are actually doing pretty well with a field of barley shoots that looks healthy if a bit patchy here and there. In fact, they're doing so well with their combination of off-the-shelf tech and nifty engineering...

[daniel1212]

http://www.livestrong.com/article/555273-bok-choy-hypothyroidism/

[left that other site]

Mostly herbs still...with some flowers that will turn into tomatoes and cukes. I LOVE fresh veggies!

[Ladysforest]

OH! They are quite pretty really. Google “leeks in bloom”.

[Neoliberalnot]

Wow. I’ve tries to grow them in a raised bed area for years with very little success. What state are you living in?