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WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD 5/25/2018
freerepublic | 5/25/2018 | greeenyes

Posted on 05/25/2018 7:09:34 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. 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 any time-and don't have to be about gardening.


TOPICS: Gardening
KEYWORDS: agriculture; food; gardening; hobby
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To: Paul R.

Give them away I suppose.

I hate to throw them our myself.


41 posted on 05/26/2018 8:00:17 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: tubebender

I am swarmed by hummingbirds right now.


42 posted on 05/26/2018 8:08:52 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: CottonBall

HaHa. We have something here called THE FORUM, for the town and surrounding area. You can go on there and read all the local gossip, and/or post a notice for help wanted.

We also used to have a program on the radio called swap shop. Items for trade, barter, or sale. So could get something like that on the radio for free.

Moving from the free to the local weekly paper all sorts of non-classified ads for people to work, or often youngsters wanting to mow yards etc. and numbers to call. So we used to look at those, and then check with a couple of teachers to see how responsible the kids were.

I do know, however, that kids the days are more likely to be playing games and texting on smart phones than moving anything other than their thumbs. LOL It’s a weird world compared to my teenage years.


43 posted on 05/26/2018 10:38:05 AM PDT by greeneyes
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To: Ciexyz

The house is one I inherited from my grandmother, and the rest is land that I purchased adjunct to the home from her estate. My job was to make sure that the home was available to her husband till his death as specified in the will.

We had intended to move back to that area when we retired, and kept the property for that event. My Dad had a reverse mortgage which wound up taking his home after he had a stroke. So we kept it in case he recovered sufficiently to go back to the area.

Now that we know for sure we are not going to live there, because all our children and their children are here - except oldest daughter, we have decided to stay here.

The property is within the city limits of Springfield on 1.7 acres which is roughly 6 lots. Across the street used to be a pasture with cattle - it is now a subdivision that was built in the late 1990s.

Some of the lots can be rezoned commercial, but it really would be worth a lot more down the road. Still, I calculate a 9% annual return - so it was a good investment all things considered.

Just keeping fingers crossed that no glitches happen and we do get to settle within the 10 day time frame. It is a relief. We are no longer able to go in often enough to maintain it properly, so it has been a big worry to me.

We do have quite a bit of Dad’s furniture left to move out, but most of the personal stuff has already been sorted through when he moved in with us here to recover. Most of his furniture will be given to the kids and grand kids.

Weather is hot here too. Sunny today, so maybe the ground will dry out for transplanting the few remaining plants this weekend.


44 posted on 05/26/2018 10:59:25 AM PDT by greeneyes
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To: greeneyes

That’s exactly it! Kids don’t want to work, and parents give them everything so they don’t have to learn how. A neighbor was going to heyme find someone, since she knows lots of people. She was going to ask her grand kids if they knew anyone, and I thought that was funny. Those grandkids don’t work at all even around their own house, so of course they were not even under consideration, lol! Irony.

Sounds like your town is smaller than ours. Ours is too big to know about everyone or even to find out. Yet by California standards it is quite small but now i think i’d like one even smaller ;)


45 posted on 05/26/2018 11:01:08 AM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: ApplegateRanch

I can’t make jelly or jam. It’s either like gummy bears or syrup.


46 posted on 05/26/2018 11:02:41 AM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: MomwithHope

Thanks.


47 posted on 05/26/2018 11:06:52 AM PDT by greeneyes
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To: ApplegateRanch

LOL. I get that not on purpose statement. My grandmother’s jelly was always less firm the grocery store jelly - she just used sugar and a few less than ripe berries in each batch-no sure jell or anything.

I prefer it that way - spreads easily. My favorite when staying with her though was the sorghum molasses. Granny made bread every Saturday for the whole week. I would take molasses and mix it with homemade butter, and spread it on a slice of homemade bread.

Drink a glass of raw cow’s milk-cold glass from the freezer. Best snack/treat in the world. LOL


48 posted on 05/26/2018 11:13:22 AM PDT by greeneyes
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To: metmom

Yes, we had the same thing BAM the heat is on. Nights thankfully are still cooler and comfortable.

I can’t imagine having to can that many tomatoes! Last time I had a lot, I canned a couple of batches, and froze the rest.
Pretty easy to thaw a bit and turn into sauce or whatever.

Just take them and chunk them up and put into a pot of chili or soup works too.


49 posted on 05/26/2018 11:19:41 AM PDT by greeneyes
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To: greeneyes

Your FORUM sounds great.

We have a lot of trashy people here, and we’re trying to stay under the radar for safety and prepping purposes. So i want to be careful who knows what we have here. We live in a poor area, on purpose. But it’s hard to hide that we have more money than most here, especially with the big “barn” we built to hide the toys/equipment.

i’m thinking now i should’ve perhaps moved some place more upscale - people here can be lazy! but...economic growth comes with illegals and liberals in some cases. Nah, i’ll stick to the poor folk. I just wish their kids weren’t lazy too! i only need one for a couple of hours a week!

what happened to all those Japanese gardeners? And why didn’t they complain when illegals stole their jobs?

just thought of something- even though we don’t have illegals doing yard work here, we STILL can’t get teenagers to work. Sad.


50 posted on 05/26/2018 11:20:41 AM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: greeneyes; metmom

Last year i was overwhelmed with my 45 San Marzano plants. So i made tomato sauce with them - it took a lot of tomatoes to make one quart of tomato sauce that was cooked down to a good consistency! That helped use them up in a hurry. And canning one batch at a time wasn’t that bad.


51 posted on 05/26/2018 11:24:40 AM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: CottonBall

Me too with the San Marzanos. Had one plant with over 40 tomatoes. Like long bunches of grapes - they were beautiful and delicious. Last year we had 12 or 14 plants, this year about half. Also growing better boys and camparis.


52 posted on 05/26/2018 11:40:49 AM PDT by MomwithHope
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To: CottonBall

I don’t make jelly or jam with pectin. Just don’t like pectin. So I make preserves, I can use less sugar and cook it down right to where I want it to be.


53 posted on 05/26/2018 11:42:21 AM PDT by MomwithHope
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To: greeneyes

This variety comes in all at once, basically. Within a couple weeks the plants about bare except for a few stragglers.

So I just plan on doing nothing but canning about once a week for a couple weeks. We’re just finishing up remodeling the kitchen so will have a nice new kitchen to can in.

But since I have enough notice that the tomatoes are ready, I wash all the jars and lids ahead of time, spend one day prepping everything that I can and staging it. Everything is all clean and set out and food is cooked for leftovers.

Then the day of the canning, I wash the tomatoes, cook them down, make the sauce and then process them.

Day three is massive clean up.


54 posted on 05/26/2018 12:08:06 PM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: CottonBall

Do you have a Boys & Girls organization there. Our son is on the leadership board here. He just turned 60 a couple of weeks ago...


55 posted on 05/26/2018 12:14:55 PM PDT by tubebender
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To: tubebender

I don’t know if we do, I can check. Did they hire the boys out? :-)


56 posted on 05/26/2018 1:09:29 PM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: MomwithHope

I’ll have to look up a recipe for that, that might work for me. I have never gotten pectin to gel right. If I can cook something down to the right consistency then I can be sure it’s thick enough.Is there a particular way you do it?


57 posted on 05/26/2018 1:10:44 PM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: MomwithHope

I’ll have to look up a recipe for that, that might work for me. I have never gotten pectin to gel right. If I can cook something down to the right consistency then I can be sure it’s thick enough.Is there a particular way you do it?


58 posted on 05/26/2018 1:10:45 PM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: MomwithHope

Aren’t they lovely tomatoes? I’m very excited I found those seeds. 25 seats was very expensive, but now I just harvested my own and I have hundreds and hundreds.

They don’t taste quite like I wanted, not like the certified tomatoes that were actually born and raised with volcanic ash from mount Vesuvius . I actually did try using some of my woodstove Ash, lol,OK still not the right soil :-). I like the way I can both eat them and canned them. And the plants are determinit -How do you spell that –so short stakes are fine. I actually just go grab sticks from the forest, very economical :-)


59 posted on 05/26/2018 1:13:27 PM PDT by CottonBall (Thank you , Julian!)
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To: greeneyes

Here is a question for the experts here. All 9 of my tomato plants are big and all have green tomatoes growing. The grape has even already produced lots of yummy red snacks for my little daughter. They are all heirlooms.

But the two brandywine, my personal favorite tomato, are both turning completely yellow. They are in the same area as the others, they are not next to each other, but just THIS variety has yellowing leaves, it started on the lower leaves but now it’s all the way up.

What are these plants needing? (Dry adobe SoCal soil, I personally water the plants every day, haven’t “fed” much except foliar kelp spray)

Thanks!


60 posted on 05/26/2018 1:17:35 PM PDT by Yaelle
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