Posted on 04/18/2020 5:35:11 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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.
If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.
This thread is non-political respite. 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! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our New & Improved Ping List.
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 to Gardeners are welcomed any time!
They are unpredictable. I think there are a few different strains and you can’t be sure of what you’re going to get!
When Beau was ‘courting’ me, he brought me a Moon and Stars melon he had grown himself. It was the elongated variety with one ‘moon’ and lots of ‘stars.’
He also courted me with winter squash, pork loins, a $37-dollar ‘organic’ butchered chicken, he found my dog when she was lost, built raised garden beds for me, took down aging and unsafe trees near my old house, bought me a lighter wood-chopping maul that I could actually LIFT and made repairs to my failing farmhouse gutters. How could I resist him? ;)
When we’ve planted them in years since, some years we’ve gotten the ‘round’ version, but also with one ‘moon’ and lots of ‘stars.’ :)
My plan is the sitting them on the soil and mulching them method.
Apropos to the meme: don’t put potato sets in plastic bags, even if they have been treated with sulfur dust: they can still mold. We’ll see if they recover or not; still able to get more Kennebecks & Nordlands, if needed; the russet Burbanks are fine, in a paper sack.
Pea seeds from 2 weeks ago are just beginning to germinate, thanks to the return of frigid weather; I uncovered a couple of seeds to check whether they were okay or not.
Naturally, no beets of carrots after only a week.
The leeks in the coffee cans are beginning to emerge; the cat grass in another one is already about 2” tall.
After work today, I spread fertilizer in the potato furrows. Supposed to get showers tonight & tomorrow, which will water it in ahead of planting Wednesday, after work: New Moon. More rain on Thursday, to water them.
My scarlet runner bean seeds arrived this week, so I have everything planned on planting on hand now. 65 of them should be just about right for 50’ of 8’ garden fence.
onions in but not doing much....got some seeds on the back deck...
Good to see you back here again; missed your posts.
Thanks. Nice to have time to check in now and then.
Do you grow the leeks in the coffee cans, or do you transplant them?
I seeded them early this past week. Growing them for transplanting, as we can no longer get transplants here.
I haven’t ever grown them. Been thinking about trying some.
Oh, I’m charmed. He is definitely a keeper! I need to know more. How old were you both when his mighty pursuit started and how long did it take for you to surrender.
Well, if my tiny starts survive my efforts, I’ll let you know which kind I grew. The smaller kind would be best.
Yesterday (Saturday) was a gorgeous day – bright sunshine and a high of 64. The only issue was the wind – I had some empty plastic pots blowing around & had to chase some (unopened) seed packets around the field more than once. When I laid the packets on the rows where I wanted to plant seeds, the wind would pick them up & off they went – I finally got smart & put something on them to hold them down.
So, all the veggie seeds are planted (major happy dance going on here – been trying to get out into the garden for quite a while). Earlier this month, the nursery where I get my veggie plants wasn’t open other than online/phone orders & they picked your plants & brought them out. I like picking my own plants. Fortunately, I got 4 tomato plants , the variety I wanted, at Lowe’s & bought seeds for a few other ‘must haves’. I also have some old seeds for radishes, spinach, lettuce, scallions & some herbs - if they come up – great …. if not, then that’s just the way it is. I am real curious to see what happens with those older seeds - I planted old kale last fall & about 1/3 of them did come up.
I was able to get the fencing up around the seed beds – don’t want the dogs gallivanting through them and digging holes (which they did about 2 weeks ago). The tomatoes are ok for now – I have 5-gallon buckets to set over them at night or if the weather is too rough for them the next week or so while they adjust to being outside. Last night, we had a light frost, so they did fine under the buckets & were looking pretty happy this morning. I bought them several weeks ago & they were getting unhappy in their little pots – definitely needed to go in the ground.
Today the wind is less, just a slight breeze. I’m planting the flower beds: tithonia, sunflowers (Teddy Bear, which I’ve never grown, plus a mix of varieties) & zinnias. I found some old, unopened packets of poppies & cornflowers, so they’ll go in the ground too. I’m really looking forward to seeing flowers bloom.
For a Christmas gift, I received a thistle sock. That went out two days ago because I saw Goldfinches working the black oil sunflower seeds. They like the thistles – I ordered a thistle feeder today, something more durable than a sock. Also, I ordered a 2nd hummingbird feeder – they are showing up now in our area. This feeder has perches - my original one does not, although I’ll probably make some perches with wire (saw how to do it on a video). The bluebird mama is still on the nest with eggs or keeping fledglings warm – not sure which & I don’t want to peep in the box at this point.
Birds, flowers, butterflies & a veggie garden … it doesn’t get much better than that! :-)
The wind has FINALLY calmed down, so I will be playing outside the rest of the day and will report back in later!
Greetings from southern New Hampshire!
I repaired the rat damage in the duck coop. I want to try an electronic pest controller. I hope it works.
I am almost finished with the front tree bank...which is a strip of woods between our front yard fence and the road. Today, I installed the Cyclone Vacuum interface on the John Deere 318 tractor put the Cyclone back together. The motor started on the second pull! I vacuumed up the leaf piles by the driveway and started vacuuming leaves around the roadside flower bed and along the fence line. I am over half-way done. I had to empty the cart, and decided to bag it for today.
Household Six has started some seeds. I will start some this week, and will start tilling raised beds.
All the flower beds are cleaned out. I am a bit ahead of curve, this spring, in spite of a couple of snow falls in the past week. Damned Global Warming!
As it usually happens, you think something will take a certain amount of time .... and it takes LONGER. Sigh. I spent 4 hours on the mower without any breaks; however, all of the place is now mowed ... every bit of it.
I got 2 of the 3 flower beds planted that I had on the ‘to do’ list & along with the mowing, that was a fairly large accomplishment. Rain tomorrow with warm(er) daily temps coming up, so maybe I’ll get some good germination & quick growth.
Today was the first day my tomatoes were outside (planted late yesterday) - I did not acclimate them because the weather has been pretty cool & windy so I kept them inside. They got through the night ok (we had a frost) with their bucket covers, but they got a bit sunburned today when I left the buckets off. It was a partly cloudy day so I thought they’d be ok, but some of the leaves are a bit pale. I hope it doesn’t set them back too much - I’ll have to be more careful & just expose them early morning & evening & extend the time gradually over the next week.
For those of you who are interested in vegetable gardening, homesteading, foraging, DIY or prepping FReeper Oshkalaboomboom keeps a Knowledge Base of information many of you might find very helpful, especially in trying times.
It is organized in directories with a directory list in each one so you can get the list, see what interests you, skip over what doesn’t then come back and download it to your home, all at no cost other than a polite word of thanks if you find anything useful.
Send him a PM saying that you would like to access the Knowledge Base and he will send you a link with an access code.
Got any suggestions on your ridding property.....and your attic.....from raccoons?
I have 22 suggestions.
From my experience, once they move in, shooting them or hiring professionals to trap and remove them is about your only choice. :(
Nothing really ‘deters’ them. They’re as stubborn as Honey Badgers, but a lot less vicious at least!
And once they’re gone, you need to repair their damage and shore up your attic from future invaders.
I spent over $12K cleaning up my attic and ridding it of bats (had to be humane; they’re protected Brown Bats) before I could sell my old farm. Beau has just done work on our 3rd floor house gables to keep bats out.
That Mother Nature! She’s always trying to run us out of town, LOL!
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3836941/posts
Financing Poverty, Malnutrition and Death – Part 2
Bookmarked for later. Beau was just telling me about the devastating Locust attacks that have been happening in parts of Africa.
Grasshoppers are the crossest bug EVER - and Locusts are Grasshoppers on Steroids!
*SHUDDER*
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.