Posted on 03/05/2022 7:15:34 AM PST 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.
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PS - charcoal grill too
That recipe looks good!
Mid-April we’ll have plenty of steak in the freezer, thanks to Weber taking one for the team. ;)
Such a short grilling time too, especially on the peppers, they still have some crunch. Yes I was thinking of Weber. We have a grill wok for the peppers works great you can stir them while they blister just takes a minute or 2.
I got to play in my greenhouse, today! I’ve got lettuce, kale and spinach planted out there. Uncovered during the day, and covered with both plastic and a blanket at night. The nighttime temps in the greenhouse are hovering around freezing, so extra nighttime insulation for a while should do the trick. On a sunny day like today, it’s only 30 degrees outside but it’s 73 in the greenhouse. Cloudy days keep it between 40 and 50 degrees.
This is my first experiment starting things this early out there. Fingers Crossed!
Inside I have peppers going, and I’m going to start some more lettuces today to hedge my bets. We eat a TON of lettuce, so I can never have too much. :)
Beau is tapping maple trees for sap but it seems to be slow going this season for some reason.
I also have a batch of sprouts ‘greening up’ for later enjoyment this week. Life Is Good...and gettin’ Gooder! :)
Well now you’ve done it. Just ordered some Shishito Peppers from Baker Creek. I read a bunch of reviews and they sound pretty good. People have better luck with them than Bell, prolific, not picky, sweet when green, slightly less when red, only occasional hot one, after dry spell get hotter. Quite variable and versatile. Ought to be interesting.
They have a wonderful flavor, not like any other pepper. We gave been growing them for more than 5 years. We pick them when mature in size, have never had any go red and never had a hot one. Just 3 or 4 plants will give us plenty. I can pick a few each day.
How do you know when they’re ready to pick?
They will all get to the same mature size about 4 -5 inches. It will change from a pointed tip to one more full and rounded one. You’ll see.
This was from another thread. Worth posting on this thread. 12 minute video about the coming food crisis and how home gardening will be so important. The video is on his website also on youtube. Definitely heads up info for us IMO.
Glad to hear they are that big! I was thinking smaller. Now I’m REALLY excited to give them a try!
Re: Video you posted - in my queue for my next cuppa. Thanks! I think? ;)
The first Spring Robins were hopping around the yard, yesterday. They'll have to be satisfied with berries for now; ground is still snow-covered and frozen, but this is a good sign! Couple this with SPRING AHEAD Daylight Savings this weekend and we are in the Home Stretch up here on The Frozen Tundra!
Does Growing a Vegetable Garden Really Save You Money?
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4045457/posts?page=1
The University of Tennessee Extension maintains a collection of over 300 building and equipment plans, and all are now available in electronic format for download. The plans are primarily intended for use in Tennessee, but many are appropriate for other locations as well.
The plans came from many sources. Some were developed in The University of Tennessee Extension Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department, but most were developed in a cooperative effort with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Cooperative Farm Building Plan Exchange. The Plan Exchange no longer exists, but the plans remain on file and are available.
The plans developed at The University of Tennessee are based on the research and demonstration experiences of scientists at The University of Tennessee. The USDA plans generally originated at Land Grant Institutions across the country and were submitted to the Cooperative Farm Building Plan Exchange where they were edited and distributed to all states for use in their Extension education programs.
I would think this year you could double those savings to $400. Something else many people would get is a bigger or different variety than from the grocery store. Take peppers for instance. Out here in the boonies, it's pretty much bell and jalapeno most of the year and banana part of the year. I think one store has serrano most of the time too. Shisito? Not a chance.
Tomatoes? plum, vine and slicers. No particular varieties given and they're all pretty much tasteless. For cherry tomatoes in the plastic tubs, yellow or red and they make up their own names. Of course commercially grown maters probably have names like ch-47 or something.
Lettuce; Iceberg, Romaine and red or green leaf lettuce, no name given. Then of course you can get baby greens salad mix and those usually give the varieties. They ain't cheap though. If I bought the baby greens mix from the store year round, I'd probably spend $60-80/yr. Especially considering you can buy 300 seeds for $2.50 - 3.00. Selection and quality is poor during winter yet baby greens can be grown indoors year round.
Just stumbled across these people but know nothing about them. https://www.botanicalinterests.com/
Chef's Choice Large Packet #7301 - 4.5 grams (~2,660 seeds) $3.99 - https://www.botanicalinterests.com/product/Chefs-Choice-Mesclun-Lettuce-Seeds
2,660 seeds for 4 bucks. They have several other mixes too.
Lost a goat over the past few days. The younger of the two bucks. Found him curled up in a tire. Don’t know if the other buck was beating up on him so he went to be left alone or just got sick and chose to die there or drank stagnant water from the tire and curled up because he felt ill. At any rate, I’ll be getting rid of the tires. They have fresh water so I doubt he would drink from the tire unless the bigger buck wasn’t letting him drink. I hadn’t noticed anything like that. Has always looked very healthy too.
Kicking myself because I should have banded him and processed for the freezer. That was my original plan since I only need one buck. Oh well, one less mouth to feed hay to.
Handy little calculator for gardening.
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html
Insert date, add how ever many days you want and it gives you a end/future date.
I inserted today’s date and added 115 days(onions) and it gives my July 3rd.
Camellias. Christmas Camellias, Yuletide Camellias and Spring Camelias.
Having spent most of my life in Kansas City (on the line from zone 5 to 6) this is a flowering shrub that we did not see a lot of, especially the red Christmas variety.
This house I bought has four with three blooming around Christmas and one blooming the last six weeks. Over five feet tall for the former and almost ten feet tall for the latter.
We like spicy stuff and hot sauce around here so it's all good.
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