The Garden Thread - May, 2024

May 1, 2024 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a 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 a 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 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/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time!

[Qiviut]

Full “Flower” moon today:

https://www.almanac.com/full-moon-may

[Augie]

Well I managed to get one rhubarb into the ground yesterday. One survived the winter of the four that I dug up from the old garden. That one was in a 3-gallon pot and was root-bound like crazy. It had been looking really good until the weather started to heat up a week or so back.

I dug a whopper hole and put about a foot of compost in the bottom, knocked most of the soil off the root ball, loosened up the roots, socked it in the ground, made sure the crown was sitting well above grade, filled the hole and finished off the mound with more compost.

I hope this one survives the reset. I probably could have divided it but I decided as stressed as it already was to skip that step and hope for the best. I’ve got four new ones from the nursery that are in gallon pots. Those will be pretty quick to set if it’s not raining after I get done at the salt mine today.

After the little bit of work I’ve done in the new patch it’s become apparent that I need to build a new potting shed. Right now I’m borrowing the hay stall in the barn to store my tools, but that’s just a little too far from the garden gate to be handy, and I have to mind the horses unless I shut them up in the arena.

It’s likely to take me all summer to get things set up so I can be semi-efficient with my movement while working out there but since this will likely be the last garden I develop I don’t mind taking a little time to build it the way I want.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“It’s likely to take me all summer to get things set up so I can be semi-efficient with my movement while working out there but since this will likely be the last garden I develop I don’t mind taking a little time to build it the way I want.”

Amen to that! My Gardening Goals are in line with yours. Luckily, my Greenhouse is roomy enough to allow storage for tools and fertilizers and sprinklers and such. I use the bottom shelves (they don’t get enough light anyway) and keep things in lidded totes so I can just water everything with the hose when needed, if it’s not time for fertilizing.

After we get through this next rainy weekend, I should be able to get everything planted and the greenhouse will be empty for the most part, save some potted herbs. Then I can clean it out - AGAIN! That seems to be a never-ending process for sure. ;)

[Liz]

Cheesy Spinach Casserole / Abuelo's Restaurant - Lubbock, Texas / serves 8 to 10
Bring that spinach from the garden to the table in fine style.

Ingredients 5 lb garden fresh leaf spinach, cleaned/stemmed/chp 1 cup 1/4-inch diced smoked bacon 1 tbl butter 3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 1 tbl canned chipotle puree with adobo sauce 2 cups fresh diced onion 3 tbl fresh minced garlic 1/3 cup fresh diced red bell pepper 1 1/2 tbl seasoning salt 8 oz processed cheese 2" cubes 6 oz cream cheese in 2" cubes 2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn 1/4-1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese combined

Instructions Braise spinach in stock pot until limp but still bright green. Brown bacon in saucepan and drain, discarding drippings. Add butter to bacon in pan. Add mushrooms, chipotle puree, onions, garlic, red bell pepper and seasoning salt and sauté until onions and mushrooms are tender. Stir in processed cheese and cream cheese cubes and cook until cheese has melted, stirring continuously.

Final Strainer spinach; press out water. Place in cheese mixture; stir well. Add corn; stir well. Cook/stir three min. Place in casserole and top with grated cheese. Heat in oven til cheese is melted.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Brown bacon in saucepan and drain, discarding drippings.”

*GASP* Other than that, sounds delish. :)

We are at 4” of rain over the past two days. I am NOT getting my ‘dry growing season’ that I had last year. Going to have to put water wings on the pepper plants if this keeps up. More rain for Sunday. Ugh!

I DO have spinach and kale, though! :)

[Liz]

Spinach and kale? What more could you need?....../chuckle.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Well, there is that WHOLE STEER packaged in meal-sized portions in the freezer. ;)

Beef pairs well with braised spinach or kale. :)

[numberonepal]

[numberonepal]

[Forward the Light Brigade]

If you have grass inn your yard, buy sheep or goats. Then you can feast on them and rent them out as natures own lawn mowers.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

'Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you with failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.'

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Weekly Roundup from ‘Abandon All Hope’ Farm:

Let’s see. It’s been raining. And storming. And raining. And storming! 4” of rain in the past two days, and more to come tomorrow. Bad winds earlier in the week. We’re OK, but a lot of trees and out buildings down with straight-line winds. Good friends had their horse barn collapse and not one of the horses was hurt, which is a miracle in itself! We had three trees fall on fence lines surrounding pasture and crop land, but Beau made quick work of those with the chain saw.

Puppies have their eyes open, now. Taylor is still doing an excellent job of being Mama Dog...grateful for that!

I am going to attempt getting my tomatoes in today - it’s not gonna be fun, but it’s GOT to be done. Mud. Ugh. At least I’m Wash & Wear, LOL!

Graduation Party tomorrow for a neighbor girl - Thunderstorms predicted; poor Paige! But, we’ll go for her sake as will everyone else invited. What’s NOT fun about a soggy day with others spent in the garage? ;)

Beau is finding tons of Golden Oyster mushrooms on dead and dying Elm trees. Today we need to clean and seal them and into the freezer. They are not my favorite, but Beau loves them - he loves ANY form of Free Food. ;)

Anyhow, hitting it early today so I can get SOMETHING accomplished in the garden beds.

[mairdie]

I can still see it written on the blackboard to our right in 5th grade. It was powerful then. Still is.

[mairdie]

Father was trained in the army by WWI veterans. Many of his poems cover that period.

The Convent of the Guns
The Daily Maroon
Oct 18, 1828

Our clean curved mouths are cold and dead.
Our polished skin is marred.
Our tawny thighs are thick with dirt,
Dinted, cut, and scarred;
Our day is done! But once!
Our open mouths blazed Deaths’ caress
Our tongues with steel were tipped!
Ah! Bitter spinsters were we then
As we slashed and cut and ripped;
Our youth was filled with lovers
All laughing, joyous boys
Who stroked our slim, proud beauty
Their latest, deadly toys.
Then clean and fresh and polished
We went forth with the Dead
The living, lovely happy lads
Whose last touch, dyed us red.
But supplanted like all harlots
By the newer fresher one
We turned to rest and quiet
As our kind have always done,
With a printed tag about our throats
To inform our lovers’ sons
We’re an Ordanance Exhibition
The Convent of the Guns!

El Tigre.

The Zero Hour
Daily Maroon - Nov 2, 1928

Grey stars agleam in a blank, dead sky
Grey guns agrowl below.
Grey clad men out beyond the wire.
Grey fields in the star-shells glow.

The barrage is a pounding symphony
That ears attuned cannot hear.
There’s something flicking the parapet
There’s something above you fear!

Not fear of “stopping one” above,
Or fear for the man beside.
There’s something flicking the parapet
There’s a fear that you cannot hide.

“Stand By!” The rifle is cool in your hand
And your heart pounds hard and quick.
There’s something flicking the parapet
Number Three of the squad is sick.

The rifle hurts the palm of your hand
Like gripping a stiff wire brush
There’s something flicking the parapet
“Walk slow through the wire, then rush!”

The whistle! The ladders! Up over the edge!
And your legs seem stiff and sore.
There’s something flicking the parapet
Number Three is sick no more!

Grey stars agleam in a blank dead sky
Grey guns agrowl below.
Grey faces turned to the glowing stars
Where men lie dead in a row.

El Tigre.

[MomwithHope]

Do you seal those mushrooms cooked or raw. We have them too, I like them.

[FamiliarFace]

Raining for days on end is no fun! It’s hard to get the work outside done without being muddy and awful.

We only had pieces of days rain here this week, but it starts again tomorrow and will go on through Memorial Day. We were looking forward to a pool party on Monday at a neighbor’s house. Not sure if that event is still on, so I’ll reach out. It may be a little chilly for a bathing suit, by my standards anyway. Expected temps are 65-70, and if we hadn’t already been getting into the 80’s like we have been, that might have seemed warm, but doesn’t now.

Little by little I’m getting my flowers in to the various containers out on the front walkway, on the deck, and then by the fire pit. I have an old semi large garden cart that I fill with impatiens every year that’s down there, near a magnolia and the “hammock” trees. It’s a great place to sit out in the evenings, and watch the woods. Pretty soon the fireflies should be showing up, too. One of my favorite times of the year.

[numberonepal]

There’s an idea! No grass in my garden.

[Qiviut]

I trailered the new mower to the mountain house Thursday. The mower did shift an inch so thank goodness I lined the trailer sides with cardboard - no metal on metal rubbing occurred. The trip was uneventful except for a big T-storm that hit just as I started to cross the mountains. Wipers were on as fast as they would go, I had to put the defrost on because the windshield was fogging up, I was crawling at 30 mph and still having trouble seeing the “S” curves. Coming down the other side was marginally better.

My cousin thought he spotted me coming through town at the bottom of the mountain, but decided it wasn’t me because of the red mower in the trailer ... LOL! He was surprised to find out it WAS me with a new mower.

Yesterday, I spent going through the mower manual, trying to figure out how to adjust the seat and control ‘arms’. It is obvious a relatively tall man put the mower together - seat is all the way back & backing up was barely possible because the control arms were hitting me in the chest (boobs!) when I pulled them back to reverse. The arms were on the highest setting & I have taken them off & reattached as low as they will go - big improvement :-)

MWH:
I parked the utility trailer in the pole shed after unloading the mower & discovered a #@$%& groundhog is digging in 2 places. I do not have my trap or a snare with me so dealing with GH will have to wait a week or so.

On the front porch currently ... shaded, nice breeze, great view. Lots of campers & vehicles with canoes, kayaks & fishing boats going by - the river (about half a mile away) is a happening place.

Once the sun is at a lower angle, I’ll do some mowing - too intense right now if not in the shade.

[FamiliarFace]

I love both of those memes!

[MomwithHope]

You can try cutting up some bars of Irish spring bar soap and scattering them around. Many times that will keep them away.