The Garden Thread - June, 2024

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

[Albion Wilde]

I often get wistful reading about you folks with vegetable gardens. I live in a suburban townhouse community directly next to a vast forest with deer, rabbits, owls, snakes and foxes; and although I love it for its own merits, I have given up on the possiblity of vegetable gardening.

So, forget about tomatoes, hostas, geraniums, hydrangea, impatiens, lilies, liriope, English holly, arbor vitae, azalea and so many other ornamentals—eaten to the nub. Critters dig up tulip bulbs, and even pull mums and wire garden fences right out of the ground. Deer stroll the front sidewalks, munching as they go.

Then there are the dog walkers who defy the bylaws and back their entitled royal doggies right up to your plantings to do their business. So my focus has been on perennials and annuals that at least the animals don't like to eat!

I had a great spring this year with two colors of clematis blooming beautifully, and a gorgeous display of ground cover bugleweed in bloom, which it does for about 2-3 weeks before reverting to its normal all-green leaf state.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Diana...I wish the view from my back door looked like your graphic!

(I do have some foxglove growing the “Wild” “Fairy Island” corner of my property!)

Yes, I hear objections, no, I know there are no “fairies”, but there are beneficial insects that need a relatively undisturbed area to live in. A lot of lit-up fireflies hang out there!

[Pollard]

I’ve been arguing with ChatGTP for the past few hours trying to get it to give me some code for the BASIC programming language while fitting into the constraints of the subset of BASIC that my control modules use.

In summary: ChatGPT has poor reading comprehension and possibly ADHD.

Version 6 had no errors returned by the module at least. It isn’t working though, else the linear actuator would be extended to mimic opening the window when it’s over 70 degrees.

Also got a version 7 without the SLEEP command which isn’t used on these things. I told it to stick with the tutorial on the product website but it kept using commands that aren’t in the tutorial.

I noticed when I log into ChatGPT, it finds an avatar or profile pic I used years ago so I can’t help wondering if maybe I’m getting StupidGPT or WrongGPT based on my “Far Right” internet profile with Big Tech based on years of data collection.

Between the 7 versions and the tutorials on the mfg website, I have enough to make it work. Open when over 70 degrees and close when under 65 is easy.

Adding the wind speed in to open/close it to 50% open when the wind is over 35 for 2 accumulated minutes in a 10 minute period is the hard part. It needs to be a rolling 10 minute period - recalculate every 2 minutes. I think ChatGPT gave me the basic outline of math for that.

[FamiliarFace]

Pete, you and I are simpatico on lightning bugs (oops, fireflies!) being fairies. In my neck of the woods, called Edge of the Woods, June is full of them. When we have a clear night sky, it looks like the twinkling stars fall out of the sky and into the trees, and then become fairies glowing in the woods and into our semi rural backyard. Think Tinkerbell and her friends. It’s one of my favorite times of year to be out at the firepit down by the woods.

[FamiliarFace]

Oh I feel your pain! The best I can do is an herb garden. I tried adding broccolini, onions, and baby potatoes this year. All are a bust with the exception of the baby potatoes, which I don’t know yet. They have huge green sprouts on the top, but I don’t think the little potatoes will be ready until October or November if I’m at all lucky.

I say we are semi-rural here, because, while we live in a neighborhood (with an HOA 😠), we back up to farmers. The county courthouse is a mile away, but if you drive 1/4 mi from my house, you’re in farm country. Expansive farm country. I so wish we could have a few restrictions released, but the folks around me have no idea that I have so much wildlife that roams my 1-2/3 acre every day. In fact, we have a “certified wildlife habitat”. I bet if I did try to plant vegetables (if I ever had enough sun in my yard), the critters would make mincemeat out of it in no time.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

State of Emergency declared following recent tornadoes, other severe weather (Wisconsin)

MADISON, Wis. — A state of emergency was declared in Wisconsin by Gov. Tony Evers Friday, following a recent stretch of severe weather and tornadoes.

Executive Order #232 covers storm damage and recovery from severe weather that hit in various areas of Wisconsin from June 21 - 25. Widespread tree and structural damage, road washouts, power outages, and flooding was reported.

The National Weather Service confirmed 10 tornadoes occurred in nine counties. Some areas saw roughly five to six inches of rain, which led to flooding that is still ongoing in some counties as of Friday.

Evers said Wisconsin Emergency Management, a division of the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, has been working with counties to assess damage and determine resources needed to speed recovery efforts. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is assessing damage to state park properties.

The Executive Order allows for all state agencies to assist in the response and recovery effort. The Wisconsin National Guard may also be activated as needed.

https://www.channel3000.com/news/state-of-emergency-declared-following-recent-tornadoes-other-severe-weather/article_56a5b16e-359a-11ef-bc03-431b2fc67569.html

Diana here: Told ya I was having a cr@p-tastic growing season! At least my house and greenhouse are still standing, though. A beautiful Lutheran Church near us was reduced to SPLINTERS! They are fully insured, but are raising money to clean up the cemetery there - lots of headstones ruined that need replacing and just general mayhem.

This Spring has been one for the books, for sure! We had a tornado in February this year! Thankfully, our weather is stabilizing, now. The temps are going to be no higher than 83 for the next 10 days, lows in the mid-60’s, which won’t help much with tomatoes ripening. :( More rain, every few days, though. BAH!

[FamiliarFace]

Yesterday, an apparent severe storm ran through my neighborhood. Nothing like what you’ve had. 3 very mature trees were knocked over, and one was on my street. Right in the middle of the neighbor’s driveway, but not in the street itself.

The storm happened just as we were wrapping up our garden tours. The last stop was to turn in some coupons for a free daylily with a purchase. So $10 for 4 day lilies. They had neat names: Anatomically correct, Mimosa umbrella, Key West, and Only in Dreams. My job is to get them planted today, so I have scoped out some spots.

The garden tour was fun. When the homeowners were present, it was more fun. One house was a complete dud, and I have no idea how they made the cut. It was more like a professional landscape job than an actual garden.

The first house we went to was probably my favorite. The owners were there, and boy did that lady have a GREEN thumb! She did organic gardening, and everything was lush and beautiful. I saw many new to me flowers. One looked a little bit like Queen Anne’s Lace, I think it was called Orlaya, or something like that. The lady told me that when it goes to seed she would set aside some for me to try next Spring. I hope she does that.

None of the houses had what I would call an English cottage garden, but that first one was very cottage like. I think I misread the descriptions, because one house had a courtyard, and in the back, the husband turned the shed into a small British pub. Mr. FF was happy to have a beer from his tap while we walked around. They were fun people.

That lady had tarragon that she planted from seed in the spring, and it was nice and bushy. Hers were more individual seeming than mine which are big bundles. She didn’t know there were 3 types of tarragon, so I wonder if hers was the Mexican variety.

At one of the homes towards the end, we saw a bubble rock, which was a water feature built into stones that were laid on top of each other. That was neat and is something we would like to do here. Our creek in the back is very small and too far away to hear the water rushing unless you’re standing next to the edge. Some sort of water feature near to our house would be pleasant, so I’m sure we will look into it.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

What a great way to spend the day! I worked some of those home garden tours for Jung’s back in the day. They were always fun. One house I was at (I handed out catalogs and answered questions) has always stuck with me, too. They had a lovely small pond and a bridge and every type of Hosta under the sun. They also had a huge pet Parrot that was very entertaining. The older couple that lived there were moving to TN to retire. I’m sure that house was an easy sell with all the beautiful landscaping.

I’m heading out to the garden for the afternoon. I have a rain-FREE 70 degree day to play in! Going to fertilize my long-suffering tomatoes and get them staked up properly as well as mulch three beds that are going to lay fallow until fall planting. They’re all three full to the brim with Spring bulbs, so I use them in the Fall for a second crop of shallow-rooted lettuces, spinach, etc.

[FamiliarFace]

Do you remember how you told us about using ranch dip with button mushrooms and butter in the crock pot? Well, I’ve never had time to do it in the crockpot. I’ve always cut the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, and sautéed in the butter and ranch dressing.

Tonight, I had a happy accident. I had already put the mushrooms and butter on, and couldn’t find the ranch seasoning anywhere! Hubby remembered that I had purchased many Salt Sisters seasoning packets from our orchard market that carries them. He knew he had seen something with “ranch” in the title. Turns out it was “Tuscan Ranch Dip”.

I’m telling you, it kicked the mushrooms up a notch!! Let me know if you’d like to have some. It looks pretty expensive online, but maybe we can work something out to get it to anyone who wants to give it a try.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I make those mushrooms for every family gathering in the winter months. There are never any leftovers. Ever.

Glad you liked them!

Check the package for that Ranch Dip you used. I’m betting the only thing ‘Tuscan’ about it is adding some Italian seasoning to the basic mix:

https://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/homemade-ranch-dip/#wprm-recipe-container-61842

½ teaspoon dried parsley
▢ ¼ teaspoon onion powder
▢ ½ teaspoon dried chives
▢ ½ teaspoon garlic powder
▢ ½ teaspoon dill weed
▢ ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
▢ ⅛ teaspoon pepper

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Gorgeous! Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. You are making the most of it. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

With our wet season, the Fireflies have been fantastic!

Sadly, that means ALL the beetles, including the Japanese type which eat my green bean & my grape leaves will also be in abundance this season. :(

[FamiliarFace]

Ingredients in order on the package:

Unrefined sea salt, rosemary, oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, garlic, onion, bell pepper, dill, and red pepper.

So I’d say you’re correct. Just add Italian seasoning to the mix.

It knocked our socks off! ;)