The Garden Thread - June, 2024

June 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!

[Pollard]

The battle begins.

Bought some 2, 4 D weed killer last week and sprayed a few horsenettle. Those plants are looking half dead. Then I read on an AG extension site that the roots are weakest when they’re flowering because they’re putting all their energy into reproducing. Went and looked at them this morning and they’re flowering, even the little ones. Seems early but something’s also chewed a lot of holes in the leaves so I think they went into flowering mode as a survival mechanism.

Hit most of them and used up the 24 oz spray bottle so I hit the Dollar store and they had it in the gallon sprayer for just a few bucks more than the small spray bottle. The sun’s on them so it dries out quick. I’m going to wait until the sun’s down past the trees and hit them again. Might be able to hit them again tomorrow after work if it’s not raining.

Speaking of trees. The few I cut down around the tunnel allow it to get sun a bit before 9am as of now. I’ll have to check throughout the rest of the year as the sun changes it’s path to see which other ones need to come down.

Hooked up the finish mower on the back of the tractor last weekend. Engaged the PTO and boy that thing was quiet. Took me a second to realize it has no belt on it so the blades weren’t spinning. I forgot it broke last year. That belt is $40 now, pretty much double what they were a few years ago.

[Pollard]

The industrial PC(not pictured) with touchscreen is officially in control. Been using my laptop. Hard to get a good pic of a screen and I was holding the phone crooked. This monitor is mainly a screen for the automation modules. The modules have their own little web server so everything is accessed via a static IP address. 192.168.1.5 for this module. The other modules have different static IP addresses like 192.168.1.20 but the modules all all communicate with each other so I only need the one IP address for viewing sensor data and manually turning things on/off.

The "Tunnel PC" is running Debian Linux with the KDE Plasma desktop which is the same desktop my laptop runs so everything's familiar.

The touchscreen is set to turn off after 5 minutes of inactivity but a couple of taps on it wakes it right up. Hopefully it will do the same in the morning.

I have my coffee maker light set to turn on at 6am, same as my alarm clock but I usually get up before that so I'll be poking at this thing tomorrow while half asleep to be able to turn the coffee light on manually. I'm all out of network ports so my laptop no longer has access because I stole the network cable to plug into the "Tunnel PC".

The one module that runs my coffee light, the drip pump in the front yard garden and the grow lights will be staying up here so once I get the Tunnel stuff out there, I'll have my network port back for the laptop to house module. I like my little home automation stuff and actually want to do more of it, someday.

Now that this stuff isn't cluttering the table in the seed starting room, I'm going to start that tray of succession bok choy, tatsoi, collard, mustard and Salanova lettuce to see what survives the coming heat. After I do a little work on the tunnel and kill horsenettle. It's overcast now.

[little jeremiah]

Aha, there you are! I have read it’s best to have more than one blueberry bush, and you have “bushes” - but I think (??) that having more than one variety helps pollination? I COULD easily be wrong. I grew up on acreage that had and abundance of wild blueberries so that is what I am familiar with. Your garden sounds great. Got any zucchinis growing?

[MomwithHope]

This is overkill but really cool and does barely fit in with a gardening thread. Pollard I especially thought of you.

https://gab.com/Grendel_Lives/posts/112508622005106051

Frog story

[AFB-XYZ]

Got any zucchinis growing?

Wish I did! The lady across the street and her husband, though, always have zucchini in abundance (and 7ellow squash and spaghetti squash also). They always give generously, and are real Godsends. :-)

Out of the 4 parsnips that sprouted, one of them has a second set of leaves starting, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Funny thing is, I've got tomatoes sprouting where I did NOT put any seeds. Have no idea how that happened. Birds, maybe?

[AFB-XYZ]

but I think (??) that having more than one variety helps pollination?

I've read that too, but Home Depot only had the one kind at the time I bought them, so I bought 3. For some reason, a bunch of clover is growing in various spots in the yard, which seems to have attracted a fair number of bees to help pollinate stuff.

I'd make a lousy farmer, but it's kind of fun trying to grow stuff. Heh.

[little jeremiah]

Bees are awesome. And clover adds nitrogen to the soil Great stuff. Even growing something means fresh, non-poisoned etc.

[little jeremiah]

Birds eat things, crap, and seeds come out. :-D Birds must have eaten someone’s tomatoes.

[Pollard]

This is overkill but really cool and does barely fit in with a gardening thread. Pollard I especially thought of you.

Overkill made you think of me eh? Guilty as charged.

I'll have more into the tunnel than the tiny house I live in because I tore down a bigger fire damaged house for the materials for this place.

I draw the line at building or buying tiny houses for gay frogs though.

[Pollard]

Did you grow tomatoes there or close by last year or the year before?

I’ve got some tomato volunteers this year but I grew tomatoes there last year too so I know where they came from.

Compost that didn’t get real hot that had seeds in it will also do that.

And as mentioned, any critter that digests seed and then disperses them out the other end will do it. That’s why you have to be wary about manure sources.

I got horsenettle several years ago from some horse manure. Got rid of it but I have it again. This time it’s from hay from a different source but he has horses.

[AFB-XYZ]

Did you grow tomatoes there or close by last year or the year before?

Not in that particular part of the bed. Very weird! But I'll take it. I'm just glad Beelzebub's Buddies (a/k/a gophers) haven't made their verminous way onto my property -- yet. Heh.

I've heard that horsenettle is horrible to try to eradicate because it keeps coming back. Reminds me of Johnson grass, which is almost impossible to get rid of once it gets established.

[MomwithHope]

Not overkill, just a techno approach made me think of you.

[MomwithHope]

Puppies!

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4241885/posts?page=18#18

[Augie]

Very nice weather this past week here in Central Missouri. It hasn’t really gotten hot yet so we’ve still got the house windows open to the breeze. We picked up another 7/10ths inch of rain Friday night while I was in Iowa for the races.

The garden was still too muddy to mess with when I got home yesterday which is just as well because I had camper problems to deal with. I had not one, not two, but three camper tire blowouts on this trip. One going up and two coming home. Bought a new one in Knoxville after we got there on Friday. 20 miles into the trip home the tire that had been the spare blew out so I stopped and put the new tire on and headed back out. About 20 miles from home the third one blew out. At that point I had no spare so I limped it home on three wheels. Also noticed the water heater is leaking around the anode rod plug. This was the first time I hooked to city water since I changed the anode so maybe it just needs to be pulled out, re-taped, and re-installed.

Hopefully the ground will be dried up enough to get around the garden this evening. I need to get some seeds into the dirt.

[Pollard]

Well this sucks. Linear actuators for the gable vents at a deep discount. I guess they only had one which is why I could only order one at a time.

I thought the limit was because they didn't have many and it did let me order a second one but cancelled the order today and now the site says not available for order, discontinued. First(or last) and only one will be here in 2-3 days.

I really wanted the matching pair for the two gable vents. Oh well. Guess I'll just use this one for the seed room window and buy the matching pair for $144 each that I was already planning on for the gable cents.

I'll have this one to learn on at least. Same parameters. Open when warm, close when cool, close part way when it's warm and raining with strong winds from the South so I don't get a bunch of rain blowing in.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Looks like we’re finally going to get a break from the heavy rains we’ve had. This is a really wet spring - good for bugs and slugs, that’s for sure! 5” total within a week. Uncle!

My Internet provider came out today and basically GAVE ME an entirely new system! It died on Monday, so I’m back! It’s really nice; the Modem and Router are all in one piece now, and he replaced some things on the dish that has some ‘evidence of chewing’ which I do not doubt one bit! It’s on a pole 8’ off the ground - could easily be a buck rub, LOL!

We are getting set to poor more concrete tomorrow - I just finished helping Beau install the last of the rebar and do some joint taping, etc. We have two neighbor boys coming to help, and it’s just one 12’ length of wall, so it should go quick.

The puppies will be 4 weeks old on Friday and feisty as heck! They are eating soaked puppy chow already, which is a relief to poor Taylor (gonna Bag Balm that girl when all of this is over!) and will make things a bit easier on me to take care of them all when Beau heads to Canada for his annual Fishing Trip. I tend to SPOIL everyone when I’m ‘in charge’ but I have been told that it’s time for all of the dogs to loose some weight to get in shape for hunting, so I’ll go easy on the treats. Maybe. ;)

Today was our first really hot and HUMID day - that should pass with drier weather on the horizon.

Sorry about your woes with the automatic ‘stuff,’ Pollard.

I got my green pole beans and my drying beans in today and I started at the West end of the garden and worked East and weeded every stinkin’ weed there was to weed - but it was easy going with everything so wet - things pulled right out.

I still have a lot to get in, too - but if I take it in little chunks, it’ll go fast. My left knee and ankle are hurting - I was toweling off ONE wet dog when ANOTHER wet dog blindsided me and knocked me over. Ice has helped, but I’m gimping around a little. Maybe if we didn’t have so many dogs on hand? Just an idea. ;)

[Qiviut]

Despite plans to 'git 'er done' days ago, today was the day I got my huge, heavy slate slabs loaded on the trailer. I had several plans in mind & ended up finding a ratchet winch/come-along in the garage & winching them up the ramp & on to the trailer. I put cardboard down so the slabs would slide, which worked pretty well.

I had to go to youtube to figure out how to release the cable on the winch - had 1/2 of the release figured out, but there was a spring I needed to figure out as well.

Of course, there had to be at least one 'mishap'. That slick cardboard on the ramp .... made the mistake of putting a foot on it which promptly slid out from under me & down I went. I thought I had really hurt my wrist, but after a few minutes it calmed down- no range of motion issues, no swelling & I can use it OK- slight sprain would be my diagnosis.

Smaller stuff to load tomorrow & will probably make the trip Thursday morning. Aside from mowing, lots to do with slabs, build shelves in shop, maybe try to set posts for a chain across the driveway to keep cars out ... never a dull moment.

Pic: early in the ordeal - one slab on. Working on getting #2 raised out of the dirt so I can move it to the trailer ramp.

[Pollard]

We are getting set to poor more concrete tomorrow - it’s just one 12’ length of wall, so it should go quick.

Concrete - wall - whatcha building? Maybe I missed it.

No worries. I had already talked about buying a third unit to open/close that seed room window so now I have one and will buy the other two as planned. That and I have something to practice with while costing me less than one of the original brand. Still a win.

Now I have vehicle woes. Blew a freeze plug out on the truck. It's a $5 part but it's in the back of the cylinder head which means pulling the head off. Full day project.

They closed down my short way out of here to replace the a bridge. The slightly longer way is rougher with lots of rocks, washboard etc. Looked at the tires on the car, ugh. That needs to be my next expenditure, at least two. I knew I'd need them soon, just not as soon. That 500 miles a week takes it's toll. Won't push back the completion of the tunnel. I already knew I'd need tires for both it and the truck before Winter. Will just push back any immediate work.

Need to pull back my shade cloth a little on the front yard garden. I kind of slung it up the easy button method but I don't think that maters are getting enough sun. I didn't have them when I put the cloth up.

Pulled a Bok Choy this morning because I saw tiny buds. Got two more I'll pull Thursday morning and give to the guy at work, along with Tatsoi and maybe a head of Salanova.

Doing a little experiment, as usual. I mulched one of each type of plant with crushed goat manure and not years old manure. Will be interesting to see how they each respond. If something responds good to this free resource I have, cool. Tonight's rain will water it in some. Goat manure is super mild and considered pre-composted and ready to use.

[MomwithHope]

We used just goat manure for 25 years, mixed with their oat straw bedding. It was usually a year old. Our barn has a concrete floor with a drain so when the pen was cleaned out it had some urine. We started our garden on a sand bed and one load of top soil. That manure built it up. It is like black cake flour with terrific drainage. Seriously, makes me want to bake a cake. I miss not having the manure. But not livestock. We use our compost pile now and Chicken Soup for the Soil. Its terrific.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You amaze me, Woman! But NO INJURIES, Please! :)