Posted on 03/01/2025 7:23:36 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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Same here.
And we have a steep, long driveway, so I’m glad the snow is melting.
That shop sounds like HEAVEN! :) Do they have a website?
“I also got some good intel on greenhouses & nurseries in the area.”
We should do that as a subject one month - extolling the virtues of our favorite Garden Centers...even though I grow most of what I need from seed, and hang out at Walmart WAY too much in the Spring. :)
I’m just hoping to duplicate the STEAL OF A DEAL I got on the Proven Winners hanging baskets of a few years back. $50 baskets that I got for $10 each!
What’s the concern? The drooping? Or is it developing mold or a fungus? Can’t quite tell from the photo.
More details, Please! :)
Fairy Castle Cactus Features: An Overview
This cactus belongs to the Acanthocereus genus that contains exactly 14 species of cacti. Fairy castle cactus is the somewhat representative cultivar of this genus.
Fairy castle cactus is a tall, columnar perennial plant. This cactus can reach up to 6 feet (2 m) in height. It tends to grow at a very slow pace with time and produces numerous branches that provide an attractive silhouette.
The plant consists of many tall, four-sided, light to dark green stems that feature wool-like spines along each plane. Its limbs turn woody and brownish with age.
In general, the Fairy castle cactus exhibits blossoms quite rarely. But when it blooms, the flowers appear only during the night and remain open until dawn. The flowers do not usually show up until the cactus is ten years old or even more.
The showy flowers of Fairy castle cactus have lots of delicate, long, pointy, and white petals. They have dense, creamy white or yellowish centres (pistils).
Once its blooming period has ended, the Fairy castle cactus may bear fruits where the blooms were before. The fruits are tiny, shiny, spiny, ovoid to oblong, reddish, and measure about 2 inches (5 cm) in length.
https://gardenbeast.com/fairy-castle-cactus-guide/
They do have a website, but don’t show what I described, just some general statements.
One greenhouse a cousin suggested we go to when it opens has changed hands. The ladies at the general store ‘made a face’ when I mentioned it .... prices have all but doubled under the new management. They had some other suggestions & the country market barely 10 minutes down the road will have herbs & flowers when the weather warms up. Of course, Walmart is 7 minutes away - they have a lot of their garden stuff (mulch, soil, pavers, etc.) already out in the parking lot.
It appears Clyde (JD 920) will be here next month. My brother is going to service it & trailer it for me. I offered to let him keep it to mow our part of the property this coming mowing season, but he said he got his mower running well (a new carburetor helped!) so he’s more comfortable using his mower. Clyde will make short work of the fields & Little Red, being smaller, will be more nimble around the trees & landscaping in the yard.
The paving guy is coming tomorrow to see if it’s dry enough to do some grading & prep work for asphalt later this spring. About 2/3 of our existing driveway will be removed & replaced plus the new loop in the front will get pavement. It’s going to be a huge project, but the company has been in business for 69 years & the owner is a bit of a perfectionist so I know they will do a good job.
👍 Duly noted. Thanks, Mom!
Your general store sounds a bit like the orchard market where I shop sometimes. Ours isn’t as big as yours, but it sounds similar in certain ways.
My lovely neighbor surprised us by bringing over apple cider doughnuts baked at the orchard market bakery this morning! They were still warm! I love her to pieces!! The doughnuts were so yummy! Plus, she baked us some raspberry muffins, too! (She’s a talented baker!)
I wouldn’t know many people here in Indiana if she hadn’t first asked me to join a neighborhood book club over 10 years ago. I do love reading, but I don’t like being told what to read.
So that worked for about a year. Before I knew it, I was asked to join card club as a substitute. First, I had to learn how to play euchre. Well, there’s an app for that! Now, I’m one of the regulars, but without my sweet backyard neighbor, I would never have met these other great people.
As you become more accustomed to your new house, neighbors, and area, I hope you will find new *lovely* places to do your shopping, as I have. Be blessed, my FRiend!
Those stems are usually tight to the main stem. It’s opening up. I don’t know if it’s an end of life thing and it’s about to bloom or what. It’s a lot bigger than the ones at th e link you sent (thank you). It’s about 3 feet tall.
Well, it IS 10 years old, and that’s how long it takes them to bloom.
Has it been in the same pot for all of these 10 years? Maybe once it warms up enough by you, you could take it outside, wear gloves and re-pot? If you do, use the Cactus Soil that Miracle Grow makes. It’s good stuff!
The only other ideas I have is that it might have been over-watered, but you must have drainage, and are aware of that need if you have a drip saucer under the pot!
Can it be moved to the SUNNIEST spot in your house? That might perk it up some, too - and I, too, hope it blooms for you! How fun!
I once had a GORGEOUS Barrel Cactus. I was away on a training mission and the then-hub decided to take it out on the porch steps for more sun - but it rained for a solid WEEK and pretty much drowned. When I got home, I went to care for it and see if I could save it and it DEFLATED like a Souffle!
I didn’t divorce him for killing my Cactus - there were PLENTY of other reasons. ;)
Hi, All!
I bought a 5 lb. package of pinto beans at Wally World about a month ago, and a few days ago I finally tried using some, starting off with the usual overnight pre-soak, then cooking them. They never got soft, even with 2 hours cooking time. I don’t mean “mushy”, I mean soft such as you’d get out of a normal can of beans — they only got half way “there”.
I tried the “quick boil” method too. (Boil them 4 minutes and then let set over 5 hours. Same result.
What the heck?? Could they have been too old / expired? I never checked the expiration date, and had transferred them into a solid container when I brought them home.
Here’s what I found. And it has ways to correct the problem at this link, too. :)
https://answerpantry.com/beans-wont-soften/
You Didn’t Soak Your Beans Long Enough
Beans need to be soaked for a minimum of four and up to 12 hours. Some people soak their beans overnight and then cook them in the morning. You can soak most dried beans overnight with no harm. The softer the beans are when you start cooking them, the shorter your cooking time will be.
How Long To Soak Beans
Some beans may take longer to soften than others, but whether you’re soaking PINTO beans, black beans, or kidney beans, four hours is usually the minimum soaking time. When they start to ‘peel’ and get lighter in color, they are usually ready to be cooked.
Diana here: I once had this problem with a bag of carrots, or all things! Those suckers would NOT get soft no matter how long I nuked or boiled them. To this DAY I have no idea what caused that, but it’s never happened since. ;)
Our Rural King finally put their seeds display back up 3(?*) weeks ago, and I decided to try some new (for me) tomato breeds:
Mortgage Lifter
Abe Lincoln**
Independence Day**
Cherry Falls**
Just in case things don’t work out with any of those, I got 2 “reliables” (for me):
Best Boy
Livingston Grape
Plus I have a few seeds from those fabulous tasting, almost seedless orange color tomatos I posted about last summer, and a few Romas already a month along. (I need to put those Romas in bigger pots for now!)
**Does anyone have any experience with those 3?
*The visit B4 that was a very quick in and out for layer pellets, so, the display might have gone up sooner.
The Mortgage Lifters have been widely discussed here - anyone remember what month most of the discussion was in, or have tips? Obviously they have to be well supported / caged.
We REALLY like the Best Boys, but production seems to fall off a lot and the plants weaken, after July, even when re-fertilized. I may try starting a few late, outdoors, after any risk of frost ends (Zone 7A), to see if those will produce later...
Interesting. Our water is somewhat hard and acidic. (It actually works out to a nice, “sweet” taste, but is also corrosive.)
I guess I’ll just try even longer. And check for varnish - hahaha. Maybe the beans “cure” with age or were in a hot truck over a weekend?
Thanks!
Off to church, now...
I almost feel like I’ve been re-born! Yay! Today is going to be close to 60 degrees, so it’s ‘Clean out the Greenhouse’ Day! So excited.
Our upcoming weather (with a few exceptions) looks absolutely wonderful! We’ll be hitting the 60’s and 70’s with just a few below-freezing nighttime temps and a little rain on the way, too.
Beau and his pals are having a rather poor ‘sap run’ this spring. There will be enough for it to be worthwhile to process, but the combination of a very dry fall and NO snow cover to speak of all winter means a deeper than normal frost line - it’s down at least 50 feet this time around - and is slow to break up making the trees reluctant to run much. We have TWO good producers in the house yard, but those he’s tapped in the woods aren’t doing jack.
And this, Kids, is why you listen and learn from your Elders about ‘lean years’ and prepare accordingly. ;)
26 ‘The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 27 The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.’
Genesis 41:26-27
I grew jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes) several years ago and if i didn’t find each and every tuber i got a new crop the next year.
I liked to slice and fry them or make a sunchoke soup with them.
I’m in zone 5b and want to focus on peppers this year. I’ve not had much luck growing from seed. Any tips? I have a heating mat this year which I’ll try.
I’ve grown chickpeas in the past and will try again this year. They taste very different from canned when green and fresh from the pod and boiled like edamame.
Start them soon! Peppers are SLOW to germinate and need a consistently warm spot to do so, so the heating mat will help!
Soaking the seeds for a few days prior to planting helps, as does pre-sprouting in damp paper towels.
I planted mine a week ago and so far nothing - but that’s normal. I moved my lighted grow rack to a warmer part of the house, and that has given me better germination the past two years.
More ideas: https://growhotpeppers.com/germinating-pepper-seeds/
The above link is about hot peppers, but it applies to sweet peppers, too!
Thanks for the info! The date calculator on that page says I’m a month late :)
I’ll have to give them a try.
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