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The Garden Thread - March, 2025
March 1,2025 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

Posted on 03/01/2025 7:23:36 AM PST by 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.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: food; garden; gardening; hobbies
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To: FamiliarFace

FF. My father grew Asparagus. I have not due to lack of room. My Mother did take us out in the countryside to pick wild asperagas along fence lines.

If you plant you should consider it a permanent planting in a spot where it will grow back every year. It does not like standing water or really wet soil

You will need a substantial amount of room and a spot that gets 6-8 hours of sun per year.

Thats the first thing to determine.


281 posted on 03/15/2025 6:46:19 PM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission

Ok thanks. I’m not sure any of my yard gets more than 6 hours of sun, on my entire property. Maybe next to the roses? I don’t think the HOA would go for that. I’ll keep my eye out for a small spot that might be unnoticed. Surely I can find 6 hours somewhere. I guess I was hoping that asparagus could grow in some shade.


282 posted on 03/15/2025 6:53:52 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: FamiliarFace

Full sun, good drainage for asparagus. I have mine in a 4x8’ raised bed. I DEARLY miss my 40’ row of it at my other farm. That ALONE was worth the purchase price when I sold, LOL!

You could put it in with your roses. It would look very pretty with them when ‘fronded’ out, but anyone in your HOA that knows gardening would spot it. Just play dumb, LOL!

It also needs a good 3 years to be well established before you cut it, so time’s a-wastin’! ;)


283 posted on 03/16/2025 7:41:43 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: FRiends

284 posted on 03/16/2025 10:21:12 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: FamiliarFace; Qiviut; Liz; FRiends

Here’s a basic recipe to follow to use up your Corned Beef and Cabbage leftovers.

My plan? I have homemade chicken stock thawing and will mash some of the potatoes & carrots for thickener and cut the remaining carrots, potatoes and corned beef into smaller pieces. The onion is plenty cooked down. I’ve done this before and it’s always a really good meal for later in the week after St. Patty’s Day. I don’t re-use the cooking liquid - it’s just too salty for my taste.

So, as usual - why make ONE meal when you can eventually have TWO? ;) (Stretch those hard-earned dollars!)

Our LOVELY friend, Hallie, is now baking Sourdough Breads (all kinds!) for sale and Beau traded her 2 dozen eggs for a loaf last night when her group was sponsoring an American Kennel Club Night Hunt for our Walker Dogs. (She doesn’t hunt, anymore; she’s now into Show Dogs and her dogs are BEAUTIES!) The bread was PERFECT with the Corned Beef and I was so PROUD of myself - I didn’t cut into the loaf until suppertime. Now THAT is RESTRAINT, my FRiends, LOL!

My Irish MIL (Mary was a ‘Murray’) would make the BEST Corned Beef - from scratch - with a fresh Brisket and everything. No shortcuts in her Irish Kitchen! I miss her so much! She’s otherwise healthy but in Memory Care, now. She thinks I’m ‘staff’ when I go to visit her. Reminds me of a line from a sappy movie: ‘She may not know who I am, but I know who SHE is!’ (’The Notebook?’)

Enough blathering. Here’s the recipe!

https://www.irishamericanmom.com/leftover-corned-beef-and-cabbage-soup/#recipe


285 posted on 03/16/2025 6:10:04 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Thanks - I have the recipe saved.

I signed up to provide chili for a Lenten meal Wednesday night at church. I planned to make the pumpkin chili recipe that is so tasty, but when I looked at the sign up sheet this morning, only one other person is signed up for chili. My fear is that everyone (lots of elderly ‘country’ folk) will go for what I suspect will be a more classical chili & not the meatless pumpkin chili.

So this afternoon, I was looking through chili recipes. I found one I am going to make - it sounds good & people have won chili cookoffs with it. So many people, about 30, came last Wednesday that I hope there will be enough chili with only 2 of us making it.


286 posted on 03/16/2025 6:30:04 PM PDT by Qiviut (Come! Live in the light! Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!)
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission; Pollard; Eric in the Ozarks

We had some wind here in the center of the state, but nothing like what hit down Pollard’s way.

Buddy of mine lives in Poplar Bluff. His place was spared, but a lot of stuff around him is just gone.


287 posted on 03/17/2025 6:20:07 AM PDT by Augie
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To: Qiviut

My ‘secret ingredients’ in Chili are Beer and Bacon.

And NO pasta of any kind! If you add pasta, it’s then considered a Goulash. ;)


288 posted on 03/17/2025 7:17:41 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Weather here in Central Missouri was very pleasant, for the most part, over the past week. Then came the weekend and with it some very bad weather. In Misery alone there were 19 tornadoes confirmed on the ground, 12 people killed, massive property destruction. I’ve heard reports of up to 40 dead overall in Misery, Arkansas, Mississipi, and Alabama, along with several more in Texas/Oklahoma/Kansa due to wildfires and dust storms. Very ugly business.

We were spared the worst of it. No damage to buildings or livestock. We spent half a day cutting up deadfall and hauling it off to the sippy hole. Lots of people not so lucky.

I’ve got lettuce planted in the little greenhouse, and I started watering the ground beds in the greenhouse to get them ready for spinach seed. I’d have planted that yesterday but I don’t have any seed. I’m going to swing by Lowe’s later today when I’m in town for my PT appt to grab some lumber to build a couple raised beds. I’ll get the spinach seed while I’m there and toss it in the dirt after I get home.

It feels good to see the ‘move the garden’ plan finally coming together...


289 posted on 03/17/2025 7:17:57 AM PDT by Augie
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Bacon for sure- no beer in this recipe, but could sub some of the stock with beer.

Pasta? Not in my chili LOL!

I have a lb of ground sirloin & recipe calls for 2 lbs of ground beef. I have ground venison from this past fall .... I think that will be the pound I am missing, but I not telling anyone!


290 posted on 03/17/2025 7:52:51 AM PDT by Qiviut (Come! Live in the light! Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!)
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To: Augie
"It feels good to see the ‘move the garden’ plan finally coming together..."


291 posted on 03/17/2025 8:10:52 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Qiviut

I ate a Raccoon BBQ sandwich before I knew what was in it. It was GOOD! :)


292 posted on 03/17/2025 8:29:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

No one will know. The way my brother handles the deer, it is not gamey. It’s very lean meat so mixing with beef or even ground pork works well.

I was surprised how many chili recipes call for sausage - the one I am using does (1lb). The venison will be 1/3 of the meat & with all the spices, it will be undetectable.

QUESTION: do you gave any good sources of info regarding trellising a veggie garden? My niece wants to try it this year. I sent her a couple of links, but you might know a better resource.

The Square Foot garden guy uses metal posts with wire (board on top to keep posts apart when stretching wire). This is cheap & easy enough, could use it with her raised beds. Just one idea I sent her.


293 posted on 03/17/2025 8:53:08 AM PDT by Qiviut (Come! Live in the light! Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!)
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To: Qiviut

Cool Springs Press has a good book on the subject:

Trellises, Planters & Raised Beds: 50 Easy, Unique, and Useful Projects You Can Make with Common Tools and Materials

https://www.amazon.com/Trellises-Planters-Raised-Beds-Materials/dp/159186545X

This was also a good seller at Jung’s:

Vertical Vegetables & Fruit: Creative Gardening Techniques for Growing Up in Small Spaces

Lots of articles on Vertical Growing:

https://www.motherearthnews.com/search/vertical+growing

https://www.almanac.com/vertical-garden

https://livetoplant.com/using-vertical-elements-to-maximize-space-in-raised-beds/

Best veggies to grow vertically:

https://positivebloom.com/vegetables-that-are-perfect-for-vertical-gardens/


294 posted on 03/17/2025 9:13:40 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Thanks! She told me last year if she has extra veggies, I can have some .... was to busy moving. Maybe this year, I can take advantage of her offer!


295 posted on 03/17/2025 9:33:43 AM PDT by Qiviut (Come! Live in the light! Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!)
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To: Qiviut

If she’s serious about growing vertically and making use of every inch of her garden, she’ll have plenty to share. :)


296 posted on 03/17/2025 1:41:46 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I think she’s serious. She wants to grow flowers to cut for arrangements - she has subscriptions for this year already. To have the space for flowers, she needs to restrict the veggies to several raised beds. She had great flowers & veggies last year. Her oldest boy, who will be 4 in May, loves veggie gardening. He’s the one I got the ‘Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots’ book as a Christmas present 2 years ago - he loves it. One of my favorite pictures ... he’s holding a giant carrot just pulled out of the garden. :-)


297 posted on 03/17/2025 3:11:40 PM PDT by Qiviut (Come! Live in the light! Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!)
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To: Qiviut

I’m growing more flowers this season, too. I’ve been so busy stockpiling ‘food’ that I’ve gotten out of the habit of also growing, ‘food for the soul.’

That ends this season. :)


298 posted on 03/17/2025 4:11:02 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: All

bkmk


299 posted on 03/17/2025 7:36:47 PM PDT by Liz
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; Qiviut

I love the ideas for vertical farming! I have such limited “full sun” space here. Will be looking into figuring something out here.


300 posted on 03/17/2025 8:11:05 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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