The Garden Thread - April, 2025

April 1, 2025 | 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]

Pollard, A nice portfolio of great looking signs! I imagine its a nice thing to have to present to an interviewer.

Thanks, I used to have hundreds of pics but some previous co-worker took them to allegedly show his boss to get me a job. Come to find out, he hadn't worked there in months, had a drug problem, lost his family and was probably using the pics to get himself a job somewhere.

Only pics I have are from when digital cameras became a thing and I bought one. General rule is that physical media is better than digital that can be lost with a PC crash. My situation ended up being the reverse of the norm. I had backups of the digital and I guess I should have done double prints of the physical. Once upon a time I might have had the negatives. The pics are of no use to me these days unless I moved close to a bustling city, something I was seriously thinking recently that I might have to do. Shudder

[Qiviut]

Shop day! Sunny & around 60, but high wind warnings. There could be a hard freeze in low areas tonight.

I ended up being a little ‘pink’ last night with too much sun while mowing. That’s why I felt so ‘dry’, tired & warm last evening.

Quick trip to Walmart this morning for screw eyes & screw-in hooks so I can hang my carpenter bee trap. If I can find good pieces of scrap wood, I will make more.

Today, I will have to ‘bite the bullet’ & spend time organizing the shop because I have no room to work until I do!

I saw the bunny this morning for the first time - it was hanging around all last year. I also spotted a ground hog well away from the debris pile where they have burrows - it was close to where I am putting my herb garden. I guess I need to put the trap out.

I ran across this link to “Easy small garden ideas” ... some really good stuff to consider for my situation. The buckets are sort of like square foot gardening in the round.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/844493675219124/

[daniel1212]

Gorgeous day today, sunny & high in low 80’s, a beautiful Spring day.

Meanwhile,

A surge of freezing air will hit the East. It could be the last of the season. Across more than 20 states, temperatures will dip to levels more typical of March. Frosty conditions will stretch from the Dakotas to the Appalachians as windswept snowflakes fly across the Great Lakes and northern New England. On Wednesday morning, freezing temperatures will be found from the Dakotas to northern New England, with 40-degree low temperature readings stretching as far south as the Florida Panhandle, as much as 10 to 15 degrees below average for the time of year.

Temperatures on Thursday morning will be even colder than Wednesday for areas from Michigan to Maine and southward into the Appalachians. Low temperatures will fall below freezing in western Virginia and western North Carolina, with Washington dipping into the 30s — potentially for the last time this season.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Great link! That will help you get the ball rolling, I’ll bet!

I got the majority of my tomatoes potted into Cottage Cheese containers and out to the greenhouse, but I have eight that I’m going to ‘babysit’ inside until they have two sets of adult leaves - these were varieties that didn’t germinate for whatever reason, so I restarted them. They’ll catch up.

Dog chores, Mule, Chickens, Steer - the usual. Beau is off mowing for cash and wants to get it all done this week so he can go up to the cabin Fri-Sat and then back home for Easter Sunday. He has to tear off a deck (small) on the cabin and temporarily nail the door shut, send a pix to American Family Insurance to PROVE he’s done that, and then they’ll insure the cabin again. *Rolleyes*

I really dislike AmFam. Yeah, my Dad was Chief Engineer of all of their buildings in Madison when I was a kid, but they dropped my insurance as a free standing farm’ on my other farm and it took way too long to get other insurance! I want to go with the local people here and get EVERYTHING under one policy. Farm, vehicles, land, life insurance, etc. It’s such a mish-mash right now!

*Steps Off Soapbox* Not sure where that RANT came from! I’d better go get some more dirt under my nails; that’ll calm me down, LOL!

[Qiviut]

Low spots in our area could have a hard freeze tonight - we had 2 nights in the 20’s last week & all the leaves on our butterfly bushes are deceased. I don’t have anything planted in the raised beds yet - waiting until May.

Vineyards will be spraying with potassium, which reduces kill on their vines. Critical temp for fruit trees is 28° & we were well below that last week. Damage will depend on the stage of any blossoms.

Old Man Winter just doesn’t want to let go!

[Pollard]

Was chilly this morning, wind chill in the high 30s so I stayed inside for a bit and made a bunch of my coffee creamer container pots.

Worked on bed 2 after that. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - L to R from here) Found my forked spade parts, rotted off wood handle and steel head. Made a new handle for the head out of chain link fence top rail tubing.

Scraped, and shoveled up a bunch of goat manure, mostly powdered.

Forked the bed every 4” and tilted the handle back and then forward which left me an open crack that I kicked manure into. Every three times of doing that, I’d stick the fork in sideways and tilt side to side so a little more manure got in there. Basically a 4” grid. About 300 fork stabs and my shoulders can tell.

Got the heat mats plugged up since it’s going to be in the high 30s tonight and the shed is my new seed starting room.

Will keep plugging away at the beds through Fri/Sat and buy mater/pepper plants Monday. Will be nice when the beds are done and all I have to do is use a mini-tiller to add a little compost to maintain them. Gotta burn some leaves tomorrow since it won’t be too windy.

When it’s al said and done, it will be a whopping 350 sq ft of growing area, but protected growing area.

[Paul R.]

Nice sign designs!

We’ve not had further problems with hawk or owl attacks on our chickens ever since our broody hens raised big ol’ roosters with coloration that either looks like, well, more or less, a bald eagle, or, plain ol’ hawks. Not that I can guarantee the results! Have you had chickens before?

In our case, as we let the birds free range a lot, I have to keep the chickens out of the garden. It’s not a minor task.

You are probably right about the church hierarchy bit. In some denominations, how much of that translates down to the local churches sometimes seems to depend on the individual pastor. But, then some change pastors a lot more than others. I’m probably just lucky - in my (Missouri Synod Lutheran) church the “top down” has not been felt that much by me, and, the pastors of my congregation have had very long tenures (2 head pastors have stayed until retirement, and #3 looks to be headed that way too.) We are definitely not “autonomous”, but, we’re a far, far cry from the Catholics in that regard...

Hopefully you’ll find a good match for you (and the pastor won’t leave in a year!) :-)

[Pollard]

Had chickens a few times and aside from one smart hen that made it 4 years, they all got killed by hawks. Had three roosters in one batch. All have made it to full size and then got picked off one at a time. Better when I had dogs here but I’m not feeding dogs to get eggs. Might do a chicken tractor so they have fresh forage all the time.

[Paul R.]

An eagle will definitely kill prey considerably larger than it (the eagle) is, and too heavy to carry, but usually only if it can’t find enough smaller, easier prey. Golden Eagles have considerably more reputation for this than do Bald Eagles. Both will do “prey drops” but in my area most spots are too soft / cushioned for that to reliably work. Years ago one of the Forest Service biologists told me the eagles would occasionally make use of human built hard or rocky surfaces if such were rarely frequented by us humans, but they won’t fly 15 miles out of their way to do so. Talons puncturing vital organs still work...

Hawks will in desperation take on large prey too: We had a huge, clumsy, but very sweet broiler hen that we got in a mistake by a hatchery: It got killed by, of all things, a Cooper’s hawk. I couldn’t believe it, and wouldn’t have, if I hadn’t witnessed it happen myself. “Big Girl” had gone back inside the open run to feed and was away from the rest of the flock and the rooster: The hawk flew right inside the coop and she eventually (it actually was probably under 10 seconds) got Big Girl by the neck. They were flopping around in there like crazy until I got to the run, at which point the hawk decided discretion was the better part of valor, let go, and after several seconds of frantically trying to find the door, flew out, never to be seen again. Big Girl seemed to have survived, relatively unhurt, but succumbed several hours later. Well, at least she made a great “harvest”, but we lost those once a week or so eggs that could be upwards of 4 oz.!

This was VERY unusual behavior for a hawk - even the red tails generally leave our adult chickens alone - granted we have had a couple roosters with almost Bald Eagle-like or hawk-like coloration the last few years. More typical would be the red-tail I watched do a full speed stoop (dive) right into a blue jay in our Holly Tree. When it hit that Jay, blue feathers flew everywhere! The Jay was either knocked out or killed instantly.

[Pollard]

Critical temp for fruit trees is 28° & we were well below that last week. Damage will depend on the stage of any blossoms.

Yeah I had a peach tree for 6 years and and for 5 of them, they would blossom and then we'd get a cold snap and the blossoms would all fall off. Got to eat two peaches one year out of those 6 years. It was some unknown variety from walmart(white princess iirc).

I'm going to try Red Haven and later ones like Contender and Reliance which are both recommended for MO. Aside from fresh, I like the ones processed in white grape juice. Don't like them in syrup. USDA complete guide to canning says "11 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints" - Half pints would be good for me. I buy the little plastic cups that Dole has and eat one a day when I have them.

[Paul R.]

Eh, the “fire” I mentioned has become a bit of another(!) project - to put up some security lighting, etc., around my brother’s old place about 90 min., from me. Plus a few lights on timers inside. (He moved to CA, rented his old house for a while, then gave up on that, but hasn’t yet sold the place.) The last thing he needs is a break in or squatters in there - IL has horrible “squatters’ rights laws.” Per the lady next door, and the guy that mows the lawn, there have been problems in the neighborhood very recently, so... I’ve been coopted. Luckily his old place is on a busy road and he’s paying that guy to do yard maintenance, so, that helps some.

Menards has some cheap, wireless-linkable security lights on sale (online only), so, step 1 was to order a few to try out, and look for cheap LED desk type lights (probably Wally World), and timers for inside. Menards has cheap metal “No Trespassing” signs and hopefully treated wood stakes to put them on. All pretty straightforward stuff. I’ll probably run up/over there today to get started, as the weekend looks like bad news, weather-wise.

Prolly will try out the “polypropylene” pleated or string wound water filters as, well, a trial / stop gap measure, here. If those don’t do it, those disc filters you linked to still look very promising. :-)

[Pollard]

This was VERY unusual behavior for a hawk - even the red tails generally leave our adult chickens alone

Here in the Ozarks, I've watched red tailed snap up full grown chickens several times. One struggled to get airborne and finally gave up but the chicken was about dead by then so I ended her misery. Never seen an eagle get one but we do have them so it's possible they have and I just didn't see it.

My neighbor 1/4 mile away doesn't seem to have much of a problem, nor do other people in the area. My place is more wooded than theirs so maybe that's the difference. They generally come in from the South too so my place is apt to be the first place with chickens, when I have them. I've seen a half a dozen hawks at a time scoping the place out.

One of the great pyrenees I had was smart about the hawks or flying things in general. He'd see a shadow moving across the ground and knew to look up and maybe start barking. Feeding a 150 lb dog to keep chickens safe is not cost effective eggs though. My one survivalist hen that lasted a few years after the other five got hawked, was also smart and hung out near the big dogs or the goats or near me most of the time.

The old coup has seen better days so I'll have to build a coup or chicken tractor which won't be happening right away. Got a tunnel to finish first. I'll get day old birds in mid to late summer so brooding temperature will be less effort and time and they'll be feathered out before it gets cold and will start to lay next Spring.

Today's a burning day, SW wind 5-8 mph. Rain coming up towards the weekend so the Sevin granules will be coming out and between these two things, ticks will be minimal. Today, while raking leaves, not so much.

My driveway w/parking spot wraps 3/4 of the way around the house so that's where I use Sevin. My walking path on the 4th side is the other place I hit with Sevin and I plan to turn that to gravel and have wrap around driveway. A tick moat.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The Golden Eagle was the one that knocked a goat off the mountainside.

I’ve lost a hen or two through the years to hawks. Usually raccoon, though.

We have the Coopers Hawks and when the bird feeders are totally empty - you know he’s around. ;)

[Augie]

I was able to get 40 crowns set yesterday evening.

The weather guessers are saying that we have rain coming.
If it doesn’t get here by the time I’m released from the salt mine I’ll get the last 10 of them done this evening.

I checked the old asparagus bed while I was putzing about yesterday - there are quite a few sprigs poking out of the ground - another day or two it will be ready to start harvesting.

[Qiviut]

I love fresh peaches. We have two peach trees on our new place - a young one that blooms & a very old, gnarled one that looks awful. The old one has been so ‘trimmed up’ with dead branches cut off that it’s mostly a trunk with a couple of big branches. It does bloom & get green leaves in the very top, but it is on my list to take down. The young tree is doing great so there is some hope there.

As for apples & peaches, buying in bulk from an orchard is what we have started doing. Orchard fruit is noticeably more tasty than store bought (of course!) & you can get enough to make canning worthwhile.

[metmom]

That’s a LOT of work.

Betcha you sleep well tonight.

[MomwithHope]

Something tells me you will really appreciate this man’s work. An old bookmark I just can’t get rid of. How to make a wooden fork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmNnRjhv4XY

[MomwithHope]

Friends had a roof on their chicken yard of chicken wire. No trouble with hawks.

[Liz]

Begin w/ Butter / herbaceous appy

Ing 2 sticks European-style Creamery Butter, ¼ tsp gar/powder zested lemon ½ tsp chili flakes
2 Tbl ea torn parsley, oregano leaves flaky salt/pepper 2 Tsp chili oil crusty bread, or rice crackers

Directions Fork/blend butter, gar/powder, lemon zest and chili flakes til smooth. Spread butter evenly over flat plate surface (pic shows a cutting board). Use back of spoon to create swirls. Sprinkle w/ parsley, oregano, flaky salt/pepper. Drizzle w/ chili oil. Serve with crusty bread, vegs, rice crackers.

Notes: European-style butter is preferred for pastries, croissants and flaky pies; has higher butterfat and lower water content. Excellent for spreading on bread, basting meats, and making sauces. Use for dishes requiring a buttery taste: garlic parmesan butter noodles, a buttered bagel, or steak finished with black truffle butter. Use like regular butter.

[Pollard]

I spent about 5-6 hours just raking and burning. Spent about the same forking up beds yesterday. It hurts to type.

After raking/burning, I did some wiring in the shed to control grow lights and heat mats. Both are now on a commercial/industrial automation controller instead of a household vacation light timer for lights and the regular temp controllers for heat mats to control those. End goal is to control each heat mat individually. Will just require a $15 temp sensor for each tray and mat. Not worried about it right no because all the seeds I’m starting have an ideal germination temp between 68 and 77 so I set all trays for 73, about half way.

Sore shoulders from forking yesterday. Sore upper back muscles and noodle arms from raking today. Good night for long form podcast or TV/movie.

No pain, no gain and good to get back in shape for the new job after having 6 months off. Most likely rain from Fri to Sun, so that will be protein heavy meals and recuperation time.

Seems like when I was 40, I was 25 but now that I’m 60, I’m 75.