Posted on 04/01/2025 6:11:07 AM PDT 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.
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It’s going to look like ‘Tara’ when you’re done! :)
We have a gas-powered and it’s too heavy for me, too. I have a corded one, but I was thinking of part of the garden area that needs whacking and I don’t think there’s enough extension cord in the world to reach from the house to the back of the garden.
Maybe once I get some electricity in my Greenhouse/She Shed? The DREAM lives on, LOL!
Kind of thinking ahead for if/when I have to manage more of, ‘this chaos’ myself. I kinda freak out every time Beau is under the weather, or has injured himself in some way.
Current issue is a rotator cuff, but he’s recovering!
Groundhog trap was sprung this morning, but from a distance, I didn’t see a large dark shape in the trap. As I got closer to the trap, I could tell it was a rabbit .... not BunBun who is a large adult rabbit, but a half grown juvenile. Little bunbun was very happy to leave when I opened the trap door!
My raised beds are 16” tall ... not that a rabbit can’t jump that high, but hopefully BunBun won’t. The deer will be another matter entirely ... beds are ‘gourmet dining table’ high for them.
Tarragon was James Beard’s favorite herb. His tarragon chicken is wonderful.
Tarragon was James Beard’s favorite herb. His tarragon chicken is wonderful.
Thank you, I’ll look that up. I’ve not tried that specific recipe.
Yesterday I was in Costco and got a rotisserie chicken, so we had that last night. On Saturday, I will use leftover rotisserie to make a nice bow tie pasta salad. It’s chicken with tarragon, mint, celery, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and topped with grilled asparagus, and served warm on a bed of salad greens. That’s one of my favorite chicken salads to make, and using fresh herbs makes ALL the difference.
We have an old garden cart that was in my husband’s family for years. Pretty soon I will be planting impatiens in it. It is maybe 2’ high. It is the perfect “gourmet dining table” height for the deer. Last year I put some Irish Spring slivers all around it, and it kept the deer away for most of the summer, until the very end, maybe the end of September. It’s a pretty scene when the plants get bigger and bushy.
Yesterday the Baltimore Orioles started showing up at the feeders. I love seeing them! The Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Gray Catbird have arrived, too! I think we’ve turned a corner on the weather. Time to get planting!
Battery powered tools can function well for many years, BUT, you practically have to have a Masters Degree in battery care, and be willing to go to the trouble, to pull it off.
A fundamental problem is that too many manufacturers are generally not using high quality batteries, such as from Panasonic, Tesla, or Samsung, or even EBL. I’ve refurbed a few battery packs with quality batteries, with great success.
Another fundamental problem is that manufacturers, to save weight and cost, and gain energy storage (and advertising oomph), put multiple cells in series. If one cell weakens or fails, the battery pack is toast. A more correct approach (from a reliability standpoint) is to use bigger cells or put cells in parallel* and add circuitry that detects and cuts out a misbehaving / bad battery. Most people will barely notice it if their tool is now running on 3 parallel cells instead of 4. This adds cost, so it’s not usually found in any but (some) expensive equipment.
*Bad cells in series-parallel packs can be accounted for as well (see “Tesla”), but this again adds cost and is usually found only in pricey equipment (like packs for cars.)
From a user standpoint:
1) Don’t run batteries down below 40%, except Ni-Cads, which “need” a full discharge now and then. (I have a few tools that cut out completely, automatically, if the battery gets low. It’s a bit un-nerving when 1st discovered: It seems the tool is running fine, then it abruptly quits with no warning. That has its minuses, but I’ve not yet had a battery pack go bad if it functions this way and the below is also observed:
2) Recharge immediately. Do NOT let a battery sit around in a state of low charge. (This applies to even car batteries.)
3) Recharge at room temperature or as close as possible. (It’s actually dangerous to try to recharge esp. lithium batts @ very high or low temperatures, and recharging below 40 deg. F or so can be quite hard on Lithium batteries even if they don’t become a fire risk.)
4) Leaving batteries on charge continuously can be hard on them (depends a lot on the charger), but OTOH, self-discharge over a long period can lead to damage from “2” above. Refresh NiMh batts monthly and ideally before use.
2-3 months is ok for most Lithium batts, Ni-Cads I’d not leave sitting for over 2-3 weeks.
Note that if a battery pack measures only couple degrees over ambient temperature, well after it should have been fully charged, the charger likely switches to a trickle charge mode that is fairly safe for the battery. (With lithium batts, I still prefer to remove them from the charger once fully charged, and this should be done with any rechargeable battery that stays more than slightly warm in or connected to the charger once fully charged.)
Note after purchase: If the battery pack, in a comfortably warm room, ever exceeds, oh, 100 deg. F, at any part of the charge process, return this tool and buy a different brand. Ditto if the pack seems more than slightly warm hours after the full charge indicator comes on.
BTW, a LOT of this applies to laptops, cell phones, etc. Keep those batteries healthy!
In my case, I’ve only had one battery powered TOOL that I’ve purchased new, in the last 10 (12?) years, fail or become “weak” due to the battery pack failing. But, it required manufacturers getting better (most of the good ones have), significant effort and attention on my part, and a LOT of learning...
For the “handy” with electricity: Most battery powered tools that run off battery packs rated at 12v - 18v (and sometimes more) will run ok off a car or riding mower battery. I’ve rigged up more than one this way with detachable cabling for portability. You can run a long time off a riding mower battery that will take a good charge, but, again, recharge as soon as the battery output seems to drop. (I actually clip a $3 “passive” low current “12 volt meter” (it runs off the voltage it is monitoring) on my setup. (I picked up the meter on eBay many moons ago.)) Riding mower batteries are not designed for deep cycle use and will suffer considerably if deeply discharged.
Now, I will grant you that I use battery powered tools for most quick jobs, and for longer jobs to even 150 ft., I use extension cords to AC powered tools (or using air powered tools when appropriate) instead of my riding mower battery conversion: But, with a property over 500 ft. long, and the outlets (house & shop) at one end, the latter has come in pretty handy sometimes!
Thanks for all the good info!
So far, nothing in that room - but none of the traps in that room, regardless of bait, have caught anything since my post. :-)
Oh, that’s funny!!!
And I need to learn how to SEW, as I’m constantly tearing up clothes, while working (yard, shop, driveway - doesn’t seem to matter)!
“Bullhead”? You mean “Bull Snake”? (And then we have “Snakehead” fish down here!)
I was a bit surprised to learn that the (officially) longest native snakes in North America are Black Rat Snakes. But Bull Snakes get very close, and are more powerfully built / very impressive.
I meant with cheese as fish bait!
Heads up to anyone near a Rural King store: Ours was blowing out plant starting supplies yesterday. 75% off. I bought some trays ($1 ea.) and 2 heating pads ($7.50 ea.).
BTW, the seed starting supplies were Ferry-Morse. Anyone know if the heating pads are thermostat regulated? The directions don’t say. Model KHM-8.
Oh!
Maybe peanut butter works for catfish too? :-)
The stinkier the better. Ever watch any episodes of catfish noodling? Those guys are crazy.
Back in the 70’s my brother came to visit. He walked down to the river and caught a big catfish. About 3 feet long. That thing would just not die. I remember giving him a pair of those big pruning hooks to cut the head off. We planned on eating the fish. Once cut off, the head kept walking along the sidewalk for several minutes. Brother turned white as a sheet.
I sew some, but lately I’ve decided that thrift store clothing is good enough for working out in the yard. I don’t seem to worry about clothes as much as when I wear something *new*.
Yeah, noodling is “another world”. ;-)
Stinkbait (or dead bait fish going slightly bad) works well for channel catfish around here (mid-South) from mid-June into mid-Fall. But my best success has actually been with live crayfish - when I can catch some. My suspicion is that they fight the rig they are on and create lots of vibrations in the water.
Larger channel cats and blue cats lean more piscivore, and flatheads are almost entirely piscivores, but will hit fresh cut bait. The biggest fish I’ve ever caught, coincidentally exactly 36” long, was a 36” flathead that hit a 1” x 4” slice of bluegill. Generally I don’t target the “big ‘uns”, as the 2-5 lb. fish taste better and are lower in contaminants. Above 8 lbs., for a catfish, I practice catch and release. Hopefully some of the blues and flatties will get big enough to cut into the Asian Carp populations...
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