Posted on 05/01/2025 6:15:12 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Fun morning here. Daughter-san was driving back home, and the car overheated. It turns out a radiator hose popped off it’s fitting into the radiator. I’ve never seen it stated, but checking the tightness of the hose clamps on a yearly basis would make sense. That rubber material of the hose probably compresses under the clamp with time (”plastic flow”), thereby loosening the connection.
Luckily, the car, once cooled off, and then I remade the connection snugly(!) and refilled the radiator (over a gallon of 50/50 coolant was needed), seems to be ok...
Whew!!
Heh, re-reading that, better wording would be “a radiator hose popped off its radiator fitting”.
That’s much less cataclysmic sounding... ;-)
Doing some reading while eating my much delayed breakfast, I see that eggplants do not like temperatures over 86 deg. F.
Well, dang. I knew that they didn’t like really hot weather, but, I though that would be in the upper 90’s.
Maybe I should try an area that gets good morning sun, but shade in the mid-late afternoon?
Are any varieties of eggplants more heat resistant than others?
“thought that would be”...
They would like morning sun and then shade the rest of the day in the heat of summer.
I seem to remember that ‘Fairy Tale’ ‘Hansel’ and ‘Gretel’ have good heat tolerance, but they are the long, skinny type of eggplant. They’re cute, though! All three are AAS winners.
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/eggplant/mini-eggplants/hansel-f1-eggplant-seed-240.html
My little basil is getting decimated by something, full of holes - I haven’t been able to figure out what. I don’t want to use anything on it that will mess it up for culinary use. I love basil so this is really irritating.
Do groundhogs like cabbage? I’m going to find out .... had to make slaw with a cabbage head earlier today (instead of pre-packaged tri-color mix) & I saved the outer leaves & core for the ‘hogs. Cabbage is currently out being ‘tested’. I have watermelon rinds if the cabbage doesn’t work.
I bought mom an electric hot plate last year because she is afraid of the gas stove .... frankly, I am afraid for her to use the gas stove. Somehow, a plastic plate stuck to the bottom of the frying pan she uses to fry her breakfast egg - she didn’t notice & now there is melted plastic all over the burner surface. Purple plastic actually. I took the burner outside & reheated, scraped off enough plastic that it’s no longer smoking. The burner doesn’t look so good, but I think it’s usable. Not sure what to do next - I think I might just crank it up & see if whatever residue is left will burn off. Not a project I needed today.
Ground hogs DO like cabbage ... only took an hour to find out! 😁
Burner looks like new - the brown residue was mostly a powder. I made a paste from Comet & water, scrubbed the burner with a toothbrush & rinsed thoroughly. Took it back out on the patio & put it on high heat. The brown remaining, mostly specks at this point, turned white & brushed off with a wet rag. I’m no longer smelling the plastic so it should be safe to use inside again.
Between trapping Groundhogs and burning plastic, who has more fun than you? Nobody! ;)
Go for it! Hope it goes well if you use the vertical method!
I’ve heard that any nightshades, including tomatoes and peppers, do not like it much above the mid-80’s.
Matter of fact, one guy I’ve watched on you tube suggests using some kind of sunshade for tomatoes and peppers in the very peak heat of summer, July and some of Aug.
Thanks.
*** My little basil is getting decimated by something, full of holes - I haven’t been able to figure out what. I don’t want to use anything on it that will mess it up for culinary use. I love basil so this is really irritating.***
I found this on the internet.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/basil/holes-in-basil-leaves.htm
Also, I have a small bottle of a newer product called ARBER bio-insecticide. I haven’t tried it yet, but it says it controls or suppresses mites, thrips, aphids, and whiteflies on vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc, so I am thinking it might work on herbs.
If anyone knows what might work on herbs, I’m all ears, too.
I’m growing some clematis on the south side of the house. I understand they like full sun but cool, shaded roots. So I want to plant a ground cover near them.
I as wondering if creeping phlox would be OK. I don’t see it mentioned anywhere either good or bad when I did a search on companion planting.
I also have some sweet alyssum for use somewhere. However that may go in the asparagus bed.
Thanks for the link - I actually have already seen that article a day or two ago.
Still not sure what to do - poor basil is being majorly munched on & I don’t see anything when I check the plant (definitely not groundhogs LOL!).
I may cover it with a wire basket covered with row cover, after I inspect every leaf, & see if that helps.
Cool & rain all week .... some steady rain this afternoon & in the 50’s so no outside work going on. The one ‘bright’ spot today: the truck passed inspection with no problems. Since I put 16K miles on it last year pulling the trailer while moving, I was worried about tires & brakes, but all was ok :-)
I can believe that (about shading the tomatoes and peppers.) The “Heatwave II” is the only tomato variety I’ve found that does well in an average to hot late July / August, with Celebrities usually holding up in “2nd place”. The Heatwave II’s will also often overwinter indoors pretty well: Though they don’t produce for 6+ months (the room is not warm enough, I suspect), the plant does survive. I trim and pot a couple in the fall, then replant after frost danger has passed (the 1st of May, here): They will produce starting fairly early, at a reduced rate, that next year. Possibly I should hit them with some extra Phosphate in late March (though often they have a very few flowers then anyway.) I’ve managed this with Romas, too. Unfortunately, Romas and especially Heatwave II tomatoes are really bland.
The “annual” plant I’ve had the most success with overwintering is Thai Pepper(s), esp. if in pots the whole time. They’ll even produce fairly well indoors in the winter, and tend to be smallish plants, getting about a foot tall, so, they are pretty manageable. 6” or 8” pots will work. I wonder if they are native to Thai mountain areas?
My wife had tossed a few leaves(?) of the outer layer of a head of cabbage, and just laying out in a spot that puddles in heavy rain, a couple are strongly taking root! I’ve seen cabbage cores do that, but not a leaf.
I guess that before hot weather gets here in a few days (says NWS), I should try the best 2 in pots in the basement...
Has anyone here ever grown cabbage from leaves?
We’re zone 5a so not much chance of overwintering much.
I am going to be trying some red leaf lettuces that are supposed to be exceptionally extra cold hardy.
One is Marvel of Four Seasons, Rogue d’Hiver, and New Red Fire, which is supposed to be a new freeze hardy red leaf lettuce.
It would be good to have lettuce later in the season than basically Oct.
My Clematis (Jackmanii, the traditional purple one) faces south and gets sun from about 10am until late in the afternoon.
I don’t have anything planted in front of it, but it IS well mulched with bark mulch that goes across the entire front of the house.
As long as it’s well watered and mulched, you really don’t have to plant anything ‘in front’ of it. Mine has been in that spot for 30+ years and I know it was sorely neglected until I came along and it’s still thriving. ;)
I cut it back to the nub this spring, fertilized her and she’s set flowers and will bloom within the next couple of weeks. (Zone 5a)
I agree with the sun shades on Peppers, especially. Unless you’re planting a really ‘leafy’ variety that has good fruit cover, Sun Scald is a Real Thing on Peppers - even up here in Zone 5a.
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