The Garden Thread - June, 2025

June 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.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Shucks, my bean post has been sitting out their since this AM and I just came in and sat down and posted, but you had already replied. Should have checked!

[metmom]

Thank you!!!!

That’s good advice.

I used some innoculant one year and couldn’t tell if it made a difference.

Those are tips you don’t hear much about otherwise. I know it’s critical for germination for carrot seeds to be kept moist.

I’ll have to see if I can find innoculant locally. It’s a bit late in the season to order just that. I’ll do it in my next seed order for next spring.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I have a small plot and previously grew pole beans Blue Lake, Roma, Helga, and yellow Or'd Rhine vertically. This year I switched to 40 to 50 days to maturity Contender Bush beans. I did this because insects (Green June Bugs, Cucumber beetles, and Bean beetles) were an big issue for the pole beans and I wanted to see if growing quickly would eliminate the problem, and it has. I only needed to spray for Bean beetles once since planting. Setting up and taking down the trellis was also real pain.

Results. I planted 2 year old Contender Bush Bean seed this year. I think I purchased them from Seeds and Such. I had about a 85% germination rate. I have had 5 or 6 pickings and and the next will be the last (probably 2-3 more pounds.) We have been eating the beans at pretty much every dinner, and have been giving bags of fresh beans away, but I also have 12 pounds in the freezer with another another 1 1/2 gallon bucket that should get me to 15 lbs frozen with a total of about 30+ pounds of beans from about 135 sq feet in a bit over 60 days total growing time. If I ever move out to the countryside I will reconsider growing pole beans.

After the next picking (tomorrow or tuesday) I will pull up the plangts, till and replant the area with some sweet potato sprouts which with heat and water should do well. (Baker Creek Korean Gold... Maybe their Carogold S.P. if the ones I had left finally root and kick out some shoots!)

I will probably mound them a bit and run a soaker hose along the ridge. I saw a Chinese youtube where they laid the shoots flat rather than straight up and down because it produced more tubers. I may try that. These S.P.s take 90 to 120 days. I think the heat may speed that up! Replanting in an area that had beans should provide some initial soil nitrogen. Later some P and K fertilizer, but not much N.

Okra is a good heat tolerant plant that I did NOT grow upon direct instructions from Mrs. Pete. She was tired of gumbo.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thanks! M. Mom; A lot of it parallels info already in Diana's earlier post.

The innoculant. (I am provoked to be my father passing on information!) You can tell if its working by looking at the roots. You can see the nodules where the bacteria cluster.

This has a good picture.

Nitrogen Nodules And Nitrogen Fixing Plants

Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria with Peas, Beans and Family

You mention carrot seeds and keeping them damp. I think that covering a damp seeded row of carrots with a board to encourage and speed up germination is an old farmer's / gardener's idea that you seem to know! My father did it. I think he got the idea from Organic Gardening Magazine back in the 1960s. It does work well if you keep the soil damp. If anyone reading this wants to grow carrots, its worth a try!

Here is Herrick Kimballs website. Go down to his videos of "4 Day Carrots", really, Carrots that he managed to germinate in 4 days!

Whizbang Gardening---4 day carrots

Unfortunately I do not have room or soil depth or cool weather for carrots at my current home. I grew them up north and some in a box with screened dirt here in KS. Varieties I liked were Valerie, Kuroda, and Royal Chantanay. Good luck with yours!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I don’t know the exact timeline - it probably depends upon how warm it is in your house in general or where you’re sprouting the beans.

A sunny window would be warmer than not, but then windows are a lot more energy-efficient than they used to be. Remember when refrigerators always had a ‘warm’ top to them? I miss those days, LOL! GREAT germination rates on ANYTHING I had on the top of the fridge. No heating mats needed! ;)

I can’t imagine it would take more than a week for green beans to sprout. Mung Beans sprout that fast when I make sprouts for salads and sandwiches, though they are a smaller bean.

The ‘do not soak’ may be for beans that have been treated with an inoculant.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

'Contender' is an excellent Bush Bean. When all the 'fancy' varieties were gone from my 'Seed Wall' at Jung's I would always point late-bean-planters to 'Contender.'

If I wasn't so enamored with 'Saychelles' pole bean, I would be filling my bean bed with 'Contender.' :) Okra: I started 72 plants for Beau's brother year before last and he planted them all! His wife feels the exact. same. way. about Okra now, LOL!

FF! If you're looking for 'decorative' plants and your HOA won't know what they are, Okra is a good choice. They look like Hibiscus. To me, anyway. ;)

[FamiliarFace]

I’m an okra lover, but I have yet to convince my hubby enough to try growing it…although…he wouldn’t know what it is either unless I tell him! Since we had one tree cut down (partly…the crane cable broke mid job), our deck is getting more sun, so I have potato plants in bags in several spots there now. They’re getting taller than they did last year. I just hope I get something for my efforts.

The kids are coming next week, so I’m busy cleaning up all over. I got 2 wrought iron chairs cleaned and one side table. I clean them every year, and they were looking pretty sad, so I decided to get to work on them. The heat has been difficult, making me take frequent breaks. I think they’ll be clean enough for guests. I probably should spray paint them, but I don’t think I’ll have enough time. So a scrub with Simple Green will have to do. I’ll do the other two chairs and side table tomorrow.

Our 4 year old grandson has requested making more s’mores on the deck, which is why I’m cleaning so thoroughly. We have a Solo stove with a surround out there and it’s fun that he remembers that from last summer.

I have given fresh tarragon and mint to nearly everyone I know. It won’t be long before the plants start to fade, now that the heat of summer is really here.

If by any chance each of the shishito pepper flowers actually produces a pepper, I’ll probably have way more than we can handle, so I’ll have to freeze or offer them to others.

I’m sure I’ll be watering everything again tomorrow. The heat just dries everything out.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I’m sure I’ll be watering everything again tomorrow. The heat just dries everything out.”

I watered everything THOROUGHLY this morning, and I just checked on the garden and it needs water again. Very hot (95!) and windy all day, so that makes total sense.

An inch of rain is predicted for Tuesday, but with yet another hot and windy day between I will be watering in the morning before my company hits the tarmac at 11am. ;)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I watered this afternoon as well. The wind, along with the heat, just draws the moisture up out of the soil and speeds plant respiration as well.

This was an interesting article! A discussion of effects of season change on trees and plants.

EarthSky Summer solstice: Could trees know when it is?

Do trees know when the summer solstice is?

"People have been celebrating the summer solstice with elaborate rituals since prehistoric times. But humans aren’t the only species to mark the date. Studies are showing the summer solstice is an important cue for plants too."

"Recent studies, including one of my own, have proposed that trees may use the longest day of the year as a key marker for their growth and reproductive cycles. The solstice seems to act like a calendar reminder for trees." ...Snip

(More at link)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’d believe it! I have a lot of Tree Friends - I’ll ask them if this is true. I’ll also ask the HUGE Maple in the front house yard if she could stop producing so many ‘copters for a change! ;)

[Red Badger]

105° here yesterday!.................

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I just did some spot watering this morning, but the beds themselves are mulched well with straw, so that’s holding in moisture well.

Rain here beginning at 3pm, then again at 7pm. I’m going to trust Mother Nature to come through for me, today.

92 degrees today. Yesterday we played various lawn games at a family get-together, but we were in the shade and there was a nice breeze. It was tolerable, but the A/C sure felt good when we went back into the house!

[Augie]

Well, you do not necessarily need a paddy for upland rice. (You do need a shallow lake for growing Wild Rice, but that is different!)

I've been piddling at developing a small wetland area at the back of my property near the creek. I built a small pond (40'x80') several years ago to store baitfish. Immediately adjacent to that is a vernal pool area - it's only a few inches deep when flooded and not quite as big as the bait pond. I've dug it out ~6" so far. I think if I remove another 6"-12" of soil it would hold water long enough to support a Japanese millet planting.

I was hoping to get that done this spring but we've had so much rain that it's been too muddy to get in there to work on it.

[Augie]

Hoo-Wee and welcome to summer! Sunshine and low 90°s here in Misery over the weekend. I got a lot done in the garden patch and suffered mightily for it.

I got the cages up around all 16 tomato plants. The best of them would be shoulder high if I’d gotten it done before the monsoon started. I spent a couple hours pruning and doing a half-assed job of weaving/tying the plants up, then fertilized the plants and watered. I’ll need to spend some more time on that, but at least they’re off the ground where they can get some air now.

The cukes and squash are finally starting to take off. Sweet corn has been planted. Pepper and eggplant rows weeded and fertilized. Got a little bit of the new asparagus planting weeded.

Main goals for the week are to put mulch down around the tomato plants, and spread compost on the walking paths between rows. I’m headed out Thursday for three nights of High Limit sprint cars at Lucas Oil Speedway so I’ll have to hustle to get those things accomplished before I take off.

[Augie]

Howard continues to impress me. Insurance inspector was out this morning to look over damage done to our roofs during one of the big storms earlier this spring.

Booger the Aussie went ballistic like she always does when there’s a stranger on the property.

Howard didn’t bark at the guy once. He came over, sniffed, said hello, got some pets, then he trotted off and laid down in the shade. Didn’t hear a peep out of him the entire time ol boy was doing his inspection.

Yesterday evening Howard decided that it was too hot to run around when we went for our romp. He would nose around a bit when we stopped, but it wouldn’t take long for him to ask to get back on so he could ride. Ten days ago he wasn’t sure about the golf cart - I’d have to pick him up and put him on the cart when it was time to go.

He’s proving to be a quick learner.

[MomwithHope]

If you clean shishitos, chop and sautee just for a minute in olive oil, you can roll them up in little cheap snack bags, don’t need to press out all the air. Then I put those little rolled baggies in a quart freezer bag and freeze. I still have 5 baggies left from last year. The olive oil keeps them fresher. I use in all kinds of dishes, from omelettes to spanish rice. Well worth freezing your extras. They add great flavor and not a lot of heat at all.

[FamiliarFace]

Go get in the Gulf! That’s where I’d be if I were down there!

[Red Badger]

I haven’t been in the Gulf for years. And I could walk to it!...............

[FamiliarFace]

I do love them, so I’m anxious to see how long it will be before I get to see those little peppers growing. So far just the flowers and maybe a little nub after it falls off. It’s only June though. I’m guessing in another month or so I may have something to harvest. Thank you for your freezing tips!

[FamiliarFace]

Well, what are you waiting for? A walk in these temps isn’t fun, but get in your car and have a little water fun!