Posted on 07/01/2025 5:32:22 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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P.S. That’s an awesome looking ‘still’ ya built there, Paw! That’ll bring in some extra bucks to the compound! ;)
I am telling my cukes to ‘hurry up!’ because I need a few more to make a batch of pickle relish.
Wild Black Cap Raspberries need picking - though the rain won’t quit and the ‘skeeters live right there!
That’s great that you’ll get to meet a previous owner! I LOVE what the ‘kids’ have done to my farm since they bought it. They did all the things I was set to do: new siding, a few more windows replaced, new roof, improvements to outbuildings, etc. before Beau made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. ;)
The guy that fills our LP tank used to live here as a kid. They were just renting at the time. He asked to bring his Mom and daughter over to see ‘the old place’ and we had a really nice visit. His Mom kept crying, though. She really loved this farm/house and hated to leave it. I now know just how she feels. :)
I like how you’ve identified things that you need and are looking for the least expensive ways to get what you need. Those local Facebook Garage Sale groups look like a Gold Mine to me, so I stay off of them!
I’m just happy that Beau put the anchors/screws in the wall of the Laundry Room so I can install my pull-out laundry drying rack after I paint. Such LUXURY! And I won’t have to hang ‘unmentionables’ to dry from the Dining Room chairs any longer, LOL!
So nice of you to make her that rice pudding. Beau likes it, but I’m with you - I think it’s the texture I dislike.
I have an Amish Egg Casserole I like to make for us because it uses up nine eggs at a time and then ‘Brunch’ is covered for three days that week. I have the same problem with it not ‘setting up’ in the center and I have had to add close to 30 minutes to the baking time for a set center. This is a flat 9x11 baking dish.
I wonder if it was an error in the recipe? Anyway, you can add anything ‘breakfast-y’ to it and it always tastes good.
Like a ‘fluffier’ Quiche, actually.
Woodland Management: In my case I’m “lucky”: I have some tools my Dad gave me or I inherited, and tiny bit of his knowledge in Forest Management with a lifetime of field experience got passed to me. (Now that I have a small woodlot, I wish I’d spent more time on picking up more of what he knew!)
I’ve already been up 5 hours. Trying to beat the heat, and I can take a siesta in the AC in afternoon! Too much to do...
On a good note, all those pepper plants I separated seem to be doing ok, and none have (in 3+ days) wilted. I’ll back off the watering a bit now, so as not to drown them, and give the roots a few more days to get well established, then move them from the 4” pots to bigger (mostly 8”) pots.
I’m upgrading the cabin lighting in our ‘13 Subaru Outback.
Step 1 was to replace some of the 3175 bulbs with brighter, but lower current, LED 3175’s. But... I’ve found that the brightest of those tend to get too hot and kill (or at least wound into flickering) themselves in the summer. So, up front, with bulbs for both the driver and front passenger, I’ve just gone with the “medium-bright” LED-3175’s for now. Ditto for the dome light over the rear seats. But for the cargo area I’ve shoehorned in a flat LED module I bought a bag of from Amazon a while back. They are GREAT. No more fumbling around in the cargo area at night because the light back there was not even a 3175 type bulb, and, the LED’s draw less current. (I highly recommend NOT running the car’s battery down at a camp site with no electricity!)
Silly Subaru also downgraded the door panel lights in Gen 4 Outbacks - possibly because they stay on even when the overhead lights are switched off, and the door is open or ajar. Nothing ever auto-turns them off if the door is ajar.
Sheesh! So, I’ve yanked those entirely, and will fabricate little panels to take (one per side) small 3- LED modules I have that only draw 1.5 watts. This will in some ways be similar to the front dome light upgrade: It’s only a little more light, but, it’s a lot less current drawn. :-)
Whoaa! You are “left” of Madison. That’d be pretty scary except we know you better than that. ;-)
(Same goes for our great, conservative friends, who live “left” of Chicago, out in Plainfield, IL.) :-)
Those maps explain your mosquitos, anyway! I use heavy DEET (40% or more) for mosquitos, chiggers, and ticks. Granted that our chickens get lot of the latter 2. DEET seems to have little effect on gnats & small flies, tho’. For those, the “natural oils” repellents that have several ingredients work best for me. I have some lemongrass oil (only) based repellent, but, it doesn’t seem very effective.
BTW, Menards has spray cans of Ortho Yard fogger on sale. Great deal. It’s based on Permethrin type active ingredients, so, it’s pretty safe, and yet effective. It also works pretty well as just a general nuisance insect killer, with about a week’s persistence claimed.
And for quick snacks, Aldi had on sale for (IIRC) $1.65, thin crust 14.8 oz. “Zesty Chipotle Cheddar with Beef” pizzas. I was a bit surprised - for the money, they’re not bad at all: Spicy, but not TOO spicy, unlike the last of their “Philly Cheese” pizzas a few weeks ago, that I think somebody dumped an entire small can of black pepper onto!
Love rice pudding but have never made it. Happy with the little Cozy Shack single serve containers. Just enough. I did some looking for your dish online, could only find the milk glass ones. Are you looking for a lid? Because our local thrift store has a tray of just glass lids. All sizes. If you give me the inside diameter of the bowl I could take a look. Actually I have been looking for an excuse to stop in there. Your clear glass one must be pretty rare.
Checking out my bowl, it has grooves near the handles where a lid might fit. I'm ok with it 'as is'.
Here's a picture - I held it up to a window so you can see the writing:
Beautiful! Thanks. I have an old clear glass pie plate with the notched glass for crimping the crust. Just love it.
1:00 - 1:30 gully washer, doggone it. About the time the grass might be dried out, evening storms should be arriving (6 pm). I might mow wet except for the bank - steep & will be too slick. The grass was cut a week ago tomorrow so it’s not long, just a little shaggy in places.
Whoever is doing rain dances, enough already!!
It’s amazing how wonderful it is to be ONE County over from ‘Madistan.’ It’s a whole ‘nother world over here! Lots of ‘Normies’ and Farmers and Everyday Folk. Should’ve moved 25 years ago, but I really loved my little isolated farm that didn’t have to deal with ‘Madistan Proper’ for anything much. ;) Taxes in Dane County were still super-stupid, though. You got NOTHIN’ for your dollars where I lived. Absolutely nothing.
The chickens have LUXURY accommodations inside of the barn. I should live so good, LOL! Mosquitoes/ticks, etc haven’t been a problem for them. I wish we could free-range them, but there are too many predators here and Beau hasn’t built a Chicken Tractor, yet. They are producing like crazy mad and are fat and fluffy and very calm and cuddly, so it appears they are happy. They have a beautiful roost and lots of room to run around. Scrap bread and greens from the garden, daily. They now DEMAND it..Beau has spoiled his girls! ;)
Hey! Guess what? It’s raining again! Heavy rains now, slow moving storm with little wind between now and 7pm. Some THUNDER thrown in as an added bonus! Better post quick before I get kicked off.
“Whoever is doing rain dances, enough already!”
It’s those same blasted kids that pray for ‘Snow Days’ all Winter, LOL!
You can get some good deals but there's also a lot of idiots on there. It is facebook after all.
Looks like more headed your way.
Started mowing at 4:30. It’s now 7 & I am in for a break. I got all mowed except for the lower half of the back field which is on a slope & needs to dry out. I left a lot of muddy wheel marks, but you don’t see them unless you’re out walking the yard.
Time to get out Little Red for some trim work & then blow the grass clippings off the driveway & I am done outside. There is a storm to the southwest, but when I run the radar forward it breaks up before it gets to us. I got “lucky” this evening!
The two ladies coming tomorrow are avid gardeners plus fellow trail maintainers. One is a 30 year friend, the other probably 20. I really miss the AT & the trail maintainers - it’s a special comraderie.
Oh, to clarify, our free range chickens “get” the chiggers and ticks as in the chickens EAT the chiggers and ticks. I’ve never seen evidence of either ON one of our birds, or evidence of a bite.
I know what you mean about the chickens demanding scraps, though! We can’t set cat food outside for our 2 cats during the day, either. It’ll disappear in a few seconds...
We had a serious “rainer” just miss us today. Thankfully! But it looks like chances really ramp up Sat. and Sun. We sure don’t need it for several more days.
A chopper was out, spraying fields around us, late this afternoon. That’s always fun to watch, as he does some pretty “hairy” maneuvering sometimes, “in and out” of those smaller fields with trees around them or silos nearby. I’d love to take a ride with one of those guys sometime, but, I think I’d better make sure my life insurance is paid up, first!
Insect Netting
Who uses it and what kind/brand and do you use hoops for it?
Most seems to be so lightweight, it only lasts 1-3 seasons.
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