Saturday Morning Garden Thread Ping. Trying to 'adjust my attitude,' today!
Posted on 07/01/2025 5:32:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Just checked the rain gauge. We got 2 & 1/4” since 4pm yesterday. Last night the Weather Guessers were in full-throated, ‘We’re All Gonna Die’ mode on TV for an hour or so. Nothing came of it, thank goodness.
I’m afraid to look at the weather forecast this morning! I just hope there’s a little window to get the dogs outside - they’re getting kind of squirrelly, but there’s only three of them for a change. ;)
OK, I looked - overcast until Sunset, but only 20% chance of rain, today. Mom is acting as a Greeter for a local Garden Show, today. Her ‘assignment’ is at a home built 30 years ago with a fully established Native Prairie on the property. So, fingers crossed that rain doesn’t ruin anyone’s day! :)
Saturday Morning Garden Thread Ping. Trying to 'adjust my attitude,' today!
“Insect Netting”
I just have the head net with the cute hat. But, here’s a place that sells it by the yard:
https://www.mosquitocurtains.com/mosquito-netting/
LOL, never look at the weather forecast, just look out the window and watch the behavior of dogs and other animals, like everyone did before fear porn was invented.
The Garden Show sounds like a lot of fun. We need one here. (Plenty of 'em in the OKC and Tulsa metro areas, but chances in the rural locales are hit-and-miss. :-)
That is too cool! I love old vintage stuff. I have a kitchen full of it, and it makes me happy. Some of it was my Grandma’s, some was Mom’s, and some are things that I’ve found at thrift stores or at antique/vintage shops. When clear glass is like your bowl, it’s very pretty.
This year one city is sponsoring it and Mom said there are eight gardens in all on the tour.
It makes for a fun day. I used to be a Greeter for Garden Show Homes sponsored by Jung’s. So many creative and hard-working people out there. You had to have done the work YOURSELF - no cheating with landscapers, etc. ;)
Now that the rain has moved out, it appears that the Canadian Wildfires are going to choke me out this weekend:
“Additional Details: Canadian wildfire smoke will impact all of Wisconsin throughout the weekend. Initial impacts are expected for northwestern counties starting as early as midnight Friday night, reaching central Wisconsin by early Saturday afternoon, and southeastern Wisconsin by late Saturday. The heaviest smoke is anticipated for locations farther north, with periods of Very Unhealthy NowCast AQI possible. USG to Unhealthy AQI will be more likely for central and southeastern Wisconsin.”
Yesterday I started digging up some of the plants that I need to find new homes for. With the tops of the trees out, things are getting more sun. So I have my light meters set in various places to see if they’ll get too much sun, or will it be partial and maybe I can transplant to those spots later.
The trucks that came to take down down the trees caused some wear on the grasses underneath them, and there’s a little damage to the neighbor’s lawn in parts. They’re out of town until Monday, so we are trying to keep it watered and raked so that when they get back we can discuss how they want repairs to be done. I *think* they’ll be ok with reseeding as a first option, and if that doesn’t work, we might have to spring for a few pieces of sod.
Unlike you, I am looking forward to a few hours of rain. My yard is looking rather crispy right now. Hopefully we will get some this afternoon or evening.
The shishitos are coming in rather nicely. I bought 4 Bonnie plants in early May. I planted two in the ground, and two into pots. The potted ones are doing better than the in ground ones, so I guess that my soil isn’t as nice as it should be. None of the seeds I planted in a container have grown at all, which is disappointing. They were seeds from store bought peppers that I stratified over last winter, so I was hopeful. I’m going to plant a few more and see if anything ever turns up. I’m glad I found the starter plants at Walmart!
I put some floating row covers over the tops of my tomato cages and clothes pinned them on, more for shade than insect protection. It’s not complete coverage as they hang part way down the sides.
I wasn’t sure how it would work but the tomato plants under them are doing far better than I expected and I’m hoping that it will help prevent blight this year as the rain is not causing splashing up on the lower leaves.
My experiment with the snow peas did not work as I had hoped. I didn’t get another flush of peas, but found quite a few very mature peas that I am letting go so I can save the seed for next year. I will probably pull some of the plants up for the garden space to plant another crop for a fall harvest, but want to see if I can save the seeds myself.
I had bought some asparagus plants from a seed catalog and they were supposed to be all male plants and when I checked the plants, lo and behold, FOUR of them had berries on them.
GRRRRR.....
This might be helpful. You might have to click on Loops.
At the point of being somewhere between 70 and dead I finally joined the riding mower gang. I have to admit I like it! Very nimble and not so big that it won’t fit between things in the yard. JD X350R.
Garden is so so. This years weather has been kind of goofy. Warm then cold and dry, then hot and dry, finally we got a couple days of rain. Most things are behind whee they usually are for this time of year. At least it isn’t smoky now. Two major highways were closed off and on due to the fires.
I can’t decide which I dislike most, the mosquitoes in the summer or the gnats in the fall.
“...lo and behold, FOUR of them had berries on them.”
Nature Always Wins. ;)
I’m curious to see how my newer Asparagus does next season. I planted 10 crowns of ‘Jersey Supreme’ this year which are also supposed to be predominantly male plants. We shall see. :)
After being very concerned about my Strawberries, which were mulched but we had NO insulating snow cover last winter, they have sprung right back and filled in nicely. I gave them two shots of fertilizer this season and weeded out the clover that loves to grow in there. I had OK production, got about 4 quarts out of a 4x8 space, so while it has been better, it wasn’t the disaster I thought it would be.
Pole Beans are finally blooming as are Scarlet Runner Beans (for the Hummingbirds and me; I like the pretty blooms in salads) and I harvested the first yellow zucchini today and the Kale hasn’t minded all the rain at all, so the hens are getting a big tossed Kale Salad as a treat later today...and some for me, of course! :)
I will stir-fry the Zucchini with a Vidalia onion, lots of garlic and a finish of Teriyaki Sauce; one of my favorite ways to eat Zucchini.
That is helpful. Looks like Beau is getting it worse than I am, today. It’s nice and breezy here, today. Drying things out a bit. Looks like we may get a break from the rain until this coming Wednesday which would be MUCH appreciated!
I put my front porch back together, today. Pillows, quilts, moved the plants to the front to get some SUN, or at least some LIGHT. With the nice breeze I might be able to get some reading time out there this afternoon. :)
I didn’t know AK was having fires, too! 427 of them? Yikes!
https://smoke.alaska.edu/current_fires.html
When I moved out here, the first year I used a push mower, though it was a Honda with a power assist and was quite dependable. It took me the entire WEEK to mow this place, then I’d start all over again.
One year in, I bought myself a 42” Zero-Turn. It now takes me 2 hours if I’m staying on-task and don’t have a lot of junk to clear out of my way. I had an old Sears Craftsman rider at my other farm, but left it behind for the new owners, which was much appreciated. It took me a while to get used to the Zero-Turn, but so far I haven’t fallen off of any of the retaining walls - which is HUGE, LOL!
I sauté zucchini and Vidalia onion frequently, but I’ve never added teriyaki sauce. That sounds pretty yummy! I think I’ll try that next time. Thank you!
We just started with some much needed rain here about an hour ago. It’s tapered off at the moment, but I hear thunder, so it’s not over, just taking a break. We got some pruning in today, and I harvested some herbs that I’ll use in marinara sauce tonight.
I like my leafy vegetables with less holes in the leaves.
Seems like Neversink has the most durable at a cheap price. Johnny’s has the 9ga wire to make your own hoops. For $100, I can get enough insect netting and wire for four beds and I’d probably only cover 1-2 at a time and for short periods. Ought to be able to make it last several years. I’d bend my hoops into little gothic arches similar to the tunnel of course.
There was a Japanese Restaurant that my Dad absolutely loved - it was a nicer version of a Benny Hana chain restaurant.
They would make your meal on a big grill right in front of you - put on a nice show, too, flipping around the knives, doing fancy grilling with spatulas, LOL! There were usually a dozen people around that grill - some you knew, some you didn’t, so it was always a lot of fun.
You could also have a private room for four that was like a sunken private Tea House with lovely rice-paper sliding walls and no shoes allowed. Loved that, too. :)
They used to make the Zucchini that way, though they also tossed in Sesame Seed, which I never have a reason to buy.
Oh, and did I mention their ‘signature cocktail?’
“’The Universe’ is about as late-1970s as they come. It was invented by Bobby Batugo, a Filipino bartender who worked in and around Los Angeles for over 50 years.
The drink originally consisted of Midori, vodka, pistachio liqueur, and lime and pineapple juices. Batugo entered it in the 1978 U.S. Bartenders’ Guild competition and won. That was the year that Midori, originally released in 1964 by Suntory in its home country of Japan, was first made available in the U.S. The liqueur debuted at a party at Studio 54 in honor of the release of Saturday Night Fever.
Doesn’t get more disco than that.”
https://punchdrink.com/articles/universe-tropical-cocktail/
INGREDIENTS
½ oz. Midori melon liqueur
½ oz. vodka
½ oz. Lime Juice
⅓ oz. pistachio liqueur
1 oz. pineapple juice
METHOD
Shake all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker.
Strain into a chilled champagne glass.
“I’d bend my hoops into little gothic arches similar to the tunnel of course.”
You so FANCY. We use hog panels for anything that wants to climb or needs support. Because. We. Can. And because we have a million of them around here. But, no hogs on this farm since the 1950’s. Interesting. ;)
The hogs gotta go, but the hog panels can STAY! I’m glad for the BLESSING of both!
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