The Garden Thread - July, 2025

July, 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.

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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.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’ve got it MUCH worse than me...but I’m STILL going to complain about MY weather. ;)

Are ANY of us here going to have tomatoes this season? Grrr!

I don’t normally panic about this stuff, but my V-8 recipe really CAN be made from canned goods and everyday grocery store produce - and I’m down to my last dozen jars of, ‘The Good Stuff.’

I’m hoping we’re not entering into, ‘The Seven Lean Years!’

One can only do so much with Cucumbers! ;)

[Pollard]

Went out and looked at things last night.

In between rows and elsewhere: Grass is going wild. Would be a really good time to not have anything growing, cut the grass short and cover the whole thing with black plastic. Kind of makes more sense than hanging on for 1 squash, 2 bean, 1 cucumber. I can chop off and then dig up a couple of celery plants and stick them in pots to hold them over for a month or two. Keep gathering goat manure and grab some of my humus/soil pile to amend the area once the grass is dead. Prep it like I should have prepped it instead of parting the grass and trying to grow there.

I’ve got drip to just water the veggies. How was I to know the grass would get watered under the tunnel from all sides? Mid June to mid Sept doesn’t have rain — until it does.

[Qiviut]

I’m hoping we’re not entering into, ‘The Seven Lean Years!’

**************

I often think of my two grandmothers when it’s gardening season. Granny K had 6 kids, Granny N had 5. They both had gardens and canned so they would have produce for the winter - feeding their families well depended on a successful garden. I’m sure they had years where, for whatever the reason, their garden didn’t do well & I have wondered what they must have been thinking & trying, to salvage what they could. They had meat in the smoke house (both grandads butchered hogs) & chickens/eggs so they would not have starved with little or no garden during a ‘lean’ year. My grannies were some of the hardest working women I’ve ever met - both had different ‘styles’ of cooking, but were excellent cooks.

[MomwithHope]

.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Reminded of two things:

Mom was poorer-than-poor growing up, and Grandpa was not always the best provider. Her Mom was a wonderful gardener and they almost always had something from the garden in the winter. One winter they survived on stewed tomatoes over toast. These days, Mom won’t TOUCH a stewed tomato to save her life, LOL! (Though she steals as many of my fresh tomatoes as she can carry!)

I also had a ‘City Grandma’ so I had the best of both worlds. Got to spend time in the City, go to plays and concerts and movies, learned to ‘dine’ in fancy restaurants, went to museums and art galleries and the ‘big’ Library. Clothes shopping at Gimbels! I was her little Dress-Up Doll.

Yeah, it was grand. All of it. You couldn’t ASK for a better childhood, really.

I certainly favor my Country Grandma over my City Grandma, but it was nice to have two very different options. ;) Still trying to figure out how to Polar Opposites like my parents managed to meet, let alone get married. City Grandma liked to ‘dress’ my Mom, too. She was as gorgeous as any model back in the day. Very ‘Jackie Kennedy.’

And for all of my complaining, I am ridiculously blessed and lucky to be living NOW, versus way back when. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Paul R.]

The lake @ the cabin we stayed @ is pretty gunky. But, there are much better lakes to the south, esp. “Pounds Hollow”, which has a nice little beach and good water.

As it turned out, we spent most of our time skee-daddling from heavy t’storms. But, they did bring in noticeable relief!

More on the adventures later. We had stuff get blown around, etc., here at home, and I’m trying to take care of the worst of it B4 peak heating this afternoon... the 20 oz. of my Gatorade-lemonade mix I just downed should keep me ok for a bit longer... :-)

[Paul R.]

Arrgghh! I just found my 1st tomato hornworm caterpillar of 2025, on probably my strongest tomato plant — a Cherry Falls plant. I’ll have to go out with the big UV flashlight tonight.

The particular larvae is right at 2” long. I’m surprised there’s not more damage, but, this is a pretty vigorous plant. It may have been re-growing “plant” faster than it was being eaten... until now.

[Pollard]

Sat in the truck this morning before work and started making To Do lists, getting them all in one place on the new phone. First item -- Kill the Garden.

For now just take out the sickly veggie plants, cut grass/weeds short and tarp it. Will leave the squash/beans/melons as long as possible. I just went up through them and pulled grass/weeds and tiled it with sq bale hay cards. I'm not getting on my knees and pulling more now though with chiggers out and about. I am a chigger magnet. Might have to work around my lone Shishito too and their neighboring habaneros. I can pulse water them and only them with shorter sections of drip and some toothpicks to plug up the emitters not needed. Something like 20 seconds every 2 minutes while the sun's on the tunnel area.

Well there's a Pollard original idea. The emitter holes are about that size.

I'm not going to loosen the soil right away because I do need to stand a step ladder up in there so I don't want it fluffy and soft. Now that I'm doing simple roll up sides, that's all done from outside so I can Kill the Garden right out to the edges.

I've got five lists so far;
To Do Mechanical
To Do House
To Do Yard
To Do Tunnel
To Get

Here's what my nameless environmental tomato condition(meteorologic r.shitius) looks like. Mottled ripening with yellow/orange spots and internal whitening, around the edge in my case. They were also fuzzy feeling while two good tomatoes were not.

I bet those crazy heritage cherry maters would have laughed at this year's weather.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Mine are doing well. (I did find a Southern Armyworm chewing on a tomato today and I dispatched him/her>) They do seem to have more problems with being knobby and misshapen, it does not affect taste, but there is more waste than I would like. I do not have any cucumbers. They do not seem to like my Garden, the heat, and all the Cucumber beetles.

These tomatos were picked today. Washed and drying on the counter. (Varieties; Sweet 100, Black Krim, Annannas Noire, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Pineapple, Thorburns Terracotta. I do NOT vine ripen. It invites animal and insect damage. I pick at at color break and ripen inside.)

Tomatos I previously picked that have mostly ripened.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I baked a good loaf of sourdough bread. The flour was from Natural Grocers, "White Strong Bread Flour" and some "White whole Wheat Flour". Something good to go with the tomatos!)

This was the recipe which I mostly followed.

Grant bakes, good sourdough bread

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomato Bacon Jam

Was someone looking for a Tomato Bacon Jam recipe? Here is a link To 5 Tomato Recipes including the Tomato Bacon Jam.

5 Easy Tomato Recipes Perfect For Summer (Tomato Pie Dip, Shakshuka & More) | Allrecipes

[Liz]

Tomato/Cheese Tart in Puff Pastry
Incredibly delicious, French Inspired, looks impressive but easy to make; appetizer or side.

Ing tube puff pastry 4-5 heirloom tomatoes 4 oz goat cheese at room temp ½ cup shredded Gruyère shallot fine-sliced ¼ tsp s/p 1 tbl evo 3 minced gar/cl 1 egg well beaten shredded fresh basil

Set thin slice tomatoes on plate w/ layered p/towels; salt, then p/towels on top, set 20-30 min, switching top p/towels at least once; pat dry. Add minced garlic to ol/oil; hold. Slice shallots thinly .

Line b/sheet w/ parchment; sprinkle w/ bit flour. Roll out puff pastry gently. Fork dough, then score a line an inch from edge (don't cut thru dough).

Spread goat cheese gently w/ back of spoon inside scoring. Then add shredded gruyère, s/p. P/towel pat tomatoes, then place atop cheese, add sliced shallots. Gently brush tomatoes w/ garlic oil. Then brush edges generously w/ beaten egg. Bake 410 deg 20-25 min; edge is puffed and golden. Remove, sprinkle w/ fresh shredded basil, s/p. Slice and serve.

Notes--setting tomatoes w/ salt is important to release moisture so tart isn't soggy; if goat cheese isn't spreadable, micro/warm 15-25 sec. Gruyère can be subbed with shredded mozzarella or Swiss.

[Liz]

Chilled Glazed Berry Cheesecake / Serves 10-12
Make this showstopper topped w/ glazed strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate for extra indulgence

Ing 100g butter melted, plus extra for the tin 200g cookies 2 gelatin leaves 50g raspberries 50g sugar plus 2 tbsp 350g strawberries 500g full-fat soft cr/cheese 250ml double cream few drops red or pink food coloring 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste 50g white chocolate melted few drops lemon extract

Method Butter and line springform tin. Blitz coukies in a food processor to fine crumbs. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the melted butter until it looks like damp sand. Tip into the prepared tin, and smooth the mixture with the back of a spoon to make an even base, then chill.

Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water. Put the raspberries in a food processor or in a jug using a stick blender, and blitz to a smooth purée. Sieve out the seeds. Warm raspberry sauce w/ tbsp sugar; just starts to steam, then pour over 1 drained gelatin leaf in a bowl/stir to dissolve. Blitz 3 strawberries in processor, and warm through with 1 tbl sugar in pab. Tip into bowl and stir in the drained gelatin leaf.

Whisk soft cr/cheese, cream, sugar til just starts to thicken. Divide between three bowls. Fold strawberry purée into one with a few drops of food coloring to make it light pink, the raspberry mix with the gelatin into another with more food coloring so it’s dark pink, and the vanilla bean paste into the third.

Spoon raspberry filling over cookie base, smoothing surface to flatten. Next, add strawberry filling, gently smoothing on, then repeat w/ vanilla mixture, using clean spoon to level top. A spatula or knife might help with this to keep from dragging the below layers. Chill 4-24 hrs.

Run a knife around sides between the cheesecake and parchment, and loosen the base. Transfer to cake stand, and smooth sides, using a palette knife, to neaten the layers. Mix white chocolate w/ few drops of lemon extract. Pile the remaining strawberries, some sliced, some whole, on top, and drizzle over the chocolate to finish.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Nice Tomatoes! Mom is staying over for a few days, so I am putting her to work. We will make one last attempt at fertilizing the tomatoes and peppers, and when I was mowing yesterday I saw one toppled tomato tower that needs some help!

Hoping she’s willing to help me make Bread and Butter Pickles, too. Maybe tomorrow - the HEAT IS ON starting then - we have ONE NICE DAY to play outside, then it’s IN for a few weeks to come - other than going out to water.

From one extreme to the other. Ugh!

[Paul R.]

First I’ll give a bit of a lake(s) report from our camping trip:

On the way to Dolan Lake in IL, we first stopped by the Omaha, IL, City Reservoir, and the Omaha Township Reservoir. The Omaha City Reservoir (22 acres) looks quite promising, with plenty of good bank access on the west side of the lake, a small boat ramp, a small fishing “peninsula”(?) juts out into the lake, and there are shade trees scattered about in a sort of park like setting. Aquatic weed problems appeared minimal and the water looked good (clean). We did not try fishing here, but, the “Lake Profile” indicates potentially good fishing for bluegill and channel catfish:

Omaha City Lake Profile: https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=04856

Almost “next door” is the the Omaha Township Reservoir. We made the hop to it, and discovered essentially no bank access, unless one wants to do some serious work with a machete or heavy duty weed whacker. There is however a quite usable boat ramp, so, with a boat, canoe, or raft, one could fish the lake nicely. The Lake Profile indicates good fishing for bass, very good for bluegill (tho’ they may run a bit small), and excellent fishing for channel catfish:

Omaha Township Lake Profile: https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=52900

Next on the way to Dolan Lake was the Norris City Lake. This 28 acre lake has lots of bank access with large rip rap consisting mainly of chunks of concrete, other pieces of roadway, etc., right at the waters edge, but, it doesn’t generally force one to stand or sit on sharp rocks (tho’ one can in some areas, if desired!) Much of the shoreline looks like channel catfish heaven, with lots of shelter / habitat for juvenile catfish. Aquatic weed problems again appeared minimal and the water looked good (clean). Along the East side of the lake are a few strategically placed picnic tables. We returned to this lake on the way out of the area, but, I’d only fished for a few minutes before a heavy thunderstorm chased us away. :-(
Driving out, the lightning was pretty amazing, though!

The fishing profile looks good, and a local angler I spoke to confirmed that.

Norris City Lake Profile: https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00498

We drove over to McCleansboro City Lake late Friday afternoon. This is a larger lake @ 75 acres, and is quite nice, with a playground, restroom, and several benches and picnic tables, again in a park-like setting. There is lots of great bank access that is mostly well kept (mowed) along the public part of the shoreline. I did not notice any aquatic weed problems. This lake even has a concrete reinforced dam face. There is a boat ramp, a fishing dock, a fishing “peninsula, a restroom, and some trees for shade. I fished briefly - just long enough to discover several water turtles / aka shelled bait thieves: Turtles can be quite a bit of a problem if you are using live or cut bait. We saw 3 quite friendly ducks who went back across the lake to a private residence when, you guessed it, after maybe 15 minutes of fishing, a storm came up. So, my attempt to fish was cut short by said storm, but a local angler who was there and fishes the area lakes often said the bass and channel catfish fishing in is quite good, bluegill ok, and the crappie are overpopulated and stunted. Once again, aquatic weed problems appeared minimal and the water looked good (clean) — not pristine, but, pretty decent.

The largemouth bass fishing profile looks good, and the channel catfish fishing profile looks very good, but panfish are evidently only “fair” due to overpopulation, particularly of the crappie. Apparently there are even a few flathead catfish, though breeding habitat for catfish looks mostly absent.

McCleansboro City Lake Profile: https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=04810

Dolan Lake: Well, the water near the campground @ Dolan was still weedy and “yucky”. Fishing was “fair”, but every time I tried, I got interrupted after a while by another thunderstorm! The waters by the dam area and esp. the bank just northwest of the dam look better, but both times I’d planned to drive back over there to fish, I got squelched by another t-storm / rain.

Dolan Lake Profile: https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00238

[Augie]

This past week was a hot one here in the Middle of Misery. We got almost half an inch of rain between a few light showers early in the week, then we got rocked last night. Thunder and howling winds woke us up around 1:00am. Found 3" in the rain gauge when I let the chickens out this morning. It's still coming down and by the looks of the radar there's more headed this way. If I'd had the slightest idea that "a chance for scattered showers" overnight meant typhoon conditions I'd have saved myself the trouble of watering the garden yesterday.

I've been picking cukes, zukes, and peppers pretty much every day for the last week. I think this is probably the best crop of bell peppers I've ever grown. The cayenne, jalapeno, and serano plants are loaded too. I was late getting the lunchbox peppers out but they're catching up fast. I picked half a dozen spaghetti squash Saturday. The vines are still healthy so I'm expecting more from them. Vine borer got to one hill of zukes. The other hill is good for now. I'll plant some more as soon as the ground dries up a bit.

I finished spreading mulch around the tomato plants on Saturday and got the electric fence installed around the cages. There were half a dozen tomatoes on the vines that were ready to pick when I shut the garden gate Saturday evening. I picked half a dozen tomatoes yesterday. Now Mr. Groundhog will have to go back to making an honest living.

Howard had a pretty good week. He only ran off to the neighbor's house twice during his off-leash times. lol The incessant barking just to bark has mostly stopped, and I've figured out how to stop it when it does start - I just bark back at him. He knows when I bark the collar beeps and he shuts up right now. At this point I don't even need to show him the collar.

We trimmed his nails yesterday. He didn't really want to sit for that, but I was able to distract him with a sack of training treats while #1 Marine Daughter snipped and we got it done without any blood.

And we discovered that he likes raw carrots. I've had a few dogs that like apples, but he's the first one I've seen go for carrots.