Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Apart from watering and depending on where you are located the standard Black nursery pots they become very hot when in the sun, as high as 135 F, which is hard on roots.
This is not as much of a problem in Northern Tier states like WI. If possible its not a bad idea to put the pots someplace shady during mid-day.
Now heading off to turn on the soaker hoses in the garden before it becomes too warm! (The squash/pumpkin vines are total drama queens and look like they are dying in even sunny warm weather, but they will definitely need it with today's coming heat!)
Zucchini Casserole with Stuffing:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21035/zucchini-casserole-ii/
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Ouch! Maybe take some baby asprin to protect against clots. (As pointed out by some, they can be a problem!)
Good luck, sorry about your Opo plant! (I tried some I bought from the Oriental Food store....it was mostly pithy, at least the way I cooked it!)
I was checking my herb & jalapeño raised beds this evening & noticed, from a distance, my lovage was not looking so good. When I got up close, it was loaded with caterpillars! I was able to quickly ID the caterpillars: black swallowtail butterflies! I shall leave them undisturbed:-)
HOT
Another day of work done and one more to go. Temp 97 and heat index 103 when I got home and tomorrow will be the same but then it will be cooling down by about 10 degrees by Wednesday and lows in the mid 60s by Thurs morning. Chance of afternoon T storms between now and then and they will be welcome if long enough to cool things off but not so long as to flood creeks over.
For my T,W,T off, I’ll work on the rest of my To Do list. Still need to put a part on the car and do a full suspension/steering inspection on the truck. Cut down the width on the front tractor rims and put the new tires on. Put down the black poly in the tunnel. Put my shelves up and hang lights for the seed trays. That will finish the list and then I can fill it back up with things from my other to do lists. House, Yard, Tunnel, Mechanical.
Sun’s down past the trees. Gonna go look at the three pepper plants and one watermelon. Might jack up the front left corner of the truck and see how that wheel bearing/hub is but my instinct is to just buy both in a good brand name and not have to worry about them for many years. Timken for $265 incl shipping.
Well, even the good things I like to do are due to God, and in conversion, and in any true obedience, man is doing what he otherwise could not and would not do, apart from God's grace. For God draws, (Jn. 6:44, 12:32) opens hearts, (Acts 16:14) convicts, (John 16:8-11) grants repentance, (Acts 11:18) gives salvation, (Rm. 6:23; Eph. 2:8, 9) and enables and motivates obedience. (Philippians 2:13, 14) Thanks and glory be to God in Christ. The only thing man can and must take responsibility for is his sins, and with punishment being the only thing actually earned by God.
Related to this, 4 couple days ago, the diligent-working Latino neighbor across the street just lost his faithful good housekeeping caring wife and mother of kids, whom I waved to just before she left to see family in Honduras. Car brakes or steering failed there, killing her and 2 others, though a mother shielded two kids who lived.
Hard for her husband and kids and family (many many showed up.
But the good news is that they finally became married a few months ago, after my prompting and prayers (Central Americans overall manifestly value their Christian culture, but that itself does not mean they are saved, and living in fornication with kids for years is common - I suspect perhaps related to gov. benefits - if not in promiscuity).
And just last Sunday she affirmed her faith by being baptized by her Pentecostal church. Thus I believe the families loss was her and Heaven's gain.
I wish I could say that for all deaths.
I sent over some of my tomatoes, and have a card for him signed by many neighbors. Thank God for the bittersweet reality.
Yes, I’m still worried about a clot letting go. I’m taking “Pete’s” advice, sort of: When my left leg is REALLY bothering me and / or the arthritis in that hip is flaring up too, I take an Ibuprofen. If it’s not quite that bad I take a 500 mg acetaminophen, and if it’s bothersome but only really bothersome when I have to kneel down (etc.), then I take an aspirin, figuring the blood thinner effect of that last is not an entirely bad idea. But, OTOH, in work around here minor cuts or scrapes are a pretty regular occurrence too, so I don’t want to go overboard with the blood thinning... Besides, any clots associated with this testing of the flashlight housing have surely long formed by now...
Today, 2/3 of the time or more, I’m gritting my teeth a bit and not taking any meds besides my usual vitamins. That’s up from maybe 50% yesterday. I “should” have taken at least an aspirin B4 going to Mass* with wifey this morning, however: Those long periods of standing and kneeling (especially) were not fun, and my hip was complaining too. :-(
*She’s Catholic, I’m an old rock-headed Missouri Synod (conservative) Lutheran. Apparently my head is tougher than my leg. ;-)
The weird thing is that the area of discoloration of my left thigh that finally showed up is much smaller than the swollen area, 2+ days later, but there is that noticeable large area of swelling of the leg / side of the thigh. If I inadvertently start to roll over on it, it feels almost like I’ve rolled onto my wife’s lower leg — except it hurts. Deeply. The lower half of my left leg still feels slightly “tingley” and numb, so I’m guessing there is slight nerve damage or pinching to a nerve strand in or near the swelling. That is ever so slowly getting better, too. I should be “happy” and not expecting at 70 y/o to be recovering like I was 17 and dinged up after football with my friends! :-)
Opo fruits have to be used before mature, or, yes, the large core is “seedy” almost like an apple core, the skin is tough, and what remains between the two may get pithy. Young, it’s all “tender and mild”, like a very oversize young cucumber.
*Our Monday forecast is " Sunny and hot, with a high near 98. Heat index values as high as 110. Calm wind. "
Fun.
It never occurred to me, but I suppose a well watered "temperate" plant in the heat does better when conditions include a bit of a breeze: Evapo-transpiration should keep the plant cooler. Of course, if it dries up, that's another story...
I do note that keeping my plants' soil (or pots) shaded or very well mulched (if just in the ground) definitely seems to help them out in these conditions. (I don't really have a practical way to shade the upper portion of my tomato plants' foliage when some are over 6 ft. tall / high. But, shading the soil they are rooted in is pretty easy. :-)
I had to stay well watered and in shade while working outside this afternoon, too. Daughter-san’s car had the window raise-lower mechanism break this morning. So, the window just sort of slides down, no matter what. She had to head back to school (90 mins away) quickly after picking stuff up here, and I couldn’t reasonably get parts “same day” anyway, so... I had to tape the entire top 1/3 of the window to its frame (from both sides) to stay up and keep any rain out. Luckily I have some HVAC aluminum tape I’d stumbled into on clearance @ Menards a couple years ago. It has a 248 deg. F temperature rating, and VERY aggressive adhesive. Boy, does it look “Beverly Hillbillies” or what, but it’ll get her by until I get the parts. (Eye roll)
Yes, Impatiens walleriana can be successfully overwintered indoors. Although it is typically grown as a tender annual in temperate regions due to its frost intolerance, the plant can be brought inside before the first frost to continue blooming through the winter months. To do this, it is recommended to move the plants indoors when temperatures drop below 40°F (4°C) or 60°F (15.5°C) at night. The process involves pruning the stems to half their length before bringing them inside to manage size and reduce stress on the root system. The plants should then be placed in a bright, frost-free location with adequate light, ideally a sunny window, and watered moderately to keep the soil moist but not soggy. Regular fertilization with a half-strength water-soluble fertilizer every two weeks is advised for indoor plants to support continued growth. However, if the plants are infected with downy mildew, they should not be overwintered, as the disease can survive and spread. Alternatively, taking softwood cuttings in the fall is another effective method to propagate new plants for the following year.
https://search.brave.com/search?q=can+impatiens+walleriana+be+overwintered+indoors%3F&summary=1&conversation=12d0c6164765ae6672fabc
Hot link:
If it keeps going well, I might put the best pot’s contents into a much bigger pot and see just how well the plant can do indoors in my wife’s classroom. Right now, I have a 3’ diameter “bush” of madly flowering (mostly magenta flowers) deep green leafed impatiens plants. It’s gorgeous! For $1 and a little care!! :-)
That is awesome! Anything we can do to promote Butterflies and Bees is 100% with me. :)
I have seen LESS Butterflies this season - though we are swimming in Milkweed - we always leave that alone, no matter where it is growing.
However - I have seen MORE Honey Bees than in many years prior. Lots of Clover due to all of our rain - and I’m not sure how much moisture bees need as a species, but something is working out right this year for sure. :)
I have seen a lot of Zebra Swallowtails here - I rarely saw them at our old house. We have a butterfly bush & they’ve been on that & I have also seen them on my zinnias.
I had one that had that kind of damage, but it was no longer producing. (Annannas Noir / Black Pineapple) I had sprayed with BT. The hornworm disappeared so the BT worked or a bird grabbed it. It started to leaf out again but this late in the year I am not certain if will produce again or ripen in time if it does.
You might prune back a lot of the damaged branches and see if they regenerate. I am not doing much fertilization on my tomatoes at this point. Since you will be keeping your tomato “upstairs” and overwinter, you might change change out the old soil, give it a small amount of epsom salts and balanced fertilizer and see how it does. Good luck!
I have been putting in a patio in the back yard. I keep digging up Locust tree roots that have migrated all the way from the front of the house and removing turf that has grown into a clay/gravel surface. The turf does not come up easily. Pain in the butt.
I have several volunteer pumpkin vines that grew out of a "Cinderella" pumpkin that I left in the garden and its actually producing several pumpkins. I get better results from an unintentional planting than some of my planned squash plantings. If they mature I might be able to actually use them for food since I can be sure they were not sprayed. Will they be true to variety? we will See. Fighting the squash nymphs. I seen the moth responsible for squash borers flying around my garden so have to monitor for that. (Good night!)
Wasps....use-coffee-as-a-natural-wasp-repellent
"This Kitchen Staple Is a Low-Cost, Natural Wasp Repellent That Also Works for Mosquitoes – Plus, Other Easy Ways To Keep Wasps Away"
Coffee smudge pot. I can't say how this works. I would try it with dried Used coffee grounds rather than fresh coffee.
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