The Garden Thread - August, 2025

August 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.

[MomwithHope]

Salmon and grouper are my favorites. I know what you mean about bones.

[MomwithHope]

The smoked SWEET is the best. They are out right now but given they probably source it from down south I would think it would be soon.

[MomwithHope]

We ate fried perch early every Friday. I hated picking out the bones and more than once I had one catch in my throat. One so bad it took a couple of bread balls to shake it loose. No fun when you are a kid.

[FamiliarFace]

I’m not sure what kind of fish we ate as young kids. I do know I hated fish sticks. Had to eat them anyway. If you didn’t eat what was put in front of you, you went hungry. If you complained about how you didn’t like something, you got a smack AND had to eat all of it under threat of more severe punishment. There was no pussyfooting around that. Amazingly, I am not a picky eater, save for a very few things, which I still sometimes try, and still reject. (I don’t like bleu cheese or goat cheese. I keep trying them every so often, but I still haven’t taken a liking to either of those.)

[Qiviut]

Weird weather - very cloudy, looks like a storm any minute, but nothing on radar. It’s “cool”, high 70’s with a bit of humidity. There’s also been quite the breeze. All of this has Fall on my mind. The gray days remind me of November skies except it’s not cold.

Perfect day for shoveling that second load of dirt out of the trailer. It’s all in the 3rd bed, mounded up & tarped. I waited a week to pick up this load after we had a spell of heavy rain - the rain had drained out of most of what I got ... dry dirt isn’t near as heavy as wet dirt (duh!).

I didn’t mention that we saw “wildlife” going across the mountain for the dirt. A handsome red fox crossed the road in front of us so I slowed down to look in the woods - it had stopped & I got a good look. That was going .... coming back a snake crossed the road in front of me. It was on a fairly steep downhill and I was hauling heavy so I didn’t brake or swerve .... snake made it without getting hit. The interesting thing about the snake was that it sure looked like a Timber Rattler to me! I have seen plenty in the mountains doing trail work & hiking so I know what they look like. As long as I don’t see any Timbers around our place, I’m good with just seeing them in the mountains.

No more work today that involves my back. I think I’ll go on a date this afternoon with Clyde :-)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

So, you KNOW what I’m takin’ about with the fish bones in the throat!

Beau drags home Northerns and Muskies and Walleye. Bone City. I have expressed my displeasure! MANY times!

Pan fish or NO fish! Perch. Sunfish. Bluegills - all the fish I grew up on and never tried to kill me!

In the past I have made a tasty Stuffed Lake Trout on the grill, and I have fond memories of catching Trout with my Battalion Commander the year I was his driver. Those saps filing through the Mess Hall doors THOUGHT they were getting Trout for Breakfast. Nope. Just us, LOL! ;)

Unless you’re going to stuff them and hang them on the wall, I want nothing to do with monster-sized fishes. ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I need to add more Salmon into our diet. LOVE the stuff. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yet another busy day for you! I’ll bet you’ll be very happy when Fall falls at your place. :)

I haven’t seen a Red Fox in ages. They are few and far between up here in The Driftless. :(

[Paul R.]

We’ve had and are having t-storms all around us, lots of impressive cloud formations included, but, no rain for US. Drat!

At least it’s going to cool off some, esp. this weekend. Just in time for the big picnic @ my wife’s church! :-)

[Paul R.]

That (a simple bone structure) is one of the things I like about catfish. But, from my childhood I recall fresh Canadian walleye as being the best tasting fresh water fish of all. (Maybe that was partially because we were at a cabin in Canada!) Bluegill out of good water are #2, in my book, tied with catfish (from 3-6 lb.*) out of clean water, and trout from good water, or put and take trout which apparently are raised in pretty decent water @ the hatchery.

*Ie., channel cats big enough to have turned mostly piscivore, young enough to be at peak taste.

If you wanna fight bones, silver carp are truly nasty (but they taste quite good, well prepared.)

[Paul R.]

OMG. It’s a good thing my wife doesn’t make all these recipes you post, because I’d be a balloon! ;-)

[Liz]

OMG. It’s a good thing my wife doesn’t make all
these recipes you post, because I’d be a balloon! ;-)

---

Come on, they’re not all as fattening as that cake.

[Paul R.]

If stored rainwater has been kept in a sealed container (even milk jugs will do), and not exposed to light (esp. sunlight*), the gases and minerals are not going anywhere, and bacterial growth should be minimal. Basically, if the rainwater water looks clean and clear, it should be fine for plants.

Note however that uncapping a container a couple days before using it will “aerate it” quite well if the water level is where the container reaches full diameter or width. (This is a small consideration for me with our well water, which is NOT very aerated, of course. But, then again, chicken guano compost has LOTS of nitrogen in it, and we, er, our chickens, generate plenty.)

*A milk jug of rainwater exposed to sunlight will of course go “green” quickly. In a shaded indoor environment (covered / no direct light), it should keep for months. This assumes reasonably clean roofing and guttering as the “collector”. In my case, the rainwater presently comes right off a large awning. To save more water, by happenstance to this discussion, I in fact just bought a 55 gallon plastic drum @ Rural King today, using some rewards $$. It was on sale ($19.60). I’ll have to make sure it’s not translucent - if so, I’ll paint the exterior black or dark blue with some spare paint. (Opaque containers are best if light can get to the container.)

[Paul R.]

Oh, I know, but there are enough... ;-)

(It was just a gentle kidding anyway! Including of myself!!)

[Liz]

(It was just a gentle kidding anyway! Including of myself!!)

---

Yeah......knew you were kidding....chuckle.

[daniel1212]

Basically, if the rainwater water looks clean and clear, it should be fine for plants.

Thx. I would add smell.

, I in fact just bought a 55 gallon plastic drum @ Rural King today, using some rewards $$. It was on sale ($19.60)

Good price. I use washed, old trash bins, preferably with lids. I cover some others with screening to deter mosquitoes. Spraying non-stick food spray helps also.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Good info. I save gallon milk jugs and fill them from my rain barrel, then put them in the greenhouse in the back section, under a shelf that gets little sun. I have had a few ‘go green’ through the years, so those just get dumped. I have about a dozen on hand at any time, though I don’t store them over winter - they freeze and thaw and leak and just make a mess.

Otherwise, I use that water in the spring when I’m starting seedlings, and then all season long when I have pots of things to water daily, and in the fall when I’ve got salad greens growing in there. It saves me from dragging out the hose for that task, plus it’s that magical rain water! :)

[Pollard]

Got a thunderstorm yesterday that dumped 1.26" of rain in about an hour but brought in the much needed cool front.

Salmon is one of the reasons I've been looking for things that aren't pork butt or costly brisket to smoke. It's just too much and takes too long at 10-14 hours and on the other end, firing up the smoker for just a chunk ot two of salmon and rack or two of ribs isn't worth the work.

The hard part is finding wild caught salmon from the northern hemisphere at a decent price. Of course when a decent steak is $20/lb, salmon prices aren't bad I guess.

New ads out today. No tri-tip but they might still have some, just not on sale. One store has ribs and seasoned split roasters both at $1.99/lb. Another store has Sea Best salmon fillets for $7.99 but it's probably farmed in Chile. Less Omega 3. At least GMO salmon is no longer a thing. I prefer wild caught Alaskan/Canadian but there's only so much of that to go around so I will settle for Chile farmed if it's not too pale in color.

Need to get a new Dutch Oven but not straight up cast iron. Ceramic coated cast iron. Looks like walmart near me has Lodge brand in blue for $50.

I've got a ton of dried beans I should use up - rotate out. Vertical smoke chamber gets to 180-210 degrees. Soak overnight, rinse and sort, bring to boil on stove for an hour, add ingredients to flavor and make sauce, bring to simmer and transfer to smoker which should keep them simmering, then can them when done smoking. I can warm the jars in the smoker and bring the coleman propane cook stove out there to process them and do it all outside.

Will have to see if I wrote down my tweaks to the USDA canning guide recipe. Pretty sure it was just adding a touch more molasses. I did three canner loads of quarts and brought them with us when we moved to MO and they were just ok until I tweaked them. Then they got eaten up quick. We were still basically camping off grid at the time so anything heat and eat was nice to have.

Some sausage gets smoked!

I made bratwurst several years ago from a recipe in this book, Sausage Making, and it was good. Different than store bought and not as greasy. Another use for that vertical chamber and a way to fill the smoker without it being a 10-14 hour smoke(or being a $60 brisket), hang some sausage to smoke. All that get smoked use 2-4 lbs of pork butt mixed with some amount of beef chuck. Depending on how much room hanging sausage takes, the Dutch Oven could go in left end of horizontal chamber.

Will have to find other things to simmer/cook in a Dutch Oven since I only need so many beans. I have a book called the Outdoor Dutch Oven Cookbook with 125 recipes so I'll find something. Things in a pot don't really soak up any wood flavor anyway so it doesn't need to be a typical bbq recipe. I see Chicken Cacciatore, Curry and oh look, Aioli.

New item for to do/get list. Get some bolts to make something for round grates to sit on in vertical chamber. The grates for those little round Brinkman smokers will fit and I have a couple already.

Pics of the build. Made my own hinges from old truck linkage rods and tubes(center pic). The legs/feet are made from old step side bed supports. Latches are the only thing purchased. All else is made from scrap. I positioned all the WH tanks so that I have drain plugs on the bottom of them. Either pipe fittings or the screw in chunk of heating element.

Yoder Durango model smoker is what I based my design off of although most offset smokers with vertical chamber are the same. ($3,500) Below is the Durango 20 and they used to have a Durango 16 but quit making them. I found dimensional drawings for the 16 on their site which gave me all the sizes and ratios to go by. They use heavy pipe for chambers but water heaters are thin so a breeze will cool mine off but I have an inside corner on the house that keeps it out of the predominate wind. The two full size WHs are 18" in diameter so I call my smoker the Durango Light 18. Gonna bring it up to that corner and get the corner set up for cooking again and cut up some hickory this morning and any dry oak too. Need to take a ride in the woods and see what I have for standing dead wood too. I think I have a 6-7" cherry out there. Not dead afaik but might be soon.

[Pollard]

I’m thinking about tarps for the IBC tanks. The tanks are clear enough to get enough light to grow algae. I guess those tarps that are brown/silver and do silver side up for most of the year and brown side up for winter to help keep them from freezing. Tarps will be ugly but oh well. Better than green slime water clogging up the drip. Seems like after the green slime, comes little swimming things too.

I’ve been using it too fast for algae to grow but it won’t always be that way. Had a little once but it rinsed out easy and was only near the bottom. Don’t really want to add bleach/chlorine. Most anyone with city water and a garden is likely watering with chlorinated water at 1ppm or so and it doesn’t seem to hurt anything. Would prefer pure rain water though.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"I’m thinking about tarps for the IBC tanks."

I keep hoping you find a job that earns enough to get a well! Or, next job is with someone who drills wells and you can get it done for less!

In any case, good luck!