Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Since we’re only a state away from one another, I am 100% with you on Northern Gardening this year! I am SO unmotivated it’s ridiculous and will spend all winter re-vamping what I’m planting, and how and why and also WHAT NOT to plant.
I have had good success with Green Beans (pole), Pears, Apples should be fine in another few weeks. Green peppers (which I HOPE will go to red, but not betting on it) have been so-so. Cucumbers were beyond ridiculously productive. Cherry trees were productive. Asparagus was OK - I AM going to add another bed of Asparagus next spring, for sure.
Failures were: Tomatoes (as soon as I see any ‘blush’ on the green ones, I am picking them and bringing them in to ripen) and Peaches. The peaches rotted from the inside out before even ripening! Zucchini were just STUPID this season. They would set ONE fruit - then overnight, with all the rain, it would grow to magical proportions. I think I got a total of 6 zukes off of 2 plants. All of this is attributed to so much rain. But - as I’ve said before - we won’t starve as I know where the Piggly Wiggly is. ;)
Today I am finishing up the Pear Butter and the pear slices in the dehydrator have a good 6 more hours to go; I swapped around the shelves before starting it up again this morning. ‘Dolly Doodlebug’ (Beagle) said 6am was time to get up this morning - and you don’t argue with an old dog and her old bladder, LOL!
Going to start the mowing today, too. It was very foggy this morning and all the windows were fogged over, so it’s going to take some time for the grass to dry - aiming for a Noon start, today. I think there will be one more good picking of green beans, too.
Tomorrow I am going to the 33rd Annual Lions Club Antique Show and Flea Market. Can’t wait for that! I don’t need a thing, but they do it up so nicely and it’s indoors and the vendors are always top notch. If I see any of the serving dishes Mom & I are collecting from Grandma’s old pattern, they’ll probably have to come home with me, though. ;)
Yup, but there will be tea (Twining Irish Breakfast) in the cup, not coffee. I gave coffee up in January when I realized I wasn’t enjoying it any more for a variety of reasons.
The mountains are beautiful all the time, whether clouds are hanging low, or you can see fog or white ‘sheets’ of rain, and on brighter days the clouds throw shadows on the mountainsides. On bright sunny days, you can see the rock slides shining & see where different trees are growing, like patches of pine, cedar, etc. In the distance, the Blue Ridge are indeed ‘blue’!
Good Morning!
Looking for a new craft and/or a way to make distinctive gifts? Try “ flower pounding”! I had never heard of it until I went to the Farmers Market & saw items decorated by my niece’s MIL with flower pounding. She does cotton bags, towels, makes hangings, small cloths for tables (dresser cloths), etc. Tomorrow, my niece is having a flower pounding workshop at her farm & the MIL is instructing. If you have favorite flowers in your garden, this is a distinctive way to ‘preserve’ them.
Here’s a link on how to do it & some additional ideas for items to decorate:
https://www.firstdayofhome.com/flower-pounding/
I grew from seed one year but have been finding plants the last couple of years. Seeds came from Baker Creek aka rareseeds.com. 3 bucks, free ship, good germination.
Good morning....from HOT Oregon...sick of hot. Although got huge cherokee tomato crop and lots of cukes for once. Can’t plant fall crops yet...supposed to be 90-100 next 5 days. But still thankful for this life.
Until I saw many folks talking about shishitos on the garden thread this year, I had never heard of them before. I do not recall seeing the plants where I buy small plants in the spring, but then I’ve never looked for them either..
Thanks for the seed link. I might try them in a pot (or maybe more than one pot) next year. They are pretty prolific & I hate to waste produce so I won’t plant more than 1 or 2. I did find the peppers (ready to use/blister, etc) at a farmers market for $1.99 a small clamshell container. I almost bought some, but they only took cards at the outside produce stand & I had cash - too lazy to walk inside & pay 🙄
Tou’ll love shishitos. In a pot they will do great if it is big enough, like big enough for a single large variety tomato plant. They will need lots of water. I have two in two pots, One is double the size I would get in the garden and I have had plenty of shishitos to eat and chop/saute/freeze to add to dishes.
We’ve been exceptionally hot and dry for the Northeast.
Early cool weather crops did fine. Nothing else. Garlic was OK.
The weeds and vermin who love to snack on the garden were thrilled. Lots of crop loss from them this year and actually had a second crop of asparagus beetles.
Waiting for potatoes to mature and see how they did.
Pond is LOW again.
HOPEFULLY, this hot dry weather will put a dent in the deer ticks. They do best in moisture and desiccate in the heat.
What do you do to freeze them? I think I remember you were freezing some in small portion bags.
I just put my 3rd batch of jalapeños (red) for pepper jelly in the fridge. I am 2-3 peppers short of a 4th batch & several on the plants are half red, so the makings for batch 4 will happen soon. I clean the peppers, chop them into chunks & put them in quart canning jars with 2 cups of vinegar. When I’m ready to can, I dump a jar in my food processor, pulse a couple of times, then dump it all in my pot, ready to cook. The peppers keep fine in vinegar/fridge so I can do one or two major canning runs with 3-4 batches in each run. People love jalapeño pepper jelly & I never seem to have enough for all the requests.
Ditto that. The South has t’storms, tornados and if you are on the coast, hurricanes, to keep one on their toes, but when it comes to refreshing changes, the Midwest is tops. My wife (a Filipina) needed a few years to get used to “the dramatic changes” every season, as she put it.
Granted that you have to go through some discomfort to really enjoy the good stuff! But, in the South and North you get even more discomfort.
My brother loves his “almost always great” weather in CA, but, it sure does help bring them other problems.
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This cool spell is very interesting: Rather than a cold front blasting through with a “dramatic” (as my wife would say) lowering of temperatures, it’s been quite gradual. Tomorrow is wifey’s church’s big picnic day, and it will be comfortably warm (the forecast high is now 84°, but the NWS “charts” say 82°), sunny, with the dewpoint falling to 56° by 3 pm, and a northerly breeze. The only (weather) problem may be the breeze blowing napkins and paper plates off the tables!
Then it cools down a bit more, with highs just under 80° Monday and Tuesday, and forecast @ 81°, all with dewpoints in the lower 50’s. Amazing for late August!
Following, it looks great all the way through Labor Day, but with a bit of a warming trend with dewpoints in the low 60’s by then. Fantastic, except we DO need some rain sometime, and the chances are low.
You can buy started Shishito pepper plants directly from Bonnie but they’re not cheap!
No kidding! Yikes!
BTW, web searches are really getting great. It must be the AI. For example, I discovered that these cheapo Westinghouse "solar security lights" I bought on clearance or sale from Menards have the solar panels glued in with good tough glue that has as high a plastic ("soften") temperature as the plastic housing. So, so much for easily pulling out and relocating the solar panels for better sunlight.
However, I then asked this question:
if two solar panels are connected in parallel, and one is in bright sun and the other is in shade, will any energy bleed back into the shaded panel?
and got this back:
No, energy will not bleed back into the shaded panel when two solar panels are connected in parallel. In a parallel configuration, each panel operates independently, and the voltage across each panel is the same. The unshaded panel, receiving full sunlight, will produce its maximum current, while the shaded panel will produce significantly less current due to reduced sunlight. The current from the unshaded panel does not flow back into the shaded panel; instead, the total system current is the sum of the currents from each panel. This means the shaded panel will only contribute its reduced output, and the unshaded panel's full output is not lost to the shaded one. The system's overall power output is the sum of the individual panel outputs, which is higher than what would be produced if the panels were connected in series under the same shading conditions.
What this means is, these lights are so cheap, for under awning and similar locations, I can (electronic sacrifice) cut the panels out of a few of them, mount the solar panels as desired in plexiglass "sandwiches" sealed with silicone cement or polyurethane adhesive, run wires and splice into an un-chopped up light.
The other option is to pull the LED "boards" and "plexi-sandwich" THEM and mount where desired (often in a shady spot such as under an awning), and then mount the original enclosure, with a bunch of sealant added, well exposed. The problem then is that the original enclosure controls are likely in a high or otherwise difficult spot, and more important, the enclosures don't easily lend themselves to being well sealed. Rain can leak in around the control switches, among other things.
Ah, what fun. I got into such ways of thinking back when I would build Ace Audio, Dynaco (later Hafler), and Heathkit audio electronics kits, and upgrade them during assembly. Then came certain car repairs and "fixes" to crappy car lighting and more. :-)
The squirrels love shagbark nuts for the winter as they have a real hard nutshell and don’t rot. When the nuts are ripe the squirrels bite them off and pick them up off the ground just like acorns. The nuts are quite edible but you’ll need a vice and a hammer to get them out, this is why you don’t see them for sale anywhere.
Shagbarks are fairly common but are uber-slow growers that’s why you can’t transplant them from the wild easily and why they are so expensive, but valuable as trees go!
I cut in half lengthwise and clean out seeds and any large membrane. Chop small, heat some olive oil in a skillet, enough to coat all the peppers. Just saute a minute or so til they are bright green. Let cool. I put a few tablespoons in a snack size ziploc. Squeeze making sure all the air is out. I actually roll them up. Put several in a quart freezer bag. They freeze beautifully as long as they are coated with olive oil, I use Bertoli Extra Light always. Easy and fast to add to just about anything, a skillet meal (think spanish rice) sub, sprinkle on pizza, in an omelette, chili, endless possibilities.
Thanks!
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