The Garden Thread - September, 2025

September 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]

You guys are actually serious, you like pumpkin spice. After all the jokes about it I have seen I am a little surprised. Me- I just put it on my list along with kale, olives, peanut butter, and now pumpkin spice. LOL

[AFB-XYZ]

Nope, I’m in OK . . . supposed to be mid-to-high 80s for the next several days. Weirdly, I think we only had one day of temps hitting 100 the entire summer. Very, very unusual for OK. Rain totals for the whole year have been higher than normal too.

I’m going to try hand-pollinating and see what kind of results I get. Maybe nothing, maybe a good fall crop. Will do the happy dance if I get some tomatoes — and will probably rupture something in the process! Ha ha

[Liz]

Spicy Peanut Soup
Sounds (and looks) unusual, but is ridiculously good. Uses very few ingredients.

Ing 1 qt ea chicken stock, milk (or 2% coconut milk) 1 1/4 c crunchy p/butter 2 tbl evo 2 c diced onion, carrots, celery, bell peppers 1-2 tbl minced garlic 2 tbl flour s/p to taste garnish of greenery, hot chili powder or chili flakes

Method Heat oil on med. Add vegs, garlic and sauté til almost cooked. Mix flour in well and cook about 1 min, stirring frequently. Add p/butter and broth and whisk smooth. Add milk and seasoning. Stir constantly to prevent burning. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn down to med-low. Stir constantly and cook vegs through. Serve sprinkled w/ greenery and a dusting of hot chili powder or chili flakes.

[Paul R.]

Haha - I had sort of gone into “Fall Mode” but now it’s so hot here (and getting hotter next week) that if I’d not gone back to “Summer Mode” I’d probably be in a different sort of “Fall Mode”! Not a good one!

So, I started @ about 4 a.m. today, and I came inside ~30 minutes ago definitely noticing mild / initial symptoms of heat exhaustion: Mainly feeling tired and light headed. I made up a big batch of my Gatorade-Modified-with-Pink-Lemonade mix and feel better already. I just have to drink it slowly, because any cold liquid is really firing up this molar the filling came out of (and my dentist still can’t get me in until the 24th.) “Slow”, I can keep the liquid on the other side of my mouth.

I was going to try again today my aborted trip from a few days ago, but, I’ll delay until after church tomorrow. I just tried to squeeze in too much today! And a couple extras popped up too, of course.

[Paul R.]

This morning I did get that longest vine of the surviving (and then some!) Opo plant “dived” back into the ground a few inches, and covered with garden soil. I watered that in well, then topped that off a bit later with some diluted liquid root hormone. Easy-peasy, except for having to be careful not to break or sharply bend the vine. The very end pops back out above ground, protruding about 2” high @ present.

It will be very interesting to see if this “takes: This spot is about 20’ away from the pot this plant begins in (more if you count the vertical component of the vine runs) and in fact this far end of the vine is “dived” into my old compost / worm bed. All sorts of food waste and other organic matter went in there, but the dominant component is hickory tree leaves & nuts. So, the soil is very rich: It is mostly earthworm castings by now, but with some hickory nut shells and husks still easily identifiable. How high the juglone content is, I don’t know, but what modest evidence I have suggests Opo is not badly harmed by moderate amounts of juglone. If this end does well, great; if it appears this branch of the vine is dying, I’ll cut it off - I would still have lots of plant left.

I do think the plant has slowed down its vine growth a bit. It may be the heat, or, it may be shifting energy to the fruits beginning to develop?

[Paul R.]

Ooooo... And we just happen to have some crunchy peanut butter that needs a use*, and plenty of chicken bouillon and onions on hand...

Any reason to NOT add some chicken meat to “flesh it out”?

*I like crunchy peanut butter, but this we have is thick and hard to spread without tearing up slices of bread. And we have over half a large jar.

“evo” is “Extra Virgin Oil”, right? Not sure we have that, unless wifey has it hidden... Peanut oil ok instead? We have lots of that.

[Paul R.]

I’d then guess maybe a nutrient unbalance - could be an excess instead of a shortage, Diana?

My Mortgage Lifter tomatoes refused to flower until recently; now they are flowering and fruiting, but, I think the delay was due to too much rain early (sure wish we had some now!*) and then we were very hot in late July / early August. I got one LITTLE “first almost ripe” fruit off one ML today, and then proceeded to drop and squash it! So, a chicken got a treat. More are on the way though — very green, but most are already bigger.

*Even a few weeds are beginning to wilt. When many of them do, it’s a good chance we are in to D3 conditions... I’m betting NWS will show us in D2, next update / next week.

[AFB-XYZ]

My Mortgage Lifter tomatoes

Your tomatoes have the best names! 😀

My "Flowerers" are actually Early Girl, which I've been complaining about all summer, and which should have been called Late Girl. Funny how now, all my hopes for a fall crop are pinned on Early Girl / Late Girl. LOL

[Liz]

“evo” is “Extra Virgin Oil”, right? Not sure we have that, unless wifey has it hidden...

---

You should get some evo. I love peanut oil-—its the best
frying oil there is-—but it will change the taste of this soup.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, good! I thought you were further south. Yeah, grab a new paint brush and get busy! ;)

https://www.epicgardening.com/hand-pollinate-tomatoes/

[daniel1212]

Sounds like you’ve been truly blessed on your tomatoes! I’ve had blossoms galore for the last few weeks, but no fruits yet. Wondering if I’m doing something incorrectly, or if they sometimes just don’t get beyond the blossom stage for whatever reason?

Around here, fruit came late, I think due to the many over 9-F days, and much rain early, on, but all I can say is that our ongoing harvest has been an answer to prayer. The disease that was typically showing up in late July was hardly seen, and the majority of the toms were from harvested seeds of what I call large cherry toms, not the most flavorful but I chose them bcz they seemed to be the most disease resistant. Yet larger toms are also healthy. Often timely rain helped.

And what is also strange, is that in God's providence, rather than having lots of flowers in Sept (that I try to pick many off), I see very few flowers and am getting more tomatoes instead. Thank God. Lots to share.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Well, MY LIST contains - nothing! I will eat anything that doesn’t eat me first.

OK - canned (as in Factory Canned) Asparagus. It’s only good for soup...at best. *SHUDDER*

And maybe that spiny fish that kills you if you don’t prepare it correctly. But I would risk even THAT for Fish Tacos. ;)

[Paul R.]

Well, shoot. The freezer is full and I need to use this chicken and esp. the veggies B4 we will likely make it to the grocery store again. (It’d have to be after that bit of a trip I mentioned above.)

Just use regular vegetable oil? The stuff we have seems pretty neutral. I can always shoot for perfection “next time”. :-)

Thanks!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I think the first line of that recipe should read:

“If you are NOT allergic to Peanuts...” ;)

Reminds me of Brother Dave’s contribution to the Family Cookbook. His recipe for Venison Stew starts with, “If you are a Hunter who has NOT been lucky in the field this season...stop reading right now!”

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I just tried to squeeze in too much today! And a couple extras popped up too, of course.”

Never fails! :)

[Paul R.]

Heh, maybe sometimes I try varieties based partially on the name?

I’m in Zone 7a, and have never had good luck with Early Girls* (and **) past mid July. They seem to be a one crop and done tomato. Even to get that, I usually have to have them going inside pretty well (usually ~15” tall) in my “pots” made from 2L soda bottles (use bottom 2/3, add holes to bottom) and transplant as early as I dare. Last year I had to cover them from frost 3 times, IIRC. This year I tried “Early Treat” and “Independence Day” tomatoes instead, to try to get an early crop, and then the super soggy Spring conditions just wrecked them. I have a couple of both hanging on - don’t know if they’ll produce anything or not.

*That sort of makes sense, as they are an early season tomato, so, I’d think, not bred at all to take warm temperatures.

**I once dated an Early Girl and she... Oh, wait. Wrong thread. (Just kidding!)

The tomato plant that is most freaking me out is the “unknown” volunteer that sprang up in our chicken manure pile. “All nitrogen”, Diana would say, but this thing has grown very well (not skinny / spindly), flowered well, and fruited well. All the fruits are still green, so I don’t know if they’ll get bigger than the 3” or so of the largest fruits. But, if these taste good, I’m definitely saving some seeds.

Anyway, your Early Girls are flowering in Sept., something mine never did, as mine were usually long dead by then. So, maybe hand pollinating will work! Good luck!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

It’s dry by me too, going into the Fall. That ‘rain’ we were supposed to get overnight ended up being BUPKISS!

Just watered a few pots of herbs in the garden, and apologized to the plants in the BIG pots that I’m letting die off so I can re-use their pots for Fall lettuces and spinach.

I do have Chives and Parsley to bring in to dry for Winter use.

I HOPE they understand. ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Public Service Announcement:

[Qiviut]

I count this as a SCORE!:

Mom wanted 2 large pots of mums & as we went to a late lunch, we passed a place that had large pots. We stopped on the way back & the owner wanted $20/pot. We couldn’t agree on a color plus I thought $20 was a bit pricey.

On the main highway near us, I had noticed someone had taken over a large parking lot & had rows & rows of mums so we stopped there on the way to the ice cream stand for dessert. The pots were 12” (same size as the other place) and $12/pot! We found a color we liked & now have 2 huge mums. They also had large pumpkins for $8, medium for $5, large gourds for $3, and other assorted small to medium pumpkins for $3 - $5. He had blue pumpkins & I asked what they were : Blue Doll. For some reason, I just love blue pumpkins.

[TheConservativeParty]

Tomatoes........This hot summer, I had the best tomato production with a variety that has been around a long time....Jet Star. Medium size fruit.