The Garden Thread - October, 2025

October 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.

[Liz]

PUMPKIN FUDGE
Classic holiday recipe, the taste of the season -- a wonderful gift for family and friends.

ING 2 c sugar 1 c packed light brown sugar 3/4 c butter 2/3 c Evaporated Milk 1/2 c LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 12-oz pkg NESTLÉ® White Morsels 7 oz jar marshmallow crème 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

LINE 13x9" pan with foil. COMBINE sugar, brown sugar, evap/milk, pumpkin, butter and spice in pan. Bring to full rolling boil on med, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, 10-12 min; candy therm reaches 234°-240ºF. (soft-ball stage).

QUICKLY STIR in morsels, marshmallow crème, vanilla. Stir vigorously a minute (morsels are melted). Immediately pour into prepared pan. Set on wire rack 2 hrs til completely cooled. Refrigerate airtight. To cut, lift from pan; remove foil. Cut 1-inch pieces. Makes about 3 lbs.

VARY----BUTTERSCOTCH FUDGE: USE 11-oz pkg Butterscotch Morsels for White Morsels.

© 2009 and ®/™ Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, used with permission.

[Pollard]

Yeah, more reading says the main ingredient can be Napa cabbage AND/OR Korean/Daikon radish. That and Korean Red Pepper and a little of whatever else you want/have for veggies.

I’ll get some Korean red pepper and go from there.

[MomwithHope]

I’ve got the family Enterprise cast iron one. Used it for sausage but mostly as a hard cheese press.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Miss Babuska lady, You go lady! :)

NIH article-- Regular Consumption of Sauerkraut and Its Effect on Human Health: A Bibliometric Analysis

Moderation in all things....a little goes a long way!

[Paul R.]

True, that! They don’t grow well at all in our soils, but it’s a good thing they grow other places, because I eat quite a lot. I’m just now starting to transition back to baked potatoes, scalloped, etc., as during the summer I mostly go with potato salad.

Oh, I think fungus is zapping my tomato plants now! A lot of them really went downhill fast, the last 2 days. Hopefully I have enough Daconil to cover them all, or I’ll have to make a trip to town, tomorrow. I used up almost all the copper fungicide a few months ago, when it was raining almost every day. (I think a lot of it got washed off, but, I did save a few plants.)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I had 3 pumpkin vines. Only one had fruit that survived. The seed came from a a Rouge Vif pumpkin, but did not produce true. (I was prepared for some cross.) It's about 15 pounds and is a light blue skinned pumpkin shaped like the Rouge Vif. I will take what the garden gives! I am keeping it on a warm back porch which is supposed to ripen it. I will probably roast it at the end of the month.

I have dug up all my sweet potatoes. I have a few Carogold, but most were Koren Golden Sweet potato, purple skin, yellow flesh. While I have warm weather I have them curing on the back porch. (Unwashed...two weeks at 85f with 80% humidity. It is late, but I am debating putting rows of beets and turnips. (Soak seeds of 45 day frost hardy varieties and plant.)

I appear to have another 7-10 days of warm weather so I will hold off on pulling up tomato vines unless they are bare. Still enjoying Basil. (I have a dill plant with a caterpillar on it...Swallowtail probably.)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

F.F. A link for your butterfly link library!

How to overwinter Swallowtail chrysalis

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I hope she is! She looks very happy!

[FamiliarFace]

Interesting, Pete!

I am still seeing Monarch and Swallowtail activity in my yard and woods. If I ever come across a swallowtail chrysalis, now I will know what to do with it! Thanks!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Pumpkin Rouge vif d'Etampes

"French Heirloom. This unique 1800’s French pumpkin, Cinderella to us here in America, is popular with chefs for soup bases because its mild flavor doesn’t overpower other ingredients. Fruits are flattened and concave on top, about 15” across and 6” high. Skin color is a brilliant reddish-orange, more dramatic than the yellow-orange pumpkins you are used to. The Rouge Vif D'Etampes Pumpkin produces a flavor that is great in pies or any winter squash recipe. Plants are vigorous with 15’ vines." (Description from Pinetree Seeds)

There are a lot of sources for the seed including Territorial Seeds, Johnnies, Pinetree Seeds, Burpees, and Baker Creek!

[MomwithHope]

I used to say sauerkraut was natures Brillo pad. It really cleans you out. But really it does much more than that.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You had me at, ‘Morsels.’

Pumpkin Fudge? Who knew?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

‘Rouge vif d’Etampes’

I like that one, too - if for nothing more than how fun it is to pronounce! Nice shape, lots of meat. There’s another version with ‘bumps’ all over it, but the same shape/size - forget the name of that one.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Finally! Fall has arrived in SW Wisconsin!

“Sunday will be the last warm day across the region before seasonal temperatures, and rain, returns.”

Sunday - 84
Monday - BOOM! - 66! (Rain!)
Tuesday - 64
Wednesday - 66
Thursday - 67
Friday - 70
Saturday - 73
Sunday - 76

https://www.channel3000.com/weather/?mode=week-1443070&weather_zip=53533#/rounds/1/gallery

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I’m back!

Forgot my password and the email from freeperville with password when you hit the link never arrives.

Got lucky and guessed correctly for 1st time since April.

[MomwithHope]

Password roulette! LOL. Welcome back. How about an update? Did you garden, how did it go, I think you are in Texas IIRC. Cheers.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I have a question for the group who have experience with tractors.

I am most likely getting a tractor for small projects around the 10.5 acres we love on.

I will have to fomace it so I’m buying new.

The things I will be doing most often are.

Moving and placing soil, gravel/small landscaping rock.

Pulling a shredder/mower.

Drilling post holes etc.

Hopefully, turning over compost.

Rock raking to clear small and medium sized (200lbs and less) rocks

The soil/ground on my property is rocky with layers of limestone that can need a rock saw for trenching or a rock auger bit to drill. For instance I had use a rock saw machine to get thru some limestone for a 60 ft long trench, 2 feet deep (limestone was a 6 inch layer near the top) for placing a propane line.

Also, in many areas the 6-18 inches below topsoil is heavy clay.

There is a Kubota dealer near me and I will be asking them these questions also but I would like and I biased option on tractor sizes, HP, features, and attachments.

Example, “you will need at least X HP of you want to do that...”

Any input is appreciated.

[Liz]

You had me at, ‘Morsels.’ Pumpkin Fudge? Who knew?

---

Pumpkin fudge w/ white choc/chips......need I say more?

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Central Texas, Holl Country.

Yes, ran my garden again this year...still going.

Excellent but small yields of watermelon and cantaloupe.

My okra bed from last year, which was my 1st year growing okra and I had let them get too large and couldn’t eat them, the spineless variety sent up volunteers this year like CRAZY.

So lots of delicious okra. I let them go to seed recently and harvested about 3 lbs of seed and now I have new edible okra available.

Tomatoes were nit as good as previous years.

I had a wave of bugs and other pr9blems with my seed starts in the greenhouse so I was late getting them in the ground. The summer heat here is a problem for tomatoes with the avg temp being over 95 everyday all summer which sterilizes the pollen and cuts yields.

I like to grow heirlooms so I’m always fighting the heat. I am cutting back the plants today and will hopefully get another batch for the freezer before frost arrives. Last year it was leaf footed bugs zapping the fruit which I solved this year by not planting squash or tomatillos.

Peppers were all in pots again and did very well.....jalapeños and poblanos.

Pickling cukes did good and I have about 150 quarts worth if dill and bread and butter chip pickles in the pantry.

My Brussel sprouts plants keep gett8ng eaten up by bugs then reviving themselves so in the winter I should have some for the 1st time.

Pickling dill and birdhouse squash volunteered again.

I had an old man health injury that is putting a big crimp in all my projects.

I don’t recommend having a poop so hard it tears your rectum and you get an abscess. Bthey give it a fancy name “fistula” and at its worst it got as long as 8 inches from my tailbone across my ass cheek. Don’t recommend!

I thought it was a torn muscle near my tailbone from shoveling rock out of my truck but after 6 weeks Dr Google and I diagnosed the real injury and argued with my soon to be former Doc, until he agreed and referred me to a surgeon.

Google “Seton Placement” if you want to know how the fixed (still have another 6-8 weeks actually)

This means I can’t lift anything over 10 lbs for three weeks (2 more to go) but because I told my doc “you don’t see the huge, 6 inch long purple raised bump ony ass cheek” when he said “everything looks fine” and tried to kick me put the door....I won’t be pooping in a bag tied to my leg the rest of life....seriously he is soooo fired.

I’m putting up a new greenhouse this winter and hopefully will have the old one for overwinter plants for the wife.
The project of adding fruit trees is still on hold until I get a tractor and several attatchments