The Garden Thread - February, 2026

February 1, 2026 | 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.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Miss Booger is definitely giving Howard the old ‘Stink Eye!’

Siblings, LOL! :)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Augie...Be certain to use a Waterproof glue on your coldframe since it will be high humidity and exposed to rain! (You probably already thought of this but it just in case.....)

[FamiliarFace]

Great photo!

[Liz]

White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Signature dessert of famous restaurant features rich custard, white chocolate sauce.

Ingredients Pudding: loaf French bread (1/4" slices dried in oven) 3 c heavy whipping cream 1 c milk 1/2 c sugar 10 oz white chocolate, broken into small pieces 2 whole eggs 7-8 egg yolks 1/2 tsp salt Generous splash bourbon (optional) Sauce: 8 oz white chocolate 3 oz h/cream

Method Custard: Heat cream, milk, sugar, salt on med til hot. Offheat add white chocolate, stir til melted/smooth. Tempering: whisk eggs and yolks. Slowly pour in hot cream in steady stream; whisk constantly to prevent curdling. Add bourbon. Place dried bread in greased 9x13" pan; pour egg mixture over. Press w/ spatula to completely saturate. Bake 350 deg 40-50 min til set and golden.

Sauce: Melt white chocolate and heavy cream in double boiler (or micro smooth). Serve:
Pour sauce over warm pudding. Garnish with chocolate shavings. Top w/ scoop of ice cream.

[Pollard]

We do have a few people here that already garden in their suburban sized back yard gardens yards. Maybe they can share their observations, tips, tricks, goals etc.

FR’s search and organizational structure isn’t all that great. With real forum software, you could find all posts by a user named Pete that mention “low tunnel” in the Weekly Garden Thread forum.

I’ll start going through my files and pick out some basics/beginner friendly stuff. Found a dozen already.

As we all know, gardening can turn into a huge complex thing and become overwhelming. (if a person’s not careful, one Spring he can end up with 20+ types of hardy lettuce/leafy brassica seeds while working on a 3 year tunnel project that cost four digits LOL)

Resilient Gardening by Carol Depp and Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon are a couple of books that fit into the Victory Garden genre.

I prefer the first version of Square Foot Gardening where he digs 6” into the soil and fluffs it and then adds 6” of compost. In the later version, he just dumps 6” of compost on top because he says veggie roots only need 6”. Not sure a 5-6 foot tall tomato plant would agree.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Noted! Thank you! :)

[Texas resident]

I started container gardening 25 years ago. Mostly 5 gallon buckets. Works well with tomato and pepper plants. I can move them around to get more or less sun. For shallow root plants I use rectangular containers for green onions and melons.

Initial start up, I had to purchase 6 buckets, tomato cages and stakes. Each year I put new soil in the buckets but re use the cages and stakes. All done in a suburban back yard.

[Qiviut]

I had to buy mouse traps this morning - found some mouse sign in our utility room ... grrrr.

Headed to the Old House/Town next week & while there, will stop off to see my SIL. She is having hip replacement surgery Friday. I’m taking a salmon casserole (she & bro like salmon & it’s something different than chicken). It looks really good & I have some frozen salmon filets I’ll bake & use.

Creamy Salmon Casserole Recipe Even Picky Eaters Love
https://imhungryforthat.com/salmon-casserole-recipe/

On a sad note (I’m pretty bummed out), I found out yesterday a friend of mine “died suddenly/unexpectedly” on Saturday. He was 64, birthday coming up March 29 & set to retire April 1 from his 32 year county job. He was so excited about retirement & had a lot of plans. He was a man of deep faith so I take comfort in that; however, my thoughts are with his family & the shock they must be feeling.

[Liz]

ROSEMARY-GARLIC ROASTED RED POTATOES
Easy and delicious side dish for roast beef. Can add Parm to boost flavor.

Ing--7 Red Bliss potatoes (skin-on/1/4ed or size desired) 3-4 tbl evoo s/p 2 tsp
gar/pwder or 3 minced gar/cl 2 tsp dried rosemary or 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves

Method Mix in zip-loc potatoes, ol/oil, s/p, garlic, rosemary. Add onion wedges for extra flavor. Oven bake golden brown and tender in n/s baker (or use foiled b/sheet) 350 deg 30-35 min.

[Pollard]

Started out in the low 20s this morning but windy. Supposed to go to 58 today but the rise in temp is blowing in with the 40 mph gusts today.

I can swap out my old dim 4’ fluorescent fixture with a 4’ LED shoplight in the shed. That’s out of the wind. Popped the diffuser off one of the LED lights yesterday and it really puts out light now. It will be the brightest light I’ve ever had over the seedlings. Color should be ok as I always go for 4500k or so.

Extreme wind gave me a chance to play around with the new notekeeping app I found last night. Pretty advanced but doesn’t have to be used that way. Unlimited hierarchies or tree structure which is a must. As soon as you add a child to a note, the parent note changes to a folder icon but is still a note that can have text, pics etc.

Has a journal built in which is handy.

Has a formatting toolbar so no need to type markdown or similar. Toolbar includes adding a table.

Has advanced content like Mermaid diagrams(flow charts, bar charts, mind map etc) and Canvas for freehand drawing with a tablet. Add a bunch of pics to a page and it automatically gives you a grid view gallery.

New app is called Trilium Notes — https://triliumnotes.org/en/

In my case, I can sync a desktop version to a self hosted version and the interfaces are nearly identical. Only have desktop version right now.

I was using a different notes app and syncing with my NextCloud but NextCloud doesn’t display the hierarchy in a tree mode in the sidebar. It shows as folders but not even in the same order as the PC version. Images and other attachments become disconnected from the pages too.

NextCloud is good for what I mainly use it for which is storing/sharing files. It works like a backup too because my cloud files are in a folder called NextCloud on my PC. Add a file there and it will get uploaded automatically within a few seconds. I have the Agriculture folder in there which gets shared and other folders which don’t.

I still have Logsec journal based note app on my phone and it syncs to desktop with the help of SyncThing. I thought I would use it as a daily journal at work but since we’re a .mil contractor, there’s not a whole lot I can put on a phone, OPSEC and all. We’re making SpaceX rocket parts now which is cool.

It’s good for jotting down thoughts and ideas on the fly. I need to use it more for that for personal use. I wrote down a part # on a little piece of cardboard while down at the shed and haven’t lost it, YET. I had the phone with me too.

Speaking of shed, I’m going to go hang that LED light, wire it to the controller relay that already has a grow light timer schedule and activate the timer schedule.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Liz, thanks! I love rosemary potatoes! I will add the onion wedges next time. (Won't wait for the beef roast or it would proably be October or November.

Sliding back to the garden and growing potatoes!

Video on constructing Amish Potato towers (Getting perhaps 80 lbs on 4 square feet.)

The Amish Potato Method That Grows 100 Pounds in 4 Square Feet

Great explanation of determinate versus indeterminate potato types. (Need a Indeterminate variety to make this work!)

(Has a Straw only pile method in about 4 square feet that yielded about 50 lbs of potatoes.)

[Liz]

Glad you liked the potato recipe; onions are a good
addition. Would be a nice side w/ egg dishes, too.

[Liz]

The Amish potato growing method you posted is interesting.......and doable.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Follow up. Planting carrots in 5 gallon buckets. (Carrots are cheap, BUT, This would be great for speciality varieties you can't buy in the store.)

How to Grow Carrots in Containers from SEED to HARVEST Hollis and Nancy's homestead.

** I would suggest the old trick to get carrots to germinate quickly, water them, cover them for 3 days, come back and check for germination. (Farmers using row planting water the row then throw a board over the row and do a 3 day check back.)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, that is so sad! What a shame!

My BFFs father was Chief of Police in Manitowoc, WI for...ever. He died a few DAYS into retirement, mowing the lawn. Massive heart attack. Also, unexpected. :(

That was one helluva Wake, though! Cops as far as you could see. Never felt safer than in that crowd. ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thank you! Stay tuned for next month’s thread! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

YES! I make those on a regular basis. So yummy - especially if you have New Potatoes you’ve just dug up from your own garden. :)

[Liz]

Yup......garden potatoes take the dish over the top.

[Texas resident]

MomwithHope.

I have been container gardening for 35 years. Learned from a neighbor who grew up in central Florida where the native soil was bad. This year I have going:
Cantaloupe, green onions, jalapenos, serranos, anchos, big beef tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, blackberries, strawberries, carrots and radishes. All along a fence in 5 gallon buckets or low slung rectangular containers. All takes up a space of about 2 feet by 20 feet. I punch holes in the bottom of the buckets and fill with about 3 inches of rocks, then backfill with good soil and fertilizer. Finger monitor the moisture.

I have had great success over the years doing it this way.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Liz; Morel mushrooms would go great with rosemary potatoes, and, of course, a Venison roast. (Beef would do too!)

Of course this is the time to plan and dream! Here is a video on Growing morels!

Growing your own Morel Mushrooms is EASY "No Commentary"

Of course, to do this you need a source of Morels and have some who have room! (I have not, so consider this purely an entertainment post from me!)

Some things to be aware of: Morels like to grow under dying elms. Their roots produce more carbohydrates than the crown of the tree can use and the morels feed on these. Morels are often found in places where there was recently a fire, especially in places like old apple orchards, where they use carbohydrates from tree roots and from wind fall apples. There is a pair of German bothers who are growing morels commercially and one of the things they do is to incorporate Charred wood into their grow bed. And of course, read information from other sources.

Good Luck, and Good Growing!