The Victory Garden Thread - March, 2026

March 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]

“That will save me a lot of lugging of water out there.”

Getting water to the dogs all winter long is a PITA. But we fill two black 55 gallon drums with water in the late fall, until we can no longer run hoses. They are on the south side of the kennel shed, so they get some sun and other than having to chip some ice out of them in the worst of the winter, it keeps us in water for them until spring.

We also soak their kibble. They don’t always want to drink water in the winter (just like people!) and that gets them the water they need each day.

This might help you in setting up a 55 gallon drum where it is both sunny and near to your chickens in the winter months.

Our chickens have a heated pan beneath for their water, but it is still NO FUN refilling their metal waterer in the winter months.

[Pollard]

I was looking around in here and thought of Permaculture with it's zones. Zone 0 is the home and when that's straight, you move on to Zones 1 thru 4. Zone 5 is wilderness that you leave as is. I don't have enough land for that. I'll be burning some Zone 4 tomorrow and burned some 1 and 2 today. Thursday when it gets up over 80, I'll be in here working on Zone 0.

[Paul R.]

If the black drums work for you...

I actually bought one to try much the same, but have had so much going on that I didn’t get it set up. I also bought a thermostatically controlled heater for it. The big thing for the chickens is getting the drum elevated a bit by the “primary” “coop” (basically an 8’ x 8’ x 5’ covered cage with an ~3:12 pitch roof). I want the elevation about 16” above “ground level”, and have a “waterer” dispenser on the side of the drum. Inside the coop is a roost the chickens can hop onto. The ground there (outside / east of the coop) gets pretty mushy in the winter if it’s NOT frozen, so, I have a little more prep work to do than just stacking some concrete blocks.

After that’s in place, I’m hoping to add water collection so filtered rain water from the coop roof gets pumped into the drum, at least when temperatures are above freezing.

[Pollard]

In FL they call them Palmetto bugs because it sounds nicer than a 3-4 inch roach that can leap/fly 3-4 feet and land on you.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

South Carolina is the freakin’ ‘Palmetto STATE.’

Fort Jackson, South Carolina....when I was first introduced to these gawd-awful creatures.

Grasshoppers freak me out enough as it is!

Anything or anyone with an exoskeleton is a freakin’ ALIEN in my book! And they outnumber humans a gazillion to one!

*SHUDDER*

I’m going to bed. And pulling the covers WAY UP over my head, LOL!

[Paul R.]

The spot for my drum is actually slightly southeast facing. Hopefully that will help on cold mornings, once the sun is up.

Our daughter unexpectedly dropped by with her boyfriend, mid-day, today. That kinda blew up “projects” (except all the garden hoses were run and flushed by then.) After they left I worked on our ol’ Chevy Tahoe a bit, started a corned beef roast, and got my “rigged up” soda bottle / LED light stink bug trap completed in rough form. I don’t know if this LED element will attract the bugs any better than the 1st light I used over an aluminum pan, so, I didn’t go for “permanence” in assembly — I may very well want to try something in the way of a LED element with bluer light or more “purplish light, or with more UV content. The element is connected to a small 12v lead-acid battery, same as what’s in some UPS power backup supplies, and all other light in the plant room is off for the night. So, we shall see if the stinkbugs go for the trap...

[Pollard]

Yikes. Placed my order on McMaster-Carr. Two fairly small, light items totaling less than $40 - shipping $29.99

I recall from my last job where I ordered a ton of stuff from them that they charge 2-3 day but send next day which is a good deal but not something I need. Ground is fine. Emailed them and asked to change to more economical ship method if there is one.

[Qiviut]

This yo-yo weather is nuts! Below freezing (26°) Monday night. Last night it got down to 33-34°. The hostas were under blankets for Monday night, but I left them uncovered last night. Tonight & Thursday nights should be 45 & 56° but then Friday night is ‘blanket weather’ again at 28° & Saturday night is below freezing, too. Daytime temps are running from 50 to 76° over the next week. The last frost date is May 11, I think. The weather here is what I would describe as “volatile” ... it can change in minutes, from sunny to a storm popping over the mountain. A lot of ‘weather’ slides north up the Alleghenies, but when we get fronts blowing through, it’s terribly windy & cold (bad T-storms in the summer).

Last time I checked, the Farm Bureau was out of straw & another potential supplier appeared to have none as well. Harrumph! I am going to have to ask around & see if anyone has straw .... all the farmers around here are doing round hay bales. I should have bought straw in the fall & stored it in the barn for this year’s straw bale garden attempt.

[Pollard]

Grabbed 10 of these at $2.51 ea, for the lengthwise truss ties.

I like these railex ones better but they're $12.70 ea. Will see how well the cheap ones grab. I can always run a few screws in each and it's not a bad idea to do anyway to prevent sliding.

$25 vs $125 and there's not going to be a lot of stress on them.

When I frame in for gable vents, I'll get the railex stuff, though different models for Tee connections. When/if I add fans to the gable vents, there will be vibration and weight so it needs to be strong/solid.

Almost done tunnel shopping for this week. Just another $20 here, $40 there, $100 there. Another $26.07 just now - and another $13.53. DONE

McMaster got back to me already. Shipping changed to ground which makes it $17.71 instead of $29.99. Every little bit helps. It will be a 3 foot long package so I wasn't expecting $8 or something but $30 was a bit much for 2-3 lbs.

The next week or so will be like Christmas - every day a new package or two. The thing I'm most anxious about is the fan belt for the tractor which should make it fully usable again. My block heater started seeping again but I also have an oil filter on the way and when I change that, I'll have room for two hands and several fingers to fix the block heater leak. Right now it's one finger from left hand and two from right hand.

Dimmer switch for the truck is part of the same order and will be nice to have. Nothing like driving hilly curvy road in the dark and hit the switch and it goes from high beams to no beams. After a couple of times, I just started leaving it on high beam.

Gotta get out there and rake and burn. Forecast changed to include gusts to 20 mph but there's no gusts so far. Hourly weather graph doesn't show gusts until tonight. Got about an acre to do. Then after that, probably another half acre. Got some things to clean up, tree to cut up or just drag out, plus it's a lot more raking for that area and maybe mowing tall dry grass around two sides of the tunnel. As long as the wind doesn't pick up, I'll get it done.

[Pollard]

YES

Local MFA feed store has Yukon Gold seed potatoes.

[Pollard]

It’s always that way here but more extreme this year. They can’t hardly forecast the weather 24 hours ahead. Yesterday, today was supposed to be S/SW wind 5-9 mph. As of this morning, with gusts to 20 mph but another forecast and even another section of NWS website made no mention of gusts.

Been raking and moving stuff to burn an acre. I could set it now and go rake two areas before it got there since I’m back burning which goes slow(and thorough) but the gusts just started so it’s a no go for now.

Maybe it will die down around sunset like it tends to do but they’re calling for gusts to 23 mph tonight. Gusts to 28 tomorrow and rain tomorrow night. Oh well. It will dry out again some day. I made sure anything I moved went to a spot where it can stay a while and not be in my way.

I’ve still got a few small spots up around the house I can burn. Those will be over in a few minutes. The acre would take up to an hour and there’s dead wood on the ground that could catch and smolder/burn for two days.

Sure wish it could go from not raining to raining here without the required 36 hours of gusty wind. Seems that’s also required any time it cools off or gets warmer. Volatile is right.

[Qiviut]

We’re under a burn ban: no burning before 4 pm & after midnight. If you start a wild fire, you’re in for some big fines/expense. We do some burning of tree debris, but we only do it when the winds are very calm or it’s dead still, which isn’t that often.

In 2024, there were major wildfires on the mountain (houses were lost, major road over the mountain had to be closed when fire jumped it) & it took a week to get things under ‘control’. There were a couple of fires in the valley, too. I happened to be watching when the big fire crested the ridge on the mountains just behind our house - scary stuff watching the flames. Sunset with the smoke was pretty spectacular - shades of orange primarily.

[FamiliarFace]

I am looking forward to seeing how things look when I get back home. We’ve been traveling this past week, first to the SF Bay Area, where my 5 year old grandson is currently tending his recently planted shishito pepper plant. I tried to talk his Mom into letting us plant 2, but she wouldn’t bite.

Since Sunday we were in Oregon, visiting our daughter, SIL, and almost 4 month old granddaughter. I got to babysit her the last couple of days while her parents worked. Fun, and I beefed up my left bicep as I carried her and rocked her quite a bit. She’s adorable! Loves her homemade blanket! Growing way too fast.

Currently we are on our layover in Salt Lake City, getting ready to board. It will be good to sleep in my own bed tonight!

[Qiviut]

Mid pleasures and Palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home!
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.
Home! Home, sweet sweet Home!
There’s no place like Home! There’s no place like Home!

[FamiliarFace]

That was great! Thank you!

[Paul R.]

So... The soda bottle / LED light stink bug trap caught TWO stinkbugs last night. Not too impressive, but, the battery had run down somewhat by the time I checked the rig, around 8 am, so brightness was ‘down” a bit. So... about 1/2 hour ago I pulled out a “1 amp car battery maintainer” that’s not presently in use and added that. That brings up the LED brightness significantly, so, we’ll see how that does tonight.

I should check how hot the LED module is running before I hit the sack, tonight. (I assume the soapy water in the bottle will warm a little, creating a little less of a heat sink effect for the LED module. A long term cheapo heat sink solution would be to silicone cement a large used “tin can” top to the back of the LED module. Or, I can cut out some aluminum from an old road sign I found buried in the east ditch, while clearing out said ditch of branches. Don’t tell the Transportation Dept.!)

I’ll check some of my “12 volt” wal warts to see if any are low current (I only need 200 mA or so) and have regulated output, or at least not output over 13 volts or so with the LED module running. (I’ve used these LED modules in cars right off the 12v buss, which can get well over 13 volts, in summer, with no problem. These LED modules are to SOME extent self limiting, it appears in testing them. But, no need to push them TOO hard.)

If this doesn’t work any better, then I likely still need something in the way of a light source with more “blue” or maybe even violet or UV output to it. However — I also last night took the 60w Great Value bulb that had graced the ceiling of the “plant room” upstairs (not actually near the window or the plants) outside, and hung it over a buckeye tree branch, at the end of an extension cord. That drew quite a few stink bugs. I sprayed a bunch of them with some soapy water, and the chickens gobbled the dead bugs up this morning. That bulb is “warm white” too, so either it’s “warm white” somehow draws stinkbugs better (recall it really drew them in the plant room) than my less warm white LED module, or, it’s “leaking” lots of UV.

Hmmm...

[Paul R.]

WOW! The latest LED module drew TEN stinkbugs into the soda bottle trap last night, plus one of those “stinky” Chinese “ladybug” beetles. There are a few more dead stinkbugs in the plants - it looks like the Sevin did its number on those bugs. I don’t see any live stinkbugs anywhere in the “plant room”*, but I’ll do a more thorough check later.

It looks like color spectrum and a little added brightness really matter a lot.

The LED module is running “right on the edge” (my “edge” per my index finger touching it as a test) temperature-wise. So, it will get a tin can lid heat sink today. Hmmmm, what “wide can” do I want to open? (What’s nearing its expiration date?)

*It’s not really a “plant room” — there are just a bunch of plants on shelves by a south facing std. size window, with bright LED shop lights over each shelf. Plus a few pots on the floor.

NWS predicts a high of 86 deg. F today. Whew! Windy again, through Friday night. Then, early Sat. morning, the low is forecast @ 34 deg. F, with winds ~ 5 mph — but usually around dawn it’s calmer than forecast. That sounds like frost to me, so, unless I want to cover them well, I guess the plants I was hoping to take out will have to stay in. :-(

[Pollard]

Christmas is coming early and UPS has a new feature. The 20x20 enclosure is out for delivery and I just got an email from UPS that says Your Driver is Arriving Soon with a link to a live map that shows my house and the UPS truck. Map auto-updates. Surprising number of stops between here and there, 6 miles away in rural country but the truck is on my road now.

“” The driver’s location is approximate and apparent proximity to your address does not necessarily mean that your package will be delivered within any particular amount of time. “”

Little misters for drip came in today. Need to hook a couple up and try them out.

[Pollard]

Coming home from work Monday and the first thing is a big hill to go up. As soon as I got to the top, the sky ahead was brownish gray from smoke. I hate it when I’m driving home and see smoke up ahead. Scared of what I might see when I get here, like where my house used to be. The more I burn, the bigger buffer I have. Really need to get a couple hundred trees taken out.

[Pollard]

I can see this backfiring on UPS. Poor drivers will be interrogated by the package recipients. It's probably just the approximate nature of the GPS but the truck hasn't appeared to move for 15 minutes and there is nothing in that spot. It's woods. Almost feel like I should go check on him to make sure he's ok. I can see people venturing out to hunt down the truck and get their package NOW.

The green area of the map is National Forest.