Posted on 05/01/2026 6:24:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The MONTHLY Victory Garden 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.
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Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. Great lesson for your Granddaughter. :)
I love Toads. Another Useful Critter, IMHO. Not QUITE up there with a chicken, but close. ;)
The wood “borer” bees never bother me. So far, it’s always been yellow jackets first, and wasps, second. It’s always in a surprise situation. Last summer, I was at my daughter’s (outdoor) baby shower just sitting at a table with 5 other people. I have no idea why that YJ decided that it should go for ME over any of the other 5 people at the table, or any of the other 25 people in the garden courtyard when the festivities were held. So sometimes I am just very unlucky. I recovered in a few days.
We had a bit of a rainstorm today, so I noticed that 2 of the baits were tipped over. Going to refill them tomorrow, and add a few more stations.
*** This has been one weird spring - and even though we’re 7” AHEAD on rain for the month, and the well is full and the water table is better than it’s been in a few years, we REALLY need more rain!***
It rained in the morning yesterday and made things quite wet. I didn’t get much done outside yesterday, but did notice the bluebirds were at the mealworm feeder VERY frequently.
I put 2 and 2 together and determined that they were feeding babies. So I went to look to see if I could find a nest, because I know they weren’t in any of my nesting boxes/houses this year. I followed mama and papa to discover that at least one had fledged from wherever. The fledging was about 25-30 feet high in a tree. I suspect there were others that I couldn’t see, because mama and papa took several minutes between feedings. I snapped a few photos but they’re not very clear. It was still drizzly when this was going on.
Later in the afternoon, I went with friends to the native plant sale put on by one of the master gardeners in our area. I found some unusual perennials that I’m going to give a shot. I was hoping to get started planting them today, but it’s raining right now, and will be until the afternoon. We may even get hail. Yuck. I don’t need that at this stage. I’ll get done as much as I can, and hopefully tomorrow I can get more things in the ground. It’s looking like it’ll be another inside chores day for at least a few hours.
We had a HUGE storm come through last nigh - mostly unexpected. It woke me up twice, but I just thought it was wind and rain, thunder and lightening - the usual.
Woke up at 7am to an alert on my phone to take shelter as there was a tornado in my area - 12:30am. I was sound asleep!
There are a ton of branches down - all kinds of trees, which is unusual. The dog house I needed to add to the porch today blew closer to the porch, so that was nice, LOL! Looks like the greenhouse escaped any damage - for a change. Walking ‘Midnight’ in a bit, so we’ll see what damage there is along the driveway. We never lost power. It came through fast and furious!
Adorable deer? Only when they’re bounding through the woods away from me. Otherwise, they’re rats with hooves. Dumb enough to leap out in front of moving cars, yet smart enough to flee when a hunter snaps a twig underfoot.
Gotta say it; y’all with gardens are lucky. I read an article from Jack Lawson that indicates we could possibly run out of gasoline and diesel by July 4, thanks to the Hormuz shutdown. And even if we don’t, we’ll have shortages anyway due to 20 percent of the world’s oil supply being effectively offline. So your gardens and hunting rifles will beat the grocery stores, which will end up looking like Soviet State Store No. 69, with a few cuts of stringy meat on otherwise empty shelves . . .
No5 gon a hav3 much 9f a ga4den this year, and dont know if i have what it takes to keep a large ga4den going l8ke it deserves to be. :( folks getting along in age, so th3y are cutting back to zuchinis, summer squash, cucumber in a small area righ5 in f4ont of door, and hanging t9mato3s. All pretty much plan5 and fo4get stuff. I migh5 throw in a few rows of beans- those are always good inthe winter months.
My mom us3d 5o mak3 an aw3some sweet Vidalia onion topping sauce that was 3xcellent on ribs, hotdogs especially (way better 5han Flo’s hotdog sauce which Flo, now her daughters, are famous for. Can get some online, and it does make a delicious hotdog paired with celery salt and mayonaise on a buttered, steamed bun, but me mom’s sause is even more delicious), chicken, pork, even eggs. Im gonna have her t3ll me how to make it this year, that’ll be my big proj3ct fo4 the fall. Will make enough, Lord willing, and Lord tarrying, to go for 2 years hopefully.
So nicw to see th3 sun shinin, trees greening, birds beginn8ng to nest etc. Was a long winter, though not too harsh thankfully
I noticed something black on one of my Rose of Sharon bushes yesterday. The poor little guys are doing their best to leaf out for the 2nd time after the first leaves were killed during that 27° night.
The black thing was the ugliest caterpillar I have ever seen. Solid black, not fuzzy at all. You could see the ‘skin’ & it had what appeared to be spike formations on the body. It looked downright evil & like you would get majorly hurt (stung) if you touched it. I did not notice where it had been chomping on my little bush so I think I got it early. I used a stick to get it off the bush, then smushed it.
I tried looking up solid black caterpillars, but didn’t see anything like what I got rid of. I still almost get chills just thinking about it - creepy & evil looking.
Loved your post and pictures.
Bob I am way scaled back this year too. But my needs are less and gardening is just in my blood. Hang in there and keep in touch! MWH
I’m glad you’re ok, and hope you don’t find anything significant that needs immediate attentIon.
I take tornado warnings pretty seriously. I’ve lived through 2 that were pretty bad. Both times my house sustained little damage, but others nearby had significant issues. They can be so destructive.
I’m assuming this is the correct Jack Lawson article you’re referring to. If he’s right, we’re in for a world of hurt. https://jacklawsonbooks.substack.com/p/the-pain-is-locked-in
I use an app called “Seek” to try to identify all sorts of things, trees, plants, bugs, etc. It won’t help you this time, but in the future, it might. I would try to get that ID first, then smush it.
Whoa...if he is correct we are in trouble. Gardens will be a necessity.
The US can reimpose export limits. We had them from 1975-2015. That’s not “all positive”, of course, but I’ll stop with that, as this after all is the Garden Thread. ;-)
I have a small culinary/medicinal herb garden. Herbs totally fascinate me (& deer don’t eat them for the most part). Dr. Ealy says God put everything we need on this earth to take care of our bodies & I generally subscribe to that thought. I ran across this interview with Dr. Patrick Jones (he’s a vet, not MD) discussing herbs for Spring allergies (which I am fighting right now & I have a histamine intolerance/chronic hives) so I was very interested. You might be as well:
https://homesteadliving.com/the-coop-ep-03-combat-spring-allergies-with-dr-patrick-jones/
Dr. Jones grows his own medicinal herbs & sells them here:
https://homegrownherbalist.net/
After looking at nettle leaf on Amazon, I would trust Dr. Jones’ products above the Amazon offerings, but do your own research.
Stinging nettle is very invasive so I’d rather not have it in my garden. When hiking in the mountains, we would come across huge patches of it in low areas & along creeks (woe unto you if you were wearing shorts!) & knowing what I now know, that would have been a good opportunity to harvest some of it. Some backpackers would pick & boil - good source of vitamin C.
Also, did this guy figure in oil from .Venezuela? Seems that might play a part in this, too. But yeah, the garden thread, where we go to escape politics.
Yep, that’s the one. Hopefully, it doesn’t get that bad, but it does make me glad I routinely fill my gas tank when it gets to half (rather than near empty like most of humanity).
Yeah, me too. Why wait? Anytime I’m near the Costco gas station, I refill. I don’t have to wait for grocery store points to (not) add up each month. I used to do that, and then when Costco opened up closer to us (15-20 minute drive vs 1 hour drive - one way), we joined. We go that route several times a week it seems, so it’s never really out of the way. Seems to me like that membership pays for itself every year.
I’ve started not worrying about the large amounts of produce. I’ve starting giving some to my neighbors that’s extra, and now they have been returning the favor with other items that they find on special. Bartering system. This is how it will be when the SHTF, and we’re already doing it. Practicing for those days when it gets harder to feed yourselves.
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