The Victory Garden Thread - June, 2026

June 1, 2026 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[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.

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 Victory Garden 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.

[AFB-XYZ]

Thank you for your wonderful recipes. Always look forward to them, and have bookmarked a ton of them for printing and future reference! :-)

[Liz]

Nice to know.

[metmom]

Did you ever use Pomona’s Universal pectin?

You can make large batches. I would do 12 cups of blueberries, 4 C sugar, some cinnamon, and cook it down.

It made 7 pints of jam, just enough to fit a canner. And it all set beautifully.

You can also to sugar free.

Pomona’s Universal Pectin
https://pomonapectin.com/

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

Good Morning Gardeners! Back for my last coffee after planting sun flowers and morning glories along a fence line. My wife remembers her Mother's morning glories along that same spot which came back year after year, even after she passed. Both she and her mother died in hospice care here, sad but beautiful in a way.

Yesterday I harvested the garlic scapes for the first time ever. They are quite tasty. I made a big salad with them and all kinds of lettuce from the garden. I also made Garlic scape pasta, which turned out great. Next time I'll chop the scapes smaller though.

We got just a trace of rain last evening. I'll check the rain barrels later, I'm going to finally try eating some of the chick weed I'm growing, and thin the radishes a bunch more.

Happy June everyone!

[Paul R.]

I suppose it helps on milk that you are in Wisconsin!

The eggs I don’t understand - we have tons of chicken farms around here.

The part I REALLY don’t understand is how your “Kwik Trip” manages to beat Wal Mart. The operational efficiencies would seem to be almost all against them. For sure, I’ve ALMOST never seen “better than Wal Mart (or Aldi) food prices” at any convenience store I’ve ever stopped at.

(I say “almost”, because for a few months a few years ago, one of our local convenience stores at a gas station was running milk a few cents lower than Wally. The manager was working a register one night when I stopped by on the way home, and I asked him, as a fellow businessman of sorts, how they did it. He said it was a loss leader to bring people in.)

Well, anyway, I’m glad you have such a “break”. Just jealous.

[Liz]

Chocolate Poke Cake / Chocolate Whipped Cream
So moist with sweetened condensed milk, iced w/ chocolate whipped cream.

Ing Cake: 1 3/4 c flour 1 c unsweet cocoa powder, sifted 2 c sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 1/2 c veg oil 1 c whole milk 2 tsp vanilla 1 c boiling water. Filling: 14 oz can sweet/cond/milk 1/2 c semi-sweet choc/chips. Chocolate Cream: 2 c h/cream 1 c conf 1/4 c unsweet cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla. Garnishes: chocolate syrup, mini choc/chips

Method: mix well eggs, oil, milk, vanilla extract, and sugar. Add sifted cocoa powder, flour, b/soda, b/powder, salt. Slowly pour boiling water into batter; mix til well combined. Bake batter in greased 9×13" b/dish 350 deg 30 min (pick in center comes clean). On counter, poke holes w/ wooden spoon tip or straw. Pour on microed sweet/cond/milk and 1/2 semi-sweet choc/chips. Let cake sit at room temp 30 min. Cover/refrigerate 2 hours. Chocolate Cream: Elec/mixer h/cream, vanilla, conf, cocoa powder to soft peaks. Don't overmix. Frost cake; garnish with mini choc/chips and chocolate sauce.

Chef Notes: Pour in condensed milk mixture while cake is warm. Cool cake completely before frosting. Garnishing w/ choc/syrup, mini choc/chips makes a huge taste difference, and looks nice.

[Paul R.]

Oh, I forgot to mention, to my amazement, BP (before the 15 cents off plus 1% rebate that I get with my “BP credit card), was not only “down” to $3.79.9 / gal for unleaded 87 octane gasoline yesterday (just 1 cent above the generic brands), a smaller sign to the side said $3.76.9, and, by golly, when I pulled up to the pumps, they were $3.76.9 too! I filled up our Outback - still costing $53 (ouch!) when I had a quarter tank left, but, had to chuckle that the other nearby stations were probably “competing” with the higher price on the big tall sign.

[Paul R.]

Dang, today is a “Free Fishing Day” in Arkansas, MO, and KY, and (I already have 12 month licenses for IL and KY) I was hoping to make a trip to the Clearwater Lake tailwater (~2-1/2 hours away), because it has WALLEYE! But, wifey just informed me yesterday that she needs the car today...

RATS! Between the two of us, I think we could have stuffed a few walleye filets in the freezer...

[Paul R.]

Clearwater Lake in MO, to be specific. Gorgeous lake and water, for this area...

[Albion Wilde]

My neighbor surprised me last night with 22 pints of fresh blueberries and a gallon bag of raspberries.... She hinted around at Blueberry Jam, so that's easy enough. Our other neighbor got all the strawberries, as he's the Strawberry Jam Man around here.

Great story! Mmmmm! Bet it will smell sweet around your kitchen jam factory!

[Liz]

FRENCH DIP SANDWICH / QUICK ONION GRAVY

ING 6 crusty French bread rolls 1 lb thin-sliced deli roast beef 1/2 thin-sliced onion 1 jalapeno in thin strips 4 lge sliced mushrooms 4 tbl butter 10 oz can French onion soup 1 env McCormick Au Jus gravy mix sliced Swiss cheese

Method: Saute heated butter jalapeno, onion, mushrooms. Place beef atop vegs; heat hot.
Assembly: On sliced buns add cheese then meat/veg. Serve Onion Gravy in dipping bowls on side.

Onion Gravy Prepare Au Jus gravy mix as per pkg then add undiluted French Onion soup. Keep hot.

[Albion Wilde]

Good Friends Help You Grow:

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Diana! The weekend! Enjoy your Berry Good Day! May S.O. have a safe and enjoyable trip to our North Coast neighbor!

You reminded me that I need to take a trip to the Local U-Pick and get 5 or 6 pounds of blueberries. I have Aronia berries, good-4-You-2 but they are NOT the same!

June is a Good Dairy month because everyone (everyone bovine) has been out and eating from Green Pasture and the milk tastes better than Winter Milk that you get with Stored Hay!!

[FamiliarFace]

Gas for me at Costco yesterday was $3.19/ gallon! Hurray!

[FamiliarFace]

That’s a lot better poster than the one the Wisconsin Democrats posted the other day, which featured steer. 🤣

[FamiliarFace]

I had the best surprise phone call yesterday morning from my 5 year old grandson. I don’t know if anyone here remembers, but in March we flew out to California for his 5th birthday, and my gift to him was to plant a Bonnie shishito pepper plant with him. We bought the soil together and I did most of the work, but he definitely helped.

So the phone call yesterday was a very proud 5 year old wanting to show me that he has 4 baby shishitos growing! Should be ready to pick in a few days! Lots of other blossoms on it, too. He’s so excited and I’m so excited for him!

We will get to see each other for almost a week starting the 13th. Hubby is retiring and to celebrate we are renting a house a block away from the beach, bay side, on Anna Maria Island. So for the first time in quite a while, we will have all of our kids and grandkids together. Not everyone can stay the whole week, but it will be nice to have even a few whole days together!

My siblings and their kids and grandkids will be stopping in for a BBQ celebration one day. So I’ve been not just been prepping for the garden, I’ve been prepping for this trip. Today is a travel day, as we head back to Columbus one more time before the big trip. We will visit with old friends in the afternoon, then see our youngest and his girlfriend for dinner, then head back home.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ve heard of that pectin before. The two recipes I’ll be using for Raspberry and Blueberry Jam don’t require any pectin, but a longer cook-down time, which is fine with me. Then they’ll be water-bath canned.

I’ll also do a Raspberry Pie with a French Crumble top to put in the freezer for baking at a later date. Yummy!

Neighbor wants everything shelf-stable; she doesn’t have a lot of freezer space.

https://practicalselfreliance.com/blueberry-jam-no-pectin/#wprm-recipe-container-13106

[Diana in Wisconsin]

In Wisconsin Kwik Trip is pretty much as big as Walmart and they do everything in-house. They’re HUGE here in the Midwest. I love them! We all love them! :)

https://www.scrapehero.com/location-reports/Kwik%20Trip-USA/

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Two different soil insects that look similar!

Symphylans.... white color like termites and will damage you farm and garden plants. (They do move quickly!)

Symphylans

Termites. They will not damage your garden, but they might damage your raised bed wood and later, your house and outbuildings!

https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/lawn-garden/termite-treatment-in-organic-gardens/

If you practice "Hugel Culture" or use raised bed walls of wood and are somewhere in the south you will have termites! In one section of my garden I used cardboard as mulch. When I Pulled it up I found clusters of termites presumably enjoying their predigested cardboard dinners! (I will probably pull up the rest of the cardboard and may only use it under my melon plants in the future.)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That is such a helpful chart! Great find!