Happy Sunday!
Posted on 07/01/2026 5:19:22 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.
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.
Glad you were able to get your chores dome in time. My company all just left. We had a nice afternoon.
Change of plans on the puppy - I’m not getting him for a few more weeks, I guess. The pup is up in Ladysmith, so when Beau makes a return trip from Bear Training Camp he’ll pick him up and bring him home to me.
So Dolly and I get the porch all to ourselves for a while. I might even move my big planters into place, as well as start some more lettuces and spinach on the shaded porch.
Yikes! The t-storms are getting close now! That said, NWS anticipated this line and it should be done and through well B4 the fireworks. The bad news is the stuff behind it...
Round 2 is a “soaker”. Wifey says some area towns are still saying on Facebook, etc., that they merely plan to delay the fireworks shows until 10 pm, but this alternative is looking less likely by the minute, unless this system dries up quickly. :-(
Geez, we have moderate rain coming down and people around the neighborhood are still shooting off fireworks, including some fairly big stuff.
We are having moderate rain, with thunder and lightning, too. We tried going out to a spot that we know of to view the town fireworks, but it’s foggy, and you can hardly see in front of you. Came home and will try to watch something on TV. Saw a few fireworks that people are doing from their own homes. Several were very impressive. Between the fog, the storms, wet roads, and inebriated folks, we decided to turn around and find something on TV. I think the DC show will start around 11.
Well, I’ll be darned. The rain diminished to light rain in time to head in for the show (1/2 hour away), then very light rain for the show itself (45 minutes delayed), and a crowd about 1/2 the usual size (including us) got to watch it, getting a few drops on us, but not really getting wet. Some people watched from their cars. The biggest problem was avoiding and / or not slipping on muddy spots where rainwater had pooled and then run over sidewalks. There’s construction eating up quite a bit of the usual parking area, and wet areas and said construction ate up a lot of the usual viewing area, so by the just-in-time we got there, it was over a 10 minute brisk walk to a good spot to sit down and watch. Ditto to walk out. (Maybe brisker - wifey needed to pee, and we were well away from the porta-potties by the time she decide she needed to relieve herself.) It worked out ok, with a bonus that we didn’t have to spend 15 or 20 minutes getting out of the parking area and choked streets: We pretty much just drove out and then detoured slightly to a 24 hour gas station that we knew usually keeps its restrooms pretty decent. :-)
“Close call” by NWS and the people who decide “show or no show”, with rains still “around” the area, but it stopped raining fastest in about a county size area encompassing the venue. I’ll bet somebody in charge was saying a prayer or two.
We got over an inch of rain here, so, I won’t have to water today! When the 1st line of storms came through around 6-7 pm, the heavier rain hung on longest here, while we were at our friend’s small 4th of July party. It was also only about 1/2 attended, as people understandably didn’t want get caught away from home / go out in heavy t-storms. So, the food variety was more limited than usual, but there was plenty to eat, as the hosts had made enough to feed everyone not even counting food people brought. We brought home a nice “doggie bag” plus another for one of wifey’s friends who is having health issues and can’t get out much. Sort of :-( and :-) at the same time.
Happy Sunday!
Well, DOH!
I was scratching my head, wondering what “goof proof”, reliable and easy to use male and female connectors I have on hand that I could use to hook up a 3-wire* 15 amp circuit in the cabin of our Tahoe, and then remembered that I have a whole bunch of nice XLR plugs and jacks I’ll never use all of...
*Control or monitor, main power, and ground/neutral. A bit “Pollard-ish”, one might say. At a little less current / power I could go 4-wire XLR, but I don’t have many of those, if any.
Also, as some here may have noticed, I like to do product shout outs:
This is very nice, with my only real complaint being the non-labelling of the USB outputs. They run, starting from the “obvious” USB-C female plug-in: USB-C PD quick charge port, USB-A PD quick charge ports, then 2x std. USB-A ports. Both PD ports charge my quite finicky (about charging) cell phone well.
Note that the input power cord is only 16 ga. / 13 amps, so, you don’t want to connect a space heater or other device that draws, say, 15 amps to this power strip. (It’s never a good idea to hook a space heater up to a power strip with less than 14 ga. cable and heavy duty (commercial rated) AC power connectors / plugs / outlets.)
This will be good at home and to take camping to campsites or cabins with electric service. I “might” splice in a little flat 3-wire power cable for running under doors and adding a couple feet of length. :-)
A disadvantage is that it’s a bit bulky / heavy, but I don’t foresee ever “packing it in” to a remote cabin or anything like that.
A 6-outlet version is also available.
“Funny” how things work out sometimes.
Tomorrow, a couple from our old church will be visiting for lunch. We are having BBQ plus I am making slaw, a macaroni salad, 3-bean salad, & serving previously made cinnamon apples I froze & will thaw plus cheesecake (Aldi’s sampler) for dessert.
Today after church, I was talking to a cousin (extended family) & asking about her sister’s husband who I had heard may have had a stroke last weekend. It turned out to be a TIA (still serious) & he’s back home although he’s on a heart monitor for 14 days. He’s had 2 previous serious falls, one where he hit his head & virtually scalped himself & had to have surgery & skin grafts. My cousin is still working full time (she has her own business) & trying to take care of her ailing husband. The sister I talked to in church is worried about this sister - she’s burning the candle at both ends & is very tired.
So it occurred to me - we will have plenty of leftover salads & I didn’t know how mom & I were going to eat all the extra food so the idea is to pack it up & while still fresh, take it over to my cousin Monday evening. It will be a lunch/dinner or two for her & her husband. We have an extra pound of BBQ & all I need to do is get a fresh package of buns. Perfect solution for the extra food & I have wanted to do something for my cousin for a while now & this seems to be something helpful I can do.
OLD FASHIONED LEMON ICE BOX PIE / in a jif
ING small can sweetened cond/milk 1/2 c l/juice, small tub Cool Whip
METHOD: Mix ing smooth. Pour into vanilla wafer pie crust. Fridge til set about an hour.
SERVE garnished w/ whipped cream, lemon slices, mint sprig.
Orange Glazed Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls
Easy & delicious breakfast or brunch; tangy orange flavor wrapped in buttery, flaky pastry.
Ing Crescents: 8 oz Cream Cheese 1/3 c Sugar 1 tsp Vanilla 1 tsp Grated Orange Zest 2 cans 8 count Crescent Rolls. Glaze 1 tbsp Butter melted 1/2 c conf 1 tsp Vanilla 1 tsp Orange Zest 2-3 tsp OJ
Method: hand mixer smooth cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, orange zest. Unroll crescent dough and separate into triangles. Spoon spread cream cheese mixture over 16 triangles. Rollup starting at widest point; bake 375 deg 10 min til golden. While rolls bake, whisk glaze ing smooth, adding oj drizzle as needed. Remove crescents to server; immediately drizzle with glaze. Serve warm.
A perfect solution from your generous HEART! :)
Those orange crescents sound fabulous! When my Allen was a kid, he was a VERY early riser. We used to call him ‘Crack of Dawn Boy.’
He was the only one of the three that would get up early enough to hit the Farmer’s Market with me on a summer Saturday mornings. (This was when we lived ‘in town’ before we bought our farm.)
Anyhow, we discovered ‘Flour Box Bakery’ and their Chocolate Orange Scones. We bought just enough for us...no scones for the LAZY BONES that didn’t get out of bed to go to market with us. ;)
OMG.......Chocolate Orange Scones.......such deliciousness.
Lovely coneflower!
How nice of you to save it’s beautiful little life.
😃
“Chocolate Orange Scones”
I’m imagining a tsp. or so of Grand Marnier. Would that be wrong?
I got a LOT done today, as it wasn’t RAINING ON ME as it has been every DAY for the long holiday weekend. Grrrr!
Weeded the gravel paths around the greenhouse.
RECLAIMED the kitchen porch AS MINE! (For as long as it lasts, LOL!) Added some potted herbs and Geraniums, brought back the rocking chairs and a small table. PILLOWS on the rockers - I haven’t had PILLOWS on the rockers for TWO YEARS due to PUPPIES!
Filled 10 one-gallon jugs with water from the rain barrel - it filled from empty to the TOP in the downpour we unexpectedly had last night - in about 15 minutes! (35 gallons!) Don’t tell me that having a rain barrel isn’t worth it. Yummy Nitrogen and other good stuff during the summer drought that ALWAYS comes.
Planted Cucumbers. I had 4” pots started with three cukes each. We’ll see if the coons dig them up tonight, but they are easily re-planted and Plott Hound ‘Shawnee’ spent the day harassing them in their den in the West treeline. That’ll teach ‘em! (Probably not)
I moved my two big planters to either side of the front porch steps. Not an easy job, but I was DETERMINED! I did not have a lot to choose from as the Walmart garden center is closing up soon, but I scored two nice Geraniums (Thriller) and some lime green Sweet Potato Vine (Spiller) and two 6-packs of Yellow Wave Petunias (Filler) so in a few weeks the planters will look lush and lovely. Just in time for the new puppy to dig it all up. ;) (ETA for new puppy is July 17th) I really DO try to teach them manners but, you know, THEY’RE DOGS!
Cut a lovely bunch of Lavender to dry off of the ONE pot I have this year. I REFUSED to pay $6 for a 4” pot of the stuff earlier this season; I had one bed that could’ve held 12 plants, but ALL THIS RAIN would’ve killed them anyway and wasted my money. I will order the dried that I need for soaps and other gifts this Christmas from Mountain Rose Herbs.
https://mountainroseherbs.com/
Beau spent his day mowing/grooming the trails through our woods and pasture that our ‘Horsey Neighbor’ uses when she has customers ‘test driving’ her pleasure horses and which we use when we get the urge to take the 6x out for a spin around The Manse.
Then he had two other jobs to take care of today before it gets dark and tomorrow he is helping Farmer Nick sort cattle.
He and the dogs are EVENTUALLY leaving for Bear Training Camp. His goal was July 6th. I have never seen a RETIRED PERSON cram so much into his days - other than my own Mother! I will NEVER be that way. I like a slower pace to my days; I have EARNED them after my ridiculously frenetic life up until retirement. I will never understand it.
If Grand Marnier is wrong...I don’t wanna be right! ;)
LOL!
Bless you! They will appreciate it. I can relate to the no energy taking care of things. It’s been over a year and it was only since late May I started to feel stronger.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.