Poster for those at home during World War I
Miniature replica of Lady Liberty in the gardens
of the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris
WWII. Yes, dear Uncle! You're still in the right place!
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.
One of the things that worms digest as they pass through the soil is insect chitin, the component of insect exoskeletons. To do this they produce an enzyme that passes through their digestive system and remains in their castings. Plants Take up this enzyme which things like aphids and whiteflies and other sucking insects take up from the plant. That enzyme then weakens their shells and makes them more susceptible to disease and predation!
There is actually a supplement developed from this enzyme called Lumbrokinase that targets unwanted proteins in your body! (Blood clots and things like that.)
https://www.gardenary.com/blog/earthworm-castings
"Worm castings contain an enzyme called chitinase that dissolves the chitin of pests like whiteflies, aphids, and spider mites. You can mulch with worm castings to protect your plants from these pests without using a single pesticide."
Yes. Your heat dome has kept us cool for the past week or so.
Report this morning says it’s breaking up and will release hot air our direction out West. Well, it was nice while it lasted...
Wow— that veggie flag is awesome! Happy 4th, everybody!
Pete —
WoW - thanks for all of that information.
I happened to be looking at a law site - the Pacific Legal Foundation - and there was a lawsuit against the owner of “Worm Gold” worm castings, a small family-owned business - printed on the front of the bags of the castings was something about Worm Gold being an great “insecticide” and the real insecticide (poison!!) makers didn’t like it one bit and sued.
Not sure how it turned out but I’m still able to buy it at Armstrong’s.
Psalm 126:6
"He go goes to and fro weeping
Sowing his bag of seed
Shall surely return again with shouts of Joy!
Carrying with him his Sheaves!"
Haha - your weather reporter puts things in a strange way. Lucky for you (perhaps), you are not getting OUR humidity laden air.
Rather, it’s more like the dome’s dissipation coincides with a different jet stream jog, which will drag hot air from your south to you. Hopefully it will not be as stagnant, but OTOH, hopefully it won’t be so hot, strong and dry as to highly elevate fire risk.
One thing about our heat this go ‘round is that our plants didn’t completely dry up while wifey and I were away the 1st part of this week. It was too humid!
Here’s an interesting jet stream link / model:
https://www.weatherstreet.com/models/gfs-jetstream-wind-forecast.php
We used to have a lot of “Alabama Jumpers” out in my worm bed — which was really just where we dumped a lot of our “trees’ litter” and I kept it moist. Those Jumpers make fantastic bait: They hold up even to a bit of warmth much better than Canadian nightcrawlers, and per their name, are highly active, which draws fish very well.
They also digest a huge amount of leaves and decaying wood, too much for some forest floors, it is sometimes reported.
IIRC we have a couple FReeper gardeners who don’t like them — probably because they digest “garden soil”, mulch, etc., back down to “ordinary” texture soil?? (It’s quite rich, though, with many good nutrients.)
Oddly, we have very few Alabama Jumpers these days. I’m not sure why. Maybe, as often happens with invasive species, some disease / pathogen has caught up to them?
We are back from Louisville, KY — wifey had a “almost all expenses paid” trip to a conference / seminar for parochial school teachers, and I was chauffer except for a stretch of easy rural driving on the way back. This was the 1st time I’ve actually done anything but drive through or bypass Louisville. It is an interesting town, but when it comes to traffic, it is far too big for wifey to be anything but scared of the traffic.
Louisville does have a very extensive and interesting city parks system, which I’ll post about a little, later. I explored part of it, but only really made a dent. :-)
So, of course now I’m in catch-up mode, but being careful with my stints outside. Lots of my Gatorade + Pink Lemonade mix is keeping me hydrated. :-)
We had a chance of a t-storm today, but the closest is way over near Evansville, IN, in a spot that doesn’t need rain, and THAT storm is just locked in, not moving. I doubt they appreciate it, except for the cooldown.
“Seriously incongruous red lipstick!”
It’s beet juice! ;)
I love those old posters. :)
All of the rain I was banking on went north of us, so so much for that! I ended up watering most everything (perennials were still OK) and I also go the mowing done, so I’m happy with today’s progress.
Foster Son is here right now fixing some holes in the ceiling that he had to put there to re-wire new lighting for the kitchen/pantry/laundry a few weeks ago. When he’s done I’ll clean up the mess.
Brats and burgers on the barby tonight. Holiday Weekend Fare.
Green Garden Patch Dip / An amazing presentation
Ing: 2 batches Green Goddess Hummus Mini bell peppers Radishes Mini carrots Asparagus tips Purple cauliflowerets Green Goddess Hummus 2 c packed baby spinach 1/2 c ea basil, parsley, dill, cilantro, green onions 1 gar/cl 2 juiced lemons 1/2 c ol/oil 1/3 c tahini 1 tsp salt.
Method: Hummus--processor spinach, basil, parsley, dill, cilantro, green onions, garlic, l/juice, olive oil smooth. Add tahini, salt; mix creamy smooth. Add splash of water to thin if needed. Taste, add salt or lemon juice to balance flavor.
Final Scoop hummus into 8x8" baker. Press in veggies to create “garden patch”.
It’ll be pork steaks for us. :-)
I used a package of Aldi brats and diced them, instead of using ground beef, in spaghetti sauce, last week. It came out very good, and was considerably lower cost.
Next time, we’ll have enough tomato fruits to use those, too.
I decided to give the Early Girl plants the “first tomato fruits” prize for us, this year, as they’ve done the best at producing several fruits of the size the plant is supposed to produce, plus a couple of the Early Girl plants* are growing like crazy despite being in pots probably a little too small for the size the plant is attaining.
The Patio tomato plants are a close 2nd, but had an unfair advantage: Already flowering when I bought them.
*In the past, for a few years I planted the EG’s in the ground and results were poor, even tho’ plants like the Golden Jubilees did well in basically the same ground spots, handled the same way, the next year. OTOH, the Golden Jubilees seem to do better in the ground. Go figure.
Message...."Grow your own vegetables!"
Picture.....Gibson girl dressed as Liberty and Sowing Seed Grain! :)
I do too! From my parents time!
WELL!!!
10% chance of rain, and a big cluster of t-storms developed to our SE, then broke more or less in half: The north part may well clonk us if it keeps going. “Tis very unusual for us, except when tropical systems make it this far, for large severe t’storms to be moving SE to NW...
And here I’d watered everything well, this morning...
Apparently this system went through the Clarksville, TN, Ft. Campbell area earlier - NWS has a flash flood warning posted, down there. :-(
This may fizzle with sunset - we shall see...
Yep, fizzled with sunset. All warnings are cancelled.
WE just got a few drops of rain. Ok by me — sort of — after I’d run around like crazy putting things up. :-(
If you’re using REAL Brats with REAL skins, (uncooked) just take the skins off and fry them up as you would a pound of burger.
If I’m making a recipe that calls for ‘Italian Sausage’ (usually a breakfast/brunch casserole of some sort) I use brats if they’re cheaper per pound. (It always pays to look!)
I MISS the days when Grandma and I had a real BUTCHER to take care of these things for us and give us FREE soup bones and then after making stock they were bones for the dogs. (Grandma had two Standard Poodles) I miss having a local Italian Jeweler who made all of our Christmas Dreams come true via Dad. (Mr. Lamponi) *HEART* I miss having a Milkman, and the CREAM on the top of each glass bottle of milk was SUCH a treat! I miss our Municipal Market where you could buy a live chicken for supper and butcher it yourself. I miss The Fruit Boat where we would buy our fruit (a REAL boat docked on Water Street, downtown, on the Milwaukee River).
However, your tomatoes sound very successful so far this season! :)
We got the rain earlier this evening - and a few tornado warnings- and now we’re on to Round Two of storms. I really FEEL for those out camping in this for the holiday weekend. The Army pretty much ruined ‘camping’ for me. ;)
Good thing I watered today because these additional inches of rain water had an easy way to soak in. *Rolleyes*
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