Posted on 08/01/2026 5:02:22 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.
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I ask because I just had the messiest, most juicy, most delicious, FIRST BLT of the Summer for lunch!

Ern, Big problems with all the rain in your area? Looked really bad! (Pollard had a lot of problems with road washout in MO!)
Cantalope...Good deal! What variety?
Small differences....Northern Michigan has More Rocks and snow, the T.V. reception With ladies curling competition from Thunder Bay is better and you also have to be more careful to check outside for Moose and Bear before you leave the bar.
N Michigan should secede from Southern Michigan and Wayne County and merge with Wisconsin. They should expel Madison and Dane County and build a wall and lock it down on permanant quarentine. Just how it seems from someone who does not live in Wisconsin.
Thanks for taste-testing for us! :)
LOL! I love it! :)
wow.......you’re an exceptional cook.....it looks scrumptious.
Lol!
Please excuse my ignorance: What is Opo? AT 1/2 inch cubes, I hoped it wasn’t “opossum”. Tried looking it up, and got Organ Procurement Organizations. Inquiring minds want to know....
Opo squash. (Filipinos / Filipinas sometimes spell it “Upo”.) It is a lot like a snake gourd, but the type I’ve been growing, anyway, grows larger and bulkier - I’ve seen fruits over 3 ft. long and 6” diameter. (I’ve never had one grow quite that fat — only 5” diameter or so.)
They are very mild tasting but take up seasoning flavors extremely well, so, they are extremely versatile, working as a filler veggie in almost any dish benefitting from such. I sometimes use them in salads too. The fruits are best when about 1/2 grown, but, it’s sometimes a bit tricky knowing just how big a fruit is going to get. Generally, younger fruits’ skin is more easily punctured with a fingernail. If the skin becomes tough and the flesh becomes fibrous, it’s no longer palatable.
Here’s a link to a Brave Browser search result that gives more info., or of course you can just type “Opo squash” into the search engine of your choice. There are quite a few good images online.
https://search.brave.com/sear have less “haitrch?q=opo+squash&summary=1&conversation=0966da370c65af82d049b56ff372d607931e
I’ll try again:
I hope you get/got the rain you were expecting.
It wasn’t deer, here. They were in my garden, protected by a Dollar Tree wire wastepaper basket turned upside down over it.
And in NY we were in the village and never had deer there.
I suspect either slugs or mice.
Some damage here and there. I’ve been in the earth Ling enough to look at it and say “that’s not too bad” since I think only a heard about 1 death.
Personally, we only had a few hours where we couldn’t cross the creek.
I did get more than a wheelbarrows worth of rain in one night....that’s my rain gauge.
Fortunately, I’ve not had a slugs/mouse issue. There are 3 deer visiting the yard virtually every evening. I’m just waiting for them to eat the leaves off the rose bushes. There are 2 rabbits & it looks like the leaves on one of my Rose of Sharon bushes has been nibbled on. :-(
Nice soil report. That takes a lot of work.
That is a food magazine shot!
We are 30 minutes away from the lake due east of Grand Haven. A smaller beach in Ferrysburg is our go to. They have a webcam. I check for low or no waves before driving out for a swim -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DKPJMm3ug4
I also check temp. Water has to be 70 or above -
https://seagull.glos.org/map?coords=-86.6052050%2C43.9078984%2C5.8&lake=Michigan&status=activated&tags=platforms%3Atower-buoy%2Cweather%3Asurface_water_temperature%2Cwater%3A%2Cfavorite%3A&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz7C2BhDkARIsAA_SZKYomr8JSBRZ2ZpWqp5dkvNthRMlHWBbtxlC8Ed1i8jptBSU8gHCbx4aAmQZEALw_wcB
great site, just zoom in and a mouse cick shows the temp.
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