The Victory Garden Thread - September, 2026

September 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.

[MomwithHope]

Dad only went to the 9th grade. But he knew everything about gardening, food preserving, sausage making, cooking. and politics. He was calling out commies in the steel mill in the early 60’s and would point them out to me in the union newspaper.

[Qiviut]

I found a gate latch at the Farm Bureau. I also picked up 2 butternut squash there - Walmart had none. I hate peeling & chopping butternuts so I think I’m going to roast them whole. I need them for soup so that method should work well.

[MomwithHope]

I have had the best results with butternut by cutting in half lengthwise, clean out the seeds and put face down on a cookie sheet. Usually 325 or 350 for an hour or so depending on size.

[Qiviut]

I saw that method, but opted for whole to avoid cutting them in half. If I don’t like the results from roasting whole, I’ll try cutting in half with the next one(s). Right now, I’m just very shy of accidents (there’s a reason!) & for sure, I don’t want a knife slip. They’re tough suckers ... maybe I should take them out to the wood splitting stump & halve them with a wedge & maul? Just kidding!! :-)

[MomwithHope]

Yes they are tough and I have used a cleaver in the past. I do like not cleaning out a baked one, messy. I am not great with knives.

[Qiviut]

Next project in the kitchen:

Since the Old Fasioned Cottage Cheese pie was such a success, plus easy & fairly cheap to make, I’m trying another blast from the past.

Classic Oatmeal Pie (Delicious Old Fashioned Pie Recipe)
https://www.cleverlysimple.com/oatmeal-pie/

I LOVE pecan pie, but nuts are so expensive these days & mom can’t eat nuts, so we’ll see how this works out.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Since it’s raining most of today and ALL of tomorrow (up to 2” overnight through tomorrow) I am making chicken stock, then will make some soup. I’ve been hungry for Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup, have everything on hand to make it, and I can freeze what I don’t eat.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/232277/creamy-chicken-gnocchi-soup/

I’m going to have to steal a carrot from Ithaca’s stash though, LOL!

[Qiviut]

I’m making Ina Garten’s Winter Squash (butternut) soup later today. I’ll freeze some of it. Next will be chili - they had it at the yard sale & I have a craving. Sally has a cauliflower potato soup that is supposed to be very good - that’s next on the soup list after chili & it freezes well.

[Liz]

No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Dessert / serve chilled
Easy chocolate glazed dessert. Good do-ahead

Ing: 2-3 oz pkg dry instant vanilla pudding mix 3 c milk 8 oz tub frozen whipt topping, thawed
16 oz pkg chocolate grahams ¼ c milk ⅓ c cocoa powder 1 c sugar 2 tbl butter 1 tsp vanilla

Method: Mix well combined pudding mix, 3 c milk. Fold in whipt topping; elec/mixer 2 min. ASSEMBLE: In buttered 9x13" b/dish, grahams on bottom, 1/2 pudding mixture over, then more grahams. Spread rest pudding over crackers; end w/ layer of crackers. Chill. Glaze, let set, then serve.

GLAZE: combine 1/4 c milk, cocoa, sugar on med flame, boil a min; offheat mix in butter, vanilla; cool.

[Qiviut]

My 2 squash were large. I lined 2 9x13 pans with foil, stabbed each one about 6 times with a thin knife & roasted at 425° for about 1.5 hours.

I got about 6 cups out of each. One batch got mashed up into a rough puree & is in the freezer for future use. The other batch went into the soup pot. I started with Ina’s recipe as a base. She had 1 can of pumpkin & 1.5 lbs of butternut. AI says the ratio is about 3:1 butternut to pumpkin. Since 1 can of pumpkin is about 2 cups, I used 6 cups of butternut. I did the onions & 3 cups of chicken broth per the recipe. No spices in Ina’s recipe so I used spices from another recipe although I increased the amounts quite a bit to 1/2 tsp each of allspice, nutmeg & ginger, 1/4 tsp cayenne. It turned out pretty good - mom liked it. I have one quart in the freezer & 1 quart for meals this weekend.

Since the butternut & pumpkin were already cooked, I put them through the blender first, then heated on the stove which is a lot easier & safer than putting hot soup in the blender. I did not add the half & half that was in the recipe. It could still be added after the soup is thawed & heated.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Ina Garten...I love her recipes. I have a few of her cookbooks.

Cauliflower Potato Soup will totally hit the spot when it’s REALLY cold, like -10 below outside. :)

Cauliflower is SO under-rated as a veg. It has like NO calories, other than the butter you add to it. ;)

Grandma Anita used to put a whole head of the stuff in her big pot and steam it until tender. Then she’d make a ‘Burnt Butter’ to put on top. *Smacks Lips*

Yeah, we were poor, but we were NEVER hungry. :)

Right now, the stock is done after simmering ALL DAY and I am picking over the chicken bones for meat I can give to the dogs as a treat.

Emma Jolene and Blackfoot got some time to run around in the exercise yard today - they’ll be hunkered in and sleeping through the storms tonight and tomorrow. I’m glad I moved them back to the kennel shed. No reason for us ALL to be rained on when it’s suppertime. ;)

Sunny Fall days ahead, Girls!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

If I could convince you to grow ONE Winter Squash each season, I would wholeheartedly recommend 'Thema Sanders Sweet Potato Squash'. Beau planted it last season and while we had Eleventy-THOUSAND of them, anyone we shared them with just raved. They are SO much tastier than your average Acorn Squash and they store all winter. I currently have FIVE really nice ones growing in the Compost Pile from seeds and pulp that got dumped there last season. Free Food with no effort. Score!

P.S. Beau is STILL not allowed to grow Spaghetti Squash, since he fed one to the steer, and grazed the steer on the lawn and we had Eleventy-THOUSAND Spaghetti Squash growing IN THE LAWN when I moved out here and took over the mowing and landscaping of the house yard. It was yet another, 'WHAT HAVE I SIGNED UP FOR?' moment for sure. ;) He's so lucky he's handsome, LOL!

[MomwithHope]

I like your spice blend on the soup. A friend gifted me with 3 butternuts and I think I will make some soup. Need to get some heavy cream though.

[MomwithHope]

I like your spice blend on the soup. A friend gifted me with 3 butternuts and I think I will make some soup. Need to get some heavy cream though.

[Paul R.]

Some years back, I gave a friend a 5 gallon bucket of our shagbark hickory nuts, and she made a hickory nut pie for us with some of the nuts. It was really great*, and almost indistinguishable from a good pecan pie. (Makes sense - our hickory nuts taste like pecans!)

*The problem with hickory nuts is the difficulty, even with a good “table” nutcracker, of extracting the “meat” and not getting pieces of shell in there. For me anyway (with not particularly deft fingers) it is about 20x more difficult with the hickory nuts, than pecan nuts. I didn’t have the time for such a tedious task, and even less so now...

I suspect I should have planted a few pecan trees, when I acquired this place! By now, production should be great. Dad had access to free seedlings, too! Theoretically, our soil is far from ideal, but our hickory trees have basically the same requirements, and they do quite well here.

OTOH, I suppose that if New Madrid does it’s thing again and aid is cut off by repeated big quakes for several months, the hickory nuts will do...

[Paul R.]

I’ve been busy with the well problem, so my posting has been mostly (mostly) limited to when I was taking a break, eating, etc. I just tried “Preview”, and it was quick. :-)

The well - ugh! We do have water again, and the pump is apparently fine, but, I keep getting leaks at connections, especially the 90 deg. elbows where the polyethylene drive and suction pipes turn horizontal to go into the pump.

I did a little research, and, it turns out that polyethylene pipe, like most plastics, loses its anti-oxidants and plasticizers over time, and becomes prone to crack propagation, especially if it’s been stressed. Well (pun intended), those connections at the elbows DO get stressed, and have been on and off (”extra” stress!) more than once, with pump replacements, replacement of the foot valve, and so on.

Life of PE pipe is usually estimated at 50-100 years, and I think this well piping (below the pump) has been here at least 60 years, maybe more...

I’m now thinking I should replace all the old PE piping. 50 ft. would be more than enough, but Menards sells only 5 ft. pieces or big rolls of 100 ft. or more. So, I’ll have to go on Amazon, etc., to see if I can do better. The other alternative would be to try to sell the extra piping locally. If MY venturi is 40 ft. down, a lot of other people around here should have wells of similar depth, or even shallower, as we are on a slight rise.

[Paul R.]

Eh, Amazon was NOT helpful... :-(

There used to be a big plumbing supply house over in Paducah, and as I recall they would cut to length fairly inexpensively, from BIG rolls, but they are long gone. :-( ... :-(

[Qiviut]

We have a lot of hickory trees around our place - one fence line is loaded. We have 3 small trees actually on the property, but they don’t produce a lot. The ones along the fence do & when the nuts fall, mowing is a pain. LOTS of squirrels around here and I find nut shells in the garden & other places where they drop them. Pecans are my favorite nuts. My uncle would shell bags and bags of them - I don’t know where he got the patience. He also did walnuts - I think he ran over them with the car in the driveway to break the outer ‘husks’ off of them.

Per the meteorologist (in the business for agriculture, not a TV met) I like, he did a video last night and said the summer heat wave pattern will be gone this coming week. At least next week, it looks like we’re going straight from summer into November with highs in the 50’s & some areas in the mountains will be 40’s. Lots of rain - 2-3 inches, possibly 4. If it were winter, we’d be getting a big storm. It’s cool this morning at 65 with a good breeze - wind chimes are singing. High should be low - mid 70’s & cloudy all day. With rain coming in tomorrow, today is mowing day & I am going to have to bundle up a bit - it’s going to be rather cool on the mower. No more shorts & T-shirt weather, at least not on the mower!

[Qiviut]

Do you like bread pudding? I love the stuff - haven’t made this one yet, but it has butternut squash & mushrooms (I love mushrooms). I need to get another butternut to cut into cubes for this recipe.

https://reluctantentertainer.com/butternut-mushroom-bread-pudding-recipe/

[MomwithHope]

I do I even have a recipe with coconut, But I haven’t made it in many years, Too many carbs. I have been prediabetic for a decade at least and want to keep that way.

BTW All Diana’s internet is out. Her message -

“You could say I am having Technical Difficulties due to the storms. Looks like rain and storms will last all day.”