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Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 13) April 15
Free Republic | 4-15-2011 | Red_Devil 232

Posted on 04/15/2011 5:07:49 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232

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To: Gabz
And therein lies my problem. I can't even get the seeds to START!!!!

Try planting them in a pot by sprinkling the seeds on top, and then gently press the surface to bring the seeds in close contact with the soil. Gently water the surface until it is well watered, then cover the pot with clear plastic or kitchen plastic warp. Secure the plastic with a rubber band. This will keep the seed uniformly moist without being too wet.

Leave this in a warm place that gets some sun. Check to make sure it has not dried out, but usually the seeds germinate before this happens. Remove the cover when the seedlings appear, and keep the soil moist. Transplant when the seedlings are a few inches tall and can be handled without destroying them.

I start a lot of seeds this way. Catnip self seeds once it is well established, and will be one of the first plants to break dormancy in the spring.
161 posted on 04/16/2011 5:56:24 AM PDT by Nepeta
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To: Sarajevo

Wonderful wonderful, and still more wonderful!


162 posted on 04/16/2011 6:25:16 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ( Gardeners despise a vacuum.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Goodness gracious! That was a funny story.


163 posted on 04/16/2011 6:54:38 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: rightly_dividing

That recipe sounds like a keeper!


164 posted on 04/16/2011 6:55:29 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: Gabz

Hello! The last okra plant that I seeded came up yesterday, which makes about 3 weeks on germination, but I did end up with 100%. I had given up on about 5 of the jade in the little paper pots, but I hadn’t had time to replant yet, so they sat and finally emerged yesterday. Can’t remember it ever taking that long, and the warmth and moisture have been there! Be patient with yours. :)


165 posted on 04/16/2011 6:59:21 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
Glad it sounded good to you. I was looking for something else when I stumbled upon that one in my e-cookbook and posted it for the okra challenged on the thread.

After we get a few things done around here, my wife and I will get together a list of shade friendly flowering plants. We had to learn a whole nother way of plants since moving to a tree shady homestead. The flowering stuff is her department, I am just the construction and landscape maintenance manager around here.

166 posted on 04/16/2011 7:20:12 AM PDT by rightly_dividing (1 Cor. 15: 1-4)
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To: Red_Devil 232; SZonian
"I am sure JustaDumbBlonde has more suggestions."

Wow ... there have been far many more ideas and recipes on the thread already than I could have come up with! Good job, Red!

167 posted on 04/16/2011 7:29:40 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: dila813
What is the easiest food to grow that doesn’t require fertilizer or pesticides or extensive watering normally for the North West on the Western Side of the Mountains?

Check out the book, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, by Steve Solomon. I have the 5th ed. but I think there is a 6th by now. The entire book is geared towards gardening without pesticides and with organic fertilizer. For each type of vegetable, its suitability for "dry gardening" is described.

168 posted on 04/16/2011 7:32:26 AM PDT by matt1234 (How would obama react to a 9.0 earthquake in Kenya?)
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To: rightly_dividing
I am just the construction and landscape maintenance manager around here.

I'm a dues paying member of that club but it keeps me in eats and clean clothes because I flunked to test for Domestic Engineer.

169 posted on 04/16/2011 8:04:10 AM PDT by tubebender (Now hiring Tag Line writers. Full time low pay)
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To: matt1234
Steve Soloman's book was and is a blessing to North West gardeners as is the seed company he started and continues under new ownership. The last I heard of Steve he was living on a island in the south pacific...
170 posted on 04/16/2011 8:12:15 AM PDT by tubebender (Now hiring Tag Line writers. Full time low pay)
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To: Red_Devil 232
You can expect to get a lot of help from the many great gardeners here in FReepLand.

Question: Anybody have info. (planting & uses) on goji berries?

171 posted on 04/16/2011 8:59:33 AM PDT by dearolddad
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To: Red_Devil 232

OK — apologies! I came in in the middle of this thread. What are you using 20% vinegar by the gallon for? Is this a weed killer? A soil amendment?

Also, I noticed that someone mentioned Round Up as a “soil killer”. I’m glad that it kills something. Doesn’t do a thing for my weeds.

It’s cold and miserable here. The only day that was nice last week I had to go to work. I’ve gotten nothing done in my garden yet.


172 posted on 04/16/2011 11:51:42 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: SZonian

I’m not enthusiastic about okra either, except in gumbo. My husband, however, had southern relatives; an he loves it. He rolls it in corn meal, or bread crumbs, and fries it.


173 posted on 04/16/2011 11:55:02 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

Lovely picture. Three times this past week I’ve spotted some kind of very tall heron, or crane in the adjacent fields when we were on the road for my husband’s daily appointment at the hospital. I’m going to look them up in a picture book. These cranes (?) were about 3-4 ft tall and a brown color — same as the dry grass around the ponds. I also saw one in flight.

I’ve been watching a nest at the hopital from the lunch room and expect to see ducklings any day. Not sure what kind because they are pretty far away. I saw the father relieve the mother on the nest last week. They could be ordinary mallards, but I don’t think so. It looked like the mother had a dark head too.

I’ll have to remember to bring my binoculars on Monday (our last radiation day).


174 posted on 04/16/2011 12:03:39 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

That salad bar garden is just gorgeous. You are an inspiration. It is freezing cold and wet out there today — maybe tomorrow.


175 posted on 04/16/2011 12:10:00 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: rightly_dividing
I have not yet seen a fresh seafood market, only grocery store stuff.

When we lived in TX in the 1970s (Quail Valley, Missouri City on the SW side of Houston) they used to pack it in ice and bring it up from Galveston -- fresh caught -- and sell it from trucks by the side of the road. Or, the fish mongers would drive through the neighborhoods and sell it door to door.

Gubmint probably passed an ordinance preventing that. I bought a lot of Gulf shrimp that way.

176 posted on 04/16/2011 12:23:49 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

According to a web search 20% acid vinegar is about the only thing that will kill the dreaded Wild Onion that propagates by the bulbs and a zillion seeds


177 posted on 04/16/2011 12:31:57 PM PDT by tubebender (Now hiring Tag Line writers. Full time low pay)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Doesn’t do a thing for my weeds.

I have never used Roundup because it is so high priced. I have used other brands with pretty good success. The last several seasons, I have used the stuff in the black gallon jug, it's Ortho I think, total vegetation killer, and when I used it on fence lines, there is an 18" path of total desolation, absolutely nothing living, probably no insects either, but I'm not sure of that. I would always read the labels and it seams that all use different active ingredients. I ALWAYS buy the concentrate rather than the watered down ready to use stuff, and dilute it myself.

178 posted on 04/16/2011 12:36:31 PM PDT by rightly_dividing (1 Cor. 15: 1-4)
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To: tubebender
I am just the construction and landscape maintenance manager around here.

I'm a dues paying member of that club.

Was I supposed to be paying dues? It's not a union is it?

179 posted on 04/16/2011 1:06:42 PM PDT by rightly_dividing (1 Cor. 15: 1-4)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
UP Thread some one was interested in using vinegar as a weed killer. Tubebender mentioned that there was a 20% vinegar that would work better than what is available in the grocery stores but he coud only find it in 55 Gal. Drums - that is why the discussion continued and lead to the one Gal jugs.

Round Up does work, I use it often. Takes some time to see the results.

It will warm up!

180 posted on 04/16/2011 1:10:41 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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