Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 22 (Keywords 2) June 1, 2012

Friday, June 1, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good morning and happy June to my gardening FRiends and fellow gardeners!

You may have noticed that I titled last week's thread "Keywords", and then totally forgot to write the first word about the topic. That illustrates perfectly how frazzled my mind is these days. As I was getting ready to hit the post button, I kept thinking there was something I was forgetting, but finally convinced myself that it probably wasn't *that* important, and I posted the thread. I apologize.

There has been more than once that great information has been posted by one of our members, but I can't remember exactly which thread, or sometimes even who posted it. My idea is this: So that we can use a search engine such as Yahoo! or Google to find what we seek, let's actively use the keyword feature on each thread.

For example, if you post pictures of your garlic patch, add "garlic" to the keywords. If you are illustrating how to mulch a garlic patch, add the keyword "mulch" as well. You could go so far as to add the mulch material too, such as "ricehulls". (special mention for Mr. Bender!)

Both Red Devil_232 and I have used a search engine to find a particular comment by entering something like "Free Republic potato planting", and you will usually find several threads that way. If we use the keyword feature to document our threads, it will be even easier.

I'd love to be able to sit down and make a keyword list for the thread every week, but I simply don't have the time to do it. If each one of us will add a word or two, it should become ultra-easy to search our topics.

If you have any ideas to improve this method, please let us know. If you have a totally different idea that will work better, bring it on!!! We love good ideas!

Here in NE Louisiana, we got a storm line through yesterday and about an inch of extremely beneficial rain. We were beginning to get really dry due to the high temps of late, and on the farm we were turning on all of the wells. Would rather have rain any day! The high will be around 80 in the area today and we are pretty excited about that. It has been scorching hot lately.

Look forward to reading about your week and, as always, photos are appreciated.

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly 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.

This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. 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 Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Previous weeks' threads:

Weekly Gardening Thread (Catalog Fever) Vol. 1 Jan 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 3, January 20, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (U.S. Hardiness Zones) Supplemental Vol. 1
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Types) Vol. 4, January 27, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 5, February 03, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 6, February 10, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation?) Vol. 7, February 17, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Home Sweet Home) Vol. 8, February 24, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Structure Part 1) Vol. 9, March 2, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Transplanting Tomatoes) Vol. 10, March 9, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Useful Links) Vol. 11, March 16, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread -- Vol. 12, March 23, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread -- Vol. 13, March 31, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Happy Easter!) Vol. 14, April 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 15, April 13, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 16, April 20, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 17, April 27, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 18, May 4, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 19 (Getting Projects Done) May 11, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Harvesting Wheat) Vol. 20, May 18, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 21 (Keywords) May 25, 2012

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Thread Member List

Please let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from the ping list.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Detailed State Plant Hardiness Zone Maps

Alabama	District of Columbia	Kentucky	Montana	Ohio	Texas ( East )
Alaska	Florida	Louisiana	Nebraska	Oklahoma	Texas ( West )
Arizona	Georgia	Maine	Nevada	Oregon	Utah
Arkansas	Hawaii	Maryland	New Hampshire	Pennsylvania	Vermont
California ( Northern )	Idaho	Massachusetts	New Jersey	Puerto Rico	Virginia
California ( Southern )	Illinois	Michigan	New Mexico	Rhode Island	Washington
Colorado	Indiana	Minnesota	New York	South Carolina	West Virginia
Connecticut	Iowa	Mississippi	North Carolina	South Dakota	Wisconsin
Delaware	Kansas	Missouri	North Dakota	Tennessee	Wyoming

International Plant Hardiness Zone Maps
Australia
Canada
China
Europe
Japan

[afraidfortherepublic]

Keywords! Brilliant! Proving again that Justadumbblonde is not only an accomplished gardener, she is one of the smartest people on FreeRepublic!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This will be the first time we've grown paprika peppers. The seeds were not commonly available and the first supplier cashed my check and then reneged.

My plan is to dry the peppers and grind them into powder. I have a pint jar of jalapeno pepper powder I made about three years ago. A little goes a long way.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

I have plenty of extra Ghost Chile pepper seeds if anyone needs some. My project for this year is Datil peppers. So far I’ve managed to get 3 seedlings going and my largest plant is a little over an inch tall. But that’s how I started with my Ghost Chiles and this year I will be harvesting them by the dozens and expect to easily have over a hundred by the end of the summer.

[Gabz]

Good morning!

We got a good, all day rain on Wednesday, no downpour, just steady.

What’s in store for tonight is an entirely different story. Looks like torrential downpours overnight into early morning which does not bode well for having to get small person over to school by 4:30 tomorrow morning. The middle school Chorus is in a competition tomorrow - but they face a 4 hour drive to get there.

[sueQ]

I planted cabbage this year. Never did before. Something is eating at them, and I see a lot of white moths hanging around. Any suggestions?

[Taffini]

I have some shrubs in front of my house that if they were cut back to a sane size would just result in a bunch of bare wooden sticks waiting to impale the ups guy so I cut it down to a nub. At least I don’t have to look at the overgrowth, but this isn’t good either. I have 4 of these. I don’t think I can dig out 25 years of roots so how do I kill off the top so I can plant something else? These bushes are near other plants and I don’t want to kill them. Any help would be appreciated. I’m not good at this...you folks are, (Imagine a heart here)

[Darth Reardon]

To make the search process more efficient, folks adding keywords should also remember to include alternative names. For example, black-eyed peas are also referred to as cowpeas, and there are probably a few ways to spell blackeyed. Or when discussing squirrels, you should also add keywords tree rat and #^&*%#^$@^&!.

[sueQ]

One more question if I may... I’m expecting a good crop of Roma tomatoes... can I slice them and put them in the dehydrator and end up with something similar to sun-dried? I love sun-dried tomatoes but they are so expensive.

[painter]

Those white moths are laying eggs on your cabbage and the worms from the eggs are eating your cabbage.

[sueQ]

Thanks much.

[Red_Devil 232]

I like the keyword idea. Excellent!

The past two days we have received .75 inches of rain. It was needed. My tomatoes are doing fine. This afternoon I will be posting my first Monthly Homebrewing Thread. Wish me luck.

[MichaelP]

Well, I have my entire garden planted, a new fence built for the pole beans.... and a myriad of leftover veggies sitting in pots... What do I do with them? Some I can give to friends, but I can never let something go to waste! What to do? Oh yea! Expand the garden beyond the confines of its perimeter. I can fit 3 tomatos here, and some peppers over here, cukes there...you get the picture:)

Here in Michigan weather is in play again. Low temps in the 40s over the next several days... Poor tomatos..just sit there! At least we are getting some rain!

Mike

[Arrowhead1952]

I’ve been picking tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers this week. My neighbor pulled his onion crop and dug his potatoes this past week. He gave us some of the smaller red ones and my wife loved them cooked with butter.

[rightly_dividing]

Our direct sowed okry are doing great, about 3" tall or a little more. At what size do we thin them out?

Something is killing off our yellow squash. The leaves are dying and the squash are shrivleing up. I can't find any bugs on them.

Peppers are growing like gangbusters.

Tomatos are nearly ripe, the grape tomatos are ripening.

[sueQ]

If the stumps are big, it may require a stump grinder. Do you have any friends in the landscaping business?

[texas_mrs]

I think I got booted off the gardening thread(?) because I don't get pinged anymore :(

We got a 1" rain yesterday morning so everything is looking great today. Been picking squash and zucchini daily and now have people avoiding me for fear I am targeting them for some. Bell peppers doing well, no ripe tomatoes yet, but I planted late. Okra about 10" tall and expecting to see flowers soon. Love their flowers. My green beans, pintos, and black-eyed peas are very healthy and I'm expecting beans very soon. I wish I hadn't planted so late, but my garden has never looked better. We put in a gravity-fed irrigation system and it has made all the difference.

I even have some tomatoes in my greenhouse in plastic-lined wooden beds that look awesome as well as a few in self-watering containers. I got alot of tomatoes out of the greenhouse last year, even though they say you can't use it in the summer (in Texas). If you ventilate and shade enough, you can. I may add a misting system to prolong it's use. I'm hoping to plant a Fall garden this year, too. If only I could quit my job and garden full-time!

[Taffini]

i wouldn’t say the stumps were big enough for a stump grinder. maybe after all this rain the next few days I could dig them out. Thanks for your help.