Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 29, July 20, 2012

July 20, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good morning, FRiends, fellow gardeners, and yet-to-be gardeners!

Thanks go out to all that participated in the thread last week. Beautiful photos were posted, and info was shared that will make big differences in the gardening lives of our members.

If you can ... please remember to add keywords that will make our threads more useful when searched. I think that I was the only one that added keywords as the thread progressed.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone that needs a good rain. Drought is an awful situation.

I am off to the back end of the yard to tend my bees. I have 3 new queens that came in the mail yesterday, and need to get them installed before they are stressed any more. Then, if I have the strength after the heat zaps me, I need to harvest honey. This will be the third harvest in a few weeks ... the girls have been extremely busy.

What is going on in your neck of the woods?

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
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 22 (Keywords 2) June 1, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 23, June 8, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 24, June 15, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 25, June 22, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 26, June 29, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 27, July 06, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 28, July 13, 2012

[JustaDumbBlonde]

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[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

[tubebender]

First!!!???

[JustaDumbBlonde]

By golly, you are! That is a first! See, if I wait until you are awake, good things happen! :)

[painter]

How is your corn crop doing? I mean farm crop.

The corn crops up here in Missouri have burned up from drought and heat.

[Augie]

Still miserably hot and dry here in Central Missouri. I’ve got 20 gallons of tomatoes picked that need to be made into salsa and canned over the next day or two. Got the first picking of okra yesterday evening. Peaches on one tree are ready to pick. Cucumbers are going nuts but have been bitter due to the extreme heat. And the weeds are winning. LOL

[yoe]

Good morning,

I have a question for the Lavender gardeners where ever you are. How hard do you prune your plants and when. I planted three little Grosso plants last June, got them through that summer successfully. This spring they began to really grow in their 30 inch pots...they are huge but no flowers. I am at a loss as to why no flowers but now wonder if I should prune them now or wait for cooler weather.

Here on the desert (actually a step land)the Kissing Bug is a pest for about six weeks each summer....I started growing and bagging Lavender in silk organza bags I make to keep in our beds and closets....it stopped the Kissing Bug from getting in our beds...moths I knew about but the other was just a guess.

Thanks for any advice.
Johanna

[Oshkalaboomboom]

A rack full of Ghost peppers, with a few Habaneros sprinkled in, ready for drying. That is a dehydrator rack but for now I am using the dashboard of my car to dry them out. Last time I checked it was 135 degrees inside and at that temperature it takes 1-2 days for the Ghosts and 2-3 days for the Habaneros. For now no Tabascos go out to dry. Any ripe ones I pick go directly into a jar that will end up as bottles of Tabasco sauce.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

painter, I am almost ashamed to report that we have the best corn crop ever. It is absolutely huge and full ... pollinated every kernel. I will have to post a photo or two of some of the ears ...

We saw some really burned up corn when we came through S. Dakota, Iowa and Missouri recently. Every irrigation system between Louisiana and Montana was running. Our hearts were hurt looking at the dry land crops. We've been there and done that and know how devastated the farmers are.

[goodwithagun]

Tobasco sauce recipe please?

[freedommom]

I heard a garden show last week and they were talking about biochar..
the indians a long time ago put their charcoal into their
land year after year..
alas it's been years since this has been done and our soils are depleted.

anyways when you add biochar it really helps with drought
and makes plants grow like crazy (one man said he had 162 tomatoes on one plant after he added the biochar)

I'm gonna order a stove to make my own biochar as we have 267 dead trees from last year

[tubebender]

Benderville is suffering under a canopy of dismal overcast skies but it makes for great photos. First up is our Raspberry patch which yielded 5 gallons plus in the first picking and should produce a great fall crop…

We took the row covers off the Pumpkins and winter Squash…

Potatoes have a ways to go but I did a C Section on a few hills of Red Gold and Yukon Gold…

The battle lines have been drawn and weapons gathered…

[Petruchio]

Good Morning!

Started to harvest some Cucumbers from along the driveway. A bowl of sliced cukes with Ranch dressing is a terrific lunch.

Also I diced and steamed a Kohlrabi snd served it in a cream sauce for dinner. 45 minutes from Garden to table. . . YUMM!

Still a moderate drought here. I water kinda heavy once a week. Those water crystals I mixed in the soil this year are helping.

[Red_Devil 232]

I have been getting some nice rains for the last few weeks but it looks like the rains are gone and the heat has arrived for good. My tomatoes have shut down producing and I will have to nurse them through this heat until it cools off a bit.

[FiscalSanity]

I’m in the midsummer “tomatoes won’t set fruit” doldrums here in NW Florida. It’s so hot and humid that it’s just not fun to be outside and I am doing the minimum necessary to keep the garden going. I have watermelons, cantaloupes, peppers, herbs, long beans, tomatillos, sunflowers, and okra that are still going strong, but I am starting to think forward to the fall garden more and more.

I have a replacement crop of cucumbers started, pumpkins (C. moschata types) just starting to run, and some new pepper and eggplant transplants to add to my garden. I’ve just started tomatoes for the fall garden. I really hope they do better than the spring tomatoes! It’s too early to start the cool weather crops, but I am beginning to plan where they’ll go and when to get them started.

However, I haven’t given up on the summer garden entirely. I just planted two tomato plants that are supposed to be heat-setting varieties. Maybe they will give me some fruits to tide me over until the fall crop comes in.

[4everontheRight]

Oshkalaboomboom -
Do you dehydrate those peppers whole?
I have about 8 different varieties of hot peppers right now and usually I cut them up and freeze them but I would love to use my dehydrator on them!

[bgill]

Same here, too hot and humid to venture too far from the A/C. Was out watering at 6:30 this am and it was still muggy. There are a few blooms that came out due to the rains last week but I know they won’t do anything with the heat so looking forward to the fall.

[tillacum]

You are one busy Bee, just like your girls.

[tillacum]

Any of us with fireplaces, stoves or use wood in our bbq pits should have a lot of charcoal. Do you grind (smash) the charcoal and plow it in?