Posted on 03/29/2013 2:17:42 PM PDT by greeneyes
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!
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Sun & mid 60s here, too. TEMPTATION! TEMPTATION! TEMPTATION!
Put 6 rabbits in the freezer today.
Yesterday, finished the tilling for the sunflowers; pea-tilling got done a few days prior. Still don’t dare plant, though.
This year I have to dig out the Everlasting Onions*, (Allium cepa perutile), reinvigorate the beds, then separate & replant them...with a major batch headed for kitchen duty. ;-’)
Started making paper pots yesterday. Today is Day 14 for the incubating eggs. They’re all brown eggs , which can take 2 or 3 extra days to hatch, so no peep-report until friday after next.
*A non-flowering Evergreen Perennial onion that produces profuse clumps of bulblets which are pulled off the sides as needed for cooking, Very Hardy & stands well through the winter & for many years after. (Rare) Rare enough that it’s even hard to find info on them on the Net.
Well, I also made a couple of wild blackberry cobblers. Missouri has some good native/wild plants. My Granny used to make wild black berry/grape jelly every year.
We Placed Huge Hoops around the bushes and covered with nets. Birds still got lots of the produce before the drought ruined them.
Wrens like to eat ensects, and are territorial. They will drive the fruit - loving birds away(at least that is what I read). So we have put up some wren houses around the grapes and blackberries for this year as an additional preventative.
I haven’t had rabbit or squirrel since I was a kid. Squirrels abound in our neighborhood, because we have lots of hickory nuts (hubby says they are not the edible type).
I think that if push came to shove we could probably raise some rabbits to eat with out violating any of our sub-division restrictions.
Never gardened where we could have persimmons, but as a kid we hunted every year on a friends ranch in Northern California that had some persimmon trees on it. Grandpa had a tree or two, also.
Bottom line, I learned that persimmons are not ripe for eating, or jam making, until they hit the soft & gooey stage AFTER a hard frost or two. Frost doesn’t ripen them, but they take so long to ripen that they are not ripe before the frosts hit.
Easy to keep in a garage, if necessary; and can’t beat the manure for the garden: even fresh doesn’t ‘burn’.
We are doomed then, the persimmons here are long gone before frost usually.
Yes, I was even thinking that it might be good to have them for the manure even if we didn’t eat them.LOL.
I still like the idea turning chickens out into the garden once the plants are going strong. Seems like a good insect control and fertilization project.
Please keep us posted on the success of your grafted tomatoes.
The heirloom varieties that I’ve been using haven’t had any problems, and they always yield more than we can use, but I’m very interested in how this goes for you.
If I could cut back from forty tomato plants to thirty or even twenty that would free up a lot of space in the garden for other stuff.
I pushed Antz(tm), the DVD, into the mix, so there's a conservative meme going on.
Gak... life is so simple without anyone around... but children have to be taught and watched...
/johnny
I got the little grafting clips earlier this spring and ordered some ‘Big Beef’ and ‘Tropic’ seeds to plant and practice with. The hybrid grafting rootstock is pricey for my level of gardening competence just now. Big Beef seeds are comparitively cheap and Tropic is open pollinated.
The reason to graft in these parts is to get a rootstock that’s resistant to nematodes and/or fusarium and verticillium. I’m not aware of too many heirlooms with resistance to all those. The resulting grafted plant is still susceptible to foliar diseases. They’re also supposed to be higher bearing.
I found a seed place online that sells seeds to the original wild type tomato plants of various types that I think were involved in the hybrid rootstock development. Maybe later this summer, if we have the funds, I’ll buy a few packs of those and do a little project.
LOL. Yes, the little dears have got to be carefully watched, and carefully taught.LOL
People out here in flyover country/rural areas still believe in the constitution, rule of law, self sufficiency, and living within a budget. Need to fortify all youngsters with examples of same, so they know better when the propaganda blares.
I BOUGHT A PELLET HANDGUN TO KILL SQUIRRELS AND BIRDS THAT EAT TOMATOES! (See, I said great progress.)
(Tomato plants still living.)
“Evergreen Perennial onion”
Did you start them by using seed or plants? And they keep growing year after year? Now, that’s my kind of plant.
Happy Easter and God Bless you and yours!
Oh, drat! Hope you feel better soon. Have you ever tried ibuprofen as an antiinflammatory? For me, it works a lot better than aspirin for severe muscle pain.
And you have to be careful of using NCO type language around them.
They are good kids. Boychild helped with my closing up the property chores since bending over really, really hurts. He's closer to the ground than I am, anyway.
When I left, they were self-correcting on 'yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir'... And that's a lot for almost teenagers in today's world.
/johnny
/johnny
And then you'd take your free time and wind up down at the pool hall dancing and stuff. Best to keep you busy. Can you tell I've been dealing with kids? ;)
I also am interested in how Painter's grafts work out.
Let us know.
/johnny
Hi freeper gardeners, I should really check this thread more often, but I do have a question today.
We got really socked by Hurricane Sandy, had a foot of water in our house and 4 feet all around.
Just in the last few days I’ve come to realize that a lot of my trees and shrubs seem to be D.E.A.D.
These are evergreen trees and shrubs.
Maybe you think I’m quite obtuse that I did not realize this before, but it’s a been a rough few months, and it’s been winter and I just didn’t realize until now.
I think it must have been the salt/polluted water that killed them as nothing else has happened.
Does anyone else have any experience with this?
I’m in New Jersey, about 10 miles from Sandy Hook. We were flooded by the water in the Raritan Bay, even though we are about a mile from the shore front.
Any comments will be appreciated!
Thanks!
I’d give them another month or so to see if they’re just insulted. Try to bend a few twigs or scratch the bark and see if there’s green underneath.
If they ARE dead, dig them up and replant. Maybe someone from the Gulf Coast could give more information? Maybe try a gardening forum online and see if they have a Gulf states section.
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