Posted on 05/17/2013 1:01:42 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 wont be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isnt asked.
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I have read about the the process. I don’t deal well with blood and guts. That’s why I dragged out my Tom Sawyer pants, and got youngest daughter to agree to do it.LOL
OP SEC. No way on open thread. LOL
I love roses. Thanks for sharing the pic.
Now that’s funny! I don’t blame you-it was quite the experience-something I will never forget. If we all had to go thru that to get our dinner we would all be a lot thinner
Yeh, like every time I would get ready to eat a chicken I would flash back to blood and guts and loose the appetite or get quesy.
I was pretty sure youngest would do it. She helped the guys haul hay one year, and at the end of the summer, she also helped them neuter the bulls. I figured she could do it, and I told her I would pay for her share of the chickens this year, if she would.
I never heard about about the paintbrush thing. I may have to look into it next year. It’s too late for this year.
Yep , those extra blossoms don’t go to waste :)
Thank you. This winter lettuce seems just the thing! I’ll be adding some.
As long as you keep your ratio of brown (carbon) to green (nitrogen) you shouldn’t have any strong odors .
I keep a huge pile in my yard in an open bin and it doesn’t stink .
Thanks, will keep that in mind.
I just did it as an experiment one year, and You could have knocked me over with a feather when it worked.LOL
I’ll keep watching then. Most do appear to be male. We do have some bees in the garden area. Maybe, I am over anxious.
Whether you want vigorous young plants for a fall or winter crop, or decide to multiply a tomato you particularly like, learning to grow rooted cuttings is a valuable skill. Speed is a huge advantage. Seedlings need six to eight weeks to grow to transplanting size, but cuttings kept in warm conditions will be ready to set out in just 10 to 14 days. You also can root cuttings directly in the garden. Tomatoes are among the easiest plants to root (cells in the stems morph into new roots quickly when kept moist), so even if youre a newbie propagator you can expect success. Tomato cuttings will root in a jar of water, but you will get sturdy plants faster by rooting them in soil.
Heres how:
Fill clean, 4-inch containers (or large paper cups with drainage holes in the bottom) with potting soil, and dampen thoroughly. Use a pencil or chopstick to poke a hole in the center of each prepared container.
Select 6-inch-long tips that are free of leaf spots or other evidence of disease. Snip off any blossoms or buds with sharp scissors, and remove all leaves except the two at the top. Trim off the cut end so it will be 1 inch from the bottom of the container when the cutting is buried up to the base of the intact leaves.
Push the prepared cuttings into the holes, and press soil against the stem. Set in a warm, shady place for seven days, and keep moist. You can protect them from strong sun by covering them with an overturned clay flowerpot. Gradually expose the rooted cutting to more light for another week.
Move the rooted cutting to a larger pot (or transplant it to your garden) when new leaves appear or roots become visible in the drainage holes of the container.
************************************************************* Note - I am still experimenting with this technique. I have no idea whether it works or not.
It is not unusual for Cherry trees to set a heavy crop one year and sparse the next plus a cold spell during bloom is not good...
Basil is what’s in the black pots. The small ones have mimosa tree pods that I’m trying to germinate.
Well thanks. It looks good now but I won’t be posting any pics when the 100° weather gets here. LOL
That’s garlic. I planted three heads that I bought at the local hippie food store in the spring of ‘08. Since then I’ve been saving back the biggest cloves and planting them in the fall.
What’s odd about that incident when I “lost” the peacock, is that I looked everywhere the first day he was gone, my dog following me around. The second day is when I started talking to myself aloud in frustration as I looked under bushes. The peafowl can really camoflouge themselves under a bush. You think that it is just dappled sunlight falling on the ground when they lie still.
When I started talking to myself, my dog’s ears perked up and she snapped into hunting mode and headed right down the driveway. What was so odd (she knew the word bird) is that normally when I would say “bird” we’d head out to the barn where I would put out food while she watched.
This time, however, she headed down the drive toward the road and stoppped five feet short where she stood stock still with her nose in the grass (where I found the tiny feathers.)
I’ve pondered this a lot. How did my dog know that I was searching for this particular bird? I had 9 others in the barn (sulking over the loss of their leader). Why did my dog know that I was looking for the missing bird? Furthermore, I failed to mention that it had RAINED during the two days that the bird went missing and we found the tail feathers. How did my dog know to pick up this particular trail? I had bird trails all over the place. The track was able to see the fox prints, but just barely. That is how he knew it was a mom and 3 kits that stole my beautiful peacock. We never did find the fox’s den.
I guess my dog smelled the fox, but how did she know that is what I was looking for? I didn’t even know what I was looking for.
And you are right. I never added more birds to the flock. I continued to try to hatch chicks (unsuccessfully), but I didn’t buy more birds. It’s hard to keep them over the winter around here because you have to provide heat in the barn, and you have to tramp out in the snow with food and water. Eventually they all died — some of disease, some of old age. I ran my peacock experiment for about 12 years.
A little over 2500 sq/ft, and a ridiculous amount of work to keep up with.
It’s my intention to start the Eden method on it this summer.
We planted new Strawberry Plants this spring and picked our first batch today. These are Seascape and are well suited for the PNW
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