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WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 30 JULY 26, 2013
Free Republic | 7/26/2013 | greeneyes

Posted on 07/26/2013 12:53:13 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!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.


TOPICS: Gardening
KEYWORDS: agriculture; food; gardening; hobby
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To: tillacum
I stuffed the peppers with shredded pork, rice, and pico. It was good. It was also rather spicy in a spot or two. I swear my eyeballs were sweating at one point.

/johnny

61 posted on 07/26/2013 6:19:07 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: bgill

I don’t know where you are, but I got some great tomato and pepper plants from our local 99cent store here in Rancho Cordova CA (near Sacramento.) The Early Girls are producing abundantly, the Beefsteaks are also doing just fine, I screwed up the sweet peppers but the serranos, jalapenos, habaneros, and cayenne are going gangbusters. All for 99cents each plant, sales tax free cause they’re food.


62 posted on 07/26/2013 6:22:19 PM PDT by jjr153 (Never Forget 9/11)
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To: JRandomFreeper
 photo e8da97dc-736a-42c0-9052-22e14216d083_zps38edf094.jpg
63 posted on 07/26/2013 7:49:57 PM PDT by murrie (Mark Levin: Prosecuting stupidity nightly.)
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To: greeneyes

Howdy from Tennessee. The gardening is coming along well. Mild temps and some rain with loads of mosquitoes thrown in to the mix. Put up a couple more batches of pickles and relish. Tomatoes are on the vine-still green. The hybrids are doing well-the heirlooms not so much.

Going to plant some bush beans soon. We’ve had better luck growing them on the back end of the season than the beginning when the bugs are worse. Our season lasts until mid to late October. Lots more time.

Appreciate the info on stuffing peppers and growing paprika and planting carrots. Very, very helpful info.
Happy gardening everyone!!


64 posted on 07/26/2013 8:09:23 PM PDT by murrie (Mark Levin: Prosecuting stupidity nightly.)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Thanks for the tips. I’ll try that next spring. I think what happened this year, is that they weren’t kept damp long enough. The bed I used was completely Mel’s mix with some fresh compost added.

I’ll be planting some rye or clover to the bed this fall, and step up the compost content when I prep the bed for next year.


65 posted on 07/26/2013 8:33:40 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Makes sense to me. We made up a whole bunch of them in 2010 and had boxes and boxes in the freezer. Then just heated in the microwave.

Hubby liked them, but I couldn’t stand the mushy shells. Hummm. I wonder if I could can the stuffing? Heat it up in the microwave stuff a homegrown pepper from my indoor supply and heat a little more??

Gonna let that percolate a while.LOL


66 posted on 07/26/2013 8:37:48 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: murrie

Thanks for the picture of the rose.LOL Our heirlooms are doing well this year, if we could just keep the critters from harvesting them.

Usually we can pick them right after they get a little blush, but for some reason they are being taken and eaten while still very green this year.

We have had no luck catching any in the live traps either. I am thinking that they have wised up to the produce in the cages.


67 posted on 07/26/2013 8:49:48 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Yeh, like I said biodegradable - that’s what I sometimes call stuff that I throw in the compost pile. I am running out of room for keeping stuff like plastic pots etc.

I either recycle or compost everything. I have so many milk jugs and soda cans, it will take months to haul them all to the recycling center.

Plus I have all kinds of plastic stuff sitting around waiting for their next duty. The garage is too full to park the cars, and we don’t have an outdoor storage shed yet.

The plans are to have a basement/rootcellar under the shed/carriage house. Me-I’d settle for an 8 x 10 that I could stick plastic ware and garden tools in.


68 posted on 07/26/2013 8:58:07 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

Hey I have an old brown plastic spa out back with a cover that now functions as a storage compartment for plastic jugs and such. I’m thinking of covering it with thick plastic and creating a mini-green house for wintering plants and close the lid on real cold weather days/nights. We get some of that here in North Texas but it comes and goes in spurts. I also found an old storm door thrown out but I took the 2 glass panes off and might try a simple built cold frame and see if I can nurse some cuttings and early seedlings starting in February and transplant later with a good running start to the season. We shall see how it rolls along thataway.


69 posted on 07/26/2013 9:40:27 PM PDT by tflabo (Truth or Tyranny)
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To: Ellendra; bgill
Burpee is a gutted shadow of its former self, and that is a crying shame. When we lived in Riverside, CA, ('72-'84) we bought a lot of garden supplies directly from the large Burpee facility & gardens there, up until it closed. We loved it, and swore by them, and mourned their closing.
Zip forward to the present: We have not bought anything from them since a couple of bad experiences with their seed packets a few years ago.

Excerpted from Wikipedia; full article here:

In 1970, David Burpee sold his company to General Foods. In 1974, Burpee moved from its north Philadelphia location to its current headquarters at 300 Park Avenue in Warminster, Pennsylvania. ...

In 1979 the company was acquired by ITT. David Burpee remained as a consultant until his death in June 1980.
(personal opinon: that's when it really started going downhill.) In 1991 the Burpee company was acquired by George Ball, Inc., a diversified horticultural family business. Jonathan Burpee, the founder's grandson, was the last Burpee family member to work for the company.

More about Mr. Ball here

A message board of complaints and woes concerning ordering/buying, mislabeling, poor product, and poor customer service from Burpee here

Ball claims truthfully, but with a forked tongue, that "Monsanto doesn't own Burpee", then goes on to state that "he doesn't buy or sell genetically modified seeds." (article here) and that he gets his seeds from Seminis. NOTE: the article strongly implies that he is NOT producing any seeds; he buys all of them from a single source.

Monsanto OWNS Seminis! source

Seminis was established in 1994 to consolidate leading companies in the fragmented fruit and vegetable seed industry. The process was realized by takeovers of such companies (mostly Dutch) as: Asgrow,[1] Petoseed,[1] Royal Sluis,[1] Bruinsma Seeds,[1] Genecorp.[1] Monsanto still uses some of these brands.[2]

On March 23, 2005, Monsanto Company announced that it had completed its acquisition of Seminis, Inc. According to the press release announcing the deal, Monsanto paid $1.4 billion in cash and assumed debt, plus a performance-based payment of up to $125 million payable by 2007.[1]

70 posted on 07/26/2013 10:35:53 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: greeneyes

I just ordered a 50 pound sack of winter rye seed today. I can pick it up anytime a week from Monday at the “local” elevator: 7 miles to town; 5 miles to the junction; 7 miles to the next junction, then 2 more miles to the elevator.

Fortunately, except for the last 2 miles, it’s on the way to Rapid City, so we’ll combine the trip into an multipurpose shopping & tank repair run....and stop for a double feature at the new drive-in theater on the way home.

Also at the elevator, I’ll spring for a 100 pound sack of chicken feed for $18. The feed stores sell it rebagged at $14/50 pounds.


71 posted on 07/26/2013 11:06:45 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Well, there ya go! Great trip and lots of results.

A NEW drive in theater???? A NEW one??? LOL I didn’t know they were making a comeback.LOL We have a very old drive in theater here. It’s the only theater around, and it’s 10 miles outside of town. I thought we probably had one of the last few existing ones.

All the others around us have closed and been torn down.


72 posted on 07/26/2013 11:19:14 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: tflabo

Good Idea. I have an old window frame, that I asked Hubby to make a cold frame with about 3 years ago. He says what’s that? I show him a picture. Well I guess so he says.

Wait a while. Ask him again will you make me a cold frame?? He looks at me-cold frame??? What’s that?? I can’t find the picture, go to the internet and print another-Oh yeh that thing ok.

The thing will be rotten and panes broken by the time he gets around to it, I have a feeling. I tried making one using styro foam around it on my raised beds; it just didn’t work well.

Well you know, there’s only so many hours in the day, and that’s just not at the top of his list.


73 posted on 07/26/2013 11:25:53 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

We have 16 of them in SD; this one opened last summer, and is the first twin screen in the state; and it’s fully digital, with the screens optimized for HD & 3D. Sound is short range FM to your car radio.
Roy runs it May-Oct, and only charges $8; $6 kids, seniors, and military with ID. Both screens have a double feature, all of them current films. We love it.


74 posted on 07/27/2013 12:30:05 AM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: ApplegateRanch
tank repair run

You have a tank? How cool! What size is the main gun?

/johnny

75 posted on 07/27/2013 9:04:07 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: greeneyes

Here is my cold frame (obviously not in use this time of year). It was cheap, took a couple of hours to put together and lasted well. I'll replace the top plastic this fall, but the plastic is cheap.

It has 4 stakes that I drive into the ground when I put it where it goes to hold it down.

I like the plastic top, because the weight is easier to handle than glass, and less likely to break.

When properly installed and the stakes are pounded in, it slopes so that rain runs off and I can point the low side to the south.

/johnny

76 posted on 07/27/2013 9:17:23 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Marcella
If you grow tobacco (like I do).

And if you use your favorite chef's knife to shred it for cigarette tobacco (like I do).

WASH the knife after slicing jalapenos and before shredding the tobacco (like I didn't).

/johnny

77 posted on 07/27/2013 9:19:37 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Monsanto OWNS Seminis!

Well, well, well. There you have it. Burpee doesn't buy seeds DIRECTLY from Monsanto but from their middle man.

78 posted on 07/27/2013 9:55:53 AM PDT by bgill (This reply was mined before it was posted.)
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To: greeneyes

A simple way to improve carrot germination is to sow the seeds, gently water them in, then cover the area with an old board or even thick cardboard (weighted down). For small patches in a raised bed, scraps of wood leftover from other projects work fine. Start checking daily after a week and remove the cover as soon as the plants are out of the soil.

The cover retains moisture and reduces temperature swings, so you get high germination rates without needing to water constantly.


79 posted on 07/27/2013 10:54:37 AM PDT by FiscalSanity
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To: JRandomFreeper
Not very.


80 posted on 07/27/2013 12:07:38 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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