WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 37 SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Free Republic | September 13, 2013 | greeneyes

[Marcella]

“Maybe the beer and the shotgun aren’t such a good combination. How about a pellet gun and espresso?”

I loaded my pellet gun the day that squirrel got into the container where my special squash is. He leaves when I open the door so I would have to sit out in the hot sun and darkness to ever shoot him. I'm hoping the trap will get the killer squirrel.

[JRandomFreeper]

Shotgun and beer. What could possibly go wrong? ;)

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Did I mention that my fall tomatoes are budding and blooming? The ones I have left, anyway...

/johnny

[Marcella]

“Did I mention that my fall tomatoes are budding and blooming? The ones I have left, anyway...”

I have 8 Mortgage Lifters in pots well over a foot tall, and the trunks are filling out to be strong. They are in potting soil mix so they are getting fertilizer and I have Jobs tomato spikes fertilizer to add at a certain time and I don’t remember when that is - I think it is to be added when they begin to make tomatoes. Need to read the package to make sure.

I have found this gardening is an every day thing if you actually keep up with it to make sure it works. Doing this experiment to see if these plants have enough time to produce before winter weather will tell me whether to do this again or not.

I know it sounded nuts to plant seeds under the grow lamp in the middle of the hottest part of Texas summer when plants outside in the ground would cook in this heat, but the plants are now out there in containers and they get shade in the hottest part of the day as shade comes to that part of the deck then.

Outsmarting Texas killer heat is a talent I had to acquire if plants were to survive.

I will keep at this until I get it right.

[rightly_dividing]

We have no experience growing up north, but her zennias did not do well this year either. Wife buys multiple packets of a variety of different zennias, from several different seed companies. I have suspected her new location in the yard was not ideal. None got over 30” tall and only produced flowers in the last month. In the past, they have grown to 7’ or 8’ and flowered like crazy all season long.

[tubebender]

Sta-Bil goes in my 5 gallon cans when I fill them. There is a fuel bulk plant that sells real gas for off road use but I haven’t tried it yet.

[rightly_dividing]

We went to get my wife’s car from the mechanic shop today and went by the seed store in town to pick up 50lbs of food for the critters. All the birdies and Mr Squirrel are feasting, as are the Hummers. We had about 10 or so hummers at the feeder when we ate just now, along with all sizes and species of birds. It must be time for northern birds to migrate, because I was not familiar some of the ones we saw tonight.

Maybe we will see you bringing us another squirrel tomorrow.

We had a nice Big Boy tomato with our sandwiches tonight, probably will be the last one from the spring garden this year. Still debating on what to do with the mater plants, cut’em back and see what happens, or tear’em out and plant the cuttings we took a while back. Maybe we will pot the cuttings and see if they grow through the winter(does SE Texas have winter?) and produce, or take cutting from them to go in the ground next spring. Decisions, decisions.

[Marcella]

I’d like more of the Lantana perennial flowers in pots in the dirt garden as that one I got drew in a hummingbird. The people in these townhouses, at least the ones on my side, have nothing in their gardens, I mean nothing, not one plant of any kind so there is nothing to bring hummingbirds and butterflies in except my garden and it hasn’t had flowers since all the rose plants died.

This is southeast Texas and I’m counting on no really cold weather until January. If you remember, last year there was hardly a winter at all (must be global warming :o) )

In 1989, in December, the temp. was 5 degrees all the way through Galveston, and lasted several days and outdoor shrubbery/plants died and people’s pipes froze and plumbers made a fortune.

[rightly_dividing]

A hummingbird feeder will draw them for sure. Maybe we can root some Lantanas for you, we have many color varieties.

Where we are from, there is almost no winter to speak of. Only saw snow about 6 times in my lifetime there. It would be 30's some, mostly it was gray days, which are miserable. If the sun is out, 20's are ok with us. When we went to Mi. in Oct '09, it was 25 at night, but sunny days. We were dressed lightly, but the locals were dressed for Siberia in the daytime and looking at us like we were Martians. I guess we southerners just stand out. LOL

[Marcella]

I actually have a hummingbird feeder. After the roses died, I had the feeder out there but no hummingbirds came. I should put it out there again since there is a little color out there now.

[rightly_dividing]

This is hummingbird season for our area. Our friends that visited Sunday said they were having a lot of hummers, too. One thing I saw at supper, Blue Jays are pretty aggressive, but I saw a Jay fly into a dense container plant trying to escape from a hummer that followed him in there pecking him all the while.

[mlizzy]

Regarding hoses, I picked one up today (a remnant at 15 feet as that's all I thought we needed), and then after I hooked it up, I saw a warning that the hose contained lead, and one should not drink from it. What!?! I never heard of that before and I'm thinking if you can't drink from it, you probably shouldn't water [organically-grown] vegetables with it. What do you think?

As far as hummingbirds go, I've only seen one my whole life until these last few weeks. We have a huge potted geranium and marigold plant, and a hummingbird comes by frequently. Yesterday, I was standing no more than two feet away from the bird and the plant, and he didn't show any signs of fleeing, until he did :) after about 70 seconds. Remarkable! So much fun!

Well today we planted the Eqyptian Onions from the source you recommended. Exciting as well. We ate two bulbets last night. They are spunky in a great way. Thanks for the info.

We are thinking of maybe having a frame made, covering it with plastic and leaning it against the garage for some winter protection on our [new] small garden. Haven't figured out how to do the sides yet.

[Marcella]

A garden hose safe for drinking water will have a notice of “safe for drinking”, something like that, on the package. I’m surprised a hose is in this country that contains lead.

Well, we are part of the Egyptian Walking Onion crowd now so we should always have onions.

Your little garden looks nice and neat. My deck is a mess with plants everywhere in not a neat order but it is too hot for me to arrange all those plants and move the iron furniture to a better place on the deck. My son will be here the first of October and I’m hoping for cooler days then so he can help me arrange containers out there. I can actually do it myself if the weather is cooler than it is now.

[rightly_dividing]

My guess is ‘lead’ was a mis-translation. I think that PVC(polyvinyl chloride) is the word they were looking for. I believe that PVC-free hoses are the ones that are food grade, or drinking water safe. My wife deals with Asians daily, and mis-translations occur from time to time, even with the best English speaking people there. I would use the hose. I bought a 15’ hose today from Lowes, I wonder if it is the same. Hav ta check that on the morrow.

[greeneyes]

Alrighty then.

[greeneyes]

Saw some honkers heading south yesterday here too.

[greeneyes]

Sounds good.

[greeneyes]

Seems like I have seen motion detector water sprayers too somewhere or other in a catalog.

[greeneyes]

Probably so. Danged squirrels are persistent.

[mlizzy]

Thank you for your response. I’m hoping it was a mistranslation. Seemed really strange...