WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 43 OCTOBER 25, 2013

Free Republic | October 25, 2013 | greeneyes

[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.

[mrsmith]

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus ) was brought to this country by Europeans for use as a respiratory treatment. It’s now a common weed, easily identified.
From personal knowledge it is at least as good as OTC expectorants and syrups.
A heaping spoonful filtered (it has sharp hairs that irritate) into a cup of boiling water with a teaspoon of honey is very effective for colds.
“The combination of expectorant saponins and emollient mucilage makes the plant particularly effective for cough. All preparations meant to be drunk have to be finely filtered to eliminate the irritating hairs”

Got down to 22 degrees last night. Covered the cabbage which is just beginning to ‘head’ and the young lettuce. Didn’t cover the Fava beans but they seem to have survived alright along with the turnip greens.

[sockmonkey]

While you’re battling the squirrels, I thought grasshoppers or crickets, or birds were eating my newly transplanted pak choy.

Well, I just went out with a flashlight, and snagged, and squashed two decollete (the kinda cone shaped) snails.
apparently, the book that said, they are the “good snails” that eat the other snails didn’t tell the whole story.

[Califreak]

I’ve heard they can kill cats if they hit them had enough.

The original angry birdz.

[KosmicKitty]

Picked all the green tomatoes on Wednesday before the first frost here in CT. Have them all in paper bags hoping that they will ripen. We figure well over 300 lbs of heirloom tomatoes this year! Picked the last of the celery too as I wanted to put some garlic in where I had had the celery.

Carrots, beets, collards, kale, lettuce and radishes still doing good and have some potatoes to dig up. Put in a section of garlic for the Spring. The fall carrots are so much better then the ones I put in in the Spring.

Now that it's gotten cold here, is it too late to put in a winter ground cover? Definitely want to try green manure next year. We're going to try composting our leaves this year. We sure have a lot of leaves LOL.

Last big harvest this past Wednesday

Finally got the giant brandywine ripe. One tomato weighed in over 1-1/2 lbs! IT's ready to be eaten with fresh mozzarella and olive oil.

[TEXOKIE]

Did you write about putting cucs into already existing pickle juice earlier on these threads, rightly dividing? If so, I may have gotten the idea to do this from you! If my others had not frozen, I would definitely have done more.

More lessons learned.

1. Don’t put dry ice over the stuff you don’t want frozen
2. Cucs make lovely pickles even if you don’t can them for long term storage!
3. The apple with the unwaxed apple is working perfectly to make my green tomatoes blush! Thanks all who told me of this!

[rightly_dividing]

I dont remember who first wrote about refrigerator pickles here, but it is where I got the idea a long time ago. I have made canned pickles for years, but no need to now. We can make smaller batches and we eat them as they become ready without taking up pantry space which is in short supply here. There are recipes online for no-can refrigerator pickles from scratch not requiring leftover pickle juice, but I have not tried any.

[Marcella]

I got four inches of rain last night. Do you know what you got?

[rightly_dividing]

We got 1.4” rain. Didn’t rain long, was noisy more than anything.

The month of Oct average for us is 4.7” Out here, we are at 3 3/4”

[Darth Reardon]

I was able to turn off the A/C for a couple days and open up the house and it’s still only late October. Back in the high 80’s by Tuesday, though, so probably just a false alarm.

[TEXOKIE]

Oh thanks for the tip. I’ll do a search and see if one appeals! Our grocery store still sells cucs, so if I get a hankering to experiment, I can still do so! - even in the dead of winter! LOL1

[TEXOKIE]

LOl! That ‘l’ should be a ‘!’

[rightly_dividing]

Try to get pickling cukes if possible, small 4”-6” tiny seed cukes.

[greeneyes]

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing them. You have really done great this year. If your weather is like ours where you actually get a warm up after the first couple of frosts or so, I’d say you could Plant some stuff.

Winter wheat can be used, and it has to be planted after frost, so that the Hessian Fly is dead. Some people in your area grow garden stuff in “hot beds”. These are beds that have a big manure base for heat. Other wise they are the same as a cold frame.

The winter cover crops in general just go dormant when a freeze comes, and when it warms up enough they start growing again. It’s too late for fava beans.

You could try winter wheat, vetch, rye, and/or alfalfa. Vetch is good to plant where you had cukes, melons etc. If you plant winter wheat, in the early spring you can interseed with red clover. Rye should be winter cereal rye.

[KosmicKitty]

Thanks. I just started reading about cover crops and their benefit this year. Figured I might be too late to start.

[TEXOKIE]

OH! great suggestion! Thanks!

[rightly_dividing]

You’re welcome.

All this talk; now ya got me wanting to make some pickles. :)

[afraidfortherepublic]

Horrific Tales of Potatoes That Caused Mass Sickness and Even Death

[sockmonkey]

"Horrific Tales of Potatoes That Caused Mass Sickness and Even Death"

heck, now I'm scared to eat potatoes from two weeks ago.

[greeneyes]

That’s why I stack up bunches of hay on top of the soil to prevent the sun from reaching them while growing.

I also alway cut off any green looking stuff before I cook potatoes.

[greeneyes]

Ask her how come the mercury in themometors is so dangerous that hospitals no longer allow a thermometer by the bedside, and yet bulbs with mercury are some how OK?

Does she know that it takes more than 1 Ton of soil to safely handle the contamination in just one of these bulbs?

Ask her where she disposes of these bulbs? Does she think that most people are doing anything other than throwing them in the trash can for the garbage man to pick up. What’s gonna happen to the environment when all that mercury gets into the environment?