Posted on 05/09/2014 10:16:25 AM PDT by rightly_dividing
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.
I've yet to see a male flower bloom, but I have squash on the plant. I just went out and counted thirteen yellow green squash. Three are zucchini size. The rest are smaller ones.
Later, when it's not so hot, I am going to put two more cucuzza plants out into their final spot. I also have one more T squash that is ready to go out into it's place by the cattle panel, and one that I'm still waiting to emerge.
They are in the greenhouse right now. I had the door and window open, the greenhouse is covered in shade cloth, and I had a fan going in there at medium speed. It was 100 degrees in there. I am thinking that I am going to take the plastic off, and cover it with just shadecloth until fall. The only downside to that is that I also use it like a potting shed, so I will have to move things I don't want to get wet out of there..
Yesterday, we got a whopping 12/100th's of an inch of rain. I guess that wouldn't have gotten anything in there wet, plastic cover or not.
“I’ve yet to see a male flower bloom, but I have squash on the plant. I just went out and counted thirteen yellow green squash. Three are zucchini size. The rest are smaller ones.”
I don’t understand that. I have the two flowers that have opened and another one will be open tomorrow and no squash.
How did those squash get there? Did those squash grow behind a flower? Paint me totally confused.
First therer was a long mini squash shaped thing. It had a tiny bud like thing on the end, which, when the mini squash was about six inches long opened up into a flower about four inches across. After about 24 hours of being open, the flower falls off.
I will try to figure out how to take a decent picture, and upload it with one of my tablets..I hate Sprint for discontinuing Picture Mail. They are trying to force everyone into a data plan, and get rid of the old free data plan people.
/johnny
“First there was a long mini squash shaped thing. It had a tiny bud like thing on the end, which, when the mini squash was about six inches long opened up into a flower about four inches across. After about 24 hours of being open, the flower falls off.”
Well, that’s what cucumbers do as I’ve got a bunch of them going through those stages. There is mostly blooms but I see some tiny cucumbers behind some of those flowers. I’m assuming they got pollinated as there were too many for me to do that by hand.
We’ll just have to wait to see what happens to those you have growing that large with the flowers gone.
Plants need to do their own thing and pollinate themselves without all this wondering from us. They were made to produce so do it without involving us. That’s my feeling about it.
Just started tilling the garden today. A good 3-4 weeks later than usual, due to the cold and overly wet weather. Will plant the spring crops over the next few days and hope for the best in the compressed spring season.
Remind me not to eat pizza at your house. :o)
/johnny
I’m not eating any linguine at your house.
/johnny
Coward. :)
That squash isn’t falling off, it’s the real thing. Wish mine was that far along. Oh, I forgot, I sent you that seed so I own half of that squash. :o)
You're a handy type guy..can you rig up an autoclave for the post sock sterilization process?
I always put 91% isopropyl alcohol on stuff to extra sterilize it...One of these days, I figure I'll accidentally set something (me) on fire.
Good luck. I think a lot of us started late this time due to the extended GoBull Warming period we had. I was a month late.
/johnny
Hey, have you been eating any lettuce from your mobile garden cart? I need to go get some lettuce and swiss chard out of the garden, and eat it. I like to grow this stuff more than I like to eat it.
My daughter juices swiss chard, lettuce, just about anything. I don’t really like vegetables. If doughnuts were a vegetable I could grow in my garden..mmmm, mmmm.
I like the smell of rubbing alcohol; hate the smell of bleach.
Yesterday, the Mrs and I went to the city. On the way back, clouds built up and suddenly there was thunder and lightning....and we got rain! Big wet drops! It stopped before we arrived at home, but there was about 3/4 of an inch of precipitation. The ducks and geese were having a field day. The plants look great after a wetting of rainwater.
Our Roma, Cherry, and Black Krimn are doing great, even after being nipped by that surprise freeze in April. Lettuce was transplanted from the hydroponics bed into the ground, and radish and carrots are sprouting.
We have Hot banana peppers Trinidad Scorpion peppers, Ghost Peppers (Thanks for the seed, rightly_dividing!), jalapeno, habenero, Orange Thai, Sweet peppers, and Tabasco peppers growing also.
The biggest problem we have is an armadillo. The little *&%$*$#e has invaded my hoop-house three times so far, and every time it has dug up all the okra seed. I'm afraid that I won't have okra this year.
Borers don't like them because the vine is solid throughout, not hollow. If you recall, that's what made me look for a squash that squash borers didn't like - two regular squash plants I planted in dirt were killed by borers and that's when I swore off dirt and went to containers and looked for a squash not so susceptible to borers.
When I read about the T squash and saw their picture on Bountiful Gardens, I knew that was MY squash. They are almost a year long food. Think about it, Walking Onions are always there once established, White Fuseau Jerusalem Artichokes always in the ground, and Tromboncino Squash almost always there to eat. Those are super survival foods and a few indeterminate tomato plants should give tomatoes all summer long (if planted in succession and treated right).
So, make a stir fry of food that will always be there. In a skillet with a little oil, dump in sliced T squash, cut up Walking Onions, sliced White Fuseau “potatoes”, and cut up tomato. Stir fry a bit, add salt/pepper, and that should be very tasty. Make a soup with those ingredients plus rice and beef or chicken broth. Put in a can of chicken or a can of roast beef with its gravy. The rice, broth, and canned meats are in my pantry to have food available if the SHTF.
Well, I could keep building meals out of these always there foods as a base.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.