Posted on 05/23/2014 12:40:08 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.
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So sad. I saw this from yesterday from the Medina County Sheriff:
Medina Lake saw a slight increase but remains far below normal at 2.8 percent full.
At 6:35 pm, if the weather on WOAI isn’t lying, you are getting inundated...I can’t think of any place that needs rain more than you guys..Rain= Good. The Tornado Warning, not so much.
I always thought Okra blossoms resembled Cotton blooms...
Cotton blossoms: first day white, second day red, third day dead?
Over the past week, we've had wet stuff falling from the skies. If I remember correctly, it's called rain. Nearly 3.5”. Tornado warnings yesterday and hail in town but no bad weather here. It's mostly been nice on and off light rain for several days so it soaked into the soil rather than run off.
FRiends are full of knowledge but what works in one area may not in another. Do a search for garden blogs within a 50 mile radius of you and combine their planting dates, bugs, etc. to nail it down for your soil and climate conditions.
That what I did this winter and filled a 3-ringed binder. Learned some new things. Verified some things I already knew. Got some ideas on new plants to try and those to mark off the list. But still can't believe how some are bringing in bushels of maters the week I set out my transplants that were started in January.
I know what you mean about the maters. I have a neighbor whose plants are strong, bushy and green when some of ours are spindly and sick-looking. Personally, I think he has probably sold his soul and will pay for it later (not really).
That was a good rain, but the reporting was a bit overdone. KSAT was telling people to find shelter.
The only thing I did out of the ordinary was move the Mrs. car into my Man-Cave (aka garage).
The rain came and went just as fast.
Tell us about it!!!!!!!!!!
I went to a farmers market and they had all kinds of produce, real good looking stuff, yet my plants are just blooming and starting to set fruit and I planted them at the end of March.
BTW- I had my first peach from our orchard we planted in 2012
Congratulations grandma!
I am a grandma too. My feral cat had eight kittens. I was able to bond with all but one kitten. Had everybody spayed and neutered. Kitten grandchildren are an extreme blessing.
First corn which commands a high price ,here in Western NY is grown outdoors in rows heated by solar heat under black plastic used as a mulch.
OneVike:".. (deer)wiped my tomato crop out, along with my cucs and bell peppers. No matter what I tried I could not stop them."
Consider a 'hot sause' of hot pepper (jalaipino , ghost pepper , scrorpion, etc)juice on your plants.
Take two (or 3 ) hot peppers, slice up (with seeds)and put into 1 gallon jug of water, allow to 'steep' into a tea for approximately 4 days in the sun.
Strain the liquid thru cheesecloth or coffee filter to get out the solids, with only liquid remaining.
Add 4-5 drops of mild liquid dishwashing soap (Dove , Palmolive,etc.) as a surfactant (speads liquid, and makes it adhere to waterproof plant leaves).
Spray top and bottom of leaves - will give the deer 'hot mouth'/ unpleasant taste . I use an old used glass cleaner bottle.
Re-apply after any rainfall to the top surface; hard rain reapply top and bottom of leaves.
You should have sufficient left-overs to be used during the growing season.
Leave the left-overs in the sun with the soids to continue to have the heat work and increase the heat . YMMV.
Thanks for the recipe.
In the past I tried a market brand called, “Liquid Fence”, Deer and Rabbit Repellant. It seemed to work at first, but after about a Month the deer began eating salads on the way to the creek again.
So I will get the ingredients and give your recipe a try. I’ll let you know how it works.
One thing about our weather here. It will rain until about mid May, but then it will not rain again until almost mid October. Sometimes like last year it didn’t rain until late January.
We live in the country, well about 5 miles out of town. There is a creek just across the small access road to our small development. So besides all the birds, we also have, wild turkey, deer, coyotes, wolves, fox, bears, rattlers, etc. etc. etc. eventually find their way into our yard on their way to the creek to get water. Usually on the way there or back many will check out the salad bar I prepared...LOL
As I said, I’ll give your potion a try. Anything is worth a try at this point. Or else I will be building an electric fence.
http://phys.org/news/2014-05-eu-compromise-gm-crops.html
“After years of fractious talks, EU states have finally reached a compromise to allow cultivation of genetically modified (GM) food crops by giving their opponents an opt out, official sources said Wednesday... Officials said the compromise means that when a company now applies for GM clearance, a member country can cite objections other than health and safety, such as concern over its impact on the environment or law and order issues, so as to be excluded from the EU approval. “The compromise in the end offers more guarantees to the anti-GM countries,” one EU diplomat said.”
IOW, France will be making big in the heritage seed business. I’ve noticed some of the large US seed companies are putting “France” on the label.
I use red mulch over weed block too. It’s so good to see
you back, Red. How are the pups?
My corn is over 6 feet tall and are tasselling out. Now I
need to sprinkle some cayenne pepper over the top of the
corn cob leaves to keep those worms away. Hope it works.
My tomatoes are coming along beautifully so I’m spreading
baking soda on the soil to sweeten the “fruit”. Squash
galore, cukes coming along. When I planted my 4 different kinds of peppers, something happened to the markers, I’ve
replanted them with the tomatoes, but I don’t know which are
which. My Asian mustard greens are going crazy, we pick
some and a bunch more is ready the following 2 days.
Greeneyes,
Do you preserve greens?
I’m getting ready to plant some India greens as soon as
the weather clears and my foot is ok.
Gardening is surprising and fun.
Wow.
In 3 days of rain we’ve got 3.7 inches. Filled my rain
barrel, so I’m putting out another one. Who know, it
might rain again.
Looks tasty Sarajevo. Wanna share?
I have never grown greens. Pups are doing well.
I've had so much rain I don't need any more until next year.
I transplanted 6 tomato plants today into large containers. I couldn't have done that if my slave labor guy hadn't carried the bags in. Somehow there was no tag in one of the pots from which I transplanted. I don't know what that tomato is and that really ticks me off.
One of them transplanted was another Tycoon tomato.
I'll be here for the new thread tomorrow, then go Saturday with the earth physicist and take Prissy to check out his part of Texas. Will take computer with me, may be gone two weeks or more. I was thinking today, I haven't left my town in at least a year and a half. I am wondering what the world looks like past my town.
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