WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD OCTOBER 30, 2015

freerepublic | October 30, 2015 | 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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - 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.

[greeneyes]

I wish you luck!

[greeneyes]

Ha Ha. You sound like me. Pie crust and pizza crust - so many times, I just fake it instead of make it. LOL

I like the pizza crust that comes in the cans like biscuits. It looks home made when it goes into the oven even.

[greeneyes]

I think I have about 15 or 20 years too. Sure am making some plans for stuff I want to get done - not just in the gardening area either.

Here’s to you and the Cherry Top Guy.

[greeneyes]

Yes, that’s me too. I like to have a certain amount of order. I have my pantry arranged so that the can in front tells you what is behind it - like in the grocery store.

Hubby will go in there pick up a can and move it to the side in front of a completely different can of stuff. He does that until he has looked at every single can. Then he starts on another. He’ll finally choose one and then leave all the unorderly mess - sigh.

[greeneyes]

Looking good. More than I have - mine is not even in the ground. Might have missed the window? Will have to see. Maybe we’ll have a little Indian summer.

[greeneyes]

All I know is that I read that sometime they spray water on plants to prevent frost damage.

[greeneyes]

Hi there. Thanks. Good to hear from you. Watcha been up to?

[Arkansas Tider]

I use a 100gl cattle trough filled with water and 2 packs of swimming pool shock, nothing will survive that level of chlorine. I also sterilize the stakes, tools, picking baskets etc. I deal with early (Southern) blight every year, once its in the soil other than fumigating you can’t get rid of it. I use several methods to keep it at bay for as long as possible, plastic mulch, pine straw mulch, pruning lower leaves and a strict spraying schedule with copper sulfate.

Late blight is a different animal altogether, it is airborne and can spread for miles in a single day. You might want to try some short season varieties like early girl, glacier or sub artic plenty to beat the cool Northwest nights.

[tubebender]

I planted Celebrity this year on the advice of a small local nursery. We got spoiled when we had our “summer Place” on the Klamath River and I planted 50 plants that I started from seed. We are happy to have two weekly farmers street markets for 4 months of the year

[Arkansas Tider]

Celebrity is one of my main crop tomatoes along with Tasti Lee, Jet Star, and Early Girl. It was bred in the 80’s for fresh market sales in the South because of its ability to withstand the Southern summer heat. It is one of my favorite slicers and is my most asked for tomato. There are some new F1 varieties that claim resistance to early and late blight, but you would be more satisfied with cardboard soaked in Campbell’s tomato juice. My opinion, but I would never plant any tomato that has “mountain or goliath” in its name, way to many complaints at the market about them.

[KGeorge]

I know. You’ll get there, I imagine. God Bless.

[Augie]

Saturday's rain kept me from getting much accomplished outdoors aside from dropping my trailer off at the sawmill.

It's time to put garlic in the ground so I'm going to have to make a concerted effort next weekend to get some cleanup done in the garden and get the soil prepped to plant.

Even with the rain that we've gotten recently the ground is still very hard. There's not much moisture at all below the sod. Another inch will put it in good shape for plowing. The weather guessers are saying we've got a cool front coming in late this week that should bring some moisture so I'm going to take a chance and hold off plowing this week.

Yesterday was bright and sunny, and I took full advantage. Pops came over in the morning and helped me set the gate and brace posts for the new fenceline.

After we finished setting posts I took down another drought-killed black oak at the edge of the pasture. This one was a whopper (over 80' tall). It only had one branch that leafed out last spring and some of the others were starting to shed so I decided to take it down before it got too dangerous to work under. There is a mountain of firewood in this one. I ran one tank of gas through the saw, hauled out three full loader buckets with the tractor and barely made a dent in it.

[greeneyes]

You have a winter’s worth of wood probably? I hate when the big old trees have to come down.

I got out yesterday afternoon - it was beautiful. Did a small amount of digging - ground here was pretty dry and hard even in the raised beds. Trying to get some winter wheat and rye in for cover crop.

While digging, I discovered some garlic I missed earlier, and it has green tops, so I’m thinking I’ll replant that into the garlic patch I was preparing.

Also took a stroll around the neighborhood. Too many dang dogs running loose.

[Augie]

Most winters I burn 12 cords of wood. The next load from the sawmill will get me to 8 cords of that stuff, and I’ve cut at least 2 cords from the pile of logs that log buyer guy never came back for, so I’m getting close.

Between the log pile, big boy that I took down yesterday, and the other dozen or so smaller dead ones around my back pasture there’s probably another 12 cords that need to be cut up.

There are many things I’d rather spend my time on, but I’m not going to let all that go to waste.

[punknpuss]

I haven’t posted in a long while . . . the garden is a wreck. We got a puppy in late August and are so busy with him that I’ve put everything else on the back burner. So I have nothing to report. Hope everyone is doing well. I’ll be so glad when life gets back to normal! :p

[greeneyes]

I hear you. We have more than enough for our 2 fireplaces, since we don’t use them much anymore. But we are all set for an emergency outage, and can get more from our acreage outside of town.

[greeneyes]

My sympathy is with you - you are brave to get a puppy. Last time we got a dog it was one that was already potty trained. Now that she is no longer with us, we aren’t planning on a replacement any time soon, and for sure not a puppy. LOL

Go ahead and post I’ll be interested to hear about the puppy too - just consider it a Hobby.

[punknpuss]

Thanks for your response greeneyes. I have never reared a dog before and my hubby wanted a puppy so it could “imprint” on him. He’s imprinted alright! It’s a mixed breed dog (golden retriever/shepherd/hound, we think). We’ve been training him since we got him two months ago. He’s five months old now and he learns quickly but lately he’s been taking our commands under advisement. He’s sweet-natured and somewhat dominant. He can exercise great patience when he wants to. We’ve named him Bertie Woofster.

[greeneyes]

The dog whisperer, will tell you: Do be a pack leader. LOL

[greeneyes]

I am cleaning up a bit of the raised beds every day. Got some garlic in today. Hope to get winter rye in by the weekend.