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WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD JUNE 3, 2016
freerepublic | June 3, 2013 | greeneyes

Posted on 06/03/2016 3:05:01 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.

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.


TOPICS: Gardening
KEYWORDS: agriculture; food; gardening; hobby; hugelculture; permaculture; revolution; sustainable
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To: ApplegateRanch

R/O water dispensers? What are those. Walmart has some sort of large plastic blue see through container that have water in them. But they are already filled.


61 posted on 06/04/2016 9:51:00 AM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

Here in S.W Missouri, I have picked first 1/2 gal of raspberries, should get squash this week. Tomatoes and beans look better than they have in years.


62 posted on 06/04/2016 10:12:03 AM PDT by phil1750 (Love like you've never been hurt;Dance like nobody's watching;PRAY like it's your last prayer)
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To: phil1750

That’s great we have no berries ready to pick yet, but cherries are getting close.

Which County in SW MO.? I grew up in Christian County.


63 posted on 06/04/2016 11:12:06 AM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

They’re an about 2’ X 3’ X 5’ tall cabinet, with a front filling chamber that accepts 1, 2.5 & 5 gallon containers. They dispense water treated via a reverse osmosis filtering system, to clean all the chemicals & guck out of the city tap water that feeds it.


64 posted on 06/04/2016 2:07:44 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!�)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Interesting. Haven’t really heard of that. The city water is comes from wells is what I’ve been told. I know they have to treat it. Usually no chlorine smell, like some places have.

Some of the people have a slight smell of sulphur, but most don’t. I am not sure what causes that. I think it might be their own plumbing, but not sure. Those people buy the gallon jugs of water from the grocery or the big blue jugs from Walmart that have a dispenser tab. Looks to me like they are more than 5 gallon, but can’t remember for sure.

I don’t pay much attention, because we have well water from our own well. I used to have a reverse osmosis system when my Dad was here to use for his coffee and water, as his health was very delicate, but that was abundance of caution. We’ve been drinking it for 40 years. Haven’t tested it recently, but it tested good years back.


65 posted on 06/04/2016 2:31:56 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Interesting. Haven’t really heard of that. The city water is comes from wells is what I’ve been told. I know they have to treat it. Usually no chlorine smell, like some places have.

Some of the people have a slight smell of sulphur, but most don’t. I am not sure what causes that. I think it might be their own plumbing, but not sure. Those people buy the gallon jugs of water from the grocery or the big blue jugs from Walmart that have a dispenser tab. Looks to me like they are more than 5 gallon, but can’t remember for sure.

I don’t pay much attention, because we have well water from our own well. I used to have a reverse osmosis system when my Dad was here to use for his coffee and water, as his health was very delicate, but that was abundance of caution. We’ve been drinking it for 40 years. Haven’t tested it recently, but it tested good years back.


66 posted on 06/04/2016 2:32:03 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

It’s city water, which is very hard, and also hard on plumbing. Certified to meet standards, and even just won an “award of excellence”...great on paper, but is poor tasting, etc.

Only water we’ve used that was worse came from the Torrey Pines/Scripps water system: it wouldn’t even discolor, let alone dissolve Lipton InstanT Iced Tea, even when we let a glass sit overnight. It just floated on top, but worked perfectly in bottled water.

Second worst was some “natural mineral springs” water we collected at the spigot provided: it curdled coffee creamer. Sometimes, the city water would also do that, to a lesser degree.

In any case, we won’t use it for drinking or cooking. However, we also can’t afford tossing 3-4 gallons of water down the septic tank, for every good gallon an R/O system produces.


67 posted on 06/04/2016 2:46:51 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!�)
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To: ApplegateRanch

UGH. Sounds atrocious. I feel lucky to have great tasting water from the well.

We keep about 30 gallons of water in gallon jugs as emergency prep. Hardly ever have had to use it. Even though the well pump doesn’t work when the electricity goes out, the first thing I do is drain the lines into clean quart or gallon containers. That’s usually enough.

Hubby says he could hook the generator up to run the pump in no time at all. I told him, I’d rather do it now and then I could just flip a switch. He sees no point to expending that effort on his part.

He is in favor of the automatic stand by generator though. That’s because when we do have to use the portable generator and run power cords to the stuff, he has to expend effort. You see how it is? LOL

We have some water purification tablets, and some filtration bottles, and replacement filters, and directions for making your own filtration system if stuck in the woods.

Figure if we had to, the swimming pool water from the rain, or the creek water could be used in mega emergency situation.


68 posted on 06/04/2016 3:04:39 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

You sound well supplied (HAH! I slay me!) for emergencies.

We keep several gallon jugs as backups, too.


69 posted on 06/04/2016 7:32:10 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!�)
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To: ApplegateRanch

LOL. Well you know what they say. Always have 3 plans, 5 is better - so I may still need to work on it. Gotta have shelter, water, and food, and means to protect it. That’s the basics for any emergencies.

Living in tornado alley for all my life, we just grew up having alternatives. Didn’t call it prepping or disaster planning - just intelligent living.


70 posted on 06/04/2016 7:49:03 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes
Lady Bender did a lot of canning both water bath and pressure cooker back in the day but when it came time to can Salmon & Albacore Tuna I took over. I did it in the garage with a heavy duty two burner camp stove that Costco sells from time to time. Fish required 90 minutes at 10 or 15 pounds pressure and it needed constant vigilance so I took our office chair out there and did a lot of reading. I used one of these All American canners that held 3 rows of half pints which worked for us…

s-l1600

71 posted on 06/05/2016 9:21:34 AM PDT by tubebender (en)
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To: tubebender

I just recently got one of those! I had it on my Christmas list, but it was too much for my family, so several of them chipped in for my “canner fund” for Christmas and my birthday, until I had enough to buy one.

Previously I had been using a smaller Presto brand, that only had the weight on it. But the weight had some kind of build-up where it rested on the nozzle, and I couldn’t trust it anymore.


72 posted on 06/05/2016 10:18:46 AM PDT by Ellendra (Those who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with.)
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To: greeneyes

Your very fortunate on your water. Probably over 30 years ago I had trouble with my washing machine and a man from Sears came and fixed the problem then saw my fabric softener container and how caked it was with the blue substance. He told me I was damaging my washer and wasting money on the blue softener. I was told to only use clear vinegar. I have been using vinegar for many years and even have my friend in England using it as softener.

For you older friends here if you remember your moms put vinegar water on your hair after she washed your hair years ago if she didn’t have rain water.


73 posted on 06/05/2016 10:28:49 AM PDT by STARLIT (DONALD J TRUMP'S Oracle NICKNAME Provider...)
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To: greeneyes

Since we’ve had so much rain in Texas the mosquitoes are on a rampage. My neighbor suggested spraying the yard with Cutter’s Backyard Bug Control, which you attach to your garden hose, then spray. Has anyone had any experience with this product? I’m not spraying it around any edible plants, but I do have a dog in my backyard.


74 posted on 06/05/2016 10:42:57 AM PDT by astadoggy
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To: MomwithHope
pressure canning is the method being pushed now....TPTB also now are recommending extra time for doing canning in the traditional water bath method...

also, with tomatoes, the big seed companies have made them to be not so acidic as they were many yrs ago, so when you do can them, add some extra lemon juice to each jar....

75 posted on 06/05/2016 4:08:16 PM PDT by cherry
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To: cherry
as for my garden, the tomatoes in the containers are doing better than the ones in the ground.....my seeds came up poorly this year so I had to supplement with some seedingls for squash, zukes, etc....

peppers don't look so well...probably should have waited to get them in the ground....

after learning about seed tapes here on the garden thread, I'm happy to report I'll actually have radishes this year, and also beets....

once I pull my garlic, I'll do seed tapes for carrots....

76 posted on 06/05/2016 4:16:00 PM PDT by cherry
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To: greeneyes

Mandy is now into puppy nipping time. Growing every day.

Yesterday, I finally got my garden tilled. I put in my new asparagus bed, two new ruhbarb crowns, and tosay, I planted five hills of a special American Indian heirloom winter squash.

Tomorrow, I hope to get my potatoes, horseradish and maybe some cucumbers and more winter squash.

Barb has convinced me to fence in a massive puppy enclosure in the front yard. I need to get this done this week.


77 posted on 06/05/2016 6:38:33 PM PDT by Redleg Duke (Remember...after the primaries, we better still be on the same team!)
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To: tubebender

I have a two burner coleman camp stove that I have not used for 30 years. Dug it out of the basement store room. Couldn’t remember how to use it. Printed the directions and stuck them inside it.

It actually has fuel in it. Wonder if that fuel will still be good? I chickened out on trying to light it. We used to have propane or natural gas stoves in our early years. Switched to all electric when we built house.

I just don’t like to light that stuff - Hubby always did it for me when we went camping. Although in my dare - devil teenage years before I got married, I used to light the camp stove for Mom. Funny how things change when you are beyond the invincible stage.LOL


78 posted on 06/05/2016 10:32:22 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: NIKK

My Granny always used vinegar to rinse my hair. We have extra hard water here, but I never use water softener or downy either. Do use vinegar in a load now and then.


79 posted on 06/05/2016 10:34:35 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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To: astadoggy

I have no idea. We just try to keep all the water dumped, put mosquito dunks in the rain barrels etc. Don’t go outside at dusk. Plant basil and burn citronella and use skin so soft on exposed skin and wear long pants and long sleeves.

We had a dog, and we just don’t use pesticides, because we don’t want it in our soil or the ground water, as we are on a private well.


80 posted on 06/05/2016 10:39:00 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Le//t Freedom Ring.)
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