Posted on 01/26/2018 4:12:03 PM PST 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.
We got in some more seed catalogs. We continue to plan for green house utilization.
Hubby has purchased the materials to put up a shelf about a foot above the patio door. Then he's going to put up a support to hang a heavy clear plastic curtain up. Putting some straw bales at the sides for insulation, should make for about 24 sq feet of space for shelves to grow stuff all winter, and reduce heating needs.
John Coleman, cofounder of the weather channel and skeptic of man made global warming died recently. I am adding a link to one of his you tube presentations. It was pretty interesting and presented in a humorous and entertaining way.
Al Gore was inspired by a Professor Revelle's paper. Gore made a D in the class, but wrote his first book on climate and won the Senate race. Revelle himself felt the research was not complete and was skeptical of the climate models. Coleman's presentation is below. The first 10-15 minutes are the best of the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=AfAvMrBiqqM&feature=youtu.be
My own research has been very interesting. Climate cycles are more closely correlated with sun activity. It appears that we are entering a Grand Solar Minimum. The last one was a little over 200 yrs ago (that's the usual length of a cycle). It was known as the Dalton minimum. This one has been named the Eddy Minimum. Prepare for cooler weather, increased earthquake and volcanic activity - possible crop failures. Stock up the pantry, and become as self sufficient as possible.
Last year, Europe had a shortage of veggies due to temps that were too cool in Spain. Food riots are happening in the Sudan. For myself, I don't forget that the Big New Madrid quake occurred during the last Solar Minimum.
For now, the slipping pacific plate has had it's pressure relieved mostly in Oklahoma, though we recently had activity close to 3.0.
No need to over hype the cold - the big glacier type ice age is likely thousands of years away. Just plan on the next 20-30 yrs. to be trending colder.
Have a great weekend. Prayers up for all. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
Thank you for the post greeneyes & for the video.
It was in the mid 50’s here in Atlanta, GA today with mostly overcast skies. This weekend will be mild with a little rain. Maybe half and inch for the lucky few. We are starting the year out drier than usual. Sure wish I had put that water tank in last fall. :-)It has been fairly cold this winter, but the last two winters were rather warm. The bugs made 2017 spring/summer/fall unbearable, so we need a hard winter.
Today I did walk around the house and beds. No telling what will come up or not. Last year we had ample rain and stuff came up I don’t remember from before. This year I am going to shuffle the veg garden around a bit. The asparagus should be a good show since this will be the 3rd year in it’s bed.
On the climate issue I stand with the Pan Global Climate group. The climate will pan out globally just the way God wants it to in His time. :-)
Hope that green house goes well. It has given me an idea. :-)
Yes indeed, God is in control. Whatever cycles the Earth is going through is by his design, not mankind’s.
I’ve been building a large flowerbed around the mango tree in the backyard. The previous owners of the house had, over the years piled rocks around the trunk which makes it hard to weed and mow around. I plan to put shade-loving plants like caladiums in the bed.
That’s lovely idea. Much easier to deal with too.
Due to the mild temps I will check my containers this weekend. I should have a few things that could be cleaned up since I was harvesting though mid-December.
Can’t believe that chives should be sprouting again in about a month.
LOL. Yes time is moving faster and faster every year.
How old is the mango tree and does it produce fruit? Do you mind me asking where you are located? Mango is the best as far as fruits go.
And what a joy that is to know! Gardener’s know there is a God. Wonder if Obstetricians do, too.
Not only is lady Bender looking forward to knee surgery early this year but she slipped, fell and broke one elbow and fractured the other She had surgery Tuesday and is recovering here at home so I may have to learn to spade and plant seed and harvest...
Well, I think that a lot of them have been brainwashed or forgotten. Culture wars = Satan’s assault on God’s people-I call it creeping Satanism (some say creeping socialism).
I am sorry to her about her trouble. Prayers up for speedy recovery. Take it easy - maybe a youngster at your church would like learn some gardening skills by helping out?
Prayers for Lady Bender hope she heals up quickly. I’ve had both knees replaced it is no fun at all.
didn’t know John Coleman had died...
The tree produces about 1000 pounds of fruit a year. I do not know how old it is but it is over 40 feet tall. The trunk is 6 to 7 feet in circumference
We live on the tropical island of Guam.
No gardening yet here in the Colorado Rockies. Right now it is 15F and 1 ft of snow with drifts up to 3 ft. Git to get things started about a month earlier indoors, targeting mid April instead of end of May like last year!
Prayers for Lady Bender. Life must be quite difficult for her with both elbows decommissioned.
...and when did you forget how to spade, plant and harvest?? LOL
Best wishes to both of you, and may your garlic be rust free.
Hi, tubebender; yes, I am here. Lady Bender is minus the use of both arms. What a terrible thing for her. She is lucky to have you to help her. Husbands are nice to have, every woman should have one.
Marcella
I have pinged the people who spoke to me on another thread. We spoke about JRandomFreeper, Johnny, who died in January, 2016. They all miss Johnny and I know those of you who knew him on the gardening thread, loved him.
I just bought seeds for storage in case of an extended emergency. Most can be grown in containers and certainly in the ground. I tried to cover almost all foods one would need to have a decent diet.
Add to these seeds, the actual plants: Egyptian Walking Onions Heirloom - only need to plant them once, and Jerusalem Artichokes Heirloom - Norton Naturals has them – only plant them once and use as potatoes. And, greeneyes, don’t forget Tromboncino Squash Seed, grow them in containers, and they will produce long squash without getting killed by murderer squash eaters getting into their trunks because this squash doesn’t have hollow trunks like other squash.
I keep seeds in a large, file type, totally enclosed, air proof plastic box, in the dark in a temperature of about 73 degrees. I have written in my book the years various seeds will stay viable this way. Note a number listed are hybrid. Why are hybrid seeds developed? Because of these attributes: they are less disease prone, grow stronger, maybe produce more, maybe have a longer growing season to keep getting product, start growing earlier in the spring, etc. They were grown to be better than their aged relatives.
I know the “principled” grower with scoff at storing hybrid seed, but I will have food growing when their heirlooms get sick and die and I don’t have to salvage seeds and dry them and hope they grow. Think about this before you kick hybrids to the curb for storage and only grow heirlooms now so you can save seed and have you ever actually saved seed from a growing plant? At least store hybrids along with heirloom so you have the option of using them in an emergency situation.
These new seeds are from Burpee: You can read about their qualities, their ability to grow strong, productive plants:
Bean Cannelino Heirloom Organic
Broccoli Sun King Hybrid
Cauliflower Attribute Hybrid
Corn on Deck Hybrid
Cucumber Spacemaster
Cucumber Sugar Crunch Hybrid
Eggplant Meatball Hybrid
Lettuce Black Seeded Simpson
Lettuce All Season Romaine Blend
Onion Parade Bunching
Pea Peagoda
Tomato Burpee’s Early Pick VF Hybrid (new one)
Tomato Cherry Punch Hybrid – remember this one has more Vit. C than any tomato
Tomato Bushsteak Hybrid
Onion Sturon Organic
Pepper Sweet Candy Apple Hybrid
Bean Beananza Bush
Bean Bush Blue Lake 47
Cauliflower Fioretto 60
Carrot Caracas Hybrid
I didn’t get radishes because they cause me stomach trouble.
Here are the other tomato seeds I already had in the storage box for, now four years old:
Burpee’s Long Keeper Tomato
Fourth of July Hybrid
Better Boy Hybrid
Tomato Mortgage Lifter Red
Volkov Red Cosmonaut
Sabre Tomato
Red Icicle Tomato
Sweet Million Hybrid
I will replenish some heirloom tomatoes because it’s easy to do – just check them, hit “CART” and buy them. I already had other food seed, heirloom and hybrid, but you know what? I’ve forgotten what they are. They are in the box and four years old. Do you do that? Do you actually know the names of the seeds you have without looking?
I wanted to get fresh seed and it hit me, I really needed hybrid seed to better my chances of growing food plants in an emergency situation, just buy enough to last years so I would have the seed.
I will make another post, listing the Table of Contents of the Gardening Chapter of “EMERGENIES HAPPEN! BE PREPARED”. If you want the Table of Contents for the whole book, you can contact me. It’s too long to put on here. The book is with book agents, waiting to be accepted by one of them. Full book is about 370 pages when the Index gets added. I wrote the book in four months, sitting every day at the computer, and falling in bed at night worn out and doing it again the next day and every day after that. I wrote the book to save lives.
I thought of this gardening thread as I wrote the gardening chapter. We had so much fun on here when Johnny was alive – oh, and the laughs you gave me as I learned to grow plants and screwed up over and over. Remember, I dumped ground to grow plants, and went to containers. Then, the second year, I started the seeds inside the house, then had over 100 containers outside all growing food.
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