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Weekly Garden Thread - February 1-7, 2020
February 1, 2020 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

Posted on 02/01/2020 10:32:50 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin

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.

If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.

This thread is non-political respite. 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! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our New & Improved Ping List.

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 to Gardeners are welcomed any time!


TOPICS: Food; Gardening; Hobbies; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: garden; gardening
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Try living without us, LOL!

There are plenty of unsubsidized farmers in Mexico, Canada, Ukraine, Argentine and Australia just dying to get into our market So there is that. LOL.

41 posted on 02/04/2020 10:25:04 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: All
The Kale I usually grow is the Dwarf Blue Curled Vates. The Dwarf Blue is available just about anywhere they sell seeds or plant starts. I like the compactness of the plant, and it grows well into the Fall for me, even past frost with no protection.


42 posted on 02/04/2020 10:27:32 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Redleg Duke

What kind of ducks? Sorry about your rat problem. This might help to see rats in a different light. Or not
https://youtu.be/0qvOImHWne8


43 posted on 02/04/2020 10:28:46 AM PST by CJ Wolf ( #wwg1wga)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Kale is ok, but I think Collards are much more tasty.


44 posted on 02/04/2020 11:14:59 AM PST by damper99
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Ready for a decadent Chocolate pie w/ chocolate cookie crust, and chopped chocolate candy bars in the chocolate ice cream filling?
WARNING: DO NOT SURF Turkey Hill's Ice Cream Journal web site....... it's too dangerous.....for your waistline.

DECADENT CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM PIE

ING Ready made chocolate pie crust; Chocolate Layer 2/3 cup evap/milk 1/2 cup semi/choc/chips 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup butter;
Ice cream layer 4 cups Turkey Hill Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream cup crunchy p/butter chocolate candy bar (any kind)

PREP BTB on med combined evap/milk, choc/chips, sugar and butter; simmer/stir 3-5 min (thickened and smooth); cool.

ASSEMBLY W/ back of spoon, spread thin layer of choc/chips mixture over crust bottom and 1/2" up sides.
(Reserve remaining chocolate sauce for topping.) Freeze crust 30 min.

FINAL elec/mixer softened ice cream with peanut butter. Spoon into frozen crust. Top with reserved chocolate mixture, garnish with chopped candy bar; freeze firm 5 hours or overnight. Set on counter 10-15 min before serving for easier slicing.

VARY for Valentine's Day: Top pie with a layer of strawberry whipped cream; garnish with sliced strawberries.


45 posted on 02/04/2020 11:16:23 AM PST by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: damper99

There definitely IS a ‘Kale V. Collards’ contingency out there!

What’s your best way to prepare Collards? This Yankee learned to love Grits when she was in the Army, LOL!


46 posted on 02/04/2020 11:22:43 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Liz

Where is the Kale hidden in that pie? ;)

You’ll be glad to know I have the ingredients on hand now for the Red Velvet Cherry Cuppers for V-Day. :)


47 posted on 02/04/2020 11:24:08 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: damper99

My youngest daughter is still in college. She’s a Vegan. I mean, she eats chicken, and fish, and hot dogs, and chili and pulled pork, but she’s — you know — pretty much a Vegan.

Whenever she comes home, she makes us buy Kale because that’s what Vegans eat. After she goes back to school, we throw away the bag of Kale. No one actually eats that stuff, do they?


48 posted on 02/04/2020 11:25:43 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

We cook with a hock from a country ham (salt cured) or with a chunk of salt pork. Sprinkle vinegar that has hot peppers in it over them before you eat.


49 posted on 02/04/2020 11:34:30 AM PST by damper99
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To: damper99

I’ll get brave enough to try that this summer, OK?


50 posted on 02/04/2020 11:38:19 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: All

51 posted on 02/05/2020 6:58:54 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: daniel1212

Here’s a slideshow of perennial plant combinations that might inspire you!

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/perennial-plant-combinations/?utm_campaign=bhg_mybhg_trueanthem&utm_content=bestofevergreen&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=5e3b09f4ecb7110001ba4588&fbclid=IwAR3N-4v_5InICHuy0QPcOldupo988mdl3EPJULvBnYVMs8H9Arn1B9JJyes

P.S. I don’t think Hydrangea can be grown from seed. It’s a shrub.


52 posted on 02/05/2020 10:33:52 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/perennial-plant-combinations/?utm_campaign=bhg_mybhg_trueanthem&utm_content=bestofevergreen&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=5e3b09f4ecb7110001ba4588&fbclid=IwAR3N-4v_5InICHuy0QPcOldupo988mdl3EPJULvBnYVMs8H9Arn1B9JJyes

Thanks. I am not much into flowers (can't eat them), but are.

P.S. I don’t think Hydrangea can be grown from seed. It’s a shrub.

Oh. So how do you get them?

53 posted on 02/05/2020 5:34:21 PM PST by daniel1212 ( Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: daniel1212

Oh. So how do you get them?

**************

Check with the Knights Who Say Ni!.

They may have some stockpiled that they’re willing to trade for something else.


54 posted on 02/05/2020 5:37:47 PM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: daniel1212

Well, I don’t know where the FIRST Hydrangea came from, but the rest of them are propagated from root divisions or soft-stem cuttings which are then rooted.

I thought you were looking for perennial flowers? Did I ping the wrong poster? Sorry! :)


55 posted on 02/05/2020 5:39:13 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Well, I don’t know where the FIRST Hydrangea came from, but the rest of them are propagated from root divisions or soft-stem cuttings which are then rooted.

I see. And I see weeds that do that!

I thought you were looking for perennial flowers? Did I ping the wrong poster? Sorry! :)

No, you have the right one, and which is what I was searching online for. Which ones that I listed are not perennial?

Anyway. just bought 1200 BLACK EYED SUSAN TALL GOLDEN CONEFLOWER MIX - Rudbeckia Hirta for $2.28 USD from the UK.

I only need about a dozen seeds (if they all sprout), but I wanted a mix, and there is not much difference btwn 50 of each (about 2.00) or 1200. Maybe I could send kids around the city on bikes scattering them in May!

56 posted on 02/05/2020 9:15:44 PM PST by daniel1212 ( Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: daniel1212

“Maybe I could send kids around the city on bikes scattering them in May!”

Make Seed Bombs!

https://www.gardenista.com/posts/diy-wildflower-seed-bombs/


57 posted on 02/06/2020 12:41:20 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: All

58 posted on 02/06/2020 12:42:09 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Make Seed Bombs!

Radicals! Actually there is a city lot that just grows weeds, and get pretty good sun. Like to get permission to start a community garden there.

59 posted on 02/06/2020 6:47:18 PM PST by daniel1212 ( Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: All
How Did This Poisonous Plant Become One of the American South’s Most Long-Standing Staples? [Poke Weed]

Recently, while visiting me in Brooklyn, my mom’s eyes went twinkly as she noticed all the wild pokeweed growing around the neighborhood. A woolgathering reminiscence of her childhood in Texas spilled forth: cooking and eating the onion-infused greens straight from the pan; her stoic anticipation as her mother added vinegar to the last dregs of poke-broth, knocking it back like a shot of whiskey.

She was surprised to find that my New England–bred boyfriend had never heard of the poisonous, towering perennial weed, with its oblong leaves and magenta berries and stalks. Despite the fact that the kudzu-like Phytolacca americana sprouts up all across North America, poke sallet, a dish made from the plant’s slightly-less-toxic leaves, is a regional thing, popular only to Appalachia and the American South. The leaves must be boiled in water three times to cook out their toxins, and, as aficionados will tell you, it’s well worth the extra effort.

But if pokeweed is so toxic, why did people start eating it in the first place? In a word, poke sallet is survival food.

According to Michael Twitty, historian, Southern food expert, and author of The Cooking Gene, poke sallet was originally eaten for pure practicality—its toxins made it an allegedly potent tonic. "Back in the old days, you had a lot of people who walked around barefoot," Twitty said. "They walked around barefoot in animal feces all the time. Most of our ancestors from the Depression backwards were full of worms." So then, poke sallet acted as a vermifuge, a worm purger.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center cites research showing that raw pokeweed has medicinal properties that can help cure herpes and HIV. That said, there are no clinical trials that support the use of the cooked dish as such, or as any kind of medicine, but its devotees swear by its curative qualities. Pokeweed remains a popular folk medicine, but it hasn't been widely studied, so its healing properties remain, officially, purported.

This isn't food that's cooked as a dare or to be showy, like say, Japanese fugu, one of the world's most poisonous fish. According to Nicole Taylor, chef and author of The Up South Cookbook, poke sallet is a stretch food, and it happened to be the first fresh vegetable to rise from the ground in the earliest days of spring. "When you look at foraging, that's only what they call it now. People who were poor and people who were formerly enslaved—they had to figure out what to cook, and what to eat. You can trace different wild foods back to those folks. People who are looking for food to get by are more likely to eat poke sallet than someone who had means to eat other things."

Though mostly obscure to the mainstream, poke sallet, which is sometimes referenced as “polk salad” or “poke salet,” has occasionally dipped its toe into the pop culture pool. Most notably, in the lyrics of “Polk Salad Annie,” by Tony Joe White, released in 1968: “Everyday for supper time / she'd go down by the truck patch / And pick her a mess of polk salad / and carry it home in a tow sack.” The song about a rural Southern girl and her family peaked at Number 8 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1969, and was later remade by Elvis in 1970, and put into regular rotation at his live shows. Country legend Dolly Parton even mentioned in her memoir that she would use crushed poke berries for lipstick as an adolescent, since her parents forbade her from wearing makeup. Handling pokeweed is no joke. Twitty remembers messing with poke berries as a youngster, and the aching in his juice-stained hands that ensued. Using pokeweed in the kitchen requires caution—it can easily get you sick, with symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, and rapid heartbeat . Twitty says everyone he’s met with a connection to poke sallet says the same exact thing about it: “It will clean you out from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.”

Yet the threat that pokeweed consumption can cause death appears to be rare. New Hampshire’s recently retired state medical examiner, Dr. Thomas Andrew, told the Concord Monitor of only one deadly incident occurring during his 20-year career. A young landscaper supposedly took a bite of raw pokeweed, mistaking it for a wild parsnip, and died 45 minutes later. One passionate pokeweed detractor, Jean Weese, a professor and food safety specialist at Auburn University, cautions strongly against consuming any amount of pokeweed, cooked or uncooked. Over email, she said she hasn’t heard of anyone dying from ingesting it, but she’s received many messages over the years from people claiming serious illness.

*SNIP*

Will pokeweed soon find itself hailed as a beloved “it-green”? Probably not. But it’s not so far-fetched to think that on my mom’s next early spring visit, she might be able to dine on her favorite dish without having to gather the poke leaves and prepare them herself. Like Castle told me, “If you want to save a food, you have to eat it. I really believe that. If the last person who ever has a taste memory of something is gone, then we have lost our baseline.”

60 posted on 02/06/2020 7:33:04 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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