Weekly Garden Thread - March 14-20, 2020

March 14, 2020 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

[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.

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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!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

My rack is similar to this one. Each bank of lights is in the 'white' hood. I lowered the hood, turned on the lights, then set my tray of seedlings on TOP of the white hood so they got bottom heat - which they obviously love. I left it on for four days straight. I have a few baby leaves, today! Once they germinated, I adjusted the lights again and put the seedlings back under the lights.

As the plants grow, I will continue to adjust the lights so they are always 2" ABOVE the top of the plants. I will now leave the lights on for 16 hours and off for 8. Even seedlings need time to 'rest.'

I had a customer bring his flat of plants in to my garden center one day. He had been leaving the lights on 24/7 and didn't understand why his pepper seedlings had turned black and crispy! We had a quick lesson about turning the crow lights on and OFF and then he stared over again. ;)

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Ahhhh. Thanks

[Liz]

Veg version of boneless buffalo wings. Cauliflower
florets battered then oven baked in hot sauce.

SPICY CAULIFLOWER BITES
Ing 4 c cauliflower florets cup ea milk/flour 2 tsp garlic powder, tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt/1/4 tsp pepper cup fave hot sauce TB unsalted butter, melted

METHOD Combine milk, flour, and spices to make a thick batter. Dip in florets, shake off excess;
spread out on lined sheetpans. Bake 450 deg 20 min, flipping halfway to get all sides golden brown.
When done, add to combined butter/hot sauce; stir/coat well then return to pans; bake 20 min. Cool 10 min.

SERVE with ranch and/or blue cheese dipping sauce.

[Paul R.]

I don’t know if this has been addressed in a past thread:

If a hen goes broody, can she be “fooled” by putting some purchased chicks in with her and taking out the eggs? Will this work just a few days in to her being broody? Or will she drive off or kill the chicks?

[Paul R.]

https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/buckeye-chicken

[Paul R.]

(I am thinking of getting some Buckeye chicks, if our local farm supply store still has any.)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Ellendra is our ‘Chicken Whisperer.’ I know she deals with broody girls from time to time...

[MomwithHope]

BTT for shut ins!

[Paul R.]

Thanks!

[Liz]

Looked to me as if countries who consume a lot of curry do not have the numbers of coronavirus we're seeing elsewhere.
India has less than 300 as of today. I searched for curry recipes but the soupy kind were not appealing. This looked great.

CURRIED SALMON BURGERS in LETTUCE WRAPS
Crispy sweet potato straws, goat cheese, mango, Minted Yogurt.

SALMON BURGERS Mix together fine-chp skinless salmon 1/3 cup Panko 2 tb ea Parm, Thai red curry paste
1/2 tb Asian fish sauce tsp grated ginger-root minced gar/cl.
In frypan heated w/ tb oil, cook four burgers golden each side, 3-4 min per side.

STRAWS Place sweet potatoes in 1/8" thick straws on sheetpan; toss w/ combined tb melted coconut oil, curry powder, s/p.
Toss well. Bake on two sheetpans 375 deg 15 min, toss, then bake 15-20 min (edges just begin to crisp).

============================================

ASSEMBLY Set burger in butter lettuce leaf. Add sliced cucumber, mango chunks, goat cheese crumbles.

SERVE w/ MINTED YOGURT
Cup plain Greek yogurt, 2 tb chp fresh mint, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 juiced lemon, pinch s/p.

[Black Agnes]

You can buy ‘fake’ eggs to put in the egg box.

We usually just take a magic marker and ‘select’ 3 or 4 eggs for her to ‘have as hers’ and daily take the rest. OUR broody hen isn’t as violent if you leave her a few.

We get baby chix this way when the weather is warm enough.

[GnuThere]

Bad Gardener here, thanks for the thread.
A friend is gifting me with 2 hand-crafted planter boxes which are about 12” square and I can put them on my back deck, which is populated by squirrels year round b/c of my walnut tree.
I would love anything to thrive, from herbs to flowers to ornamental kale or even cherry tomatoes.
Any thoughts on how best to enjoy these planters, in a world of squirrels?
Are there things that they will specifically avoid?

[Ellendra]

I’ve only tried that once, and it failed. The broody hen actually ran away from the chick I was trying to introduce her to! I’ve been told that some hens are so maternal. they’ll adopt chicks even when they aren’t broody. But that depends on the hen, as most won’t.

If the hen has chicks that are in the process of hatching or have just hatched, I’m told you can sneak extra chicks in with them. But I haven’t tried that yet.

If you’re ok with straight-run, it might work better to get hatching eggs instead of live chicks. Hatching eggs are usually cheaper, and the broody hen will adopt an egg much easier than a chick. Heck, at that stage they’ll adopt a walnut.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I saw the gals on Cook’s Country make those Cauli Bites and they just raved over them. I’ve been roasting cauliflower chunks with EVOO, S&P and grated Parmesan cheese. Really good that way, which was a new discovery to me this past year.

Hey! I’ve been busy, LOL!

[Paul R.]

We usually just take a magic marker and ‘select’ 3 or 4 eggs for her to ‘have as hers’ and daily take the rest.

Thanks, but that's not what we want to do this time, although it IS what we usually do...*

THIS time, if it would work, I want to buy some Buckeye chicks and have the broody hen raise them.

- - - - - - - -

The "*" is: ...except that we use a pencil because my wife is a bit paranoid about anything from an ink marker penetrating into the egg. (The pencil marks wear off & have to be refreshed every few days B4 totally gone.)

(We do the fake eggs routine in a couple nest boxes too, but that's an "everyday" so the dumber (or lazier?) hens lay their eggs there instead of occasional odd spots when out free ranging.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Paul R.]

Thanks and noted!

This hen is pretty maternal, but who knows with chicks swapped for eggs.

I’d have to look into hatching eggs. Have never seen them offered around here. Web order???

The other alternative is to just buy 6 chicks and raise them inside, but, my wife really doesn’t like that (stinky), and we seem to have a lot better luck with long term survival with chicks raised by hens. (Granted, those are almost all hybrids of some sort.) The rest of the flock accepts them better, too. Plus it’s just a lot of fun to observe the hen mothering them. :-)

Whatever I do, I think I’d better move fast, as I don’t think these Buckeyes are in big supply...

Thanks again!

[Liz]

Yum.......love your version of the cauli/bites.

[Liz]

Yum.......love your version of the cauli/bites.

[Black Agnes]

We toss the markered eggs if they don’t hatch.