Weekly Garden Thread - October 3-9, 2020

October 3, 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.

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!

[freemama]

Are garden is finished producing. Hubby has to get around to taking it down. That will happen sometime between now and Christmas. :) For those of you in warmer zones, happy gardening!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The roses I planted this spring are all doing fabulous with the exception of one. 'Hope For Humanity' croaked, LOL! 2020. It figures! I know they all look kind of shaggy, but I didn't want to do any pruning on them this first season while they're getting established.

'Fire Meidiland' roses, with 'Coral Knock Out' roses behind and a white ground rose on the far corner. There are two roses that I planted this season that are poking along - they'll be replaced come spring if they don't get with the program!

'Topaz Jewel' shrub rose from Jung's. Really nice fragrance on this one - but pretty thorny!

'Morden Blush' roses that are a pale pink, but turn to white as they fade. Leaves behind nice rose hips (those red berries you see). Again, looking shaggy, but I wanted them to get well-established this season, above all.

'Liberty' apples from Jung's. Spray-free, organic, little to NO bug damage. There's another bucket full + still on the tree - it was raining, I'll pick them tomorrow.

[Capt. Tom]

AS a 4'x4' raised garden newbie I leaned that when I plant an eggplant, somewhere along the line I am going to have to support it by a stake, or cage, or vertical line.

Right now my eggplant has produced heavy eggplants that have toppled the bush over on its side, but the eggplants are still growing.

I am on the east coast of Mass. and our first frost is expected anytime from October 11 to October 20th.

My five tomato plants did better than most people around me this year. -Tom

[greeneyes]

Cool day today = 63 degrees today and 46 tonight. Brought the lemon trees, and bay leaf plant inside the greenhouse last night. Have been working on getting the garlic beds ready to plant. Will plant at least 60 cloves.

I plan to start a tomato and pepper plant this weekend. May start some lettuce too.

My fall cover crop has not yet been delivered. I have a little rye and red clover left over from last year, so may go ahead and plant that.

Taters are dug, and peanuts are half finished.

[greeneyes]

I have grown pepper plants indoors that I dug up from the garden and put in pots for the winter. I have a southwestern patio door that I used. When the sun goes down early, I gave them an additional 3 hrs. under the grow lights. They did fine indoors.

[Liz]

Delicious, amazingly easy, pure bliss, a quick holiday confection. Chocolate p/butter Nutella filling dipped
in white chocolate topped w/ cookie dust. Can drizzle w/ caramel. Serve on orange pumpkin plate at Thanksgiving.

PEANUT BUTTER TRUFFLES

METHOD Elec/mixer 6 oz cr/cheese, 1 1/2 c p/butter, 1/2 cup Nutella,
11 oz white chocolate chips, melted, 2 cup conf. Add 30 crushed cookies.
W/ hands (mix is crumbly), roll inch balls. Freeze an hour on sheetpan.

FINAL W/ toothpick, dip into melted 1 1/2 lb white chocolate candy coating; drip off excess.
Sprinkle on cookie dust. Cool/set 15 min on sheetpan. Can drizzle with caramel for extra bliss.

[Silentgypsy]

When I lived in the desert, I got paint strainers (fine nylon net bags) from the home improvement store and enclosed clusters of grapes in them; secured them with twist ties; and left the rest for the birds. The birds would let me know when they were ripe. We had several different varieties which ripened at different times, I think.

[MomwithHope]

Great idea. I was just thinking today about trying those white hairnets that food service workers wear. I’ll take a look at the paint strainers bags too.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Had too many street taco sized tortillas in the fridge so I broke out countertop deep fryer.

Made a big bowl of fresh tortilla chips.

Since I had the little devil out and heated up I picked a dozen hot peppers from the garden....stuffed them with cream cheese and fried them up for 1.5 minutes.

They were DELICIOUS!

The cheese wanted to work its’ way out however even without taking the tops all the way off.

Anyone have any tips for getting the cream chips in the peppers without removing the top?

I was leaning towards getting some cake decorating/confectionary gear.

[Silentgypsy]

Those strainer bags became scarce because they found some new, improved *snicker* method, but we used to get the largest size and it really worked out well for the birds and for us!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yes, a piping bag would help, but unless you put less goo in the centers, it’s going to ooze out, no matter what.

I like to take off the pepper tops, slice them in half and take out the seeds - we like some heat, but not hot. Then I fill the halves with cream cheese, crumbled bacon and cheddar, and broil them for a few.

There’s also a Jalapeno Popper Dip I’ve made that’s really good:

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/wprm_print/121506

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Now that the Hummingbirds have headed back to Costa Rica (take me with you!) it's time to start prepping for my Winter Feathered Friends. Suet recipe follows...

Suet Cakes

2 cups Oatmeal

2 cups Cornmeal

1 cup Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

1 cup melted Lard (Bacon grease, bear fat, regular lard)

1 cup melted Peanut Butter

1/2 cup or so dried fruit or birdseed mix, optional

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a microwave safe bowl, melt lard and peanut butter. Stir melted fats into dry ingredients. Will be sticky! Pack into square molds to freeze, (I save six or so from store-bought suet to use or a Tupperware Square-Round works, too) or using a cookie scoop, plop onto a cookie sheet, flatten a bit, then freeze. When frozen, put portions in a zip lock bag and keep in the freezer. Four 'portions' fit in a square suet feeder basket.

[metmom]

God a question about bird identification.

I saw a bird that I’ve never seen before.

It almost looked like a mourning dove, about the same size and similar color except it was more tan and on the back of its head it had an orange patch that was shaped like an arrow, so to speak.

Trying to look up bird identification online with those criteria is about useless.

Anyone know what that is? It was in NH, if that helps.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I sliced the tops 80% flipped them up like a pop top... .cut out the seeds...then pushed the cap back dow onto the filling.

There was hardly any leakage other than the the ones that fell over on their sides ahas some leakage.

Just looking for a slightly better method for deep frying.

Btw, not breading them....just cooking until softish.

The rice bran oil is good for this.

[Paul R.]

RATS!!!

No, not Dems (a different kind of trouble), not rodents (trouble too, but they don’t zap the whole garden)...

NWS issued a frost advisory for us, as of about an hour ago, with the “kicker” being that after that, the next couple weeks look nice and warm. So, I’ll try to figure out some way to protect these huge Opo plants, as, wouldn’t you know it, several new fruits have started in the last few days. I weighed the one I harvested yesterday: The gourd weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. The very 1st one is considerably larger, but, it’s seed for next year. We’ll be busy shortly moving my wife’s tropical plants in, the lemon grass will survive ok for now (it takes a freeze to hurt it), I will try to cover the better pepper plants, and the tomatoes are just gonna have to be on their own, except a couple in pots: I’ll trim them back (which they may or may not survive) and bring ‘em in. The cucs are near dead anyway, so, no great loss.

I was doing auto maint. work already - Sunday afternoon just got even busier ...

[tob2]

That picture is so sparkly! Good morning back to you. I have been spending time pulling up dead plants; tomatoes are almost gone. Had a great crop of patio tomaatoes this year.
Basil did pretty good too. Now I have room for cold weather crops. Basil is gone as well, except for one branch which shows no signs of cold weather damage.

[tob2]

When I lived in New York City, I grew an avacado tree from a seed. The conditions must have been perfect because that seed turned into a huge, beautiful tree. It never produced flowers or fruitbbut was an awesome part of my indoor garden.

[tob2]

When I lived in New York City, I grew an avacado tree from a seed. The conditions must have been perfect because that seed turned into a huge, beautiful tree. It never produced flowers or fruitbbut was an awesome part of my indoor garden.

[tubebender]

Yesterdays harvest from the Bender’s greenhouse on the shores of Humboldt Bay…