Weekly Garden Thread - February 20-26, 2021

Fenruary 20, 2021 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

[greeneyes]

🤣 I’ve always said plant more trees, bushes, and other plants, and pour less concrete. LOL.

[daniel1212]

Green Vegetable Trends: Broccolini May Be the New Kale, and Look Out for Kalettes and Caulilini Next

2/19/2021, 9:07:57 PM · by nickcarraway · 20 replies

South China Morning Post ^ | 18 Feb, 2021 | Andrew Sun

*Kale is celebrated as a superfood and has been a trendy must-have for a number of years *But there is a new contender: broccolini, a Chinese broccoli hybrid, is all the rage Is broccolini the new kale? Produce and ingredients are not immune to the whims of fashion. Foods also go in and out of style, changing every few years. If you think vegetables are evergreens – pun intended – you’d be wrong. For a time, kale was the must-eat food that was on every shopping list. It was no longer solely for vegan yogis and detoxing tai tais –

[greeneyes]

😢Oh no. Maybe just one little plant in a Pot in the window sill if nothing else? I was just thinking about you when I sat down to read the thread.

I was wondering what kind of corn you were going to be using this year, What is the date of the last frost, and how many weeks before that you would plant it?

I was also looking at your big planters for the tomatoes in the greenhouse. I wondered if you had to move them out of the greenhouse in the summer due to the heat—we’ve had some trouble with ours getting so hot, I think it cooked the leaves and roots.

Please stick around to help us with questions as long as you feel up to it.

Hubby has been searching out all sorts of perennials cause we aren’t getting any younger, and we do like to have at least some of our own produce as long as we can manage it.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yes, it’s Romaine. I’m having great results! The newer leaves are growing in a much deeper green than the ones were from the store. I’m thinking they take OFF a lot of the outer romaine leaves because they’re probably not as appealing, visually.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ll be back in the morning, Gang! We are getting OUT of the house for the first time in AGES.

Going to a Raccoon Club Dinner/Meeting.

[greeneyes]

Thanks.

[tubebender]

Nice! Wife and I drove by there many times on our way to Reno but never stopped to check it out...

[tubebender]

We got a call from the hospital this morning that our second anti Covid shots were ready and to get right over there before they ran out so off we went...

[LibWhacker]

Find the bittern

(If I were a carnivore who fed exclusively on bitterns, I would've starved.)

[wgmalabama]

Took me several minutes to find it mainly due to no understanding the scale of the photo.

[Qiviut]

We had sunshine all day .... with a windchill of 30. I have a lot of big branches to cut up/haul away, but with the wind/cold, today was not the day. Plus, I think I would have gotten stuck because everything is mud puddles & super soggy ground. We may get up near 60 this coming week and I’m looking forward to warmer, drier (?) weather .... some rain in the forecast, though. I like the idea of your ‘solar heating’ - sounds comfortably toasty! :-)

[MomwithHope]

that’s a good idea

[MomwithHope]

Nice, right in the middle. I’ve been sending these to my daughter all the way in Belarus. she hasn’t failed on a one.

[ApplegateRanch]

But, Spring started nearly 3 weeks ago, Feb 2! Match 21, Spring Equinox, is Mid-Spring.

For the ancient Celts, Cross-Quarter days signaled the beginning if a season! For example, what is now Groundhog Day (Candlemas) would be considered the start of spring! Together, the Quarter Days and Cross-Quarter Days made an eight-part year that reflected the natural procession of the seasons.

That explains why June 21 is Mid Summers Day; and December 21 is Mid Winters Day.

QUARTER DAYS AND CROSS-QUARTER DAYS

[ApplegateRanch]

Sigh! Why is it you ladies just have no patience? Always in a hurry to get stuff fixed. LOL

[greeneyes]

I think I have demonstrated patience beyond the scope of Job-though admittedly, no where near the suffering - I suffer not at all comparatively speaking.

[greeneyes]

I like the idea of your ‘solar heating’ - sounds comfortably toasty! :-)
*****************************************************************************
A relief for sure after the coldest days of the winter this past week.

[tubebender]

Posting this for my Friend Eric

[Paul R.]

Hi, Everyone. New question, not exactly about gardening, but it does relate to cooking. As I've been searching on the web and not finding anything, I don't think I'm going to be answering my own question. This is one of the damndest puzzles...

During our nasty cold snap, we needed more humidity in the house, and were barely getting by heat-wise, so, I resorted to the old pot full of water on "low" on our electric (old fashioned exposed coil type) range. The water never got over 140 degrees, and the pot was never under 1/2 full. (Most of the time it was between 2/3 and 3/4 full, as I refilled it often.) I emptied it and cleaned it & refilled every 12 hours or so, to prevent minerals' buildup. Total time = approx. 3 days.

The pot is roughly 3 quarts if very full, made of medium thickness aluminum with a teflon type coating, and is several years old. The coating shows no sign of flaking. We use this pot only for low-to-medium temp cooking on the electric range.)

Yesterday temps warmed up a bit & we discontinued the above. But, after washing the pot, my wife tried to put the cover back on (it had been in the cabinet w/ other pots the whole time) and the cover no longer fits. Until last week, it fit! Careful checking shows that the problem is not due to a bend or dent: the inside diameter of the top of the pot is now simply slightly, but very evenly, too small for the lid. Both are at room temperature, so, this is not a problem of expansion / contraction with the current temperature of the pot and lid.

This seems impossible!

Heck, I've worked with Aluminum parts in all sorts of applications, including high physical and temperature stress uses, and never saw anything like this. Granted the alloys might be different, but, still. Almost any ordinary cooking would, I think be more stressful.

Has anyone ever run into anything like this with an Aluminum part?

[Paul R.]

Brooder lamp(s)?