Weekly Garden Thread - July 10-16, 2021 [Straight From The Garden Edition]

July 10, 2021 | 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 a 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!

[1_Rain_Drop]

THANK YOU ALL for the slug advice!
It has been raining thundering and just storming here so DE is pretty much useless right now. I’m going to look for the snail bait the next time I’m in town.

I’ve spent the day hunting for slugs and drowning them in soapy water. YUK!! I should have weighed how much I had picked LOL. They were everywhere! even under flower pots and in those bottom holes.

I’m wondering if they were brought here from where I bought plants or from the soil I had bought this year. Never had this problem before. I’m shocked.

Qiviut, that’s a wonderful video! Thank you!

[1_Rain_Drop]

Oh, I forgot to mention.
There were no slugs in the garden patch where I had tossed coffee grounds a few weeks ago.

[Qiviut]

👍 Good luck!! :-)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’d be glad to give you all of mine! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I am going to have a ton of eggplants, Kyoto & Beatrice mostly, and I am looking for recipes and storage ideas.”

Ping!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Up here on 'The Frozen Tundra' when we have an exceptionally wet season, we get an invasive called 'Wild Cucumber' that, while pretty, will eat you alive if you stand still long enough!

OMG! I would NEVER plant it on purpose! These people are nuts, LOL!

"Native to North America, the wild cucumber vine (Echinocystis lobata) is a rambunctious vine that can reach mature lengths of 25 feet (7.6 m.) in a hurry. Wild cucumber vine likes moist areas and is often found near ponds, streams, or in moist meadows or bottomland. However, the vine can pop up in typically dry areas when rainfall levels are higher than average.

Wild cucumber plants climb up vertical surfaces by wrapping their clingy tendrils around anything in their path. The vine can do considerable damage to trees and shrubs by blocking sunlight. However, it makes an attractive plant growing over a pergola, fence or arbor, especially when the plant is covered with tiny white flowers, beginning in midsummer."

The spiny 'fruit' is not edible!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Garden Tour, July 11, 2021:

'Grandma's Favorite' tomato:

Puppy Shasta is slowly learning, 'You mess with de Cat, you get de Claws!'

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I picked a peck of Cucumbers yesterday, so I am making a batch of Refrigerator Pickles, today. I basically use this recipe, though I have a spice combo already thrown together for pickling. These will be ‘Bread and Butter’ pickles, versus Dill. I also add whatever red or green peppers I have on hand to the mix, just because it’s pretty, and of course, I add garlic.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/easy-refrigerator-pickles/

[Redleg Duke]

Greetings from southern New Hampshire, where that tropical storm just dumped some badly-needed water. The plants appreciated it and the damned rabbits and woodchucks appreciated it more.

The extension was worried about the cottontail rabbit population being endangered and so seeded the area with them. Well, they are endangered in my garden! I put a load of birdshot from my .22 pistol into a big fat groundhog’s ass, last evening. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

I am in the middle of building critter-proof, easy access for Household Six fencing for each of the raised beds. Also emplacing t-posts for the east side of the garden fencing.

Slowly, but surely, I am getting nowhere!

[tubebender]

A look at our upcoming weather for this week...
https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/95501:4:US

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Slowly, but surely, I am getting nowhere!”

It sure feels like that some days!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

No Heat Wave by you! Is that cooler than normal?

[tubebender]

The temp is taken on the roof of the post office/ federal building down near the waterfront. We live and garden about a mile south of it and temps are a few degrees warmer here...

[tubebender]

The deep blue to the left is the Pacific Ocean. Humboldt Bay is the narrow strip of water in the center...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I forgot you were so close to the ocean - was thinking you were further inland. Guess I SHOULD look at a map once in a while, LOL! :)

[Jane Long]

Eeek! Glad you posted that this morning, rather than last night.....it may have worked it’s way into my dreams 😱 😂

That is one, freaky looking plant.

[Pollard]

Oh boy. Just checked out my external hard drive. I’ve got a folder called “agriculture” with hundreds of pdf files. Once I get them uploaded, I’ll ping the prepper thread which includes you and you can ping the weekly garden thread list. Quite a bit of gardening info and all of it’s growing info. Probably not much on flowers.

Found more recipes too.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Ag/Prepper Database Crossover Ping from Pollard:

https://permasteader.com/cloud/index.php/s/cctrRrEp2QzoePC

[left that other site]

I went right to the “medicinal herbs” section. Very Informative!

[metmom]

We just got back from a 10 day vacation and the garden fared very well.

I think the dusting with DE and chili powder had a great impact on the Colorado potato beetles, as there were very few that I found.

However, I do have Japanese beetles all over my morning glories.

Some of my tomato plants have blight, but not all of them.

The lower leaves on some are yellow with brown dots all over them.

Is copper sulfate the treatment for all kinds of blight?

The problem is, we have entered a wet spell and if I spray, it’s just going to wash off. UGH!

In the meantime, I need to start assembling my canning stuff, washing lids and jars and digging everything out to prep for canning as soon as I need to.

My onions are doing great and I need to start thinning some and taking out the smaller ones to get a better size on the bigger ones.