Weekly Garden Thread - November 20-26, 2021 ('Odocoileus Virginianus' Edition)

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I recalled you said you were going to give your garden a sabbatical next summer to let the ground go fallow.

And that’s a good idea.

But what about doing only half of it that way? Let half go, mulch it, manure it, compost it, etc. Then you can still get a small garden in with some favorites, and not miss a whole year.

BTW, ordinary brown corrugated cardboard is great for weed control. The worms love it and it composts down very nicely. I lay down the cardboard and then pile the rest of the stuff on top and just let it go.

I found it out by accident one year when I laid down some used charcoal briquet bags for weeds and piled some yard waste on them. The next year, I couldn’t figure out where the good, rich soil came from until I found the tattered remains of one of the bags.

I was shocked, but am a fan of it now.

Look up lasagna gardening.

So, it is officially, ‘Merry Thanks Mas’ at my house - a weird hybrid of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why, you ask? Well, I am hosting Thanksgiving, and Christmas is at my Sister’s so Mom wants to see my Christmas Decor too, when she comes out to the farm on Thursday. It’s also Beau’s 62nd Birthday, so we have a lot to celebrate. All of us ‘girls’ are chipping in to buy him a new La-Z-Boy of his choice - his is so ratty and is ‘pleather’ so it SHEDS constantly. It’s time. :) This sounds like a ‘sneaky girlfriend plot’ to get a nice leather chair in the Family Room, and it is - but my MOM started it, not me! Poor Beau, he is the ‘Last Man Standing’ in our immediate family and is always outnumbered. ;)

So, the turkey is brine-ing and will be roasted, tomorrow. That way I can serve it from the crock pot and we don’t have all that carving to mess with in front of a crowd; though Beau IS very good at it. Mom is helping me with the gravy when she gets here on Thursday, so I am saving all the drippings, which I would, anyway, gravy or NOT! :)

I have the dining table decked in fall-themed decor and will be using Grandma’s good China and silver. There is one corner table dedicated to Christmas decor, and my ceramic ‘Three Wise Men’ are there. My Aunt made them in 1975 in a Ceramics class and they are really pretty! The Family Room is getting decorated from Christmas.

In the greenhouse, my greens growing isn’t as spectacular as last season. We had a very warm & long Fall (50 degrees today!) and so I didn’t get as much planted as usual, and I have a mouse eating my spinach, so I’ll be growing spinach indoors this winter. So far, they are leaving the lettuces alone! I still have plenty of Kale and I still need to process my pie pumpkins, but I DID get the other squashes moved indoors.

Three weeks ago I got the most VICIOUS sting from a wasp that I have ever gotten! Mom & I were separating out the potatoes we had dug on the back deck, and I felt this shooting STAB in my right ankle bone, on the inside and it was a wasp. I smashed it good, but I have NEVER had a sting like this! I literally have a HOLE in my leg where the stinger went in, and it is taking FOREVER to heal up. I’m not allergic, but geeze Louise! And itching while it heals! I don’t know what was different about THIS sting because I’ve been stung by bees and wasps dozens of times through the years, but this one was special. Not!

I have three vigorously healthy Rosemary plants that I’ve moved in and I have them in trays of water, I have a mister at the ready, and they are getting light fertilizing - I kind of want them to bloom sometime this winter, if I can pull it off!

My Amaryllis is potted and I have a green shoot starting. My ‘Thanksgiving Cactus’ is FILLED with buds, so I’m hopping she pops by Thursday when everyone is visiting.

Being RUTHLESS with seed organizing and planning for next season; I have worked on my Garden Journal a little more, mainly getting ‘themes’ that I want on pages organized and ready to cut and paste. I will post some pictures of it when I get to it. It’s a fun Winter pastime.

Weber (the steer) is really loving this late warmth and Beau finally got a halter on him, so has been tying him out on various patches of grass that still needs mowing. Of course, no matter WHERE you tie him, he manages to get wrapped around something, so I’ve untangled him a number of times already, today. *ROLLEYES*

Our dog that was so sick with hookworm and some other viral infection caused by same (Oneida) is well on the mend and pretty much back to himself, though I am fattening him up some; he’s still a little thin for my tastes - he was a BIG dog, and isn’t quite back up to weight, yet. All of the other dogs are happy and healthy and showing no signs of the illness Oneida had. I really thought he wasn’t going to make it. So glad he did. He’s my ‘Onie Baloney, Head of Macaroni’ and I WUVS him! :)

I also plan on doing many of the Hygge (”hoo-gah”) Winter things that have become so popular. In many ways, we’ve always done them up here on ‘The Frozen Tundra’ but it’s fun that it has a name and a following, now. All of those Pintrest boards can’t be wrong! ;)

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-hygge-4798043

Brennan saw the buck with his arrow sticking out of him, but it was a 150 yard shot and he didn’t feel confident in taking it. He’ll be out tomorrow to hunt again and is bringing his dad for backup. Beau saw a few deer, but none were in range. There has been a fair amount of gunfire today to the west of us, but beyond our property line.

Wisconsin Badger Football is on in a few, so I’m going to grab some crocheting and settle in for that. On, Wisconsin!

Even though gardening is over, and politics these days makes me INSANE, all in all, Life Is Good! :)

Hello all. Full disclosure - I DO NOT have much knowledge about plants. I usually plant easy-to-care for plants outside every summer - with mixed results - but I gave up on house plants years ago, partly due to not having good light in my house, but also because I managed to kill things off in short order. But one thing I have really good luck with is coleus’s. I plant them outside every summer, sometimes in the ground and sometimes in a planter. They always grow to be HUGE - and very pretty. This year I had one in a planter that I decided to bring in, and see if I can keep it alive as a house plant. It is very large - probably 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide. When it was outside it had very large leaves, so that you couldn’t see the interior of the plant. Since bringing it inside, most of the larger leaves have fallen off, replaced by smaller leaves. They still look healthy, but it looks pretty sparse. It also has been sprouting little seed sprouts, which I have been pinching off, as I read that would keep it fuller, instead of growing taller. I bought a grow light and have been leaving that on for 5 - 7 hours every day, and have been watering it sparingly, as what I have read is that indoors it doesn’t need as much water. My plan is to propagate it. I have read a few articles on it, but was wondering if anyone has any tips on this. I also just bought a Christmas Cactus that I want to propagate too. Is regular potting soil mix ok? I was also reading about soiless mixtures, being less prone to diseases from the soil. Any general advice would be appreciated.

Love your post - holiday cheer all around AND Life Is Good!! At the moment, I am back inside as of 4:00 (been outside non-stop since 10:45) warming up with some Apple Cinnamon Spice herbal tea ….. the best part is the warm mug …. hands are cold. The high was just over 50 and as long as you kept moving, it was ok, but I've been wiring up boards the last hour before coming in, which doesn't keep anything warm.

The big project I embarked upon yesterday was to “pave” the area that I latticed in this spring. I need a fairly clean surface (no weeds, which I had this summer & dirt) for storing my fencing, tools, and anything extra, including my compost tumbler. The surface was mostly covered with loose bricks & I was pleasantly surprised when I moved them that I already had down two rows of pavers … 1 that was 8 x 16 & another that was 12 x 12. That gave me a good start. Without getting too deep in the weeds by way of explanation, I found enough of both sizes to finish the area off – didn't have to buy anything. I had to used a piece of scrap slate for one edge & even it off with some bricks, but overall, I'm very pleased. The surface looks terribly uneven in the picture & while I didn't use a level, I've done enough rock work (dry laying walls/cribbing) that I could eyeball it and get it pretty darn close - it's actually not uneven at all! What is in that space is what I need out of the way right now – it will change as I move tools under cover for the winter, put buckets in a different spot, etc. I also reinforced the top of the lattice with boards to stiffen it up - really glad I did it.

As for the rest of the veggie/flower beds (8 total), all are now cleaned, compost added, and covered with fencing to keep the skunks from digging them up. The only thing left to do is haul away old plants – marigolds & peppers. The old pine mulch has been put in-between the beds. I've never had such clean, weed-free beds as I did this year, using either just pine mulch, or (around the tomatoes) a layer of cardboard boxes cut flat with pine needles on top. I'll definitely use that method again – the only weeds were the ones that grew up right next to the plants & they were few & easy to pull.

Compost bin is full as of last Sunday & the leaves are chopped up better this year – I expect a “finer” compost that is even more broken down by next year. Considering all the beds where I could add compost this year, doing my own saved about $200 if I'd had to buy the same amount.

Last things to do – clean out the hummingbird garden. The sunflower bed is done already, but the tithonia & cosmos beds are a mess. I left the tithonia up until all the seeds had been picked out by the birds & the very last flowers were dead. Tithonias are fabulous flowers for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and they provide a ton of seeds for finches & other birds. I'm sorry to pull them up, but they are well and truly “spent”. One more thing is to clean/straighten out the lean-to where I keep my gorilla cart & tools. It's gotten pretty junky! Last but not least – rake pine needles for mulch for next year – the needles are really falling right now so I can use the mower to round them up & then bag & put them in the pole barn …. ready for Spring - I'm ready for Spring now, but it's a long ways away. :-)

"I recalled you said you were going to give your garden a sabbatical next summer to let the ground go fallow. And that’s a good idea. But what about doing only half of it that way? Let half go, mulch it, manure it, compost it, etc. Then you can still get a small garden in with some favorites, and not miss a whole year."

Well, there is a second that was not planted in, yet while no under the law as a means of salvation, not called to literally keep such laws as holy days and years, and meat and drink and temple ordinances, and neither would this be my seventh year planting (it would be the eight, and this was the worst year), yet I want to keep the principle behind the command,

But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. (Leviticus 25:4-7)

However, while the principle of rest is transcendent, so also is that of doing good deeds on any day, and their is a apartment building near to us which the LL gave me permission start a garden in last year (kids happily help plant it), and which produce was enjoyed, praise God.

"BTW, ordinary brown corrugated cardboard is great for weed control. The worms love it and it composts down very nicely. I lay down the cardboard and then pile the rest of the stuff on top and just let it go."

Thanks! Good to know. For years we recycled about 16 banana boxes a week and I want to created a means to engage in some substantial composting.Research shows:

cardboard waste makes up over 31 percent of landfills, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. See how to here: - https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/composting-cardboard.htm

You can compost coloured cardboard. All cardboard will turn into compost if you make it wet. Coloured cardboard may have a shiny surface that will seal the surface. This may delay, but won’t stop, cardboard from breaking down into compost. There doesn’t appear to be any concern, anywhere, about potential chemical pollution issues concerning coloured ink on cardboard. The glue on cardboard will breakdown in compost. There are many things that will break down when subjected to the elements and cardboard glue is one of them. A compost heap, pile or bin is a very absorbing place. It can take in and efficiently reduce most substances away to nothing. Even when we don’t always know exactly what we’re putting in... You can see what worms will do to a colour printed Cornflake box here. - https://www.rolypig.com/cardboard-compost-or-recycle/

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