Good Morning! :-)
Meanwhile, I went down a bit of a 'rabbit hole' this week. My SIL had come over last Sunday to watch the compost pile being filled & as she was walking across the garden to head back home, she said “oh look – you have 'Dead Man's Fingers'” (the 'polite' name). I had noticed one growing when I was clearing out the zinnias several weeks ago, but a bunch more have come up, growing in the wood shavings. They are just around that one zinnia bed, too.
So what are we talking about here? These things …. most have 'collapsed' due to the cold, so they are not the best specimens & past prime, but you can see what is currently in the garden:
I had noticed when working on the zinnias that the top of the large 'finger' had been knocked off and there were a bunch of “Blue Bottle” (ie 'blow') flies on it. I figured it must have smelled like rotting meat to attract those types of flies, thus the “Dead” part of the name.
So I did a little research and here is what I found about the fungi:
From link: Another common name, “common stinkhorn,” refers to the species’ scent rather than its shape; stinkhorns as a group are notable for having spores that are dispersed by flies rather than by wind, and the mushroom recruits flies by mixing its spores in a layer of slime that smells very strongly of rotting animal flesh. The spores and their slime are exuded by the outer surface of the cap, making it appear smooth. Once most of the slime has been removed by flies, the cap surface is revealed to be pitted, very much like a morel—stinkhorns are even referred to as morels in some older sources.
So about those Blue Bottle flies I saw on the fungus …. I ran into a super interesting article about carrot seed growers using Blue Bottle flies to pollinate the carrot flowers – cheaper than honey bees, work harder, and don't sting! Here is the article, that I found:
Managing Alternative Pollinators - The Blue Bottle Fly
If you're interested in general Blue Bottle fly info, there's this:
Calliphora vomitoria
As a general rule, I'd just as soon not have Blue Bottle flies around, but as long as I've got 'stinkhorns' growing, there will be the flies! I'm curious if I'll get stinkhorns next year – they like rotting wood & the wood chips I'm using to keep the grass down around my beds must be at just the right stage for them to grow.
Looking out today it is overcast and drizzly - perfect gardening weather after weeks of relentless heat.
This morning glory knows its days are numbered and is trying to put on a show so I won't kill it off:
I wouldn't be so angry at it if it weren't so invasive. I'm constantly pulling it out of my orange tree.
We've had such warm weather, my paperwhites are blooming (they usually bloom in December or January):
It's also last call for roses before they get cut back in a couple of weeks. This one is called "Ink Spots."
And "Pinata"
Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to all! We've been invited by a relative for Thanksgiving dinner and told "not to bring anything." I'll see if I can rustle up some flowers from my garden for the table.
I actually accomplished something I have never done before.
I have my veggie garden all prepped for spring.
The weather has been so beautiful that I’ve been able to get done everything I wanted.
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.
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.
Did those architects ever get another job? Ever?
Serval on stairs
This summer I did bucket potatoes and carrots, and both did beautifully.
Our garden has heavy soil, lots of rocks, and tends to be wet, so I figured I’d try this instead.
Mr mm cut off the bottoms of some old plastic buckets and I placed them in the garden and filled them with wood chips, well aged manure, and some garden soil. For the carrots, I mixed a bunch of peat most, some used potting soil from my house plants, and manure.
In both cases I got a great crop.
The few potatoes I did plant by laying them on the ground and covering them with wood chips got seriously snacked on by slugs. GRRRRR.
However there was no slug damage from the bucket potatoes.
We found some old culvert pipe on the property and had to replace one, and mr. mm cut them up into sections for culvert pipe potatoes and carrots.
They are bigger in diameter than the plastic buckets and the same height. I’m looking forward to seeing how the crop does next summer.
We’ve been enjoying beautiful fall weather here in Central Missouri over the past few days.
No gardening, just hunting. Farmer started shelling corn across the road yesterday. Said he kicked up three nice bucks with the combine. Mrs. Augie is sitting in her condo now waiting on one of them to make a mistake.
I spent a couple hours in between hunts chopping firewood yesterday, and a couple more hours today. I decided after the 4th loader bucket full today that it was time for a shower and the couch. lol
I cooked the tenderloins from the deers that we got last week for breakfast this morning. Melt in your mouth yum...
Lady Bender did the “Traditional Thanksgiving” dinner today including a Pumpkin pie and a Sour-cream Apple. Our guests were just our son and his wife and our daughter and her husband and the manager of the local Boys & Girl club. Our son serves on the board of directors and she is from out of the area.
Her turkey and stuffing were perfection and I can’t wait for “Left Overs” tomorrow. I will borrow some photos from our daughter...
