Posted on 12/04/2021 7:27:01 AM PST by 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!
(The resource area is posted at the end of the the July 3-6 Gardening Thread beginning after post 112!)
Glacial silt, being blown across a frozen river. It kind of
looks like the girl is being carried along by the silt, but
she's only sliding on the exposed ice.
The spiral staircase inside the Château de La Rochefoucauld
in France, designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1516
Good morning all & thank you for the thread, Diana ….. it ‘makes’ my Saturday mornings!
No garden work to do, so I’ll talk about something a bit different then. Early in the year, I picked up a guided meditation podcast: Meditation Minis with Chel Hamilton. I figured I’d try them for the fun of it although I really needed something for stress, anxiety & sleeplessness. The very first ‘mini’ I did was themed on the beautiful holiday lights.... so simple, but it stuck with me for days which was a true surprise. I’m not as regular as I should be, but I end up listening to Chel’s soothing voice/meditations (she’s a professional hypnotist … she’s got the voice down pat) when I really need her. It’s gotten so that all I have to do is hear her voice, and I start to relax. I have gone from being VERY skeptical that what she does could make a difference, but it has.
So why am I bringing up meditation on the Garden Thread? Because Chel has one called “Garden of Your Life” and she describes it this way:”The results of our lives bloom from the environment we create. In this guided meditation we visit, plan, tend, and create the garden of our lives. What do you want to grow? Use this meditation to explore, and create it.” Have you ever thought about your life as a garden? It’s interesting to view it that way and envision what your life’s garden would look like if you translated it into plants/flower …. and what you would ultimately want it to look like in full bloom/mature plants. I’d never thought of my life as a garden before …. gave me something to think about.
Another one that is something you may enjoy is“Calm Renewing Green” described as: “The green of leaves, trees, grass and shrubs has a calming yet re-energizing effect on many people. Maybe there’s just something about forests and meadows hardwired into our psyche that helps us feel more relaxed yet hopeful about the possibilities of a new adventure being just around the corner. “ I love the outdoors, the trees, grass (even if I DO have to mow it!) and especially everything growing in my garden so I was drawn to the title.
If you’d like to check out Chel, here’s here podcast via Podcast Republic & you can look for the titles:
https://podcastrepublic.net/podcast/963597166
The only think I dislike are the ads at the beginning, but that is how she helps support her podcast. I have this podcast on my phone app so I just fast forward through the ads – once the meditations start, there are no interruptions.
BTW, if I have trouble going to sleep or wake up in the night & can’t get back to sleep, I put on one of Chel’s sleep meditations (18-20 minutes for my”go to” ones). I’m asleep before they end. :-)
Happy “gardening” all!
A very calm (at this moment) ~Q
Holly is a plant that permeates pop-culture. Whether you’re singing a holiday classic with your grandmother, walking along some neighborhood hedges, or brewing a cup of Yerba Mate to start your day, holly, also known as the plant genus Ilex, is often nearby when you know where to look. Today we’ll dig into 20+ different types of holly and holly trees.
What Is Holly?
Holly, or Ilex, is a plant genus made up of many hundreds of species. Depending on the species, holly can be evergreen or can be a deciduous holly. People can easily recognize this plant with its green leaves with bright red berries – but there is a lot of variety within the genus, too. A wide spectrum of traits distinguishes this broad group: spiny or full and luscious; bright or dark green; sun-loving or drought-tolerant.
Native regions of different Ilex species span from tropical regions to temperate zones and growth patterns vary from evergreen trees, evergreen shrubs, to climbers.
Often, you’ll see holly grown as privacy hedges and on disturbed ground. Holly is generally a very adaptable plant, making these small trees and shrubs popular landscaping additions in the appropriate hardiness zones.
To find out if your home or your garden is in a climate with a hardiness zone appropriate for holly, just do a quick internet search.
The Folklore of Holly
Today the plant is strongly associated with the Christmas season. In pre-victorian Europe, “Christmas trees” weren’t firs and spruces – they were holly trees.
But the folk significance of holly stretches even deeper into certain cultures’ collective history. For example, pre-Christian European traditions linked holly plants to various thunder gods. People planted holly outside their door, believing it would prevent lightning from striking the house. In Celtic mythology, the Holly King is often woven into lore as a giant and often linked to the “green man” archetype of Arthurian legend.
Even today, some superstitions around holly have stuck: it’s bad luck to cut down a holly tree, though, fear not, it’s fine to prune and bring into the home for festive decorations!
Deck The Halls With Dioecious-ness
There’s a lot more to holly than its decorative aesthetics, however. Ilex is a dioecious plant, which means that female plants and female trees are separate from male plants and trees. Depending on the biological sex of the holly plant, you’ll staminate or pistillate flowers.
Holly plants are flowering perennials, flowering in spring and early summer. Bees conduct pollination, turning the small green ball inside female flowers into red fruit.
When these branches of green leaves and red berries are cut, they are primarily used as an ornamental Christmas holly plant in winter plant displays along with spruce tips, boxwood, and Eucalyptus. The vibrant holly berries stand out particularly well in the winter landscapes of temperate zones.
For almost all species, the leaves and the red berries are toxic. The exception to this is Yerba Mate, which is an important cultural beverage in South America that has gained popularity around the world.
https://www.plantsnap.com/plantblog/holly-tree-types/
Thanks, Pete!
Moved all the potted plants indoors to the green house. Lemons are turning yellow and i think the little limes might be budding again. The green peppers are beginning to turn red but i don’t think they will bud as it got cold on me before i put the bubble wrap around the greenhouse. I hope the tomatoes i started last month produce. One has budded. Purchased most of the seeds for the spring. In a few weeks it will be time to start the tomatoes and beans and peas.
Hi Diana
I like the taste of garlic. So I have frying the buds and adding them into my spaghetti sauce.
What I have noticed is they lack a strong taste that I like.
I have tried several different types of garlic and shortened the frying time, but they all seem to be too mild to me.
Any suggestions on a type of garlic I should try frying or is frying garlic going to make it mild tasting?
I only boil or fry food that I eat. -Tom
“The spiral staircase inside the Château de La Rochefoucauld
in France, designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1516...”
Fractals! :)
[z = x + yi where i2 = -1]
Now how would some dope from 1516 know that? ;)
Great ad! Very ‘Hygge.’ Can’t wait to get into that here in the heart of Winter when we all have nothing else to do! ;)
At least they’re not eating a plate of Venison, LOL!
Mr. mm cut up some old culvert pipe into sections for me to use for my bucket potatoes next year.
They are a bigger diameter, so I should get a better crop.
He moved them up to the garden today, for some reason, but it’s not like it’s going to hurt anything being there.
The heat does take out some of the taste. You could just chop it fresh and add it to your sauce; that would help give you more straight garlic flavor. You can eat garlic raw - no problems. Just don’t breathe on anyone, LOL!
I like to make Roasted Garlic Paste; I like the rich, nutty flavor roasting adds. You can use it in a lot of ways, too. It takes a little work, not much, but you do need an oven. Since you said you only boil or fry, is it because of a lack of an oven?
If you DO have one, or can use an oven somewhere, try this and see what you think:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/roasted-garlic-paste-1664932
Oh, Santa! So cute! :)
“Great ad! Very ‘Hygge.’ Can’t wait to get into that here in the heart of Winter when we all have nothing else to do! ;)”
Working people: “nothing to do”. Yeah, that’s gonna happen.
I’m still trying to get my son to let me borrow one of the grow lights from his hemp farm. I can start everything in the basement and move it out before last frost. Everything will be in pots. Lemon Drop peppers, Black Cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, Granny Cantrell’s German Red/ Pink Tomato, lipstick pepper and of course, Weed. After last frost, we have a little area up against the house where we can plant. The peppers may go in the front of the house (southern exposure). We have a nice western exposure area but the deer tore up the volunteer tomatoes that came up there.
Beau was a ‘Water & Sewer’ guy in construction for 20+ years, so we have a LOT of scrap culvert pipe that he dragged back to the farm over the years. One of his most unique finds was the hatch door from a submarine!
Lately he’s been finding people to buy the culvert pieces, so that’s been nice. Also - we need a new culvert at the top of our driveway, but is THAT getting done? Um, no...
Sometimes I look back at what I type, and you people must think we live like ‘Sandford & Son’ or Hillbillies, but really, we don’t! I mean, yes, there are a few junker trucks waiting to go to the scrap yard, and currently there IS a steer grazing on the lawn, but we’re really nice people! We have all of our teeth...and running water! LOL!
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