Posted on 09/03/2022 5:58:30 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Still trying to figure out if I need to buy a small (6 cu ft) freezer or not, to expand freezer space beyond our upright (that I share with mom). I probably should to be on the safe side - got to have room for that half a hog (2-3 cu ft needed, per person raising the hogs) plus any venison I’m gifted and if REALLY lucky, some packages of elk. I’m also making a point of checking out the Manager’s Specials at 2 stores near me & I’ve scored some really good deals on beef, a good portion of which is going in the freezer.
“Next year I am growing my vegetables in containers on my daughter’s deck.”
Container growing is always a great option. No weeding! Yay! :)
My porch pots next year are going to be a combination of silvery Sage, purple Calibrachoa, ‘Little Finger’ and/or ‘Patio Baby’ purple eggplant and trailing purple Verbena.
(My house is a freshly painted ‘Painted Lady’ in Sage Green with Maple trim and PURPLE in the peaks.)
Saw the idea in Better Homes & Gardens magazine and I love it. Food for the body and food for the SOUL. :)
Get the freezer. You won’t regret it.
And a vacuum sealer. You won’t regret that, either!
I have a vacuum sealer! We have processing “parties” next door at the brother’s .... big bottle of wine for starters. We each have vacuum sealers & when one starts heating up, we use the other. My SIL & I take turns buying the vacuum seal rolls - we cut our own bags as we need different sizes. He’s got a big grinder (Cabelas) so that makes short work of that part of the processing. Running the grinder & getting the meat through it is my job - first grind is large, then we split the ground meat, add my SIL’s sausage seasoning to half of it & mix. The next grind is finer (looks like ground beef from the store). We do the plain meat first, then put the sausage meat through last, which also helps mix in the spices.
Usually the bottle of wine is consumed by the end. The process has gotten pretty speedy as we’ve done quite a few deer over the last couple of years since he got the grinder.
Reminds me of ‘Sausage Day’ at my Grandma’s. That was always a lot of fun and some GOOD EATIN’ later in the season.
She made the BEST Bratwurst you can imagine. :)
Evidently, both of my grandfathers were known for excellent sausage. My paternal grandfather was past the point of being able to butcher hogs when I knew him (I was 7 when he died). My other grandfather was German & I knew him well ... he made all sorts of stuff from his hogs. Even the bloodwurst was good! We still have a large tub that was used for scalding hogs. I think bringing back some good old fashioned Sausage Days would be a positive thing. We also helped the grandparents put together cantaloupe crates for sending them to market. At the end of the season, there was a large get-together on the platform (under cover, but open sides) at the old train station - Brunswick stew, frog legs, Coke/Pepsi (the old timey kind in glass bottles that had some taste), side dishes from the ladies & cantaloupe. Fun times for sure - just doesn’t happen much any more ... “community” of that sort is mostly gone & it’s not a good thing.
Sounds colorful . . . What color exactly is “maple”?
I have had good luck with Autumn Joy. I’ve planted four at my NC place and I bet they perform well. I like that they give good fall foliage.
Sheraton Sage:
Bird's Eye Maple:
Renwick Heather:
Ceiling on the porch is done in a 'Haint Blue.' Supposedly, the color blue keeps wasps from building there (so far, so good!) and is also a 'Southern Thang' that keeps the ghosts, spirits, 'Haints' away from your door. So far, so good on that, too! Doesn't make sense, but it really works with the other colors. You only see the color once you're right up to the porch. It makes me SMILE every day.
“Pork and Beans” sedum, great name!
😁
That tickled me!
Right now I’m ‘All About the Mums.’ Re-potted my two big porch pots and my planter on the front porch with them, yesterday. Small ones I bought that I grew out earlier in the season. No color yet but lots of blooms coming.
It’s a total cr@p-shoot as to what color ended up where though, LOL! And, I don’t care. It’s almost FALL! The Most Wonderful Time of the Year! :)
I bought a total of 25 mums from my mother, after several trips there, as I replaced big pots of tired annuals. I guess that is enough. 😅
Gorgeous! Those old “painted ladies” are fascinating, all painted up. “Sage green and purple” sounds hideous, but the result is lovely. I remember that fussy TV guy — H. Christopher Smith or something like that — explaining the reason for the blue-ish porch ceilings in the South.
Our Brown Turkey Fig bush is humongous this year - biggest it’s ever been. For two or three years, we had such low temps that the bush was killed back to the roots. It always sprouts back, but the figs are small & very late. We had pretty decent figs last year & the bush wasn’t killed back at all this past winter, so that’s why it’s a giant and LOADED with figs.
So the figs are coming in hot & heavy now. Usually, I don’t have enough ripe at one time to do anything with them, but this year is different. Mom picked a large mixing bowl about half full, chopped them up and put them in the crock pot. After cooking to mush, I put them in the blender. The consistency is like a very thick apple sauce. Add a little sweetener & it’s delicious! She’s going to use it as a topping on her yogurt & as a jam on toast. If there was a recipe that called for apple sauce instead of oil, this fig puree would be perfect in lieu of apple sauce. I ‘ll have to look around for a fig bread/cake recipe. We’ll freeze it and have fig puree for months. The birds and bees usually end up getting the majority of our figs, but not this year!
No, they're not baby Brontosauruses, lol. It's a reversed video of running coatimundis
(related to raccoons).
(Good baking!)
Wow - so many recipes and such a variety! Thank you very much :-)
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