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Weekly Garden Thread - February 4-10, 2023 [Winter Got You Down? Join a Plant Society Edition]
February 4, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

Posted on 02/04/2023 6:17:08 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!


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: food; garden; gardening; hobbies
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To: Albion Wilde

That is one awesome show! *APPLAUSE*

Locally, we have ‘The Garden Expo’ which is next weekend (2/10-12, 2023).

After ‘working it’ for both Seed Savers and Jung’s for many years in a row, all I can say is, “No, Thanks!’

They still have knowledgeable speakers, but it’s become SO much more commercial through the years with more vendors trying to ‘sell you something’ than imparting any gardening knowledge.

https://wigardenexpo.com/

It’s good exposure for new gardeners and upstart businesses, though; I won’t fault them for that. We always need new recruits! :)


81 posted on 02/04/2023 6:41:49 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
I can certainly sympathize with the creeping commercialism. Philly's Flower Show, being so long established because Philly is so long settled, has been fortunate to have gone through that stage, assimilated it and come out the other side, so to speak. They traditionally have drawn huge crowds, and the money they make does a lot of good work all year long:

What Your Flower Show Ticket Supports

Hope the Soros-created crime wave after two years of plandemic does not wreck this particular institution.

82 posted on 02/04/2023 6:56:13 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: moovova

I see what you did there!


83 posted on 02/04/2023 7:03:58 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

That Schlumbergera chart is very helpful! thanks!


84 posted on 02/04/2023 7:21:52 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: Pollard

That’s awesome, Pollard! Hope it brings you much enjoyment.


85 posted on 02/04/2023 7:28:54 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Locally, we have ‘The Garden Expo’ which is next weekend (2/10-12, 2023).

Looks like a wonderful event! Lots of education offered, and a kind of "state fair" feeling from what I gather. Love their web site -- here's a beautful shot from the photo gallery:


PHOTO BY: Lynn Erickson from Mauston, WI

86 posted on 02/04/2023 7:38:01 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Thanks. I’ll try that and will also move them to their own tray to more easily track the watering.


87 posted on 02/04/2023 8:39:51 PM PST by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
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To: Pollard

WE have a “Beach House” building on the lakefront that faces West and ideally captures early spring sun shine. It has tile floor and is heated. Seeds will get their start in this building.
Come on, Spring !


88 posted on 02/05/2023 4:54:57 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.q at)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I have a large backyard, and I know the basics from watching vids, it’s getting a coop built that is the big problem. There is a honking big patio on the hill with 1 oak tree, that leads to an old platform a kid’s fort was on for a run. Hatcheries I checked were expensive in shipping and had no chicks till late May. Was wanting Rhode Island Reds as they are good layers. City says you can have 3 LOL want about 10 hens and 1 rooster at least. I use a lot of eggs as I digest them better than most food.

Youtube check out Teo Garden, does it on his patio.

I have Tartar tubs, but it got to 110, burnt my leg, and killed my plants, despite being watered well. Smart Meter tattled we had a leak. Everyone with plants and gardens did. We had very little rain last summer. Most of my front yard plands died, Knock out Roses did well.


89 posted on 02/05/2023 5:47:41 AM PST by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks, Constitutional Conservative.)
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To: 2nd Amendment

I don’t do mine in a trench because with the amount of rain we get here plus heavy soil, the trenches would fill with water. I till the whole area and drag in some leaf mold/humus from an area I’m converting from forest to field. Shredded leaves work too. Just something to fluff up the soil. I set the taters out in a row and rake soil up over them. When they get 6-10 inches tall, I rake more soil up. Taters don’t need much nutrients and rich soil is bad for them.

I don’t think you get a lot of extra potatoes by hilling though. All the taters I’ve dug up have been underneath the original seed tater. I do make sure that soil under them is loosened up a good 8 inches deep. If I could keep the plants alive longer maybe I’d get roots/taters growing off the stem but after a few months, they always turn yellow and wilt.

To harvest, I don’t wait until the soil is dry like a lot of people recommend. I watched a neighbor harvest them from dry hard soil and it wasn’t fun. I dig them up at the same soil moisture level as you’d want for tilling. Then I just pull the plants up taters and all. That’s been a 50/50 shot depending on how much leaf mold/humus I added and the exact soil moisture level when digging. Also depends on how far gone the tops are. One year I pulled all the plants easily and with pretty much every potato attached to the roots. Most years I end up using a 7 tine manure fork to get under them and pry them with that while pulling on the main stem. Then I might bounce the soil/root ball on the fork a few times and it crumbles and potatoes fall away.

I have fairly acid soil, 5.0 pH or so and acid soil prevents scab and most any soil disease that potatoes get. Potatoes are one reason I’ve never limed. In fact most things do well here as long as I add compost/humus/leaf mold etc. I just can’t grow a few things that don’t like low pH. I’m going to try and lime, just a little this year, to get up closer to 6.0 pH.

Pretty conclusive list of plant pH preferences. Fruits, Veggies and Herbs, Flowers, Trees and Shrubs, Turf and Ornamental Grasses.

https://www.planetnatural.com/wp-content/uploads/ph-preference-list.pdf


90 posted on 02/05/2023 7:05:34 AM PST by Pollard ( >>> The Great Reset is already underway! <<<)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; Pete from Shawnee Mission

But Pete’s open book hot spot in image link is not working.

https://freerepublic.com/~pollard/


91 posted on 02/05/2023 7:19:07 AM PST by Pollard ( >>> The Great Reset is already underway! <<<)
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To: All

92 posted on 02/05/2023 7:35:16 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Pollard

See my PM to you...


93 posted on 02/05/2023 8:28:21 AM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: All

94 posted on 02/05/2023 8:56:09 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Ha! Re: hemp.

I lived in Kentucky @ Lexington & in one of the little towns (IIRC it was Nicholasville) the plaque in front of the courthouse read; "...Hemp Growing Capital of the World" hehe - this was in the early/mid '70's.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_in_Kentucky

It might have been Versailles (locally pronounced ver SALES lol)

Then again, when I lived in Tennessee, near Centerville, there was a town, Hohenwald, locally pronounced hornwall - go figure.

In a bit of trivia, that's near where Stephen Gaskin founded the commune 'The Farm'. Used to buy brewer's yeast from them.

I always thought the hemp was cannabis indica (not the higher-level THC of sativa) - and yes, it grew all over the place.

95 posted on 02/05/2023 11:50:11 AM PST by spankalib
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
...and, I have been watching tons of chicken videos. :) Presently, I favor the 'rollaway' nest boxes.

There are many clever designs out there!

96 posted on 02/05/2023 11:56:43 AM PST by spankalib
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Mother Nature has lost her mind again. Single digit temps earlier in the week, t-shirt weather today. Still bone dry.

I should have spent the day cleaning up my victory garden, but there was a data center disaster yesterday at one of the hospitals I support so I’m sitting in my grouch cave rebuilding the paging system. On the bright side, I’ll have 20+ hours of overtime pay this week and my paycheck on the 15th will be fat city.

I did manage to fiddle with Mr. Clarence early this morning. Took him out for some fresh air and sunshine. Five minutes into my ride the radiator sprung a leak and started dumping coolant on the ground so I put him back in the shop. Worst part of that deal is the radiator has already been out to the fix-it shop for cleaning and pressure test and now I’ve got to tear it apart again and repeat that exercise.

The weekend wasn’t a complete bust though... the brown Santa truck delivered the timers that I ordered from Amazon so now I don’t have to remember to start/stop the grow lights in the greenhouse.


97 posted on 02/05/2023 3:49:06 PM PST by Augie
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
The Days Until Spring come pretty close to my sign on bonus day. Nice weekly reminder. :)

Got the shelf/tent thing mostly set up and first seeds started. Did 24 bunching onions and will do more in a couple weeks.

Cheap and crude but it will do.

Can fit eight trays in it and zip it up on cold nights because that room's not heated.

98 posted on 02/05/2023 5:49:25 PM PST by Pollard ( >>> The Great Reset is already underway! <<<)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; All
Yegads!

I posted about the Philadelphia Flower Show in post 77, claiming that it started this weekend and will run through the 12th. WRONG—as the graphic I included plainly stated -- it's NEXT MONTH, March 4-12.

Duh!! I got so excited thinking about going up there, I jumped the gun!

99 posted on 02/05/2023 6:14:20 PM PST by Albion Wilde ("There is no good government at all & none possible."--Mark Twain)
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To: Pollard
Click on the picture to link to Pollard's F/R profile page
Where the Gardening Resources and Prepper links and Data Base are stored !

Sorry! Someone removed the original image!


100 posted on 02/05/2023 7:15:15 PM PST by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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