Weekly Garden Thread - June 17-23, 2023 [Famous Women Gardeners in History Edition]

June 17, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[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.

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[Pollard]

Sitting looking out the window at the garden and shade cloth which is pulled back right now. We’ve been pushing up to close to 90 degrees here lately and they’re calling for 93/95 for Sat/Sun.

Weekly Gardening Thread from a year ago, https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4072009/

Lots of mentions of “Hot”, “Heat” & “Degrees”. 90s in WI in June and was high 90s here in MO most every day.

Still dropping down to 60s at night right now but I think I’ll pull the shade cloth part way out this Sat morning. Let the plants get that 40% shade by mid day. Will be July a week from from Sat.

[Pollard]

I just happened to be doing a little experiment along those lines. I bought three plants from the Amish store. Red Deuce hybrid and all were a little over 12" tall with flowers on them. I pulled the flowers off of one and the other two ended up with three fruits on them.

Here's the one I pulled the flowers off of.

The two outer ones here are the two I didn't pull flowers from and they each made three fruits but I've since pulled the fruit off of one to further experiment. Don't know if it will reboot or not.

The one I pulled flowers off of when I first got it is nearly twice as tall, a couple of shades darker green, grew two new main stems and has 6 fruits, 20 flowers and half a dozen buds. That's a potential 30 maters compared to 3.

I'll be removing flowers from any mater plant that seems too small to be producing from now on. Let the plant get some size and then let it go.

[Pollard]

Here's what I was talking about with my lean and lower issue. The tall one is hanging from a chain that hangs under the 2x4 and runs the full length of the 2x4. That's my lean and lower chain. Better than rope, cable, pipe etc because they won't slide when windy.

(The tall one is a Chadwick Cherry but I only had room for Chad on the plant marker which makes it a Hanging Chad)

That taller one would be leaned and lowered to the left due to being at the right end of the trellis but that would have it on top of the short one. You can barely see the black rope on the 2x4 which will be replaced by chain and used to lean the other direction with that tall plant.

I suppose if I went left with the tall one, it might outrun the short one and end up hanging to the left of the short one that's currently on the left. LOL They would just overlap with the tall one being behind the short one for a short time until it passes it. There ain't no solid yellow line so I guess it's a passing zone.

Will see how things grow over the next few weeks. In hindsight, I should have planted shorty on the outside of the pole and could have easily crossed over the pole to hang on the chain and follow the tall one to the left down trellis. There was supposed to be four plants in a row, even before I got shorty, but I hit major rockiness and had to plant elsewhere. Gardening next year down in the rock free zone will be so much better.

[Pollard]

and the Shisitos have buds. Yay.

[Paul R.]

They were all in pots the same size with the same soil. (Intermediate homes until I could get them in the garden itself — all except the two “patio” tomatoes of which both immediately went into their final large pots, and one is doing very well and the other is another small weak plant with one largish fruit...)

But... some plants were flowering as I got them and of course it’s a little hard to know if some were more stressed B4 I got them, than others. Most all I started from seed instead are doing very well.

Mostly it seems like some plants started making fruits too soon and put too much “energy” and nutrients into that. I just sorta let ‘em go - maybe should have pinched off the flowers or young fruits. But I’ve ended up with so many “good” plants that I’m not too worried. I was much more aggressive vs. snails and slugs this year and that seems to have paid off. I’ve not lost or had damaged a single young plant to such. :-)

[Paul R.]

Most interesting and does make a lot of sense!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

It does say most but its a lot better than the wheat crop you get with a regular bale of straw.

With EZ straw when farmer Pete walks the rows to weed there is never much to pull! (The rows are about 12 feet long max :O)

I put out traps fore the Clear Wing moths that produce the Squash vine borers. I have a bunch of moths stuck to the sticky part of the trap, so maybe I will get more than a few squash this year.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Pollard! Looking Good! Hope you get lots of tomatoes this year!

You have a lot of rock there! My father moved from Wisconsin to Arkansas and he had a hard time getting used to gardening on 3-4 inches of topsoil. Ended up scraping a bunch of dirt into one spot for his garden. Hard adjustment for him.

Last few years I used 1/4” drip irrigation for my tomatoes, this year I am using 1/2” with drips every 12”, distributes more water faster. I was using 1/4’” for a row of pole beans but it also did not put out enough water fast enough, so I went to 1/2 soaker hose.

[Paul R.]

Of course, I’m still trying to figure out why plant labels (the kind one sticks in the soil) over double in price when you go from 4” long to 6” long...

[Pollard]

I just ordered more 1/4” couplers. I only used half of the 1/4” drip line so I’m going to add a second line to it. The emitters are 12 on center and I’ll offset the second drip line to make it 6” on center.

I’ve got about an acre that’s rock free and also is the most level spot. 12” of nearly rock free top soil down there. Soil Survey calls it Loamy Silt. I gardened down there for a few years but then I got the goats so I need to fence in an area to keep them out.

[Qiviut]

Woke up this morning at 4:45 to the wonderful sound of rain dripping off the roof! It looks like heavier showers will be moving through this morning. It’s so dry, the grass has been ‘crunchy’ so hopefully we’ll get enough to ‘refresh’ the grass and maybe help out with the garden.

[Pollard]

This one doesn't have the rain delay but looks like it will do everything else. Run time up to 12 hours. Not a "SMART" product. ($30) Three year warranty

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/dig-digital-hose-end-timer-b09d

Manual - https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/amfile/file/download/file/18517/product/87/

Some Home Depot stores carry a few DIG products but mostly just drip tubing.

Company website - https://www.digcorp.com/

They're a member of some trade organizations

Where to buy(you might get lucky and find local) https://wtb.digcorp.com/

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

Of coarse I wound up being greedy. I wanted to plant scallions or green onions and found none where I shopped so I wanted more radishes. I pulled all the radishes and separated the seedlings as best I could planting into both planters. They hate me now! Never mind talking to your plants, these radishes are totally pissed! Leaves turning yellow and laying on the dirt, I've apologized over and over and been manually watering several extra times a day, but we'll have to see.

I might save half of them, again we'll have to see. I'll thin the arugula, Roma, carrots, and red salad bowl, and oakleaf lettuce by killing off stems instead of ripping them out of the ground.

[Paul R.]

That DIG timer looks pretty good. The best part (apart from the extended “on” time available) is the 3 year limited warranty. Might be a sign of a little better than average quality and QC. The biggest negative IMO is the use of a 9v battery. (Slightly expensive energy storage - but that’s not a deal killer.) Thanks!

[Paul R.]

AH-HA!

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DIG-Digital-Hose-Thread-Watering-Timer-BO9DB/100175272

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You crack me up!

Remember: Nothing is ever wasted in Nature. If you have a gardening failure - just turn it into compost. :)

[Paul R.]

Heh, coincidentally I earlier this evening read on the web:

The total supplementation of table scraps and scratch grains should be no more than chickens can finish in 20 minutes.

https://poultry.extension.org/articles/feeds-and-feeding-of-poultry/feeding-chickens-for-egg-production/#:~:text=Chickens%20are%20often%20fed%20table,can%20finish%20in%2020%20minutes.

20 minutes? My daughter and I had a good laugh about that one. Unless it's a big batch of fish I pressure cook for the chickens (softens the bones), anything from the kitchen or dinner table that we take out to our chickens is demolished in 20 seconds or less...

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Love the sound of rain falling! (Take YouTube on a trip to someplace far away.)

Heavy rain falls on a hanok house

When it stops raining and my lawn goes brown and dormant I can be happy that I do not need mow for a while! I will take out the hose and concentrate my watering on the garden.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Here is a corrected link!

Heavy rain falls on a hanok house

[Qiviut]

Sun is peeping out this morning, but rain is still in the forecast ... some could be heavy, associated with thunder storms. The sun is going to add an element of “steamy” to the heat forecast over the weekend.

No more “crunchy” grass - from the early hours of Wednesday morning until this morning, we have 1.5 inches in the rain gauge. This will definitely put mowing back on the ‘to do’ schedule.