Weekly Garden Thread - September 16-22, 2023 [Successes, Failures & Lessons Learned in 2023 Edition]

September 16, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

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[Qiviut]

The apple-zucchini muffins sound delish!

My staging area is our raised fireplace hearth. It is currently just about full of canned goods. A lot of unused jars & canning equipment is on the dining room table. The jars of jelly, etc are going to be moved to my ‘kitchen closet’ once I settle in my mind how to organize it all - thinking of adding more shelves to the area.

Saturday, the weather forecast is for potentially “buckets of rain” so I think I will be back to canning the specialty jellies/jams that day.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m going to make another batch of the Apple-Maple Jam recipe you gave me, too. That is a STUNNER in the jar and it tastes good, too. :)

Tomato Jam is done, bottled and in the freezer. I’m going to goof off until I have to do evening chores. :)

[Qiviut]

Glad to hear the Apple-Maple Jam is really good! I wanted to go back to the orchard in the Valley for fresh apples to make that jam .... now I REALLY want to go! :-)

Quick trip to the store - got landscape fabric staples I needed to hold things down - ordered more in bulk for delivery later this week. As soon as the shade hits the spot where I need to work, I’ll be back outside. I want a fire in the fire pit tonight .... tomorrow night at the latest. Friday night might be ok, but with rain coming in, a fire might not work out. It’s been rather ‘warmish’ in the sun all day, but as soon as it sets, it will be cooling down noticeably.

[Qiviut]

Two herb garden related items:

After my giant borage exhausted itself and I removed it, the little sprig of African Blue Basil, being overshadowed by the borage, took off! It is huge, dominating the raised bed - must be 3’ in diameter and 3’ high. It really attracts pollinators, usually bumble bees, but today I noticed it is LOADED with honey bees! Some wild hive must have found it and now they’re all visiting. It’s a great plant, but will not come back next year. I’ll have to buy another one & will definitely leave more room for it.

Today, I treated myself and ordered an herb book I heard about when the author was interviewed on the Herb Mentor Radio podcast. The reviews are great and if I like it well enough, it will probably be a Christmas present to a couple of folks. The book is:

The Herbal Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies by Juliet Blankespoor

https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Garden-Cultivating-Handcrafting-Remedies/dp/0358313384

Be sure and read some of the reviews!

********************************
Podcast:

Juliet Blankespoor: The Healing Garden & the Key to Having an Herbal Green Thumb
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mYXN0Lndpc3RpYS5jb20vY2hhbm5lbHMvcGN1a2lpdXM2MS9yc3M/episode/NzgxNDAzNjQtNWE2Ni00MWY4LWEyNjEtMjJmNzM1ZWFjZWI5?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwj47JmsjrqBAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Great addition about the herb book/podcast. I really need to do more than just Basil, Sage and (annual) Lemon Thyme plants. I always let the Basil go to flower for the bees, but they seem to love my everyday (perennial) Oregano a lot, too.

Lemon Basil, Lemon Thyme and Rosemary (annuals for me) are my very favorites for cooking, and I’ve gotten really good about keeping pots of Rosemary through the winter months. The secret is a pan of water beneath for humidity (or a fancy Humidity Tray as you would use for Orchids) and regular misting.

I started re-watching the series ‘Rosemary & Thyme’ and I am loving it all over again. Two ‘Civilian Lady Detectives’ (though one was a cop at one point in her life) that re-vamp gardens for people and always seem to stumble upon a crime in process while doing so. Tons of fun and they’re pretty good about being ‘factual’ with the plants - things are blooming at proper times, etc. (Set in England, of course!)

Cherri-o! :)

[Qiviut]

Doggone it - trying to get a pack of shingles from the horse barn & evidently yellow jackets have a nest in/around there. I have at least 5 stings & my ‘sled’ that I pull behind the golf cart is in there & I can’t get to it with angry bees all around.

One dang bee hitched a ride on my pants & stung me in the house (I thought I had them all brushed off)! I am giving them an hour to calm down, then will dash in, clip a rope to the pull ring on my sled & dash out. It will be a long rope (really long!) so I can pull the sled out. The shingles pack is partially in the sled, but I think it will fall out. I will go back after dark & see if I can get it out (need it for weed barrier around the fire pit). My suspicion is the nest was in a gap under that shingle pack.

I can do other things without the shingles today, but all involve hauling with my sled so ‘rescuing’ it is a priority.

Trapped a big possum in the barn - he likes figs. They aren’t too bright- couldn’t figure out how to get through the fence & into the woods when I released it from the trap. I finally got a forked stick to partially pin his head while I grabbed his tail & put him over the fence. It was not grateful for the help and after hissing at me, it finally ran off in the woods!

[Qiviut]

My unlucky morning turned lucky - rescued the sled with no additional stings and the shingles pack, which was about half way in, came with the sled when I pulled it out with a very long rope 😁 The fire pit weed barrier project can continue!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You have the most exciting life, LOL!

We have problems with wasps building in the side mirrors on our vehicles. They don’t ALL get driven all the time, and they really seem to like building behind the side mirrors for some reason.

We keep wasp spray in all vehicles. They are a PITA!

[Qiviut]

The kind of “excitement” I experienced this morning I could definitely do without. One sting, just below my ankle really hurts, it got me good. One on the other side of the ankle is itching & the rest were through my clothes so evidently, they barely got me - those aren’t ‘hurting’ & have pretty much subsided.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Lesson learned: Weed barrier held down with garden staples without washers will get shredded by the wind. It also helps to fold over the edges to strengthen the sides.

[Pollard]

It’s about that time. Gimme your fried green tomato recipes.

[GaltAdonis]

The autumnal equinox—the September equinox or the
fall equinox—arrives on Saturday, September 23.

So I am taking the time to expand my INDOOR winter herb and
vegetable garden today (Friday Sept 22).

I am attempting to extend garden production all through the winter
- as much as possible - by doing container gardening in the
under-utilized indoor space(s) that have enough sunlight from windows.

Today, the task is to prepare the pots & planting containers for spinach seeds.

I have selected the organic heirloom Bloomsdale Long Standing variety -

I have read that spinach supposedly does pretty well in containers.
But I've never tried it before.

So I'll try it, and see for myself -

.

Lettuce update:

The Black Seeded Simpson and the Salad Bowl Red Leaf are doing well -
all except one of the Simpson trays that had a mostly 'die off' -
I don't know why.

So I dumped the container, put in new soil, and started over on that one.
The seeds are now just sprouting in there.

Old Man Winter is NOT going to stop THIS gardener! No-sireee...

[Pollard]

Automation update: I programmed the PLC with a basic timer.

1) When the controller comes on, a time duration gets set with the keypad.That blurry 0/3 alternates from 0 to a 3 from the previous time with an underscore to indicate input needed and is the first digit of four that I enter on the keypad. I caught it changing state in the pic.
2) I punch in minutes and seconds and hit return(Enter).
3) Then I hit 1(start/stop) to start the timer which activates a built in relay.

The Run Time starts counting down. (I should rename Run Time to Remaining)

As long as the controller remains on, I can just hit 1(start/stop) to run it 30 minutes again. If I want to change the duration, I have to cycle the power off and back on, for now.

In the real world, I won't need seconds but it was handy for testing and not having to wait a full minute. I'll end up with days:hours:minutes.

At the bottom right of the screen is a RTC(real time clock) I added because why not and at the bottom left is a pump icon that should reverse colors to dark background and light accents when the timer/relay/pump is turned on but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Need to watch the tutorial again.

The built in relays are very light duty and typically run separate relays that can handle some amps. With a $5 automotive relay, I now have the ability to turn on PLC, punch in 45 minutes, hit Return, hit 1(start/stop) and it will turn the 12vdc pump on for 45 minutes. Leave it powered up and I can just hit 1 to run for 45 minutes again.

Things can get a whole lot more complex from here. I can do those pulse watering schedules. Could have multiple schedules I choose from. Multiple display screens can be created and scrolled through with the arrow buttons to the left of the screen. Each display screen acts as a mini program. With 6 relays in this unit, I could separately open/close 2 gable vents, the 2 drop down sides and run 2 different irrigation pumps.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Link Forward!

To Sashay on over to the next weekly gardening thread, click on any Sachet in the picture!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’re so funny! I never DID list my Successes and Failures for the 2023 season!

I’ll add that to the new thread...when I can take a breather from canning. ;)