The Garden Thread - August, 2024

August 1, 2024 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a 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 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/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time!

[Paul R.]

Thanks - these tomatoes I have are more evenly round. From this source, I think they may be Kellogg’s Breakfast Tomatoes:

https://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/4414/tomato-kellog-s-breakfast-seeds

https://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/search_for_item?query=orange+tomato

Whatever they are, they are really good.

P.S. That pumpkin plant is still growing and flowering - all male flowers! At this point, I think it’s too late to get any fruits even if female flowers show up. :-(

[Paul R.]

Phooey! Found a 4’ piece of blue 1/8” ID PET tubing that even had a 3/8” connector on one end, at my Dad’s old place, and then forgot to bring it here. Dad’s is 90 minutes away, so, that little project will have to wait several days or more.

BTW, anybody know of a source for a threaded 3/8” PVC or CPVC female to female coupling OR a 3/8” threaded female to 1/8” barb adapter? (Brass ok too if there’s nothing in plastic, but it will be a lot pricier.)

[Paul R.]

Just as long as he doesn’t bolt to the Nuts’ Aisle...

;-)

[MomwithHope]

My keyboard on my lap top has many broken keys and I use the touchscreen keyboard which is a pain. Typos I don’t catch are a problem.

[metmom]

I found this interesting article on ripening tomatoes.

Ripening Tomato Myths – Both on the Vine and in the Home
https://www.gardenmyths.com/myths-ripening-tomatoes/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks! It’s slow going around here for tomato ripening, but when it changes, it’s gonna turn on a dime!

And then I’ll be complaining about my GLUT of tomatoes.

Some seasons you just can’t win. ;)

[metmom]

I just entered the glut stage.

I’ll be canning up a batch of sauce before we leave for the week. Figures, right in the middle of tomato season. But not much choice.

Anyways, I’ll pick everything that is close enough to ripe to continue to ripen off the vine and catch up with the rest of the canning when I get back.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ve already told everyone in the family that no one can get sick, injured, die, get married or have a baby in the months of August-September-October if they’re going to need me to tend to them, LOL!

[Paul R.]

I'm looking for a connector that looks like this: but the barbed male end should be for 1/8" ID PET tubing, and the threaded female end should be 1/4"-18 FNPT (FTP). Material can be Brass, Nylon, CPVC, or PVC, with a slight preference toward Nylon or CPVC, but even std. PVC should work. Brass is ok and more durable, but will be pricier. If I can get 3x in plastic for the same money, then the durability factor kinda goes out the window, as it most applies during tear-downs anyway.

Note this is a solid connector, not a hose connector where the threaded portion turns independently of the rest of the part.

Basically, I need this part to connect a new style pressure switch* via 1/8" tubing to my well pump. The switch is on a spare pump that arrives in a couple days, and the switch has a 1/4"-18 male connector permanently attached.

I have a spare male to male version of the above, so, an ugly alternative (2 adapters in a row to do the job of one) would be a 1/4"-18 FNPT (FTP) to 1/4"-18 FNPT (FTP) connector, again in any of the above "ok" materials. I actually found this in stainless steel, but, with SS I'll have galling problems connecting to any other metal. :-(

[Paul R.]

Whew, dodged a bullet earlier this evening: 70 mph winds, various damage from that, and 1-1/4” hail, just to our northwest. Here our winds only topped out at around 55 mph, and we got about 2-1/4” of rain in a bit under an hour. Plus a lot of cloud to ground lightning — the power went out briefly a few times, but never for long. I think the longest outage for us was a couple minutes. But, again, not too far away, some people still don’t have power back on.

Round 2 gets here around 4 a.m., maybe. Supposedly it’ll be less of a wind / hail event, but more of a rain dump.

[Liz]

Grilled Eggplant Lasagna / Fresh Tomato Sauce

Ing 1 large eggplant 1/4 cup evo 6 oz grated Parm S/p

Pesto Sauce 1/2 cup evo 2 bunches fresh basil 3 gar/cloves 1/2 c pine nuts 6 tbl grated Parm S/p

Fresh Tomato Sauce 2 tbl evo 3 chp gar/cloves 2-3 large ripe tomatoes S/p, Chp fresh basil, to taste

Steps Brush long, thin strips eggplant w/ evo, s/p. Grill over hot coals, 3-4 min per side. Reserve.

Pesto Processor/fine-chp a min evo, basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parm, s/p. Set aside.

Fresh Tomato Sauce Heat evo on med. Sauté garlic a min. Core tomatoes and proc/puree; add to pan and cook over med 30-40 min. Add s/p and fresh basil to taste.

Layer in greased 13x9" pan grilled eggplant, thin layer of tomato sauce, thin layer of pesto. Repeat 3 or 4 times using up ing. Add Parm, rest tomato sauce, s/p to taste. Foil tightly. Bake 375 deg about 40 min.

NOTE For meat lovers, add a layer of seasoned, sauteed chp beef. Top w/ mozzarella.

[Liz]

The trick to making those yummy $7.00 iced coffees from a coffee shop is a French press, simple
syrup and pour cream. Simple syrup is the smooth sweetness that avoids pesky sugar granules.

Steps You’ll need a bag of ground coffee and Warm water – you want it very hot, but not boiling (200 deg to be exact); micro water 3 minutes per 2 cups of water. Pour into French press, add coffee grounds (2.5 scoops per cup of water - a level scoop of coffee should contain two tbl coffee).

Stir with a plastic or wooden spoon – metal spoon scratches the bottom of the French press. Let sit 4 minutes, then put the lid on, press gently, and pour coffee over a big glass of ice. Stir in simple syrup and pour cream. Save leftovers in fridge and serve over ice.

[MomwithHope]

I am thinking gas line connector.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Glad you were spared! We had two big ‘showers’ come through today. Didn’t look at the gauge yet, but by seeing ‘puddles’ and sopping-wet puppies, I’m betting another inch, too.

Yes, the puppies have shelter - they’re just so energetic and FEARLESS still that a little rain won’t stop them on their path of destruction. ;)

Beautiful clouds this evening and there was a BIG Rainbow earlier; always a treat.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Do you have a local ACE Hardware, or Hardware Hank, or something similar?

Whenever I’ve been looking for something that has been hard to find (usually a toilet part for whatever reason!), I find the OLDEST guy in the Hardware Store and 9 times out of 10 he knows exactly where I can find whatevertheh#ll I’m looking for...even if I don’t know what I’m looking for!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ll go with the MEAT vs. Eggplant, but otherwise it look very good! :)

[Paul R.]

Yes, after a bit of a hunt I found some brass female-to-female threaded fittings on Amazon, but in 4 packs or 10 packs, etc. No singles.

10 years ago I’d have just bought the pack and sold the extras piecemeal on eBay to run up my positive feedback, but USPS now calls an envelope with a lump in it a “package” and starting cost to mail such is over $5 — even though some Chinese dude can ship it here from central China for almost nothing...

I keep thinking the female threaded to male barb part should turn up as an item used in drip irrigation systems, but, no luck yet.

[Paul R.]

We used to have a pretty decent ACE Hardware store in a very small town ~7 miles from here, but it closed up shop a couple years ago. :-(

Menards, Lowes, Rural King, Tractor Supply and Home Depot are all about 13 miles away, but, no luck there. There IS another ACE, about 24 miles away (and half of that in a direction we don’t often go) — I may just break down and order the 4-pack from Amazon...

[Paul R.]

Hah! After altering my search terms for, IIRC, the 11th time, on Amazon, several pages in I stumbled(?) into these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZLBT11R/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_0?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aref=K5tiJZ2Mjv&th=1

[MomwithHope]

I am on ebay too, true about the shipping.