Posted on 08/01/2024 6:19:57 AM PDT by 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!
Hi Everybody!
(((HUGS)))
Wine brings to mind Herrman MO, Missouri's wine growing region located on the Missouri River not far from St. Louis. I will be going there in September for a couple of days and get together with my brothers and sister. I anticipate enjoying some good German food and drink.
So much progress! I like how you’re more concerned with your shop than the house, LOL! I can’t WAIT for our barn re-model to get cranking (hunting gets in the way) some more so some of the ‘Guy Stuff’ in the basement/garage can be moved out there.
It would be fun for me to learn all the woodworking tools; Beau and I make a good team at that - I’m great at finding things for him to make for me, LOL!
Impressive progress this week, Girl! :)
I’ve made wine before - and I was under-impressed. ;) I LOVE just straight (no sugar) juice from our grapes, canned. So, SO GOOD!
Beau would like to try his hand at cider. I know he has plans for a home made press. There really is no other way to juice them - I’ve tried them in my steamer/juicer and you just get mush, not juice.
Anyhow, he’s great with making the Maple Syrup, so the cider will undoubtedly be a success once he sets his mind to it. :)
I love your reports/updates.
You are so much more ambitious than I am. Ok, maybe I am ambitious sometimes, but you follow though much more than I do, at least in the gardening aspects.
I’m starting to realize that I’m not a very good gardener. I just like gardens. And plants.
This has been a very off year for me too, except for certain plants: An Opo I put in a big pot with fresh potting soil is doing well, er, finally. No fruits started yet, though, it seems to be following that giant pumpkin plant (just one fruit on the pumpkin, still, so far, and no more female flowers seen, though the number of male flowers is fine!) Tomato yields range from poor to good - no rhyme or reason as to which plants do poorly, although for a few I think crayfish may have burrowed under them. Peppers are “fair”, okkra is not doing too badly, the Japanese cucumber plants all died @ the stem, except one is doing very well. The few okra are not looking bad...
It looks like we’ll be scorchin’ by next Wed. - High of 100 predicted. At least the humidity won’t be horrific (mid to upper 60’s dewpoints, rising to around 70 by next Friday. No chance of rain — the well pump is gonna get a workout! I’d better be getting up by 6 am to work outside!
Another new question:
Has anyone here used “Vulkem Max” caulk as an adhesive in really tough applications? Mine is one of the toughest — repairing shoes that are otherwise more than good enough for work / yard shoes, but the soles or heels are starting to come loose. What with most shoes and boots even from supposedly reasonably good brands seeming to fall prey to this, a really good high flexibility, high adhesion adhesive would be great. I’ve used “Shoe Goop”* but results are so-so. I suspect the synthetic materials in a lot of shoes, and boots’ soles are tough to get superior adhesion to. I used to get a glue called “Moyen 3065” from the place I worked — it’s absolutely great, but my old workplace bit the dust 15 years ago. (Poor management and foresight by the owner — we needed at least 5x the marketing effort!) 3065 is sort of like a super-duper Weldwood (solvent based contact cement that can be used as a wet set glue too and given a couple days to cure — really, a week before use is best.)
Strangely(?), the best light boots I’ve ever had (still have) were some Wally World “Brahma” boots. They have to be over 30 years old and still haven’t failed, although: A) The soles are completely worn smooth, so forget about any “traction”, and, B) My feet are just simply bigger than they were 30 years ago, so, the Brahma’s are too tight! I can wear them for 30 minutes at most...
Another pair bought about 20 years ago lasted a few years and then the sole on one started detaching.
Anyway, “Vulkem Max” looks pretty interesting - might be worth a try?
*Shoe Goop” appears to be the same stuff as “”Through The Roof” roof repair caulk / adhesive, and is very close to if not the same as E6000. All have some Xylene or Toluene in them, I believe, which helps with adhesion to plastics like polypropylene, though as plasticizers work their way out of the plastic over time, the adhesion degrades.
Thanks!
My raised bed sides are now lined with weed barrier fabric. My staple gun is at the other house (of course) so the plan was to buy heavy duty staples & tap them in with a hammer. I couldn’t find them at Walmart & the Co-op is closed on Sundays, BUT I did see thumbtacks! Easier to deal with than pulling staples apart & trying to tap them in. The thumbtacks will eventually rust out, but the dirt in the beds will keep the fabric in place well enough.
Not sure if I can site the beds this trip. It is 90° & where I need to try them out is full sun right now. When it’s late enough to be shady, I will be mowing grass - got about half the place mowed last night between 6:30 & dark.
Another ‘critical’ project has reared its ugly head & I have noodled (while tacking landscape fabric) enough to come up with a solution using what I have on hand. The shop has a pair of old commercial sinks which are great; however, they are in a sunken part of the floor. There is yellow & black striped safety tape around the edge, but even so, I have had two near falls into the ‘pit’. If I do truly fall in, it will be broken bones & perhaps fatal (easy to crack head) & I am worried about mom as well. So after getting a jar of cold brew ice tea (with plenty of ice), I will be back in the shop working out a safety railing system & getting it installed.
I have yet another project waiting when I get back to the old house tomorrow - the microwave door came off in mom’s hand when she went to defrost her English muffin this morning! The door has had issues before that I resolved at the time so I think I can fix it. :-)
Mom has the strength of ten because her heart is pure! ;)
Glad to see you have more projects lined up - we wouldn’t want you to be able to just sit and relax you know, LOL!
Smart thinking on the ‘pit.’
I can’t even get motivated enough to paint my pantry - but it IS canning season. Starting on grapes, tomorrow. Really, REALLY hot here - even the puppies are laying in the shade not destroying anything or chewing on each other! I’ll pick grapes in the 70-degree morning ‘cool.’
Please get that safety railing done asap. I’d hate for anything life altering to happen to you.
My maternal grandpa made excellent sweet wine at home, but, how he got such good results I do not know. The one we used to “confuse” people with was rhubarb wine. No one we ever gave it to guessed what it came from!
Gramp’s cherry wine was just superb once it had aged several years...
Lucky you!
Ellendra makes some great wine out of unusual stuff! *PING*
Veering off completely... Has anyone else tried the Victor "Quick-Kill" mouse traps? 
These are very interesting as they induce the mouse to try to crawl into the little "hole" leading to the bait, pushing the cover UP, and tripping the trap. There seem to be many advantages to these: Very easy to set, very easy to bait (can even use grain!), almost no accidental "trips", etc...
I do think small mice might no be killed quickly if they approach from the side. :-(
“might not”
A rail on the worst side is up - need some brackets from home to finish, but I screwed one end into the wall to hold it. My hand cart is on the other side, in the way of getting to the ‘pit’.
I found 2 snake skins today ... the one on the doormat just outside the French doors is not the one that bothers me ... the one in the garage twined around a rope I use does. The skin on the mat was complete, from head to tail. The one in the garage was about 3/4. The snake(s) have spots - you can barely see them if you look through the skins. I would guess hognose, but if that’s not it, ruh roh!
Oh Lord. I hate snakes. I don’t care if they aren’t poisonous. Makes no difference to me.
We mostly have black rat snakes around here. Constrictors. If they would keep the rodent population down a little better, I might draw a truce with them.
We try to get a few miles walk in every day. Honestly, it is harder to do in the over 90 summer days than it is in the 0-10 degree winter days. So today we loaded up with bug spray and took a walk in the wooded park not far from here.
It was a bonus walk! Not only did we get our walk in, but we came upon a grove of Buckeye trees that had dropped their loaded pods. We gathered what we could carry in our pockets. Maybe 2 dozen nuts. I don’t know what I’ll do with them, but we think they look neat. (We used to live in Columbus, OH, so have always wanted to find these in nature. Always thought it would be there.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.