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!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Score! Our Burr Oak (they are everywhere around here) are dropping acorns already with this heat. If you’ve never seen one, look them up.

They make nice ‘decor’ pieces if you put them in a pretty wooden bowl or fancy glass jar. I’ve never tried to eat one. ;)

Acorn Flour use to be ‘a thing’ with the Wisconsin Native American Indians. You had to eat anything Nature provided to make it through the Winter up here on The Frozen Tundra.

[OldHarbor]

We have a Pin Oak in our yard, I haven’t tried to eat the acorns , although we had a dog that would eat the older acorns .

[FamiliarFace]

We had a pin oak in our front yard. Key word HAD.

It got some disease and just looked shabby all the time. We tried saving it for a few years. Finally cut it down a year ago. Now the neighbor’s pin oak is suffering the same illness. If they’re treating it, it hasn’t fared any better than ours did. I imagine it will be gone by next summer.

I didn’t ever try to eat those acorns. I just put them in dried wreaths that I used to make for friends.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Got the first picking done of 'King of the North' purple grapes this morning. Just finished juicing them in my steamer juicer.

3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket of grapes yielded 96 oz. of juice. It's in a recycled juice jug in the fridge downstairs until I've collected enough to make a morning of canning it all. There are still plenty of grapes to go, though the grapes to the east are taking longer to ripen; they get a bit more shade than the ones I picked this morning.

My beloved Father-in-Law, Big John, now deceased. He LOVED his Springer Spaniels. He was kind and generous to me - he gave me those grapes ages ago and taught me how to grow them properly. He also 'schooled me' on how to grow the best apples and gave me many hardwood trees for my other farm, which was just a few miles from The Family Farm. He and I and my MIL Gerry used to sell at a Farmer's Market together back in the day, and we all helped with John's tree sales from his farm in the spring. He was a Marine, an Engineer at IBM but was always a Farmer. One of the most intelligent men I've ever know. His greatest love was us, his Family. Big John is greatly missed!

[Silentgypsy]

Prince...Frog...Lol!

[Augie]

It was another unseasonably cool week here in Central Missouri. We got close to half an inch of rain mid-week. Enough to keep the grass growing but not enough to skip watering the garden and the orchard trees.

I spent a good bit of my spare time moving the big pile of dirt that was left from digging the bait pond in my back pasture up to the compost storage area up by the house. I need to do a bit of work to repair a leak in the front yard pond dam. Since it’s going to be torn up anyway I figured it would be a good time to go ahead and complete the finish grade landscaping. The dirt pile needed to move anyway to make way for a new fence to keep the horses out of the pond.

I’m going to get the soaker hoses going on my tomato plants and fill the watering bags on the orchard trees later today. If I’ve got any gumption left after that I might get the Kubota out and mow some grass.

[MomwithHope]

My Dad made cherry wine from cherries in a backyard tree in Chicago, A common pie cherry very red. The wine was delicious even fresh bottled. Incredible color and flavor. Never got the recipe.

[MomwithHope]

Grapes are gorgeous. And nice honoring of your FIL. Love never dies.
I’m in canning recovery mode, have used the dehydrator 3X now for italian seasoned olive oil coated tomatoes. Still have blueberry preserves to do if I can find some jerseys. Hubby made a tomato sandwich from a super ripe sabre. Sliced lengthwise. With mayo on some unseeded rye. Declared it the best tomato sandwich ever. I am not a fan of them but I had a bite, wow meaty and sweet. I asked him if he sprinkled sugar on it. Now those I will eat.

[Qiviut]

The microwave door is fixed ... all is well again in “mom world” :-)

Got back to the flatland house & was surprised that the grass was not a jungle... it has hardly grown. It’s also ‘crunchy’ it’s so dry. We did get a nice T-storm downpour this evening, but we need a lot more rain than that. Hurricane season is supposed to get more active so, as much as I hate storm remnants because of the winds, the rains usually break any drought conditions.

Oppressively humid here this afternoon, supposed to be 95 here Wednesday, 96 at the other house on Thursday. Big storms called for Thursday as a cooler front comes in so Friday should be 80. I will be traveling back Thursday for the shop garage door appointment Friday morning. I’m anxious to get back & finish some projects!

[Paul R.]

We hit 96 deg. F today, but it wasn’t too bad out in the shade, as our dewpoint was around 60 deg. The air temps and dewpoints are forecast to gradually rise through the week though, so, by Friday I’d best have outdoor activities completed by noon — unless we go swimming!

[Qiviut]

I’ve wrangled so many rat snakes out of my SIL’S chicken coop that I made my own snake pole. The biggest one I ever pulled out of a nest box was so long he wrapped around the pole & then my arm. Once they find the chicken coop (& eggs), unless you take them miles away, releasing them across the field doesn’t work - they come right back. My SIL calls me “The Terminator” ... when I see snakes around the place, it’s ‘live & let live’ unless they are in the chicken coop.

[FamiliarFace]

It’s been low 90’s the last two days, but amazingly, not terribly humid. Our plants are all thirsty as ever, though, so I’ve been watering. Gave a shot of fertilizer for some of the ones that are still giving me pleasure. Tomorrow everything will get another good drink. Hopefully rain on Thursday but it may just be brief. Who knows? As always, the weather guessers aren’t very accurate.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I asked him if he sprinkled sugar on it. Now those I will eat.”

I remember having sugar on tomatoes when I was a kid. Wonder if Mom did that to get us girls to eat our veggies? I LOVE a good BLT. We also add avocado, so we call then BLATs. ;)

A male co-worker used to make a BLT Pasta Salad in season. It was SO good! There are variations, but I like the basic recipe the best.

BLT Pasta Salad: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/72823/blt-pasta-salad/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

It has been BRUTAL here for the past two days. Every window in my house is fogged up because it’s so humid outside and so hot. It’s like walking into a warm bath when you go out the door. But, that’s a Wisconsin Summer! The A/C has been working overtime, but I’m keeping it at 76 and have a fan on in rooms I use all day.

The puppies are puddles of mush and are spending most of the day under the back deck where it’s the coolest. They’re not even fighting with each other, but they have been perking up at the end of the day when I feed them their main meal and feed the other animals currently on hand, (they always have kibble & fresh water available) then they tear around until they pass out for the evening. Straws are being picked right now between Beau’s hunting crew as to who gets what pup. I will be GLAD to see them leaving for their fur-ever homes - ASAP!

Today I plan on making a final (famous last words!) batch of V-8 Juice but will hold that in the fridge until this weekend when it’s supposed to be cooler and do the canning on that and the grape juice all at once.

Going out early to spot water - did a good soak on the whole garden yesterday but I’m sure anything potted needs a drink already. There are more slicing tomatoes to pick, so again, after a cool-down I will get a box together to share with the neighbors.

[Augie]

The heat found its way back to Misery yesterday. Mrs. Augie did some mowing while I watered the orchard trees, then I took over that job so she could go inside and work on another batch of lacto-fermented pickles.

My tomato plants resumed blooming when the Africa weather left and managed to set some fruit so I’m hoping for the best there. This 95° stuff will shut them back down for a bit I expect.

The zucchinni and yellow squash all folded up from the heat yesterday afternoon so there’s one less thing to bother with in the garden today. lol Cukes are about done too.

On a brighter note, my sweet corn is ready to harvest. Getting that done is my after work task for today.

Aside from the garlic I’m not planning to put in any fall garden. The time will be better spent finishing the new hoop house, building raised beds, and adding compost to the soil in the new garden, not to mention the fencing and landscaping projects that are waiting to be done.

ugh...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Aside from the garlic I’m not planning to put in any fall garden. The time will be better spent finishing the new hoop house, building raised beds, and adding compost to the soil in the new garden, not to mention the fencing and landscaping projects that are waiting to be done.”

Beau will be home after the 1st for a number of weeks. Hoping we can work on the front porch remodel/repair/upgrades then - after we shed a few more puppies.

I’m just going to do what I can in planters and in the greenhouse - mainly salad greens, as usual. By October, after I’ve finished with the apples, I am more than DONE with the garden. Until the first seed catalogs arrive before Christmas, LOL!

[Paul R.]

We hit 96.1 deg. F here, today, says NWS. It was tolerable until ~2 pm and then I had to resort to short “outings” and in the shade. Some breeze would have helped. We are still pegged to hit 100 in a day or two, for a day or two, and the dewpoints go up a bit more too. Hopefully we can keep the house at 80 deg. F (where it it now). We are used to it so long as the AC can keep the air in here “dry”. Well, sort of “dry”.

At least by Sunday it should cool down. Early next week (esp. Monday and Tuesday) really looks nice.

In the meantime, I hope the garden just survives! The tomato plants were looking a bit better in our cool spell, but this won’t help them! I just redid part of the hose system (upgrading to 3/4” hose all the way out to where the “split” is to the garden, the chickens’ runs & houses, and the fish cleaning table (which sadly hasn’t had much use because I’ve had so much else going on!) There’s still one section of 5/8” between the 1st set of splits and the 2nd (already mentioned) but I need another connector for that last 3/4” hose section....

We are supposed to go see our daughter - likely on Sunday I think. It’ll probably rain, but, we really need it.

[Paul R.]

Ah, I’m up too early. My ankles are sore (probably some arthritis) and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Hit ‘em with some rub and sit and type a bit...

I forgot to mention in that last post that I believe I’ve located a good CHEAP supplier for things like female garden hose ends actually made for 3/4” hose.

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=31584

I need to ask them what the barb I.D. is on those, but I think it’ll be fine. Hopefully quality will be good.

Shipping will run cost up, but I think I can order everything I need and get by with $5.90 shipping. A trip to Menards would likely cost me almost that much in gas alone, if I’m driving our 10 y/o Tahoe. And Menards doesn’t have a 3/4” female hose end connector I like, except a pretty pricey brass connector...

I’m not using brass because we have so much trouble with infrequently disconnected / reconnected metal connectors galling and / or corroding and locking up. If the hose is basically not moving around @ the connection to more hose or a splitter, all growing season, nylon seems to be fine. I wish these were available in PEX-B, though...

The system is slightly crazy. It goes:

3/4” short hose from wellhouse to 1st splitter. One split goes (5/8” 60’ hose) to west side of house and “new” west driveway (where we wash cars, etc. One split is “local” (5 ft. hose for water right there.) The last split runs ~20 ft. to a 2nd splitter. That one also has a short “local” hose, a feed to the south of the property including @ the incinerator (in case that ever “got loose”*), a 150 ft. feed all the way around the house on the east side to the front (north) — flower beds, lawn, old “front” driveway (sometimes I just hose off a dusty car there as there is shade there), and a 100 ft. feed* ESE out to a splitter beside the fish cleaning table. That splitter feeds the fish cleaning table, the chickens’ area (50 ft.), and a 70(?) slightly windy feed out to the garden area, where there’s a connection to another 100 ft. hose that gets all around the garden area, a little bit of our “woods”, and to the “burn pile” if need be.

*That’s the one I swapped out to the single 100’ 3/4” hose yesterday, replacing a combination of 3/4” and old 5/8” hose. That one was interesting: I had a big tote from my Dad that I thought was mostly junk, but, lo and behold, in the bottom I discovered a 100 ft. 3/4” hose in very good condition. I paced off the distance between splitter #2 and splitter #3 — sure enough, it was right at 100 ft.

Every once in a while, coincidence works in your favor... :-)

OTOH, Wayne Pumps advises me they do NOT sell the (otherwise easily replaceable) foot / bracket on the bottom of the pump — the well pump I received several days ago with a smashed foot. Damn, some of these US companies seem determined to hack off their customers. My reply was polite, but scathing.

[Qiviut]

“The Pit” safety rail project: took a trip to Lowe’s yesterday to look for some ‘brackets’ that I can attach to the wall & also my support beam ... something I can run a 2x4 through. I am trying to fix the rails so I can remove them easily when I want to use the sink, which will be soon ... I have 2 cast iron frying pans I need to strip & I don’t want to do it in the kitchen sink.

Anyway, I found what I needed ... $6.99 each & I needed 4. Meanwhile, back at the home place, dad had used these brackets on the pole shed to keep the horses out - put them on the support poles, ran a long 2x4 through. Perhaps, IF I could get the old brackets off (after being on for 40-50 years ... no joke), I could save some $$.

In the heat and humidity, I tackled the brackets. Between my drill, a large screwdriver, and a pry bar (2 were nailed, the rest screwed), I removed 12 brackets which means $84 that stayed in my pocket! Some of the brackets are pretty rusty, but still functional, just need to be sprayed with paint like Rustoleum. I love taking old stuff & re-using/re-purposing, so the feeling of ‘satisfaction’ from getting those brackets off was immense (as I sat in front of a fan, mopped my face, & guzzled iced tea to recover from the heat).

Today is supposed to be the hottest yet. Last night, after the sun set so somewhat cooler but still ‘drippy’ humid, I loaded 31 ‘Bankers’ boxes in the PU bed. Today, I have to get the trailer loaded ... so far, I am taking the miter saw & stand, some metal drawers that will be perfect for keeping nails/screws/bolts, etc. My brother has similar drawers - he hot-glued an example of what is in them to the outside & that makes finding something easy. My Gorilla Cart - will need it for hauling mulch around, gas cans (full), a really cool vise I found in the old garage, and assorted lumber .... more 4x4s (will need for mom’s raised beds - one 6’ piece per bed). I found some wood that would make good shelving & some more 2x4s that aren’t in the “mother lode” buried under the lumber trash pile! The trailer won’t be super full ... I have 3 more trash cans with wheels - may take more compost if I can make myself shovel it in the heat.

A sign of Fall .... the bro was working on his compound bow last evening, getting arrows ‘notch adjusted’. My other brother already suggested that the curious doe who hangs out behind the shop at the new house looks like “venison BBQ” - ha ha ... no doe shooting on our place, even if they do eat the rose bushes & forsythia. I sat on the truck tailgate the other night & watched the 2 does who have twins ... one of the fawns got a ‘face wash’ from mama ... so cute. The Screech Owl hasn’t been sounding off the last week or so, but at dusk, the geese are noisily flying around. Most of the farm ponds are very low, but the river is just down the hill & there is plenty of water for the geese there. A pink sky over the mountain range after the sun has set and flocks of geese ... dark V’s in the sky as they call to each other - I love it.

[FamiliarFace]

Your determination is inspiring! The new place sounds just beautiful, so picturesque.