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.
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When a vehicle sits too long around here, wasps always build in it or on it. We’ve tackled a lot of nests through the years - no fun, and I HATE getting stung - have been weird about it since I was a kid.
Beau took two nice ones in the face so far this season - I TOLD him there were wasps behind the truck rear-view mirrors and even set out the can of spray RIGHT NEXT TO THE TRUCK KEYS, but I guess he wasn’t listening. He was listening later, LOL!
I tackled two nests that were being built on the back deck railing. I had to spray them two days in a row as after the first spraying they came right back and kept building!
Evil creatures, but we need all the pollinators we can get, I guess. *SHRUG*
Smart! That is one of the first ‘red’ lettuces I ever grew - and I fell in love! We sold it at Seed Savers and I would sell it to any customer that would listen. ;)
I’ve let lettuces go in other years and ended up with an entire flat of seedlings started right in my garden beds - and then I dug them up and moved them to one central location. I love ‘free’ food! :)
And now I’m hungry for a salad for supper! :)
Churro-Crusted Sour Cream Cheesecake Bars
Crunchy and creamy at the same time, packed with cinnamon sugar,
creamy cheesecake flavor, a flaky crust; makes an irresistible dessert.
Ing 2 cans crescent sheet dough 2-8 oz pkgs cr/cheese 1 cup sugar 1 tbs vanilla 1/2 cup sour cream
Topping 1/2 cup sugar 1 tbsp cinnamon 2 tbsp butter
Instructions Spread crescent dough into 9x12" pan bake golden 350 deg 10 min. Mix sugar, vanilla, cream cheese, and sour cream, creamy and smooth. Spread over crescent, top with another crescent sheet. Mix topping ing w/ fork to crumble. Spread over top. bake 350 deg 10-15 min til golden brown. Cool completely.
Last PING of August - new thread starting tomorrow. :)
It was a CHILLY 57 degrees here this morning; most welcomed!
Good morning! It’s a lovely 71 here. We had storms yesterday which knocked out our power right as we were cooking dinner. Had to find the lanterns to finish cooking. We have a gas stove so it was fine. There’s something about having no power that makes a meal extra satisfying when you get to eat it. We were fortunate that power was restored around midnight. It was just our neighborhood. A limb fell on a power line that affected us and nobody else. 133 homes.
There’s supposed to more rain and lightning off and on for a few more hours, but then it should clear up and I can go check to see how many limbs are down in my yard. There’s always something to clean up.
Got a late start on cukes this year so they are just coming in here in upstate NY. Plus they are getting a bit yellow aka mosaic, so have been spraying the fung-oil mixture on them.
For the tomatoes, I just follow Ethan Chlebowski’s (Marcella Hazan) 3 ingredient pasta sauce recipe https://www.cookwell.com/recipe/marcella-hazan-s-3-ingredient-tomato-sauce
and they go into mason jars with lots of head room and then into the freezer.
Fall is definitely on its way. A few trees are starting to turn, weeds are dying back, and the days are getting shorter FAST.
Today I found a stand of Joe Pye Weed and it was going to seed. Since we don’t have much, or any that I have seen, growing on our property, I clipped a bunch of flower heads and scattered them around our property to restore the native flora.
I bought some saplings and bushes from the NH State Nursery and have planted 90% of them. The remained are in pots and doing well, but I’m not sure I’ll be getting them in the ground before winter. How can I overwinter them so I don’t lose them?
I did OK with the tomatoes. The biggest problem I had this year was a stink bug infestation. They destroyed a couple of the tomato plants. I never saw anything like that before. I have a jar of soapy water to knock them into but they are harder to catch than Japanese beetles.
I love “chilly” Autumn Mornings.
And BLACK Coffee, of course.
I’m in SW Michigan, and have a lot of varieties of pumpkins/winter squash planted.
It’s about six weeks until the average first frost.
When’s a good time to start pinching-off the newest fruits that won’t mature before the frost, so the plants will concentrate on the fruits that have time to mature?
Cool(er) air, 50’s in the morning, will be here Tuesday.
Looked out one of the windows yesterday & thought “ well, look at that patch of grass I missed last time I mowed (last Sunday)!” Then I looked at the stepping stone path from the patio to the shop (that I cut at 2”) & the grass was tall rnough to almost hide the stones! I didn’t miss anything - the grass has grown that much in a week.
Trying to “get going” this morning ... still have 6 bags of landscape pebbles to unload off the trailer - very heavy, but I think I can use the hand cart. The 30-drawer metal cabinet, compounding miter saw & stand got unloaded last night - it was harder unloading & getting them in the shop than loading in the trailer. Stopping by the grocery for Chicken Marbella ingredients, the across the street to the co-op for a load of mulch.
Back home, I need to weed whip down to the dirt the bank on the side of the shop, put down shingles, & cover with mulch. Next, the two raised beds will be installed at the bottom of the bank for mom’s flower garden. Tomorrow, I will get the boards for a 3rd bed, build & install it. Busy days & I am whipped just thinking about it in this hot & humid weather.
“How can I overwinter them so I don’t lose them?”
Dig a hole, or holes, for each on the North side of your house. You may have to dig the holes NOW before your soil freezes and it’s harder to dig. Put the potted shrubs in the hole/s. Cover the base with mulch or straw. The trick is to keep them frozen once they freeze and that they don’t thaw out until Spring. No need to water once situated; they are going dormant.
Or you can gather them all together, again on the North side of the house, lay them on their sides, throw a tarp over them all and weight the tarp around the edges with rocks, pieces of lumber, or dirt. The only problem with THIS is that you can get rodents living in there all winter in a nice cozy space while they chew on your shrubs/saplings.
Or, you could get them planted where you want them before a hard freeze. It’s the same amount of work either way, really. ;)
Seems like the heat might finally be over.
NWH Nice! Thanks for posting!
It might be too late according to the link below, but I think I would still do it to promote growth in the pumpkins/winter squashes you want to keep.
https://leafyjournal.com/tips-on-pruning-and-pinching-pumpkins/
I’ve never trimmed pumpkin vines. We have the space, so we plant pumpkins and winter squashes and then stand back and let them do their thing. ;)
Yeah, after reading that ‘advice’ again, I’d say just do it now to promote growth/ripening in the squashes you want to mature.
Good morning DiW!
2 days ago the local TV Weather lady stated “The high temperatures will be going away on Friday and it will get cold! (It was forcast to be 79F!)
A(OldFarmers)Almanac first and last frost dates by zipcode
It does not list anything at my zip, but checking 2 zip codes next to my location and altitude Average First Frost falls between October 23 and October 29.
(Sea Level Rise....I should be pretty good here at 1055' "asl". I should start paying more attention to 1000' asl on baking recipes!)
I would pinch off any now, plus any vines with no flowers. We are just east of Grand Rapids. Everything came in early and fast this year.
Have all the tomato plants yanked except for the hardy sabres. Have red raspberries fall crop to look forward to plus lots more shishitos, Carmella, and Costa Rican Red peppers. Those are just starting to turn. I THINK I am all done canning, did the second box of 6 lbs of blueberries yesterday. Fall lettuce was big enough to thin this morning.
It’s been a great year. Better than last and last year better than the one before.
Apple tree has some sort of disease though, which I have not research. This has been a busy summer fixing bikes (free, parts at cost), etc., by the grace of God, thanks be to Him.
And for Loli, the community cat, mother of 5 litters whose residence is across the street, 2nd flr. but who does not like to go home and be with the other well-fed cats, and thus she usually gets fed on our porch. And loves to catch mice, and sometimes rats. Yes, this nice cat is a Predator. She eats part of her catch. Which thus benefits the densely populated community. Thank God.
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