The Garden Thread - June, 2025

June 1, 2025 | 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.]

Heh, rocks and rock-headed voters, but, I digress — this thread is supposed to be non-political!

We have a couple inches of half-decent topsoil (mostly long-broken down hickory leaves & debris), then orange-ish clay nearly impervious to water, then 18” - 24” down there is a few inch layer of smelly, grey, REALLY impervious to water, clay, then it’s back to the orange stuff until you hit gravel / sand / rock 20+ feet down.

The 1st garden area is ~100 ft. east of our house, the 2nd another ~20 ft. further. The entire part of the property 20 ft. to 200 ft. east of the house seems to be slowly subsiding, too...

[Paul R.]

I wish I could send you some of ours - rain AND mosquitos!

The cool weather was keeping the mosquitos from being totally “insane” (numbers), despite all the rain, but now we are warmer and wet...

[Paul R.]

NWS-Paducah is predicting some of that smoke will “mix down” in our region today. When it did that a few days ago, I had allergies AND the smoke to bother me... :-(

I just got in my dirt-biking goggles to see how much they will help the eye irritation part of that. One type has no filtering of the “vents” - those are going back. The other looks promising, but I don’t know if the open cell foam filters are too porous. However, I think I can replace the foam with material from N-95 type masks. The goggles won’t cover my eyeglasses, but, my vision from 2-3 ft. out is still pretty good. (It’s actually improved since I was 40 y/o or so!) :-)

[Qiviut]

The wood for raised beds would be pretty expensive.

My first raised beds were made out of 'regular' wood - dad paid & built them for me. They were 4x8 & 4x10. This was probably 15 years ago. Maybe 5 years ago, I supplemented with galvanized metal beds (3'x6' & about 12" deep). I caught them on sale at Northern Tool.

We moved last year. The wooden beds are rotting out & not movable. The metal beds will be moved when I have time to dig them out (remove fill dirt).

In the meanwhile, my brother, an avid raised bed gardener, told me about cedar fence planks. They are 6' long. A bed 3 planks high is about 16.5" tall. It takes 9 planks for one 6x3' bed plus you need corners. I had some 4x4 fence posts left over from a project & used those. I believe I paid $3.43 or thereabouts for each plank. The cedar wood holds up well as far as rot is concerned & you don't have to worry about preservatives in the wood. One end of the plank has the corners beveled off - I leave them rather than cutting the end off flush. I also lined my beds with weed barrier (reused some old barrier in addition to buying some) to keep dirt from seeping through any cracks between boards. I checked every board for warping, knots etc. & you still end up with a bit of space between boards in places.

If you want wood raised beds, the cedar fence planks are a nice alternative. The metal beds can also be a good alternative - Amazon has a selection & you can often find them on sale locally like I did.

Pictures - one 3x3 bed & 2 that are 3x6:

[Qiviut]

PS - you could certainly make your beds 2 cedar planks tall - I think the bed would be about 11 inches tall. This would require only 6 boards & corners.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The rain coming later today will help with the next cutting. For starting out in drought conditions - we had NO SNOW all winter - looks like things are evening out, now.

Fingers crossed for rain, but no tornadoes, today. Current Midwest radar looks awful busy! :(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I agree on the Hush Puppies. I attended an Army Training Course at Camp Beauregard, LA and we had them at every evening meal. :)

We also had a Land Navigation course in the swamps which was ever-so-much fun. (Not!)

The hardest part was understanding my Cajun-speaking Instructors, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Those raised beds are BEAUTIFUL! And look at all that KALE! Yay! :)

[Qiviut]

We’ll be dry until Friday when there’s a chance of showers. Unfortunately, we’ll be getting some of that Canadian wildfire smoke.

One good thing about all the rain .... the ground is soft enough to pound in T-posts where the neighbor’s old fence line is rotting out & starting to fall our way. I pounded 2 posts in yesterday, 2 more should go in today. My post pounder is 18.5 pounds - I was shocked my arms didn’t get tired - must be all the shoveling I’ve been doing. Mom held the ladder for me on one post & exclaimed “Wow, are you going to have some muscles!” LOL Reusing those pesky T-posts I jacked out of the ground a while back.

I have to treat the roof this morning with Wet & Forget - slate has lichens & all sorts of stuff growing on it. The roof appearance is one if mom’s pet peeves. I have to cover all the plants & bushes, which will be a pain.

Pick up tree debris, mow, trim, paint my washtubs, got potting soil for tubs this am so I can plant Calibrachoa, set groundhog trap, shovel mulch, cut down 2 rotten redbuds, 1 rotten peach, one rotten chestnut tree & majorly trim up the old apple tree .... all before 8 pm LOL, just joking about 8 pm, but it’s all on my schedule for the week. Keeps me out of “trouble”! :-)

[FamiliarFace]

I have trouble understanding Cajun speakers, too. I think it’s a mix of Southern drawl and French. One of my friends father was true Cajun. I could hardly understand him. He did make a great baked Vidalia onion as a side to his BBQ. Scrumptious!

[Qiviut]

Went to get my ladder in the barn to start on the roof and "HELLO!"

[daniel1212]

We have a couple inches of half-decent topsoil (mostly long-broken down hickory leaves & debris), then orange-ish clay nearly impervious to water, then 18” - 24” down there is a few inch layer of smelly, grey, REALLY impervious to water, clay, then it’s back to the orange stuff until you hit gravel / sand / rock 20+ feet down.

Wow, "Break up the fallow ground" comes to mind but with that "soil" breaking up is both harder and leave much to be desired. Sounds like a truck load of manure, gravel, and topsoil (the latter is just $2 for 40 lbs here) could help.

How large is your plot?

[Augie]

I needed another dog like I need another hole my head, but that’s alright.

I’ve been around long enough to understand that when a critter chooses a human it’s a blessing and should not be ignored.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’re one busy lady these days!

Our rain today turned out to be NOTHING - not even measurable, though it did rain. Radar shows the bulk of it between 6-10pm tonight. Greenhouse is opened up again until then.
I am down to 5 mixed flats of stuff that still needs to go in the ground, but the Zinnia and Dahlia are all in.

I like seeing those flats DWINDLE this time of year. :)

We were watching ‘Longmire’ this afternoon and Beau said, ‘Did you hear that?!’

Nope. I didn’t.

He said he can HEAR the corn growing that he planted just yesterday - we should have sweet corn for supper tonight, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“... when a critter chooses a human it’s a blessing and should not be ignored.”

That is so true!

When we were down to the four remaining puppies, that’s how they found their fur-ever homes. I just told my friends, ‘the one that pays attention to YOU is the one that wants to go home with you.’ And it all worked out perfectly. Everyone has been very happy with their choices. :)

[FamiliarFace]

This happened years ago, but your story of dogs finding their owners reminded me of it. When we were moving to a bigger house, hubby asked each of the kids what they might like in a new home. The oldest said he’d like to have his own room, because he had to share with his little brother and was a teenager by then. Our daughter asked for a big room because her old one was just big enough for a small youth bed and a dresser. So she got a bigger room. The youngest asked for a house with a fence. When we asked him why, he said he’d really like to have a dog. 🥰Well, what parent could say no to that?

So we found a house that fit all these desires, and soon after we moved in, we started “interviewing” dogs and rescue agencies. The first one was pretty cute, but the kids had also seen an ad for a black lab/ beagle mix, and wanted to wait until she came for a visit. Well…when that doggy arrived, it was so excited it ran straight up the stairs and into the youngest’s bedroom and hopped straight on to his bed. When we caught up to her, she licked our son all over his face.

We knew right away that Sammie was meant to be with him. She was the sweetest, most loyal dog there ever was.

When it was her time to cross over the rainbow bridge, it was SOOO hard, especially for our son.

[FamiliarFace]

Yikes! I bet that fella will keep the mouse and chipmunk populations down!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[FamiliarFace]

That’s right!