The Garden Thread - August, 2025

August 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.

[Pollard]

Small engines dealings today. No luck on the Stihl string trimmer but I'm pretty sure it needs a carb kit, filters, fuel lines and for good measure, a new Bosch spark plug. I know it needs a primer bulb because it cracked when I was trying to get it started.

Decided to give the mower one more wack. New carb already but I later figured out I've been dealing with bad gas. Old, orange and my 5 gallon can had water in it. Last thing I had done to the mower was dump the tank and put fresh gas in it but the bowl still had bad gas and water which I took care of a this afternoon. Also put a new spark plug in.

It lives! Runs like day one and I brought it down and mowed everything I could in the grass/weed overgrown tunnel areas. I'll have to start moving things out of the tunnel, including square hay cards 3" that I mulched with. Then I can mow again, then lower the mower which is on it's highest setting and mow again. Then I can tarp it.

Stihl chain saw, I didn't get to. Will try dumping the tank and putting fresh gas in first since it will start. It's older than the trimmer so it probably needs filters, fuel lines, primer bulb, carb kit and new Bosch spark plug. I'll look into OEM stuff for that because I don't think the saws are made in China. Paid $280 for the saw but hate to spend $100 on a tune up so it may get China stuff too. We'll see.

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All my old Ryobi 18V stuff still work as expected. Batteries took some charge but are weak. Good enough to make everything spin under no load. Looks the old Ryobi tools are getting a lithium upgrade soon.

Now that I have a running push mower, the cordless string trimmer is no longer a priority. That means the impact gun at 41% off is the priority before that deal is no longer. Comes with 4.0 batt/charger. Normally $269, on sale for $159. All the other items will come later and a pole saw is the only thing close to a priority.

Will be interesting to see how the old tools work with lithium. I suppose 18V is 18V but they won't have that gradual slow down since lithium stays near full strength the whole time but then dies suddenly.

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Pulled two of four tomato plants that were over shadowing the habanero plants and were on the East side of them. Hoping that will help the peppers ripen sooner and the two tomato plants weren't doing great. Small fruits and all fuzzy, blotchy ripening etc. Still have two plants left but haven't seen a flower in a while so those will be coming out soon too.

That will leave the two habanero, a shisito that's petering out and the lone sugar baby watermelon that I'm growing impatient with since it's in a row by itself and preventing me from tarping most of the tunnel. I can live without a 6" watermelon. I do want to at least get a couple of ripe habenero peppers though but also need to tarp while it's still hot.

Gonna get out there in the morning and pull everything I can out of the tunnel. Two pallets with hay on them, patio table, portable tank sprayer, tools, small pieces of very heavy black plastic, black rubber mats, tools, row marker stakes - I can measure it again.

[Paul R.]

I’ve noticed that my tomato plants sometimes pause flowering for several days, and then resume. I’ve tried to tie it to weather conditions, but, while really hot weather is definitely a factor, often causing flower fall-off, sometimes the plants pause in moderate temps too, not flowering to begin with.

A shot of Bloom Booster or Super Phosphate usually encourages flowering if the weather is good, but, sometimes (less often?) plants I didn’t treat “come back” later with flowers, too. I’ve had tomato plants “resume” in early fall, other times even indeterminate types just quit entirely or even die for no apparent reason. (I suspect root diseases.)

[Augie]

I didn’t have the energy to try out the Ninja juicer after work yesterday. Maybe tonight.

Saving the pulp for later use is a good idea. I generally can it rather than freezing it due to freezer space being at a premium. I’ve got two deep freezers and three refrigerator freezers but there never is enough empty space when harvest time rolls around. I suppose I should use some of the stuff that’s in there rather than just hoarding more. lol

[MomwithHope]

I am very close to emptying out our 8 cu foot freezer. Been working at it almost a year. I think I have enough room inside to bring the rest in and unplug it. Just not going to need it at least right now. The pulp that is leftover from a champion is so dry and not a whole lot. For the three gallons of V8 we made last year I had two quart freezer bags of pulp left over. It was so dry I had to press the air out of the bags. That being said, I did not save any of the tomato pulp. It is just seeds and skins. Just the leftover pulp from the veggies, beets, onions, celery, carrots, peppers. Great to thicken a soup or stew. Sometime I would just break off a chunk to add to a pot of soup.

[Augie]

I went over the estimates with roofer guy. It’s a $7k premium to go with metal vs. Class IV architectural shingles.

The existing roof is 18 years old and while it isn’t leaking it definitely needs to be replaced before it starts to leak. Mrs. Augie and I are both 62yo so chances are good that whatever we put on will outlast us. Mrs. Augie is less than 60 days from retirement. I intend to retire within the next two years.

All of that considered, I’m going to put asphalt shingles back on and keep the $7k in my pocket.

[Qiviut]

I’d go with the architectural shingles, too ... $7k is nothing to sneeze at!

I’m having a tough time being patient LOL! The roofer was just here Tuesday & every time I look at that nasty old slate roof (lichens, all sorts of growth on it, slipped shingles, etc.), I can hardly wait for the new roof! I’m watching the weather for rain because our leak will leak again so I’d like to put a plastic bin down. The water on the floor last Friday didn’t mess anything up. I am hoping a guy from church can fix the drywall ceiling & repaint if we decide to stick with what we have on that ceiling.

Our new roof will outlast mom & me both, for sure!

[Paul R.]

Speaking of green beans, house brand canned green beans just jumped up 20 cents at our local Wally World and Aldi. Ditto for corn. Anybody have a clue what’s up with that?

Pork steaks and chicken are up too. Fish is almost as expensive now as shrimp, and beef is totally out of sight, except for an occasional closeout deal on frozen patties or the like. Often those patties are not that great...

Maybe I need to go fishing more...

I eat a lot of plain ol’ canned green beans. They go well, unseasoned except what’s in the can, with a lot of dishes my wife cooks. I’ve tried planting a couple varieties of beans, but without much success, and prep time is an issue too. :-(

If I could sustain my 1st year’s success with Opo, that would be a potential substitute “filler” (or “fill me up”) veggie. It’s neutral, and when successful, the fruits are huge, and will sometimes keep a few months, at the expense of needing to remove the skin and seeds. Young fruits — one can basically just chop up or slice the whole thing, sort of like cucumbers.

[Pollard]

I’ll keep bloom booster in mind for next year and beyond but I’m actually itching to pull every plant out of the tunnel, all six of them, and prep the soil like I should have done before a plant or seed ever went in there.

[Paul R.]

Hah, I just took a look at my “took months to germinate” Opo plant, and it’s really going to town. It grew about 6” yesterday! Time to move it out of the 5” starter pot and into the garden proper - MAYBE there’s enough time B4 frost to get something out of it.

[Paul R.]

Has anyone ever seen an online “plant identifier” into which one can feed a picture of a leaf, and maybe a little other info., and the app will attempt to identify the plant?

I’d like to know what these almost tree-like weeds that can grow up to 15 ft. tall in 3 months in lousy soil are. The leaves look almost like a large hand with 3 fat fingers— not quite like exaggerated tulip poplar leaves, but, along that line. The stalks and leaves are somewhat fuzzy. Our chickens will eat the leaves if those are the 1st thing fed to them in the morning, but seem to quickly get their fill (possibly because they know I’ll eventually give them better food, or they can go out later and free range!) I’ve not tried the leaves myself, as I’m not sure they are safe for humans to eat. (If they tasted any good, I’d think they’d be one of the most successful “greens” crop on the planet!!)

I’ve tried all sorts of web searching to no avail, as no image matches. However, these are pretty common in the mid-south USA.

I might look to see if our local Ag Extension Service has an e-mail address to which I can send an image. I have no image hosting web service myself.

[Paul R.]

Ah, I see! Well understood - in fact, last year I sprayed (Roundup) the over-spreading tomatillo plants at the edge (just outside the fence) of one of my smaller garden areas. They were really out of hand.

I overdid it though: I just wanted to kill the south half of them, and they ALL died. Apparently some growth “intermingled” more than I realized, and these are VERY sensitive to Roundup. None came back, there, from seed, either. Fortunately, ONE tomatillo plant came up from seed late this spring, in the middle of the fenced in area, so, I rescued it last month and replanted it on the north end of where they were last year.

[Paul R.]

Well, this is interesting:

https://search.brave.com/search?q=is+tumeric+anti-fungal&summary=1&conversation=d85ae0c23704b5e100b2b9

I’ve been using turmeric in rainwater to battle plant root fungi - it seems fairy effective. Maybe I should be using it on my athlete’s foot too (if I wear socks that color, anyway!)

[Pollard]

Got all the misc stuff pulled out of the tunnel and put the two pallets with hay at the end of the row that the maters and peppers are in. I mowed, lowered the mower and mowed again. Now I can start laying black poly starting on the right side.

Also mowed outside the tunnel at the bottom end and moved one of the IBC tanks down there. The pump will be going down there too so the drip system doesn't gravity drain between every use. Lot more room down there to back the truck in to fill a tank too.

Headed back out and got the tank at the bottom end up on concrete blocks. Then the rain came. As of now, it doesn't look like it will last long.

Before second mowing. Feels bigger without the 1-2' tall grass encroaching down both sides and without big piles of pulled grass/weeds and without 'stuff' in there. Dragged my rubber mats up to the top where I walk most.

I'm deliberating whether I should add organic material before I tarp it. Just in the beds. I've got that hay and plenty of goat manure. I think I would strew the hay rather than tile with sq bale cards. Either that or make thin cards, 1" or so. I would have to set up the overhead sprinklers to give everything a good soaking before covering but that's easy enough. Get some 3/8" galvanized water pipe and drill and tap it for 10-32 threads for the drip fittings below. I've had 1/2" main line tubing up there and it was messy. Flexible and comes all coiled up when you buy it. The 3/8" galvanized pipe would stay nice and straight and I can hang things from it like mater plants. Overhead watering will be a rare thing.

Just opened a tab to Lowes to look at gutter. Prices are kinda crazy. Three sizes, one brand name, all aluminum, all 10' long. I need six lengths and would like to get the 6" but three times the price of 4.5 is whacked.

4.5" is $8 ($50 for six)
5" is $18 ($108 for six)
6" is $25 ($150 for six)

5" more than double 4.5"? All are 3.5" tall and after some math, very little difference in volume between them. I think I'll be going with $50 worth of gutters.

Think the rain's done. Temp dropped from 86 to 73 from that little thunderstorm. Guess I'll go see what I can get into but stay out from under the dripping trees.

[Paul R.]

Oh, to add to the description of my monster weeds:

The tips of all 3 leaf lobes(?) are pointed. The edges of the3 leaves are pretty evenly “serrated”. Maybe 14 TPI on medium size leaves? Deep green color leaves when growing in the sun.

[Paul R.]

If those t-storms would hold together a few hours*, they might give us some (by now) needed rain, and I could refill some rainwater containers. Right now, I’m hoarding what rainwater I have left for herbicide mixes and critical garden use (such as when I mix Bloom Booster.)

NWS thinks it’s pretty iffy. 10% chance of rain until ~ 7 pm. :-(

[Paul R.]

"The edges of the leaves are pretty evenly “serrated”."