Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 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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Go, Howard! Go, Howard! His antics need to be a weekly feature here, Please!
Beau sent me a video today of three of the pups I raised this past year, hunting black bear. He said they had a 22 MINUTE hunt and had a bear treed! That is spectacular work! So proud of my puppies! :)
Blackfoot (my girl!) Comanche and *Huxley. I couldn’t be prouder. :)
*Huxley went to hunting buddy Thomas. He’s a teacher, hence the author ‘Aldous Huxley’ name. I like it, actually.
At this point in time, if it isn’t still the Squash Borers it is probably Bacterial Wilt.
https://gardenplanner.almanac.com/plant-diseases/us-and-canada/squash-bacterial-wilt/
You and Beau would make great commiserating garden friends. He tries his hardest to grow Sweet Corn and Watermelons and is always unsuccessful, and you and your Opo Squash problems, LOL!
I did look it up to see if there is a "Yarn Owl"! ("Yarn Owl is a video game developer headquartered in Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia.")
Search also returned a number of Craft project yarn owls including this:
That is a cute owl, I saved the picture.
Last year I gave up on drinking anything from a plastic bottle. We have good water but I would refill a plastic bottle. Chucked them all and found single size kombucha bottles are perfect. Perfect amount for me, good quality heavy glass and a wide mouth good cap as I like to keep one at bedside.
This is the brand and bottle. Local grocery store carries it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Discontinued-GHS-GTS-KOMBUCHA-TRI-OG/51259247?wl13=2493&selectedSellerId=0&wmlspartner=wlpa
Bt. Right now I am using "Hi-Yield" I have used Southern Ag before. If you look at the label sometimes they use toxins generated by the bacteria, sometimes they include the spores and bacteria or they might have them in different proportions. I suspect that by now my Bt. does not have any live Bt, it being several years old. I assume the toxins are still toxic to caterpillars. The Tomato plants I sprayed stopped being eaten so it was either the Bt or a bird.
I remember the first time my Father used BT on cabbage. It was powder or dust that you sprinkled on the plant and hoped that the loopers ingested it. Sprayed BT has much better coverage.
I suppose that in the end you make your choice based on how much you want to pay and how often you will be using it. I hope it works!
Pumpkin Cake / decadent fall treat
Ing 15 oz can pumpkin puree 12 oz can evap/milk 4 eggs 1½ c sugar 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp salt 18.25-oz pkg yellow cake mix 1 cup butterscotch chips 1 cup butter, melted Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, caramel sauce
Method Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well and then spread into Lightly greased 9×13" baking pan. Sprinkle cake mix over top, and pat down. Do not mix! Sprinkle butterscotch chips evenly over cake mix, then drizzle with melted butter. Bake 350 deg 60-80 min til done. Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and caramel sauce to serve.
Ok, now I know you’re doubling down. ;-)
Lord, that looks good...
Ok, now I know you’re doubling down. Lord, that looks good...
Decadent, for sure
That’s hilarious in one sense, AND I’m also siding with Mrs. Augie (with hands on my hips, too.)
My cat now speaks English, or at the very least, he speaks FF. He must understand my tone of voice at a minimum.
When my younger son is around, he laughs when I scold the cat. He remembers that tone of voice! “Boys! BOYS!! Stop that!!”
When we had two cats (lost one to cancer a year ago), that was something I said to the two of them, verbatim. They were real buddies, but every now and again had their scrapes. That’s when Mom voice came out.
Tell Mrs. Augie I understand her position. Too bad our pets have us figured out.
I keep trying to get butterfly weed established, but it just doesn’t happen. I don’t know if it’s the walnut trees about 80 feet away, the hickory trees (beginning about the same distance, but many more of them), or what. :-(
Maybe I’ll try in the front garden bed next year, or on the west side of my shop (no trees anywhere near at all)...
Too bad giant ragweed isn’t a milkweed. We have a small forest of those, some over 15 ft. tall, on a little slice of our property I let go because our chickens like to eat a little giant ragweed... when they can reach the leaves! So, I break off a big plant or a couple smaller plants each morning and distribute them to the birdies. (No neighbors are closely downwind and none of us are allergic to giant ragweed.)
Thanks! From that info., I’d say it’s NOT bacterial wilt (and I’ve yet to see cucumber beetle #1 since at least a month B4 I put that 2nd (actually 3rd) Opo plant out. Plus, “Lemon cucumber” and Asian squash plants not even 15 ft. away are generally doing well, presently (except not fruiting much.)
However, I did have one Lemon Cucumber and Opo #2 die a very similar death, not too far away, earlier this year, but I attributed that mainly to them getting drowned by all the rain. The Opo that is going great guns is also close by, but in a big pot.
It’s almost as if young Opo and similar (squash like) plants get zapped by something coming up from the ground, and in each case, the stem, a little way up, dies first, with the failure progressing first up, and then down the stem, with the top of the plant hanging on for a while.
I’ll try dissecting the (dead except the top leaf, now) Opo tomorrow to search for squash borers. I’ve seen no external signs of them.
Next year, maybe I’ll use BT and even inject plants with some as a possible preventive measure.
;-)
My wife just won’t make anything but her Filipina basic foods (some are great, some are awful). Ie., no deserts — except very occasionally she makes “box” cake or brownies (such as Betty Crocker, etc.).
BUT, one of her Filipina friends LOVES to make all kinds of “Western” deserts, many of which are great, and sometimes they show up at the frequent get-togethers. (Filipinas are the most gregarious people on Earth, I’m convinced.) I think I should collect all your desert recipes and give them to her friend! :-)
What is the report on the the Harvard Square tomato...How does that taste?
I like Heirlooms, some have a large white core, a bit like that tomato.
So I have both Swamp Milkweed and Common Milkweed in this particular bed. It’s a little bit different than Butterfly Weed, I think.
The Common milkweeds are transplants from a neighbor. They are tuberous. I worked very hard last year to get them transplanted quickly. When I got them from my friend, I wasn’t sure where I would place them or if I even had room. So I made sure to make room quickly, and I think almost all of the plants survived.
The monarchs have swarmed all over these plants this year. I’m so excited that I saw so many caterpillars today. I have only seen a chrysalis a few times.
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