The Garden Thread - August, 2025

August 1, 2025 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[daniel1212]

Besides sharing progress, by the grace of God, I use this thread as a chronicle, Main section:

The inexpensive (shop compare) durable permeable ground cover (Weed Barrier Landscape Fabric) works very well to stop weeds (which any uncovered spots reveal) and keep moisture in, thank God.

[Qiviut]

Looking through the recipes on the Corto’s 100% olive oil site & found this one:

https://corto-olive.com/blogs/corto-blog/olive-oil-cured-vegetables

My brother would go on pheasant hunting trips & one of the guys brought oil- cured peppers. My brother raved about them & I kept asking him to get the recipe. Evidently the guy who made the peppers was cagey about sharing the recipe, so I never got one. My brother kept saying he just poured oil over the peppers, but that did not make sense to me.

This recipe does make sense since it uses some vinegar first. The oil keeps oxygen from then getting to the veggies. I might try this - a jar would be a great Christmas gift for my brother.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

What was the question again on the Mortgage Lifters? I’ve only grown them once as a trial.

Was it the height of the plant? I would imagine it needs to be BIG as it’s supporting those HUGE tomatoes.

Average Height of Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes

On average, Mortgage Lifter tomato plants can grow to a height of 6 to 8 feet. However, their actual size can vary depending on several factors, including:

Growing Conditions

Sunlight: Mortgage Lifter tomatoes thrive in full sun, requiring at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight daily.

Soil: Well-drained, fertile soil rich in organic matter is essential for optimal growth.

Water: Consistent watering is crucial, especially during hot and dry periods.

Temperature: They prefer warm temperatures between 70-85 degrees Fahrenheit.

https://gardenerbible.com/how-tall-do-mortgage-lifter-tomatoes-grow/

The above article appears to be written by AI. It’s like listening to Kamala Harris talk, LOL! Made my head hurt!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ll bet your brother would LOVE that!

When I was running errands yesterday, I was THRILLED to see green peppers being given away at my Thrift Shop. Anything I can salvage for my V-8 Juice this season is a bonus. My Jalapeno peppers are doing great, but the red bells are not the least bit happy this season.

I may just stop growing peppers. They’re so cheap (and sometimes free!) this time of year.

[Liz]

Nice find.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m glad to see you leaving a little more space between your tomatoes. That makes a huge difference to them, all the way around. :)

[Paul R.]

Hahaha! Thanks for the reply.

What I was looking for, I guess, was actual experience with the Mortgage Lifters, as those AI returns, while usually fairly accurate, sometimes miss important details. I am particularly intrigued that my Mortgage Lifters don’t seem to outgrow their environment the way many varieties try to. But the corollary would seem to be that they could, with adequate nutrition, water, and time (as they seem rather slow growing, in the 1st couple months, even when pampered), end up being really big plants. Now that a couple of the ML’s are taking off (I’ll bet this run of 80’s degree weather will really help), I added height to their support “trees”, a couple hours ago.

(One support actually broke in some wind a couple days ago when the cold front came through. The break was due to both the plant and the wood being old and having a knot. That break folded over the main stem badly (the stem partially broke, actually) and the top of the plant wilted fast... I ended up replanting the bottom half and burying about 3 ft. of the stem in a “slanting trench”, with a little branch still intact sticking up from the ground. That’s recovering and I think it will “make it” - a little behind schedule, tho’, as the other ML’s its age have about 5-6 ft. on it, above the ground, anyway.

I guess I’ll add support to more of the ML’s if they outgrow the current trellis’s or “trees”. I may have to do that with a couple of the Cherry Falls tomato plants too, as they too seem to want to reach the sky. A couple of the overwintered Romas are also really taking off now too. When the ML’s stop growing, I’ll report how big they got (and how big the fruits are.) :-)

[Qiviut]

Here is the trellis setup for straw bale gardens, but it would work for pretty much anything: raised beds, buckets, even plowed rows. Some folks use pipe or pvc between the T-posts. Not expensive - some T-posts, wire, & whatever you use at the very top between the T-posts.

The nice thing is you can tent over the wires with plastic or row cover if the weather turns cold or there’s a frost. Netting to keep birds & deer off could go over the wires, even over the top support when the plants are bigger. This trellis won’t break down.

https://strawbalegardens.com/straw-bale-gardens-blog/vegetable-gardening/straw-bale-garden-wire-trellis/

[Pollard]

Medium. The small cities up by the interstate are always a few degrees warmer and an AG research center in the other direction is always a few degrees cooler. I think they’re in the holler.

This little cool blast reminded me that Fall & Winter are not too far off. Went through ebay history, emails and pics and I’m coming up on two years since I started buying little things for the tunnel and setting pipe trusses in the ground.

Time to finish that thing up.

Then I need to learn to grow in it and what to grow. I probably need to start shopping for seed/varieties where the market gardeners with high tunnels do instead of Baker Creek and local stores.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I had ONE bale left last season that I as going to use as mulch. I kept it in the greenhouse to keep it out of the weather. The puppies decided to, ‘raid the greenhouse’ and they tore it all apart and spread it all over the greenhouse floor and napped on it on cooler days as we headed into Fall.

The photo of bales lining the inside of the greenhouse made me think of that.

And if I were a puppy? I’d do the exact same thing! :)

[MomwithHope]

.

[Qiviut]

I had a horse named Henry .... sweetest guy. For stall bedding I would get loads of wood chips/shavings from a local logging mill. For whatever reason, I switched to straw for a while. Henry would be in a clean stall, fluffy straw up to his knees when I said ‘good night’. The next morning, the only straw in Henry’s stall was a spot of wet & poopy straw in the middle of his stall - the rest was gone ... he’d eaten it! Straw is not that appealing - most horses won’t eat it. He had hay & grain (which was gone) so maybe the straw was dessert! After a couple of mornings, finding him with no clean straw, he got changed back to shavings & only the brood mare got straw.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yeah - THAT’S not right, LOL!