The Garden Thread - September, 2025

September 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]

Picked up a 2005 Trailblazer for $1800 to get by with. No major dents, no rust, runs and drives good, interior’s not torn up, will need a pair of tires for Winter. A pair of front shocks/struts wouldn’t hurt and are cheaper than tires. Got it from a nice young couple busy making a big family in a hurry. They have three kids under 5-6 years old and another on the way so they swapped to a minivan for more seats.

Filling water tanks just became a pain again requiring a trailer but I couldn’t find a pickup that I could afford right now and needed something right now.

Gonna put the car on the trailer so I can do a few things to it. Much easier and safer than jacking it up on gravel and sliding under it on my back. I can kneel on a pad or sit on a milk crate to do many things and the center of the trailer has no deck so I can get under there too.

Gonna pull the truck home with the Trailblazer today or tomorrow. Neighbor buddy has his roof opened up replacing rafters so once he has it closed back in, he’s going to be the tow driver. Never known anyone other than my dad that can tow that good. It’s an art form to not get slack in the strap or chain. Of course the towee has to do their part by braking when going downhill. It’s really a team effort and we did well together before with no sudden jolts when slack comes out because we didn’t get slack.

Once I get it home, I can squirt some oil in the spark plug holes, put a wrench on the crankshaft bolt, and see if I can turn the engine or if it’s seized.

Even if I can’t turn it, it’s probably still rebuildable or start saving for another truck to drive or find some wrecked truck/suv/van with a good engine. If the body wasn’t rusty and dented, it would be worth dropping a chunk of money into the engine, even so far as getting a crate engine for $2600. Will have to disassemble it and see what I’ve got. Crankshaft and block good — rebuild it for $1200 maximum. If it needs machine shop work, go another route.

At any rate, I’m back up to two old vehicles and the Trailblazer has no major issues and can tow my trailer. I still have that dump run to make.

Ran to town in it last night as it was the last day of grocery ad with whole chickens at $1.88 so I grabbed four for the smoker. Forgot how nice a wagon is for grocery getting. As of today, NY Strip and Top Round Roast are on sale and the roast can be smoked. Aldi has short ribs, also good in the smoker, for $7.29 and I could do a 75 mph interstate test drive. Light wind today and tomorrow and about 90 degrees. Good smoking weather.

We’re still eating on last week’s smoker meat. Got a little more tri tip and a few ribs. I had to finish off the ribs in the oven a couple of days ago, wrapped in foil at 275 until the meat hit 200-205 degrees to render the fat. Tri tip came out rare so I cut it into steaks and we’ve been seasoning and cooking in the air fryer for 4 minutes which turns them into yummy med rare steak.

[Liz]

Lemon Icebox Pie / 10-12 servings
Soft and creamy Pie is so delightful; not too sweet, not too tart; super easy to make.

Ing Crust 1 1/2 c---11 full sheet grahams 3 tbsp (sugar 1/8 tsp salt 1/2 c unsalted butter, melted Filling 1 c fresh lemon juice (6–8 lemons) two-14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk 8 lge egg yolks 2 1/2 tbl lemon zest Whipped Cream 1 c cold h/cream, cold 1/2 c powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions Crust: stir/combine graham crumbs, sugar, and salt. Add melted butter and stir til crumbly. Spread evenly into deep dish 9-inch pie pan. Press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Set aside. Filling, whisk the lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk. Set aside. Beat lemon zest and egg yolks on high until pale and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. Add sweetened condensed milk mixture to egg mixture and stir to combine. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake 325 deg for about 25-30 min, til the edges are set; center jiggles slightly. Cool on rack an hour, then refrigerate til firm, 5-6 hours.

Whipped cream Grnish: whip on high to stiff peaks. Pipe at edges; add 1/2 lemon slice between swirls.

Notes: Keep well-covered in fridge; enjoy within 4-5 days for best results. Freeze: Cover tightly and freeze up to 3 months. Let sit at room temp 15 min before slicing and serving.

[Liz]

County Fair Elephant Ears
Sweet or savory treat; a short cut made with pizza dough

Buy a ball of dough from your fave pizza parlor, or from a bread bakery. Pinch off
sections and deep fry light brown in hot peanut oil. Drain on p/towels and add toppings.

Classic toppings are cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar. Use granulated or brown sugar for different textures and flavors. Coarse sanding sugar can be used. Drizzle with chocolate sauce, caramel, maple syrup, honey, or condensed milk. A layer of Nutella, peanut butter, or marshmallow cream makes a rich and decadent treat. Add fruity flavors w/ cherry, apple, or blueberry pie filling, or use preserves and jams.

Savory toppings Cheesy garlic marinara: Combine garlic and Parm with a marinara sauce for a pizza-like elephant ear. Taco filling: For a meal-sized version, top fried dough with taco meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and a dollop of sour cream. Garlic butter with herbs and cheese: Melted garlic butter, grated cheese, and a sprinkle of herbs can create a flavorful savory version. Whipped ricotta: Use whipped ricotta cheese as a base, then add your favorite savory toppings. Mexican-inspired toppings: For a different flair, you can add Mexican cheese and chorizo.

[Pollard]

Broken truck is home. Monkey off my back. Did a bunch of shopping. New rig did good for all of it. Tomorrow is big cooking day. Relax and eat.

[Liz]

County Fair Elephant Ears----Recipe Correction

Buy a ball of dough from your fave pizza parlor, or from a bread bakery. Pinch off sections----stretch out thinly w/ hands into an irregular oblong----now deep fry light brown in hot peanut oil---will gt bubbly. Drain on p/towels and add toppings.

Classic toppings are cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar. Use granulated or brown sugar for different textures and flavors. Coarse sanding sugar can be used. Drizzle with chocolate sauce, caramel, maple syrup, honey, or condensed milk. A layer of Nutella, peanut butter, or marshmallow cream makes a rich and decadent treat. Add fruity flavors w/ cherry, apple, or blueberry pie filling, or use preserves and jams.

Savory toppings Cheesy garlic marinara: Combine garlic and Parm with a marinara sauce for a pizza-like elephant ear. Taco filling: For a meal-sized version, top fried dough with taco meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and a dollop of sour cream. Garlic butter with herbs and cheese: Melted garlic butter, grated cheese, and a sprinkle of herbs can create a flavorful savory version. Whipped ricotta: Use whipped ricotta cheese as a base, then add your favorite savory toppings. Mexican-inspired toppings: For a different flair, you can add Mexican cheese and chorizo.

[Paul R.]

This looks fantastic! (As do almost all the recipes you post!) And, the good news is, I might be able to get my wife to like it, being an almost “Asian” recipe, and, I just bought some chicken thighs.

[Paul R.]

Oh, jeez, I must have had precognition. I needed to make a “medium” trip Tuesday, about 180 miles round trip including a few stops @ the other end, and about 30 miles from home and in a very rural area, the trans started slipping, and then the trans overtemp light came on. I was thankfully able to pull off at the entrance to a very small old cemetery. (It figures, car now dead, cemetery...)

I get under car & find slight signs of leakage, but it was hard to tell from where, and, there is an existing very slow power steering fluid leak: It uses the same fluid, so, that complicates trying to find the new source. I check the trans fluid dipstick and it is dry. No hoses appear to have come loose, etc. WTH??!!

I’d dropped wifey off to work and she didn’t take a house key, so, even if she had a co-worker take her home, she couldn’t get in, get the key for our Chevy Tahoe (which she won’t drive anyway), yada yada...

Had to have daughter-san come up from school (2 hours away from site of disaster), pick up all the trans fluid I had @ home (~3-1/2 gal!) and a funnel (thank God this car has a trans fluid dipstick), then go pick up wifey, then drive to disaster site. Put in fluid, started car, fluid starts spewing out under front of car. WTH??!!

Turned off the car, check underneath, discover that the hose clamp @ the transmission cooler inlet broke! WTH??!!

The break in the clamp’s band was on the “away” side where I couldn’t see the break, and the connection to the inlet fitting still “looked” ok — but once under the pressure of the car running, fluid would spray out. By now it was late enough to be very dicey getting to an auto parts store B4 they’d close (9 pm), and I needed tools anyway, so...

We all pile in daughter-sans car and drive home. I snag some tools and both kits of small hose clamp washers that I have, and daughter-san and I drive back up to the cemetery. Wifey stays home to get some sleep, as she has to get up at 5:30 am to get ready to go to work. Install new clamp, refill tranny — all seems well. Daughter-san follows me for ~ 15 miles, then splits off to go back to school / her dorm, and I returned home - no further problems.

Whew!

At some point someone servicing the car had put on a really wimpy, likely Chinese made hose clamp, and I guess the thing just fatigued from hot / cold cycles. I’ve never seen one break like this, mid “band” on the opposite side from the area where the screw threads contact the “band” to loosen or tighten it. (I have had that contact area be damaged from tightening too much, in garden hose repair usage.)

Even better hose clamps are available, but I’m out, in the right size. Add to “be sure to pick up or order” list!

I didn’t get to sleep until almost 4 am last night, so, now my sleep schedule is messed up (again!) and the processing sounds from the silos on the other side of the road are unusually noisy. Grrrr... I ate a bowl of cereal just now, so, hopefully I get sleepy shortly, once the sugar-boo wears off.

Well, hanging out at the old 14-grave cemetery several hours was peaceful, anyway! Thank God the weather wasn’t as hot as it will be the next several days.

[Paul R.]

Also... A BIG old molar filling came out a few days ago. My dentist can't get me in for 2 weeks. Anybody have experience with sunflower oil for pain relief? I see it mentioned as an alternative to clove oil, or benzocaine based remedies.

The pain is not too bad generally, but if any liquid under ~ 85°F gets to that tooth -oh golly! That really hurts! I've tried Oragel (benzocaine based gel), but, it's really hard to get it where it needs to go... Oragel mouthwash helps a LITTLE, but it's not potent enough (and would probably numb my entire mouth if it was.)

[Paul R.]

And a question:

Lots of garden goodies are on clearance @ our Wal Mart now. Got this for $6:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dr-Earth-Organic-Natural-Home-Grown-Tomato-and-Vegetable-Food-4-6-3-Fertilizer-4-lb/23768817?classType=VARIANT&athbdg=L1300&from=/search

It has -

“TruBiotic Technology: Infused with TruBiotic beneficial soil microbes and endo mycorrhizae for enhanced nutrient availability and drought tolerance.”

Note the detailed analysis @ the link (you have to click on “About the Brand” and then scroll down).

Theoretically good stuff???

[Paul R.]

https://completedentalworks.com.au/relief-for-tooth-pain-using-home-remedies/

[Liz]

This Honey/Maple chix dish looks fantast ic! (As do almost all
the recipes you post!) and, I just bought some chicken thighs.

---

Go for it-— a great recipe -—w/ yummy chix thighs.

Btw. for me a “postable” recipe has to be delicious, easy, quick and photogenic.

[Paul R.]

If I (not wifey) prepares it, “easy” is crucial, after the way this week has been going!!!

[FamiliarFace]

What an ordeal! The fact that you and I have been talking about transmission fluid the last few times has me thinking that you had some intuition about this type of thing happening. You listen to your car the way I “listen” to birds, animals, plants, and lately, caterpillars.

On the no house key with your wife, there are ways to get around that. Hide a key for one. We keep one hidden that goes to our front door. Our back door now has a keyless entry with a code. It’s made life so much easier since we installed it 4 years ago. I had been wanting one for a long time. It isn’t wifi enabled, but runs on a 9v battery which I change every year at the New Year.

The front door is a regular key, just in case that battery dies and I’ve made a mistake with the other door. Of course, I keep a house key on my key ring anyway. It’s nice to not need it.

[FamiliarFace]

Generally speaking, crockpot recipes are among some of the easiest, fix it and forget it, type of meals, and usually delicious as the flavors all cook together. If you have the ingredients on hand, I’d go for it!

[Liz]

EGGS AND CRISPY HASH-BROWN BAKE / dish is quite a mouthful

Ing 2 c. hash-browns over 1/3 c butter 8 eggs 1/4 c sour cream 3/4 c milk 3 tbsp mild to hot chunky salsa 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp ea salt, seasoning salt, 1/2 tsp pepper 1 c cooked/diced breakfast sausage (can use ham) Shredded cheese

Method Add hash-browns to baker; add melted butter evenly. Sprinkle w/ combined 1/4 tsp ea onion powder, garlic powder, 1/2 tsp ea seasoning salt, salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. Bake 425 deg 25 min.

While baking, whisk milk/sour cream, then whisk in eggs, salsa. Add 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp seasoning salt, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Whisk completely. After baking, evenly layer meat onto hash-browns. Pour egg mix on top. Bake 350°F 30 min. Top w/shredded cheese (to taste). Bake 2-4 min to melt cheese. Can top w/ bacon bits. Suggested serving: serve sour cream and salsa on the side.

[Paul R.]

That’s true in a sense (me “listening well”) to our cars, but, even I wouldn’t claim that I can “hear” a hose clamp fatiguing, much less in the lower front of a (getting a bit noisy with age) engine compartment!

“Of course” on the spare key — we had 2, one hidden outside, but my daughter has that one since the spare set of house and car keys that was shuffling back and forth between my daughter and my wife somehow has been misplaced. “Parallel thinking” too, on our part: Since this latest escapade, the notion of some type of keypad based system has been “niggling” at me.

BTW, I have not looked, but, I’ll bet some sort of 9 volt battery supply with solar charging is inexpensively available. Low stress - a Lithium batt would probably take good charges for 10+ years... Placing the small solar panel and running wires could be a bit of a project, tho’. :-)

The “ordeal” was not too bad except for the time it used up. The old graveyard was a very serene place. I wonder just how old some of those unreadable gravestones are.

TODAY would have been bad for such a failure. It is much hotter outside, so I’ve been alternating working out there and inside. Plus I just got done with lunch, so, back out for a bit I go.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“She didn’t mess with the horses after that.”

After Rufus, I ended up with two Bassets (Belle and Pearl) when their owner died, unexpectedly. They were always ‘City Dogs’ and being ‘off leash’ was totally confusing to them.

The very first day I had them, Belle went to say ‘HI’ to the mule and got kicked in the head for her efforts! Rushed her to the Vet for a few stitches - no broken head bone, thank goodness! Belle stayed away from the Mule from then on, too!

Thanks for the reminder on the apples. Mine should be ready RIGHT NOW!

Meh. Mañana! ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

If you’re feeling undone by Current Events, give yourself a break and listen to Wisconsin Historian Jerry Apps.

“Everything we did on the farm in the Spring, Summer and Fall was to prepare ourselves for Winter.” He’s a treasure. ❤

A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4eHBDqD4k

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“All I got was an electric wok and a food dehydrator.”

LOL!

I got a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas one year. That didn’t go over very well. Granted, I was just 21 years old and we NEEDED a vacuum cleaner...

A new vacuum cleaner would be an AWESOME gift at 65 though, LOL!

I recently treated myself to a Shark vacuum. Love it! :)

[MomwithHope]

I keep a bag of those Rhodes bread dough loaves in the freezer. Good for stuff like this or pizza or cinnamon rolls.