The Garden Thread - November, 2025

November 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.

[Qiviut]

25 Cheap Meals Our Grandparents Ate To Survive
https://youtu.be/5svGOPptoGA?si=GgjEs7pLznm-HgQ_

I just happened on this while looking for something else. We didn’t do beans & rice, but we did love grilled cheese & tomato soup, Sloppy Joe’s, spaghetti & tuna casserole - all were fairly regular meals at our house.

[Liz]

I just made that F/T casserole but without the cream cheese. I’ll use that next time around. ;)

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Cream cheese F/T breakfast.....what could go wrong?

[Qiviut]

Up early & ready! It feels like Sunday - yay!

[MomwithHope]

I can get good beef suet for 75 cents a pound. Like a huge 10 pound solid chunk I can slice into slabs. We have the larger birdola cage that holds a good sized slab. Then I just keep them in the freezer. I don’t mix in seed. The woodpeckers are so aggressive a lot winds up on the ground if there is seed in it.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That’s a good idea, too. I’ll consider that when all my bacon fat is used up. I used to see it in the grocery store on a regular basis, but maybe people don’t know what to use it for now days? *SHRUG*

[MomwithHope]

They love the solid beef suet. It will hang about 4 feet from our slider and even the pileateds will come and drill the heck out of it. But I would check with a local butcher for a decent price. A long 10 pound chunk is at least 2 foot long and solid. Someone last winter was saying in the stores it is pretty expensive. The slab idea works really well. Anything they sell in the store will be in chunks and the birds will just fish out a hunk and fly away.

[TheConservativeParty]

You should have seen the beautiful large pots of an ornamental pear tree variety that were there that day. They had not dropped their leaves yet and had tiny fruit on them. I imagined the pretty flowers coming in the spring. I had no place to plant them, and I knew someone else would have a good home for them. The sale cart size might have fit 3 of them for a pittance of $25. Many other deciduous trees were there.

I won’t expect that sale other years, but I will check their Facebook page for it.
All the evergreens were gone, except a few small arborvitae. I love evergreens. Who knows, maybe I can get some bargain price evergreens next year at the same sale.
The guy working there said the evergreens got bought the first 2 days of the sale.

The hydrangeas were “Strawberry Vanilla” which is a variety I wanted to try.
Now I have 2 of them!
😀

[FamiliarFace]

Thank you!

[Paul R.]

Speaking of bird seed, Rural King has it on sale: 45 lbs. for $12.

None of ours gets wasted: I don’t put out large amounts, and our chickens get any remnants.

What I really should do, though, is ask the guy who owns the silos across the road to our west if he minds if I come over and collect the spillage. Most of it just rots, occasionally, some sprouts, and then they have to spray the plants coming up.

[Paul R.]

I’m doing much the same. Our cold is coming in faster then predicted yesterday: We’ll be under freezing (and with wind) by 7 pm, low of 24 deg. F early Monday, low of 22 early Tu. “Nothin’” in the garden is gonna survive that, even if covered.

One little tomato plant I’d started outside late (it’s now about 2-1/2 ft. high and sort of bushy because I kind of looped it around a “cage” as it grew) has many small flowers on it, so I’m going to add it to the batch to try to grow indoors.

[FamiliarFace]

After I got the bulbs planted yesterday, we replaced the furniture in the mediation garden. With the cold weather coming in fast, I decided I had to stop for the season. So these are 2 photos of the newly redesigned meditation area.

First, a view from the front yard, where passersby can catch a glimpse of our peaceful retreat. In the background you can see the remainder of the 180 year old hickory tree that had been dying. The horizontal section with the fake raccoon statue is completely hollow. Our house is to the right, and you can see the beginning of our heavily sloped and wooded backyard.

Next, a view of the waterfall feature from the bench. This is the same angle that we can see it from our sunroom window.

It’s chilly outside today. I harvested the rest of the shishitos that I couldn’t bring inside. Maybe got 2 dozen peppers, some very small, but I figure I can chop those up for use in eggs or another dish.

Good news, hubby has agreed that we can start having fires in our WBFP tonight. The season begins! I love having wood fires inside (outside, too, in the firepit).

[Paul R.]

BTW, if the mfgr. of the light supplies a light spectrum graph, a smooth spectrum, somewhat like sunlight minus the UV component, may work best. But, mainly I just go for really bright, 10,000 - 20,000 lumens*, as close to the plants as possible without warming the plants TOO much. And the good heat sinking. I usually take the light apart to see if the internals (for transfer of heat from the LEDs to the heat sinking) are good, but failing that, if the light seems to be anywhere near its brightness rating*, has lots of heat sink area, and the housing gets warm but not too hot to touch, that’s usually a good sign.

You may want to experiment with timers. Some tomato plants will STILL tend to go spindly, but some I have had, didn’t. I don’t really have that “sorted out”.

*Brightness IS tricky: Many Chinese manufacturers lie like {insert your most disliked lib’s name here}. The width or narrowness of the light pattern counts too. A bright spotlight or two on a modest size plant may be an option. You may also be able to find a light from a reputable brand and do comparisons even if your reference is only, say, rated @ 5000 lumens. “Does this one seem a lot brighter than 5000 lumen of Philips light?”

And, finally, a disclaimer: I’ve been attempting plant “overwintering” for a few years now, and still consider myself a neophyte. ;-)

[MomwithHope]

Really turned our nice. I like the lantern too. I bet some critters already have fun wandering through that log. A creative use for it although I must confess seeing a raccoon my first instinct is to grab the .22. Around here they are real pests.

[Liz]

RUM GLAZED BACARDI RUM CAKE
Very good, very moist and easy........a holiday hit.

Pkg yellow cake mix 3 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding 4 eggs 1/2 c ea cold water Wesson oil dk rum

Grease/flour 10" tube or 12 cup Bundt pan. Mix ing; pour into pan. Bake 325°F an hour. Cool. Invert on server. Prick top. Drizzle glaze evenly on top/sides. Let cake absorb glaze. Repeat; use all the glaze.

GLAZE: 1/2 c butter 1/4 c water 1 c sugar 1/2 c 80 proof Bacardi dark rum Melt butter. Stir in water/sugar. Boil/stir 5 min. Offheat stir in rum, Can garnish w/ whole maraschinos and border of sugar frosting or whipped cream. Serve dusted with powdered sugar.

[FamiliarFace]

Thank you. I found that lantern at a vintage/antique store. It’s pretty heavy. I put a battery operated candle in it so that it shows up at night for a few hours. We have to do something to hold the raccoon in place. It’s only wedged in that spot right now. Somehow it “falls” out every now and then. I think it’s another raccoon running through and pushing him out of the way. ;) That tree was their home for years before it got hollowed out.

I get what you mean about the raccoons though. They can be pests. Because we have so many woodland animals here, I can’t decide which are the most destructive. Probably the chipmunks are the worst for the smaller animals, and the groundhogs can do plenty of damage too. I try to not let them bother me too much, but if they do encroach too much, it’s time to take care of business.

I can’t wait to see what the meditation area will look like next Spring and Summer!

[FamiliarFace]

Rum cake was one of my Mama’s specialties! For the church bake sales, she made several large bundts, and then tons of the smaller bundlets. Everybody wanted one to take home! She baked for days! ❤️

[MomwithHope]

Groundhogs, chipmunks and raccoons. They all do damage. I ranked them in order of the worst. You might try squirting a healthy amount of clear silicone sealer under each raccoons feet. That would be hard to dislodge. Nice idea on the battery powered lantern.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Mom w Hope, I am glad you will be getting some company this winter! I know you get a lot of snow in S. Michigan and and being remote and snowed in can be rather miserable.

$0.75 / Lb Suet...I think it would cost more here! I need to check. It would be great to make some actual Mincemeat for pie or plum pudding!

http://www.paleopantry.org/homemade-mincemeat/

Only problem is that they use Soy at the feed lots to finish marble the steers.

Fast Mincemeat plum pudding (Microwaved, not steamed for hours and finished with flaming brandy!)

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IIRC you are part Ukranian? Perhaps there is something familiar from your south side days at this link. (Eugeneia....Jenny) Jenny's European Bakery

[FamiliarFace]

Yeah, I meant to hit it with some clear silicone. Now it will have to wait until it warms up again. It’s a winter wonderland out there right now! Been snowing steadily most of the day. Should taper off in the next couple of hours.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Q. Frugality.....Daughter just came back from Sam’s Club with a 12 pack of 14.5 oz steam peeled diced tomatoes for $9.63 (plus tax), about $0.80 a can. A good start for a lot of soups and casseroles.

(Off the top of my head, Chili mac, beef barley soup, Lentil stew, black bean and rice, chicken enchilada, chicken cacciatori, mexican rice....)