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.

[FamiliarFace]

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. It’s amazing. My stuffing doesn’t taste like bread by the time it’s served. The cranberry sauce is the gold that binds it all together. (I also use a bit of mayo on each slice of bread, with turkey on both sides, stuffing and cranberry in the middle.) A bit of Heaven if you have lots of leftovers. I’m not into turkey tetrazzini, so this is one of my uses for leftovers.

[FamiliarFace]

Good luck with your upper respiratory infection. Do you have any environmental allergies? I ask because I am allergic to leaf mold and tree mold. Always have sinus problems this time of year. The last couple of weeks, I’ve had a drippy nose, itchy inside my ears, and some minor congestion. Allergy meds took care of it, thankfully.

I always say, you’d think with my outdoor allergies that I would want to be inside as much as possible, but I LOVE being outdoors and getting my hands dirty. I’m fortunate that I can control them enough with OTC allergy meds. Of course, that’s after 2 years of weekly shots to help me get there some 30+ years ago.

[Qiviut]

My turkey should take 5 days to thaw, but to hopefully be on the safe side, I allowed 7 - it has been out of the freezer & in the fridge since Thursday. We have 2 refrigerators, one for mom & one for me. My fridge is about 5° colder, so this morning, I moved the bird to mom’s fridge.

If it’s still not thawed enough by Wednesday, I’ll go to the ‘cold water’ method:

https://cfaes.osu.edu/features/three-ways-safely-thaw-turkey

[Qiviut]

PS - no deep frying the turkey at my house!

[Qiviut]

The ‘gloomies’ finally disappeared this afternoon with breaks in the clouds & periodic sun.

The big shopping trip for Thanksgiving took place this morning - walked out of the store at noon. The parking lot was filling up as we left. I suspect people held off going out earlier because of the morning rain. There are 3 items remaining on my list I need to find & that should happen Monday in the ‘big city’.

The decorative flag is securely back on the tree. If it blows off again, it will be because the plastic holder has broken, which could happen if we get wind gusts in the 50 mph range like last weekend.

The battery is out of Little Red. Again, the metric set of nut drivers came to the rescue for getting the 2 nuts on the battery terminals unscrewed & the nut on the metal rod holding the battery in place. When I pulled the battery out, I was surprised to see it was a ‘Cub Cadet’. Little Red is a Craftsman. Fingers crossed Lowe’s will have a battery that will work, especially since that’s where we bought the mower.

[Liz]

Sandwich....ahh, nice, very nice!

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One last glorious bow to Thanksgiving leftovers.

[Liz]

...........under no circumstance should you try to thaw/cook a partially
frozen bird in a deep fryer unless you want expensive skin grafts!.............

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And the likelihood of burning down your house.

[Liz]

Martha Stewart roasts her turkey with butter/wine soaked cheesecloth.

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That looked good........but my Glazed Turkey recipe could be worth a try.

[Liz]

MAPLE-GLAZED CINNAMON ROLLS / Holiday breakfast item

Ing 1/4 c br/sugar 2 tb ea maple syrup, butter, thin-sliced apple 12 oz tube cinnamon rolls

Line 8x8x2" pan w/ Reynolds Parchment, extend up sides; set aside. Pour combined br/sugar, maple syrup, melted butter into lined pan. Layer apple slices over; cinnamon rolls on top. Bake golden brown 350 deg 20-25 min. Let set 5 min. Invert onto platter. Remove parchment. Serve warm. Vary: Swap 1/2 c sweetened dried cranberries for apples.

© 2008 and ®/™ Reynolds, used with permission. Submitted by: Reynolds

[MomwithHope]

Always always turkey pot pie was on the menu for day after leftovers. And the bones went in for soup.

[FamiliarFace]

I am one of those freaks that doesn’t like pot pies or stew. Somehow chili doesn’t bother me. I think in part because I don’t care for peas and carrots together, and most every recipe includes those. I realize I am in the great minority. For those that enjoy them, I’m sure that’s a bit of Heaven!

[MomwithHope]

Ah that’s the nice thing about pot pies you can put in whatever you want. I only did one big one in a rectangular glass dish. (Fed more people) When it was just the two of us I went pie plate size. I did a rolled out pie crust every year until later years, older and lazy, I made square ones using two puff pastry dough sheets. I would use turkey, mushrooms, onion, stuffing chunks, any veg leftover, gravy with maybe cream of mushroom soup if not enough gravy. With puff pastry you can put it together in about 10 minutes. Hubby looked forward to it every year more than the actual turkey meal.

[FamiliarFace]

Ok! Leave out the peas and carrots, add mushrooms, stuffing, whatever! That could work! I had not considered to work outside the box of the family recipe that I grew up with. I hated it. Now I will remember to be more creative. Thanks for the tip!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Liz...Absolutely true!

(Though we like to believe that people using deep fryers filled with boiling oil over a gas ring have enough intelligence to know that you do not do this in your garage, or, God forbid! their kitchen! See the deep fryer instruction book!)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

A Link back to your glazed Turkey recipe.

Liz's Glazed Turkey Recipe

(Picture of a Brown Sugar Glazed Turkey)

[MomwithHope]

I have always been a throw it together cook, except for baking and recipes from my ethnic family. The easiest way for a pot pie is to use a mixing bowl and put in the turkey chunks, mushroom pieces, small chunks of stuffing. carrots (chopped from roasted ones) are good, I’ve added chopped green onions, corn. Any leftover. Only stir lightly to mix everything. It should be a bit more than what you want for a finished pie. It will sink down. If you add cream of mushroom soup to your gravy then mix that in a separate bowl. Empty the meat mix into the bottom crust. Just spread and level off with a spatula. It will be high but that’s Ok. Pour over the gravy but don’t mix. Add the top crust and bake. 340-350 til the top crust is done. Time varies depending how big you make it.

[FamiliarFace]

Thank you for the method. This should be easy enough to try. I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness. Now I’m glad I spoke up. I was so stuck on pot pie needing peas and carrots.

[MomwithHope]

You could not get me to buy one at the store. **SPIT**