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.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Looking good! Sorry to hear of the hail damage. :(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Lots of grocery SCORES and you survived The Big City, which also counts as a SCORE! :)

And, I agree. I don’t mind waiting for cattle to cross the road. Other cars? Not so much, LOL!

[MomwithHope]

Beautiful job on the garden and congrats on the hunting.

[FamiliarFace]

*** Give me 2-lane rural roads, fields, cows & mountain scenery over ‘city’ life any time :-)***

You and I are seeing “eye to eye” on getting used to rural (or semi-rural) living, at least in my case. In the past, I’ve always been in the suburbs of a town (or on the wrong side of the RR tracks of a town). Now, I live in the “suburbs of the suburbs”. 20 minutes to some shopping in the suburbs, and an hour to most of the shopping/restaurants that so many others are looking for (Indy proper).

I wish I could say that I “scored” today. Does finding molasses when it’s on the grocery list even count? I think not. However, it IS an ingredient in the gingerbread simple syrup recipe that I’m looking to make this holiday season. It is part of a mixologist recipe for a Gingerbread Old Fashioned that I had 2 years ago at a speakeasy (the most fun time I’ve ever had looking for an establishment).

I have most of the rest of the ingredients, so this may be the holiday drink that I try to get right. The one at the speakeasy was memorable. I hope to live up to their standards.

[Liz]

NEW ENGLAND CRANBERRY PIE / tartly sweet

Ing: 1 c fresh cranberries 1 c golden raisins pre-soaked in juice or applejack 1/2 c cranberry juice, divided 1 c sugar (more or less to taste) pinch salt 2 tb cornstarch 1 tsp vanilla home-made pie crust

Method: Line 8-9" pie pan w/ pie crust. Cook cranberries, 1/4 c cranberry juice, raisins to a boil, reduce heat; simmer 10-15 min til cranberries start to burst. Stir in sugar/salt. Add combined 1/4 c cold juice/cornstarch. Cook/stir 4 min. Offheat add vanilla; pour into pie crust. Add top crust. Bake 350 deg 30 min. Serve pie warm w/ dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or both.

Chef says you can double filling. Eliminate top crust for Nantucket-style pie.

[Pollard]

Yes, nothing like a 4” roach dive bombing you from a tree. Most of FL is built on clay excavated from GA. Disney was swamp land. I can only imagine how many truck loads of GA clay went into it.

[Pollard]

Getting behind a tractor who goes 4-5 miles without once pulling over to let cars by even with plenty of spots to do so, can be aggravating. Ignurnt.

[Augie]

Howard spent over an hour in his crate yesterday evening - unsupervised - in my grouch cave - completely out of sight.

He didn’t destroy the new crate pad.
He didn’t bark.
He didn’t howl.
He didn’t throw a fit of any kind.
He wanted to be there.

He was quite content to gnaw on his new, giant-size, bacon-flavored, Benebone Wishbone chew toy in peace, without having to defend possession from the other two dogs.

I think I found his kryptonite.

When he finally got tired of the chewy toy he very politely let us know that he wanted out. I don’t really know how to describe the sound... out of most dogs in that situation it would be a little yip... out of Howard it’s more like a squeak... it’s almost a bark but there’s not enough air behind it to fire those big hound vocal cords...

[FamiliarFace]

Your post reminded me of my dorm room senior year of college in Atlanta. There had been construction going on nearby, where they took out trees to make room for new buildings. Suddenly, I had two huge roaches flying around in my tiny little room. No place to hide. I don’t remember how I got rid of them. Did I smush them or capture them and let them go? That’s a long time ago. I don’t think roach spray ever worked on them, plus, I’m sure I was too broke to afford a can.

I do remember calling my boyfriend (now husband) on the phone. He went to the other school across town. He laughed and asked me what I expected him to do. Did I want him to drop what he was in the middle of, and drive over to help me get rid of them? I realized that made little sense. I guess I just wanted to tell somebody and have them console me or something.

I can’t imagine that I smushed them. Maybe I caught them under a cup and flushed them down the toilet.

I remember when Disney was being built. We lived in Winter Haven at the time. It was BIG NEWS. Like you said, they had to fill in a lot of swamp land over there.

[FamiliarFace]

Oh, good boy, Howard! I think you’re on to something, Augie!

[MomwithHope]

Just LOVE your Howard posts. Someday your wife will be completely won over.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Score one for Howard!

My cat, Boyd, always says, ‘Thanks’ when I let him out. One short ‘Mew!’ He really wishes he had opposable thumbs so he could open doors; mainly the fridge, LOL!

[Qiviut]

I have spent the day in the kitchen. So far so good ... I think.

Made:
Double batch of Cranberry sauce
Sausage, onion, celery for stuffing fried/sautéed
Double batch of gravy base*

*I have not made this recipe before. It gets great reviews, but I am not confident plus I can’t remember how much in the way of pan drippings I get which are added to the base. If I don’t have enough drippings (minus fat), the gravy won’t work. Tomorrow, I will buy some turkey gravy to be on the safe side - it’s the only thing I’m stressing about.

Sweet potatoes are baking in the oven & the only thing left to make tonight are the maple pecan bars. My cousin texted this morning that she had picked up a pumpkin pie at Costco so I could take that off my list. She said people were buying 20 pumpkin pies at a time - must be feeding a crowd!

It doesn’t look like I have done that much, but I have been cleaning up the kitchen as I go so that really slows things down.

Tomorrow:
Bake/make mashed potatoes
Put together casseroles (3 easy ones) & stuffing
Get the bird ready to go in the oven early Thursday.

Mom & I figured out the seating - we can do 10 in the kitchen eating area - if we get 12, we’ll use the table in the dining room, too.

[FamiliarFace]

Your Boyd sounds like our cat who departed us last summer, Crick. (The other one still with us is named Watson, so guess what famous duo they were named after.)

Anyway, Crick was the one we had to watch out for. He very nearly knew how to open doors with regular knobs, but if you had the lever types, he had those figured out!

He escaped so many times, a very fast mover. He would paw at a door until it would open just a smitch, then he would scoot right through and go find a hiding place. He was my sweet, sneaky, little monster. Miss that little boy.

Fortunately, we still have his partner in crime with us. Watson is a good boy, too. Not nearly as mischievous as Crick was, but he has his own ways. He sleeps with us every night, sometimes on my head. He reaches his paw out and pats my hair. Funny little guy. 😻

[FamiliarFace]

You’re doing great!

Me? I am stressing out. Trying not to, but it’s catching up with me. I don’t think I’ve ever been away from my home for more than a week or so, so I’m trying to figure out which things I should pack, and what should stay here. I can do laundry there, and I know I will be, but I still need to make sure I’m packing smartly.

Your Thanksgiving will be wonderful! I can smell the delicious all the way here!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thanks! Since the P.A. did not give me antibiotics and I was still coughing (I did feel better) I started doing 1/2 clove of garlic in honey 3 or 4 times a day and using something called Serrapeptase to break down any bacteria mats (green stuff) and “Expel” it. I think its working and I can smell the garlic when I breathe. We will see!

[Qiviut]

Last recipe I’m doing is in the oven for 25 minutes & it’s not even midnight - woo hoo! When we’ve had previous company, I have been up until 2-3 in the morning cooking! The main issue then was I had grass to mow which took a chunk out of my cooking time.

Funny story .... one of my jobs required a 3 week trip to Montreal, Canada. The first time I went, I had no idea what to pack so .... I packed “everything “! I think I took just about every pair of shoes I had to go with all of my ‘outfits’. About half way through the trip, most of the team did go to the laundromat - I had so much with me, I didn’t have much to wash. I had 2 large suitcases stuffed to the limit.

We met to car pool to the airport & my boss, a really nice man, said “let me carry those suitcases for you!” He got between them & picked them up at the same time, one in each hand. I saw him literally stagger ... then he looked at me and said “good grief girl, what do you have in these suitcases?” I was trying not to laugh & said “well, it IS three weeks ....” He didn’t say another word, just hoisted them up a little higher so they didn’t drag the ground & carried them to the car. I had a bunch of horses at the time & was used to lugging 60 lb. hay bales & shoveling poop out of 5 stalls so I had “barn biceps” & could carry the suitcases ... it wasn’t pretty, but I could manage. Fortunately, we could get carts at the airport & wheels made a big difference!

The 2nd trip to Montreal, I went a lot lighter ... base color (1 pair of heels) & items I could mix & match for different looks. A pair of jeans, tennis shoes & a couple of T-shirts & I was ready for hockey games & harness races :-)

[FamiliarFace]

Great story! I’m hoping to get away with one checked bag, one smaller carryon suitcase, and one catch all “personal” item. Packing will happen tomorrow, but the clothes are mostly laid out. One pair of sneakers for the trip, and one for the road. I *might* bring a pair of nice flats, but I really doubt we will be going out to dinner any of the nights. We might order in, though! I’m leaving that as an option.

We got to FaceTime with our daughter tonight. The kids have done a good job procuring the food for Thursday. Son in law is planning to spatchcock the small turkey, and he will smoke it. Sides will be mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, homemade gravy, dinner rolls. We will used premade pie crusts and do a pumpkin pie (daughter’s contribution if she’s up to it) and I’ll made apple pie. She doesn’t eat meat so will have salmon for her meal. We get in around mid-day, so I hope we will jump right in on cooking. I’m betting we will have dinner as an evening meal, likely 6 ish. The pies can cool while we eat.

Big day tomorrow making sure that the house is ready. I have grow lights set up on the plants I brought in, and I’ll be able to control them from anywhere, as long as I have a cell phone signal. We are transitioning to “smart” outlets and such.

I never put up any Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving ever, except that I don’t want it to look like Thanksgiving when I get back in mid-December, so I acquiesced this year and put out the evergreens on the front fence with a string of lights. Instead of red bows, I have Fall themed decorations where bows would normally go (orange, yellow, red maple leaves with pine cones and mini pumpkins). I can turn the lights on remotely, so that will start on Dec. 1. When hubby gets back before me, he has been directed to remove the Fall wreath from the front door, and put the Christmas wreath in its place.

We have a pet sitter that comes and stays for a while every day. She waters my plants and makes sure everything is ok. Plus, our neighbors will be on watch, too.

I’m excited! It’s almost TIME!

[FamiliarFace]

Wishing you a speedy recovery! It sounds like you’re improving!