Posted on 01/31/2026 6:26:44 AM PST by 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.
I had my older sisters tell me.
Ok, we looked it up. This is our model of Craftsman snowblower. I’m sure it costs more now than when we bought ours 12 years ago.
It works, though! Handles heavy snow, and starts up without a problem.
Maybe put it on your Christmas wish list? Your neighbor won’t care, because it will get the job done quickly. He won’t need to help you get it started either. And then, after all is said and done, he will want to borrow yours! ;-)
Craftsman Select 24 CMXGBAM213101 24 in. 208 cc Two stage Gas Snow Blower
Here’s the write up from the Ace Hardware website. https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/snow-removal-and-equipment/snow-blowers/7015522
I love both of those trees. We have a few of honey locusts in our backyard, but I would LOVE to have a maple with that much red! Just gorgeous.
I’m talking fruit and nut trees and shrubs. Food Forest.
I do like ornamentals, preferably native. Can’t wait to see my orange lilies flower this year. Goats liked the buds. Dug them up down the road and they multiplied like mad. Gave half away one year. Had some surprise lilies. Will see if I still do this year. Still need some wild daffodils. Some kind of maple grows wild here. Will have to find out what kind. A lot of people have some kind of shrub that turns into a mass of yellow flowers in early Spring. Need some of them. Need to become that crazy person that always has a shovel and pruners and stop by some places. Mind if I do a little clipping/digging?
Not quite native but will likely grow here is that red twigged dogwood which would have looked nice this past two weeks with the snow.
*** A lot of people have some kind of shrub that turns into a mass of yellow flowers in early Spring. ***
Forsythia?
https://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/bulk-herb-wholesalers-you-can-trust-zmez16jazolc/
I have a thornless locust tree in my front yard. I love the shade in summer and low branches. My neighbor hates it and of course the shoots all over his golf course lawn. I have new trees popping up 50 and 60 feet from the trunk.
Be careful....
(Good night!)
Thanks!
Our weather for today - I won’t be going anywhere:
“A frigid start to the weekend with temperatures in the single digits to low teens. Strong wind gusts for the entire day, 30-50 mph with 50-60+ mph for the ridges. Wind chills -5 to -15 degrees, mountains -20 to -30 degrees. A few flurries at times or stray snow squall early. Dangerously cold with highs only in the single digits for the mountains low to mid teens for the valley. Wind chills staying below zero for the entire day.
Still windy in the evening, but weaker gusts 25-40 mph. Temperatures slowly falling to near 10. Mountains in the single digits. Brutally cold overnight with wind tapering off. Lows in the single digits. Wind chills still around to below zero. Mountains -5 to -15 degrees.”
**********
The wind is currently ‘howling’. When it’s this bad, I can’t stand to be upstairs where I can really hear it. This ‘should’ be the last of the frigid weather with a warm-up this coming week into the 40’s during the day. We still have snowcrete - won’t see the grass until March at this rate.
Thursday, I made split pea soup, cornbread, picked 2 rotisserie chickens & put the carcasses in the slow cooker for bone broth. The bone broth was ready yesterday - about 5 quarts. Since buying it ready-made is $5+ per quart, I’m happy to have saved some money. The chickens are just under $4 each and the meat is quite moist & tasty. The next kitchen project, something I’ve always wanted to do & have never gotten into, is making sourdough bread.
We DO like our gossip up here on The Frozen Tundra - and MY big surprise moving our here to The Boonies is how crazy-related everyone is to everyone else (not to the point of mentally defective children, thank goodness!) and how everyone ‘KNOWS’ everything about you before they meet you, LOL!
It’s taken me 10 years now, but the women in Miles’ circle of friends and schoolmates and farm wives and female hunters are finally warming up to me.
I get it. And I am always on good behavior around them. A few have even given me their phone numbers, so that was pretty huge - though it just happened THIS PAST YEAR! ;)
I wanted to jump around like Sally Field when she won her Oscar: ‘You like me! You really, really LIKE me!’ LOL!
Forsythia. I have one and it is lovely. Also fun to force some branches into bloom in very early Spring - when you CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
We have a ton of Red Twig Dogwood. My favorite combo is in the front corner of the house yard - dogwood, Whitespire Japanese Birch and a Concolor Fir tree. They look like nothing all season, but really POP against the snow in winter and the Cardinals LOVE the dogwood branches for roosting.
T hose look great. My gut is growing just looking at them. Heh. :-)
The rosemary in front of the house (eastern exposure) is still huge and still perfectly green, despite OK’s recent bitter cold. Didn’t get arou8nd to covering it, so I’m totally mystified as to how it survived, when the 2020/2021 winter killed every bit of the previous rosemary I’d had.
What I wouldn’t give to have an Edit function . . . I promise I’m not “typing under the influence”.
The one you want to AVOID fir sure are the Black Locust. The wood is good for fence posts - and that's about it. You see a lot of them in old farmsteads around here. They are the first things to bloom in Spring, and they are very pretty. The flowers are edible. I used to have customers ask for them all the time, but they were not sold propagated by us - for the reasons you stated. A house yard could be taken over by them.
Easy enough to spot in the wild, though:
“The next kitchen project, something I’ve always wanted to do & have never gotten into, is making sourdough bread.”
My new brad machine did a great job on making the dough - but a terrible job on baking the bread. And now I REMEMBER why I always used my old one just for making and rising the dough, then baked it myself in the oven.
Good luck on the Sourdough. I’ve not mastered that by a long shot!
Yep. FR needs an ‘edit’ and a ‘like’ feature! :)
My indoor Rosemary is still doing well. South window, on a saucer of water for extra humidity and I mist her and turn her once a week. Saturdays are Houseplant Care Days around here.
The clippings I was rooting made it until this week, then started losing leaves/needles, even with the proper TLC, so I composted them.
I’m ruthless that way - perform for me, or into the compost bucket you go! ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.