The Garden Thread - February, 2026

February 1, 2026 | 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.

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[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Well I have good news and I have bad news.

Good news is I won’t have to run the DR Trimmer around my garden beds before spring and there will be zero weeding required most likely.

The bad news is a brush fire started on a vacant, adjoining, 11.5 acre lot around lunch time yesterday.

My wife was preparing to leave for the gym and I was at work literally telling my boss I was headed home for lunch when Mary (the wife) called and said there was a fire and it was already very close to the house.

She hung up with me (I work for thr police and was standing directly next to the building housing the 911 call center) and called 911 then called back and said she couldn’t get our old big dog in the car, only the little young one. I said “escape! Escape!” Which thankfully she did.

I had just called 911 from the parking lot of the police/sheriff office and also started driving home.

I live a 20 min drive from the house which takes me directly thru (historic) downtown (city redacted) and I most assuredly drove my work car thru many red lights.

I started the little chant I used to use in high stress speed high stress driving “arrive alive” which reminds me to not drive beyond my/the car’s capabilites

As soon as I got thru downtown and hit the state highway I hit speeds exceeding my max speed in an old Crown Vic patrol car back when I was a cop in a left coast city.

I was very scared that my wife was going to get trapped inside our high fenced area because I never showed her how to pull thr pin on the electric gate swing arm and the “extra” manual gate directly next to it had a nice tight seal if grass grown up over the base over thr years and there was no way she could pull the vehicle gate open through the “foliage.”

I passed the 1st fire vehicle that would arrive about 2 miles from my house. That was a wildfire unit, Brush Truck 1, by driving on the grassy shoulder (I would later apologize to that fella and the gal he was partnered with) but I needed to get to my parcel and get that fucking gate open for my wife and for responding fire units!

As I approached the turn onto the road my property is off of I saw a deputy sheriff ahead of me.....he missed the turn!

I turned then drove up the big hill (did I mention a mile back I saw all the white smoke of a grass fire?) And the withe smoke had a huge black plume in it now.

I thought “oh fuck my house is on fire”

I crested the hill and could see my wife’s car and my wife at the end of our .34 mile long caliche driveway...”wife is safe! Yes!!

That’s a lot of black smoke! I turn onto the driveway and head up to the gate (.3 miles...winding) get the gate open and LOCKED open!!

The fire is 20 yards from my house...the caliche driveway that I purposely had wind all the way around my house has acted as a fire break and the landscaping I had started between the driveway and that side of my house was nothing but septic rock for zero scaping.

The fire is all around the 100 gallon propane tank I have on the ground next to my emergency generator and the 1000 gallon propane tank that is for the house.

Yeah, we had an ice storm 2.5 weeks ago so I had then filled completely up.

And all my exterior hose bibs were covered up with insulation and zip tied for the cold.

I was hunting for a garden hose and as I found one on a corner of my house....that deputy who missed the turn arrives.

I get a hose onto a hose bibs and hand it to him with the instructions “start putting water on that fire by the big propane tank” as he is saying “OK” I look up and can see my well head, the electrical panel for the well head, and my expansion tank are completely burned to the ground.

I said “well that’s not gonna work”

Just then Brush Truck 1 arrives ans starts putting water on the fire by the 1000 gallon tank and shortly thereafter on what was putting off all the black smoke....my 10x14 foot metal shed that is fully engulfed. There goes every toolbox all my tools all my dad’s tools all the Christmas stuff fishing poles (a shit ton of my grandathers classic surf casting rods and reels from the 60s and 70s....my 220 compressor some family keepsakes but thankfully not every family photo and bless my luck...my dad’s 1948 Lionel train set with track and the 1948 transformer/controller are still in the house. A lot of important things...didbi mention my house is not on fire! Yes Jesus!!

More fire units arrive.

The supervisor who I passed on the road tells me (now that he has a full truck and another one coming up the driveway) “we are not going to let your house burn down.”

Thank you Sir!

I will have to tell the rest of yesterday’s events in a follow up post.

I am standing fire watch all night and the wind has not changed direction but has picked up to steady 12-15 mph.

There are piles of trees burning still, to the west on the property where the fire started, some tree to the east of me on my property that got scorched and the ends of the oak branches look like glowing candles...very eerie....and a shit ton of mtn cedars along my northern feminine on my meoghbor’s property still holding onto small flames....smoldering everywhere around me except to the south of me where nothing burned.

That’s all grass and oak trees ready to light up if the wind shifts 90 degrees.

Since I have no water right now the Brush Truck 1 giy filled my 90 gallon trash can up with firefighting water with some firefighting foam in there too... we have pre staged 5 gallon buckets as well

My adult sin and I should be able to keep anything from jumping the driveway and getting to the house before the fire units can get here.

Chat later freezer friends.

Oh...did I mention I’m NOT homeless yet?

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Funny you should mention that. The fire we had yesterday burned all around the chicken coop and tried to burn it down but it survived and you can see any damage until you get up close.

[MomwithHope]

Good heavens! Glad you are both OK. And your house was spared.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Things you never think you’ll see in your lifetime, LOL!

Pretty Kitty. Handsome Howard. *LOVE* It gives me hope that maybe my beautiful ‘Blackfoot’ (Walker dog) will make an OK house pet and NOT kill the cats - if she doesn’t get on the stick and hunt better for her Pa!

She’s afraid of bears, isn’t interested in racoon. He’s going to try her on Bobcat and Coyote after we get another snowfall. He’s promised me I can have her if things don’t work out. ;)

Weather: Zone 5a. We are heading into a warming trend - FINALLY! High 30’s, then 40’s then near 50 by next Monday. I know - False Spring - but it will keep me motivated!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m glad you had a good ending...so far! How scary for all involved! I know you put a lot of work into that house! I hope everything can be repaired.

So, SO sorry for the bad luck! Prayers for your family...and your house!

Any idea what started the fire in the first place?

[9YearLurker]

And the chickens?

[Pollard]

I don't know where any redbuds are offhand so when they flower, I'll have to take note of where some are on US Forest land or on neighbor's places and go back in fall.

Surfing food tree websites this morning. Paw paw, hazelnut and chestnut. Don't have a space cleared for chestnuts yet but I know where I want them. Need to get my neighbor up here with his dozer this year. Either that or see if my other neighbor will sell me his high lift that he's been wanting me to work on forever. (high lift is a heavy loader on tracks aka track loader)

I have a spot for paw paws and hazelnuts already. Raritan, Somerset, Monmouth, Grand Traverse and The Beast are the hazelnuts I'll be getting. Paw paw, I need to research a little more to decide varieties. PKQ hybrids from MO University Dept of Agroforestry will be the chestnuts someday.

Fun morning putting new tires on the truck. Bought a little Chinese designed and made tire machine. I have the little Harbor Freight manual tire changer but it's getting to be a bit too physical for my little old self. The new one is pneumatic. Took about an hour per tire taking my time. That includes removal from the truck to putting back on the truck and I put new valve stems in. Tire shop charges $20/ea and then there's driving time, wait time, fuel cost etc. Machine was $360 and I just saved $80+ with it. Most strenuous thing was lifting the tire/rim up onto the machine. Truck takes 15" tires as do all my trailers around here so the tires I just took off will be going on trailers that need them.

Only went down to 52 overnight and already hit the high of 70 today. Sunny with a breeze so things ought to dry out a little.

Gonna take a little test drive on the new tires -- with the windows open. Pulled all the wheel weight off and will see if I'll be buying a bubble balancer next. Then who knows what when I get back. Will be outdoors and involve a chair and beer I'm sure. Might work on scooping up goat manure in the shop. I scraped it back so I could jack the truck up on the dry ground in there. Kinda nice to have a little shop area back. Will be nice to have it all back.

[Augie]

Little Miss Laney loves the dogs.

Booger the Aussie doesn’t care much about cats one way or the other. ‘Barely tolerant’ is an apt description of her sentiment towards them.

Howard, on the other hand, LOVES the cats, especially this one. They nap together. Howard gives her spit baths. I bet he’d let her ride on his back if I could find a little kitty saddle for him to wear. lol

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

It appears one of my neighbors to the SE...who also owns the undeveloped lot to the West of me, either tried to burn brush during the burn ban yesterday...or... one of this same brush piles that he burned during the ice storm 4 weekends ago somehow had an ember still that ignited the brush

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

No chickens yet.

I jist got that coop n run given to me recently and only 4 days prior got it unloaded from a trailer and put in place.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

It was 76 degrees yesterday. It will rain Friday/Saturday. (not snow)

Here is a video on redbud and how to grow. They grow over the place in the Ozarks, certainly on Hwy 5 from US 40 and Mansfield down to Ava and on to Mountain Home. I am sure you could find them around Rolla.

Collecting Redbud tree seeds and Breaking Dormancy

Well, you're not near a big town or the county seat so it does not hurt to have machinery to fix your cars. You could help your neighbors out as well.

Good luck with your hazelnuts. Remember, you will need to protect them from the deer. (Discussion at link!)

Habitat Talk hazelnut-protection

The same applies to your chestnuts. IIRC, BenLurkin was involved in a group that was working on developing hybridized Chestnuts. He indicated that they had a lot of problems because the deer would browse them down unless protected in a wire cage until they grew larger.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

At a minimum that deserves a punch in the nose! And send him any bills you incur for his stupidity! Grrrrr!

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Although opinions differ around her amongst the neighbors, I think the guy is alright.

[Liz]

CHOCOLATE SKILLET CAKE / topped with candy bars.
Delicious, moist and very chocolaty, a quick, easy warm dessert.

ING 1/2 c cold water 1/2 c cocoa 1 1/2 c flour 1 tsp b/soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/4 c br/sugar
1/2 c butter 3 eggs, unbeaten 1/2 c buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla 4-1 oz milk chocolate bars

METHOD Gradually add water to cocoa. Stir well to mix. Whisk/combine flour, b/soda, salt. Add sugar, butter, eggs and 1/4 c buttermilk to dry ing. Beat 3 min. Stir in vanilla, rest buttermilk, cocoa mixture. Beat 2 min. Pour into well greased 10" cast iron skillet---do not fill pan more than 2/3 full. Place candy bar squares (or break up bar) evenly over top. Cover pan w/ foil. Bake 350 deg 50-60 min. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream. Garnish w/ sprinkle of chp nuts or chocolate chips, chocolate drizzle.

[Pollard]

Guy that used to own the 800 acres across from me used the set it and forget it method every Spring. He was in another county when his fire almost took out neighbors’ houses. US Forestry service came out with bulldozers to put it out and helicopter to relay info to the ground. They only charged him $200 so he said see you next Spring.

I used to make sure to burn off my place before he did so that if his fire jumped the road, my place was pre-burned and safe.

Thankfully the new owner doesn’t burn.

[Pollard]

I know there are plenty of redbuds around me but they're hard to spot right now. Not for long though. They sound tricky. Arbor Day Foundation sells 3-4' bare root trees for $8/ea if you buy a 10 pack. Food trees come first.

They sell chestnut trees to hunters for their food plots and call them the #1 food source to attract deer. I'm planning on using tree tubes which will prevent small critter damage. I can do a double row deer fence aka 3D fence around all. Deer freak out about the depth

Premiere Fence recommends 34" high single wire and the double at 20" and 48" high with 3 foot between fences. Should be white poly wire that they can see.

I've got a 80' x 80' six strand electric fenced area that the goats started in. Just need to move the whole thing over to go around the tunnel plus the spot where the hazelnuts and paw paws will be. Swap the high tensile wire for white poly wire and put a single perimeter white poly wire around it. I've got the posts, insulators and just need a $50 roll of braided poly wire.

There will be 30 foot or so between the tunnel and trees which leaves room for some rows outside the tunnel for veggies like potatoes that would take up too much space in there. The neighbor has four new puppies, two of which look like they'll be big, like Great Pyrenees size big. The six strand will keep them out so they don't dig holes in a nice fluffy bed to lay in.

Actually the town I work in is the county seat but it's still just a small town. Two tire shops and neither like it when you bring your own brand new tires for them to install. They're losing out in the markup when you buy from them which is understandable. I paid $400 for these new tires and $360 for the machine. They probably would have charged about $7-800 for the same tires including installation.

I just like to DIY as much as possible. Last set I had put on, I went there at 10am and they said 1pm so I had to kill some time. Then it took over an hour. The helper put one wheel back on and I could see/hear the inconsistency when he tightened the lug nuts with the impact gun. When I got home, I checked them. Two of them I had to use a 3 foot pipe on a breaker bar to loosen, two were about right and one was barely tight. It was basically an all day affair and I had to check all the lug nuts to make sure I could loosen them on the road if I had a flat and needed to put the spare on.

I had the other shop put my rear tires on the tractor rims. I didn't notice it at the time, probably because it's a dark little place, but he put one on backwards. There's a huge arrow on the tire showing which direction it should go. He set me up with two left tires. Can you imagine a tire shop not having a light over the tire machine?

[Qiviut]

My dad loved redbuds - in the Spring, when traveling the interstate, there were areas at woods edge that were almost solid redbuds in bloom - very beautiful.

So dad bought 6 redbuds at a nearby nursery. He was physically unable to plant them so it was my job to get them in the ground. I just planted a 3 gallon lilac bush this fall & the redbuds were in much larger pots. It was quite an effort to get them planted.

The redbuds thrived and are beautiful in the spring - bees & butterflies love the blooms. The leaves go yellow in the fall. The only thing I truly dislike about them are the seed pods ... the trees are loaded. The squirrels leave them alone as do the birds. One year, we had a groundhog who climbed a tree to eat pods at least once. Whatever dad got, they were not the wild, self-seeding redbuds because the seeds never sprouted so they must have been sterile. If the seed pods had been viable, we would have had redbuds everywhere.

Here is a good article on redbuds & how to propogste from seeds, if you can find some:

Complete guide to Redbud Tree – What you NEED to know
https://growitbuildit.com/eastern-redbud-tree-cercis-canadensis/

PS - I like that 3D fence - might have to try it this year when I have a garden on the new property for the first time.

[Pollard]

Elderberries too. Can’t forget those.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

The double line of barbed wire / electrified wire..... Perhaps put some pennants on it to flap around a bit.

If you have a vegetable garden on the inside put in 4" chicken wire fencing on the inside of your double fence to exclude rabbits, maybe an electric wire down low to discourage raccoons and opposums. from climbing up.

Good luck!

You do not need to justify your growing machine shop to me or Augie! (Hope the tire shop reversed that tire for free!)

County Seat. I think you are over by Steelville or St James or Potosi but beyond that I do not really need to know! I used to travel a lot from KC to Mtn. Home AR where my parents lived. From Mansfield to the Arkansas border it was Pretty sparcely populated, lots of rocks and trees and slightly maintained roads.

[Diana in Wisconsin]