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Posted on 06/01/2026 6:10:43 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The MONTHLY Victory Garden 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 Victory Garden 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.
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Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Sounds yummy! :)
Mom came out yesterday to help me plant the tomatoes. She brought me a 1/2 full grocery bag of panty hose to use as future tomato ties.
She saves EVERYTHING and a lot of times it’s pretty useful stuff!
“Driving that train, high on cocaine
Casey Jones you better, watch your speed
Trouble ahead, trouble behind
And you know that notion just crossed my mind...”
Now I HAVE to listen to some Grateful Dead tonight, LOL!
Mandan is one of the five heading to Canada on Friday; Mandan, Arikara, Shawnee, Sioux and Comanche.
I’ll still have hunting dogs Emma Jolene, Osage, Shasta, Blackfoot, Taylor Marianne, Grover and Midnight to care for.
Beau has been ‘roading’ them in the morning when it’s still cool, which means he uses the 4-wheeler with a bar across the front and back, then the dogs are on a chain about 6 feet from the 4-wheeler and they run along beside him. They put on a good 2-3 miles every morning, getting into shape for the season.
Arikara and Shawnee HATE it, so they are running loose with tracking collars on. He’s been alternating them and they put on a good 8-10 miles every day, mostly running with Grover and Senior Beagle, Dolly, which tires EVERYONE out (including me!) for the day. Everyone is getting their exercise for bear hunting in Canada.
Shawnee and Arikara know to stop by the kitchen door for ‘treats’ throughout the day. They were both raised here, so they’re no dummies and know that there is a ‘Soft Touch’ that lives in the house!
ONE TREAT per Customer per Day, though! ;)
Very smart!
And the Little League Soccer Kids can use those panels on the field when school starts again in the Fall. ;)
Animal damage is just INSANE, isn’t it? They have, ‘full dominion over the Earth’ and yet they have to graze in our gardens! Grrr!
Thanks that was the info i needed.
LOL!
Make sure you add Giant Hog Weed and also Wild Parsnip to your collection! ;)
Hog weed is showing up here in Zone 5 in the ditches and the Wild Parsnip will be right behind it.
Evil, EVIL plants!
Sometimes I total wonder at God’s creations. I mean, REALLY? We NEED snakes? We NEED Mosquitoes? NEEDED Hog Weed, Stinging Nettle and Wild Parsnip? And Grasshoppers? Ugh!
Why are you testing me, God? ;)
You are entirely welcome!
Glad to help and to put my ‘Expensive & Hard-Earned Useless Knowledge’ to use for...SOMEONE...ANYONE, LOL!
A freeze got ours (strawberry buds, and quite a few other things in the region, too.) :-(
Have you had any success spreading hot pepper flakes (or an extra coarse grind) around tomato plants (to ward off varmints?)
Hot pepper powders, applied generously, seem to help, but any rain at all and they are mostly gone. Plus I have to wear a N95 mask to apply them, or I sneeze up a storm of my own.
Well, I can’t speak to all of those, but, snakes eat a LOT of rodents, and grasshoppers make good bait for panfish - big hoppers even work for bass: One of the biggest bass I ever caught was successfully tempted with a big katydid. Big tomato hornworms are great bait too, tho’ I’d definitely rather not have that opportunity.
Trials and blessings, life’s salad.
Very similar to getting (racing) sled dogs in shape. They are attached to a 4-wheeler & pull it for a couple of miles.
So Midnight is staying?
Well....this is a fallen world. Here are examples of AI assisted videos discussing invasive species, something of a double fall!
"America Spent $12.5 Billion Fighting the Emerald Ash Borer. The Woodpeckers Did It For Free"
(!!Cut to the chase summary....There are 2 varieties of woodpecker that hammer through the bark and eat the larvae, nuthatch that will look for and eat the larvae, and a native fly with a long ovadepositor that has learned to parasitize their lavae. Large areas have experienced destruction of ash groves. Ash trees are recovering somewhat now that native species are beginning to control the borer. )
(I would link to the English folk song "The Ash Grove" which my mother used to sing to me, but it would not be suitible in this context.)
(!!Cut to the chase summary; Sturgeon and Drum can crush and eat the shells, Whitefish eat the floating larvae and young before they get shells. Downside...the zebras clean the water and accumulate toxins and heavy metals in their bodies which transfers to the fish. So bad if you like to eat whitefish. I think there is one other thing attacking them. Do not recall what it is.)
They have another you tube I did not watch. Invasive flying catfish. Allegator gar are starting to use them as a food source. Do a search if interested.
A fallen world with fallen people and one redeemer!
All the peppers and tomatoes made it. Tonight is forecast to be pretty nippy, too, but it looks like we’re in the clear after that.
This spring, I prepped my beds by adding the bone meal and organic fertilizer about a week before planting.
I understand they are slow to break down so it wasn’
t wasted. But it also gave me the opportunity to see if something would try to dig from the smell of the bone meal.
I lost about 1/2 an onion crop once, because I used blood meal and something went after that. So now I add first and wait and if nothing disturbs the soil, then I plant.
We had a neighbor last night, warn us that he’s seen a bear around.
So... I ended up replacing 3 of the 4’ fluorescent light fixtures I was dealing with, with new LED fixtures — not just the replacement LED bulbs. The 3rd shop light has a weak ballast in it, so I didn’t even risk blowing it up. :-) What I’m going to do with all my extra 4’ LED bulbs, I don’t know. It appears that any rapid start ballast that is a little weak will fry itself with the “Rapid Start” compatible LED bulbs installed. At least the bulbs survive.
One of the new shop lights has a motion sensor in it. That’s very useful for the spot I put it in, and will save some energy too (compared to me remembering - not - to go back and turn off the light if my hands were full as I exited the shop. That “not” business happens a lot!) I have another of these, and there’s a second somewhat similar spot that I may swap it in to. It’s a bit harder to access, tho’...
Whew! Long, long day. I’m beat!
I received a notice from Fedex that our 5 Bidee Beds were enroute and will be here Thursday. I started removing the old raised bed walls rhat I made from pallet wood, lined with plastic yesterday. I will finish removing the remaining four and a half this morning and take them to the transfer station this afternoon. Then I will shovel the soil up from the sides and cut a gap transverse in the middle for the bracing rods and that way I can assemble the beds and Barb and I will be able to drop them over the soil pile, and rake the soil level.
I replaced two the beds last spring and the Birdee Beds are real quality. Birdee had asignificant sale this spring and so we are continuing the upgrade process. The pallet wood did their job, but they have had it.
The garlic and shallots I planted last fall are doing we. I want to transplant cabbage this week as well as cucumber and pole green beans yet this week.
My garden is doing GREAT!
The garlic is amazing, but considering we’ve had a better year with rainfall than the last two, that’s no surprise.
Hopefully, we’re done with the cold.
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