WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 26 JUNE 27, 2014

Free Republic | 6/27/2014 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly 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. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.

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 Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[greeneyes]

I have some very pretty day lilies, but they have zero fragrance. I have 3 very pretty asian lilies almost as tall as I am. I guess they multiply, cause I only had one to begin with.

Roses seem to be dying. I really didn’t expect them to do anything after the hard winter.

[MomwithHope]

OK for as long as I have been gardening (45 years??) I have never heard of a cucuzza so I had to google it. Must be no one grows them up here. (Michigan)

[sockmonkey]

OK for as long as I have been gardening (45 years??) I have never heard of a cucuzza so I had to google it.

Me either. I heard about tromboncino squash here, and Marcella sent me some seed.

Then Rightly said someone he knew grew a sqush like a tromboncino without the bulb on the end. I googled "yard long squash", and cucuzza is what came up, and Rightly identified it as "the one he remembered".

So, we all learn new stuff here..I just learned yesterday that it's best to plant pointy ended seeds (like squash, melons, cukes) pointy end straight down.

[Qiviut]

[oops ... meant to post on 27th not 20th thread - pardon previous post!]

I am absolutely horrible at planting/spacing seeds, especially if they’re tiny and a lot of them are. If they’re too close together (which happens a lot), then I have a hard time bringing myself to thin out the plants. Sigh. My radishes aren’t that great because I didn’t thin them & if my onions were doing anything, they’d have the same problem.

Like a bolt out of the blue, it dawned on me that maybe I could make ‘seed tapes’ so I ‘binged’ the topic and came up with two decent links for starters. Reading the comments was instructive as well .... I think I’m going to try this out!

Make your own seed tapes:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Own-Seed-Tapes/

Another one that looks even easier:
http://www.gardengirltv.com/how-to-make-seed-tape.html

I’m doing a fall garden so I’ll find out before next spring if it works for me or not.

[Silentgypsy]

Consumed first tomato of the year. The regulation-looking part of the tomato was fine but there was some white, fibrous material interspersed in the outer flesh. I’ve never encountered that before. We got plants from the local high school’s FFA this year. They were the last plants to be sold so I guess we got the dregs. If the Creator doesn’t send us another animal at death’s door next year, I plan to start everything from seed. The zucchini casserole turned out well, but we seem far from having the overabundance of zucchini that the other gardeners have!

[trisham]

That’s a great idea. Please keep us posted!

[trisham]

My roses from last year died, but they were in containers. I ordered three new plants over the winter, and they are blooming now. We just have to get the Kubota fixed so that we can make some raised beds in which to plant them. I’d like to plant them around the eastward side of the screen house, because it’s much more open there, so it gets more sun.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We started seeds January 20. Probably a month too early, but we has 100 percent survival of our startings.

[mlizzy]

Today's snapshot of our garden. (Click to enlarge.) The Brandwine Pinks (in the cage) are about six feet tall with maters in progress, our Lemon Queen sunflowers are close to eight feet, our borage plants (on the right) are pretty tall too, our Cherokee Purples are doing very well, and our peppers look okay, as well as the basil (however something is munching on it; maybe the same critters...slugs...that are eating away at the lettuce which used to be a beautiful stance between the marigolds and tomatoes). Pole beans growing up the cage are looking okay, and the sweet potatoes in the pots are cooking, and green onions are starting to pop up, and that's about it. Sure is fun! Except for the slugs on the lettuce. :(

[TEXOKIE]

if they have bolted it’s time, if not past due time to harvest.

Uh oh. Ooops.... LOL!

Well, it’s just an experiment! Maybe I’ll dig up one, and then let the rest go to seed for next year...

[TEXOKIE]

Oh my, how interesting! Have no clue about other radish-type creatures within radius. I don’t have any other radishes at all.

I’ll plan to let it go to seed then. When you say, “harvest the whole stalk” are you also referring to the root?

[TEXOKIE]

Kuddoes! Great job! I am duly impressed! You managed to even HAVE zucchini, a feat which I have not yet accomplished! LOL!

Sounds yummy. And I imagine that the little dog was worth it! :-D

[Arrowhead1952]

Getting a lot of tomatoes. Big boy and Romas are ripening like no tomorrow. Still picking a number of beans too.

[greeneyes]

If it’s not bitter, get them all they last a long time in the refrigerator. Could maybe even pickle them.

[greeneyes]

It all sounds great except the slugs. I wash and save my tuna cans for slugs. Bury them in the ground so that the top is about level with the ground. Pour in the beer.

Slugs love beer go in can and can’t get out and die. Take out the dead bodies and dispose of them every day, replenish the beer.

[greeneyes]

We have a bed of roses on the eastern side along our front patio. Before we put the guttering up, a lot of water from the roof flowed over the patio and into the bed. They might just be getting too little water? Lots of winter kill I’ve read happens due to lack of water.

[greeneyes]

I read an article that said people were stocking up in anticipation of scarcity, and so of course, there are some shortages already.

I think the company has resumed shipping existing stock, but has not resumed production.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for all the links, I am bookmarking this for future reference and exploration. You Tube is a challenge on my computer.

I usually let it go while I go do dishes or something, and come back when its finished and hit replay. Replay is better than the first try.

[greeneyes]

Ok Thanks.

[Carthego delenda est]

“I’ll plan to let it go to seed then. When you say, “harvest the whole stalk” are you also referring to the root?”

You can just cut the stalk off somewhere below where the seed pods start once it has dried. It’ll be fairly self explanatory once they start drying. You can also harvest the root, but my experience has been that it becomes a bit pithy since it is sending its energy up to produce seed. Perhaps it would still be pretty decent for pickled diakon. Good luck!