WEEKLY GARDENING THREAD VOLUME 27 JULY 4TH 2014

Free Republic | July 4, 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.

[sockmonkey]

My mind is gone..that should be wood, not would re: lathe strips.

[Qiviut]

We've been very hot here with high 90's - day before yesterday it was 100. With the new watering scheme, I was interested to see how the squash would bounce back from the 'heat wilt' and by 7 p.m., with the sunlight slanting in, they perked right back up. Yesterday was cloudy most of the day with light showers (not enough to do much good) and this morning started out cloudy with sprinkles & steamy with humidity. The sun just popped out which means we'll be getting a good chance of severe T-storms later & that's what the weather guys are calling for.

My squash are "all male" right now. I don't have a single baby T or C on the vines & no upcoming female blooms that I can see. The 2nd baby C I thought I had evidently wasn't pollinated ..... just sat there not growing after blooming & now has started rotting. It's all very disappointing.

Tomatoes are coming in .... I've had two cages topple over from the weight 'cause they're loaded with green tomatoes so I've had to add stakes. The cukes are about to overrun us so I'm looking at freezer pickle recipes and saw this recipe today .... we have cukes and a mint patch so I'm going to give it a try over the weekend (company coming!):

Cucumber Mint Water

The company might be a good excuse to use my one big Cucuzza and try that Kim D. cream pie, too! :-)

[sockmonkey]

saw this recipe (Cucumber Mint Water) today .... we have cukes and a mint patch so I'm going to give it a try over the weekend (company coming!):

That sounds like a really refreshing summery drink. Thanks for sharing.

[JRandomFreeper]

And so it begins. I don't know how I missed Rho. And my penmanship bites.

But, it's what the kids have, and they shall manage.

Next week gets a bit more intense for them. They have a full day of drawing letters on full sheets of paper, and learning the alpha-beta song.

And the 14 year olds are sorta/almost/but not quite miffed that they got suckeredconvinced to help me teach the little kids just 24 letters (upper and lower case, in order, and be able to write them). Turns out the teens are accidentally learning stuff without meaning to.

They know the greek god Poseidon because of a stupid kids movie. Psi uses the trident, symbol of Poseidon, as it's base. Starts with a 'P'. Boytwin was upset that he accidentally learned something he won't ever be able to forget. (Don't tell them about Neptune)

Bwahahahaha!

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Ο Θεός μισεί βάρβαροι

[greeneyes]

Busy week for you for sure. I have just watered plants and promised to do more next week. Busy Busy Busy here too. Buried in accounting and paperwork for volunteer board and hubby’s business and top of starting a new exercise program at the swimming pool in a neighboring town.

[greeneyes]

Well yes it is kinda like that. We have extremely hard water, so the pipe probably should have been larger, but anyway it clogged up, and no one could think of how to clear it out, (guessing they didn’t put a filter on it either).

So Hubby attached a 2 inch plastic gizmo to the unit indoors, and a 5 gallon bucket under it to catch the condensate. The repairman had no other suggestions, so we just change buckets and use the water collected to water the gardens.

Once in a while we don’t get to the bucket often enough, so we have to use the wet vac and turn on the fans to dry it all out.

[greeneyes]

This is our central air conditioner. They all take water out of the air. It normally goes through a pipe and empties out doors somewhere.

Some people design their homes so that the water empties into a garden area or a water collection area. If you have central air, you might be able to get it retro fitted.

Our pipe to the outdoors got clogged up, so we just bypassed the pipe and added another outlet to go into a 5 gallon bucket.

[greeneyes]

Hubby reported today that he has had no further trouble since he put on the bonemeal and epshome salts that I gave him to apply to the soil. He cut off all the affected plants.

Some of them were discolored even on the bottom, so that’s why I was leaning towards blossum end rot, instead of sun damage.

[greeneyes]

Nothing beats a home on an ancestral farm!

[greeneyes]

I don’t know what it was, but Hubby cut them all off, and he applied the bone meal and epshom salts that I gave him, and told me today that there has been no further trouble.

[greeneyes]

I love volunteer plants of all kinds as long as the produce is edible. LOL

[greeneyes]

Some people make using that water part of their plans when they build the home. I wish we had done that. Also wish we had put in a graywater system for use on flowers etc.

Way it is we just collect it in buckets and use it. I also collect water in the kitchen instead of running it down the sink. For example, if I wash and clean green beans, then I use that water on whatever plants need it most.

[greeneyes]

Hubby’s corn has passed 6 feet tall. Maybe 8 feet by now.LOl

He harvested a few ears and we ate them. I think that they could use a few more days, but they were pretty good as is.

We cooked them in the Microwave inside the husks, and then cut off the end, grabbed the silk end and shook them out. They came out totally clean, and we ate them with nothing added they were so good.

[greeneyes]

LOL. I love it!

[JRandomFreeper]

That's one, everybody else is a little grumpy (if somewhat smug). If you were here, you could pass out paper and markers.

Everybody is grumping a little about it, but everybody is humming the alpha-beta song under their breath.

Even the teens.

That's twice this summer I've really upset their world view. They have to learn the greek alphabet to help teach it. And I made a purposeful mis-observation about something and they got into a technical argument about my mis-observation..... I let it go for a while and then said "If I'd told you to practice and exercise your observation and analytical skills, you'd still be wearing your IPad headsets".

Wow... they just keep on getting tricked into being smart. And they aren't sure how to take it.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Gardening kids is as important to me as gardening tomatoes. More, probably.

/johnny

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

greeneyes:" Some of them were discolored even on the bottom, so that’s why I was leaning towards blossum end rot, instead of sun damage."

Glad to hear that it worked out for you !
That Bone Meal and epsome salts seems like a good cure for 'blossom end rot'; I have always preferred an 'organic' cure over chemical or mechanical cures.
Hopefully we never become to old to learn from others.
That's one of the joys of gardening , and sharing information.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

JRandomFreeper:" Gardening kids is as important to me as gardening tomatoes. More, probably."

EXACTLY TRUE !!
A garden crop , you might get , at best 3 crops per year for each season.
With a kid , you can train them for several seasons, and an on-going expierience.
Supposedly ,college is to teach you how to think ; I found just the opposite: it taught you to regurgitate information arrrainged by 'the professor'.
Much better to learn the powers of observation, creativity, imagination and experimentation !!
Just dont think of the crop of kids when it comes to 'thinning out' the crop !!
Even a Weed is nothing more than a misplaced flower !

[tillacum]

Thank you greeneyes. I’ll check with our AC fellow and see
where that pipe is. We have a large roof, and I’m getting ready to change the direction of the water flow into some
barrels.