WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD JUNE 17, 2016

freerepublic | June 17, 2017 | 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. 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!

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.

[Qiviut]

It’s a 5500. We had the electrician do all the work to set us up. The generator is in a small shed & there is a connection there that it plugs into. Electrical service is underground from the shed to the house. At the house, we have a box where you flip a handle to go from ‘online’ to ‘auxiliary’. No extension cords :-)

[greeneyes]

No we haven’t. We only have enough for a little 2 ft. tree.

We did use one of those metal lights with a hanger and 100 watt bulb 2015 spring, and put a sheet over the tree - that was when it was smaller.

[greeneyes]

We are saving to buy one that is an automatic back up for the house - at least the water pump, refrigerator, freezer, and an air conditioner or electric heater, so we could be in one of the bedrooms and comfortable. We would have someone install it and enclose it however it needed to be.

The one we have, was purchased for Hubby to haul in his truck to jobs where he would need lights or electricity at night or early morning. Those types of jobs are few and far between now. At one time we had two, but one gave up the ghost recently.

[tubebender]

Nice! That’s what I want but I would have to be sure the baseboard electric heaters are off. A major earthquake is our big worry here in northwestern California

[AbolishCSEU]

I have in the past. I’m letting them go to seed and then we’ll save the seed

[AbolishCSEU]

Hostas, bleeding hearts (a liberal plant, heh heh), astible (sp?), ostrich ferns

[AbolishCSEU]

I do wish I had more time to devote to the garden. I work 40+ hours a week and hubs doesn’t do anything with the garden other than to try to give me pointers. Which are usually ruinous because he comes from a farmer’s background and not a gardeners. Apples and oranges.

I live near a swamp errrr, “wetland” so everything I do is in raised beds I have a 30 by 30 raised bed in the front which is now mostly a flower and asparagus Garden. In back I have a raised bed 10 by 10 which I am growing just a few tomato and pepper plants, squash, lettuce, spinach, beets. I have herbs in pots. I have a side garden on the southside which is growing some ornamental tall pumpkins and watermelon.

I also planted a few pear trees 1 cherry tree that made it 1 prunetree a gooseberry and 2 currants (childhood memories in Canada)

I have a raspberry patch and 4 blueberry bushes which I moved to the front raised bed. Mostly full sun because when I moved in here ten years ago we cleared about 50 trees.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I agree with the ‘phlox’ though, if it just showed up, it could be a form of Dame’s Rocket, which is a weed. At least around here, it’s a weed.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, I know them...I’ve just not ever had shade before, so I’m pretty excited! The west side of the house is shady because of a mature Maple tree. All of the plants you mentioned are thriving there. There are some peonies that are now getting too much shade, so they’re leaving. the front of the house faces south and is blazingly hot almost all day long. Beau just pulled out the Barberry shrubs that were planted there, so I have to decide on some sunny shrubs to go in there, too.

I’m thinking a lovely climbing rose should be a part of that sunny south side...it’ll have two floors to climb. ‘New Dawn’ is a pale-pink favorite, but a ‘Red Rambler’ or ‘Dublin Bay, (deep red for both) would be quite striking, too.

So many decisions! :)

[Ladysforest]

I found four cucumber plants that are not yet deceased. The cabbages are now in the tummys of the varmints. So are the strawberries.

They have left the little hot pepper plants alone so far.

They haven’t touched any herbs.

They have escaped from the havahart traps TWICE.

I became very ill on Monday, so I don’t know what is in store for me or that weed patch garden/ ground hog buffet this summer. Today I felt much better so I did water my raspberry bushes - that began as one bush. Heritage (I think) and it SPREAD. Took about four years, but now this fifth year - WOW.

[tubebender]

Well it came up like a weed!!! I think it in came in some duff from our Church which went into my compost bins which went into our garden.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Most likely the weed, then - but at least you got one of the prettier ones! :)

[greeneyes]

Prayers up for making you well. If they are leaving the hot pepper plants alone, maybe you should make up some home made hot pepper spray to spray on the leaves?

[Ladysforest]

Thank you. And I think we have some leftover crazy mean hotter than hot dried peppers somewhere. Maybe I will dig them out.

[Qiviut]

The power is back on as of today (Sunday) 10:00ish! Thank goodness. The power company trucks had been down the road yesterday checking the transformers & had cleaned up the tree debris that took down the wires. I guess the crew that did the actual line repair work was out this morning - cable/internet came back at the same time as the power.

Hopefully, I can have all the debris picked up after tomorrow, but it may take two days. We had no house or vehicle damage - neighbors down the road had two trees come down on their house & two more leaning.

I did put some written notes on the generator for the next time (like which way is fuel “on” & which way is “off” - hard to tell!). It’s got a full tank & I have checked/replenished the oil so it’s ready to go ..... fingers crossed we don’t need it, though.

I got my first “pickle” sized cucumber today. I planted a smaller variety that is good for pickles. The vine looks great, full of blooms so I hope I get enough to make a couple of jars of freezer pickles - may even try canning some, too. :-)

[tob2]

Everything growing well. Lilies bloomed today and they smell so nice. Tomato seeds have sprouted and getting tall. I’m so hoping there is enough light to produce tomatoes! Pansies and lettuce holding their own, even with temperatures sometimes in the 90’s. The only disappointment is the Four O’clocks. The seeds have sprouted but not growing past their seed leaves. I would love to post some pictures but don’t know how. Do not have a smart phone, just an ordinary digital.

[AbolishCSEU]

My climbing rose is doing quite well this year. I believe its called”Don Juan.”

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That one is a beauty, too!

[Augie]

It was another hot, dry, busy weekend here in Central Missouri.

I've been running irrigation in the tomato patch 24hrs/day since last Friday. The upper end of the two longest rows wasn't getting enough water due to the length of the run and several feet of elevation change, so I spent a good part of yesterday fixing that. I ran new mainline halfway up the rows and spliced into the drip tape there. I need to do the same thing on the third row of tomatoes, but I used the last of the mainline taps that I had on hand so it will wait a few days til I get more in. I also tapped into the mainline and plumbed up a garden hose fitting and stop valve so I can get water to the orchard trees out by the pond without having to carry it there in buckets. That is going to make it much easier to keep those trees alive until we get some rainfall.

The cantelope and Russian cucumbers that I planted in the kitchen garden are up and looking good. I laid weed mat down where the winter greens had been and planted four hills of sugar baby watermelon there. Broccoli is ready to harvest. Cauliflower and cabbages are catching up. Snap peas are toast.

Neighbor Dave mowed my hay field on Friday, then raked and baled on Saturday. I was expecting it to yield somewhere around 400 bales and it came in at 412. I was very happy to see that Dave made some upgrades to his equipment over the winter, adding an accumulator attachment to the baler and a grapple for the skid loader. What would have otherwise been a completely miserable day throwing hay turned out to be no work at all for me.

[tubebender]

LOL… Last time I bailed hay was on a 4 man crew with me driving a old WWII 4X4 puling the bailer . I l love to tinker with drip irrigation…