WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD OCT. 14, 2016

freerepublic | Oct. 14, 2016 | 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.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the pics. Now that apple pie has activated my carb center, and I am drooling. That is a seriously good looking pie.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the picks. I am looking at the “cage” covers you have over the beds. Did you make those, or are they for sale somewhere?

[greeneyes]

Well, we would have to grow our own chicken feed, or buy it. I know it’s not that much time, but in the winter, I don’t even go outside, unless the temperature is in the high 40s, then only if I have to-visit the ER for example. LOL

[greeneyes]

Melons and pumpkins etc. don’t do well here either. Next year I’m going to try growing the midget melons in flower pots and train them to go vertical.

[tubebender]

To add insult to calories she made a Apple Kutchen for Fellowship following services this morning and she brought about a quarter of it home and I have to go for my yearly blood test and physical in the morning. I may call in sick. The metal cages on the garlic normally go over our strawberry beds but we have removed the berries so I’m using them to thwart the skunks and raccoons from digging up the garlic. My son and one of his employees made the cages for me several years ago

[patriot08]

You’re welcome

[Ladysforest]

I tried replanting thinned carrots a few times, and they never took.

And the ONLY times I had decent sized carrots was indeed when I did thin them out when the greens were a few inches high. If they got much bigger it seemed to disrupt the soil too much and the remaining ones didn’t thrive as well.

Carrots are weird. And they are a long season.

[Ladysforest]

Try Speckled Sussex if you want a GREAT broody hen. They are heirloom breed, cold tolerant, small light brown eggs - don’t lay worth a squat in the cold months. Very smart.

I like the breed very much, but am down to one. Due to the lack of winter eggs I am on the fence about starting more of them.

[ApplegateRanch]

Interesting. The 10 BJG hens give us 2-4 extra large to jumbo eggs a day in winter; enough for our use.

I may try incubating some again. Last time, a 4’ gopher snake managed to get in & eat all seven of them at a bit over a week old.

[ApplegateRanch]

LOL! For us, high 40s is shirt sleeve weather, as long as it isn’t too windy.

[greeneyes]

LOL. I feel your pain. I had to go to a conference, where they actually serve good food for 5 days preceding my most recent blood test. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I did eliminate almost all the potatoes and bread from the meals, but did eat half the cheesecake and pecan pie, skipped dessert for the rest of the meals, but had a biscuit and gravy with my eggs and bacon every morning.

So, please tell me what those cages are made of.

[Augie]

What a beautiful weekend it was here in Central Missouri!

Been playing catchup for the past week. Mrs. Augie and I took off on the 1st for some badly-needed vacation time. We spent a couple days touristing around the Great Smokie Mountains National Park. From there we took off to Myrtle Beach, where we were planning to spend a week laying on the sand relaxing. Mother Nature had other plans though, which didn't hurt our feelings because the place is a dump. It was the filthiest beach we'd ever seen. Absolutely disgusting. Anyway, we spent one night, cancelled the rest of our reservation, and bailed out of there at 6:45pm on the 4th. We rolled into Fort Pickens State Part in Pensacola Beach, FL at 5:00am on Wednesday. Watched the sunrise on the beach without another soul in sight. Spent four nights there and had a great time. Got home at 1:15am on the 10th and have been nose to the grindstone ever since.

Still have okra, green beans and tomatoes going in the garden. Need to get the garlic and winter greens planted, and finish cleanup in the tomato patch to get ready for fall plowing. The back food plot is done. I fertilized and limed it, then sowed wheat and turnip for winter browse.

I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning making some repairs to the post hole digger, then commenced to building some board fence. Got that little bit done yesterday afternoon. I've got another 100' to do on the other side of the barn next weekend if the weather remains suitable to that kind of thing, and that will complete the fencing projects for the time being.

I'm fairly well pleased with the way this turned out. It's much more attractive than the hotwire fence that it replaced.

[Augie]

The secret to growing good carrots is deep, friable soil. They can stand to be crowded, but they won’t make a decent root if they’re growing in clay.

[Ladysforest]

I brought mine over “the internet” from a reputable place.(I think this was the hatchery https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html) I put in my order ahead of time, and when they hatched I got an email. The chicks were packed up at two days old and sent overnight - I got a call from the Post Office at six am. Got a box of very carefully packed cheeping adorables!

I was able to select which breeds I wanted, I just couldn’t order under a dozen because of their needing to be kept warm enough.
Mostly I had the Speckled Sussex and White Leghorns. I need breeds that can handle the temps dropping below zero. In spite of being a smaller bird, those White Leghorn are very cold hardy and lay regardless of temps - nice large white eggs.

[ApplegateRanch]

I know them; have bought from them several times.

[tubebender]

Those cages are framed with 1/2 X 1/2 square tubing cut and welded into a frame. The wire is 1 inch square welded wire cut and tied to the frames with a small stainless steel wire. Each cage is appox 4 feet by 6 feet and it takes 6 frames to cover our strawberry beds. The 1 x 1 squares are tight enough to keep even the smallest birds out...

[tubebender]

There are two things that irritate me about you… #1 your land is flat #2 it is clear of trees #3 you have bigger toys then me and #4 your years younger then me #5 you have more get up and do things

[tubebender]

I hired some some landscape guys to build this on my property line. The 6 x 6 posts at pressure treated as are the 2 X 6 rails and I had them prime and paint them prior to delivering them to our yard and installation using stainless steel screws…

[tob2]

Have culinary herbs and pansies, plus Swiss chard and maybe some lettuce. I have some big plans for next season so can hardly wait.

[Augie]

That looks really nice!

Building fence makes my back ache. The fence you have would make my wallet ache, and for a poor boy like me that’s a lot worse than a back ache.