Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 30) August 5

Free Republic | 08*05*2011 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners. I transplanted 10 young paste tomato plants into my garden last Friday and wouldn’t you it, the heat gets turned up again. The area of my garden where I planted them gets shade from about 3pm on but I am having to supplying them shade from late morning until then. So far they are doing ok. I hope they survive.

My pepper plants are doing well and producing nicely and I may get another round of zuke production.

I got a very nice hard rain yesterday evening. Probably about 1/2 inch.

If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.

I hope all your gardens are flourishing.

[Red_Devil 232]

Weekly Gardening Thread

Weekly Gardening Thread

[Red_Devil 232]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Ping List.

I hope all of you will stop by.

This is typically a low volume ping list. Once a week for the thread and every once in a while for other FR threads posted that might be of interest.

If you would like to be added to or removed from the list please let me know by FreepMail or by posting to me.

[miele man]

“I transplanted 10 young paste tomato plants into my garden...”

Well now, is that where tomato paste comes from! I did’nt know that.

[Gabz]

Good morning. We’re finally get a reprieve from the heat here on the lower end of the DelMarVa peninsula. High today only supposed to be 86.

[neefer]

How are your figs? We have to winterize our and got them out late because of the cold spring. But I think we’ll get some fruit this year. Planted some peas at the base of the sunflowers. Got kale sprouts too.

[Arrowhead1952]

Just trying to keep my lawn and trees alive. Gave up on the garden for now. Our forecast is a broken record. Highs at 105 - 107 for the rest of this week, and may drop to 103 by Tuesday.

[Redleg Duke]

Greetings from southern New Hampshire! The deck from hell is in its final stage. I have a couple more deck boards to install and I can do the railings. I will be so glad to get this done!

Next on the task list is the Duck Run addition to the chicken condo. It is going to be about 9' long, as that is how much roofing I have left. I want to get it up and painted this weekend so that then I can move the duck hutch inside and install the chicken wire. I suppose that will lead to the final fencing project. (Sigh!)

We lost one of the major limbs off of our peach tree. Old age, I guess. I have discussed adding some new fruit trees to our property with the Duchess. The fruit trees are probably 30-years old. They are showing signs of old age.

[LearsFool]

I have a mesquite question for anyone who can help.

Since my garden turned into a desert this year, I figured the desert could be my garden. I’ve been told that mesquite beans are edible, so I’ve gathered up half a bushel so far. I’ve got a Lehman’s hand-crank grain mill, and am wondering if I can just grind them up with that.

Is this a good idea? If so, do I shell them like peas or just stuff them in whole? Do I need to rinse them? Dry them? In short, what’s the process?

Also, somebody said they make a decent coffee substitute. Anyone know anything about that?

Thanks in advance. I’d sure be happy to salvage something from this drought.

[Red_Devil 232]

These are Pimento Peppers along with some Gardengirl Figs. The egg is just for size comparison purposes.

I will skin and take the seeds out of the Pimentos and can them today.

[Excellence]

Howdy. I'm new to this group. I planted a zucchini plant and two bell pepper plants last week. I bought them in pots from Walmart because it's too late in the season to grow from seeds. I really didn't think they'd make it; they drooped and lost their color. But the zucchini and one of the peppers is back to green and growing. The other pepper is pale, and I've had to pull off dying leaves so the plant wouldn't pointlessly support them.
At the moment I live with my kids in the high desert of southern California. Years ago their dad dumped bag after bag of potting soil in the back yard until their was quite a pile. Better still, he used the dirt to fill a pit, so it runs about a foot below the level of the rest of the yard. It sat for years until I put the three plants in it. I think there is enough room to put in potatoes around the edges.
It's getting light out, so I'm going to go out and knock down some weeds. I'll check back with you later.

[goodwithagun]

As I'm the only household member that eats green beans, I didn't plant that many but I have two 1 gallon freezer bags full of blanched beans. The corn should be ready soon, and the Cherokee Purples are blushing. I did all heirlooms this year, so I've been saving hot pepper seeds. The seeds have all turned brown as they dried, I'm assuming they're supposed to.

Any backyard chicken owners here? I'd like to petition my city to allow a few hens per household in the city limits. If I'm successful, I'd like to keep them on as much of a natural diet as possible. My purpose for this is to limit my OOP cost as much as possible; after all, chickens ate something before the invention of bagged chicken feed. Any suggestions? I'm in Zone 4-5 in the Ohio Valley, if that is necessary for info. Thanks!

[Texas Fossil]

86 degrees would be nice. It was 109 degrees here in Central Texas yesterday, and forecast is for 106 for the next 5 days.

Have to water the garden every other day to keep it alive, but got a lot of squash and okra yesterday. Even got enough blackeyed peas for a small mess.

My tomato plants are doing nothing. Had been blooming but not setting fruit, too hot. Same with my Pepperoncini peppers. The bell peppers are making now.

Seems like all I do is water plants. Planted a lot of new fruit trees this year, picked the wrong year. Looks like about 60% will survive. The trees in partial shade are doing fine, but the trees with 100% exposure did not make it unless they put out early. They were bare root trees.

[gramho12]

My tomatoes are really coming in and they are beautiful and delicious. Must be that load of manure we dumped on the garden this year. The plants themselves are huge.

I made salsa from 3 different type of tomatoes (red, yellow and green zebra) with my cayenne and anaheim peppers. It was really good.

My corn is beginning to be close to picking, and I can't wait to taste it. Thank God for the last few rains - it was looking pretty bleak there for a while.

[momtothree]

Well.... aren’t YOU the ambitious one! Is the deck, duck run, painting, and fencing project on the “honey do” list or is it something that just had to be done and done right now? Question: how long do fruit trees last? Do they have an old age expiration date of sorts? I have always wanted fruit trees (my fantasy involving a farm house on some acreage) and like to learn as much as possible.

[who knows what evil?]

Man...it is like Texas and Oklahoma are under attack...no end in sight for the record heat. AccuWeather states that the only relief will come in September as the seasons begin to change. Rain? No idea...

G-d have mercy.

[Red_Devil 232]

It is nice to hear that someone is enjoying homegrown tomatoes!

[momtothree]

“I made salsa from 3 different types of tomatoes... cayenne and anaheim peppers”.

I have a little story that will make you laugh. Years ago, I decided to make salsa and although I have canned before... this was something new to me. A friend had given us all sorts of extremely hot peppers and I had a bushel of tomatoes. I started to process the tomatoes and my loving husband decided he would “help” so he started cutting the HOT peppers up into small pieces. The salsa was processing and he suddenly said, “My hands are burning”. Boy... were they! His hands got hotter and hotter with time. I tried to help with “old school” tricks like soaking his hands in ice water, then milk, and I finally tried a homemade mud-soak (trying to draw out the hot juice). Nothing worked. I finally called Poison Control since he was now in A LOT of pain. Well.... he should have worn gloves (duh... figured that out by this time) and there is nothing that can be done/will wear off. For whatever reason, I told the Poison Control man that I would insist if my husband had to go the bathroom... he HAD to SIT LIKE A GIRL or I would be calling back with a “different pain in a different sight”. The PC man laughed and laughed and said , “That is the best advice in the world”. Husband was up all night and finally the pain/burn started to subside my early morning. I will say I made the hottest salsa imagined... the type that put a sweat on your brow.

[Gabz]

After I posted I rethought it and realized that in consideration for my FRiends in Texas I should just keep my mouth shut. We are neither as hot nor as dry as you folks, although it has been unusually hot and dry here as well.