Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 11/18/2011 5:11:32 AM PST by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. Thanksgiving is next week and I hope all Freepers enjoy a bountiful feast with family and friends. Don’t forget to give thanks, it can turn a meal into a feast.
A reminder for those of you who have a frozen turkey, for every 4 pounds of turkey it will take a day to thaw in the refrigerator. A 20-pound turkey will take 5 days so you need to start defrosting it tomorrow. If your turkey will not fit into your fridge defrost it in an ice chest with ice.
If the turkey is allowed to thaw at a temperature above 40 ºF, any harmful bacteria that may have been present before freezing can begin to grow again unless proper thawing methods are used.
You can also thaw it in a cold-water bath. Allow about 30 minutes per pound when thawing a turkey in cold water. A 20-pound turkey will take 10 hours using this method. Be sure to change the water often. Turkeys thawed by the cold-water method should be cooked immediately because conditions were not temperature controlled.
Ok Freepers this means no thawing of the turkey on the back porch or in the trunk of your car!
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.
Weekly Gardening Thread
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.
Almost IBTP.
My collards are doing great, btw.
2012 seed catalogs are arriving...check your mailboxes.
“Don’t forget to give thanks, it can turn a meal into a feast.”
Excellent reminder!
Speaking of gardening, I have some really gorgeous lettuce, spinach and kale in my cold frames. I also have four big broccoli plants with nice medium-sized heads of broccoli already. I covered the broccoli last night....since our temp dropped to 27 last night.
In mid-spring, we plan to put up a very nice Israeli-engineered greenhouse (small 8 X 12). I just got a small heater for that greenhouse at half price (am concerned about inflation next year). We are thinking about setting that greenhouse on a base of pea gravel. Anyone have other suggestions?
“2012 seed catalogs are arriving”.
I got my first one yesterday. I keep them for the long, drawn out Winter months. If it is snowing, you can bet that I am looking through them and marking what seeds or plants I want for the Spring.
Blessed rain is falling now! I have planted all kinds of salad greens and they look GREAT!!!!
Two nights of hard freeze hear this week caught me and ended my garden for this year. Had great plans for getting a hot house up before it froze but procrastination ended the need.
We sold our first dozen this week.
Not to much to report from central Texas. It is still dry and not much rain in the forecast. The garden is dong as good as can be expected. My neighbor has several tomato plants that got nipped by the last frost, but they have a bunch of green fruit that are ripening.
Congratulations, Redleg Duke! A Jumbo egg! You are doing absolutely fantastic with the chickens!
Sounds like you are having great success with your chickens.
I know nothing about raising chickens. For some reason I thought they slowed down laying during the winter.
Actually, this is my first experience with raising chickens, but so far, it has been fun.
My mustard greens are too (I did not plant collards). This season I discovered using the pressure cooker to
That is the only thing left alive in my garden now. We had our first hard freeze this week. It hit 29 degrees a few nights ago.
I removed my drip irrigation system on my young fruit trees and covered my fig trees hoping to collect a few figs before they shut down for the winter (I planted them in Feb. 2011) Pretty amazing to see a tree set fruit the first year.
Let's say you have a piece of land that has pine trees on it, plain ole astern white pine.
Now, for the sake of discussion, let's say you clear cut it and want to make it into an organic farm.
This is what you have done so far, cut,it, pulled the stumps, dragged it for rocks and found the ph to be 5.5 or so. Today you are spreading lime at the rate of 2.5 tons per acre. This will be scratched in using a D-10 with a rock rack.
What else would you do? The initial main crops will be corn, squash, both summer and winter, and tomatoes.
Thanks for any help in advance and please do not ask how many acres. But the land is in Vermont and New Hampshire. Because of it's proximity to the Connecticut river it has a 3.5 month growing season.
We’ve been having some beautiful autumn weather here in Central Missouri. Garden cleanup is almost finished for the year. My green salad is loving the warm days and cool nights.
Planted 150 cloves of garlic last weekend. I bought and planted three bulbs (~45 cloves) in the fall of ‘08 and have been saving some back from the harvest to replant since then. I’m not sure of the variety but it seems to be acclimating nicely as the bulb and clove size has been steadily improving.
The Red Russian kale is hip-high and lush. I’ll put a couple gallons up in the freezer and the rest will be green fodder for the chickens over winter.
I still have plans to bring in some composted horse manure from a buddy’s stable. Hopefully I can find the time to do that before wet weather sets in.
Duke, obviously you didn't get the Obama memo. We are all LAZY, according to our perpetually vacationing Pres. Congrats on the new money raising endeavor. Don't tell the town. They'll try to regulate and tax you to death.
I love doing that, too. Planning my garden and looking at me gardening books. Keeps me going till Spring.
That would depend on where we live. 'round here, we call the garage the "walk-in" during the winter. LOL. I think I'll order my dinner this year. There is a restaurant here that will supply the whole thing for less than 50 bucks. I can't do that well cooking and shopping myself. And I'll give another 50 bucks to the church which will supply a turkey and a bag of groceries to a needy inner city family. I'll spend the day (if it is nice) cleanng out the garden.
My husband just got back from his annual hunting trip in Missouri. They all got skunked this year because the rut didn't start until the day he had to leave. Much catching up to do around here and at work. So we will have a very quiet TG this year.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Good morning gardeners. Thanks for the thread RD. I never have to worry about thawing Turkeys. My oldest daughter wanted this job, so long ago she took over the Turkey baking. I make a ham and the veggies. Easy for me.
While gone on a short trip, we had high winds and freezing temperatures. The row covers were partially blown off of the tomatoes, so that part of the garden is now finished.
Winter garden of greens is still doing well. Indoor spinach, herbs, and tomatoes are all doing well. I have received 1 seed catalog so far.
My citrus has produced a bunch of blooms, and 1 lemon is almost ripe. The leaves are turning yellow and then are dropping off. The yellow seems to begin along the veins. I don’t think it will survive the winter at this rate. I have researched the problem and tried various things, but nothing seems to have helped.
For anyone that missed the link I posted to last week’s thread, here it is again:
Free tomato seeds with a SASE. Also other seeds and exchanges. All are open pollinated. Instructions on how to sow seeds in the winter.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
To JackS ...
When it comes to soil, the most useful site I’ve found is www.soilminerals.com.
Please read the interview with the author of “The Ideal Soil.” There is a bit of chemistry and math, but even I could understand it!
One discovers “The Law of Minimums,” in that your plants will do as well as the least present micro-mineral available.
I hope this helps ... it is really helping me. My soil in N Arizona high desert starts at around 8.5 pH and goes up from there! Egad.
I was grinning when you talked about using a D-10 to stir and clear the soil. Way too cool. PM me if you have any more soil questions.
Adding some beans will help the corn with it’s nitrogen needs. Google 3 sisters planting for more information.
First thing I would do is get the soil tested. Look up your local State University’s Extension service they will usually have samples of the forms you will need to fill out and also instructions on how to sample your soil.
I am pinging JustaDumbBlonde to your post. She and her husband do some big time farming including corn and the other veggies you mentioned.
Thanks for the link to that web site. where is the interview located?
The “Ideal Soil” interview is found at: http://www.soilminerals.com/AgricolaI.htm
Or, click Interview with Agricola on the right of the home page.
Everything in the garden is dead. It's very depressing.
Plant a winter cover crop if it is not too late.
What would you suggest?
Tested at 5.5
Beans, rattlesnake OK?
Thank you. I will visit www.soilminerals.com. Ya, a D-10 is pretty handy.
The Foster Farms Turkey hotline is open again this year. Give them a call 800 255-7227. As a side note, we bought a fresh bird this year just like Mama would have done. Lady Bender says Butterball also has a hot line...
Speaking of mustard...just bottled a batch of beautiful mustard habanero hot sauce to help keep close friends extra-warm this winter...
I am not familiar with eastern soils but a soil test will tell you. If it lakes nitrogen you would plant nitrogen fixing plants like Bell Bean, Clover or Austrian Field peas. The Dolomite lime was a good move. Gotta Run...
Great site.
Still have some greens in the garden that I’m still pulling off of. We’ve had a nice gradual fall with no hard spikes to shock the plants and kill htem. We’ve got down to 27 a couple of times which makes them real good for taste. No super hard freezes predicted for a couple of weeks so I’ll have salad at Thanksgiving!
Not the best year though. One time we didn’t dip below 26 until Christmas Eve. Fresh salad at Christmas - it don’t get any better than that.
If one were looking to grow the vegetables that you've listed, they would also look to trace elements like zinc and calcium.
In general, corn being a grass, loves and needs nitrogen. You will probably have to side-dress your corn rows with a dry product, unless you are working with standard farm equipment and have a fert applicator.
Tomatoes, on the other hand, don't need high nitrogen or you will get all foliage and no fruit. You are going to want to feed phosphorus at key times, and keep your calcium levels up to avoid blossom end rot. Phosphorus will benefit the squash as well.
Theoretically, you would be on the right track though, because if the soil pH is off significantly in either direction, you can apply all of the fert you want but the plants will likely be unable to utilize it. Trust me ... I learned that the hard way. :)
I am not just talking about a pH test but a complete soil analysis for NKP and mineral content. The results of the test should provide you details on how much of each to apply to your soil per acre or sq. ft.
Sounds good. I like peppers a lot.
You have good taste. :-)
I have just told the guy in charge to get that done. Thank you. This is our first try at anything other than trees.
I grow a yellow Jalapeno called a Jolero. It is smaller than most of the green varieties, a little waxy on the skin, but pickle very well. I have a plant in my sun room that is 3 years old and still making peppers.
I found that if I dried them (they turn red when dried) and chop them up with a food chopper and then grind them in my hand grain mill, it produces some of the best seasoning imaginable. It looks like red pepper, but it has much better flavor. I do not grind the seed, normally dry the peppers for the seed. Then when they are getting pretty tough I snip the stem end off and roll the still flexible pepper to dislodge the seed with the pod remaining intact. Then I grind it as described.
One of my favorite seasonings.
First freeze last night. The kale, chard and lettuce remain.
Yep we were down to 27 early this morning. I think it was just this past Wed. the high was in the low 80’s.
I would like to offer a challenge for my gardening FRiends: I will make a $5 donation to FR for every member who signs up as a monthly donor. Offer good through the weekend.
Bump the thread and let me know if you sign-up. Thanks!!!
Red, would you kindly ping the list to see if we can generate a little revenue?
Our rainy season began this morning and my wife just informed that a pair of Ravens are eating my cover crop seed of Red Oats and Austrian Field Peas. All 7 varieties of my Garlic are up, some further along then others and they all stand out in the rice hull mulch. Nothing much to do except clean up the permanent landscaping if the weather gives us a couple days.
I am lazy that way. LOL.
Picked and shelled 2 bushels of butter beans. They are done too. Peppers are still alive.
Howdy Mr. Bender! I was wondering if dumping my ashes from the fireplace into the compost pile would be helpful or harmful. I get an “A” washtub every other day.
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