Posted on 07/12/2013 1:19:48 PM PDT by 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.
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I am looking forward to your report on the squirrell repellant.LOL.
I will be where there is no internet tomorrow, until I get back home.
/johnny
Thanks for the info. I hope he can find a computer too-just not the same without him.
Thanks, Marcella, and good luck with the squirrels.
It’s “Plantskydd Rabbits & Small Critters Organic Repellant”. I’ll copy the name of what you have just in case this isn’t good enough,
Hi everyone, I know I have promised pictures, it’s been crazy busy this summer and I have managed to keep up with the garden just barely. Brought hubby home from the hospital Wednesday evening after a total knee replacement Monday. Could someone please send me some duct tape?? I need to tape him to a chair. He is driving me crazy already. He sometimes listens to what the doctors and nurses are saying and sometimes doesn’t. My first crop of romaone is all gone, waiting on the second crop. Just started picking zucchini, banana peppers, jalapenos, green onions, radishes done. I never get too many radishes, they bolt on me. Sad because I love fresh radishes. Tomatoes are going great and I have 6 varieties of russian/ukraine tomatoes I am pretty excited about. Had a question for you all on tomatillos. My first time growing and I only have one plant, it’s huge already and has had loads of flowers but no fruit develops?? Any ideas?? Thanks and hope to haev some pictures soon. I am in dinosaur mode here, camera, computer, photobucket,FR.
Do you have to put Eraze AG down again after a rain?
We’ve been harvesting cukes for quite a while now. This is our first good crop of cukes since 2010. We had no luck in 2011 just grew a little, wilted and died, and 2012 was the drought and heat. Since I still have relish and bread and butter pickles from 2010, I am just making dill pickles this year.
I am doing spears, whole pickles, and slices for burgers. These can be made into sweet pickles by adding sugar to the jar, or even make relish after the fact using a food processor, if I should need to before next year.
I'll have cantaloupe on the table before long. Sunflowers are almost ready to harvest. I actually harvested a head early because the stalk broke.
So... this morning I checked the junk pile and built a gadget to shell sunflower seeds. I took pictures of it, but they are on the compter at the house, so I'll post those tomorrow. It is MUCH MUCH faster than shelling them by hand. And lots more exciting. ;)
Task: Given a junked leafblower, a coffee maker with no pot, an old stainless steel pan, and a variac autotransformer from the 1960s, build a slam type sheller that will work with sunflower seeds, peanuts and dried beans.
I love those kinds of tasks. ;)
/johnny
LOL. Glad you could join us.
Visited my friends little 5 acre farm out in the north Texas
rural country. She’s a widow and I’m so impressed of her skills raising hens and plants. Anyway she sent me away with some goodies including some dried sprigs from a cinnamon basil plant. Holy smokes what flavor it adds to food like fried eggs and others when sauteed. I’m crumbling the seed pods so i can plant some myself here on my plot in Fall or next year. She’s got all kinds of basil varieties growing out there—interesting and educational too.
Finally a break in the rain for a few days i need to till and weed my Veggies gotta wait for the swamp to receed
"urban" - be careful due to that verdict might come down. Maybe you will be where there is a TV tomorrow. It will be all over TV when it happens. A group of people have already gathered on the grass across from that courthouse. Don't know if they plan to spend the night on the grass. New Black Panthers sending bus loads of people there.
I’ve been whining about no zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers for the last couple of threads. Well, I have since harvested two nice cukes with a couple more small ones on the vine. The squash is a different story. Two days ago, I pulled up the yellow(ing) plants - they were pathetic. I did not get a single yellow squash although the plant bloomed. I had 3 baby zucchini, two rotted very small and the 3rd got maybe 4 inches long and started turning yellow. The squash bugs were horrible and despite daily attention, they continued to ‘appear’. My SIL next door was having the same issues. Over the last two days, I’ve done a little asking around - my aunt got no (as in “zero”) squash this year and my brother’s business partner, who usually has a nice garden, has gotten no squash, few cukes and his tomatoes aren’t doing well. It looks like in our area, it’s a poor garden year.
While looking up squash issues, I came across something that is supposed to be squash bug resistant and grows like a son-of-a-gun & will take over your garden, if you let it. It is sort of like zucchini but with a nuttier taste, more like a winter squash (which I love). This interesting plant is a zuchetta tromboncino rampicante. Does anyone have any experience with this? I found a gardening blog post with pictures and info: http://www.gardenbetty.com/2011/10/zucchino-rampicante/ I’ve never seen this stuff before, but if I can find it, I’m planting it next year. My SIL said she’s not planting squash anymore, but I want to at least give this a try before I give up.
I have no experience with tomatillos. A couple of guesses come to mind.
Flowering fruits/veggies need pollination, and maybe they aren’t getting it-do you have plenty of bees in the morning?
Secondly they need nutrients 15 30 15 and trace elements.
Once they are ready to and start to flower, that extra Phosphorus is needed, the balanced 15 15 15 doesn’t do as well for these as it does for leafy veggies.
Triple digit heat and no relief for the next few days. Lake is dropping fast and will be 60’ low by mid summer.
Glad your garden is doing well. What variety of corn do you have?
Still no rain here. We had several slow showers in recent weeks, but not even enough to measure in the rain gauge. They only made a crust on the sand in the yard.
We are still harvesting tomatos, normally they are done before now. Our tomato stakes are 6 1/2 feet tall and we have plants 2 feet above them and flowering. Cantaloupes are finally growing and some flowers. We got a big total of 5 peppers from 4 plants, not worth the garden space for us. Next year it will be an all tomato garden. We can’t get enough tomatos.
A lady friend of mine just had that about two weeks ago. She goes to therapy three times a week now. Don't know how long that lasts. She had to do it, the knee had her using a walker and it wasn't going to get better. She has three or four garden areas at her place, and I don't know if she is allowed to walk out there yet. Need to find out. Hope your hubby gets going walking well soon. Before that surgery was available, people just had to quit walking at some point. I think about my eyes, too. Had cataracts on both eyes removed last year. Now, just use glasses for reading - see better than I have in all my life. Before that surgery was available, I would have just gone blind. How wonderful we have surgeries available to put us back together.
Looking forward to seeing the picture of your gizmo.
Does it truly taste like cinnamon?
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