Posted on 10/11/2013 12:29:02 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. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
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The Egyptian Walking Onions are well covered with netting at a height the onions can grow as tall as they want and not hit the net. Yorkie, Prissy, cannot get to the onions now to walk down the planter and neither can the squirrels or birds get even close to them.
I think those hard pods on the big “T” squash plant may be blossoms as I see some of the pod skins are splitting. Those pods are everywhere on that plant that must be nine feet long now. I've gone this far without moths/borers wanting this plant so maybe the press about this squash is right - that insects don't like this squash. I grew up loving squash in our family garden and that's why I didn't give up on squash.
Greeneyes, we had a Persimmon tree in our garden so I grew up eating them.
If the big net “room” doesn't come today to put over the aluminum frame that used to be the frame for an outdoor table umbrella, surely it will be here by Monday and Tuesday at the latest. Then the freaking squirrels can commit suicide from looking at the food they can't get.
ALL CONTAINERS ARE NOT EQUAL
I have studied and looked at containers until I know the container has to be compared to the plant going to be in it. One has to consider whether the fruit will be on top of the soil or under the soil. Fruit on top means lots of room on top of the soil and maybe not so much soil required underneath. There are containers everywhere for this type food fruit.
If It's a root fruit, it's not so easy to find the right container as the container needs to be square rather than the container be wide at the top and slim down next to nothing at the bottom – there has to be space for the root fruit to be. Seldom will you find one round that is straight down on the sides. And, square ones aren't easy to find, either, plus it needs depth to have room vertically for the root fruit to grow.
Then, one has to consider the cost of a square one with enough depth to grow root fruit and it needs a hole in the bottom for excess water to drain. If you want to pay $60-80 for a fancy square container, great. However, if you don’t want to get a loan at the bank to buy those containers, look for something cheaper.
I have found a square, low cost container, that looks nice. Don’t pay attention to the “official” measurements as those include extra plastic trim, etc.. I measured the actual amount of growing space and it’s 13 inches across the top and bottom and 13 inches deep. They say it’s 15 inches, but the actual space is 13 inches. There is a plug in the hole in the bottom for drainage of excess water and there are short legs to keep it off the deck or ground. These cost $7.57 at Home Depot. You can’t buy them over the net, have to buy them at the store. I got the light green color as I have other containers of this brand that are light green. They are called deck containers. We transplanted baby carrots and turnips into these containers. You can look at them here:
www.Goodreads.com
Have I got a good deal for you FOR FREE. Son, Wayne, told me about this as he is on it and now I’m on it. Go to that link, sign up, totally free, and put your interests and capabilities, gardening is one, on your page. Put down everything you ever did that qualifies you to know something about a subject. There is a reason for this and here it is:
This website is for people who read. They list the books they are reading or have read and write their opinion of these books. Authors go there to read opinions about their books. HERE IS THE JEWEL OF THIS WEBSITE: Authors GIVE AWAY copies of their new books and even books they haven’t released to the public yet. They send them to you free of charge. Every genre of books is there. Right now, there are 88 pages of free books. You click you want this book, follow the few directions to get you on that list. There is an ending date for each book. Once the ending date comes, the author chooses the ones he wants to have his/her book. He/she may be offering one book or ten books, any amount the author wants to give away. There is no requirement to write an opinion of the book once you have read it, but the author wants those opinions.
The author may go to your page to read your interests and knowledge of subjects, in deciding who will be the winner(s) of his/her book(s). Here is why I know this is true: A physicist wrote a book and chose my son to get the book. Wayne has his math/physics/astronomy credits on there as well as his being a director of documentary films. The author also sent him a message asking if Wayne would read portions of a new book he is writing and give him his opinion of that material to see if the author needed to change something or add something.
Well, turning me on to 88 pages of free books and then stop asking for them due to having to eat or sleep, is asking one to stop eating dessert. I will never get to the last page because as books go off, more are added to the front of the list. It is a never ending list. I don’t care what kind of books you like, they are on there, even children’s books. Eventually, if you keep entering, you will get books. The law of averages will eventually get you books. BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS – THIS IS SO COOL.
Garlic: I can’t decide what to do about garlic. I can only stand a tiny bit of garlic - I am allergic to it - it makes me nauseas for three days and my skin turns red and I have chills. I don’t even like to touch it and smell that smell. Maybe I’ll just have some garlic powder in bottles from the store, if I wanted to add a tiny bit to something. I just don’t think I want to plant it.
So did you just eat the persimmons, or was there some preserves or other recipes that you remember?
My first exposure was in the 1970’s when hubby was doing his foraging phase. He made several batches of persimmon bread. Then we bought this place, but we had so many trees that I didn’t even really know about the persimmons. That area was not cleared, so I avoided it.
A few years back we cleared the area a bit to build our council fire pit. And that’s when I started experimenting to see if I could pick a ripe persimmon. Got a few really bad puckers the first year.LOL
Hubby assured me the other day that the persimmons would not be ripe until after the first frost. I told him that was not correct, as I had already eaten one, and there would be more leading up to the frost date and after.
So he went out and brought back a couple, and I was able to point out the ones that weren’t quite ready and the few that were. He looked at me and said, “why are you always right?” LOL
Thanks for the link and interesting info on books. I’ll definitely be looking at that. I always figured that 5 gallon buckets would make pretty good containers for root crops, and they are cheap. Drill a few holes. I think it should work.
Course I also like just buying a pot and using it without all the drilling.LOL
If you are allergic to it, I for sure would not mess with it. I might stock some powder or something for medicinal purposes for family and friends is all-if that.
“I always figured that 5 gallon buckets would make pretty good containers for root crops, and they are cheap.”
I have to go with the $7.57 for a pretty container since it will be on the deck. A 5 gallon bucket doesn’t do anything for me esthetically. If I was on a large lot/farm where they wouldn’t be obvious, okay, but mine will be “in your face” containers.
We just ate the persimmons. We also had fig trees so lots of fig preserves were made, and peach trees, preserves from those and plum trees, plum jelly. I had so much and didn’t appreciate it as I thought all people had that stuff.
Ohh, she is so precious. I’m glad you got her to have a new “toy boss” in your house.
She is whiter than snow. We lost one(13yo) a year ago, and the other one that you met, is 14yo, so it was time to restart the herd(of 2)
I have signed up for two gardening books on that reading website. May or may not get one or both but if I don’t put my name in the hat, I surely won’t get them.
I am in the process of reading the book site. I see they do Kindle, that will make Mrs. r_d happy.
I keep the list of free books open on that page all the time and when I get a few minutes or more, I bring it up and find more books to click on to get on that book’s give away list.
I didn’t get pinged this week, am I Zotted from the GT?
We had the large, apple size persimmons in Mobile, two large established trees. One year somebody(my neighbor)stole every one while we were gone. Grrr...
Yes, I see your point. We have five patios, so the one out back which is the one I lined with the raised beds, gets the containers, and I don’t hang out there, so it’s no big deal what container I use. I’ll only see it for 10 or 20 minutes per day after everything is planted.
I guess I could give the grandkids some paint and let them decorate them.LOL Youngest grand daughter is very good at drawing pictures of dragons.
Well, I knew only a little, because my folks lived in town, and ran a restaurant. So I knew the difference. Mom and Dad never had homemade jams and jellies except what granny gave us, and we really cherished that stuff.
Yep. Gotta sow the seed to reap the harvest.LOL
Oh no. Did you get pinged this week? Last week, I was able to access the computer at the conference, but it wouldn’t let me copy the ping list.
Applegate Ranch and JRandomFreeper saved the day by posting what they could. I really think you should have been on the list from my profile site though.
Sorry for the exclusion - it was not intentional. Let me know if you got my ping this week for sure.
It was today’s thread. I checked my pings several times, it’s not there.
Hello Greeneyes, I didn’t get a ping either . . . I don’t think anyone did. I just happened to find this thread on “Latest Posts.”
I was pingless as well.
I’ll check it out.
OK. Apparently I did something wrong when I pinged the list, and it didn’t post.
I was just replying to all the people who replied to the initial post and didn’t notice it.
Thanks to rightly_dividing and HopeandGlory for alerting me to the problem. Any one not receiving this ping. Please let me know.
Gee I thought the traffic was a little slow today.LOL
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