Posted on 11/22/2013 12:40:12 PM PST 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!
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.
Here's another link to something that would have seemed impossible to me back then:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3093866/posts
Good Afternoon to all. It's a chilly day today in Missouri. We are at 43 on our way to a low of 29 tonight. Gardening and foraging is almost to an end except for the winter garden with garlic, spinach, lettuce and carrots and the indoor garden.
I do have some winter wheat left, and a few spaces to plant it, so I will do that if we get a few nice days in the next couple of weeks.
I am making busy reorganizing and moving furniture to make space for gardening books, books on preserving foods etc. in one space. Bought a new larger bookcase, and added a small one to the kitchen. Also cleaning out a small pantry next to the basement kitchen door to store gardening supplies.
Hope you are all doing well. Southern Gardeners we are depending on you to provide news during our norhtern cold weather season.LOL Have a great weekend. God Bless.
My feral tobacco plant is absolutely unconcerned, and is growing like a weed.
/johnny
Pinging the List.
I was gonna turn 9 the next day.. We were in a one room school house when a call came.
The day the Republic died.
OK, enough somber. :-)
Harvest complete!
A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO ALL YOU FOLKS WITH DIRTY HANDS.. AND BIG SMILES!!!
How often do you get weather that cold in Texas? We are lucky in Missouri, that we get warmer spells all during the winter usually. Not like living in the Dakotas and other more northerly climates.
I too stay inside, usually with a nice warm throw, shawl, or sweater on and a cup of something hot to sip.
I have often felt that the one-room school was a better option for education than the big consolidated institutions we have today.
Earlier in the week, I was running around in cut-offs and no shirt, doing stuff out in the garden.
Won't be none of that nonsense today.
/johnny
It’s a clear bright day in Benderville and I should be out emptying the pots on the deck. It was about 30 degrees early with lots of frost...
We had left a snowy neighborhood where we had to dig out the mailbox nearly every day so our mailman could deliver.
The warm morning air in Mizzou hit wife and I with the same idea at the same time. What the heck are we doing in Minnesota, freezing our tails off ?
Our MN house was sold the following July. We built new down here in 2001.
Our tomatoes here in the desert are really taking off....I think this year they’ll be ripe before the Super Bowl, their normal “schedule”.
It was 71* at 5am and it dropped to 50 by 8:30am with 10-20mph wind and 2hrs of rain this morning from about 6 to 8am. Headed for a low of 41* Haven’t been out to look at the rain gauge, I would guess 1-2ins.
Time to bring the peppers back inside.
Wasn’t a fan of JFK, so it’s just another day for me.
All eight of us kids went there,, we had some of the same teachers, grades 1-6 ,, How one teacher can keep 25 or more farm kids under control was no mystery. They were gentle yet firm, and some swung a nasty ruler. ;-) not that I advocate nor personally got re-attentioned.. Much
These teachers were expected to teach multiple topics, do all the testing and keep the heat on as well.. Used to be a wood coal furnace , later replaced by an oil one.
One wall was all books, it’s where I learned to read and read.
Windier than heck here last night, still some strong winds, we got an inch here on the bright side.
Frost? Bbrrrrr.. I need to load up on wood. Carryokie has a pile waiting for me, just need to brave the BurmaHump to get there.
We didn’t really get an Indian Summer here in my part of Western Pa. Usually there’s a couple of days of very warm weather somewhere around the middle of November where we can get some final work done in the garden and yard. We haven’t even had a chance to dig up horse radish! Maybe I’ll try digging some up tomorrow before the ground starts to freeze.
I have all my spring seeds listed in a Word document along with when to plant them and their maturity time to EAT THEM.
Plants are growing fine. I wrote the article below two days ago because I had been researching containers to see what to do for spring. Thought some of this might help someone:
ALL PLANT CONTAINERS ARE NOT EQUAL
When I first planted two cherry and one Roma tomato, I got two smaller and one larger clay pot that are like most pots – larger at the top and slim down from there to a small bottom – really dumb on my part to buy them. That was the end of my stupidity about plant containers.
They can mostly throw away all containers/pots that are larger at the top and smaller than a regular size saucer at the bottom. The roots of the plant will get root bound and stop growing and so does the plant. Dumb way to make a pot. I didn’t buy any more like those first three and it’s a good thing they were really cheap.
The only good container/pot is a square one or round one that is the same size on the top as the bottom. There are a zillion for sale of the slim down kind but not that many that are square or round and the same size on the bottom. In fact, I’ve never seen a good looking one that is round and the same size on the bottom.
You can spend yourself silly buying containers and not have enough money left to buy what you need to grow plants. For me, the ones on the deck need to look nice as that is the only place I have to sit outside and I don’t want to sit outside in the middle of crappy containers. What I now have are nice looking plastic containers that I managed to find at really good lower prices. The last five I bought are square - 15 inches across at the top and the bottom. I need as much space across the top as possible for more plants to be in that container, plus room for the roots. I can’t find any more of that kind – I paid $8+ dollars for each of those and 5 was all they had and now they are $15 and more each, and I have looked at Sears, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and Amazon for more of them at that lower price. I have other plastic nice looking containers on the deck and these last five will be all that goes on the deck.
I have a bunch of the fabric grow bags with plants sitting in the dirt garden in the net room. I’m going to get black plastic round nursery pots 16 inches across the top and bottom, if I can find them, 15 inches if not, in which to put the rest of the plants this spring. I don’t have to fill the entire container unless that plant is the type with a long root system or it’s a root veggie. That is the type plastic pot a plant is in when you buy it at Lowes or Walmart or wherever. Those are cheap and many people just throw those away and put their plant in a nicer container once they get it home. I’ll get 20 of these cheap, large nursery containers and it won’t break the bank.
You also have to size the container to the plant. The small pots I got for the first three tomatoes were too small. Those pots would be okay for herbs and that’s what will go in them. I don’t remember exactly, but I think they might have been something like $3 each. Hopefully, when I buy herbs at Lowes in the spring, they will be in a decent pot to keep them in. If not, I’ll get those small cheap ones.
Maybe none of you need containers/pots. If you do, consider what I’ve gone through to get the right containers. I really think the 14-15-16 inch across cheap nursery pots are the ideal if you don’t have need for nice looking containers. Herbs, of course, can be in smaller ones.
Sounds good, I need to grow some veggies next year. Only a couple cats around these days.
Friday at 3pm...33F here in the Central TX Hill Country, and rain...Dang, I need to go cover my pentas in the front, and my impatiens, and two tomatoes which are not under the greenhouse I built..
I still haven’t done the firring strips. Guess I should have done it when we were at a warm 37 degrees. brrrr.
And presumably no pants on the roof either.LOL
Winter hits Benderville? LOL
I also have three Ouachita Blackberry plants that will be shipped Dec. 3. These are two year old plants and the info. said I could get blackberries this coming year,2014.
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