Posted on 11/25/2016 5:54:47 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.
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I have been hearing gobble gobble for several days all over the TV - I can’t believe how fast the year has gone by.
Had a miserable garden here with the heat and drought but...
I got some honey from a neighbor that was the best I’ve ever had!
He said those conditions made for great honey.
Still, I hope next year is kinder to my garden.
potted (not pitted)
5 ish (not fish)
gotta love autocorrect, or maybe it’s my fingers LOL
Hope you do get to do that. It’s is so neat to just run out and pick some lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, and not have to worry about chemicals, pesticides, or other stuff, as well as the great flavor.
I hope the same. We didn’t have the best, but we had the opposite problem - too much rain.
I agree! ;-)
Prayers for your Grandson
INTERESTING.
I think my first 4 lemons are almost ripe too! They are YUGE! and starting to yellow on one side. Still got a bumper crop of peppers on various types of pepper plants and my maters haven’t had frost yet so they’re still on the vines :) From the current forecast I have at least one more good warm week. I’ve got lettuce and spinach mixes, some swiss chard and cabbages but that’s it.
My poor mother-in-law moved from Florida back home to Maine in the middle of January 3 years ago. Hubby asked her if she’d lost her mind. Just talked to her today and asked her to pray about moving down here to Texas nearer to us. Bless her heart, after 20 years in Florida she wasn’t ready for Maine winters again.
Bless you for asking her me to move closer to you. Both of our children (?) and both grand kids live within 2 miles of us.
I Had some nice romaine too, until the bunnies showed up!
All that’s left is some volunteer cilantro, and the onions, Swiss chard , and carrots I’m letting hang out until next year to see if I get seeds from them.
I’m enjoying the down time because the garden, my first full-sized one, was exhausting last year! I’m going to plan better next year. And more fully implement Black Angnes’ suggestions. I’m saving newspapers, leaves, and grass clippings! And the bleach solution saved my tomatoes and I got more tomatoes after the plants recovered than I thought possible.
Thank you green eyes, and the many posters here that shared your knowledge and advice!
Is it Friday, already? :)
Still harvesting KALE! Aarrgghhh! WHY do I DO this to myself? LOL! I’m chopping and freezing it for winter casseroles and soups; keeping some fresh and will use it in salads until there is no more...which will probably be February, LOL! Harvested parsley to flash-freeze and will use that the same way this winter.
Processed a 5-gallon bucket of Honeynut Butternut Squash, and have the same to go with Spaghetti Squash...plus tons more holding in the garage where it won’t freeze.
Beau has been spending time hunting for deer, but so far, no luck. Season ends tomorrow, but there’s another antler-less season in December, so there’s still hope. We DO have that 500# bear to eat, so I’m pretty sure we won’t starve this winter. ;) (He didn’t get an Elk, either. He’s pretty bummed.)
Beau distracted the puppies for me yesterday, so I got Allium, Tulip and Daffodil bulbs planted - finally!
I spent 3 days last week on the north tree line pruning and cleaning up. It looks really nice now, and you can get some snippets of BLUE SKY between the branches now, so that’ll perk me up come winter. the puppies destroyed my new plantings across the front, so I’ll have to see what comes back next spring and re-plant, accordingly. Grrr!
Beau is off to a Badger Football Game this afternoon and I am starting my Christmas Cards (Yes, some of us STILL do that!) and wrapping presents. ‘Christmas’ is at our house this year for my family, so I already have a lot of decorations up. Since this is my first Christmas here, I didn’t know what I wanted to keep and what to shed and what would look good, where.
I bought Beau a ‘Living Christmas Tree’ for his recent birthday. It’s a Fraser Fir, so he’s deciding where to put that. It’s potted and about 4’ tall, so it’ll make a nice planting right from the start.
I have been crocheting Premie Baby Blankets and caps for, ‘The Linus Project’ and lots of cotton dishcloths for Christmas Stocking Stuffers. (I sound like some old Granny in her rocking chair, don’t I? LOL!)
Beau goes out to NE between Christmas and New Years to hunt for Coyote, so I MAY just get that coyote hat I’ve been wanting this year! *Fingers Crossed*
I’ll go dig up some more pretty nature/garden pictures to share. Have a Good Week, Everyone! :)
The 2014 Winter in Maine was one for the History Books!
My youngest brother lives about 2 hours away, in a slightly milder climate than where I am. Little did we know when he was growing up that he had a green thumb. He has had small yards at all of his houses, but he has some large yields in those small spaces. In the last couple of years, the two of us have found a lot of enjoyment emailing pictures of our gardens back and forth and a week ago, he sent me pics of his very last “crop” of tomatoes that he’d harvested (climate being milder, his garden starts earlier than I do & finishes later). He grows enough tomatoes to be popular with the neighbors who get the overflow & he loves hot peppers - grows habaneros, cayenne (grinds his own cayenne peppers), etc. I think he had some ghost peppers, too.
This year, for Christmas, as a result of taking up canning this summer for the very first time, I am giving all canned goods to family members, except for two. For my gardening brother, I am also including a copy of The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. I loved the Victory Garden TV show way back in the good old days & Marian’s cooking segments. This book has all the vegetables in alphabetical order. For each vegetable, there is:
A beautiful picture
Fairly detailed information on growing
Special Information section which typically includes the topics: Yields, Storage & Preserving, Hints, Microwave &
Leftovers
Marketing - where to find, especially if not a common vegetable
Cooking methods for that vegetable: baked, sauteed, steamed, blanched, & anything else that might be used for that vegetable
Recipes - Marian’s recipes for that particular veggie & she has some dandies.
The book new was $29.95 (I bought my own copy new, years ago) - it’s a large size (8.5 x 11) and almost an inch thick. It has a nice appendix which includes ‘growing essential herbs’, batters, sauces, pastry, clarifying broth, mirepoix, & much, much more.
On Amazon, I found a used copy - it has a few age spots on the sides of the pages, but the binding is perfect & the pages are unmarked - a good reading copy. The only “blemish” is somebody’s name was written in it (marked out) with the notation “Chrismas 1995” so the book is 21 year old - amazing that it survived in such excellent condition, obviously not used much if at all. It was a good deal at $9.99. I think my brother will love the book - it will be in the gift bag along with homemade salsa, hot pepper butter, chutney & maybe some wine jelly (still figuring that last item out).
If you are looking for a present for a veggie gardening friend, I can highly recommend this book - one of my very favorites. I’m really excited to give it to my brother & see his reaction because I think he’ll love it & it won’t stay in almost-perfect condition for long after he gets it. :-)
Our family had a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving. I have a new grand niece, born prematurely a few months ago, but doing great with no disabilities. Her smile lights up the room. All the elderly folks (80’s, two in 90’s) are still with us - what a blessing yet again. With the exception of two family members (one by marriage), we are all very grateful for the election result & there were a few quiet toasts. The food was delicious, as always & the family time was the BEST. Hope everyone else had a blessed & happy Thanksgiving as well.
Hoyt-Clagwell Tractor. Ping me if you get the joke.
Pinging back...still mild here in waterville , Maine...we did have a slight dusting of snow the other night, now getting some needed rain but temps are above freezing. One thing I can point out is that my (black) pussy willow tree is doing great...I have picked the best spot for it...hopefully it will be there for decades to come.
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