Posted on 04/01/2024 6:23:19 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
What black frame?
All we did was cut the length and then stick the cut sides in the ground to make a tunnel out of it.
I’ll see if there’s some way to post a picture of what I did. I have some pictures on my iPad but don’t know anything about posting them on the internet.
The picture here has some sort of a frame. Then again, I now see you did “something like this” so evidently, you just used the wire (?). Sorry for the confusion.
Tomato and pepper seedlings have been potted up and moved to the greenhouse. Just opened it up for the day, and they survived overnight! Yay! I also have a flat of assorted Marigolds and ‘Sensation’ Cosmos out there too, and two ‘Prism’ Kale plants. One of my ‘Prism’ kale overwintered and is leafing out at the base, so she can stay for a while. She’ll bolt when it gets warmer but, Hey! Free Kale! :)
Today I’m going to town to get some groceries and will make my first foray to my local garden center. It’s just Walmart, but they usually have very nice things. The ‘Bonnie’ brand of plants have been good performers for me in the past.
Pansies are on the Things To Buy list, and anything else that makes sense to buy right now.
When I come home I will be starting Sunflowers, Zinnia, Basil and Nasturtium. Next week I will start my Zukes and Cukes. Upcoming weather looks fantastic, though rainy on Tuesday and Wednesday - at least it’s not SNOW! Nighttime temps are staying in the 50’s. Happy, Happy!
We have started demolition on our kitchen porch - where we do a LOT of our living. The four pups we’ve been raising this season have pretty much taken it over, so they’ll have to move to the back deck for entertainment. ;) We are replacing all of the wood railings and posts with metal. The porch was added 30+ years ago, and the flooring needs replacing, and a new paint job for it and the steps. Beau was having fun with his crowbar and hammer yesterday. I’m the ‘Clean Up Committee’ of one, as usual. ;)
As an added precaution, we lined the bottom of our beds with cardboard, then added the soil and compost mix. It’s worked great in any of the beds we’re built through the years.
We always have cardboard from ‘Chewy’ orders and machine parts, etc. You can easily find cardboard in a grocery or liquor store dumpster if you don’t have any. Any business would probably be happy to give you all you need. :)
I would dig them up and get them potted up (in something temporary) as soon as you can. Monarda is hard to kill, but a general rule of thumb for perennials is: Move/Transplant Spring Bloomers in the Fall and Summer/Fall Bloomers in the Spring.
Always try to move things OPPOSITE of their bloom cycle.
Monarda is one that should be easy to dig up and move with you. Your new Hummingbird Friends will like it, too!
Bkmk
Yeah, I was reading that about 4” or so in the spring or after blooming in the fall is the best time to move them. I’d let them go this spring & move in the fall, but now that mom knows she could have red/purple flowers, she’s hot to trot! I’ll take a look again & see what I think. The red ones are still fairly small, the purple are taking off!
A lot of mom’s pots are ‘unappealing’ IMO. I’ll have to see if any would look good on the patio. Also, I think we’ll need to get a base to set the pot on that would allow it to be moved around fairly easily - I think I’ve seen something like that. I’m the one going to the house these days, mom not yet - for sure, she won’t like where I site the pots & will want to move them.
“Bye bye dangerous trees” day should be Wed/Thurs .... I found another tree yesterday that HAS to come down, so the total is 5. I have a price for 4 so I hope he doesn’t take advantage ... the 5th tree is on the other side of the property from the first 4 & threatening the cable/power lines .... rotten spots showing up to about 3/4 of its height!
We had HEAVY winds starting Friday night & all day yesterday, gusts to 40 mph. Branches were coming down - nothing too big before I left, but messy. One thing I am really looking forward to: no pine tree debris and no pine cones after the trees are removed - all are pines.
Put the cardboard on top of the grass? I’m not sure if I can get hubby to till it up, he’s kind of a whiner. He will only do his projects first.
Although part of the deal for him getting a big tractor is that he could dig holes for trees and he got a rototill attachment. Well, There’s no point having it if he’s not going to use it!
I didn’t consider the drainage issue - good point!
Any rutabaga growers/lovers out there?? How about low-carbers?
I love potatoes, one of the two things I miss the most going low carb (the other is bread!). A decent substitute for potatoes is rutabaga. Except for a baked potato, you can do almost anything with a rutabaga you can do with a potato - mash, slice for scallop, shred, cube, etc.
This particular recipe for scalloped rutabaga (there are many online) looked pretty easy so I gave it a try this past week. Oh boy, was it ever good! It was good enough that I would serve it to company! Rutabaga can have the slightest taste of turnip; however, I didn’t detect any hint of ‘turnip’ with this recipe.
Recipe notes from making it:
Calls for 3 cups rutabaga - I used one large [cut in half & peeled, then thinly sliced ... for huge slices, I cut them in half again]
Calls for 9 x 13 pan - I used an 8 x 11
Calls for baking about 45 minutes - I baked for one hour* before the rutabaga was tender & the sauce had reduced down so it wasn’t soupy.
*I don’t have a mandolin to get really thin slices so I made them as thin as I could with my chef’s knife, thus requiring an hour. Using thin mandolin slices, the 45 minutes per the recipe should be good.
Other than the above, followed the recipe exactly (except for serving with fresh dill). Here’s the link:
https://hip2keto.com/recipes/keto-scalloped-potatoes/
Members in Missouri who might be near a Family Center Farm & Home. Please freepmail me I need a small favor.
You might ask your state extension service. They have a better handle on your particular climate and soil conditions.
Guess I'll go climb up that ladder/crane in the bed of the F150 one more time to disconnect it from the last tunnel frame. Got some more choy and Asian greens planted out and stuck my one store bought tomato plant in the ground. Now I need to gather up all my 3 gallon pots and some buckets to stick the persimmon and elderberry seedlings in to get them by until Fall. By then I'll have a fence around the garden/tunnel area and they can go there.
Then I had to go back to wikipedia to find out what the heck NO, O and SO means. Ost is German for East evidently.
I only need it for 135, 225 and 315. I already know the rest.
Purple monarda is 12-18” already. It’s grown like crazy since I saw it last week. The red is a little smaller.
The thing to do IMO is let the monarda stay as is until next fall. By then, I should have some raised beds & can transplant.
In the meanwhile, get pots for the patio & just buy a couple of plants for them.
I’d have to keep the chickens away...
(The garden itself is fenced off.)
Anyway, NWS has raised our temperature forecast a bit more, so the lettuce, cabbage, and spinach are all down in the basement again. That’s about a 280 ft. trek each way, so, I guess it’s good for me! Just time consuming... :-(
There’s a hail threat too, Tu. night into Wed. morning - the rest of the plants are just gonna have to risk it. I can’t bring everything in. :-(
Late next weekend doesn’t look “frosty” now, at least! :-)
Made it to the high 80s here but the choy and asian greens seemed to do fine. I’m watering them now just enough to cool them off. The only lettuce I have out there is Salanova which takes the heat pretty well. High 80s again tomorrow and then rain to bring in a cool front.
Suggestions to deter / kill slugs around veggies? “Home brew” preferred.* No, I don’t drink coffee (but could buy some perhaps and use unbrewed, or brew and apply the liquid? )
DE on the surface gets washed away in heavy rains. Mixing something in some soil and laying it down as a barrier likely would work best for me - I think?
*An iron based pesticide is not out of the question if not too pricey and safe around veggies...
“...the purple are taking off!”
We have a swath of the ‘native’ Bee Balm (Monarda) in our pasture and some years it is just stunningly beautiful.
I need to have Beau hitch me to the 4x and take me on a tour of what’s going on down there. We can look for Morels at the same time. ;)
I used to get LOST out here when I first moved here, but now I have the areas separated in my mind to ‘three rooms’ and they are all very distinctive, so I actually KNOW where I am at any given time.
I will admit that I got stuck between two trees on the 4X and I couldn’t get it into reverse. He eventually found me, LOL!
Between yesterday & today, I got all the flatland fields cut - 10 acres or so. Whew - got a case of ‘John Deere rear’!! The place always looks like a park when freshly cut, especially in the spring when the grass/weeds are still very green. I was hustling along in the event the tree guy could make it as early as Tuesday, then I would want to leave tomorrow. Last I heard was Wednesday ot Thursday so I should have time to load stuff in the trailer for a trip Tuesday. It’s supposed to be good weather next week & 79-80° :-)
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