The Garden Thread - April, 2024

April 1, 2024 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a 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.

If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.

This thread is a non-political respite. 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 Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

10 acres to MOW? Fence it and rent it out to some ‘horsey people’ for grazing, or get yourself a steer! :)

The TWO acres I mow is MORE than enough - and believe me, before I got here, the house yard WAS used as ‘pasture’ for the current beef steer Beau was raising!

You’re a better man than I am Gunga Din, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yes. The cardboard goes on TOP of the grass, INSIDE of the raised bed.

Hire it out if need be. Send the bill to Hubby, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Plant Sun Chokes (Jerusalem Artichoke) if you want 'potato' uses without the carbs. They look like big Sunflower plants, but you dig up the roots in the Fall and use them instead of potatoes. They store well; even longer than taters!

My Aunt always grew them. She gave me a 5-gallon bucket of them one Fall so I learned all about them. This is the same Aunt that used me as an 'Indentured Servant' on her farm each summer when I was a kid. She also taught me to make 'Green Beans with BACON' and I am forever grateful for THAT! Chokes can spread like wildfire if you don't get all the chokes dug up each season, but if you have the room and enjoy the look of Sunflowers, they are a good veggie substitute for taters. Full sun. Plant in a long row that is all by itself on the south-facing side of the garden.

Grated and made into Pancakes with either grated onion or fresh Chives in the mix? Hello! :)

Liz: Your mission, of you should choose to accept it, is to find some Sun Choke recipes. ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Your home looks so PEACEFUL - even with all the technology. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Did you say, ‘CHICKENS?’ We’re picking up our new chicks tomorrow if they’re available. If they don’t have the new batch in at Farm & Fleet, we will just pick up the waterer, feeder and a bag-o-Chick Starter that we also need.

Beau did an AMAZING job on the chicken coop inside of our remodeled barn. I will post pix when I get to it.

I haven’t had chicks since 2015, so I’m pretty excited to have ‘The Girls’ running around here, again. At my other farm I raised hens in a BIG WAY and sold eggs as a sideline.

It’s the Little Things in Life! :)

[ladyjane]

It’s the Little Things in Life! :)

So true

[cherry]

I planted several chokes last year....the plants grew but no flowers....I did not dig them up....apparently they will come back....they are in large containers...

garlic coming up, peas planted, strawberries planted, beets, onions...

my little tomato seeds are doing poorly...might have to buy plants this year.

we don't have a long season here but I am trying brussel sprouts again...planted them in little cups and hope to muddle thru til the last frost is past...

[Qiviut]

The new place is 3.28 acres, so that plus the 10 is a lot of grass. My brother told me he’d do the back field & old riding ring with the bush hog if I got too overwhelmed with trying to keep both places mowed. So much of the fences are down (only 50+ years old), we can’t put anything on the fields without major repairs & since we are selling, it’s not worth fixing them.

[Paul R.]

Yes, chickens.

I can remember when you sort of swore them off. They ARE a lot of work. Especially now that my daughter and my wife make ME do almost all of it.

We have a flock of 25 @ present. Kinda more than I want, and I keep 5 of the 7 roosters isolated so as to not have too many rooster fights and or beat up hens from over-mating. We need to harvest some of those roosters but they are all very handsome, esp. the ones that are part Easter Egger.

The birds from eggs laid here are all mixes and seem more resilient than store bought breeds, and many are very nicely colored. Most still lay extra-large size eggs. The negative is that we seem to hatch 3 roosters for every hen, and most of our broody hens are getting old and rarely broody. Every once in a while a predator gets one, or a hen just gets weak and keels over, but, again, that happens much more often with the store bought birds. Almost as a rule, if I buy six of a store bought breed that is a great layer breed, 3 will be gone in 2 years, and the other 3 will survive much longer if a predator doesn’t get them. It’s like the great layers tend to burn out early...

At present we have one easter egger that lays HUGE (3 oz.) eggs fairly often. Not only is that unusual for an EE, she’s our friendliest bird. So I’m hoping she holds up...

One advantage of 20+ free-range birds is that they eat a lot of insects. Biggest disadvantage is their effect on the back yard... Biggest surprise is that we are on a moderately busy road with a speed limit of 55, meaning most people drive 65, and we’ve never had a chicken hit. USUALLY they stay off the road itself, tho’ I’ve chased them off it a number of times. That’s much better than the record of neighbors’ cats and dogs (and one of our cats, once.)

My daughter’s 2 cats are quite “respectful” of the chickens - hahaha.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, I see. I thought 10 acres was acting as your LAWN at the new place! ;)

[Qiviut]

There is a greenhouse fairly close to us (15-20 min) that I really like - it’s small(er) than others closer (5 minutes) & it tends to have different plants. It’s a true greenhouse, not a garden center like Lowe’s, etc.

I got online to check ‘availability’ and what do I see but Bee Balm ‘Jacob Cline’ (Monarda didyma). When I looked it up, it has huge red flowers, is considered one of the very best red Monarda varieties & is one of the most mildew resistant.

It’s great in gardens, gets pretty tall, but does well in pots, too. Mom has 6 very large pots that all have the same color/design & should also look nice on the patio. She has two that are currently not planted with hostas & I have talked her into dumping out whatever is in them. I think we are going to the greenhouse this afternoon & buying 2 of the Jacob Cline Monardas ... they shouldn’t be too big this early. They can live in their greenhouse pots for a week or two until I can get the big pots to the patio - also ordering pot caddies so we can move them around.

This is exciting - the red monardas should also help attract humming birds to our place. Next to the patio is a butterfly bush so we should have plenty of butterflies between that bush & the monarda.

The plan for purple is to transplant some of my purple native Monarda this fall, after blooming. By then, the hostas in two more pots should be dying back at which point it might be easier for mom to relinquish those pots. She LOVES her hostas and they are beautiful; however, it is a constant fight with the deer and since we have a deer HERD in the area at the new place (I’ve seen them on our property, not just in the surrounding fields & we’re talking 6-8), we are not planting anything that deer find tasty. We have several apple trees and I know they will attract deer to our place big time, once apples start falling off the tree(s).

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yes, there’s been a gap since 2015 since I had chickens. The space where Beau was going to build me a good-sized coop cor co-opted for more dog kennel runs.

Anyway, taking the plunge again. The new coop area inside the barn is quite luxurious. I knew Beau would ‘over-build’ it. I might even move in there, LOL!

He decided against a new building and is repairing the old barn. It burned to the ground in 1950, and was re-built, but not to his standards. I cannot WAIT to slap fresh paint on it! The house looks so nice now with the new roof and paint-job that it makes the other outbuildings look pretty shabby.

All it takes is time and money, right? ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I didn’t find much at Walmart, yesterday. No Pansies at all! This time of year I stop there once a week, so I’ll get them soon, I hope! They had an amazing collection of landscaping shrubs and bare-root roses, though I need neither.

I bought two Basil, two Lemon Thyme and 5 Romaine lettuce starts. It’ll have to keep me happy for the time being. ;)

Today is another trip into town - we need to sign some paperwork to send to lawyers in South Dakota so we can get our $ back from that screwed up truck sale. The Clerk of Courts in SD didn’t file our lien on time and when she sold her house to pay off her gambling debts, our lien wasn’t in the mix. Luckily, states are insured for this kind of incompetence, so the check should be to us soon.

Chick Day at Farm & Fleet if they have the ones I want, and supplies for them. And then, an hour or two in the Screws, Bolts and Nails Aisle with Beau, LOL! WHAT? You’ve saved EVERY screw, bolt and nail you’ve come across in your entire LIFETIME and you need MORE? *SMIRK*

Boys. Such weirdos. ;) (I’m bringing a book to read while I wait!)

[Qiviut]

The 3.28 acres is ALL lawn at the new place. Currently mowing with a non-zero turn x324 JD mower which is an arm workout! It also has a 48” deck rather than a 60” & we just putt putt along to get it done. You have to keep your foot on the ‘forward’ pedal the whole time which is tiresome ... if you take your foot off, it stops. This mower has 4-wheel turn so it does get around in some tight places near the patio - I will have to use it for trimming. It also can pull a cart & I did get a cart up there last trip.

Mowed the 10 ‘flatland’ acres the last 2 days with Clyde the Glide, zero-turn extraordinaire and it was great to be on that mower. It has a 60” deck & unfortunately, my utility trailer is 5’ so I cannot get Clyde on it; otherwise, I would trailer Clyde between the two places. It takes me 2.5 hours to cut the back part of the new property up to the house on the x324 ... if I had Clyde, I’m guessing an hour to an hour & a half. Sigh. Clyde will probably make the trip on my brother’s trailer after mowing season ends this fall. By then, I should have mom living in the new house full time so the bro will be saddled with keeping the old place mowed down to a decent level until the place is sold since I won’t be coming back very often.

[Augie]

All this talk about morel mushrooms is making decide to share about a Wild Morel & Leek Jack cheese by Meister that’s just incredible when shredded and melted over steak.

That sounds amazing. I'm gonna have to try it.

I managed to catch a few more last week. Some of these had a bit of frostbite on them but that's no big deal - just snip the bad stuff off and they're good to go. We've eaten most of the freshest ones already. I gave a gallon or so away to a couple of my neighbors who can't get around good enough to find their own. I've got a couple gallons dehydrating to save for later, and the really junky ones I chucked on the ground in my woods to maybe get lucky and start a new patch.

My spots are pretty much finished for the year unless we get some rain real soon now.

I made some more progress on the new hoop house over the weekend. The stringers are all up and the ground has been covered with a nice layer of topsoil. Still need to install the cattle panels, frame the ends, and cover it with greenhouse film. I'm out of time to start tomatoes and peppers from seed so I'll just buy bedding plants this time.

The bundle of Dunstan Chestnut trees that I ordered earlier in the spring arrived on Friday. I was able to get two of them planted yesterday morning. I hope to get the rest of them in by the end of the week.

[FamiliarFace]

Please tell me how you find them. I always go look in the back forty in the woods for them. A few years ago, I found about 20, and that was it. I haven’t had luck since then. I look at the base of dying trees, but really haven’t found much. Right now, the creek is too high to cross, until I put on some waders to get past it. It’s really rushing right now. That part is north of my house, and I found the morels on the south side of that tree on a slope just up from the creek. This feels like it’s about the same time of year as that was, and after a rainfall.

[Liz]

cowboystatedaily.com

Morel season is just starting to take off in Southern states, and the season is opening against a backdrop he describes as a “shroom boom.” Americans are clamoring for all things mushroom, with scientific studies recently highlighting their many health benefits.

The highest prices for morels often come at the beginning of the season when people are just like “grizzly bears coming out of hibernation” and want their morel mushrooms right now, Stewart said.

“They just taste so good,” Stewart said when asked why people are willing to pay such high prices for something that essentially grows from decaying matter. “And the season is so short and unpredictable year to year.”

Morels also have a pleasing texture, Lander mushroom expert Jack States told Cowboy State Daily.

“Morels are one of the few fungi that have a firm texture when cooked (not mushy),” he told Cowboy State Daily in an email. “And they contain a chemical compound that tickles the taste buds, similar to monosodium glutamate, MSG, a flavor enhancer.”

These are factors that have high-end restaurants seeking out morels during their short season — and willing to pay extra high prices for them.

States added that the season right now is young, and that he was told by North American authority on mushroom markets, Daniel Winkler, that they’ll likely go down as the season progresses and supply rises.

Things To Know About Morels
Morels are one of the easiest of the wild mushrooms to hunt, Stewart told Cowboy State Daily.

“Especially under cottonwoods, there’s really nothing else you’re going to find that looks like them,” he said. “But people should still make sure they know what they’re identifying and should definitely not trust the apps that are out there. I’ve seen apps that are right now identifying strands of hair as mushrooms. They’re so bad.”

Morels have a characteristic honeycomb pattern on their caps and are typically a golden color, but they can sometimes be tan or gray.

False morels, which appear similar but have toxins that cannot be cooked away, tend to be more red, purple or brown.

The best diagnostic, though, is to cut the mushroom in half. True morels will be hollow, while false morels have cotton-like fibers and tissues throughout.

That’s led to a little folklore adage — if it’s not hollow, do not swallow.

“The lookalikes will make you sick even if you cook them well, but probably won’t kill you,” Stewart said. “You’re gonna have a stomachache and, you know, gastro problems with diarrhea and stuff like that.”

But all mushrooms, even morels, should be well-cooked, Stewart added.

Even morels have some toxins that can be unpleasant if not thoroughly cooked. In fact, morels were linked to an outbreak of illness last year in Montana that led to three hospitalizations and two deaths, as well as about 50 others who reported nausea and upset stomachs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined the outbreak was linked to consuming raw morel mushrooms at a sushi restaurant in Bozeman.

[Augie]

Finding morels... the best advice I can give is to learn your trees. In my part of the world morels have an affinity for apple, ash, cedar, cottonwood, elm, mulberry, multiflora rose, and sycamore. There may be others but those are the species that I key on when I’m searching.

Then there’s the “I’m a fungus and I do what I want” thing... at my grandparents homestead (built in 1860) I would find morels growing all over the house yard. The trees there were catalpa, hickory, and oak. I suspect the affinity there was for the catalpa, but I can’t be certain. I would occasionally find some in a catalpa grove that my GrandPap and Great Uncle planted for fence posts in the early 1900s so there may be something to the catalpa affinity. I know people that claim to have spots where the predominant species of tree are oaks, but I’ve never been able to put a pattern together on those.

I know a lot of people who have good spots in the hills. Most of my spots are creek and river bottoms, but I do have a couple hill ground spots that are very reliable. I’m getting to the stage of life where it’s a lot easier to get to the patches on flat ground so I find myself checking the hill spots less often each year.

If you’re on fakebook you’ll find numerous morel hunting groups that can be a gold mine of good information if you’re willing to wade through the BS and troll posts, and there’s a lot of it to wade through even on the groups that are well-moderated.

My best spots are all on public land. Conservation areas along the Missouri River, city parks, state parks, national forest land, and wildlife reserves.

It’s been super warm and dry here in the middle of Misery for the past week. Most of the spots here are done if we don’t get some rain real soon now. It’s sprinkling out now with a good chance of heavier rain all day, and again on Thursday so I’m holding out hope that the late season will be a good one.

[Augie]

My forebears brought Virginia Bluebell bulbs with them when they migrated westward from the east coast in the 1700s. They worked their way across the Blue Ridge into Kentucky and eventually landed here in Misery.

The original homestead cabin here was built on a rocky knob sometime around 1840. For several years my wife and I would go there in the spring and dig Bluebells that we then transplanted at our homestead site. They struggled for the first few years but have been increasing steadily since they got settled.

[FamiliarFace]

Thanks for the tips! There are a lot of trees in our woods.

A town park is very nearby, just a block or two away. The creek behind our house runs over there, so we share the same wildlife, trees, etc. Every year we see multitudes of people scouring for morels there. They don’t stay on the beaten path at all.

I will try to get to other side of the creek tomorrow. Maybe I will find something after all.