General Discussions - Chapter 21

Russ: I love mushrooms any way you can cook/fix them!

Donna: you'll get it worked out.

Darius: you're gonna get some great potatoes!

Kent

Boy, Russ, I sure wish I was there to go mushrooming with you. When I was a kid, we had mushrooms growing alongside the racetrack on our horsefarm. What a drag it is that I didn't appreciate mushrooms back them- but I always loved the smell of them cooking up in butter.

We've had rain every day for a week- geez! It's either feast or famine, huh? Hope everything in my garden can swim!

Sweet dreams- Suz

Could not beleive it we had a hailstorm today. Thought it was over and went outside to look and the lightning started again and here comes the hail again so I am trying to gather the plants still in their little pots. My kids are going forget your plants get in the house. I got them to safety. The ones in the yard, guess the next couple of days will be good or bad. Did cover them for the second round so hopefully they will not be to damaged. Deanna

We were warned by phone that hail was coming & my son rushed out and put a layer of boards on cement blocks to protect my babies.....all safe!

Deanna: so glad to hear from someone here in NC...I thought you'd all given up on strawbales & only the northerners were still working them. Seems like spring is a lot warmer everywhere else but here where it SHOULD be warm.

Foggy

Deanna and Foggy, never fear the rest of us have had our share of weird weather too. I don't know if we are going to get a ripe tomato this year. Let's just hope it is a phenomonon of this year and hopefully next year will be better.

Jeanette

Jeanette;
As my first tomato plants were pretty big when I planted them they did get a pretty good set back. but those that were blooming already, are still in bloom. I am trying to figure out where I can plant the rest of what I have in the flats yet. I put my hand down into my bales today, they aren't ready yet. Can't plant them yet. I put out more peppers today and some tomatoes that I got in a swap at the RU They were hybrids so I wanted them separate from the heirlooms.
I promise, I won't start them that early next year. May have to glue my hands in my pockets so I don't. LOL
Russ

Russ I know exactly what you mean. But, you know, I started my plants 2 weeks later than I normally do and they went crazy. I held back the fertilizer so they wouldn't outgrow my kitchen.

But it is so tempting. You know the hydroponics I started in my kitchen? Well I took them apart yesterday, they were taller than I am, and I asked Bob to take them to the compost pile. On the way out he showed me small tomatoes on them.

I might start some in the basement soon just for kicks.

Jeanette

Well my buddy has come across a problem he is not quite sure how to fix......

Apparently, a colony of fire ants has invaded one of his bales. Specifically they have targeted one of his pepper plants and it appears to be having an adverse effect. That particular plant seems to be lagging behind the growth curve with respect to the other pepper plants.

He is a little leery about what to use to get rid of the ants, as he does not want to risk poisoning his plant, its respective fruit, but primarily him or his family!!!!.

He has put down Sevin dust for the time being. Any suggestions on how to safely get rid of these little imposter's would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Ron

Ron:

We are in fire ant country big- time! When it is a matter of a long established colony, we wait til winter on a freezing day & dig down till we reach the lowest point of the nest & the cold takes care of them very well.....when it's an occasional nest in a tricky spot we generally use fire ant Bait.....they eat it, carry it back to the Queen & she supposedly dies, too......it does get rid of the nest, but we are unsure that it gets the queen...sometimes after treatment they show up a few feet away.

My biggest worry would not be the one pepper plant, but making the nest flee and set up colonies in other bales. The bait is sometimes eaten by my dogs with no ill effects but as to whether you should eat peppers from that plant....I don't know.

Foggy

Ron: I did a quick google search and saw some references to a product called: spinosad

check this out and see if it suits your needs

Kent

Please be aware that spinosad is very toxic to bees and to trichogramma and braconid wasps which attack corn borers, tomato hornworms, army worms & many other vegetable & fruit damaging insects.......Dow doesn't advertise this aspect of it's actions.

Foggy

Foggy: good advice; the few searches I glanced at didn't mention this.

Kent

I think that is what is neat about this. What one of us doesn't know, someone else does. Good going guys.

Jeanette

Donna,

I don't know if you would be interested in this or not. Seems most of it is on the coast. However, it looks like anybody can post events. A lot of sales by the Seattle Arboretum.

http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/Gardening

If this doesn't work for you, there is a link in the heading on the PNW Gardening forum.

Jeanette

Donna,

I don't know if you would be interested in this or not. Seems most of it is on the coast. However, it looks like anybody can post events. A lot of sales by the Seattle Arboretum.

http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/Gardening

If this doesn't work for you, there is a link in the heading on the PNW Gardening forum.

Jeanette

my 2 cents, buttermilk ,with corn starch mixed in . then coat in masa or yellow corn meal mix ( has flour already in ,sticks good ) then fry in bacon grease. i keep this up ,i'll have to have a lap band.lol sally

Digger, are we talking about mushrooms, fried green tomatoes, or???? Maybe both???? LOL Now that sounds good.

Jeanette

jnette, i use buttermilk on Everything i want a good crust on . i only mix corn starch with it for stuff like veggies .chicken and fish , only buttermilk ,make a thin tempura for an oriental flair.double dip all for a thick crust.heck,i'm hungry again. sally

OK Digger, when are you fixing supper....you've got me salivating......
btw my names Sally, too.

Foggy

Thanks Sally and Sally!!

Jeanette

Now we have to keep calling Sally Foggy and Sally Digger ha ha ha.
That is a little like my DW is Barbara Jean. My oldest brother's DW is also Barbara Jean. Now we have had some fun with that situation. There has been the usual mail mix ups, Bank accounts, Barbs stay in the hospital once. Then one time to save money Ray & Barb and Russ & Barb shared a motel room. The motel clerk's expression was like Ya Right. LOL
By the way Sally ( digger ) I will have to try the buttermilk too. Thanks
Went out again Saterday, got more Morels. Have to freeze some of them now. Too many to eat real soon. They will still taste good this winter.
Russ

Kent what happened to "Strawbaleman"? Did I have a 3/4 heimers moment and not know it? (Not totally alzheimers)

Doug

Wow - - - -I must have had a real senior moment.

I didn't even pay attention to his name change. I read his responce, and knew it was Kent.
Glad that wasn't a stop sign, Right Kent?????

Good morning guys: I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice the change! :-)

I decided to just use my name since I was using it on another site.

Plus, I don't have to sign my name at the end of each post! :-)

I tried using just "Kent" but it was taken.

Me too, Russ....senior moment....

Kent, I like the change!

btw....don't bother with sally for me, I'd just as soon stay Foggy.....Digger it's all yours.....lol :-)

Foggy

call me anything. it just looks funny to sign digger when it's right there on the post. sally is just a friendly, personal touch to invite anyone that wants to ,to call me by name

I like your friendly personal touches sally :).....but foggy describes my state of mind soooo well!

Foggy

(& Foggywalk is the name of our farm)

This message was edited May 28, 2008 1:40 PM

digger was a little wire haired weeney dog that i had 14 1/2 years .sick one day,exploritory surgery next day showed stomach cancer that couldn't be fixed ,i told the vet ,after he showed it to me, not to wake him up, just let him go.after i kissed him, he was gone,and i have his ashes here, on my desk.he was always here ,with me. he was so special, so different.a clown ,at his age ,til the end. tater was another old weeney dog ,16 yrs old ,i had to let go last year.me and my grandkids delivered him he couldn't stand for me to be out of site and it was really bad when he went blind. then there was pokey,his name fit him so well, he always came,but when he darn well got around to it. i had him 12 years and he was a mature,rescue weeny dog .we had him at pet smart to get adopted. sitting in one of the volenteers lap, a stupid woman let her kid jump around and wave his arms,and stoop down to bark in the dogs face. well it happened,pokey snapped him, the only thing the humane society could do,was put him down.he was unadoptable after that.of course i said h- - l no. i took him home and gave him a normal life.i took him to the rainbow bridge and helt him until he crossed over last dec.i had a hard year . now i only have 4 little dogs, really 5 ,because one lives at my house that is wild. had him 9 or10 years.if i can entice him onto the porch, i can pull the rope to shut the gate ,then pet him.he dosen't like it and shakes, but he needs shots too.hey, thanks for listening,i guess this is the first time i've really gotten into all three at the same time.gotta say something about strawbaling.mine are 15 to 24" tall and all have tomatoes on them. i will never again plant tomatoes or squash in the ground.squash broke open blooms over last nite . on another note, my little gem magnolia has opened it's first bloom.

Digger, I can relate to you and dogs, I have had three little dogs, still have one. They were with me constantly. It is difficult to have to lose them but again they are such wonderful company.

The beans I planted in one of my bales are not coming up. Think I must have been in too much of a hurry. The temp went down to 80 and I thought okay so planted. Now for some unknown to me reason the temp is back up to over 100. And pole beans that I planted about the same time in the ground, are coming up. So I don't understand what I did wrong.

Anyway guess I will plant some more beans in the bale and see what happens.

Donna

i always soak my beans a coupla hours to swell them up and can tell which ones are viable and thanks ,just got started, and vented feelings

I tried 3 times last year to plant beans in the bales Kent and they didn't come up. I wonder if the squirrels didn't take them. I should have dug down to see if they were still there.

That was when they were eating my tomatoes. I had to put bird netting over the tomatoes to keep them out of them.

Jeanette

I planted my beans ON the bales, rather than IN them. Made a shallow open trench, filled it with potting soil, place the beand on top, and added another decent layer of potting soil. They came up well, but the overall performance was poor compared to the beans in the ground.

Lena

I did the same Lena but they still didn't come up. Maybe I got a bad batch of beans. I tried 3 times. 2 lonely little beans came up.

I have always had the same problem with beans in the ground, let alone in bales. I solved it this way. I plant my beans in the cardboard inserts from the inside of toilet rolls, 2 beans to a roll. Stand the rolls up on end inside a larger pot with drain holes. It is probably wise to put a sheet of newspaper in the bottom of the larger pot first to stop the soil falling or washing out.

Fill the cardboard tubes with whatever you use for seed raising mix, right to the top as it will shrink down. Push two beans VERTICALLY into each tube of soil until you can't see them. When the pot is fully seeded, pick the whole thing up and stand it in a container of water, but keep the water level about an inch below the top of the cardboard rolls, allowing the water to wick up to the surface of the soil in the tubes. Once it is wet through, take the pot out of the water and don't water it again until the seedlings break the surface.

After that keep it just nicely damp and let the seedlings grow until the first pair of true leaves is well developed. By this time the roots will be nice and strong. To plant the beans into their final location, lift the whole mass of tubes out of their containing pot and gently separate the individual tubes. Each one will now contain one or two nice healthy baby beans which you can plant either in the ground or into your prepared bales, without disturbing the roots, since you can plant them cardboard tube and all and they will just romp away. My experience of growing beans before I hit on this technique was full of failures. The seedlings always either rotted or dried up, and, if they DID grow, something would come and eat them! Doing them this way allows you much finer control of watering, warmth and humidity since you can move the pot around to handle changes in the weather and other factors. It also allows you to space your beans how and where you want them and as a bonus you can keep them away from pests.

Hope this helps,

Ciao, Kaelkitty.

I haven't had any problem with beans. I have used both, pole and bush. I just mark out my row in the garden, push one to two beans in the soil per hill just past the first joint of my finger. (I think I would like one of those little single row planters) I don't remember very many gaps in the rows of beans.
I haven't checked them this morning but they were all up yesterday, about an inch and a half tall. Last nights storm could have pounded the leaves down in the mud but if so I have had them come out of that too.
I would be a little upset, if it really tore them up. as the rows are 65' long.
But I did get a big bag of beans, just in case of being hail damaging my garden. But I do think their survival does have a lot to do with the soil type, moisture, and the number of cut worms present in the garden.
Of course if it is dry, the bean will just lay there and maybe cook before it gets moisture.
Russ

They ate those too Kent. I think it was because it was so dry out that they wanted the juice in the tomatoes. But I just don't have any other answer for the beans not growing. I did get 2 healthy bean plants out of 3 plantings.

I even put a bowl of water out by my garden for them, thinking that would keep them satisfied.

Jeanette I lost quite a few maters to squirrels too. I was counting on the shear number of tomatoes to help me out there. It did seem like they always picked on the ones that were just about ready to pick though.
I don't know if a fence would keep them out or not. I may try a fence and put an extra bird bath near the fence.
Kent my squirrels are so fat from eating walnuts, they don't need any supplementing of their diet. They even leave the bird feeder alone.
If I get really hungry I might think about putting one or two in the soup kettle, right along with those wascally wabbits. LOL
Russ

Russ, the bird netting did good. However, this year I am going to figure out how to just have it on the bottom so I don't have to undo it every time I want to pick a tomato. They don't like that mesh on their feet. Kind of like tying strings on your garden for birds. Maybe a birdbath might work. They obviously didn't like the bowl I used and I changed the water every day too. Ungratefuls.

And you are right. One bite!! They would go all over thru the tomato plant and just one bite out of the ripest ones.

I've never tried squirrel stew Russ. Sounds gross. But I love rabbit.

Jeanette

squirrel stew is good,just don't shoot them with a shotgun. sally