January gardening, farming, growing all the things thread.

[Faith-manor]

Happy New Year friends!

Michigan finally experienced winter. So now comes the count down to starting seeds indoors. For me that will be the last week of February.

The houseplants, all 4 of them, are plush. Basil, 2 aloe, and a spider plant that is going crazy.

Here is my latest haul. These were on sale for $2.47 each, and we had reward points so I ended up getting them for about $1 each. I was giddy. 😁

I still have cucumber, radish, and scallion seeds from last year. I have decided to buy the amish paste, bell pepper, chili peppers celery, and jalapeño plants because I don't have a large amount of space for seedlings in the sunny spots of the house. I will start broccoli and cucumbers and peas inside, and direct seeds green beans, radishes, carrots, scallions, sunflowers, and sweet corn (I already had those seeds from a different source.)

Tell me what is up with your winter gardening or for our southern friends, summer gardens.

 

[Clemsondana]

I've got lettuce still in the greenhouse, and got a bit of parsley and chive this week.  But, despite not being crazy cold, it's been so cloudy that nothing is really growing much.  I can see sprouts from some other herb plants - cilantro and dill - and some microgreens, that would likely do OK but they just can't get going.  I have a tiny hydroponic kit that I started some herb seeds in this week. Last year it was new and came with 6 pre-seeded pods.  This year I got new foam inserts and used my own seeds - basil, parsley, dill.  I'm hoping that they sprout before I get an algae bloom.  They grow quickly with the light, and I'm hoping to be able to get them big enough to transplant to pots and then plant 6 lettuce plants.  I keep green onions grown from leftovers - I buy a bunch to cook with, use the green tops, and then resprout the bottoms and put in a pot.  I can usually cut from a bunch for a year or 2.   I use them a lot but probably only buy 2-3 times a year.  

[prairiewindmomma]

We're back home and ds kept everything alive while we were gone!  We're still playing around with hydroponics, as it's the most consistent way to get fresh and good looking greens in winter. 

We finally got some cold weather, and our berry bushes and roses and fruit trees are finally dropping their leaves.  We're having a weird el nino winter, and I'm trying to time when to go out and do a pruning of our baby fruit trees.  I need to rebalance both trees before spring leaf, but some spring bulbs are already poking through soil around the neighborhood.  I think we have enough chill hours--these varieties only require 500 each (Fuji and Gala)--but I also don't want to do fresh cuts on the trees and then stress them with a freak ice storm.  I think I'll probably prune late February. Fingers crossed we go into a deeper cold pattern soon. 

I thought I was going to plant a semi-dwarf peach tree this spring to pollinate off of our neighbor's tree, but I'm kind of looking at cold hardy citrus....either Yuzu (citrus junos) or one of the cold hardy mandarins like Miho Wase. I don't know; I'm playing with the idea. I have the perfect spot for a thorny southern exposure plant that loves acidic soil....and I found a local nursery that will have it in stock.

[Faith-manor]

Yes, El Nino is messing up. We had this insane Ely warm December, and some plants even got confused and popped up outside. Who knows what will happen now that we have had the sudden plunge to actual winter temps.

Mark pruned last year, and I think it stressed the trees because it was still to warm. So I told him no pruning in 2024.

I am intrigued by the concept of cold hearty mandarins. 

[Rosie_0801]

My banana plant just threw out its 6th leaf angled to replace the first, which is looking old and tatty. This is very exciting. I've had to order a new curry leaf tree. Well, two, one for my mate as well. Between the two of us, surely we will hit on the right formula to over-winter them! I have one tomato ripening and a few prospectives. Will I get to eat it, or will the wildlife? And speaking of them, the conifer out the back door is covered in seed pods, which means the yearly visit of the King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas. The latter scream and fly off every time I come out the back door, but the King Parrots just stare me in the eye like "Good tucker, eh?"

I lost my baby limes. I'm not sure if that was my fault or if it was just practicing, but I do have one little avocado.

My neighbour has got on a gardening kick again, so an overly enthusiastic agave was evicted and that bed now looks a lot better, and several pots of assorted cactus are being planted along the fence line. I don't understand having a hobby that bites back, but weeding it keeps my dd employed.

I don't know what kind of mutant El Niño this is because we're having weather that belongs north of Sydney.

[Melissa in Australia]

We have a king parrot the peers into the window to check if we are watching  first. then if he thinks the coast is clear starts eating the apples in the tree near our door

Edited January 5 by Melissa in Australia

[Faith-manor]

11 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

We have a king parrot the peers into the window to check if we are watching  first. then if he thinks the coast is clear starts eating the apples in the tree near our door

Bad parrots, very very bad parrots!

[popmom]

Greetings and Happy New Year!

I was offline for the holidays mostly. The last of the adult children left just this past Tuesday. Her classes started Wednesday. So back to just Dh, youngest dd, me, and the pets. 

I’m growing garlic for the first time, and it looks great. dh (( thought))) he was doing me a favor by blowing all the leaves off of my raised beds to tidy up for our guests. I can see exactly how well the garlic is growing now. 😉 I’ll have to fix that before our big freeze next week. 

The only other stuff out there is turnips and a few lettuce varieties. 
 

A few days ago I planted 3 Aerogardens. I love those things. Unfortunately, so do aphids. They’ve been sitting empty since well before Christmas, and I sanitized everything. Fingers crossed. I scrubbed down the shelves, the walls, my other plant lights… I tossed the 2 pepper plants I had planned to over winter because of that. Just not worth it.

Should I give my garlic a trim before this hard freeze? Any precautions other than mulching?  

 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

Our navel orange tree is loaded, but the oranges are not ripe quite yet.

Lemons are iffy in the back yard but we seem to still have some in front, as well as some Bearss limes coming in.

The persimmons lasted longer than usual this year but I got very tired of them.  Too sweet.  Last year turned out to be poor for pomegranates, which is a bummer as they are my favorite.  It was too cool too much of the year.  Would have been a great year for cherries!  But I don’t have a cherry tree.  It makes me think maybe I should plant one after all, even if it doesn’t do well most of the time, because in the off years for some things it would do great.  

I have seeds but have not planted them.  This is a recording.

[Faith-manor]

We are expecting 8 inches of snow (20 cm), and my primary gardening activity at the moment is perusing my gardening books. I am about to start a basil plant indoors. I made pasta sauce the other day, and realized I only have about 3 more batches worth of basil leaves left, and no basil house plant. Time to grow one. I have a plant light on a shelf here in my east window which is much needed as Michigan has not actually experienced this fleeting phenomenon called "blue skies" in so long, we have forgotten what that looks like.

[Carol in Cal.]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

We are expecting 8 inches of snow (20 cm), and my primary gardening activity at the moment is perusing my gardening books. I am about to start a basil plant indoors. I made pasta sauce the other day, and realized I only have about 3 more batches worth of basil leaves left, and no basil house plant. Time to grow one. I have a plant light on a shelf here in my east window which is much needed as Michigan has not actually experienced this fleeting phenomenon called "blue skies" in so long, we have forgotten what that looks like.

I have never been able to keep basil alive in the house!  If it works for you, please let me know how you did it!

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I have never been able to keep basil alive in the house!  If it works for you, please let me know how you did it!

It is in a cozy, east window, in a generous size planter with a drainage hole, and a grow light pointed at it. That grow light is the thing making it successful. Michigan is currently experiencing daylight hours without light! 😭

Mark follows me around checking water levels which is probably why it is thriving! He is better with plants than I am. 

I also religiously pinch off blossoms. I am good about that. If it is allowed even a hint of bolting, it is done as a houseplant. Just done. I harvested leaves regularly last year all winter long which might also encourage growth, however, I don't know enough about it to claim that this definitely helps.

Mostly it is probably a miracle! 😆

Edited January 12 by Faith-manor
Dear autocorrect, when I type "grow", I meant it. When I type " in", I do not mean "an". Seriously. I went to school, and you did not.

[popmom]

1 hour ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I have never been able to keep basil alive in the house!  If it works for you, please let me know how you did it!

It does really well in an Aerogarden. Almost too well. The lights are so bright that they want to bloom a little too quickly. It also grows too tall for my regular Harvest model—so basically requires a lot of pruning. I just planted some more, and I think I’ll transplant to pots this time. 

[popmom]

I think I figured out what my garlic needs. It's a hard neck variety, so apparently I am supposed to wait for the scapes to curl. Then top them. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

14 minutes ago, popmom said:

I think I figured out what my garlic needs. It's a hard neck variety, so apparently I am supposed to wait for the scapes to curl. Then top them. 

But keep the scapes for soup! ❤️

 

[Faith-manor]

I am ashamed to say that I do not know what a "scape" is, and suspect it does not mean that the garlic is on the run after a bank heist. 😜

[Faith-manor]

Update on Michigan chill hours: we have managed to make it to 350ish hours. We need 850 before our apple trees come out of dormancy, and 1000 for the blueberry bushes. We have the potential of adding 87-96 hours this week due to a warm up which will put day time, and even some overnight temps, above freezing.

This is not great. February usually stays cold enough all the time to not accumulate chill hours. March will probably accumulate quite a few, but 500-650 hours in a single month? It is hard to imagine that, and all of it prior to the trees/bushes coming out of dormancy. 

If weather predictions are for temps in the 45-50 range or 7.2-10C, any days in March, Mark and I have decided to run a sprinkler on the two trees, as well we as the blueberry bushes. Our well water is cold enough to keep the tree chilled, dropping the internal temp of the branches by 5 degrees. Thank goodness for a deep well. But if they do not have the chill hours by March 29 when we leave for a wedding out of state, it is going to be a very tricky thing since we will not be back until April 10. Of course a late freeze after budding - the thing that got our honey crisp tree last year - is also a potential issue. So we have decided we will leave the sprinkler hooked up, and pay a neighbor to watch the temperature predictions, and turn it on if the trees or bushes bud while we are gone since the running water will prevent frost developing on the buds.

I am now researching what fruit trees would be best to plant in the future. I think that Climate Change issues are increasing faster than the State of Michigan thought they would, and we are well behind in planting more temperate fruiting varieties.

Apart from watching this unfold, I have been using graph paper can and colored in pencils to tweak my garden plan.

What are you up to? Are our southern hemisphere hive bees harvesting yummy things to eat?

[cjzimmer1]

The first planting of cucumbers pretty much died and so I pulled them out and put in peas.  They are just starting to sprout.  The second planting of cucumbers is looking quite nice.  I'm hopeful now that I am correcting the PH of my city water to something more reasonable for plants that they would perform better than those of the past (and really I didn't have any complaints about those other than they died back too fast).  I also have buckets of snow I can bring in and defrost for water but it's been so insanely cold, I have had no desire to dig them out.

First round of carrots is ready and DS is eating a couple a day.  There is going to be a gap before round two is ready.

Once I corrected the PH, my tomatoes came back from the brink of death.  I had already planned on losing them so I had started a second planting so now I have a really good supply of fresh cherry tomatoes (almost too much at times).

Lettuce, purple kale and arugula are all doing great so we have a nice supply of fresh greens.  For some reason the spinach is not happy with the indoor garden setup.  Not sure why it's being so fussy. This round of radishes is less happy than previous rounds.  Not sure what I did differently but will have to toss some more seeds in again.

The purple cauliflower looks great.

Recently started basil and cilantro and they are each about 2 inches tall.

My last two buckets of potatoes are almost ready to harvest.  When they are done, I will plant two more purple cauliflower is those buckets.

And after being bug free for the last 4 months or so I now have aphids again.  I have no idea where they came from as no new plants have been added only seeds.  So I bought some lacewing eggs and they have started hatching.  Hopefully they will get the aphids under control soon.  I also spotted a lone ladybug/asian beetle (I can't tell them apart) not sure where it's been all winter but I relocated it to some of the aphidy plants and between it and the lacewings hopefully they all get a good meal.

[Faith-manor]

23 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

The first planting of cucumbers pretty much died and so I pulled them out and put in peas.  They are just starting to sprout.  The second planting of cucumbers is looking quite nice.  I'm hopeful now that I am correcting the PH of my city water to something more reasonable for plants that they would perform better than those of the past (and really I didn't have any complaints about those other than they died back too fast).  I also have buckets of snow I can bring in and defrost for water but it's been so insanely cold, I have had no desire to dig them out.

First round of carrots is ready and DS is eating a couple a day.  There is going to be a gap before round two is ready.

Once I corrected the PH, my tomatoes came back from the brink of death.  I had already planned on losing them so I had started a second planting so now I have a really good supply of fresh cherry tomatoes (almost too much at times).

Lettuce, purple kale and arugula are all doing great so we have a nice supply of fresh greens.  For some reason the spinach is not happy with the indoor garden setup.  Not sure why it's being so fussy. This round of radishes is less happy than previous rounds.  Not sure what I did differently but will have to toss some more seeds in again.

The purple cauliflower looks great.

Recently started basil and cilantro and they are each about 2 inches tall.

My last two buckets of potatoes are almost ready to harvest.  When they are done, I will plant two more purple cauliflower is those buckets.

And after being bug free for the last 4 months or so I now have aphids again.  I have no idea where they came from as no new plants have been added only seeds.  So I bought some lacewing eggs and they have started hatching.  Hopefully they will get the aphids under control soon.  I also spotted a lone ladybug/asian beetle (I can't tell them apart) not sure where it's been all winter but I relocated it to some of the aphidy plants and between it and the lacewings hopefully they all get a good meal.

Wow! Much green eyed jealousy from me!!!

We have also figured out that the reason we are struggling with the young fruit trees and raspberry canes at the Alabama house is city water. No well on the mountain. So when there is a dry snap, they have been getting too much chlorinated water. Ugh. Mark is building a rain catchment system for the roof that will give DD 40 gallons of stored water. This is going to be vital because a recent water alert went out that the city water has tested off the charts high for benzene and a bunch of other crap...probably from the 3M plant in Decatur! 😠 No one is supposed to drink the water anymore. I don't see that changing anytime soon. We installed a 6 stage reverse osmosis filter for the house so Dd and family can actually safely drink water from the kitchen spigot. But, it can't filter enough to also water 9 fruit trees, and 4 raspberry canes plus 1 raised bed of salad greens.

Aphids are a pain in the patoot. I don't know what do do about them other than a local gardener told me to always have marigolds planted in every bed around my vegetable plants. Apparently they give off and odor or substance that aphids do not like. I have no idea if this is true or not. But I love marigolds, the orange and burgundy ones especially, so I plant them in all my beds and keep them around the potted veggies. So far it has been okay. However, it could also be sheer, dumb luck! I think I attribute a lot of my success to DL. 😀

[popmom]

@Faith-manor edited to add: I think I don’t know what chill hours are. What does that mean? I don’t understand the blueberry thing. We grow blueberries all over the place down here in zone 8, and we don’t get that cold—not for long anyway. Is it a different variety? 

Edited January 21 by popmom

[Faith-manor]

42 minutes ago, popmom said:

@Faith-manor edited to add: I think I don’t know what chill hours are. What does that mean? I don’t understand the blueberry thing. We grow blueberries all over the place down here in zone 8, and we don’t get that cold—not for long anyway. Is it a different variety? 

There are many varieties of northern fruits that are dependent on a chemical process triggered by experiencing so many hours of dormancy without frigid temps but also without warming and bring them out of dormancy. That temperature window is 33°-45°. They must receive a certain amount of hours after their leaves fall in autumn and they start dormancy and before they come out of dormancy  in the spring in order to trigger the chemical reaction that allows them to set fruit. These varieties evolved over time for the specific climate conditions of the Great Lakes Region which is a fair bit different from the Plains States and other Midwestern ecosystems. So when these varieties do not receive this conditioning, they either do not set fruit or only fruit a little and the quality of what they do set is poor. This happened in 2002 and many cherry trees only produced 10 or so cherries per tree. It happened again in 2012, and was a total loss that year for any varieties that needed more than 1000 chill hours.

Chill hours are counted 1:1 for every hour in dormancy in this temperature range, and then 1/2 hr is deducted from the total for every hour above 60°, and a less substantial amount for being above 45 but not as high as 60.

During my childhood, Michigan experienced an average of 1400 chill hours every year. Even in the early 1990's, it was not on everyone's radar that this was going to change drastically in our lifetimes. I was not a gardening, farming enthusiast in the early 2000's, even during the teen years (this is a recent thing for me) so I wasn't following what was happening.  Had I been following it, I might have chosen a different set of apple trees to plant, and a different variety of blueberries.

That said, the climate change issues are for this particular year, exacerbated by El Nino which is just making things even more wonky.

[prairiewindmomma]

Fwiw, chill hours are why so many blueberries and apples are grown in the PNW. Historically my area averaged over 3000 chill hours a year.

[prairiewindmomma]

3M has destroyed water tables everywhere they go. It’s heartbreaking. 😞 

[prairiewindmomma]

We do the marigolds thing too. They do help. Companion planting is important also in terms of garden layout—friends versus foes.

[Faith-manor]

19 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

3M has destroyed water tables everywhere they go. It’s heartbreaking. 😞 

It is disgusting. We would love to sail and kayak on the Tennessee River going south of Huntsville, but are very concerned about coming into contact with the PFAS. When we bought the house, there were no warnings because the water supply came out of Arab, AL which had, at that time, been unaffected. Apparently it had now made it to Arab through seepage into Guntersville, Lake. If Alabama doesn't get off its A$$ and do something to force 3M to do more than the paltry $7 million to the water department in Decatur for PFA removal (an amount spread over 20 years so essentially WORTHLESS), they are going to have a health apocalypse. What was the state thinking when it settled for so little money for clean up? 😠

[prairiewindmomma]

I went to Costco and they had their semi-dwarf fruit trees in for $29 each. Dh suggested we get two more. We came home with a 3 in 1 cherry (sweetheart, van and lapins) and a suncrest (self fertile) peach. Our back fence neighbors have cherries and peach trees so we should get some easy good cross fertilization. The branch structures arent as nice as the ones we got from the high end nursery, but they are also $50 cheaper each and I think in 3-5 years I can prune them into a better shape. 
 

I think we officially have run out of room for trees though. These are going in our garden plot space and I will do little things underneath it once the root structure is established. 

[KungFuPanda]

I just impulse purchased some seeds, sketched out my spring garden plans, and am plotting what to winter sow vs starting indoors this year. We're covered in snow that has no hope of melting for a week.  I'm finished with winter and this is the first significant snow we've had in ages.  I just have to shut up and let people enjoy it but I'm plotting my own escape.

[Melissa in Australia]

11 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Update on Michigan chill hours: we have managed to make it to 350ish hours. We need 850 before our apple trees come out of dormancy, and 1000 for the blueberry bushes. We have the potential of adding 87-96 hours this week due to a warm up which will put day time, and even some overnight temps, above freezing.

This is not great. February usually stays cold enough all the time to not accumulate chill hours. March will probably accumulate quite a few, but 500-650 hours in a single month? It is hard to imagine that, and all of it prior to the trees/bushes coming out of dormancy. 

If weather predictions are for temps in the 45-50 range or 7.2-10C, any days in March, Mark and I have decided to run a sprinkler on the two trees, as well we as the blueberry bushes. Our well water is cold enough to keep the tree chilled, dropping the internal temp of the branches by 5 degrees. Thank goodness for a deep well. But if they do not have the chill hours by March 29 when we leave for a wedding out of state, it is going to be a very tricky thing since we will not be back until April 10. Of course a late freeze after budding - the thing that got our honey crisp tree last year - is also a potential issue. So we have decided we will leave the sprinkler hooked up, and pay a neighbor to watch the temperature predictions, and turn it on if the trees or bushes bud while we are gone since the running water will prevent frost developing on the buds.

I am now researching what fruit trees would be best to plant in the future. I think that Climate Change issues are increasing faster than the State of Michigan thought they would, and we are well behind in planting more temperate fruiting varieties.

Apart from watching this unfold, I have been using graph paper can and colored in pencils to tweak my garden plan.

What are you up to? Are our southern hemisphere hive bees harvesting yummy things to eat?

I think the chill for fruit trees is over rated. We get absolutely loads of apples and blueberries. We don't get anywhere near as cold as you. We only get about 10 frosts a year

Some of the apple trees are types that DH  was familiar with  from Canada.

 

[Melissa in Australia]

DH is doing the veggie garden this summer. He likes corn and salad. So he  has a lot of it growing .

We have cucumbers coming out of our ears

Our bee hives are full.and need extracting 

[Rosie_0801]

I have a dilemma. My garden needs watering, and I got stung several times by a wasp last time I used the tap. 

I want to hide in my house forever.

But I don't want my garden to dehydrate to death.

Gonna have to go out under cover of dusk and hope for the best. If I have to get stung again, I hope it's the other arm.

They're natives, so I don't want to nuke them.

[Melissa in Australia]

Could you cover up to water?

Is it one of those single native wasps? Not the type that live in a colony? 

[popmom]

5 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I think the chill for fruit trees is over rated. We get absolutely loads of apples and blueberries. We don't get anywhere near as cold as you. We only get about 10 frosts a year

Some of the apple trees are types that DH  was familiar with  from Canada.

 

@Melissa in Australia what variety of apples grow well in your region? I’m so curious about this —I’ve never thought much about it.

This is why I asked in my previous comment.  I mean…I think I understand about the apple trees, but my grandmother has BOUNTIFUL blueberries and blackberries every year. She also has an apple tree—which I acknowledge does not produce the same nice apples that are grown in the northern regions. I’ve always known apples aren’t a good crop here in the SE US. But berries… we have berries o’plenty of ALL types. 🙂 But still I get it. There are certain varieties—premium varieties of apples—that just don’t do well in my climate. 

Peaches do amazing here. Pears and plums, too. And pecans. The SE US has the best pecans you’ll ever eat. 🙂 But apples…not so much. We definitely need Michigan’s chill hours to get our yummy apples!

Edited January 22 by popmom

[popmom]

5 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I have a dilemma. My garden needs watering, and I got stung several times by a wasp last time I used the tap. 

I want to hide in my house forever.

But I don't want my garden to dehydrate to death.

Gonna have to go out under cover of dusk and hope for the best. If I have to get stung again, I hope it's the other arm.

They're natives, so I don't want to nuke them.

Oh dear. That’s brutal. I’d nuke them honestly.  Honey bees I would spare, but they aren’t likely to sting. I know wasps have their purpose, but you’ve got to do what you need to do without being attacked by wasps. You are very much environmentally conscious. For you to continue to be environmentally conscious, you have to weigh the cost of continuing to live with these pain inflicting creatures. I do understand the dilemma. I’m so sorry. 

[Faith-manor]

9 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I think the chill for fruit trees is over rated. We get absolutely loads of apples and blueberries. We don't get anywhere near as cold as you. We only get about 10 frosts a year

Some of the apple trees are types that DH  was familiar with  from Canada.

 

But it goes by variety. You are growing varieties who do not need a lot of chill hours which is why it works. Every hybrid has a threshold that has to be reached in order to have decent yield. You just happen to have low threshold trees which is good since you don't get much cold. Very likely you have what I call "mother nature's originals". Those original kinds of species adapt to changing conditions so much better than the hybrids. I have varieties that were specifically created for desirable criteria, but at the cost of also requiring very specific growing conditions which up until the past few years was almost assured every season. Now we are in a real pickle. It is a battle to get a honeycrisp hybrid specifically created for zones 3-5 to produce in any condition warmer than that. My zone was 4b when these trees were planted. It is 6a now. 

So I need to figure out what mother nature invented apple tree produces small, very crisp, both tart and sweet at the same time, apples. I might be able to grow Braeburns. Their sweet spot for production is zones 5-7 though they will produce small crops above and below that region. I need big crops. At this point, I have four adult kids and six honorary kids and three grandsons who would like, if I can manage it, a LOT of apples. Dd is zone 8 now, and really can't grow very well in the clay soil on the mountain in Alabama. Nasty soil. The others all live in apartments, and pay about $1 each per decent apple in their cities, and when I say decent, I mean heavily pesticide sprayed not always ripe apples of not particularly tasty varieties. I don't know anything though about Braeburns other than their taste and texture is similar to a honeycrisp. They might be a hybrid cultivar that is too picky to be practical as well.

[Rosie_0801]

7 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Could you cover up to water?

Is it one of those single native wasps? Not the type that live in a colony? 

I don't know what it was other than a big blighter, not a Euro and not a paper wasp. I don't own a bee suit!

Anyway, it was tucked up wherever home is at dusk, so I got the garden watered without further damage.

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I don't know what it was other than a big blighter, not a Euro and not a paper wasp. I don't own a bee suit!

Anyway, it was tucked up wherever home is at dusk, so I got the garden watered without further damage.

That sounds rather unsettling. I hate the bad beasts when they come around the yard. Ugh!

[Melissa in Australia]

Native wasps are good bugs. They eat things like caterpillars and spiders. I actively encourage native wasps by planting necter flowers as a border around my veggie garden 

[Melissa in Australia]

1 hour ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I don't know what it was other than a big blighter, not a Euro and not a paper wasp. I don't own a bee suit!

Anyway, it was tucked up wherever home is at dusk, so I got the garden watered without further damage.

Was it a  large black wasp with a sort of flatish body? They poke holes in the ground and fill them with spiders for their young. If it was it probably has picked a spot near your tap to poke holes and it is trying to get you off its area. Or what it thinks is it's area.

Edited January 22 by Melissa in Australia

[Melissa in Australia]

11 hours ago, popmom said:

@Melissa in Australia what variety of apples grow well in your region? I’m so curious about this —I’ve never thought much about it.

This is why I asked in my previous comment.  I mean…I think I understand about the apple trees, but my grandmother has BOUNTIFUL blueberries and blackberries every year. She also has an apple tree—which I acknowledge does not produce the same nice apples that are grown in the northern regions. I’ve always known apples aren’t a good crop here in the SE US. But berries… we have berries o’plenty of ALL types. 🙂 But still I get it. There are certain varieties—premium varieties of apples—that just don’t do well in my climate. 

Peaches do amazing here. Pears and plums, too. And pecans. The SE US has the best pecans you’ll ever eat. 🙂 But apples…not so much. We definitely need Michigan’s chill hours to get our yummy apples!

We have these varieties of apples

Snow Apple

King David

Mackintosh

Granny Smith

Pink Lady

Gravenstein

Orange Pippin

Golden Delicious

And a self grafted tree with 3 very old varieties we got from a very old man

 

 

Edited January 22 by Melissa in Australia

[Rosie_0801]

2 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Was it a  large black wasp with a sort of flatish body? They poke holes in the ground and fill them with spiders for their young. If it was it probably has picked a spot near your tap to poke holes and it is trying to get you off its area. Or what it thinks is it's area.

Could be. All I saw was large, orange and black. If you're right, that'd be why I couldn't see anything hanging around the eaves! 

Oh well, if it can allow me to use the tap at dusk, we can co-exist. 

[Melissa in Australia]

Hmm. The ones I was thinking of are just black, no orange. I will think on it

[Ausmumof3]

So the problem with planting tomatoes is the next thing you have to make sauce 😬

Im just putting spaghetti sauce in the freezer but I really need to get the preserving in bottles thing sorted at some point to save on freezer space.

[popmom]

3 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

So the problem with planting tomatoes is the next thing you have to make sauce 😬

Im just putting spaghetti sauce in the freezer but I really need to get the preserving in bottles thing sorted at some point to save on freezer space.

Same here. I bought a pressure canner from a friend a couple of years ago, and I still haven’t used it. I had to buy a new range last summer and got induction. I bet the canner won’t even work on an induction cooktop. 

[fairfarmhand]

I couldnt help myself. I planted some sugar snap peas in my South facing windows in pots. IT was the snow and ice that did it. I know it's too early for starting seeds, but a gal can only take so much winter.

I'm growing Biquinho peppers this year. We had them pickled on a salad at a fancy restaurant awhile back and I'm fascinated.  I think mine are yellow though.

https://www.rareseeds.com/pepper-hot-biquinho-red

https://www.amazon.com/Roland-Foods-Sweety-Drop-Pepper/dp/B073MLS6PY/ref=asc_df_B073MLS6PY/?adgrpid=66686195262&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg_KllNLygwMVNTnUAR2iuAQ6EAQYBSABEgIULPD_BwE&hvadid=344004307193&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvlocint&hvlocphy=9013167&hvnetw=g&hvpone&hvpos&hvptwo&hvqmt&hvrand=16962375412078758511&hvtargid=pla-738535547730&linkCode=df0&mcid=568acb955cad364c84b8b5a678c9a63d&psc=1&ref&tag

[cjzimmer1]

2 hours ago, popmom said:

Same here. I bought a pressure canner from a friend a couple of years ago, and I still haven’t used it. I had to buy a new range last summer and got induction. I bet the canner won’t even work on an induction cooktop. 

Unfortunately most stovetop canners don't work on induction.  For years I had a small one (4 quart) and it was the only one I could find that worked on induction.  Since then Presto has come out with a new one that works on induction but they also developed an electric pressure canner.  I got the electric one and have never looked back.  It's so much easier than the stovetop version.

[popmom]

5 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Unfortunately most stovetop canners don't work on induction.  For years I had a small one (4 quart) and it was the only one I could find that worked on induction.  Since then Presto has come out with a new one that works on induction but they also developed an electric pressure canner.  I got the electric one and have never looked back.  It's so much easier than the stovetop version.

I remember you mentioned your electric canner before and I made a mental note. I will probably try to sell the one I have and try to budget for it. 

[cjzimmer1]

14 minutes ago, popmom said:

I remember you mentioned your electric canner before and I made a mental note. I will probably try to sell the one I have and try to budget for it. 

I absolutely LOVE the thing.  

And just an FYI to tuck in the back of your mind, the best prices you are most likely to find are from a business called Fleet Farm during November/December time (exact time changes each year).  This year they sold them for $199 each, everywhere else it seems their "best" price was closer to $250+.  Anyways I can completely vouch for Fleet Farm in case it's a store you have never heard of.  

[popmom]

1 minute ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I absolutely LOVE the thing.  

And just an FYI to tuck in the back of your mind, the best prices you are most likely to find are from a business called Fleet Farm during November/December time (exact time changes each year).  This year they sold them for $199 each, everywhere else it seems their "best" price was closer to $250+.  Anyways I can completely vouch for Fleet Farm in case it's a store you have never heard of.  

I have heard of them! I think I’ve actually ordered from them before—can’t remember what because it’s been awhile. Thanks—that’s great to know!

[SHP]

I am forcing tulips for the first time this year. I am excited to see them pop up! 

I have flower seeds that I need to start. I had exactly two plants from almost $100 in seeds last year so I am a bit anxious. 

[Ausmumof3]

Tonight’s bolognese is mostly home grown or produced. Bought pasta, and bought onion (plus I guess the sugar in the sauce)

it doesn’t happen often but it’s nice when it does.

we had a fig and peaches. Our first ever passion fruit mysteriously disappeared so I guess we have to wait one more year to see what they’re like. Grapes have a tinge of purple. Weirdly it’s bucketing with rain again, such a crazy season.