Garden 2024

[pepperhead212]

@blissful I was surprised at how long that Surround lasted me! But the way I use it helps keep it a long time - I use 1½ c/gal, and use a dedicated 2 gal sprayer for this, and some potassium bicarbonate, as a preventative fungicide, plus a spreader/sticker. And these things I leave in the sprayer until I need it the next time, and usually I am only spraying the new growth, so not a whole lot is used. After the heavy rain, like I'm getting today, I'll be spraying a lot more, but the undersides keep it on, and with light rain, not much washes off. So it's not very often I refill that sprayer, with the 3 c of powder.

And something that I do with it, that I learned to do early on, is I place a fine strainer on top of the sprayer, and put 1/2 c powder at a time in it (I actually put the potassium bicarbonate in first, which dissolves as I do this), and wash the powder into the sprayer, and continue this, until the 3 c are in. Some "pellets" of powder can be seen, doing this, and they dissolve through the strainer, yet just added directly to the strainer, I would have trouble with clogging - yet when washed through, nothing was there! There's also the occasional particle of something else, but that's trapped, too. I do that now with everything else, when loading sprayers, to avoid clogging.

 

[blissful]

@pepperhead212 thank you AGAIN for the amounts and the potassium bicarbonate (we have fungal issues with the tomatoes that happen every year even with a fungicide-but maybe this will help). We have a lot of screens and strainers so I'll wash the ingredients through that for filling the sprayer. I've been wanting a second sprayer for the longest time. They aren't very expensive.

Our tomatoes are blooming but it's the early small bloom and not the big bloom. I need to go out with a paint brush tomorrow (maybe tonight) and pollinate them. When I do that they produce better. The honey bees don't like the tomato blossoms because they have no nectar.

 

[dragnlaw]

WOW! do you think that would work with DE? I sprinkle it on straight. But with the rain we've been having - why do I bother? If I were to spray a liquid powder and especially aim for the underside and undergrowth - what a difference that would make!

 

[caseydog]

WOW! do you think that would work with DE? I sprinkle it on straight. But with the rain we've been having - why do I bother? If I were to spray a liquid powder and especially aim for the underside and undergrowth - what a difference that would make!

Diatomaceous Earth needs to be kept dry to kill insects. It kills the because it is sharp, causing abrasions on insects. It is kind of like if humans were to roll in shards of glass. It is not poisonous at all, and does not need to be ingested by insects. We used it in Houston for cockroaches (large and plentiful along the Gulf coast). But, it needs to be dry.

We used it because it was pet safe, as long as it is food grade DE (the DE used in some pool filters is not pet safe -- we had a DE pool filter, and had to keep that product away from pets, and avoid inhaling it ourselves).

Boric acid is another pet safe roach killer, but it is actually ingested by the roaches. It is an irritant that the roaches ingest while grooming themselves to remove it after they walk through it. I don't think getting it wet mattered, as long as it wasn't washed away by rain.

I don't know all the science behind this, but I know both of those treatments worked for us, and didn't pose a risk to our dogs.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

WOW! do you think that would work with DE? I sprinkle it on straight. But with the rain we've been having - why do I bother? If I were to spray a liquid powder and especially aim for the underside and undergrowth - what a difference that would make!

DE is good against many insects, but it blows of, and rains off plants very easily, unlike the kaolin clay compound, which sticks easily. Even with a spreader/sticker, DE is gone fairly quickly, and I'm not sure if using this would decrease its effectiveness. And, like CD said, you have to be sure to use DE that is food grade - the pool stuff often has chemicals in it.

 

[dragnlaw]

Of course, I've used DE for my chickens for many years. Also around the perimeter of the house for crawlies. And yes, of course I know how it works. It does wash off easily and must be dry to be effective. What I was wondering is if dissolved in water and sprayed - it would be easier to get "under" the leaves - but then when dry would it still be effective? I get it in 20kg bags.

 

[blissful]

I weeded the lettuce gardens except the purslane, I let that grow, threw buckets of water on them.
Weeded the peppers but there isn't much ground showing with landscape fabric so it only took 20 minutes.
Mr bliss picked 500 raspberries and we're close to having 6 liquid qts of those for jam or puree.
He pulled garlic doing most of the work, but I helped a little, just 200 bulbs, they look good. We'll pick the other 200 on another day. Grouped in 25s. We need to get the tarp up and then hang them for drying.
I pollinated both patches of tomatoes with a 1 inch trim paint brush.

 

[caseydog]

I finally looked up purslane. It is basically a weed. It is very healthy, and sustainable. But, none of the websites that extol its virtues talk about its taste.

I have never seen it in a restaurant, or at my local supermarket.

Does it taste good? To be more specific, does it taste good to non-vegans?

CD

 

[larry_stewart]

I finally looked up purslane. It is basically a weed. It is very healthy, and sustainable. But, none of the websites that extol its virtues talk about its taste.

I have never seen it in a restaurant, or at my local supermarket.

Does it taste good? To be more specific, does it taste good to non-vegans?

CD

It has a tanginess to it, a slightly okra like feels to it ( not slimy, but kinda has that feels). Wouldn't say its great, but can add a different texture and taste in a salad.

 

[blissful]

I finally looked up purslane. It is basically a weed. It is very healthy, and sustainable. But, none of the websites that extol its virtues talk about its taste.

I have never seen it in a restaurant, or at my local supermarket.

Does it taste good? To be more specific, does it taste good to non-vegans?

CD

It taste a little lemony and does not have bitterness, so I would say yes non-vegans would like it raw. (there are really vegans that dislike bitter greens, and non-vegans that like bitter greens, there's no generalizing with taste.)
It is often used in cooking, like steaming it with or as greens, very mild.
It is also called Verdolagas. https://foragerchef.com/category/wild-green-recipes/verdolagas-purslane/
It's like a succulent plant, leaves are thick, stems are often reddish. There is another weed that grows where purslane grows called spurge, it is not a succulent type, and it may have dots on the leaves-do not eat that. I weed out spurge.

edited to add: the first year I ate them I was tentative about it, only using a little. Then I started to use more and try to get it to grow more. The little flowers may have seeds, so shake off the purslane when picking it, so more grows. I pick the tender parts and leave the roots and stems. Some of my friends eat the stems and the roots. Purslane likes regular watering like most greens, the more the better for them.

@pepperhead212 To a 2 gallon sprayer, 3 cups of kaolin clay/surround, and how much potassium bicarbonate?

 

[pepperhead212]

Bliss, I put just a slightly heaping tb of potassium bicarbonate/gallon of water. I've seen as much as 2 tb recommended, so this wouldn't be too much, I figured.

A friend, that I've gotten into gardening these last few years, was growing purslane, and didn't know what it was! She just liked the appearance of it, and didn't realize that it was something edible. I grew it from seed, years ago, but didn't have great success with it, and wasn't thrilled with the flavor enough to try again.

 

[rodentraiser]

Let's hope she doesn't look out the window some evening to see a rabbit feasting on that carrot. But, I'm sure someone here has a good recipe for rabbit.

CD

Who needs rabbits when you have deer? I had another one get into the strawberries this time. I swear, I patch one hole and they find another way in. Luckily the strawberries weren't decimated like last time (and those are coming back) but still!

I was sitting looking at my lawn last night and it's like a giant green meadow (from where I sit, you can't see all the bare patches) surrounded by pine trees. I decided that instead of fencing off the whole yard, I'll just fence off the front third and make my vegetable garden there. Plenty of room there to raise corn, tomatoes, and strawberries, all I ever want to plant anyway. The rest of lawn, as opposed to just the back part of it, can be a meadow with wildflowers.

 

[caseydog]

It taste a little lemony and does not have bitterness, so I would say yes non-vegans would like it raw. (there are really vegans that dislike bitter greens, and non-vegans that like bitter greens, there's no generalizing with taste.)
It is often used in cooking, like steaming it with or as greens, very mild.
It is also called Verdolagas. https://foragerchef.com/category/wild-green-recipes/verdolagas-purslane/
It's like a succulent plant, leaves are thick, stems are often reddish. There is another weed that grows where purslane grows called spurge, it is not a succulent type, and it may have dots on the leaves-do not eat that. I weed out spurge.

edited to add: the first year I ate them I was tentative about it, only using a little. Then I started to use more and try to get it to grow more. The little flowers may have seeds, so shake off the purslane when picking it, so more grows. I pick the tender parts and leave the roots and stems. Some of my friends eat the stems and the roots. Purslane likes regular watering like most greens, the more the better for them.

@pepperhead212 To a 2 gallon sprayer, 3 cups of kaolin clay/surround, and how much potassium bicarbonate?

Sorry about the generalization, but the few vegan friends I have like some things that just don't work for me. Biggest example is tofu. I just can't stomach tofu.

I did read about the dangers of foraging purslane and picking spurge. Before I would do any foraging for anything, I'd want to see some serious credentials from whoever I am foraging with.

CD

 

[caseydog]

Who needs rabbits when you have deer? I had another one get into the strawberries this time. I swear, I patch one hole and they find another way in. Luckily the strawberries weren't decimated like last time (and those are coming back) but still!

I was sitting looking at my lawn last night and it's like a giant green meadow (from where I sit, you can't see all the bare patches) surrounded by pine trees. I decided that instead of fencing off the whole yard, I'll just fence off the front third and make my vegetable garden there. Plenty of room there to raise corn, tomatoes, and strawberries, all I ever want to plant anyway. The rest of lawn, as opposed to just the back part of it, can be a meadow with wildflowers.

Our lake house was in a National Forrest, so no fence allowed. We were only there a few days a month, so we didn't have a garden for food. The ornamental plants were all things deer did not like.

The deer liked our nice, mowed St. Augustine grass. It is very soft underfoot. We would sometimes sit quietly in the hot-tub in winter months at night and the deer would come into the yard, and lie down on the soft grass around us. We would watch them, and they would watch us.

The deer and our dogs even got used to each other, and would wander around the yard together.

CD

 

[taxlady]

BTW, rabbits don't like to eat carrots. They aren't even good for rabbits.

 

[dragnlaw]

I beg to differ - in the wild, you are correct in that they will not dig them up but they will certainly eat those tender green tops. Domestic rabbits love both the tops and the bottoms. Like any fresh vegetable restraint must be used. Rabbits are grazers eating leaves and grass pretty much all day. Domestics are fed pellets with hay and the fresh stuff are limited treats.

 

[caseydog]

BTW, rabbits don't like to eat carrots. They aren't even good for rabbits.

I have a doctor friend who does not concur with your opinion.

CD

 

[taxlady]

I have a doctor friend who does not concur with your opinion.

View attachment 69819

CD

That's exactly why everyone thinks that carrots are good for rabbits. At the time, it was in imitation of some movie star with a cigar, in a movie or movies. I believe it was Clark Gable.

 

[taxlady]

I beg to differ - in the wild, you are correct in that they will not dig them up but they will certainly eat those tender green tops. Domestic rabbits love both the tops and the bottoms. Like any fresh vegetable restraint must be used. Rabbits are grazers eating leaves and grass pretty much all day. Domestics are fed pellets with hay and the fresh stuff are limited treats.

I wasn't thinking of the green tops. I'm sure those are better for rabbits. But, when most people talk about giving carrots to rabbits, they mean the roots, not the leaves or they will usually say "carrot greens" or "carrot leaves".

 

[dragnlaw]

rodentraiser was concerned about her one carrot growing being eaten by a rabbit. Seeing as it would only be the tops showing - yes, she is correct in her concern.
They also will (and did) eat broccoli right to the ground, grrr. But left the brussel sprouts alone, Yah!!!