From faithful garden correspondent Marvel:
On any other plant, a fuzzy purple topknot would look goofy. On an artichoke? Regal.
Summer’s hitting its stride here in the Willamette Valley. We’re enjoying a lovely, lively mix of hot dry days and mild sunny ones.
We’re eating, pickling, canning and freezing a bunch. Potatoes, corn, beans, cukes, zukes and onions are piling up on the drainboard; almost done stealing the last of the sweet blueberries from their bushes and getting ready to position small baskets to catch the plums and early pears (not really — I wish it were that easy!). We’ve been busy rebuilding/reconditioning planting beds as soon as their occupants are ready to give up their yummy, veggie goods — the race is on to finish up all extraneous chores before the Tomato Tide (whose participants have grown large and are just barely starting to show color) inundate us.
To that end, we got the last of our Fall/Winter garden (kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, spinach) planted this week, including a second sowing of some wonderful shelling peas (“Wando”) that do OK in the heat of Summer.
***********
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
raven
Spectacular Marvel! This has been a crummy year for tomatoes. The varmints have been eating ours before they ripen and the one’s at the farmers market just don’t have the normal great taste. I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. We’ll be losing our kitchen for three weeks tomorrow so we’ve boxed everything up and will live the fridge and microwave in the hall. Makes us not as worried about the garden this year.
Another Holocene Human
Um. Wow.
satby
Wow Marvel! It all looks great!
Tomatoes are doing lousy here in MI too, at least in my corner of it. I have one smaller tomato that’s ripening on the vine in a hanging pot unless a critter got it last night, and a few small green ones on my spindly vines. I fought the blight to a draw and it doesn’t look like it will be worth the effort. But, we have all the way until Thursday before the next predicted rain, and hot sunny days till then, so maybe I will get some progress on the tomato front.
Tommy
I’ve said here a few times that in the 4 years I’d had a garden I’ve had some epic fails. Also many here have provided me input that has help me not have said epic fails. It is hard for me to think of something I’ve done in recent years where I learned by doing more than gardening.
It it like everything came together this year. I can’t keep up with all the food I have. Planted cucumbers this year and they quickly were taking over the entire garden. I put in these stakes to let him grow vertically and they are producing things almost the size of footballs.
My basil is growing so well. I didn’t know how to use it all. So I went to this thing called Google and Goolged “what to do with extra Basil” and found how simple it is to make Basil butter. I made a ton of it and used it last night for the first time. Rubbed it all over a cornish hen I baked and it was about the best thing I’ve ate in a long time.
Oh about to have breakfast in a few and all it is going to be is a half bagel and tomatoes I just picked. A plate of tomatoes!
Tommy
@satby: I wonder about rain and my garden. I’ve got this rain barrel I use to water my garden. Most years/days I need to do it daily. This year we’ve had so much rain I almost don’t water at all. That is the only variable that is different this year.
As I said in another comment my garden this year is off the chart in production. The only change is natural rain vs. me watering the garden. I tend to over think things, analyze, but I have to think maybe Mother Nature vs. me watering the garden is a good thing. Well that and we’ve had much more mild temps.
OzarkHillbilly
As usual, beautiful garden Marvel. Raining right now.Supposed to be dry the rest of the week. We’ll see.
Tomatoes out the yin yang for me. The Robesons have slowed down. Same with the Granny Cantrells, Ozark and Amish paste. But the Green Zebras are picking up the slack and what a tomato it is! The color of the flesh is a bright lime green, very meaty, and the flavor is wonderful. All the other tomatoes just keep plugging along. Already have 6 pts of salsa, 7 pts of fire roasted, and 7 pts of diced tomatoes put up. Gonna make some more salsa this week.
The beans have hit their summer doldrums. I a few weeks they should pick up for one final burst of production, then die. I have fought the flea beetles to a draw and the eggplants taste even better than they look. On the other hand, the squash bugs are winning a slow war of attrition. The hot peppers are plugging along and the sweet peppers… Look better but no production to speak of.
I still haven’t prepped the beds for the Brussels Sprouts plus the other fall plantings. This week….
Anne Laurie
@raven: Laurel of Laurel’s Heirloom Tomatoes says too much moisture will ruin the flavor of even the best tomatoes. I was always in the “too much water is better than too little” school, especially since all my tomatoes are in containers & therefore very susceptible to drying out. But two years ago I finally bought a cheap water meter, and made an earnest effort not to drown my vines… and it does make a difference, at least to my palate!
So maybe all the rain you guys are getting has led to “watery”, less flavorful tomatoes?
Schlemazel
Beautiful bounty Marvel! I don’t think I have ever seen the plant that produces artichokes, if I had I would have thought it was a weed. Thanks for sharing.
raven
@Anne Laurie: yup
Tommy
So not garden related ….
For the first time in my life, and I’ve been on a computer since 1983, I bought some reconditioned toner for my printer. The price was about 80% off what I’d pay in a store. The guy on eBay had stellar ratings so I figured why not see if it works.
I just put one in and my printer actually has a text message come up saying this isn’t an “official” Epson cartridge and do I want to continue?
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: Wow, they’re slick.
You know they tried to go after the knock off reverse-engineered cartridges under DMCA? Fucking Congress. If the Founding Fathers could see what our Congress has done with patents and copyright they’d be going Preston Fucking Brooks on some critturs’ asses.
Randy P
@Tommy: Yep. The HP printer used to thank me for using an “official” HP cartridge. So I gather that using unofficial cartridges is pretty common.
I’ve never tried anything other than the name brand, so I don’t know how well they work.
Gardenwise, we’ve got our usual modest tomato crop. Nothing spectacular.
JPL
@Tommy: An easy way to add basil to your dishes all year is to cut fresh basil and place in ice cube trays. Fill with water and when frozen, store in zip loc bags. You can then use the cubes to add to soups and sauces.
Marvel, beautiful pictures and I’m envious of your garden. MY tomatoes are slow to ripen but the peppers are doing great.
Tommy
@Another Holocene Human: I just went to print a doc to see if it works and I get a ton more warnings.
It cost me $18 to buy a black cartridge (I almost always print greyscale). I paid 3 bucks for these. I am not normally a bargain shopper or a coupon clipping guy. But that is a fair amount of money.
Sorry Epson you just lost a customer.
Germy Shoemangler
We’ve been having blight problems with our tomatoes. The snap peas are fine, the flowers are happy.
Now we pick the tomatoes just as they start turning red, right before the blight gets them, and let them ripen inside.
Saw this headline:
President Obama addresses gay rights during Kenyan visit
How disgusted the repubs must be!
debbie
Is that what the fuzzy artichoke heart turns into?
Nicole
@Tommy: I use the knockoffs. My printer tries to guilt trip me every time, but they work just fine.
Tommy
@Germy Shoemangler: To lazy to Google it, but what causes blight? Heat? This has been the most mild summer where I live in a generation or two. My garden seems to like it not being 100 each day :). Highs are in the low 90s but the huge different is it is dipping into the high 60s at night. Totally unheard of this time of the year.
debbie
@Tommy:
Just like every kind of pollen assaulting us at once last spring. Misery.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: It is a soil born fungus. Gets on the plants from rain splashing mud up onto them.
Kay
I love that artichokes are giant thistles. That photo is amazing.
Over my near-lifetime of gardening (I started when I was 8, with watermelons) I’ve gone from growing 100% vegetables to 95% flowers. My vegetable garden is at this point not a vegetable garden at all. It’s a flower/herb garden with 9 vegetable plants in it.
Tommy
@Kay: Oh I totally understand the flower thing. I am 46 and only had a garden the last four years. Total newbie. I still get the child on X-Mas day face when I go out and there is something for me to pick.
But flowers. I have pretty grand plans for next year.
My little rural town a few years ago built a $60M highschool. They built it behind the old one and when done, tore the old school down. There are acres and acres out front of it. Instead of laying down sod they put in wild flowers and this type of grass that is local, but we all just killed off when Europeans got here, killed all the Indians, burned said grass, and started to grow corn by the metric mile.
I recall when my dad first saw it he said, “can your town not afford to mow their lawns?” I am like dad it is supposed to be that way. He is like “I don’t like it.” I said “didn’t think you would but I do.” When I then told him I was thinking of doing that with part of my yard I think he had a mini-stroke right before my eyes :).
p.a.
@Tommy: My printer is a Cannon, and it’s strictly for personal use, so I use the knockoff ink. B&W is ok, color is meh. I have not printed photos in a long time. If/when I do it will be with Cannon ink. The printer also can’t read the ink level of the knockoffs; so if my printing were for business use I would stay with the Cannon ink.
Tommy
@p.a.: Not tried the color cartridges yet. The b/w is close to perfect, said as a dude that used to work at ad agencies and where I had entire print production departments at my disposal. I can be a little anal about this stuff and I am frankly stunned I waited this long and wasted so much money.
satby
@Tommy: Rain is far superior to supplemental watering normally, but parts of the Midwest and around raven’s area of the south have had way more rain than normal, and that’s not good either. The rivers and smaller lakes around here are the highest levels I’ve ever seen and parts of some fields are flooded though drying out too late to save what’s planted there. It veers from too topically hot and humid to too cool for this time of year.
The weather has just gotten a bit erratic for the crops. Some years are like that. I noticed that the farmer’s market tomatoes aren’t much better than hothouse ones this year too. But I have big hopes for the fruit harvest.
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: I find Brother is the cheapest per page. And monoprice does offer a knockoff, haven’t tried that yet.
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: Flowers stuff my sinuses up. I’ll be glad when they’re gone.
And I’ve come to see butterflies as annoying bugs. /curmudgeon
Tommy
@satby: I am a part of that midwest that had a ton of rain. So bad at a time I installed a second sump pump. It has rained here so much, and it is raining how, I can’t really explain.
Maybe it is because I have raised beds and I made my own soil, because if I believe what I read on the web sites I looked to, it is very poreist on purpose.
The big difference I notice this year is this. In every year I had a garden the plants always grew and grew. But didn’t flower or produce that much yield. Now I find myself having to prop up parts of plants because they are producing so much food they are falling to the ground under the weight.
I guess that is a good problem to have :)!!!!!!!
JPL
@Another Holocene Human: Wow.. You are a curmudgeon.
@satby: I’m just north of Atlanta and it’s been hot and humid with little rain.
My water bill just came yesterday and it was 150.00. I’m on septic so at least that’s not added in.
JPL
@satby: My son is getting married next April. I still haven’t decided on favors for the rehearsal dinner. How much time do you need if I choose soaps for about fifty?
scav
Garden here is awaiting the Great Bleeding Hearts Migration. Thinnings of the existing very happy lot and then five newbies (many holes dug yesterday). Tomato status here rated “coping” but a salad was certainly managed last night. The local sit. isn’t as vegetatively exuberant as Marvel’s Willamett Valley, but we are within sight of having the entire back lot regained from abandon and newly kempt. With new tools to play with! <gleefully and possibly rudely waving a diamond hoe>
Bobby B.
@satby: Yes, the weather has gotten a bit erratic for crops. Cut down our greenhouse emmissions or human sacrifice to appease the angry gods?
Tommy
@Another Holocene Human: You are about to yell “get off my lawn.” Isn’t that one step away :).
I don’t have that problem with flowers but I think I have enough empathy to understand why you might not be a fan. A few years ago my house flooded and I didn’t realize for a few months I had mold. It messed with my sinuses for the first time in my life and I HATED every second of it.
Now this is maybe my metrosexual male self talking but I can’t imagine a room that is not far better off with some flowers in it. I spend a ton of money on flowers each month. Now I might think/believe I could grow them myself. Well I am giddy at the thought.
OzarkHillbilly
@Bobby B.: Human sacrifice. Too damn many of them anyway.
Tommy
@OzarkHillbilly: What worries me is I might be on the list.
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: Hey, you go on with your bad self. I probably spend way too much time perusing Apartment Therapy and among people who have their shit together, you are in good company with your cut flower loving.
I think they’re pretty and liven up a room, but both my parents had bad allergies, I have bad allergies (and migraines), and while I’m not technically allergic to flower pollen it does cause irritation. (And as flowers age in the vase they tend to grow some mold/mildew which I am super allergic to.) I’m lucky I can cohabit with this cat with minimal issues.
I have succulents and cacti in the house. Two other air quality plants got banished because apparently they resembled grass too much.
I like peace lilies but my cat killed the last one. (Which my late grandmother gave me–f***ing cat!)
Tommy
@Bobby B.: Years ago my parents moved into the house my great-grandfather built. These are huge houses. From the front to the back, an entire city block.
Soon after they moved in the house next to them went up for auction, an elder mab. They bought it and then tore it down. Planted grass and flowers.
I was like that might be viewed as kind of a liberal thing. Dad was like we could afford to do it and we don’t have to worry who might move in.
I am like you recalamed some green space. Drive down the street and there are all these huge houses. Only one area that isn’t houses. Just a bench dad and mom sit on every day and chat.
Another Holocene Human
Heh, I was at work one day and getting the worst fucking headache before I finally realized that this giant flower arrangement was sitting on the counter. I moved that bad boy and my headache cleared right up! (It was for a coworker … wouldn’t put it past her to have had it delivered to herself, lol. But she also used to flirt with clients and it could have been one of them. She doesn’t work here anymore, let’s just put it that way.)
Another Holocene Human
I posted upthread but nobody responded, so general question: any tips or tricks for an indoor mold hunt?
I have laminate floors, A/C set to 75 but it seems to pour more into my bedroom than near the actual thermostat.
Blinds on windows, try to open during the day. Going to install light block curtains but this kind kind of worrying me now.
Some stuff on the floor. I am concerned this is collecting moisture.
Next to a bathroom that is seeing moderate usage.
WTF is going on. Help.
Another Holocene Human
PS: temps have been in high 90s to over 100 and very very humid and frequent rain for weeks.
Kay
@Tommy:
Flowers are less demanding then vegetables and I don’t want to stay here every summer weekend now. I also just love flowers.
I think it’s hard for people to give up the idea of an expanse of lawn because we’re so accustomed to it and it really does set off trees, flower beds, etc. The consistent green backdrop is part of the picture. I always push for groups of trees because they’re lovely and require so little care if they’re the right tree in the right place and the more trees the less lawn, right? :)
Tommy
@Another Holocene Human: Apartment Therapy is a site I visit almost daily. So you have me pegged.
I have a few things I’d like to grow in my house. But my cat. Amazing how destructive she is to plants.
I got two things from my grandmother’s garden, which could have been featured in a magazine. Japanese Maples. We put them on a flat bed and took them to my house. They are beauty.
Tommy
@Another Holocene Human: Mold. Pay a profession. My father can take apart and put a car back together. We had to hire a professional on this.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tommy: If you are, your problems are over.
bemused
@Tommy:
I love, love basil and plant a lot of it. I freeze the excess in quart freezer bags and crumble basil into pasta sauces, on pizza, etc over the winter. It can get a bit freeze dried by the end of winter but still usable.
Nicole
I love thistles. I remember when I got married, the florist, whom I picked because she grew most of her own flowers rather than ordering them, made a suggestion about the bouquet design I asked for. I had given her a picture that featured a couple of large roses in the center of wildflowers, and she said while she could order roses she had another idea. I remember we got on a golf cart and rode across her property to the side of the road, where she pointed out some very large, lovely pink thistles and suggested we use those instead. I thought it was a great idea and asked what kind of thistles they were. She laughed and told me she didn’t know the real name, but that they were nicknamed “bull balls.”
satby
@JPL: a month max for something completely customized, it depends as much on the packaging as it does the soap, because I usually have to order it in the colors of the wedding party. Lots of times the bride has picked a color I don’t have enough of.
Edited to add, that includes a shipping lead time of a week. So 4 weeks from order to in your hands.
JPL
@satby: Thanks.
satby
@Tommy: yeah, raised beds can act a lot like pots; depending on the soil mix the water doesn’t pool in them to drown the plants. The bad thing is you should rotate crops in them every year or blight becomes more likely.
Pogonip
Shaper-upperers, I don’t even want to discuss my week. How about we discuss yours instead?
satby
@Another Holocene Human: one word: Singulair. Normally prescribed for asthma, especially allergic asthma like I have, but also used for seasonal allergies. That stuff made living with my scads of allergies so much better I almost feel most days like I don’t have allergies at all. Doesn’t work for everyone, but if it works for you it’s life-changing.
WaterGirl
Wow, Marvel. So nice to see a happy garden. Everything in my flower garden was great until about 3 weeks ago and now everything looks tired. I am watering and fertilizing but nothing seems to help. And of course I have family coming to visit from colorado just when everything looks blah. I have put a lot of effort into my flower garden this year so I am sad that it is looking so bleak when my gardening sister will see it for the first time after the tree crashed on everything two years ago
My peppers are doing great and my tomatoes are doing pretty well except for the fact that my two pups are total tomato thieves. I have hardly gotten any of my SunGold cherry tomatoes, but they are enjoying them so I guess there’s that!
Discouraged today because the dreaded squash beetles have appeared.
Now I’ll go back and look at your happy photos again and read the garden thread and hope for some good cheer to rub off on me. :-)
JPL
This is good news for Bush.. nbc.com.. depends on the meaning of good news
Trump leads the Republican presidential field in New Hampshire, getting support from 21 percent of potential GOP primary voters. He’s followed by Jeb Bush at 14 percent, Scott Walker at 12 percent and John Kasich at 7 percent.
In Iowa, Walker and Trump are in the Top 2 – with Walker at 19 percent among potential Republican caucus-goers and Trump at 17 percent. They’re followed by Bush at 12 percent, Carson at 8 percent, Mike Huckabee at 7 percent and Rand Paul at 5 percent.
satby
@bemused: you can make basil salt (any herb salt, really). Take the fresh basil and bury it in salt of your choosing. The salt will dry the basil while absorbing the flavor and volatile oils. When the basil is dry, crumble it into the salt and package it to use for cooking or on dishes as appropriate.
I made both basil and rosemary salt that way, I hardly ever use salt anyway so these are a nice added flavor when I do.
Pogonip
Since this topic started with artichokes, I shall seize the opportunity to tell the world’s worst, and possibly only, artichoke joke.
The Mafia fired a hit man named Artie because he was inept: murdering the wrong person, leaving shell casings all over the crime scene, letting the getaway car run out of gas, you name it. Artie kept pleading to be reinstated, and finally the Godfather said, ” All right, Artie, Mr. Smith, the grocery store manager, keeps refusing to pay his protection money, so I’ll let you assassinate him, pour encourager les autres. But,” the Godfather adds sternly, “this is strictly a trial assignment, so I’m only going to pay you one dollar.”
Well, it’s a foot in the door, so Artie agrees and hustles off to the grocery with a length of rope. He corners an employee behind a pyramid of canned green beans and strangles him. Then he realizes–oops, wrong guy. Gotta be more careful if I want my job back. So he lurks until the manager comes over and then kills him. He’s preparing to make his escape when the stockboy comes over. Artie kills him too, since he’s a witness. Then Artie starts to flee–and a cop walks up.
The next day’s headline: ” Artie Chokes Three For A Dollar At Safeway.”
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Cool idea.
Amir Khalid
@Pogonip:
I heard that joke from a friend in school — oh, decades ago. It’s a classic. There should be more artichoke jokes.
OzarkHillbilly
So the kitten now has a name: Mr Joe. I am so screwed.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Do share pictures. The Juicitariat needs to conduct the usual assessment of your level of kitteh-screwedness.
Kay
@JPL:
I know they all think they can get a handle on this or “time” will take care of it but I don’t know- he’s really becoming the central focus of the GOP side. He’s setting this up so he’s the standard-bearer. I love how he’s revealing what is probably considered “insidery stuff” to his fans because they consider themselves anti-establishment – how GOP politicians contact him, etc. Yesterday he said this about Scott Walker:
I bet his audience just eats this up because he’s letting them into the magic circle, you know what I mean? He’s telling them “this is what goes on with powerful people behind your back and I’m the only one who will tell you about it”. I think THAT’S what’s threatening about him. No one is supposed to mention that Scott Walker is performing like a trained seal for donors or that there are “insiders” who get visits from the great man himself. I don’t think he intends to pull the curtain back but that’s what he’s doing.
satby
@Kay: The problem is that Trump’s base like that things work that way because they all think they’ll be the one that will leverage their own contacts to riches some day.
Kind of like how they vote against reasonable tax rates and estate taxes because they will be rich one day. Pure fantasy.
redshirt
@Another Holocene Human:
I’m no pro on the subject, but I have dealt with indoor mold in a crucial spot a couple of times, so here’s my tips. This is all pretty common sense stuff..
1. Lift and move everything you suspect might harbor mold – pictures, framing, wallpaper, etc.. Mold can get anywhere and if it remains, it will return.
2. Buy a mold remover, a mask and gloves, and get working. Rub down all surfaces suspected of harboring mold. Hard, nasty work. Do it again.
3. Once you feel confident mold has been removed, ensure it does not return by both reducing sources of moisture and enabling sufficient air-flow in the area. This might mean installing a dehumidifier and fan system.
MomSense
Beautiful garden, Marvel! It is raining hard today so I won’t be able to work in the garden. Last night was so cold I was tempted to turn on the furnace. I really hope we are not going to have an early end to summer weather since we already had a late start.
redshirt
@MomSense: Maine weather really sucks.
My poor 23 year old sister chose this weekend for a huge party at our camp in Belgrade and she had 11 young people crammed in that shack and it must be miserable. Bad luck.
redshirt
And speaking of mold, I shudder to think what is beneath the rug of that camp – the same rug that’s been there since 1986 and never been cleaned, and which has absorbed all manner of fluids over the decades. Yuck.
MomSense
@redshirt:
At least their body heat is keeping them warm.
So was yesterday the official start to open carry madness? All the gun nuts were out.
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
The sum total of my experience with the kind of mold infestation you’re talking about: almost bought a seventeenth-century farm-house a few years ago; it was the mold in the cellar that put the kibosh on that idea PDQ.
Tips or tricks? Hire a professional if it’s not too late; or if it is, move out.
bemused
@satby:
Another great idea for basil!
satby
@redshirt:
I assume you mean using bleach solution or a mold remover.
redshirt
@satby: Yes of course.
satby
@bemused: A lot of site with recipes say to dry the herbs first, because you need to be sure it dessicates in the salt and doesn’t get moldy. I hang them upside down on the deck to dry for a few days, then I just use about 1/4 cup herb per cup of salt (usually Morton’s Kosher) and stir it or shake it if it’s in Gladware every other day.
Works great. Leftover semi dried herbs you can just leave hanging till they’re ready to crumble and keep in a jar for cooking.
Edited to add my deck gets strong sun 1/2 the day. Otherwise dehydrators work too.
gelfling545
Lovely garden, Marvel. Garden envy strikes again even though I know I could not use that amount of produce or maintain that amount of space. Just lovely.
I have the sprinkler running on the front garden for the first time this year. We’ve had a lot of rain so watering has mostly been confined to pots but it’s going to be near 90 today & no rain expected until Thurs. So far we have been fortunate with moderate heat (high 70’s to low 80’s) & relatively low humidity on the hot days. Nice for people but the tomatoes are sulking. Flower garden has been great with no mildew on phlox or lilac for once.
I was spying on the goldfish in the pond this am & they are getting quite large what with gorging on mosquito larvae, the by-product of our wet weather.
Today I’m not doing much in the garden besides watering, reading and sitting with my iced tea. I’ve got a new Fine Gardening magazine & I’m re-reading Mapp & Lucia. Then I’m going to dinner at my daughter’s as a celebration of my 65th birthday which was on Fri. I’ve has my gift already. My daughters took me to Disney World in May for Garden Week (& also Star Wars Week-end).
redshirt
@MomSense: True. And I’m sure the alcohol and drugs helped too.
Kids these days – this sister and her boyfriend and friends openly smoke weed in front of my father and it just shocks me everytime I see it. I had to go to such elaborate lengths to conceal my drug use back in the day!
As for the gun nuts, I see people open carrying on a fairly regular basis already so I doubt I’ll see any change. I’m in the hinterlands.
Steeplejack
Oh, to be in Paris. A rainy afternoon, temp in the low 60s, and the last stage of the Tour de France is just getting started (live now on NBC Sports, will be shown at 3:00 p.m. EDT on NBC). Even if you don’t care much about cycling—and who does, really?—the scenery is gorgeous.
WereBear
It was self-defense. ALL bulb plants are poisonous to cats.
satby
@gelfling545: Happy Belated Birthday!
satby
@redshirt: didn’t see the mold remover in your original post.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Pictures please. I would love to have a cat but I don’t think he pup would do well with a small animal in the house.
Any tips on how to get a dog to stop barking at everything? She barks more in one day than my lab did in his whole life.
satby
@redshirt: It’s the emerging legality of weed. Back in the day it was the reefer madness gateway to heroin drug, now it’s the banal alternative to alcohol.
Pogonip
@Amir Khalid: How true! This would be a better world with more artichoke jokes.
Pogonip
Tomato growers in rainy areas, our local bird-cage liner just published an article about late blight. The symptoms are low to no yield and bottom leaf yellowing. Don’t compost the infected leaves or let them touch ground because that will spread the blight; put them in the household trash. The article did not address burning the leaves.
WereBear
Some dogs have “sentry” genes. Labs do not.
The best way to handle it is to pay attention to the dog and help her distinguish between things she should alert you to (and there should be some… she sees this as her job) and things she can ignore. She is actually asking for your help in this regard.
As a side note, people make terrible barkers of their lap dogs by ignoring their attempts to be watchdogs… but that is what they are. The small Tibetan breeds are wonderful companion animals, for instance, but their other, as important, purpose was to alert the Tibetan mastiffs.
Who would rouse themselves from their needed rest to take care of most problems.
Petorado
@Tommy:
If you have lots of extra basil, a cool thing to do is to turn it into pesto and freeze into small cubes in ice trays. Grind up all the ingredients, except the cheese, freeze, and then put the cubes into freezer ziplock bags. When you want to use it, slowly thaw the cubes in a small pan and add the grated romano/ parmesan right before serving. It’s amazing to have the fresh taste of summer in the middle of winter and, frozen as small cubes, you can thaw out just a few for pesto chicken when you need it.
redshirt
@satby:
No doubt. At the same time, though, I worry about how brazen they are because weed is still quite illegal in some place and these kids show no compunction to hide or obscure it. Guarantee they fly with weed and don’t go to great lengths to conceal it. That way trouble lies…
MomSense
@WereBear:
That is helpful. She is definitely on alert all the time at home. When we are out and about she doesn’t get riled up unless a person or dog is too forward with my youngest son. Then she gets right in front of him and asserts herself. She does not like adults or dogs approaching him. She has no problem with children approaching.
Pogonip
@WereBear: The only two ways I have ever found to make a dog stop barking are 1) Feed it–you can’t bark with your mouth full, and with luck it’ll forget about whatever it was barking at 2) Stand beside the dog and start barking along with it; it’ll be so surprised it’ll stop barking. These are not permanent solutions. 1 will result in a very fat dog, and eventually the shock value of 2 will wear off and the dog will happily bark along with you.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Another Holocene Human: If it is mold, then the AC should help (by removing water from the air). If it’s not helping enough, you could try adding a small dehumidifier to take out even more water from the air (but it will heat the air some too, so the AC will have to work a little harder).
I recently got one of these for our basement to replace a Whirlpool that died after 10+ years. It works well, is more efficient than the old one, and is fairly quiet (mainly only hear air-rushing noises).
If your AC has the option to run the indoor fan all the time (rather than only when the compressor is running), try that too. It helps keep air moving and evens things out.
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@satby:
I actually think it works a little differently. Conservative politicians include conservative voters in the “good” group- it’s not that they could be in that group- they set it up as “we’re the successful hard-working people”. It’s inclusive. I think that’s why some conservative voters are genuinely baffled when liberals say they are excluding people. They hear it as “come along with Mitt Romney who is a good person, just like you”.
It matters where you’re standing. They assume they’re IN the accepted group already which is why they don’t see it as mean or narrow. Liberals work almost opposite. If they’re IN they’re looking OUT.
I just think it could be fascinating if it continues because Trump could be both campaigning and doing this weird running commentary on GOP politicians. He’s both observing and involved. They very rarely break down that wall.
JMT
Were Bear, check out this article by Pat Miller on barking and teaching a ‘positive interrupt’ cue:
JMT
Ugh, that didn’t work: try http://www.peaceablepaws.com/articles.php?subaction=showfull&id=1282172569&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&type=Pat
Kay
@satby:
That’s where “silent majority” and “center-Right” nation come from, right? Their belief that they both define the standard and are always, always inside it. You’re just insisting on feeling like you’re not a part of their norm because you’re stubborn and “demanding” special treatment! :)
Tommy
You know the world is a pretty cool place. I like this type of music call dubstep. From Wikipedia and I had no idea it was a London type of music, just have it running on Pandora.
My point is all I have to do is hit a button and I can listen to this music. Curated for me. There is a lot of things wrong in this world, but I can get some of these happy joys is not one of them.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Pogonip: Not the only artichoke joke, if you watched The Little Rascals/Our Gang comedies.
The kids want a snack and their mothers have all told them to go outside and play, and no they can’t have a cookie, so they decide to go door-to-door begging. They split up and are given a lot of things, but not cookies or cake. One of the kids, the one called Stymie, goes to the door of a fancy house and the nice lady inside gives him an artichoke. He contemplates it for a while and then pronounces that “it may choke Artie but it’s not gonna choke Stymie”.
WereBear
@JMT: EXCELLENT article, covering a lot of potential territory. I had seen a pic of Momsense’s puppy, so I was able to offer the most likely reason for her barking behavior, based on the breeds I saw lurking there.
I so wish people would give five freakin’ minutes of thought to the kind of dog that would fit their wishes and lifestyle. Especially people who insist the dog have “papers!” and get a high-intensity purebred when what they really want is a laid-back mix who would be 800 times less trouble.
Tommy
@Pogonip: This may sound strange. My cat is very vocal. If she wants cleaner water. Wet food. Often I don’t know what she wants. She makes a lot of noise.
At one time I tried to mimic her noise. She ran to me that second. Again I feel kind of dumb saying this but I can kind of speak cat. Or at least howl like them.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Cervantes: We were shopping for a mountain cabin and saw a very attractive cottage, built in the 1930s or 40s, offered at a decent price. The kitchen had the original mahogany countertops, nice original paneling in the living room, pretty wood floors, river rock fireplace, etc. It needed a bit of work but nothing overwhelming.
We really liked what we saw, and the place even had a garage; it may have been built as a primary residence originally. We opened the garage door and were greeted by a surreal scene that disabused us of any notion of buying the place: I’ve never seen fungus so huge in my life nor so much of it in one place, never imagined it could grow three feet tall. This stuff was black and not just on the floors but climbing up the walls of the garage.
I don’t think the realtor we were working with had seen this place before because of her reaction of disgust.
Tommy
@WereBear: How do I say this? A guy from high school friended me on Facebook and he runs a dog rescue thing. I was in high school in the early 80s and that is where I know him from. I called his unit yesterday and said I want a dog. Never had one. I want one. The person I got on the phone told me nope, no dog for you.
I felt I could adopt a human child easier than I could a dog.
Amir Khalid
@Tommy:
Cats are very vocal with humans. They have to be; we tend not to understand their body language as well as other cats do.
redshirt
I have a pet theory maybe based on some science I read once that household mold has a far larger and pernicious influence on our physical and mental health than anyone realizes. It’s all around us and it’s likely you’ve been breathing it in in some quantities your entire life.
Tommy
@Amir Khalid: Me and my cat commicate.
WereBear
@Tommy: Gee, why? You work at home, you have a happy cat, and lots of income. I don’t know why they would react that way to you.
Now, a good place would fuss about getting a cat loving dog for you and stuff like that.
Amir Khalid
@Tommy:
That is a part of any healthy interpersonal relationship, even when the persons involved are not the same species.
Mary G
Your garden continues to amaze me, Marvel!
@Tommy: This happened to me, too. I wasn’t considered qualified to adopt a 10-pound poodle/terrier mix because I am in a wheelchair. Some “rescue” groups seem more like animal hoarders than anything – they don’t think anyone but them can possibly take good enough care of their charges and find excuses not to let go of any of them.
WereBear
Very true. But it’s counter-productive. It’s a necessary swing of the pendulum away from the old days, when someone could scrawl across the paper that they were going to kill the animal and eat it, and no one would care. But now they have gone too far in the other direction. There’s isn’t any room for new rescues, and there will always be new rescues.
debbie
@satby:
Also basil butter.
stinger
@MomSense: Teach her to bark on command; i.e., encourage her to bark and promptly reward her. Then, “No-no,” and/or wait until she’s silent, then encourage barking and reward, repeat. When she understands it’s something she does when you want her to (and only then), you can start teaching her the types of occasions when she should bark (stranger at the door, etc.)
bemused
@Tommy:
Our two cats are sisters. One has a teeny, tiny meow, barely audible and doesn’t do it often. The other one never shuts up unless she’s eating or napping. She was very ill after we picked them up from a shelter, too weak to even make a sound and we almost lost her. We think she has been making up for that ever since.
MomSense
@stinger:
That is a good suggestion, too. We’ve been trying to distract her with search games or a brief command session. She really likes to learn voice and hand commands and learns quickly.
The peace paws article was excellent. We have a herding dog and her increased barking coincides with her charge (youngest kid) home more now that school is on summer break. She really does have a protector relationship with him. She sleeps at his feet every night and can’t stand having him out of her sight.
I’m thinking I may ask the trainer to come over and work with my son and the dog to see if she can give us some new techniques. She is such a dog whisperer. It’s amazing to see her work and she likes my pup a lot because she lives to learn new things.
WereBear
I love the bright ones… even though they can outwit us.
But then, I adore the logic challenged ones, too. One of my favorite cats had actual brain damage from rotten genetics, but he was adorable.
SWMBO
@Mary G: @WereBear: Go to the pound. I went to the pound just to “look” and wanted a dachshund. They had 3 there. One was a lactating mom (whose person showed up to rescue her), one was a gray faced old dog with a paralyzed back end and the other was this mahogany colored spitfire that basically said “today’s my last day! Where have you been? Can you get me out of here before I go into THE ROOM?!” They would only take cash (1996) so I ran out to get enough money to get him. He was the great doggie love of my husband’s life. They adored each other. The pound wants to know if you’re going to walk them, if you have a fenced yard and if you have other pets. They send them off with minimal background check. I have been there when they have dozens of dogs dying for a good home. Our local pound can’t find homes for them all and have to euthanize thousands every year. They call local rescue groups if they get a purebred dog in that they think can be rehomed. Tell them what you’re looking for and they will do their best to match you up with a dog. Have a vet that you can use for a reference (“This is the one I’m taking Spot to.”) Our pound has a 30 day return policy as well. If the dog doesn’t work out, they take them back and try to find them another home. Sparky was returned to the pound before we got him because he didn’t do well with small children. We had teenagers and he did ok with them. He lasted until 2009 and brain cancer got him. I still miss that little bastard.
Another Holocene Human
@satby: I’m already on it! Before Singulair my lungs were filling up with fluid.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
I’m late to the party, as usual. Wanted to say to Marvel that your garden is wonderful.
We are lagging behind you a bit; the tomatoes are teasing us right now, with a ripe one every other day, but a tsunami of tomatoes is lurking on the overgrown monster plants, and now we have to admit that we planted too many of them. So far Early girl, Super Fantastic, Sungold (a cherry type), Juliet (small roma type), and Manitoba are the ones giving us fruit, but there are so many huge green tomatoes on the vines that are just starting to change color that the weight is pulling all of the cages down.
I promise never to fill in the blank spots in a new rose garden with tomato plants ever again, amen.
Anne Laurie
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne):
Ha, and I’ve got half a dozen rose bushes in rootpouches amid my tomatoes, waiting for me to figure out where I can plant them…
The good thing about excess tomatoes — there’s very few people will turn down the offer of fresh home-grown tomatoes. If they ripen too fast for you to roast or freeze, you could become the most popular neighbor on the block!
Cliff Wirt
Very nice picture of the artichoke flowers.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Anne Laurie:I have noticed no reluctance from the neighbors with regard to a gift of tomatoes. The only thing anyone resists is squash. I only planted one zucchini this year and we have stayed ahead of it so far, but there is about to be a zucchinapocalypse very soon. There are only so many days in a row that you can eat zucchini bread, zucchini in pasta sauce, sautéed zucchini, or pickled zucchini. The last a was an experiment; dropped some pieces into a pickle jar that was nearly finished and the next day they were pickles. They may turn to mush very quickly, though.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Anne Laurie: We will have to replace almost every tomato cage next year. The tomatoes reacted to our heat waves by growing into huge plants that are now toppling over and threatening to bury the last row of corn and others are trying to bury the rose bushes. It’s really bad.