Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Pacific Northwest Bounty, Part 2

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Pacific Northwest Bounty, Part 2

by | 96 Comments

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Following on from master gardener / correspondent OpieJeanne‘s post last week:

We built a trellis to grow pumpkins vertically, and now the bigger ones are stylishly clothed in pantyhose.

Canteloupe

Canteloupe in pantyhose

Musque de Provence

Cinderella pumpkin

Marina di Chioggia

***********

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I’ve tried a couple different trellises for various winter squashes and was never really happy with any of them. This one is far more open. I’m tempted to give it a try next year.

  8. 8.

    satby

    What a brilliant idea to support and protect them! I never would have thought of that. Haven’t with pantyhose in probably 20 years either ?

  12. 12.

    satby

    I just want to thank everyone who kicked in on last night’s thread to help our rescue’s kitten Sammy. He’s not out of the woods, but if he doesn’t develop an infection he should make it. And we’ll be very sure his life will be filled with nothing but love from here on. Thank you all!

  17. 17.

    Jeffery

    I have one pumpkin this year. I didn’t plant it. Either the squirrels or bluejays took the seeds from the compost pile last fall and planted them around the yard. I mowed down a number of them in the grass. Left one that was not in the way next to the patio.

  18. 18.

    germy

    We were glad to see Soul Fire Farm get some national recognition:

    One farmer is using her farm to fight against racial injustice, health disparities and inequalities in the food system.

    @errolbarnett spoke to activist Leah Penniman about how @soulfirefarm is helping families eat healthier and opening doors for the next generation of farmers. pic.twitter.com/r7YxblsoKR— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) August 20, 202

    I highly recommend Leah Penniman’s book, in the link below:

    https://www.soulfirefarm.org/

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffery: I’ve got the same thing going in one of the flower beds along side the walkway. I figure it came in with the compost.

  23. 23.

    Immanentize

    Melons.  It is time for melons.  Yum.

    My tomatoes are still coming in, but the critters have prevented all my peppers from growing. And most of my tomatillo.  I just didn’t have time to put up proper fencing.  Ah well, next year!

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: I’ve been eating a melon every morn for about a week now. Yesterday’s was a little off, not bad but not good. Sigh… Speaking of which, time for breakfast!

  27. 27.

    germy

    Our vegetable garden is mostly an all you can eat buffet for rabbits and squirrels.  They visit and then they return with their friends.

    But we’ve got some vegetables in hanging pots they can’t reach.  And a tall climbing string bean bush they haven’t touched.  And callaloo which doesn’t seem to interest them.

    This has been a good growing season overall for us.  Heavy downpours followed by intense bright sun.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The veggie garden is closing in on the end here. Tomatoes are done, it was an OK year for them. A very disappointing year for sweet peppers. I only planted 3 types of hot peppers, jalapeno, poblano, and 2 New Mexico that were new to me. Got enough to satisfy my jonesing for stuffed jalapenos, plenty of poblanos to fill my ancho needs, and nothing from the NewMex. I’ll try them again next year. Still getting eggplant but I can tell the end is near. Picked a bunch of dried tiger’s eye pinto beans for shelling and there are more to come.

    The one unalloyed good news is the return of squash to the veggie garden. I mentioned last week that I didn’t plant them until the first week of July to avoid the curse of squash bugs and it worked like a charm. The plants are thriving and bug free. After 2 years without Romanesco zukes I couldn’t be happier. Next year I will once again dedicate a fair amount of the garden to a crop of winter squashes. I am not sure how they will do with such a late start but we will see.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly: Were the New Mexico supposed to be basically Hatch peppers?

    I got two or three hatch peppers from the organic guy at the market – where I always get my veggie starter plants – but they accidentally gave me two cayenne pepper plants.  Boo.  I grew those one year and decided not to grow cayenne peppers again.

    Like you, high hopes for the hatch peppers next year!

  32. 32.

    StringOnAStick

    I can tell the end of season is coming just by how the cucumbers are looking even though the days are still hot.  Yesterday was the first obvious hint of fall.

    Planting in self watering planters means I can plant earlier but it’s just not as good as in the ground with the complexity true soil gives with the soil microbes; potting soil/container mix ain’t real soil no matter what they claim.  There’s no other way to grow veggies at this house; I’m hoping our moving plans mean we’ll find a place with better options.

  33. 33.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: @WaterGirl:

    I really recommend Anaheim Chilis. Less fussy than actual NM Chili’s especially in non&New Mexico climates (like everywhere but the high desert).
    Not quite so hot as Hatch (which is more a place than a variety, but people gotta make cash!) But hot enough and just large enough for relleno use. I am not really a poblano relleno fan, I like the Anaheims better.

  37. 37.

    Spanky

    @Immanentize: Our dishwasher crapped out on August 3. Earliest a repair guy could get here was August 10. Diagnosis was to replace the pump unit in the bottom. Basically the whole unit for about $400. Part is still on backorder.

    Now for washing machines, ours crap out after 4 or 5 years when the control electronics go. Had any close lightning strikes lately?

    More on topic, I used panty hose to cradle melons back in the 80s. Not inside the hose, but more as a sling. Worked ok, but the cutworms made the experiment moot.

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    We had an interesting thing happen with our community garden this past week.  I was so busy I missed the email discussion until after it was resolved.  Apparently some kids in the next neighborhood picked some pumpkins and squash and other veggies from our garden and brought them home.  Mom was mortified so she contacted the leader of our group and told him what happened, that the kids would return the veggies and she expected us to do something to punish the kids.  So Doug asked her to send them over.  He reported that the kids saw the community garden sign and thought that meant it was for everyone.  Doug asked them if they enjoyed being in the garden and they said they did.  So he asked them if they would like to spend some time in the garden, help with some weeding and maybe turn the compost with him.  They said they would love to help.  So he emailed the garden group and explained the situation.  Well these beautiful people asked Doug to offer the kids a raised bed for next summer and decided we would cover the cost, buy the supplies, and help them learn about gardening.  The kids were really happy about this and have continued to help weed and care for the garden areas.  Our little garden is a very happy and peaceful place.  

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    @Spanky: No close strike for a couple of months (when the daughter board of my receiver was blown out).  But the machine — which we have loved — is about 6 years old.  It does what it was built to do — washes clothes.  Even if it has fancy pants settings.

    I’ll call the repair people tomorrow.  Cost of visit alone? 85 balloons.

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    @Immanentize: I do have two Anaheim pepper plants that I got from a friend who grew them from seed – I was hedging my bets because I wasn’t sure whether there would be a way to buy from the organic guy because of covid.

    Those are not as far along as the ones I got from the organic guy, but hopefully I will be eating them soon.  There are about 10 peppers in various stages.  Do you pick your annaheim’s when they are green or red?

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    @WaterGirl:

    Do you pick your annaheim’s when they are green or red?

    Yes. Both.
    The green ones tend to be a bit meatier and better for stuffing. The red ones for sauces (a little sweeter, but they don’t lose too much heat).

  51. 51.

    MazeDancer

    @OzarkHillbilly: Growing Hatch Chile outside NM can’t be done. Certainly, if anyone can do it, you can.

    Have asked farmer’s at Farmer’s Markets if possible with greenhouses creating big heat all Summer. Or something. Nope.

    Apparently, one needs the relentless sun and cool nights of NM.

    But best of luck.

  56. 56.

    Juice Box

    Nice trellis!

    I live in a cool summer climate and I’ve never been able to grow melons. This year, despite a foggy summer, I got melons! They were good too and the vine was powdery mildew-free when I pulled it up yesterday. I may need to build my own trellis next year.

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WereBear:

    That’s what I call Handling Things like a Democrat should :) 

    We’re still having Nuremberg trials for others.  Don’t mess with our garden of democracy, you Soviet shitpile mobster crime family.

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    Thanks, everyone.  Doug is a really special person.  I can’t wait for the kids to find out he builds an igloo every winter.

  67. 67.

    cain

    I’m embarrassed to show my garden. I planted my tomato plants but didn’t put a trellis in time and it’s all over the place. Now it looks like a nest of snarls and vines. Meh.

  68. 68.

    debbie

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I am contrasting Momsense’s story with the battle raging on a FB community group I belong to. One mother of bi-racial  children (one of whom was caught spraying graffiti on a local’s patio) begged everyone to call the police if it happened again rather than posting a photo on FB and trying to find her that way. Needless to say, you can imagine the reactions of the other parents of bi-racial and African-American children. Just as it starts calming down, someone else sets someone off all over again

    Some community, huh?

  69. 69.

    zhena gogolia

    We’re so sad. We just said goodbye to our incredible minister on Zoom. We feel adrift. We won’t see another one like her.

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    Okay, now I’m getting the “duplicate” message, like satby

    ETA: Chrome, macbook pro.

  72. 72.

    scav

    @cain: Well here. I didn’t cage my tomatoes (the little gold ones) either, nor did I trim them back, so they’re entirely flopping about and somehow producing my best crop so far. Which must be attributed entirely to the weather as my watering efforts are unchanged, Tomatoes — at least some of them — seem to be whimsical and entirely indifferent to our efforts (except when they deign to play with our little minds).

    Other update? I’m drying storage onions,

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @zhena gogolia:

    You’re not in Collingwood, Ontario, are you? Because a friend there is feeling bereft, saying farewell to his incredible minister (also a woman).

  74. 74.

    scav

    @scav: O Those little #&$@$%s!! Just remembered I couldn’t even plant them in good soil because of lockdown. It was just year old cheap standard potting stuff!

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    @zhena gogolia:

    My son’s fiancée is the music director at a small church in CT. Her hours were reduced and last time we talked she said she wasn’t sure what would happen with the minister.  The church’s funding has been affected significantly.

  86. 86.

    zhena gogolia

    @MomSense:

    Yes, this is very concerning. We just did a capital campaign, so I think we’re still floating on that. But now without our charismatic minister, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. The UCC has this outmoded system where you have to coast with an interim minister for 1.5-2 years — it causes stagnation and loss of membership, even without Covid. After 352 years, I’m not sure we’ll survive it.

  87. 87.

    opiejeanne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We should have built the trellis first and then planted the pumpkins, and next year we will do that, and plant them on the outside of the trellis. We are adding horizontal bars where needed to add platforms instead of the pantyhose.

    I had to assist the plants in twining by tying string to the upper bars and draping them around the vines while holding them off the ground. I did the same with the tomato I decided to grow inside the greenhouse. The thing is a 10 foot monster covered with green tomatoes.

  88. 88.

    opiejeanne

    @mrmoshpotato: All of the larger pumpkins have been freed of their pantyhose and are resting comfortably on shelves. The little melons are still wearing parts of the stockings. I started wondering if they would interfere with ripening.

  90. 90.

    opiejeanne

    @Paul in St. Augustine: Why pantyhose? Because I didn’t have any fishnet stockings. That’s a serious answer.

    also, I started with one of those mesh bags you buy lemons in but it became brittle and tore after a couple of weeks in the sun.

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Hmm.  Trying to understand the order of things…

    You pressed Post Comment, and then it came up with the duplicate message error, correct?  But the comment you posted was already there?  Or did you have to refresh the page to see your comment?

  93. 93.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    I pressed “Post” and got the duplicate message and a lot of pinwheeling. Then I reopened the page and my comment was there. It’s happened before, on and off.

  94. 94.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    I think the job she got is better than this one — two ministers rather than one. Our church just won’t pony up to pay for two. It’s hard on the minister to be the only one. We had two when I joined this church, and it was much better for them.

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Good for her, then.  I get why so many churches do the interim thing – many churches are a cesspool of feuding petty resentments and I guess they figure the interim situation will let that stuff get sorted out before someone permanent comes in. but yeah, it’s not always a good thing.  especially in these times when so much is in limbo, you don’t want that at church, too.

  96. 96.

    Jay Noble

    Being good old Missouri Synod Lutherans, we never had  more than one minister at a time. Much of the time the minister had 2 church to attend to. May be why they have a nice smattering of female ministers these days.

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