Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, March 23

Happy Spring! I should have posted the photo above last week, before St. Patrick's Day. The flowers are sort of green. Do you know what it is?

How about the one below?

Here's a close-up of the first, and a clue to the second, or at least a partial clue:

Plus a daffodil for contrast

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Here's my baby Calamondin lime tree blooming its heart out. Will look forward to using them with Asian dishes this year.
Anna's apples set.
Winter lettuce went crazy.
Beets, herbs, planted pole beans on the wire lattice.
Swiss chard has done awesome, now starting tomatoes in the same box as transition to spring in AZ.
Nan in AZ

Everything looks great!

I've never done this with a knife.

Fresh artichoke on its plant

📹 enginar_aydin
pic.twitter.com/dBCY4GmilN
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) March 23, 2024

Don't eat uncooked Morel Mushrooms. At least from China

By-Tor has decided to grow some tomatoes and peppers in containers this year. For 3 gallon containers, I recommend trying determinate rather than indeterminate tomatoes. I like the way these look. The potting mix looks great.

What has been your experience growing tomatoes and peppers in containers?

If you like to get containers from an ice cream shop, this is a good way to use them.

Ah, Nature

Careful out there:

Floating noodle
pic.twitter.com/OuTex6x9uL
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) March 23, 2024

Gardens of The Horde

What's going on in your garden?

I know it's a bit late for the thread, but for flowers, it's Azalea time in Tyler!
these are from my backyard, the city is famous for it's Azalea Tour/Trails each
year. - Tom Servo

Absolutely gorgeous!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, March 16

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

Posted by: K.T. at 01:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good afternoon Greenthumbs and ducklings

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 01:32 PM (fwDg9)

2 Noticed my chives are really starting to come up. Oregano has been a couple weeks and we have that growing in a few places

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 01:38 PM (fwDg9)

3 hiya

Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:40 PM (T4tVD)

4 At some point, won't the clouds be emptied of rain ?

Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:40 PM (T4tVD)

5 Love the snake clip! that's a cottonmouth with a mouth like that, and they open their mouth and hiss loudly to make sure you stay away. It works, I've run into them in the wild - every bit as scary as running into a rattlesnake.
Sometimes they look more blackish - I ran into one sunning itself on the banks of the trinity that looked like it was about as thick as my arm. And if you're in a canoe (especially in Louisiana) and you see a snake swimming with it's head up and out of the water, rather than in it, then that's a cottonmouth. Get away!!!

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 23, 2024 01:41 PM (i9ffA)

6 Noah thought so too

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 01:43 PM (fwDg9)

7 still waiting on some apple trees to break out in bud, but everything else is starting to green-up.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 23, 2024 01:43 PM (D7oie)

8 Thanks K.T. !

And Hiya !

Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:43 PM (T4tVD)

9 Bells of Ireland.

What do I win?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 01:44 PM (guGkK)

10 The Morel mushroom story said exactly nothing about the nature of the toxin that poisoned those people. Wouldn't want to offend Chy-nah, I guess.

People have been eating wild-picked Morels for centuries. I am guessing the China commercial morels were grown in shit, and infected with coliform bacteria.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 23, 2024 01:45 PM (tkR6S)

11 It's still not going to be outdoor gardening weather here for another 6-7 weeks.

But the maples are putting out their flowers, and a bunch of other trees are budding out, and the bulb-and-tuber flowers are sending up leaves and blossoms.

It's the perfect time to weed everything and prepare your beds for whatever you'll put in them.

Posted by: FeatherBlade at March 23, 2024 01:46 PM (F4/ux)

12 I have blooms on a honeyberry bush for the first time. It's supposedly self-fruitful, so I'm hoping we get to try honeyberries this summer!

Posted by: Emmie at March 23, 2024 01:46 PM (Sf2cq)

13 At some point, won't the clouds be emptied of rain ?
Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:40 PM (T4tVD)

After a classic Spring week of sunny weather in the low 70's SoCal is getting another rainstorm this weekend. It's been an unusually wet winter for us (Climate Change!!! Gah!!!) and the hills are all green and coming to life with swathes of wildflowers.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 01:47 PM (guGkK)

14 I did a major rehab of the back yard landscaping a few weeks ago and the rain should really help everything get settled in.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 01:49 PM (guGkK)

15 5 Love the snake clip! that's a cottonmouth with a mouth like that, and they open their mouth and hiss loudly to make sure you stay away. It works, I've run into them in the wild - every bit as scary as running into a rattlesnake.
Sometimes they look more blackish - I ran into one sunning itself on the banks of the trinity that looked like it was about as thick as my arm. And if you're in a canoe (especially in Louisiana) and you see a snake swimming with it's head up and out of the water, rather than in it, then that's a cottonmouth. Get away!!!
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 23, 2024 01:41 PM (i9ffA)

Yes that looks like a cotton mouth from the skin colors but I could not see the fangs in the mouth for a sure Id.

Posted by: vic at March 23, 2024 01:50 PM (A5THL)

16 Cool snake video. It got hung up on the rock but should be able to scale it. No gardening here for a couple more months.

Posted by: scampydog at March 23, 2024 01:51 PM (41CYW)

17 After a classic Spring week of sunny weather in the low 70's SoCal is getting another rainstorm this weekend. It's been an unusually wet winter for us (Climate Change!!! Gah!!!) and the hills are all green and coming to life with swathes of wildflowers.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 01:47 PM (guGkK)

Not the Sound of Music ?

Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:51 PM (T4tVD)

18 Noah thought so too
Posted by: Skip

Oh.

Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:53 PM (T4tVD)

19 Not the Sound of Music ?
Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 01:51 PM (T4tVD)

In the commie utopia of CA you have to get a permit from the parks department to sing in the hills.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 01:54 PM (guGkK)

20 Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 01:44 PM

Nope. Not Bells of Ireland. Bells of Ireland is an annual plant. This is a bigger perennial.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 01:55 PM (rrtZS)

21 The second plant is tricky, too.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 01:55 PM (rrtZS)

22 The mystery plant looks like a type of sedum.

Posted by: Emmie at March 23, 2024 01:55 PM (Sf2cq)

23 Yes that looks like a cotton mouth from the skin colors but I could not see the fangs in the mouth for a sure Id.
Posted by: vic at March 23, 2024 01:50 PM (A5THL)

It's the flash of bright white from the mouth that ID's it, hence their name. No other snake has a warning display quite like that one. Also, they love water - your highest odds of running into them are always close to water. (they love swamps)

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 23, 2024 01:56 PM (i9ffA)

24 From Boise area: Lows 39-46 F. Highs started at 70 but are now down to 57. It's raining, or we'd be outside working - more rain/drizzle coming up this week.

I planted carrots (Little Finger, Yellowstone) - radishes (Cherry Belle, Purple) - spinach (Correnta) - and lettuce (Burpee Bibb). I weeded the bed where I planted onions last year, and cleaned up the bed where I had larkspur and scarlet sage flowers.

I replanted some of the indoor seed starts, since I was impatient for more sprouts. Husband's been working on annual riding mower maintenance, and shifting some sprinkler heads in the lawn.

We've spotted forsythia around town (our tiny new ones will bloom this week). We've got leaves on the crabapple - hyacinths at peak - one tulip bud - daffodils coming up in the forsythia bed - and nubbins of lily of the valley starting to show.

Posted by: Pat* at March 23, 2024 01:57 PM (y4ng/)

25 The one landscaping job I did this week was to make a paver path to the back water faucet. I had to cut the lilac back and then I made a square enclosure with some salvaged concrete rubble. Then I filled the square in with rocks my wife has collected over the years (and got rid of the two immovable milk crates full of cobble sized rocks by the way) and then put down square hardscape pavers for a path to the yard. Eventually I will dig the pavers in and fill the cracks with sand to lock them in together. The rocks right under the faucet will protect the dirt and give drainage, and the pavers keep me out of the mud.
It is already much nicer than squelching through the mud batting lilac branches out of the way to get in there to turn on the hose.

I made a similar path out of those pavers a year ago, and I learned to leave a large gap between the blocks because it lets sand get in between them more easily.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 23, 2024 02:00 PM (D7oie)

26 The mystery plant looks like a type of sedum.
Posted by: Emmie at March 23, 2024 01:55 PM (Sf2cq)

I read that as a "type of sedan"

Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 02:01 PM (T4tVD)

27 We all thinks that the moneyy that NY Attority Genral person gets from Trump should be used to feed Trangender and Gay persins of color in Africa. Trump caused the starvation in Africa and shoulds pay four its.

Posted by: Mary Clogginstein from Brattleboro,Vt at March 23, 2024 02:04 PM (qpLSv)

28 We got a very nice surprise this week. Over thirty years ago we planted a small batch of grape hyacinth in a corner near the driveway. The last several years we've had some leaves but no blooms. This week we noticed two patches of them with blossoms poking up through the grass. What's weird is they are about ten feet from the original planting. I have no idea why this happened but it certainly made us smile.

The persistence of life in these matters continues to amaze me.

Posted by: JTB at March 23, 2024 02:04 PM (zudum)

29 23 It's the flash of bright white from the mouth that ID's it, hence their name. No other snake has a warning display quite like that one. Also, they love water - your highest odds of running into them are always close to water. (they love swamps)
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 23, 2024 01:56 PM (i9ffA)

My little brother and I used go down to a swap near our town and hunt those things with .22 pistols. you had to shoot their heads off.

Posted by: vic at March 23, 2024 02:05 PM (A5THL)

30 I read that as a "type of sedan"
Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 02:01 PM (T4tVD)

Or even "sudan", to reference a recent ONT.

Posted by: Emmie at March 23, 2024 02:07 PM (Sf2cq)

31 You can tell it's spring in our area. Our neighbor's maple tree is shedding those seed things all over the place. Don't know the proper name for them but Mrs. JTB calls them 'wing dings'.

Posted by: JTB at March 23, 2024 02:08 PM (zudum)

32 Is the second plant African garlic (Tulbaghia Violacea)?

Posted by: 40 Miles North at March 23, 2024 02:08 PM (uWF4x)

33 well here in PA it's cold and pouring, and freezing (or close to it) at night. argh. and I tried to wrap the (budding) hydrangeas but it was SO WINDY it seemed no matter what I did it all came apart. hoping they can handle this for another week or so.

lots of daffodils, my "white forsythia" looking lovely still altho past its peak, yellow actual forsythias looking great right now.

I want the weather to get nice again!!! rrr

your plants are lovely and I have no idea ... the second is chives or onions of some kind? I don't know

Posted by: BlackOrchid at March 23, 2024 02:10 PM (AcWfM)

34 Squirrels eat maple seeds, wish had more Squirrels to eat more maple seeds

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:10 PM (fwDg9)

35 We had planted some herbs in a bed last spring; chives, sage, rosemary and basil. Only the basil didn't survive the winter.

Had fresh chives on a baked potato Thursday night.

The veggie garden is awaiting my motivation. Some fertilizer and limestone needs to be tilled in soon. Then, after the last freeze, we plant.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 23, 2024 02:11 PM (Q4IgG)

36 The first mystery plant reminds me of liatris, but the color seems wrong...

Posted by: 40 Miles North at March 23, 2024 02:12 PM (uWF4x)

37 At first glance the photo at the top looked like an aerial view of trees!

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 02:15 PM (w6EFb)

38
Skip - Not really garden related but would you have any use for wood... like a lot of wood? Truckload beds of wood cut to about sixteen inches. I'm running out of places to stack it. It was a tough winter for trees. I counted ten down on the lot between me and my neighbor. I lost maybe five.

I'm not looking to sell it or anything, it's some good stuff, some not so good. But it's a lot and I'd be glad to give it away.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:16 PM (RKVpM)

39 Not really, I have somebody to play with but not looking to do any projects. The pine been getting from dead trees just burning it up whenever I can get away with it.

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:20 PM (fwDg9)

40 1. Spurge, I'm guessing Euphorbia wulfenii
2. Your clue suggests an allium of some kind, but I don't think they have spike flowers. A puzzlement!

Posted by: Mr. Bultitude at March 23, 2024 02:21 PM (pi4V2)

41 >My little brother and I used go down to a swamp near our town and hunt those things with .22 pistols. you had to shoot their heads off.
Posted by: vic at March 23, 2024 02:05 PM (A5THL)
______

Thanks Vic, back when America was America and people lived free lives.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at March 23, 2024 02:22 PM (5J0gB)

42 34 Squirrels eat maple seeds, wish had more Squirrels to eat more maple seeds

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:10 PM

If you are passing through my area, I have a couple dozen I could give you for free!

(Wish I had fewer squirrels that eat parts of my house.)

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at March 23, 2024 02:23 PM (HlyYF)

43 March 23, 2024 02:16 PM

I have a video I could post later about putting logs in raised beds if anyone's interested.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 02:26 PM (rrtZS)

44 You can tell it's spring in our area. Our neighbor's maple tree is shedding those seed things all over the place. Don't know the proper name for them but Mrs. JTB calls them 'wing dings'.
Posted by: JTB at March 23, 2024 02:08 PM (zudum)

I think the technical term is "samara" but we called them maple helicopters, or maybe some people called them maple keys

Posted by: Kindltot at March 23, 2024 02:26 PM (D7oie)

45 Thats one lazy snake! It must be a Gen Zer

Posted by: I'm Gumby Damn It! at March 23, 2024 02:26 PM (Bsa3D)

46
Skip, okay. I even stacked some out by my street hoping someone would 'steal' it. Seems to be a shortage of thieves right now. Imagine three hundred plus feet of wood cut to sixteen inch lengths.

Something - most likely from China - is killing a lot of trees in this area. It was only recently, looking at a map of the Appalachian mountain range, that I realized I live in it.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:27 PM (RKVpM)

47 There's a reason the second mystery plant is a puzzlement. And it does not have spike flowers.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 02:27 PM (rrtZS)

48 I guess the water is not too cold. Next week, purple carrots get planted. Wife wants lots of callaloo this year

Posted by: Jamaica at March 23, 2024 02:27 PM (IG7T0)

49 I have a video I could post later about putting logs in raised beds if anyone's interested.
Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 02:26 PM (rrtZS)

Hugels? I researched that once but when I tried it I wasn't very impressed. In concept it was a great idea, and if I had used actual chunks of wood instead of brush I suspect it would have turned out better.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 23, 2024 02:29 PM (D7oie)

50 Something - most likely from China - is killing a lot of trees in this area

down here too

Posted by: BlackOrchid at March 23, 2024 02:29 PM (AcWfM)

51 Something does seem to be killing off my pines, have another maybe 40 footer dead and one over 60 going soon

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:32 PM (fwDg9)

52 Ah, so perhaps #2 is a Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) that got planted on top of a Foxtail lily?

Posted by: Mr. Bultitude at March 23, 2024 02:32 PM (pi4V2)

53 We have lost many evergreens to the pine beetle. It's a damn shame. I'm too old to replant trees.

Posted by: Ronster at March 23, 2024 02:33 PM (X/vd3)

54 The mystery plant also reminded me of Bells of Ireland but I knew that wasn't it because the rest of the plant didn't look like BoI. Bells of Ireland were very popular yard plants here in central Texas when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. You hardly ever see them anymore.

For some reason they always remind me of my late mother, so the pic made me smile.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at March 23, 2024 02:33 PM (FEVMW)

55
I have a video I could post later about putting logs in raised beds if anyone's interested.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 02:26 PM

That's a good idea, but I could never move these logs at six or eight foot lengths more then a foot or so. Massive trees that are so cool to live and walk under but... massive.

I forget the plot of 'Green Mansions' but I read it as a teen and maybe that inspired me to live where I do. But that was so long ago it's probably a mis-remembering of the plot. Maybe living under one hundred foot tall trees is a constant reminder of how small we are in comparison. A humbling experience.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:36 PM (RKVpM)

56 40 1. Spurge, I'm guessing Euphorbia wulfenii
2. Your clue suggests an allium of some kind, but I don't think they have spike flowers. A puzzlement!
Posted by: Mr. Bultitude at March 23, 2024 02:21 PM (pi4V2)

Spurge! That seems right. I know I've seen it before.

Posted by: Emmie at March 23, 2024 02:38 PM (Sf2cq)

57 I've started weeding around the back of the house (most of the mulched area has mulch cloth under it, so it's not too bad). The hostas are poking up. Also a fern that I planted next to a mossy rock by the downspout. I love the way they unfurl.

The two clematis plants are going gangbusters with tons of buds. I planted them at the end of summer '22 (they'd been in pots). It's so gratifying to see plants really thrive like this. I'll be sure to send a pic.

I started some herbs last year - valerian, lemon balm and chives made it through the winter in pots. Prior to September they were still in little seed flats - I never did anything but water them enough to keep them alive. They are rarin' to get planted now, and the bed is finally ready for them.

Haven't started any seeds yet - getting Publius' mama through her rehab and now moving her into our place threw a wrench in whatever organization I usually have.

I have amassed a fine collection of seeds, though!

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 02:42 PM (w6EFb)

58 I've noticed a number of pine trees with what we call "rust" here. The needles turn a rusty brown color, slowly then all at once. The tree dies, typically falls down in about 2 years. If one tree in a stand has it, the others will get it eventually unless the infected tree is taken down ASAP.

Doesn't seem to affect all species.... just certain ones.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 23, 2024 02:42 PM (Q4IgG)

59
Something does seem to be killing off my pines, have another maybe 40 footer dead and one over 60 going soon

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:32 PM

There's a park right next to the Phoenixville YMCA with some forty foot pines trees where half a dozen of them blew over this winter. They were healthy as hell, but the combination of wind and heavy rains did them in. Shame, 'cause I love pine trees. 'Ever green' boosts the spirits a little when everything else is so monochromatic during winter in this part of SE PA.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:43 PM (RKVpM)

60 Just read that there will be no flowers planted in Denver city parks this year.

They will instead use that money to house newcomers.

Oh joy.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 23, 2024 02:45 PM (6IDWi)

61 Ermagerd, DbZ! Phoenixville is one of my old stomping grounds! I lived just over the river in Mont Clare until I was 5, and of course we visited my grandparents and relatives often.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 02:46 PM (w6EFb)

62 >>'Ever green' boosts the spirits a little when everything else is so monochromatic during winter in this part of SE PA.

I bet the birds loved them, too.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 23, 2024 02:47 PM (6IDWi)

63 Anyone know the germination time for Nantes Half Long carrots? Want to use them as a companion plant to avoid garden pests. If I use Basil planted near Okra, what variety is best? I have sweet basil. Do companion plants like garlic, chives, and nasturtium need to be fully grown before planting next to watermelons and tomatoes? Should I put them in containers around the plants, or plant between rows or mounds?

Too many spider mites (I think) on the Okra last year. Wife plants them in containers. Neem oil and Seven didn't keep them away. I'm also going to get some ladybugs from the garden center.

Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 23, 2024 02:48 PM (0eaVi)

64 I'm getting my vegetable seeds started - I'm about a week late. Sprayed fruit trees - also about a week late.

Where did this winter go?

Posted by: Black JEM at March 23, 2024 02:48 PM (UVyKP)

65 No idea if it's still in use but I built the sauna and steam rm at the Phoenixville Y, maybe close to 20 years ago. For awhile pictures were used in their flyer ads.

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:50 PM (fwDg9)

66
I saw a video on Twitter/X recently of very fat, very long carrots being harvested. The ground was raised up about a foot in rows and that was were they were planted. I never would have considered that.

Instead, my experience was I'd harvest very fat but only five inch long carrots that 'hit the wall' of dirt compaction and quit fighting. D'uh. Live and learn. Maybe.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:51 PM (RKVpM)

67 Sundance Kid was from Mont Clare

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:51 PM (fwDg9)

68 Mr. Bultitude at March 23, 2024 02:32 PM

Ah, so perhaps #2 is a Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) that got planted on top of a Foxtail lily?

YES!

Society Garlic with Foxtail Asparagus Fern.

Took me a while to figure out, and I was there.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 02:52 PM (rrtZS)

69 Im guessing top pic euphorbia.
Did I win?

Posted by: Derak at March 23, 2024 02:53 PM (IVCWM)

70 I knew that!

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 02:54 PM (w6EFb)

71 I read that as a "type of sedan"
Posted by: JT at March 23, 2024 02:01 PM (T4tVD)

(shakes head) Sedan is a country in Africa, JT.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 23, 2024 02:55 PM (0eaVi)

72
Ermagerd, DbZ! Phoenixville is one of my old stomping grounds! I lived just over the river in Mont Clare until I was 5, and of course we visited my grandparents and relatives often.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 02:46 PM

I'm pretty sure that 'Skip' is from the Mont Clare/Oaks area too. Small world. The wife and I spend a little bit of every winter walking the canal and the trails in the area. They're really cleaning the parks and trails up nicely anymore.

Was the 'Fitz' - 'Fitzwater Station' there back in your day?

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:56 PM (RKVpM)

73 Just saw a yellow daylily blossom this morning. Thought it had died in the cold, so that's very cool. Also have an iris blooming and the two larger (French) lavender plants. Looks like last year's hibiscus didn't die after all either, so now I'll have two.

The tiny olive has a wand of blossoms and the fig is getting new leaves, so I'm really thrilled at how well everything came through the winter.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 23, 2024 03:00 PM (XjtdB)

74 WOԜ just what I wаs lookіng for. Came here bｙ searching for cedаr

Posted by: reredos at March 23, 2024 03:02 PM (f1L5H)

75 (shakes head) Sedan is a country in Africa, JT.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 23, 2024 02:55 PM (0eaVi)

Nein! Is where we nabbed Napoleon III!

Posted by: Wilhelm I at March 23, 2024 03:03 PM (guGkK)

76
Sundance Kid was from Mont Clare

Posted by: Skip at March 23, 2024 02:51 PM

I thought you were talking Robert Redford not *the* actual Sundance Kid:

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh was born in 1867 in Mont Clare, Pennsylvania. He was considered the fastest gunslinger in the Wild Bunch, a well-known gang of robbers and cattle rustlers that roamed the American West during the 1880s and 1890s.

The stuff you learn in a gardening thread at AoS. I did not know that nor would ever have the slightest suspicion.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 03:04 PM (RKVpM)

77 Was the 'Fitz' - 'Fitzwater Station' there back in your day?

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 02:56 PM (RKVpM)

Doesn't ring a bell; we were usually on the other side of the bridge (St Michael's park). Of course I made regular trips to the old Meat Market with my grandfather, and the old post office.

Made me so sad when it flooded out.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:10 PM (w6EFb)

78 I'm going with:
Some kind of green flower.

Posted by: Weasel at March 23, 2024 03:12 PM (JwHpX)

79 Very foxy, but a fun challenge, K.T.!

Posted by: Mr. Bultitude at March 23, 2024 03:14 PM (pi4V2)

80 "I thought you were talking Robert Redford not *the* actual Sundance Kid"

Fun fact - I briefly lived in a very cool townhouse apartment at the end of Argyle Avenue in Hollywood that once housed Robert Redford.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:14 PM (w6EFb)

81
Made me so sad when it flooded out.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:10 PM

More Mont Clare minutia; after Hurricane Ida in 2021 the road off of Bridge street (forget the name) which runs parallel to the river and canal most of the homes were under about ten feet of water, at least. FEMA got involved and brought in food, tents, porta potties, dumpsters, etc in a cleanup that took many many months.

They're now purchasing these homes and will be destroying them. I see a couple that have been 'lifted' but it seems most are going to take the buyout. It just seems to be a 'choke point' on the Schuylkill river that is never going away.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 03:18 PM (RKVpM)

82 I’m sorry but that snake makes me think of one word. Shotgun.

Posted by: Eromero at March 23, 2024 03:19 PM (o2ZRX)

83 So I read up on Fitzwater Station. Lots of white supremacy going on there. Heroism, underground railroad, industry.

https://fitzwaterstation.com/

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:19 PM (w6EFb)

84 I believe the plant up top is euphorbia.

Posted by: nurse ratched at March 23, 2024 03:20 PM (dZGU+)

85 With a job like that, I'm surprised Artichoke Girl still has all of her fingers.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at March 23, 2024 03:23 PM (guGkK)

86 81 Jacobs Street. I believe that my great grandfather lived on Jacobs Street way back when, IIRC from Ancestry. We never visited, and I never met him because he disowned my grandfather during the big fight over St Michael's church. That was in his youth, but after he got back from WWI, anyway.

My grandfather was excommunicated from the Church. He repented and the Church took him back, but his father never did.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:26 PM (w6EFb)

87 Lotta wastage in the artichoke game.

Posted by: Eromero at March 23, 2024 03:36 PM (o2ZRX)

88 I'm pretty sure the first mystery plant is a Euphorbia, too.

Probably Mediterranean Spurge (Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 03:37 PM (rrtZS)

89
So I read up on Fitzwater Station. Lots of white supremacy going on there. Heroism, underground railroad, industry.

https://fitzwaterstation.com/

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:19 PM

Ha! So interesting. For a while - I've been in the area for quite a little more then 29 years - Fitzwater was kinda a 'bikers bar'. But it has a great outdoor deck, is right on the canal, has Yuengling on tap, and is a great experience on a sunny day. The bikers are pretty much gone, a humongous smoker and piles of red oak sit in the parking lot creating this fabulous brisket to die for. After the flood of 2021 so many local townspeople helped the owner to resurrect the business it was amazing. It's sorta neat that you walk from the parking lot, up about eight feet of steps, to open the door, and there's a line about halfway up the door showing the high water mark. The owner is one helluva nice guy. American people are kinda cool when they can help and they do. I would have helped myself but I never knew they were in *that* much trouble.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 03:40 PM (RKVpM)

90 Eromero at March 23, 2024 03:36 PM

I don't think that's how they do artichokes in the field on a regular basis. The surfaces would start to oxidize.

Posted by: KT at March 23, 2024 03:40 PM (rrtZS)

91 66 Divide by Zero - my carrot story: We have foot-tall raised beds. I was going for Longest Carrot at the Western Idaho Fair, so left mine in the ground, all the way from March to mid-August. Come Fair time, I'm pulling at the carrots and they refuse to budge. I start digging around the carrot row, I can't find the bottoms. Finally some broke off - no Longest Carrot prizes if the tips are gone... So, we took one strawberry ziggurat and converted it to carrot growing. Now they can get up to 2 feet long without a problem.

I saw in one catalog, you can take a long wide PVC-type pipe, cap off the bottom (with drain holes?), fill it with soil, and grow this one variety of carrots that grows like 3-4 feet long. When it's harvest time, you remove the bottom cap, shake all the soil out, and get the carrot. It looked like the carrot could feed a family!

Posted by: Pat* at March 23, 2024 03:55 PM (y4ng/)

92
We never visited, and I never met him because he disowned my grandfather during the big fight over St Michael's church. That was in his youth, but after he got back from WWI, anyway.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 03:26 PM

My wife and I like to go to Lock 60 on the canal, park the car then hike the forested hill, then walk back down the roads and past St Michael's church. They recently had scaffolding all over the building as some sort of renovation is going on. Small world. It was nice to see they still have enough attendants of the church to maintain the building to such a degree.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 03:56 PM (RKVpM)

93
It looked like the carrot could feed a family!

Posted by: Pat* at March 23, 2024 03:55 PM

OMG, I can actually picture how that would work. I have heavy clay soil in my area which is great for corn but not carrots. Some combination of my soil and enough sand in a tube like that would be fun.

I kinda hate raw carrots myself but in homemade beef stew they are incredible. Aldi's 'stew meat' is some really good (but small) chunks of some really great cuts of meat. Once you add about a dozen (or more) other vegetables and a can of tomato soup.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 04:11 PM (RKVpM)

94 Daddy used to take me down to the park there. He's buried at St Michael's cemetery. He used to take my mom up Lover's Lane to shoot rats back when they were dating. Fun date!

He was an MP at Valley Forge Army Hospital (which is now a Christian school of some kind). That was during the Korean War.

We lived at my grandparents' house while he was going to college. 310 Sowers Ave, you've probably driven past it. My aunt lives there now. Nice view of St Michael's. The freight trains ran at the end of our back yard, and Mom-mom worked at the ironworks. All gone now.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 04:13 PM (w6EFb)

95
He was an MP at Valley Forge Army Hospital (which is now a Christian school of some kind). That was during the Korean War.

We lived at my grandparents' house while he was going to college. 310 Sowers Ave, you've probably driven past it. My aunt lives there now. Nice view of St Michael's. The freight trains ran at the end of our back yard, and Mom-mom worked at the ironworks. All gone now.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at March 23, 2024 04:13 PM

Things have changed... the 'Valley Forge Christian Academy' is now named "Valley Forge University". The owner of the steak shop across the street (who makes phenomenal Philly cheese steaks) used to hire a bunch of the 'kids' who attended there. They no longer want to work while attending college. The freight trains run along the west side of the river but not from the Phoenixville side to Mount Clare. I can see trees growing on the bridge overpass which maybe needs demolition soon.

Yes, we've walked along Sower's Avenue. It's a nice working class street with a few American flags along the porches. That at least hasn't changed. The oil furnace at St Michael's is maybe running a little hot. I notice stuff.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 04:42 PM (RKVpM)

96
Phoenixville, PA has now passed the days of steel-making. They close the Main Street during the summer weekends to traffic. People visit the many craft breweries and restaurants along the street. The 'building' stage of America is over.

It's now the stage where the Letitia James' of the world exact revenge against the 'makers' of such incredible progress.

It stopped raining and I need a shower. Thanks KT for the thread. Sorry it went a little off topic.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 23, 2024 04:50 PM (RKVpM)

97 I do cherry tomatoes and spicy peppers like jalapeño, serrano, habanero, Fresno all in containers in so cal and they do great. I end up giving hot peppers away.

Posted by: keena at March 23, 2024 06:20 PM (RiTnx)

98 I have a giant plant exactly like Mystery #1 plant, that bloomed a week ago, and is beautiful. Look exactly like picture. Appears to be Euphorbia per Google.

Posted by: Mollie's Dad at March 23, 2024 06:54 PM (kk/fw)

99 It appears to be a Leafy Spurge, a highly aggressive invasive "noxious weed".
I tried to post a link, but it was rejected for being "annoying"

Posted by: Howard at March 24, 2024 10:13 AM (ScD34)

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