Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Dec. 6

Not a lot happening hee in the chilly DMV but I do have two spots of color. My Encore Azalea has not disappointed. Not a lot of blossoms but it's been in the thirties and I am still getting new buds and blossoms.
My Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter cactus is also in blossom. I will literally have flowers til Spring.
Sharon(willow's apprentice)

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

More from 58Mikie! (remember our special feature two weeks ago?)

Consumption of Hazelnuts is very healthy....high in folic acid for pregnant women, second highest nut in mono-unsaturated oil. The nut is high in oil but the good oil, (like an avocado or olive oil) which really does help reduce cholesterol.

Please see photos attached. The book is really good for Hazelnut recipes...tough to scan the pages on my scanner, but it is available on Amazon and I saw there was a listing for a "very good" used edition for $ 1.99....the Hazelnut salad recipe with broccoli is very good...once roasted Hazelnuts can be made into "butter" with a nut grinder like in stores or I think a Cuisinart type device.

I have always thought of hazelnuts in connection with Christmas and nutcrackers, but grinding them makes sense to me for most recipes.

Try to get a used copy of the book, as suggested above.

Nature

Fascinating.

Time-lapse of various species of mushrooms growingpic.twitter.com/j87LmPhC8q

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 30, 2025

Puttering

Transitioning from Thanksgiving to Christmas; a project completed by a friend - Autumn Friendship Quilt:

Gardens of The Horde

I got my Baker Creek catalog, so i'll be doind some armchair gardening. You decorating, shopping for the yard or anything?

Giving any garden presents? Seeds? Tools?

🍅🍅🍅❣️Tomatoes are incredibly rewarding to grow, but they can also be vexing, especially for beginning gardeners. Check out the basics in our new blog post, 'Tomatoes 101."https://t.co/qjwJzxVn48

— Baker Creek Seeds (@rareseeds) January 22, 2025

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening 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, Home and Nature Thread, Nov 29

In addition to other updates, The famous Pat* and her husband have a row of Blue Spruce big enough for Christmas trees. Ahyone else?

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

Comments

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1 Good afternoon Greenthumbs

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 01:36 PM (Ia/+0)

2 https://tinyurl.com/yc6fp6a3
This is a picture of the Christmas grave wreaths a few of us made this year.
It's a yearly tradition in the family to make wreaths for passed family members. It's only 4 of us now but hopefully will continue for years to come.

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 01:42 PM (Ia/+0)

3 lovely photos as usual! My Christmas Cactus is blooming as well, had a photo of it posted here last year. Looked some stuff up and learned that their blooming date is set by a steady progression of diminishing hours of sunlight; so gardeners who are on top of things can manipulate the light so that they bloom at a very specific time.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 06, 2025 01:42 PM (uWKK8)

4 Also, as of yesterday, though had many cold mornings and frost and snow, the Anaheim peppers plants in my mini greenhouse are still growing, not doing anything else but amazed cold hasn't killed them yet.

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 01:43 PM (Ia/+0)

5 You can get oil out of hazelnuts too. All it takes is a Corona grain mill.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at December 06, 2025 01:47 PM (+mUZM)

6 I just picked up a white bloomed Christmas cactus yesterday. Today, I decided to deal with my oldest plant. It was still in the original pot. I'd put it on top of another pot, with a planted bulb, and the roots grew down into it. I managed to cut away the old pot and flipped some potting soil into my eye doing it. Got my eye cleared out but may have to move the plant to a bigger pot.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at December 06, 2025 02:00 PM (+mUZM)

7 I have a small polyantha rose, "Verdun", that put out a few flowers just before this last cold spell. They're a bright pink/mauve color, and really stand out now that everything else is gone!

Posted by: Lirio100 at December 06, 2025 02:01 PM (ky7/T)

8 Skip, the Christmas wreaths are lovely! Each one is unique, but they are all beautiful.

Posted by: Emmie -- be strong and courageous! at December 06, 2025 02:01 PM (FMtrg)

9 Wacky computer stuff today. Sorry.

Posted by: KT at December 06, 2025 02:06 PM (7vIsy)

10 We're licking our wounds from the last summer, and planning next year's garden.
Only the peppers thrived. We have enough ancho, smoked and regular paprika, chipotle, and green chili that we don't need any but fresh peppers next year.
We're deficient in tomato products.
Sweet tates did fine. Butternut did fine. Should be peak asparagus next spring,

Posted by: MkY at December 06, 2025 02:08 PM (q6tQZ)

11 More on hazelnut in the wings for next week. Got any recipes of your own?

Posted by: KT at December 06, 2025 02:17 PM (7vIsy)

12 Afternoon everybody
Happy to report that my Encore Azalea survived the snow yesterday. The terrace today looks like it never happened. There are pansies everywhere in the planters scattered all over Bethesda covered with snow. I always wonder how they survive an entire winter.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 06, 2025 02:20 PM (t/2Uw)

13 When I first looked at that salad, I thought it was a bowl of tomatoe soup. Favorite winter meal: tomato soup with croutons( has to have croutons) and a grilled cheese sandwich on sour dough.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 06, 2025 02:23 PM (t/2Uw)

14 Deez nutz roasting on an open fire...

Posted by: Not quite Nat King Cole at December 06, 2025 02:24 PM (TbWk/)

15 Speaking of Baker Creek, just ordered a couple new varieties of maters: Black Strawberry (thanks Miley), Chocolate Miracle, and Alice's Dream.

Also pink celery and black carrots. I like the oddballs.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 02:25 PM (kpS4V)

16 Hope this growing season is better than last year's. Too much fluctuation in temps and precipitation.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 02:28 PM (kpS4V)

17 And by last year, I meant this year.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 02:28 PM (kpS4V)

18 Maryland has such weird weather. Out west it's basically Pennsylvania, but out east you can have mild winters or killer ice storms. And Japanese beetles are a crapshoot.

Thank goodness the summer stinkbug swarms and river floods are dependable.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 06, 2025 02:32 PM (kpS4V)

19 I have a Christmas cactus that isn't doing too well although the other one is growing. Thought I would propagate from the poorer one with leaf cuttings. Anyone tried this and how did it do?

Posted by: JTB at December 06, 2025 02:33 PM (yTvNw)

20 From Boise area: lows 21-36 F, highs 39-45. Some rain.

We bottled a 3rd batch of cider - just four 6-packs per batch, as we're doing many trial batches to see what we like best.

We finished shredding leaves from our huge silver maple. I raked leaves out of the front drainage ditches. We cut the leaves off some of the Siberian Irises.

I went to a ladies' "Favorite Things" exchange last night - bring four of something (under $10), display it all, ladies take numbers - first and third rounds in numerical order, second and fourth rounds in reverse order, one pick per round. Everyone takes home four things. Among my loot is an amaryllis bulb, so I'll be looking forward to watching it grow.

Posted by: Pat* at December 06, 2025 02:34 PM (tiz3J)

21 Pat* what sort of changes are you doing to your cider? Different mixes of apples, or different yeast?

Posted by: Kindltot at December 06, 2025 02:38 PM (rbvCR)

22 That video of the time lapse mushrooms is fascinating. So much variety and such weird shapes. A few made me think of something from a Lovecraft story. No wonder Beatrix Potter used mushrooms in so many of her botanical drawings.

Posted by: JTB at December 06, 2025 02:39 PM (yTvNw)

23 My task for today is to chop up a sweet-meat Hubbard squash so I can blanche and freeze it. This is the big one that grew almost unnoticed in one of the tomato cages.
Sweet Meats are grey and pretty tough, so I have developed the technique of taking them down to manageable sizes in the back yard with a machete. Inelegant, but effective. I am always worried about slipping when I am cutting squash apart with a knife, the durned things tend to twist and slither away.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 06, 2025 02:44 PM (rbvCR)

24 you propagate Christmas cactus by taking those leaf segments and plant them in dirt, and keep them warmish and moist. My wife does this all the time, and my Mom used to do it too.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 06, 2025 02:48 PM (rbvCR)

25 KT, since terra preta came up in the thread below, does anyone have any information on using charcoal in their gardens?

Posted by: Kindltot at December 06, 2025 02:49 PM (rbvCR)

26 Just went out and planted some garlic in an old container in the back yard. Lousy potatoes from it a couple of years ago. Rainy, 40°, a little snow expected.
We'll look again in the RI spring when it comes.

Posted by: From about That Time at December 06, 2025 02:49 PM (sl73Y)

27 I have a Christmas cactus that isn't doing too well although the other one is growing. Thought I would propagate from the poorer one with leaf cuttings. Anyone tried this and how did it do?
Posted by: JTB
-------

Never done it, myself. Good luck!
"The Spruce" has some info:

tinyurl.com/s85yrx8c

Posted by: JQ at December 06, 2025 02:49 PM (rdVOm)

28 24 ... Kindltot,
Thanks. I figured that would be the case but never tried it with Christmas cacti.

Posted by: JTB at December 06, 2025 02:52 PM (yTvNw)

29 Bought a plant light to try for indoor plants but experiment isn't working too well

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 02:53 PM (Ia/+0)

30 27 ... Thanks to JQ as well about the Christmas Cactus. Think I'll try both ways.

Posted by: JTB at December 06, 2025 02:56 PM (yTvNw)

31 I have a hanging ivy plant of some kind in the den, been doing fine for 25+ years. But its hung seven feet up, i reach to water from an old tea pot, and it has never been repotted.
What the hell does the root ball look like. Andcould, should anything ever be done. Shoots go out fifteen feet and I just tuck thenm around the curtain rods with the others when they hang to low and start entering the printer.
And why do they always do that?

Posted by: From about That Time at December 06, 2025 02:58 PM (sl73Y)

32 Picked up my Poinsettias today, and should you see them, you would ask why the heck there are orange peels sitting on top of the soil of each.

My cat would explain, "Because he's a bastard and doesn't want me vomiting all over the house."

Posted by: Orson at December 06, 2025 03:00 PM (dIske)

33 29 Bought a plant light to try for indoor plants but experiment isn't working too well
Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 02:53 PM (Ia/+0)

__________________________

Find a stoner and get some tips.

Posted by: Orson at December 06, 2025 03:02 PM (dIske)

34 Thanks for the Christmas cactus reminder. I promised my granddaughters a plant. I know I've taken cuttings and done this but it's been a while.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 06, 2025 03:05 PM (t/2Uw)

35 Orson was thinking same thing.
I think you need like 500 of them

Posted by: Skip at December 06, 2025 03:07 PM (Ia/+0)

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