The Gardening Thread

Good afternoon gardeners. If you were expecting the lovely and talented KT, sorry to be your host today. She is recovering from surgery and hopes to be back soon.

Above the fold is a shot of Mulberys. My father had a Mulbery tree he had dug up on his father's farm. I ended up getting a shoot and it grew to be a beautiful tree which produced lots of fruit.

We moved and I've yet to get a Mulbery to grow. So this past week 2 Mulbery trees from Jungs Gardening arrived. They are planted. They are protected from rabbits and deer. Hopefully these 2 will produce fruit. Someday.

Speaking of trees, bushes and what not. Spring has struck the Frozen Tundra. The Lilacs are starting to leaf out. The Red Maples are almost as red now as in September. Beautiful time of year. Except for those pesky black flies.

Here is the latest Casa Misanthrope puttering project. A friend gave me this huge driftwood tree stump. It's about 10' long and about 4' diameter at the base. So a little treated lumber, a few rocks, several OTC pain relievers and some fine river gravel to finish it off tomorrow on Mother's Day.

Speaking of Mother's Day, it's not easy being a parent. Everyday is Mother's Day thank you all who do your darnedest to raise wonderful children and/or grandchildren.

That's all for now. Thank you for your patience while you await KT's return. Until the next time, Happy Gardening and Puttering.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 12:11 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Berry nice

Posted by: Martini Farmer at May 10, 2025 12:13 PM (Q4IgG)

2 nice looking berries

Posted by: Ciampino - fruit bowl at May 10, 2025 12:19 PM (sPQoU)

3 I nooded

Posted by: Ciampino - fruit bowl is good art at May 10, 2025 12:20 PM (sPQoU)

4 at our former home we had 2 big old mulberry trees. One produced the dark fruit, the other was the light variety.

The birds LOVED those berries to pieces and we had quite a lot of clean up duty as a result.

Posted by: kallisto at May 10, 2025 12:21 PM (dCxaZ)

5 for some reason the corn has failed to sprout, which is vexing. I sprout my corn before planting it so there should be 100% success.

I am sprouting more, and I will plant them this afternoon.

Also, the local master gardener program is hosting a plant sale so I will be off to try to score tomato plants and cabbages.

and peppers

Posted by: Kindltot at May 10, 2025 12:24 PM (D7oie)

6 Thanks for filling in, MisHum. *smooshes*

Well, I planted all my mater and pepper seedlings. Here's hoping the weather remains pleasant (no derechos, simooms, taifengs, or gullywarshers).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 10, 2025 12:33 PM (kpS4V)

7 Pie! Pie, everybody! MisHum’s making pie!

Posted by: Eromero at May 10, 2025 12:34 PM (LHPAg)

8 There was some mint growing rogue outside my garden plot do I brought a bunch home for Lily. She was rolling around in it and doing kitty flips,

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 10, 2025 12:35 PM (kpS4V)

9 Really should be sifting 2023's compost from the garden but haven't even thought to get plants yet. Not getting too many as garden is more shady than it use to.

Posted by: Skip at May 10, 2025 12:35 PM (ypFCm)

10 What did you turn the log into, MisHum? Totem pole?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 10, 2025 12:36 PM (kpS4V)

11 it's bunny season here in the North of Sodom.
I dispatched one of these furry little veggie eating monsters with my pellet guy yesterday.
Another one is milling around my house but the neighbors are out and about today.
I'm the only gun owner for miles and miles in the People's Republic. You can kill babies all you wan here, but Bunnies?

Posted by: SQUANTO at May 10, 2025 12:37 PM (Ak2xC)

12 MisHum - you're telling me that this is no longer the case at Casa Misanthrope:

Winter is at 6 AM
Spring is at 10 AM
Summer is at 3 PM
Fall is 7ish

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at May 10, 2025 12:41 PM (VNX3d)

13 I have some big mulberries on the property line with me and my neighbors. I just have a few branches I can reach. I just pick berries and eat. I don't do anything with them.

We had some rain and I've managed to keep things watered. I planted some peas but they were slow, so I planted some butter beans and KY cornfield beans. The butter beans are dark green and look like a force of nature! I don't think the weeds will push them around. I have asparagus crowns to plant and I need to plant potatoes and transplant tomatoes.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 10, 2025 12:55 PM (AcTAo)

14 The county hired a goat herd contractor to graze wild oats in the Sierra storm water overflow diversion canal that runs through town. I counted maybe 70-100 goat and saw a trailered thousand gallon water guzzler. The contractor places a lightweight metal fence around a 4acre parcel of canal bottom up to the top of the earthen dike. The whole thing gets moved daily.

They don't seem to leave sentinel herd dogs mixed in with the goats - on the off chance that a neighborhood dog gets inside the fence. not more than three miles east coyote do lurk. I'm guessing that some of those goats are pretty aggressive, they definitely watched me watching them.

All of the grass is dry and brown.

Posted by: 13times at May 10, 2025 12:56 PM (bU8LG)

15 Oh and continuation of the irises last week. I bought some Indian Chief bulbs before I moved. They are an heirloom from the 30s. They are in bloom and so gorgeous! My Alba rose is blooming too and the clematis. If I can keep Jake out of them, they'll do okay.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 10, 2025 12:57 PM (AcTAo)

16 We have Iris coming out, one of my favorite flowers

Posted by: Skip at May 10, 2025 01:03 PM (ypFCm)

17 My pepper and tomato seedlings are ready to be planted out, but the spot where they'll go... isn't.

Yet.

Posted by: JQ at May 10, 2025 01:03 PM (rdVOm)

18 Phone screen is giving me issues

Posted by: Skip at May 10, 2025 01:04 PM (ypFCm)

19 Have to go to Lowes for work stuff, maybe pick up some plants

Posted by: Skip at May 10, 2025 01:05 PM (ypFCm)

20 Finally getting some flowers planted.

Vegetables over the next week of so. Actually had some lettuce come up in one of my containers from some overwintered seed.

Posted by: Pleistocene Megafauna at May 10, 2025 01:07 PM (MB784)

21 I remember living in Alexandria, KY as a young person during the consulships of Nixonus Ricardis Castigitis, Fordus, Geraldus Substitutus & Carterus Jacobus Peanutus. There was a mulberry bush which had become a decent tree on the SW corner of our yard. Unlike the nursery rhyme we couldn't go around it early in the morning because it was on the edge of a sharp slope which went down into cleared but undeveloped ground. It was popular with the birds when the berries were ripe! A few times we went out with an old sheet & harvested ripened mulberries. Mom would put them into a pie crust & serve it for a dessert. Good times

Posted by: exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT at May 10, 2025 01:10 PM (XjTSo)

22 16 We have Iris coming out, one of my favorite flowers
---------
My irises are coming out too. I've tried to help them up by clearing away some weeds & excess ground cover that had grown up about them.

Posted by: exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT at May 10, 2025 01:12 PM (XjTSo)

23 I've never eaten a mulberry. Need to change that!

Posted by: JQ at May 10, 2025 01:12 PM (rdVOm)

24 Mmmmm......raspberry pie.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at May 10, 2025 01:12 PM (ERTmx)

25 PNW MoMee has started.

Posted by: PabloD at May 10, 2025 01:14 PM (I4zds)

26
Not mulberries, but a memory of a blackberry bush from long ago. In the backyard of an old house in Bethesda MD. One rainy day, a box turtle was eating berries off the bush. On hind legs, neck extended. Before that, I hadn't realized what a long neck they have.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 10, 2025 01:21 PM (ES1Rb)

27 Had a mulberry tree in the yard in New Mexico. Problem is, it was threatening to wreck a corner of the house, so down it came.

Damn, the root systems of those trees are a nightmare to remove.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at May 10, 2025 01:32 PM (/HDaX)

28 If you cut down a mature mulberry tree (and don't poison), then the next spring it will grow multiple shoots that may reach 10' tall in the first year.

My brother used to assist the City Naturalist in taking local animals to the grade schools to teach basic science.

The biggest hit of the presentation was giving the beaver a long mulberry stem. He would feed it into his mouth just as fast as he could chew. He was so fast, that it actually looked like a cartoon - the kids loved it!

They always listened closely to the presentation after that.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at May 10, 2025 01:36 PM (HlyYF)

29 I missed gardening and pickling last year.

This year, I'm going to plant mostly tomatoes for drying, and jalapenos. I like to let the peppers ripen until they're red. They make great pickles.

Posted by: Bombadil at May 10, 2025 01:38 PM (MX0bI)

30 Unripe mulberries are said to be psychotropic.

Posted by: Lurker squirl at May 10, 2025 01:44 PM (zpWLJ)

31 30 Unripe mulberries are said to be psychotropic.

Posted by: Lurker squirl at May 10, 2025 01:44 PM

Thanks for the tip.

I didn't realize that they had been serving unripe mulberries at Ivy League faculty meetings!

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at May 10, 2025 01:47 PM (HlyYF)

32 28 If you cut down a mature mulberry tree (and don't poison), then the next spring it will grow multiple shoots that may reach 10' tall in the first year.

Oh, that's good to know! Due to crossed wires between us and the guy who mows our lawn, I have a nice mulberry stump in the front yard.

At least it has a chance of springing back. (OTOH, no bright purple bird poo on our vehicles this year....)

Posted by: barkingmad59, wandering lurkette at May 10, 2025 01:49 PM (R3yzU)

33 The side of what used to be my garage is like that. Two mulberries, that were cut down and are now about five feet tall. They have branches everywhere although they were cut back when we painted. I need to get someone out and take them down.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 10, 2025 01:49 PM (AcTAo)

34 We had much (for us) rain this week. My cousin's husband rototilled my garden yesterday, but it's still too wet to plant. Maybe tomorrow. I'm still trying to decide where everything should go in my L shaped garden between a shop and a garage. My plants want to go in the ground, but I'm slacking.

Posted by: huerfano at May 10, 2025 01:53 PM (n2swS)

35 We have critters that eat everything green around here... Having read that marigolds deter the voracious bastards we bought a packet of marigold seeds which are sprouted and a small 6pack. All 6 planted and eaten to the roots in 2 days. This does not bode well for the sprouts!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 10, 2025 02:06 PM (R0NMj)

36 there are a few types of mulberry that grow around here. i haven't ever seen real mulberry fruit though.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 10, 2025 02:15 PM (R0NMj)

37 I can't recall ever eating a sweeter berry than a mulberry. In the back of our chemical warehouse shed (where we dumped all the leaking 5-gal buckets of 'whatever') was a mulberry tree. About 15 feet tall. One year it came into bloom so profusely I couldn't help tasting one. What!? There's chemicals in the soil? Welcome to Earth Sciences 101, Jethro. That was the sweetest berry I ever tasted - so I tasted more. Plenty more. I also found a bucket and filled it with as many I could fit in it to bring home. Everybody had mulberrries. And no (if you're - for some reason - wondering), none of us died. Nobody even got a bad case of the runs. Now ah jes' lubs me some mulberries ...

Posted by: Dr_No at May 10, 2025 02:24 PM (ayRl+)

38 Mulberry daiquiri?

Posted by: Eromero at May 10, 2025 02:34 PM (LHPAg)

39 Pets Thread is NOOD

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at May 10, 2025 03:02 PM (VNX3d)

40 I can't keep the mulberry trees from growing in my yard! One on the side of my house that I cut down, regrew from the stump and now is taller than my house. I have at least 3 others in yard right now, all volunteers.

Posted by: whoever at May 10, 2025 03:07 PM (6j5I/)

41 The tulips are out, finally, here in Southcentral Alaska.

Unfortunately, so is the birch pollen. The pollen count on Thursday was 1,280. Anything over 90 is considered high.

Birch bukkake everywhere. Sneezing and wheezing. The other day I wiped rain water off my lawn chair with a paper towel, and it was visibly yellow-green afterward.

So... I haven't been out to enjoy the spring weather much. Oh, well. It's only once a year for maybe a week.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 10, 2025 03:14 PM (W5ArC)

42 If you try a mulberry and don't like it, try another tree!

I've noticed a wide variability in taste, from wonderful to eh, from tree to tree (at least here in Minnesota.)

Posted by: Fritzy at May 10, 2025 03:58 PM (T5dpv)

43 In the garden: Hepatica and Early Meadow Rue are getting crowded out. Trillium is holding steady. Mayapple, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Wild Ginger are doing well. Prairie Groundsel is spreading like wildfire and should be flowering this week.
My two clumps of Juneberry (Serviceberry for you non-Minnesotans) were planted 4 or 5 years apart, and after 20 years flowered in sync. Should have a bumper crop this year!

Posted by: Fritzy at May 10, 2025 04:08 PM (T5dpv)

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