Garden and Yard Talk

[lizkat]

I'm learning tomatoes can be kind of an asshole plant. After over a month of my tomatoes not ripening and seeming more interested in growing to the size of pumpkins I did some research. I learned if the temperature goes outside a certain range that's just what they'll do. They'll put energy into growing more branches, leafs, and new tomatoes instead of ripening what is already there. So I cut back some new growth and hopefully that will inspire it to step in line.

Well there's always fried green tomatoes... and other ways to cook and serve the green ones

15 Delicious Ways to Use Green Tomatoes Beyond Frying

Find 15 delicious recipes using end-of-season green tomatoes. Add some of the great recipes to your repertoire.

www.thespruceeats.com

...or just pick some of them green and wrap individually in newspaper and stick in a paper bag in the trunk of your car for a sunny afternoon or two. I wrapped them in newspaper when early frosts came around here, took a few weeks to finish ripening in the house that way. PITA since have to keep unwrapping one or two now and then to check on them so they don't go over the top. In a hot car boot though they'll ripen in a day.

Of course I've no clue what happens to the latest in engineered tomato plants, the kind that have been genetically engineered for various traits. Somewhere I read that some plants like strawberries and tomatoes may even have fish genes in them now to be made more frost resistant.

Still most tomatoes and other nightshade plants may not like to ripen on the vine if the mean night temperatures in summer are under 55ºF. Eggplant won't even set fruit here in the mountains because of that unless some nightly protection is afforded. I've no patience for that so eggplant is strictly a store-bought vegetable for me. Tomatoes are a little less finicky but when I grew a lot of them I always ended up having to use some green or ripen them wrapped up in the house after a hasty picking in advance of an early hard frost.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Well there's always fried green tomatoes... and other ways to cook and serve the green ones

15 Delicious Ways to Use Green Tomatoes Beyond Frying

Find 15 delicious recipes using end-of-season green tomatoes. Add some of the great recipes to your repertoire.

www.thespruceeats.com

...or just pick some of them green and wrap individually in newspaper and stick in a paper bag in the trunk of your car for a sunny afternoon or two. I wrapped them in newspaper when early frosts came around here, took a few weeks to finish ripening in the house that way. PITA since have to keep unwrapping one or two now and then to check on them so they don't go over the top. In a hot car boot though they'll ripen in a day.

Of course I've no clue what happens to the latest in engineered tomato plants, the kind that have been genetically engineered for various traits. Somewhere I read that some plants like strawberries and tomatoes may even have fish genes in them now to be made more frost resistant.

Still most tomatoes and other nightshade plants may not like to ripen on the vine if the mean night temperatures in summer are under 55ºF. Eggplant won't even set fruit here in the mountains because of that unless some nightly protection is afforded. I've no patience for that so eggplant is strictly a store-bought vegetable for me. Tomatoes are a little less finicky but when I grew a lot of them I always ended up having to use some green or ripen them wrapped up in the house after a hasty picking in advance of an early hard frost.

Thanks for the tip(s). I cut the largest mutant tomato off the vine and put it on a window sill. I'll report back my findings.

 

[Deleted member 199]

So technically this could go in 'what are you doing today' because it happened today. but it happened in the 'yard' so it's here.

I managed to not only damage the power cord to the hedge trimmer with the trimmer (not the first time this has happened. Fixing it was literally just cutting out a short section and rejoining to the existing waterproof cable joiner from the last time I did this. I blame a black cord, and dark green hedges. The same company sells extension cords, ostensibly for their garden power tools: bright fucking orange. The one attached to the machine? Eh fuck it, black is fine.

Anyway. So I fixed that, continued trimming, and then heard a distinctly bad crunching sound, even through my ear protection. Took it into the shed, disassembled it, and discovered that one of the bearings decided it was all too much like hard work, and gave up on life.

It had literally just fallen apart - the crunching was the 'cage' band, apparently going for a short stroll through the gears.


And to think, I chose to trim the hedge today (over other tasks), because it seemed like a relatively easy task that doesn't require lots of fucking around.

 

[Huntn]

So technically this could go in 'what are you doing today' because it happened today. but it happened in the 'yard' so it's here.

I managed to not only damage the power cord to the hedge trimmer with the trimmer (not the first time this has happened. Fixing it was literally just cutting out a short section and rejoining to the existing waterproof cable joiner from the last time I did this. I blame a black cord, and dark green hedges. The same company sells extension cords, ostensibly for their garden power tools: bright fucking orange. The one attached to the machine? Eh fuck it, black is fine.

Anyway. So I fixed that, continued trimming, and then heard a distinctly bad crunching sound, even through my ear protection. Took it into the shed, disassembled it, and discovered that one of the bearings decided it was all too much like hard work, and gave up on life.

It had literally just fallen apart - the crunching was the 'cage' band, apparently going for a short stroll through the gears.


And to think, I chose to trim the hedge today (over other tasks), because it seemed like a relatively easy task that doesn't require lots of fucking around.

I assume the cord is hooked to the back of the trimmer, and the danger of cutting the cord is when you are cutting downward and the cord is hanging close to where you are cutting? I cut my yard with a wired lawn mower, and at times have to take care not to run over it. For this exercise, I start next to the house and cut parallel back and forth to the front of the house, working my way away from the house and use an orange cord.

 

[DT]

Well there's always fried green tomatoes... and other ways to cook and serve the green ones

There's a local joint that does a Bacon, Lettuce and Fried Green Tomato sandwich, holy hell, it's good.

 

[DT]

I moved the coconut tree to its new home, at the perimeter of the main front bed, everyone pray for it

 

[Huntn]

Well there's always fried green tomatoes... and other ways to cook and serve the green ones

15 Delicious Ways to Use Green Tomatoes Beyond Frying

Find 15 delicious recipes using end-of-season green tomatoes. Add some of the great recipes to your repertoire.

www.thespruceeats.com

...or just pick some of them green and wrap individually in newspaper and stick in a paper bag in the trunk of your car for a sunny afternoon or two. I wrapped them in newspaper when early frosts came around here, took a few weeks to finish ripening in the house that way. PITA since have to keep unwrapping one or two now and then to check on them so they don't go over the top. In a hot car boot though they'll ripen in a day.

Of course I've no clue what happens to the latest in engineered tomato plants, the kind that have been genetically engineered for various traits. Somewhere I read that some plants like strawberries and tomatoes may even have fish genes in them now to be made more frost resistant.

Still most tomatoes and other nightshade plants may not like to ripen on the vine if the mean night temperatures in summer are under 55ºF. Eggplant won't even set fruit here in the mountains because of that unless some nightly protection is afforded. I've no patience for that so eggplant is strictly a store-bought vegetable for me. Tomatoes are a little less finicky but when I grew a lot of them I always ended up having to use some green or ripen them wrapped up in the house after a hasty picking in advance of an early hard frost.

The wife and I were adults, I think after the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, when we tried them, hmm good in a restaurant in Charleston, SC..

 

[Huntn]

There's a local joint that does a Bacon, Lettuce and Fried Green Tomato sandwich, holy hell, it's good.

Incredibly delicious. My mouth waters thinking about it.

 

[Huntn]

We have that!

View attachment 6294View attachment 6295View attachment 6296

Beautiful! Those look short and fat, the kind I have seem to be have the potential to get longer. Pretty succulent with an exotic flower.

 

[Huntn]

When we lived on Guam we started a row of coconut palms by half burying a line of coconuts In the dirt, which there was very poor on the base (NAS Agana). Also had some plumeria bushes, but I don’t think those can stand freezing, thinking of Houston. After the extra cold snap last Feb, all the palm trees in the area are coming back to life.

Our nephew told us that in San Antonio were he lives, where it got colder than Houston, some of the palms died, I guess a certain species of palm, but some research would be required to see which are more cold tolerant. I don’t have any palms on our property. My wife calls them roach magnets, but I don’t argue about it.

 

[Deleted member 199]

I assume the cord is hooked to the back of the trimmer, and the danger of cutting the cord is when you are cutting downward and the cord is hanging close to where you are cutting? I cut my yard with a wired lawn mower, and at times have to take care not to run over it. For this exercise, I start next to the house and cut parallel back and forth to the front of the house, working my way away from the house and use an orange cord.

Yes essentially, it’s hard-wired into the back of the handle but then as you move it down the cord hangs close. Our lawn mower is also wired, but it’s just a euro style “male socket” and while they supplied a black cord I too just use a bright orange one. I’ll probably end up sacrificing one of the orange extension cords and hardwiring it into the back of the trimmer in place of the current black one, once (if) I get the bearing replaced successfully.

 

[fooferdoggie]

holy crap I just watered these guys yesterday in the afternoon hoping the dog would run through the sprinkler. they are in the shade but I guess 110 degrees is bad and now there is a wind. I think they were ok a couple of hours ago. even the sword ferns are suffering and they can go without watering all year.

. . See how long it takes them to perk up. even the shrubs are wilty.

 

[lizkat]

This is turning out to be the kind of summer where portulacas would have been appropriate plantings... half the time when I get a few flats of those, they practically die waiting for enough sun to let them form blooms. This year I got impatiens instead and of course now they're almost fried even back in the shade of the barn and with the cooler temps after nightfall. Oh well, at least the annual plant sellers always smile when they see me coming to fill in the spaces around my perennials.

 

[Eric]

Been working on this small project for a bit now, these climbing vines were planted about a month ago and only took up the first 8 inches or so and are growing crazy fast. It's a good way to add some color and provide a bit more privacy. In another month this entire thing should be covered.

 

[Deleted member 199]

Yes essentially, it’s hard-wired into the back of the handle but then as you move it down the cord hangs close. Our lawn mower is also wired, but it’s just a euro style “male socket” and while they supplied a black cord I too just use a bright orange one. I’ll probably end up sacrificing one of the orange extension cords and hardwiring it into the back of the trimmer in place of the current black one, once (if) I get the bearing replaced successfully.

Oh I forgot to post back about this.

So I found the right size bearing, and ordered two, I think the shipping was more than the price of the bearings. Anyway they arrived a few days ago.

Took it all apart (I'd basically stuck all the bolts, screws washers etc in a jar, and then just put the body back together and cable-tied it to hold the motor+switch assembly inside.

Somehow, in the time since I put it on the shelf until the time I opened it to fit the new bearing, one of the carbon brushes decided it too was sick of life, and essentially ejected itself from the little copper casing that holds it in place.

I've asked a place on the local equivalent of Amazon that seemingly just sells carbon brushes if they can find a replacement part based on the photos + measurements I've sent. Good first sign was that they responded, in English and understood what I was asking for.


As I was saying to my wife today when talking about some "non genuine" Harry Potter figurines that were literally 1/30th the price of 'genuine' ones - with something that doesn't really have 'parts', buying cheaper (read: Chinese) stuff doesn't bother me. I've got a bunch of stuff pliers and screwdrivers and hammers and rough saws etc that are from a Chinese brand, and reasonably cheaper than the equivalents from a western brand-name tool maker.


But even here, I can contact numerous places to order the most obscure parts for brand-name power tools. It may need to be a specialty
order and thus take a while to arrive, but I can absolutely get those parts.

I can't even find anyone who sells this brand that isn't a "generic" store that just sells anything they can get their hands on cheap.


And thus here we are. It's not a bad hedge trimmer, so if I can fix it for the price of a bearing and a few carbon brushes I will, but I'm slowly coming to the realisation that I probably need to either accept that it's always going to be a hassle finding parts for it, OR invest in (known) brand name garden power tools... and at this point that probably means cordless gear....

 

[Deleted member 199]

I can't even find anyone who sells this brand that isn't a "generic" store that just sells anything they can get their hands on cheap.

To clarify this part - we did buy it originally from a local hardware/homeware place. They don't seem to sell this brand at all any more, and last time we went and asked them to order a spare part because I'd damaged something (as it happens, for a brush cutter from the same manufacturer, which is part of why I'd been happy to order this brand again when getting the hedge trimmer) it probably took longer in store to convince them that we just wanted a spare part, even though it cost 1/2 the price of the machine, and that no we didn't just want to buy a new one, and yes I would be perfectly capable of installing the new part once it arrived than it did to actually install said part once it finally arrived.

 

[DT]

I went full on rage monster on the Jurassic ferns in front of the house, it was totally out of control, they're gone - stacks and stacks, two cans, overflow, it was nuts.

I used a garden rake and really cleaned out the root systems, dumped a couple of huge bags of good potting soil, turned everything over really well, mostly empty bit that's a good start We had some Poinsettias (from Christmas!), that were just kind of tossed in their pots into that area, they're super healthy, so we actually planted them in the newly cleaned out area. Also exposed some other nice flowers we had planted months ago, but got buried under the ferns.

Also dug up around the coconut tree, added some potting soil, got some good organic palm food, turned all that over, hopefully it'll perk it up, it wasn't doing great before the move, looks worse now <sad_face>.

 

[Deleted member 199]

Oh I forgot to post back about this.

So I found the right size bearing, and ordered two, I think the shipping was more than the price of the bearings. Anyway they arrived a few days ago.

Took it all apart (I'd basically stuck all the bolts, screws washers etc in a jar, and then just put the body back together and cable-tied it to hold the motor+switch assembly inside.

Somehow, in the time since I put it on the shelf until the time I opened it to fit the new bearing, one of the carbon brushes decided it too was sick of life, and essentially ejected itself from the little copper casing that holds it in place.

I've asked a place on the local equivalent of Amazon that seemingly just sells carbon brushes if they can find a replacement part based on the photos + measurements I've sent. Good first sign was that they responded, in English and understood what I was asking for.


As I was saying to my wife today when talking about some "non genuine" Harry Potter figurines that were literally 1/30th the price of 'genuine' ones - with something that doesn't really have 'parts', buying cheaper (read: Chinese) stuff doesn't bother me. I've got a bunch of stuff pliers and screwdrivers and hammers and rough saws etc that are from a Chinese brand, and reasonably cheaper than the equivalents from a western brand-name tool maker.


But even here, I can contact numerous places to order the most obscure parts for brand-name power tools. It may need to be a specialty
order and thus take a while to arrive, but I can absolutely get those parts.

I can't even find anyone who sells this brand that isn't a "generic" store that just sells anything they can get their hands on cheap.


And thus here we are. It's not a bad hedge trimmer, so if I can fix it for the price of a bearing and a few carbon brushes I will, but I'm slowly coming to the realisation that I probably need to either accept that it's always going to be a hassle finding parts for it, OR invest in (known) brand name garden power tools... and at this point that probably means cordless gear....

and the place that I found selling carbon brushes has something similar, but no copper casings.

It also seems like major brands have basically abandoned whatever support they may have had for mains-power garden tools - all I can find here now is (a) cheap unknown-brand 220v corded tools like I have already (b) more expensive known brand name battery powered tools or (c) a variety, but mostly higher end petrol powered tools, from a wide range of known and no-name brands.

(c) is a non starter for me. We had a petrol ride-on mower at my parents place when I was a kid. I remember it being a lot of fucking around, and I wasn't even the one that had to fuck around with it then.

(a) is basically just repeating the same thing, and I'd like to think I can generally learn from my mistakes.

(b) is 'nicer' (i.e. no cord, hopefully better quality). as with non-garden related cordless power tools, it seems like the vast majority of the cost is sunk into batteries, and thankfully at least there seem to be options for bare skins for any followup purchases, to take advantage of the existing battery investment.

 

[Huntn]

I went full on rage monster on the Jurassic ferns in front of the house, it was totally out of control, they're gone - stacks and stacks, two cans, overflow, it was nuts.

I used a garden rake and really cleaned out the root systems, dumped a couple of huge bags of good potting soil, turned everything over really well, mostly empty bit that's a good start We had some Poinsettias (from Christmas!), that were just kind of tossed in their pots into that area, they're super healthy, so we actually planted them in the newly cleaned out area. Also exposed some other nice flowers we had planted months ago, but got buried under the ferns.

Also dug up around the coconut tree, added some potting soil, got some good organic palm food, turned all that over, hopefully it'll perk it up, it wasn't doing great before the move, looks worse now <sad_face>.

Ferns are tough they can live in hot to cold climates.

We have a narrow side yard that was planted up in ferns, they looked good for a while, until they got too thick and beat up by the sun, so we dug up most of them and put in some hydrangeas. The ferns look better when they are just here and there in little clumps.

 

[Huntn]

What the hell happened to my rat tail cactus? It went from:

not my pic


To:


​

I thought it was going through something but what? Someone on line said that it can be due to under watering, but we’ve gotten quite a bit of rain, and… it’s a frick’n cactus!

Then today I noticed some kind of a larvae, cross between a body of a slug and sharp little mandibles chewing at it. Bastard!!! Had not seen it before, Could I have let the larva’s of some vile creature eat the hell out of my cute little cactus and not notice?

Anyway there are 5 sections hanging over the pot that are still nice and green connected to the main plant by dried up stalks, I cut them off, those dried up stalks were still green in the middle and planted 5 new plants. Now I’ll keep an eagle eye on the cactus, maybe spray it with a natural insecticide and hope the mother plant recovers. No reason it should not, I’m thinking.