Might be running for office, also. We get a lot of that around election time.
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Hmmm. My husband also seems to think I might want to make pancakes when I am screaming.
Raccoons have a high incidence of rabies. They’re mostly nocturnal and should be avoided. Any liquid they come in contact with is potentially dangerous, especially if you have a wound. Supposedly, rabies virus dies upon drying out.
Around here, the big ones can get aggressive. They have a bad habit of tipping trashcans, getting into attics and killing chickens. Trying to grow strawberries here is near impossible due to these thieves. Raccoons are not welcome here, (unless in hat form).
mmm…pancakes! Haven’t made those in years.
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Vicariously enjoying everyone’s gorgeous gardens!
I am sorely missing growing something, so I sprouted lemongrass from H-mart and brought back some mint cuttings from a friend’s.
Both were doing great in water indoors, but look tragic now that I’ve put them in soil in a small pot outdoors.
Any suggestions? Is it the transition?
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I’ve had mixed results with the water-to-dirt transition. Romaine was a failure. So were scallions. Horseradish was a success. Do not ask me what I’m going to do with horseradish leaves, as I have no idea, but it’s growing really well!
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The process of “hardening off” is important when moving plants outdoors. Sunlight has UV and infrared light, and plants need a gradual transition so they don’t get sunburned.
From water-rooting indoors, move plants to pots indoors and let the roots grow more in the new soil. After 2-3 weeks, you can start giving them more sunlight, bit by bit, depending on the weather. Pots (before putting plants in the ground) have the advantage of being movable. From indoors, moving plants outside during cloudy or mild weather is less of a shock. If you see a lot of wilting, move the potted plants into shade for a while. It takes some days, and a little creativity to get the young plants ready for intense sunlight. How one provides temporary shade is the creative part.
Even plants moved outdoors too quickly can often recover, but the top growth is usually damaged and the plant will try to balance the foliage with how much the root system can feed it.
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Sigh.
You think I’d remember hardening off after doing it with 100 tomato plants and probably a similar number of assorted others during the pandemic.
Silly me.
Thanks @bogman - I’ll bring them back inside and baby them a bit longer. The temperature was very mild, but it may have been too sunny the first couple of days.
On the bright side, two of the lemongrass stalks seem to be okay, and two of the mint stalks, so if those survive I think they’ll do fine.
Scallions I agree! When I stuck them straight in dirt they were fine, but the transfer wasn’t great.
Maybe I’ll try scallions and/or romaine straight to dirt.
I know! Rockett Racoon in Guardians of the Galaxy!
I put in 2 rows of scallions a couple of weeks ago. See nothing yet. They are wispy and slow to appear in the past so hoping these guys sprout up.
Mint is very resilient, almost impossible to kill, and comes back reliably year after year in the spring. I am optimistic about your mint.
“Resiliant” is too kind. Here we call mint “invasive”.
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Resilient = survival, Invasive = what it does after it survives. Yes, I have planted my mint only in one big pot and there it stays.
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I put the scallion ends and romaine ends right into the dirt, and they usually grow.
I’ve also planted ginger that’s not in great shape.
I had kept a few plants after taking out a mint patch that went from a single plant in a small 2 inch diameter pot to a plant that took up 4 square yards. They overwintered in a pot in 2020- 2021, but were dead this spring (second winter in a pot outside).
I bought a new mint plant, planted it in the shade, in poor soil where other plants won’t grow, far from everything else, and I’m keeping my eye on it.
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They should work, but usually the ones that will sprout from the ends are thinner. Usually will take a round or two for the mto grow more hefty. My early spring scallions that had been harvested or dried out, are now starting to show signs of round two!
I planted leeks this year. They are still young, so I am using them like chives.
What does this have to do with your post, you ask? Nothing. But I might grow scallions next year.
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Perhaps I will ask my MIL from Jamaica. I’ve certainly talked callaloo with her.
Clues
-used in parts of the Caribbean in Callaloo,
-in Grenada, tasty soups/stews,
-a type of Xanthosoma (sagittifolium?) or Taro, both tropical root crops and in the Jack-in-the-Pulpit family, the Aroids/Araceae.
-which plant was being used and how to cook it safely?
-It was not an Amaranth.
As it happens, my mom’s family included some from Grenada, but it feels like there’s no one left. But that’s not true. Just no one I know.
