What did you do in the garden today?

[EuroChook]

Ds discovered mango skin also has urushiol oil. Only a little of it but enough that he reacts to it. He can still eat the mangos with no problem.

We (he and I) don't get much relief from meds. We do better with hot water. I read that causes the histimine cells in the skin to release to exhaustion which gives a couple of hours of relieve. It seems to be what happens. It feels quite odd while it releases.

And, yes, washing thoroughly with soap including everything you touched or that anything that touched. I read that the oil is similar to motor oil in how it clings and spreads from one surface to another - to help one understand what is needed to contain it and to clean it. That seems to be so.

I don't think the temperature of the water matters much. Using abundant amounts of water makes a lot more difference than the temperature. That might be partly because of my washing techniques though.

The part I read about there being an hour window to get it washed off before it bonds with your skin does not seem to be so for everyone. We have less time.

I have trouble keeping it out from under my fingernails with unpleasant consequences. I don't know if I scratch a lot too or it it is just from using my fingernails as tools.

Green mangos, before ripe, have even higher urushiol levels than the ripe ones. such a nasty chemical!

 

[gtaus]

My mom used to bake soil to sterilize it for seed-starting. I was a young child, but remember how bad it stank.

Thanks. I have no desire to stink up the house to save a few dollars. The commercial potting soil I purchased was a 2 cubic foot bag, so that would mean a lot of cooking compost in the oven. Don't want to stink up the house or fill it full of bugs if I don't cook the compost.

As much as I like saving money, sometimes I know it's better to choose other options. If I had an outside greenhouse, then I would sift my chicken run compost with the 1/4-inch screen and use that as potting soil. But, at the moment, a greenhouse is still on the wish list.

 

[Smokerbill]

Thanks. I have no desire to stink up the house to save a few dollars. The commercial potting soil I purchased was a 2 cubic foot bag, so that would mean a lot of cooking compost in the oven. Don't want to stink up the house or fill it full of bugs if I don't cook the compost.

As much as I like saving money, sometimes I know it's better to choose other options. If I had an outside greenhouse, then I would sift my chicken run compost with the 1/4-inch screen and use that as potting soil. But, at the moment, a greenhouse is still on the wish list.

I used commercial seed starting soil in January or February, and had some very tiny mushrooms grow in one of the pots! I guess it wasn't totally sterile. Maybe I can find the picture I took...

Nope, couldn't find it.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good afternoon gardeners. We got a nice beneficial rain today. Nearly an inch. Nice cool temps around 69F. It was pouring all morning so I skipped the garden today. Looking at it all from inside the fence I will be picking more cherry tomatoes and a couple of SM tomorrow. The other day I spotted a medium sized bell pepper growing at the bottom of one of the plants. The corn is looking fantastic and the summer squash is blooming. However they seem to be all male flowers. I have tiny jalapeños developing on both the little plants. My cucumber plants are growing and it looks like they are developing buds. I pulled all the bush green beans and will be planting salad greens in their place as soon as possible. Things have been a little busy around here lately. DD is in the process of adopting two siblings so I guess I’ll finally get some grandkids. Sunday was move in day so I made Sunday chicken dinner including a peach pie and took it to her house. I may need to get a few point of lay pullets to keep us all in eggs this winter. Lol!

Congratulations to you all Sarah! How old are the kids? Boys/girls?

 

[igorsMistress]

I stayed out of the heat sewed me pants.Or my version of them.
DH and I walking we will use the cement mixer for dirt now too.
Mix my own black dirt old shavings and old crap pile.View attachment 3610283

Cute fabric Penny!

 

[gtaus]

There is no way anyone (me) is baking dirt in my kitchen, so I'm with DW there @gtaus!

I suspect I'd be personna non grata if I cooked any chicken run compost in the house. You guys have confirmed my decision just to buy commercial sterilized compost. Thanks for keeping the peace in my family!

My mom ends up in the hospital & on a month of steroids when she even goes near PI. She gets it in her lungs & then can't breathe - she gets it real bad.

That's too bad. About 25 years ago, after my dad got a really bad case of poison ivy, he later went to the doctor and got some kind of a shot that "prevented" him from getting another bad case of poison ivy. That's what he told me. But he did not have it in his lungs. Still, there might be a preventative measure your mother could use to keep her lungs clear.

The cucumbers knocked over the trellis & tore off the side of the raised bed

I guess the good news is that you probably have a bumper crop of cucumbers this year!

Again, I will mention that the 2X4 pallet wood trellis I built for Dear Wife is super strong. You could swing from it. The trellis is basically free standing on its own, but I decided to screw it into the raised bed to make it even stronger.

Here is a picture when I first built that trellis...

It might not be the prettiest trellis out there, but it is super strong, I paid nothing for the salvaged wood, and now it's totally covered with the bitter melon vines anyway. I had consider using 2X2's or lighter wood with a more appealing design, but I opted for strength in the design and I am glad I did.

Dear Wife could not be happier with her new trellis...

I bought some delish heirloom tomatoes at the farmers market & we had BLTs last night.

Grandma made the best BLT's. But, come to think of it, grandma made everything the best as I remember it.

 

[igorsMistress]

And the self checkout scanners are usually "card only". They're trying to remove cash purchases.

Which is crazy because cold, hard cash is real and the card is more like pretend money to me lol.

 

[igorsMistress]

I think for your inside potting/seed starting soil you should bake it in the oven to sterilize it. That would get rid of any bugs and pathogens that could hurt the seedlings as they're establishing themselves. And you'd have no bugs in the house.

Commercial potting soil is sterile, and starting plants inside is just a temporary thing. Once they get outdoors they need the living, critter infested compost and soil. Just my opinion...

I use boiling water on any soil I’ll be using inside. It kills the critters, specifically fungus gnats.

 

[gtaus]

Mowing does not kill PI. Be careful when you dump the mower bag.

Good advice. Mowing it will probably cut up the plant and release all kinds of poison ivy oil in the mower bag. Since poison ivy oil can cling to objects for over a year, the better option might be to gear up in protective clothing and pull the ivy out by the roots. I can see me emptying my mower bag months later, not using gloves, and getting infected from the poison ivy oil still on or in the bagger.

I've sprayed PI with Dawn/vinegar solution. Yes, it kills the leaves, more then sprout.

Speaking of that, could a person use a mini tiller on the poison ivy to dig it out by the roots, rake it up, and dispose of it (not burning)?

 

[igorsMistress]

Would you use straight vinegar or dilute it with water? Also, I am finishing off a 1-gallon bulk jar of pickles from WalMart. I will have about half a gallon of pickle juice. Would that work to kill the poison ivy? Seems like a waste to dump all that pickle juice down the drain if I can use it to kill poison ivy.

Make pickled eggs?