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Garden Geeks thread
- Thread starter leswp1
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MadTownSioux
Fighting Sioux Hockey Fan
Re: Garden Geeks thread
I tried hammering them two years ago, when I last had any. Too many shards of shell in with the walnuts. Looking for a better option for this year. I've found some good crackers online, but they are pricey.
I tried hammering them two years ago, when I last had any. Too many shards of shell in with the walnuts. Looking for a better option for this year. I've found some good crackers online, but they are pricey.
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St. Clown
Ideas Posted are Likely Not My Own
Re: Garden Geeks thread
I think there is a way to smash them and then toss them in water to separate shell from nutmeat and then dry the nutmeat out but I know nothing about the details (do the shells float while the nutmeat sinks? I don't know that even...) and I could have this mixed up with a different kind of nut.
a lot depends upon how many nuts you have and how much time and patience you have available. for conventional walnuts at the holidays a pair of cheap nutcrackers works fine and they double for use with crab legs and lobster claws too.
when I was younger, with regular walnuts the method I liked best was just to hold two in one hand and squeeze hard until one cracked (you line up the rims against each other). That was far neater than a nutcracker and it left most of the nutmeat intact too. I still have the strength to do it but it seems to shred my skin more now than it did then.
I think there is a way to smash them and then toss them in water to separate shell from nutmeat and then dry the nutmeat out but I know nothing about the details (do the shells float while the nutmeat sinks? I don't know that even...) and I could have this mixed up with a different kind of nut.
a lot depends upon how many nuts you have and how much time and patience you have available. for conventional walnuts at the holidays a pair of cheap nutcrackers works fine and they double for use with crab legs and lobster claws too.
when I was younger, with regular walnuts the method I liked best was just to hold two in one hand and squeeze hard until one cracked (you line up the rims against each other). That was far neater than a nutcracker and it left most of the nutmeat intact too. I still have the strength to do it but it seems to shred my skin more now than it did then.
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FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Vice Grip Locking Pliers. $8.77
OR
Vice Grip Locking C Clamp. $11.04
What Wally said... just adjust them to the right pressure for each nut, and you'll have a handy tool as well.
Vice Grip Locking Pliers. $8.77
OR
Vice Grip Locking C Clamp. $11.04
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Locking up the food would stop them from raiding the food.
Lost one of my hens today. I was just leaving for work and I look over to the mobile pen to see that they're all paniced up against the fence. I look over there a little closer and that's when the hawk must have looked up and saw me and took off from inside of my walk in chicken tractor, where he had my Iowa Blue pullet. Bugger must have just killed her as he really hadn't gotten into eating her it looked like. Rounded up the rest of the flock to lock them up, and put the body outside of the coop. One poor girl was in the nest box just terrified. Really think I'm going to turn the door on the coop into a Dutch Door now so that I can keep the top door closed.
Locking up the food would stop them from raiding the food.
Lost one of my hens today. I was just leaving for work and I look over to the mobile pen to see that they're all paniced up against the fence. I look over there a little closer and that's when the hawk must have looked up and saw me and took off from inside of my walk in chicken tractor, where he had my Iowa Blue pullet. Bugger must have just killed her as he really hadn't gotten into eating her it looked like. Rounded up the rest of the flock to lock them up, and put the body outside of the coop. One poor girl was in the nest box just terrified. Really think I'm going to turn the door on the coop into a Dutch Door now so that I can keep the top door closed.
walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
After they killed most of our replacement hens and meat birds. I wasn't in the mood
Re: Garden Geeks thread
For people who like both big showy flower gardens and detective shows (murder mystery division), Netflix has a British import called Rosemary and Thyme about a plant pathologist, Rosemary Boxer, and a former police constable, now her partner, Laura Thyme. They travel around England and Europe fixing problems in people's gardens, and somehow, everywhere they go, a person winds up dead and they wind up figuring out who did it. Light fluffy fun, and some great gardens from time to time.
For people who like both big showy flower gardens and detective shows (murder mystery division), Netflix has a British import called Rosemary and Thyme about a plant pathologist, Rosemary Boxer, and a former police constable, now her partner, Laura Thyme. They travel around England and Europe fixing problems in people's gardens, and somehow, everywhere they go, a person winds up dead and they wind up figuring out who did it. Light fluffy fun, and some great gardens from time to time.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
We had a hard frost Monday night. Tuesday morning, everything in the garden was dead.
Fortunately we harvested all the beans, tomatillos, and tomatoes over the weekend. Have quite a few green tomatoes wrapped in newspaper to ripen.
I really miss the morning glories though. They were spectacular this year. Over a dozen every day on the trellis that frames the south gate to the garden.
Soon it will be time to dig leaves into the soil and cover with black groundcover fabric for the winter.
We had a hard frost Monday night. Tuesday morning, everything in the garden was dead.
Fortunately we harvested all the beans, tomatillos, and tomatoes over the weekend. Have quite a few green tomatoes wrapped in newspaper to ripen.
I really miss the morning glories though. They were spectacular this year. Over a dozen every day on the trellis that frames the south gate to the garden.
Soon it will be time to dig leaves into the soil and cover with black groundcover fabric for the winter.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Our garden is coming along pretty well, except the garlic has been trouble. Arugula, kale, romaine, beets, carrots, pumpkins and watermelon are all coming along. And some onions we had given up on popped up over the weekend, so that was fun. We planted to garlic in mid September, per local planting guides and only a few are just poking up. The farm we got them from then told me they shouldn't be planted until November first, so there's a disconnect between the farm and planting guides. Hopefully we get some more given we had bought some ajo rojo and sonoran especially for growing in the desert.
Oh, and our grape vines are bad shape with leaf hoppers continuing despite several sprayings and skeletonizers now joining in (sprayed them several times also). Not sure if the grape vines are worth the trouble given the proliferation of pests that get them and one of the three already looks like it is dying. Arg!
Our garden is coming along pretty well, except the garlic has been trouble. Arugula, kale, romaine, beets, carrots, pumpkins and watermelon are all coming along. And some onions we had given up on popped up over the weekend, so that was fun. We planted to garlic in mid September, per local planting guides and only a few are just poking up. The farm we got them from then told me they shouldn't be planted until November first, so there's a disconnect between the farm and planting guides. Hopefully we get some more given we had bought some ajo rojo and sonoran especially for growing in the desert.
Oh, and our grape vines are bad shape with leaf hoppers continuing despite several sprayings and skeletonizers now joining in (sprayed them several times also). Not sure if the grape vines are worth the trouble given the proliferation of pests that get them and one of the three already looks like it is dying. Arg!
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Got a hard frost here too. I had decommissioned my garden because I want to expand it, but I had put a few "volunteer" tomatillos in pots. Don't know exactly what I would have done with them, maybe try to trim them back and grow them inside with plant lights. Just before I went to bed I looked at the outside thermometer and it said 33 and didn't feel like bringing them inside and sure enough, next morning they were dead.
Got a hard frost here too. I had decommissioned my garden because I want to expand it, but I had put a few "volunteer" tomatillos in pots. Don't know exactly what I would have done with them, maybe try to trim them back and grow them inside with plant lights. Just before I went to bed I looked at the outside thermometer and it said 33 and didn't feel like bringing them inside and sure enough, next morning they were dead.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
We pulled out everything that was worth bothering with a few weeks ago, and I've been moving the portable fencing around the garden for my chickens to tear it up, and they love to do that. when we planted everything in the spring, we broke open the straw bales and set the slabs on the garden to keep the weeds down. I had them around the coop to keep them warm and out of the wind last winter. They love tearing that old straw up, and they have done other things there that will help the garden next year.
We pulled out everything that was worth bothering with a few weeks ago, and I've been moving the portable fencing around the garden for my chickens to tear it up, and they love to do that. when we planted everything in the spring, we broke open the straw bales and set the slabs on the garden to keep the weeds down. I had them around the coop to keep them warm and out of the wind last winter. They love tearing that old straw up, and they have done other things there that will help the garden next year.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
The day before the frost killed everything, we picked all the green tomatoes, wrapped them in newspaper, and stored them in a box in a cool room. Last week, we unwrapped them, and they had ripened. Most of them became sauce, a few wound up in salads.
Overall, the best year for tomatoes out of the past 6. Although spraying fungicide every week was not much fun, it did work.
The day before the frost killed everything, we picked all the green tomatoes, wrapped them in newspaper, and stored them in a box in a cool room. Last week, we unwrapped them, and they had ripened. Most of them became sauce, a few wound up in salads.
Overall, the best year for tomatoes out of the past 6. Although spraying fungicide every week was not much fun, it did work.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
phew, just in time...
We have a water line that runs from the house to the back of our lot. Every fall, not only do I need to shut off the water supply to it, I also need to blow it clear (it would be a real pain to have to replace a burst pipe underground...). I had meant to do it this past weekend. Last night, when I got to the train station, my car window already had some frost on it, and so when I got home I shut off the water supply and opened the tap, and some water trickled out....it had started to freeze but had not yet frozen solid enough to burst the pipe.
phew, just in time...
We have a water line that runs from the house to the back of our lot. Every fall, not only do I need to shut off the water supply to it, I also need to blow it clear (it would be a real pain to have to replace a burst pipe underground...). I had meant to do it this past weekend. Last night, when I got to the train station, my car window already had some frost on it, and so when I got home I shut off the water supply and opened the tap, and some water trickled out....it had started to freeze but had not yet frozen solid enough to burst the pipe.
walrus
Wind up workin' in a gas station
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Broke thru an inch os of frost to dig carrots for thanksgiving. Supposed to warm up so I'm going to cover rest of row with a foot or so of leaves so I can dig rest later on, supposed to get wicked sweet if you do that, going to find out
Broke thru an inch os of frost to dig carrots for thanksgiving. Supposed to warm up so I'm going to cover rest of row with a foot or so of leaves so I can dig rest later on, supposed to get wicked sweet if you do that, going to find out
Re: Garden Geeks thread
I hope it works....once frost sets in for the winter here, it gets hard even to get a shovel into the ground....though I suppose the composting leaves will keep the ground softer.
For some reason it brings to mind a memory from childhood. During autumn, the street sweepers would pile all the fallen leaves into one huge mound, maybe six or seven feet high by nine or ten feet across. (later, a front-loader and dump truck would pick them up). We could build forts in them, burrow down and hide, etc. If a pile had sat there for several days, and you burrowed down far enough, you'd get to the moldering part, which would be steaming and warm. that was fun.
I hope it works....once frost sets in for the winter here, it gets hard even to get a shovel into the ground....though I suppose the composting leaves will keep the ground softer.
For some reason it brings to mind a memory from childhood. During autumn, the street sweepers would pile all the fallen leaves into one huge mound, maybe six or seven feet high by nine or ten feet across. (later, a front-loader and dump truck would pick them up). We could build forts in them, burrow down and hide, etc. If a pile had sat there for several days, and you burrowed down far enough, you'd get to the moldering part, which would be steaming and warm. that was fun.
theprofromdover
The Original Dope Detector
We used to just burn them.
bostonewe
Short/Round
The leaves or the children?
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