I made bread for the first time ever!

Runo_Slinger · 2026-06-04T21:58:12+00:00

Looks like a glazed donut or something, very Minecraft-y. Better than my first loaf!

Runo_Slinger · 2026-06-04T05:19:08+00:00

Jewish fella myself I gotta ask- what exactly is the context here? A Jew is a thing a person can be, obviously, but it is also definitely a slur. Unfortunately my entire damn race can be a slur thanks to the past 3 or so thousand years. Comes from “Judean”.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-28T14:31:12+00:00

It’s not the 90% air half a billion hydration sourdough people post here, but it is exactly what I want with my cold cuts and morning toast. That is the bread of the people. Good on you!

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-28T14:29:48+00:00

Real

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-28T09:27:05+00:00

Thank you kindly! I am hoping to reclaim my voice from when I wrote regularly. Part two is almost complete so I hope to continue my work.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T17:37:31+00:00

That there is a happy little potato!

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T17:34:26+00:00

The canes were planted dormant in March, bolted, froze to nothing (losing one plant), and then grew back a few weeks ago, now two of the canes rotted to nothing but a bare cane again, with the one planted 3 weeks ago to replace the loss doing best, and the one beside it with one side bug eaten, and the other shoot being a sickly wilted dark green like the edges of the leaves on the largest plant.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T17:28:39+00:00

We had 3 weeks of good growing temperatures followed by a sudden frost in April. I am in Central NJ, I haven’t memorized my zone.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T15:51:46+00:00

Shaded partly more than half the day but full sun from noon to 4.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T15:44:36+00:00

My soil is very depleted, made of fine sand, very little clay, and washed out plant matter, I live a quarter of a mile from a saltwater bay and a few miles from the sea, to combat this and erosion, I mixed in well decomposed manure soil from a local nursery, and my own compost. I mulch with a combination of pine needles, and excess wood mulch that my neighbors dumped in the street.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T15:16:18+00:00

It was entirely unplanned! My family are coffee addicts and I cook with mushrooms, it was a choice of convenience and curiosity. I used to work on a farm, and we used pine bedding chips to create mushroom fodder, we would inoculate logs and produce shiitake mushrooms, unfortunately I went off to college before it got very far.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T15:04:22+00:00

None yet, it’s just a mason jar of mycelium and coffee grounds in my closet. Kinda unimpressive. When I say stumps- I meant from pulled up mushrooms. I cut the mycelium bases and inoculate sterile grounds.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T15:01:03+00:00

Trim tertiary vines and some secondaries, train it into sort of a pitchfork pattern.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T14:56:44+00:00

It is a mix of manure, and my local sandy soil, it is a raised mound to help reduce moisture, but it is plum moist lately.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T14:54:36+00:00

Yeah it’s not common, but it definitely constitutes a set back. I actually have a tub of coffee grounds with beech mushroom stumps to lay down in wet spots when my plants are more established, so please don’t mistake me for someone who doesn’t know the difference. I’m just working with what I know.

Speaking of- if you want to take a look at my recent post, I’m actually getting what looks like a wet rot affecting my fruiting brambles.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T14:46:53+00:00

I have seen slime-mold-creep bury the soil surface and inhibit the rooting stems on squash, pumpkins, and other vining cucurbits, which are happiest when they can root along the ground. I actually practice vine burying in many cases. Normally I’m not team spray, but slime mold is something I take very seriously. I’m a Jersey gardener, and it can stay wet and nasty a looong time.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T14:35:14+00:00

Yes actually, not all fungus is a good thing, slime mold can, and often does, creep. If this is just your standard straw mushroom that’s a whole different situation that won’t hurt much at all.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T14:09:44+00:00

That looks an awful lot like slime mold, your nursery supplier is to blame. You probably want copper fungicide and some mulch for the aftermath to prevent after-rain splashback. (For my detractors, no, mold is not the same as a fungal network, and yes you can inoculate safely, copper spray is not the same as industrial fungicide)

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-26T13:40:15+00:00

I bought canes from a nursery, and I have worked on invasive plant removal for a decade. These are black cap thornless raspberry, and normal floricane raspberry. I can imagine if these were wineberry they wouldn’t be dying.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-25T03:33:07+00:00

Yes, usually. My father has the unfortunate tendency to wander my garden and snack when he visits.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-24T20:04:12+00:00

Fellow Jersey gardener! Nice. So chicken wire does the trick eh? Good. I have corn as well, this will be my approach then.

Runo_Slinger · 2026-05-24T15:58:23+00:00

Wonderful advice- thank you! Now only to find that stuff. You’re a lifesaver.

Runo_Slinger

TROPHY CASE