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I haven't done a garden update in a bit, so this is going to be a thread.

1. Raspberries

I keep meaning to do a post about container gardening with canes and how you get the most fruit off of a limited number of them.

This week I purchased a golden raspberry to go with my black, wild, red, and the weird deep burgundy one (which was also *supposed* to be a black one) that I bought probably a decade ago.

(I also have the wild raspberries because a friend of mine was trying to get me one of the black canes from his patch, but captured a wild one instead. My quest for black raspberries had been an ongoing thing until last year.)

Anyway, people see my raspberry canes coiled round and round and wonder whether I should have cut them off instead of letting them grow really long, or do I let them grow extra long because there are so few of them in the pots?

Well the first time I did that, that was definitely my motivation. It was a year where only two canes came in, but they kept growing and growing to like 15 ft long, so I looped them around and around when they were green, in order to be able to manage them.

But the next year, I learned that:
When you bend a fruit cane (and it works with my gooseberries as well, see the last photo of the set), the plant sends off mini branches with multiple flower sets, which become fruit. It's weird, but it's true.

Apparently, bending or arching raspberry canes disrupts the natural plant hormones (auxins). When canes are strictly vertical, the main tip of the cane dominates growth, suppressing the buds below it. Bending the cane horizontally or into an arch forces these dormant side buds (lateral nodes) to wake up.

I'm not sure if that's why people used to cut the tips of their raspberry plants off, but that used to be the advice given to growers. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Anyhoo, I look forward to feasting on raspberries in another month or so, so I won't get golden ones until next year.

#gardening #ContainerGardening #GrowYourOwn #GigiGarden #GigiTips

🌪🌪🌪🌪🌪🌪
All right!
Reminder time!
🌪🌪🌪🌪🌪🌪

MOST INJURIES FROM TORNADOES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• Head injuries during the storm, and
• Foot injuries after the storm when people go outside.

A large chunk of Ontario is currently storm warned. Figure out the spot in your house that puts the maximum number of walls between you and outside.

🪖🪖🪖🪖
Go RIGHT NOW, and put a HELMET and a pair of HARD SOLED SHOES for every person who will be sheltering in that space.
👞👞👞👞

The helmet is for preventing head injuries while things are blowing around, and the hard soled shoes are so that you won't step on nails or other damaging debris after the storm. I hope like hell you don't need either of those things.

Much better to go do that now and not need it, than NOT do it and NEED it.
#tornado #onwx #onstorm #GigiTips

One day Ima write a whole piece on social engineering, but in the meantime here is my number one tip on how to not being a walking security hole:

LET PEOPLE BE WRONG.
No, you don't have to correct them.

The easiest way I have learned to get people to spill shit they shouldn't be telling you is to be wrong about something.

People love to be right. Let them correct you on a small thing, first, then they will feel good about telling you SHIT THEY ABSOLUTELY SHOULDN'T BE SAYING.

If I can resist correcting an oversized goon who's been harassing me for four years, as he blathers abject nonsense at me non-stop, you can get out of the habit of correcting people who didn't directly ask for your help.

Let them be wrong.
Let them be LOUD and wrong.

It's enough that you know.

#mansplaining #SocialEngineering #GigiTips

One of my favourite food prep tips (and I have probably posted it before) is to pre roast garlic.

Like to roast it in small ceramic containers with lids — nothing but garlic. 275°F until my nose says it's done.

Then I put it on a flat tray to freeze individually, then I throw them in a bag, and into the freezer.

Because it's summertime, I made a lovely classic Greek dressing. No one point in my life I had a Greek roommate and she taught me that a proper Greek dressing is lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and oregano.

I planted a lot of onions this year, but the raccoons generally fought me for these. Not that they ate them. So tomorrow I guess I will have to go buy one and a bit of feta.

#GigiTips #cookstodon

I went on a bit of a bread baking spree last night.

As a tip, if you want a classic soft sandwich loaf, add a bit of powdered milk toward the end of the kneading process. It gives you a softer crumb.

#GigiTips #cookstodon

My favourite feature in Signal is the Note to Self option.

When you find yourself sending the same message over and over again to many different people and many different groups, it's easiest to either create it or save a copy in your Note to Self function, and then just forward it from there.

You can attach up to 10 screenshots or images, along with the text.

It saves so much time.
#Activism #Organizing #OrganizerToolkit #GigiTips

Was scrolling so #onstorm footage from this morning, and I realized that some people don't seem to know that:

🌪 🌪 🌪 🌪 🌪

If you aren't detecting left or right motion on that tornado you are filming:

IT MAY BE COMING
STRAIGHT AT YOU.

🌪 🌪 🌪 🌪 🌪

We really need to get Canadians more aware of this shit, along with "hard-soled shoes and helmets".

https://kolektiva.social/@Gigi/110544601152244338

#tornadoes #WeatherAdvice
#GigiTips #onwx