What did you do in the garden today?

The female cukes are coming in like gang busters - I must have pollinated 10 this am. Tied up the big spaghetti squash better & turned the 1 kabocha I have. Trimmed the bottoms of the brandywines, lots of small tomatoes on them now. Fed the chickens the last of the first batch of lettuce that bolted.

I pulled all the soft neck garlic & it's laying on the bed to dry a bit, the dirt was a little wetter than I would have liked for harvest. I'll get them tied up & hung this afternoon. Ended up with 40 cloves, mostly large & a couple medium. Very happy with that. The hard neck still has a couple weeks in them I think.

I moved a couple volunteer sungolds to the garlic bed. My squash all seem to be males at this point, but there are at least a few squash already developing.

Need to stir up the bedding in the coops & tie up some dahlias & empty the JB traps into some soapy water. So many JB, it's crazy.

Have a good one y'all!

We finally got bout an inch or more of good steady rain yesterday! Thank You Lord!
I have a question regarding herbs....is there a way to cut like basil and keep it fresh for a few days? I prefer fresh to dried but need to trim it now rather than wait cuz it's top heavy.

Gammas Bearded Babies said:

We finally got bout an inch or more of good steady rain yesterday! Thank You Lord!
I have a question regarding herbs....is there a way to cut like basil and keep it fresh for a few days? I prefer fresh to dried but need to trim it now rather than wait cuz it's top heavy.

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If you cut an entire stem you can put it in a jar of water and keep it on your kitchen counter for a few days.

We were gifted .3" of rain last night. It's not nearly enough, but it's something.
We'll be at 100 the first half of the week with hit or miss severe weather, which I could do without.
I'll go help the tomatoes pollinate a bit later. I think the super, stupid, high winds we had all of June were part of my problem with lower fruit formation.

Good morning and Happy Fourth of July everyone. The local fireworks were pretty intense and lasted over 2 hours last night. The air was thick with the aroma of gunpowder this morning. Ick! I pruned the bottoms of the tomato plants this morning, then picked chard and kale. Then I picked lavender and day lilies to bring inside. DD is bringing her dogs over for half the day. They love being off leash and zooming around the backyard. Then I’ll be cooking ribs on the grill. So it looks like we’ll be going through a dry spell for the next week or two. The temps won’t be horrendous but just dry. At least the grass won’t be growing all that fast. Have a great day all.

Gammas Bearded Babies said:

Just sitting inside run with fan in my face and watching the garden...just sit there
Neighbor I gave tomato plants to has red ones...not me
Frustrating

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I have the same tomato frustration!.... I've been trying to solve it for weeks

I really need to prune tomatoes but it's so hot... Maybe this evening I will get around to it.

I've been watching this struggling zucchini plant and trying to learn. I pruned everything off it except the leaves at the end around the developing fruit. I also pulled back the cardboard so the new roots could anchor and I watered it really well. So here's some interesting developments... Most of the mature leaves that I had left are yellow and dying BUT there's quite a bit of new growth that's lush, healthy green. I hope that is a good sign? If I can get down there tonight, I will trim back the yellowing leaves and water it some more.

I made 8.5 jars of bread and butter pickles last night. They turned out really well.... Nice and crunchy with great flavor. I impressed myself! Now what to do with the rest of the pickling cukes for the reminder of the season?

There was a golden eagle stalking my chickens this morning. I was shooting bottle rockets at it to scare it away and it didn't even flinch. It did take off as I got closer and I couldn't find where it went. Hoping my flock stays safe... They were all out free ranging and never seem to pay attention to the sky.

esturtz27 said:

I have the same tomato frustration!.... I've been trying to solve it for weeks

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I finally saw a chocolate cherry one starting to turn this morning!!!

I searched cucumber recipe on byc as well as downloaded the indexes from the home baker thread but nothing specific to cucumbers shows up.
Of course that's the only thing I have coming in rather fast lol!
Can yall point me to a thread or recipe for em besides the salads and pickles we all do?

Gammas Bearded Babies said:

I searched cucumber recipe on byc as well as downloaded the indexes from the home baker thread but nothing specific to cucumbers shows up.
Of course that's the only thing I have coming in rather fast lol!
Can yall point me to a thread or recipe for em besides the salads and pickles we all do?

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What about sushi? I've never made it but I would love to.... Don't think that would use a lot though.

Most recipes I've seen are for cucumber salads or pickles. I use allrecipes.com when I look for new things to try. Like cucumber lemonade....

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/197751/refreshing-cucumber-lemonade/