What did you do in the garden today?

[Pensmaster]

Wow! We won't have blackberries till August ...

I’m hoping it’s an early variety as any later and they will be fried. The wild ones aren’t even close yet. They usually dry up with the heat before they get ripe.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have tons on the vines by the way are new vines we had cleared the patch for a chickens yard so these are totally new but filled... this is at Silky land cannot let them free range without their tractor as our three outside cats

 

[deepbluesea]

Oh man--sorry Rachel! That stinks. I hope that some of the plants can be salvaged.

I picked a handful of bush beans, some kale and chard, a couple of ancho/poblanos and a few of the atomic grape tomatoes. They aren't fully ripe but I got impatient. I'm managing to get a small handful of blackberries most days. The watermelons are golf-ball sized; I need to fertilize them. I've got a couple of yellow squash coming, and flowers on the zukes and cukes but no fruit yet. Eggplants are just starting to set fruit.

Though I did see not one, but TWO little bunnies in the raised beds this weekend. Grumble grumble. On the plus side, the remaining chickens are all happy and healthy, we saw dolphins kayaking on Saturday and my son got a job in a restaurant! I was threatening serious landscaping chores if he didn't get on it.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Wow deepblue quite the young man one can go places if they keep nose to grindstone

 

[deepbluesea]

Wow deepblue quite the young man one can go places if they keep nose to grindstone

Thanks penny! Yeah, he's a good kid overall, but has been trying my patience. Dishes, garbage, all that stuff--it's like pulling teeth. He likes it so far, and his boss came out to the car to tell me how polite he is. Which is reassuring--at least he knows how to act right when he's out in the world. I often get grunts instead of words.

 

[pennyJo1960]

It can be difficult to find their way encouragement from his boss is gold

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Aw, Rachel I hope it can recover...!

Today our fearless husky caught (at least one of) the Evil Groundhog(s)! Groundhogs are spooky to me, big and sturdy with big teeth, but my dogs HATE them. They will cry quietly if they see a strange animal in the lawn or if the chickens or rabbits slip out of their pens, but if there is a groundhog they sing it from the rooftops and growl and bark. They get sooo angry and the husky is tenacious and gutsy on top of that. She never cares how hurt she gets, she wants to hunt wild critters. (Luckily she has stopped trying to eat our rabbits and chickens!) She nabbed the groundhog and we pulled her off of it before we dispatched it quickly with an axe. She walked away with two small bites from the Groundhog, but they are very superficial and they've been washed and treated with iodine. Unfortunately, she attacked it right into our strawberry patch and both dogs trampled dozens of new strawberries in the process, and a bunch of the plans are damaged. Still! It will be worth it to be rid of the Evil Groundhog permanently (or at least until next spring when more are born).

So fingers crossed my garden will be safe now! I wish we could keep the groundhog out without lethal methods, but we already have a fence, we shored up the whole bottom with logs and bricks, we have chased the groundhog out several times already this season, even the dogs have chased it out... If it won't learn to stay out from all that, I suspect nothing would have effectively taught it to do so except for hotwire (which is illegal here). I would have gladly strung up hotwire if it were allowed.

The sweet peppers and cauliflower might be mostly dead but the hot peppers and beans are recovering already. Here's hoping that's the last of the marauders for the year and the rest of the year my garden can exist in peace!

 

[dunnmom]

I'm getting about a gallon bag of wax beans every 3 days. I've picked about a pint of cherry tomatoes so far. I think I might have a baby cantaloupe on my vine, so long as it doesn't abort. I've seen a few others abort, and I think it might be because they aren't getting pollinated well. I'm hoping the bees will come back to the garden soon. I've got tons of curcubit flowers that could use their attention.

 

[lazy gardener]

My Maggie girl killed her first rat last night. We were so proud of her. It had taken residence in a bag of leaves, I put the bag in my garden cart and took it to the middle of the lawn, hubby was armed with a spade. When the rat jumped out of the cart, Maggie was on it in a flash. She had it dead within one minute. Good girl. I'm fearful of her tangling with a ground hog. But, I do know that that day will come.

I put the body on a big rock at the edge of the lawn. Wanted to see if any night creatures were lurking around to take it. It stayed there till dawn, when a crow came and got it. He's been working on it ever since, with a few Jays and Crows yelling for their turn.

 

[chickadoodles]

Your Maggie is a good girl!