Maine

[buckabucka]

Picked my first watermelon this morning. Little suckers are prolific, have a ton coming in. Diana's from Fedco. Haven't had any bug or fungus problems with these yet, knock on wood.

How are those watermelons? I had put a question mark next to it in my catalog, but then I swore off watermelon this year. Too many years of taking up space with no results. The other kinds of melon are doing well, though I don't think there's anything ready to pick yet. I tried 5 kinds, and it created such a thick mat of vines that I don't even know where most of the fruit is...

 

[Hiltonizer]

How are those watermelons? I had put a question mark next to it in my catalog, but then I swore off watermelon this year. Too many years of taking up space with no results. The other kinds of melon are doing well, though I don't think there's anything ready to pick yet. I tried 5 kinds, and it created such a thick mat of vines that I don't even know where most of the fruit is...

Delicious, I may have jumped the gun with that one... still had a lot of green but still an unbelievable flavor. Giving them another week to fatten up and ripen. I ended up sticking in the freezer to make ice cubes with the melon baller for water.

I started them in a seed tray, very slow to germinate... I think I started the seeds 3 weeks before putting them out and they were barely sprouts. Figured they wouldn't make it but all but a few did.

Also planted some Halona's, direct sow, most sprouted but died of unknown causes... there's one still hanging on anemic.

 

[combatfuzzball]

In other news, holy squash bugs. Pumpkins are taking a beating but there's plenty of fruit almost ready.

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Squash bugs got really bad at my old place year before last. Read up on them and about the only way to get rid of them is to not plant any squash type plants for 2-3 years. I tried insecticidal soap (worthless) Picking them off (Tedious and ineffective.)
If your squash plants are that mature have you thought about letting a few chickens out around the garden under supervision?

 

[Hiltonizer]

.
Squash bugs got really bad at my old place year before last. Read up on them and about the only way to get rid of them is to not plant any squash type plants for 2-3 years. I tried insecticidal soap (worthless) Picking them off (Tedious and ineffective.)
If your squash plants are that mature have you thought about letting a few chickens out around the garden under supervision?

It's insane how many, 50' row absolutely covered. It occurred to me that there's a butternut farm down the street... Bet that contributes to the population.

I've done 3 applications of a sulfer/pyrethrin spray mix back to back, that's cut the numbers down substantially... hoping the sulfer stops the spread of the fungus they've brought in.

Next year I'm going to plant decoys earlier than my desired breed... Hope they get targeted and burn them once infested.

Also read that buckwheat is a good companion to bring in predators.

 

[lazy gardener]

Squash bugs: My findings regarding battling them:

They hide out in the soil at the base of the plants. I've found that if I tuck the hose into the soil/mulch at the base of the plants in the morning, they come boiling up out of the soil and can then be picked off and dunked into a bucket of soapy water. Multiple daily repeats make a significant dent in the population. Sevin seems to be pretty effective, but if you are an organic farmer, that's out of the ball game.

I can't entice a chicken to eat them.

Evil creatures, and they do seem to infect the plants with some sort of virus. Worse than cucumber beetles.

In other Little Town Farm news:

I have 2 pullets laying. Gorgeous little blue/green eggs. Jack's daughters. They are 17 weeks old. Those first pullet eggs are always such a joy.

I've had at least 3 ground hogs causing grief. I've shot at them, but have not yet produced a visible body. It's possible that they were mortally wounded and went back into their holes to die. It's been about 2 weeks since further sightings. But, this morning, there was a pretty big one out on the lawn, sporting different markings than the ones I've shot at previously. Unfortunately, the SG jammed up. We can load a single shell, but it jams when you try to rack a new shell into the chamber. So... we need to get that fixed. GH made an exit by the time we got the SG figured out.

Sunflowers are blooming, raspberries are almost done producing, should be picking green beans next week. Any one else growing Fortex? IMO, they are the best beans that God ever created. However, I also have yard long and Blue Lake planted this season.

 

[lazy gardener]

Ground hog has left the premises!!!

 

[combatfuzzball]

Okay all 4 of my EE hens are laying now. Honor my littlest hen and my favorite is a laying machine. She's produced every day except for 2 her first week and one day since for the last 4 weeks. Sadly she's a tiny hen so eggs are small and brown. THe other 3 hens Uhura, Esmay, and Leia are all laying. Uhura layed a dark olive green egg but now all of these 3 are blue although 2 have a slight greenish tint.
My Black Australorps are 3 weeks younger so still nothing from them.
Now I have 4 Ameracauna's. Supposedly silver but lady had been adding black to her bloodline. Managed to get the 5 week olds for 5 dollars each and the lady was closer.
Wife hasn't put together the fact that there are now smaller chickens and I still have 14 despite taking 4 roosters out to be processed.
IT is a lot quieter since I gor rid of the frequent crowers Heinlein and Jules. The rest of the chickens are much happier with Jules Rooster gone.
Finally got the run finished including chicken wire roof to keep the chickens in. New scavenged door for the coop to keep them warmer.
Tried to get the wood as close together as possible but there is still going to be air flow through the walls. Unsure exactly how much I need to do to keep drafts out as I know they are still going to need some airflow. Opting to use the feed bags cut and stapled inside as insulation as they are sort of plasticized and durable. Not terribly decorative inside but I'm thinking the chickens won't care.
Posting a picture of the eggs as well as what my coop looks like now. Not much but it's fairly secure.

 

[combatfuzzball]

Glad I got the coop mostly finished week before last. Just got out of doctors appointment and managed to give myself not 1 but 2 hernias at work. One is definitely going to need surgery and surgeon will decide on other.
Glad it happened at work so workman comp is footing the bill. This is going to really foul up lots of things that need done though.

 

[CoopChick719]

Do you think it could have been a porcupine? They make some weird noises. I know mink are capable of climbing, but I don't know if they normally hang out in trees. I wonder if raccoons make a noise. You may be able to ID by listening to different sounds online and seeing if you can match it.

Raccoons do make some noise and talk to each other. I've heard them.

 

[buckabucka]

Glad I got the coop mostly finished week before last. Just got out of doctors appointment and managed to give myself not 1 but 2 hernias at work. One is definitely going to need surgery and surgeon will decide on other.
Glad it happened at work so workman comp is footing the bill. This is going to really foul up lots of things that need done though.

Bummer. It is annoying when things like that happen, but happen they will. Good luck with a quick recovery!